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Scrapping is supposed to help your life, not become your life which it has for me and I am burnt out. Used to be couldn't wait to work on it, not its ''dang, gotta keep going.''
Can't stop or I get backed up, get backed up can't get caught up. Endless cycle.
No time for anything other than scrapping, house and yard work, helping family members which I can't get out of.
What do you guys and gals do if you get to this point :(
Step back, take an inventory, and make 2 piles. One you're gonna keep & work on, the other you're gonna craigslist to another scrapper. It's good karma, you might meet someone who'll help you out later on, and you get a handle on what you've got & what you're gonna do with it.
The other day looked at all the work I had to do. Got right back in the truck. Drove out of the field and took my daughter fishing all day. Next day felt much more enthusiastic.
I am right there with you. I am at the point where my real job is getting in the way of growing my business. I have a few ideas to offer that have worked good for me:
Get a storage unit to put your overflow in, or the items you will sell as is without breaking down. I make a weekly run to mine to dump all my keyboards, phones, plastic and other stuff that I need to accumulate before selling. You really have to look at the numbers and make sure you are using it for more than just low grade items or you may loose money this way. I also have about 100 computers in there that I have no room for in the garage.
Network. I talked to someone on this forum that is in my area about referring customers to them if I am too busy. He is a bit smaller operation than me and was glad to help. This way the customer is taken care of, and my main competition is NOT the one getting the business.
If you have a local buyer, see what you can work out. I have been doing business with a local buyer who has been kind enough to make a few trips down to me (a 3 hour round trip) and pick up larger loads to save me some time. This was a huge time saver and cleared out my storage unit a few times over. This allowed me time to break down the good stuff and make the trip up to their place to deliver a load.
I hope this helps. I know how you feel, it can be very overwhelming.
Burnt out. I am straight fried out. Keep in mind you are one person relying on the work you do to provide for you. Imagine having employees and all the problems that come with it and you still gotta keep scrapping everyday. You also need to keep customers and a long line of people happy. You got it easy in my eyes. I wish I could just hop in the truck and not show up to work and go on short road trip. My phone would be ringing off the hook with people asking where I am at. Sometimes I just want to quit but with a kid its not an option. Remember hard work pays and I have never seen a road paved with gold. Its a long way to the top and the trip up there isn't always easy.
I wouldn't say I have it easy. I am the only employee in my operation and I have two kids and a wife to support. But my business and where I live is large property clean outs. Old farm equipment that's been sitting in the woods for twenty years. Its very physically demanding. The only reason I was able to walk out that day was I had just takin in 1000 pounds of aluminium and 350 pounds of s.s I had piled up off of cars. I was just answering what I do when I get to the " dang I can't so this today" point I also networked my butt off and have three thrift shops I pick up from once a week. And another opportunity I worked on for four months that gives me about two grand a month.
Me personally when I started scrapping for real (not that long ago), meaning breaking down items I got instead of just tossing everything with shred. I wanted to grab everything I could to the point where it became not fun for me. I think taking breaks are seriously underestimated and you have to make time to do things that you WANT to do even if it costs you a little money by not working. I know sometimes you gotta get in because it has to be done, but make some time to cool down, we're all human and we all needs breaks here and there.
Keep your head up.
Thanks for listening to my rant everyone, I am glad I'm not the only one this happens to. There are some great ideas given, a couple I never thought of.
Invest in a traveling cooler..or even a non-traveling one.
These words of wisdom are free, thank me later. :p
Everyone should have a traveling cooler. Just something bout a frosty drink ( adult or not) when your all grr I'm stressed/angry I must smash! grr! is calming in its own right, and allows you to sit and enjoy your drink while pondering whatever is vexing you at the moment.
I tell you it works!
Sirscrapalot - I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three. - Elayne Boosler
LOL thats a good idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot
When my shop gets full like it is now, I feel like I need to clear out some stuff. I occasionally go into a mode of sell it instead of break it all the way down. There are times that I need to move some stuff out of the way so I can work on other projects like my 1968 Dodge Superbee that's literally wrapped up in computers right now. This next week, I'm going to clear out a path around it and sell off some stuff that I was going to ebay. This way I'm going to get to enjoy working on my car a little next month instead of preparing for a camera crew from "Hoarders, buried alive" to get here. Sometimes you have to change it up so you don't burn out.