When did you find out what you wanted to do with your life?

I realized that I would work in the stock market, when I realized I am really good at nothing else.

 

That career path has really opened up new doors for me like: "The Next Food Network Star".

Sincerely,

 

I never knew that Train!

There are a few people here that have e-mailed me in reference to stand up, and it's the one thing that you can get good at even with another job.

1. The Laff Stop has open mic night every Monday night, it has been going on for years and it's where I started 15 years ago.

2. People sometimes think that if you're not famous you can't make any money, not true. There are so many things you can do as a comic if you're good, corporate events pay a crapload of money, a few TV credits can get you work for years, comedy defensive driving is good part-time income and people like Ron White pay writers 500. per joke! Merchandising is another really cool thing, if you have a product (cd, bumper sticker, dvd, panties (!)) and it's catchy you can sell it on the road and recoup all your expenses and then some.

3. Stand-up is more 'business' than 'show'. If you do your taxes correctly you can write off all your travel, clothing and tools of the trade (e.g. drums, keyboards, recorders, cameras etc.). Websites, MERCHANDISE, headshots and your appearance is crucial to success.

4. Best things about stand-up now? Satellite Radio, Comedy Central, MERCHANDISING and MYSPACE.COM

5. Worst things. Travel, condos, bad checks, haters and people that want to tell you jokes.

My advice? Write clean bits. If you start off dirty then you will truly limit yourself as a beginner. Dirty gets you attention. Clean gets you paid.

 

You sound just like me - exactly like me. Cool.

 

Wise words from a wise man.

 

You are never, repeat NEVER, too old for a career change.

The last thing you want is to be sitting in a wheelchair when you are 80, crapping into a Depends undergarment, saying to yourself "If only I would have.....".

I knew by the time I was 20 that I wanted to play music. My entire life has been geared towards that ever since. I've been working in IT for 20+ years, and yes I have a day job that pays me well, but it is one that does not interfere with the music. Ironically, I am interviewing for another day job in IT consulting that will pay me even more (> 6 figures), and will require travel 4 days a week, but it still will not interfere with playing music, since all of the gigs I do are on the weekends and the bands I play in rarely, if ever, rehearse. So....in other words....I've got the best of both worlds and it might be about to get better, although with much more travel.

 

God, what I've give to be 29 again.
(or at least have the physique and health I had then)

 

Working in the software/IT industry has been lucrative for me. Well, at least it funded my investing habits of the past... I'm slowly getting bored with it, to be honest. I'm re-considering what I want to be doing in my 40's and 50's. I'm about 10-15 years from retirement probably and just want to goof off really... lol. I want to buy a few acres somewhere, build a house with a big gameroom and media room, and I'm content. That and travel to Egypt, Kenya, Namibia, etc.

 

For me, the best job in the world would be not having a job at all. Traveling, playing golf, hanging out in vegas playing cards and going to clubs and running from the paparazzi, that'd be cool.

 

I'm 22 and in law school and I'm not entirely sure what I want to do...I went the law school route because I think that you can do a lot of different types of work with a JD, but I still have a fear that I might end up not liking doing work related to the law. I just don't know. I have a lot of fears about it right now, thinking, what if I spend the next few yrs of my life doing this and then I end up not enjoying what I do. Since about my junior year of undergrad, I have had the urge to become a card dealer in a Las Vegas casino (poker, preferrably). I don't know if I'd want to deal cards for the rest of my life, but I think I'd have a blast doing it for at least a few years and living in Vegas. One of the hardest things for me is that I know my parents would not approve of my decision. I know I'm an adult and that there is nothing they can do to prevent me from making a career choice, but it's just tough when you want your parents approval. When I tell my friends that I'd like to deal cards, they look at me and tell me it's a horrible idea compared to being a lawyer. I consider myself to be a hard worker and I made tremendous grades in undergrad, but I don't know if I want to live a stuffy life of wearing a suit and working in an office all day.

 

about my halfway through my first year of law school i was pretty well convinced i never wanted to be a lawyer. i finished school, anyway. if i didn't have my own practice with the guys i work with, i would be doing something else, entirely.

 

My plan is to work hard for the next 10-12 years and save up alot of $$$. Move to Asia and either sit on my buns all day or open up a little mom and pop shop.

What I would really like to do is either start up a video game company (no idea where to start but I know I'll need alot of greens), fbi agent, cop, start up a online website distributing new p*rn, or open an orphanage and help the needy.

 

How was law school? I had a cousin who was in law school but dropped after the first year. He said it was too competitive, cut throat and back stabbing.

 

there was that element, for sure. i wanted a law degree. that was it. i had no desire to get a job at a big firm. none at all. i was recently married when i started and was much more concerned with hanging out with my wife than studying. i went directly out of undergrad and was pretty burned out on school, anyway, by that point. because of all of that, my law school experience was pretty different than most. i raced through to get out as soon as possible, and graduated in 2 1/2 years instead of 3.

law school can not and does not prepare one to practice law. it's like two entirely different worlds in my view.

 

I wanna ROCK!!! I want...to...rock!!!

 

wow! its amazing reading all these aspirations of everybody wanting to do nothing and sit on their lazy butts.

Its cool though, there are days i feel the same way. Im in the real estate market and getting tired of it. But i do have to say it is a fun job, too much corporate politics get in the way as i work for a builder. If this were just getting future homeowners into homes, i would be happy.

I really enjoy helping people get into homes and it gives me a sense of accomplishment towards others. But the corporte bs is what drives me away from here.

I do ultimately want to become a professional poker player (just like everyone else). I think that would allow me to sit on my lazy butt and make money! what a cool combination.

Im only 26 years old and know i have a whole life ahead of me. So i am not worried at this point about what i plan to do because its hard to leave a job that makes you so much freaking money!!

 

I think poker would get boring after a while. I play it a lot, but after a few hours I have to stop because I just get sick of folding so much.

 

You know, I'm in my mid 30's and still have no idea what I want to be when I grow up...I genuinely like what I do (energy), but of course, if I hit the lotto, I'd be gone...Of course, I'd have to play the lotto to have a chance...

If i was financially secure, I would love to teach HS economics or something like that...I love money, I like to spend it, save it and make things out of it...

In college, I had no idea, but I knew I wanted to be in a good job that pays well...Now, all I have to do is figure out what else I want to do...