I have been on here for a while and I am looking for some help. I am a technician at a heavy truck dealership that is dead in the water. My father was a truck mechanic as well, and as a hobby he did car restoration in his shop at home. I grew up in the shop working with him and developed the same hobby. In the 1990s my father and I started an automotive machine shop that was, under the circumstances a success. During that time he was diagnosed with leukemia and unfortunately passed away. A year after that I had a son that was diagnosed with leukemia as well but he pulled through and 20 years later has good health today. I sold the machine shop business because of stress and I needed more time to focus on my family.
17 years ago I invested the funds from the sale of the business and purchased a one acre commercial lot and had a 45 by 75 morton building put up. I have been using it for a hobby shop. I don't owe anything on the property now. Through the years I have been doing odd jobs to pay utilities and property taxes. What income I had left over I used it to fill the shop with a variety of equipment. I have been doing a great variety of things in the shop and not to brag but I have developed a large skillet set.
Welding and fabricating has been a major part of the work I do, and I have all of the equipment to start. Yet I have a car hoist, trans jack and tools to start an automotive repair shop.
I am 49 years old and working on big trucks is really starting to take a toll on my body. My dream has been to be self employed again in my own shop full time, but I am having a hard time deciding what to specialize in. Some of my concerns are getting health insurance (currently my family is insured through my work) and would I be able to make a decent working by myself without employees starting out?
