Behind the 8 ball

Joe Purdy – I Love The Rain The Most
Boy & Bear – Milk & Sticks

As I become more and more entrenched in the blue collar workaday world I'm learning more and more about how things, people, and money work.  The more I learn, I can't help but feel that I'm more than a bit behind the 8 ball.
For starters, I'm really just getting my foot on the bottom rung of the work ladder. As far as I can tell, there seem to be 3 tiers of this ladder- helper, skilled laborer, boss. 100/day, 200-300/day, 500+/day respectively.  I think I've always thought of money in terms of yearly salary. I guess because I assumed that I would one day have a steady paycheck with a corporate logo on it, I would think in this term of currency. This isn't exactly how it works in the under-the-table world. There have been weeks of recent where I've made more money than I ever have in my life. A flat 500 from my role as a helper on a remodeling job, 50 for a couple hours of ceiling restoration with my uncle, another 200 for an hours' work closing a pool on my own.
As I make this money, I can't help but marvel at how much money you have to make money. At 500/wk I'm on track for a 25,000/yr. If I can work my way up to 1,000/wk I'll be on track for a 50,000 year. I'd have to make 400/day. 5 days a week. 50 weeks a year. Just to make $100k.
While in school, I always had a number close to $60k floating around in the back of my head. I figured I'd start off around there, and work my way up to the 200s within a decade or so. I guess I never really realized how much all of that money really is.
$800/day is A LOT of money. Money is a real thing. Not just a number. And working for 100/day really puts that into perspective.
While all of these thoughts of money dance like visions of sugarplums in my dome I feel like I'm learning some very important lessons that I failed to learn in all of my schooling.
SAVE. Save as much as you can while you can. I've been ever so fortunate enough that I've always had enough savings that I've had a safety net. Because I've gambled most of these savings on my business venture, I've come dangerously close to scraping the bottom.
Ask for more. Perhaps I'd have a larger safety net sitting in the bank right now if I'd been less hesitant to ask for more. The people I've done Abstract Concrete work for make a few hundred a day. They should be able to afford to pay someone else comparably to do the things they can't. Prices are going to have to go up this Spring.
Live well within your means. I'm fortunate that I have relatively low overhead, but even still 1,000/month in insurance/gas/truck payments is a heck of a lot when I'm lucky to make 2,000/month.
Make yourself invaluable. Having come close to the ledge, I realize how fortunate I am to have work- no matter how irregular it may be. Knowing this, I'm all too happy to work for every cent I get. Also, good help is hard to find- and if you can create value for yourself, people don't mind paying top dollar to get you to help them.

So. Could I have learned all of this 6 years ago had I gone straight into the workforce from high school? Or did I need 4 years of undergrad and 2 years of grad to figure out where I'm going and what I need to end up where I want?