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what did you want to be?
There was a post a while back about “what we did before we made signs”.
It got me thinking on a post recently that jogged my memory of this post.
What I would like to ask is,“What did you hope to be, or try to be but things didn’t work out to plan?”
I always remember wanting to be in the police (and before anyone says… NO height was not the issue 😆 😆 ) more to do with being a bit more realistic!
Seriously though.. I wanted to be more in graphic design or maybe in advertising.
But inspired too much by money, I wanted out of school early and into some kind of job fast. In a I went to a large bakers firm pulling rolls from a huge oven & quickly moved onto another area of the bakery doing wedding cake design & birthday cake writing..
Okay… not the most glamourous but something I loved doing from a young age & were i started out. ( boy, that is were i learned how to graft! 😉 )Many years have past since then and now here I am…
So what’s your story… what did you want to be ?
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12 Replies
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i always wanted to be involved in the art world!! 😀 did not know what or where, i just knew i had to do it!! 😛
my first job was with the rep theatre helping to design stage sets, lighting etc, everything relating to the forth coming play!! brilliant job!then screenprinting and signwriting, got the bug and never looked back!! (i used to watch my dad signwrite when i was younger) !!
best bug i’ve ever caught!! 😛 😛Nik
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I can honestly say I never had a firm idea of what I wanted to be when I was younger. I always had a really “hands on” practical and investigative nature and was very interested in anything mechanical or technology related. I got good “O” levels (back in the days of REAL exams 😉 ) and then proceeded to completely flunk Maths/Physics/Chemistry “A” level combo – well can you blame me ??
But everybody said ….dont worry you can still go to university or poly and I just wanted to get out in the real world and get working ! So after a whole term of mechanical engineering I quit and got a “temporary” job at a car spares shop nearby. I was already running my own car repair/maintenance little business on the side and it always interested me from an early age. Anyway, after 5 years I had this idea at the back of my head that I wanted to investigate signmaking – people often ask what made me go into it and I really dont know what first gave me the idea. I mulled it over for a few months and then took the plunge. Trouble was I didn’t have a valuable resource like the UKSB to help me and it was a real struggle and a hell of a learning curve !. I had a good boss and he let me work a bit part time and so the transition was not so painful or frightening as it might have been. After a year of learning the ropes I finally let go the job and swam free in the world of signmaking 😀
That was 11 years or so ago and I never looked back for 1 second – I don’t know what else I would choose to do now to be honest either. Certainly couldn’t think of a more varied and interesting day to day job that I could do and enjoy anyway. I still run my little car repair business too although I find that there is no where near enough hours in the week to do as much as I used to, so I pick and choose the nice jobs now! As Dewi said to me yesterday, I just need to master the art of saying “NO” a little more often, so I can actually work less than the stupid number of hours I currently do and maybe even get a social life of some sort too 😕
Still, I really class myself as very lucky to have made the right choice and be able to live off the rewards too.Nigel
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Went to my careers master (remember them) in 1968 and told him I wanted to be a graphic artist, he replied “oh that sort of thing wont last you need a proper job” so i went in the RAF (electronics air radar) sounds dead technical but I just changed black boxes on vulcans, but I got friendly with the painters and finishers who also did the signwriting on aircraft and one of the old boys used to set me things to do when we wern’t busy. the rest as they say is history.
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I don’t honestly remember what I wanted to be 😕 Always wanted to work for myself, but I think thats more a case of not wanting a boss, working my own hours and little things, like smoking a cigarette when I like rather than waiting for a designated break period and going standing in one of those silly little bus shelter thingies 😆
When I look back, the graphic design side was ok, but sitting in front of a computer all day, occassionally sleeping in a meeting and driving around from industrial estate to industrial estate with a briefcase… just wasn’t me. Now working with my hands, creating something thats real and sticks to the side of a building, stands on a pavement or sticks to the side of a van, brilliant! 😀 I see my handy work when I drive to the shop every morning (because I’m a lazy git who doesn’t open til 10am) and it makes me smile every time. Its been hard work getting to this point, but I’d never go back.
Besides, maybe I always wanted to be a signmaker but I just didn’t know it 😉
Cheers, Dewi
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Solicitor.
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I wanted to be a firefighter (and honest its not just so I would get to work with men in uniform or anything *cough*) and the same as Dewi really in a way, always knew that I wanted my own business and most of all be my own boss as Im not the best person to be told what to do 😀 and achieve more in life than just a wage with not much to show by the time Im sixty 😀 So fingers crossed Im hoping Im getting there slowly?!
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Left school on a Wednesday (1974) started work as trainee signwriter the next day – 4 years training – 9 months on the books – 1 self employed but working for same bloke all the time – the rest on my own. Not very varied is it? I should get out more.
Alan -
Always wanted to do mechanical engineering, I was like Nigel in to everything mechanical (failed my A’s too), After a marine biology field trip I got interested in that side of things and wanted my own fish farm in Scotland. 5 years later I had my own Mussel farm on the west coast, but after 10 years of hard labour my joints and muscles had taken too much strain, so I had to give it up. Went in to insurance sales for a couple of years, but always had my mechanics and other hobby businesses going on the side. joined a sign company 3 years ago then left last year to start on my own. Loveing every minute of it.
Cheers
Dave
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Mechanical Engineering.
Did four years at a trailer company then gave that up for seventeen years in the motor trade before stumbling across this line of work.
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rich! 😀
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Car Mechanic, but i did a 4yr apprentiship as a CNC Machinist/Mechanical Engineering.
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I always wanted to teach……Physical Education….en Coach Track and field.
Got a track schlorship at a UNI without a PE program. I studied to teach wood, graphic and metal technology. Got a BA and MS in “Technology Education”. Taught and coached in a High School fer 9 years……and I was eligible for food stamps. I started selling my carvings and carved signs and trippled my income…….guess what I wanted to do?
That was 25 years ago.
I think sales is teachin……..still doin what I always wanted to do! and Makin Chips too! 🙂Joe
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