The Next Step

Jump in with both feet. I wouldnt be too worried about a bigger place unless you can afford it. The less debt you take on in the beginning the better off you will be.
When you get enough work to support it then build a bigger place. Best Wishes.

 

Why not retire first, then do taxidermy? How many taxidermist wish they had a job where they could have retired from first with a pension, then do taxidermy. I know that I sure do. You have all summer to take weekend lessons from pros if you want lessons, but walking away from a teaching job is nuts. If you don't like the students, try a different grade level where kids are fun, like anything below 5th grade, try a different school even. I'd go for that pension first, taxidermy aint all that.

 

The lower grades still love you and are a lot better to work with.
I heard on the radio the other day that 4 years is the average now for teachers to quit
and change professions.

 

I hear you and feel your pain my wife is a teacher (5th grade) and I know its a hard job but Mr T is right I would not throw in the towel yet try something else (in the school system) before leaving your job that you worked hard to get. Those kids need a good male role model anyway. If you are a school teaching part time taxidermist your a better man then most of your students parents I'm sure LOL. But if all else fails remember that taxidermy becomes work too after awhile especially if you have to do it. I'm a deputy sheriff and have been doing taxidermy part time for a couple years and I would love to trade in my mess (sometimes) to do taxidermy full time if I thought I could make it in this economy. I cant leave a sure thing tho, but that's just me. Sometimes I wish my wife would learn taxidermy so I could talk her into leaving the school, life would be easier on her and ME. LOL I know you have a hard job but as a teachers husband and a parent I thank the Lord for good teachers.

 

I am a teacher and I am planning on retiring in the next 6-7 years. Then it will be taxidermy (and other money making stuff) full-time. I have taught high school students for 20 years now. There is NO WAY I would go back to the younger kids. In fact, the younger they are, the scarier they are for me - with Kindergarten being THE ABSOLUTE WORST.

Really - on this one you need to take Mr. T's advice. Some years are worse than others - about 9-10 years ago I had a run of bad kids for the next five years. But the last 4-5 years has been great. I teach special education so I have many of these kids for all four high school years and for 2-3 class periods a day. I am looking forward to the pension BUT this is Illinois where everything is "broke".

 

The archive here is full of stories where someone hated their job and wanted to do taxidermy at home. Everyone hates their job. Some love their jobs because it fits them, but most work for the benefits and pay even if they hate their job. Learn to love your meat and potatoes job if you have a chance at a retirement income, doing taxidermy on the side would be the gravy. And everyone knows, you can't live on gravy alone.

 

i am one of the people you are talking about. i worked for a company for 30 yrs. and retired. all the time i was doing taxidermy work and going to piedmount community college every year for there mini courses. i still read about new ideas and products on the market. i did have a pension plan with good health care, but now my 20yr. hobby is a full time job with taxes and bills and all the other unseen pains of running a studio. i still love taxidermy but the way some people act when you ask for help is not very helpful. if i were to treat my customers like this i would be asking obama for some help. stay at your job until you can make it on your work that is comming in. then tell them good by i'm a full time mule skinner. good luck.

 

Bucknasty,
I know how you feel, I've been with the Dept. of Corrections for 15 years and every day is a struggle to go to work. I often think that life is to short to be miserable at a job that is unbearable. But then I look at the stack of bills on my desk and my kids sitting at the table that I hope go to college some day and I lace up the boots for another day. I have just started my journey in taxidermy about 3 years ago and have become obsessed with trying to become a good taxidermist. I hope someday that I will also have the opportunity to be able to have my own business. But in the meantime I'm learning and practicing which is a good stress relief for me, helps me cope with my "meat and potatoes". Good luck in your decision, We need good teachers though, that way I don't end up with them.

 

From what you've said, I'm going to assume you're still young. I have found working in education and doing taxidermy go well together because of all the vacations and summertime to get the work done. However, if you aren't liking it, don't do our kids a disfavor by continuing to teach. I advise you to keep your license current, though. If you don't, it will be all the much harder to get back into teaching if you decide to several years down the road. Keep hold of your safety net.

 

Well I commend you for dealing with it so long. If the bad days far outway the good days, find another profession in the state where you can keep the years in that you have for retirement. I'll be retirering from the Corps here in the next few months but I will be looking for some meat and potatoes to pay the bills while I start bringing in as much business as I can handle. Then maybe even retire again before I start my own studio.
Life is a rough journey but one think to remember before you go PRO with any hobby is make sure you have plenty of options to go back to if your hobby doesn't pay out as much as you thought, or if you start having a little to much free time, start making money on the Internet. There are still a ton of things you can do on-line that if you do them right, and don't buy those books that "teach you all you need to know," because they don't.
Well good luck and I look forward to reading some more good advise people here on Taxi give you.

Best wishes,
Christian

 

I'm a middle school teacher as well and I would say stick with it. I've taught for 20 years, but since I live in CA I still have at least more years until I retire since it's age-based here more than anything. I also won't be able to draw social security--even though I put into it for years--because being a teacher disqualifies me from it. I would say stick with it for your kids sakes. If you retire they might get someone who doesn't like kids. It sounds like you care. I'm sick of the politics as well. I have a friend who was just fired because they said he wasn't teaching out of a workbook that it turns out they forgot to deliver to his room so he didn't know he was supposed to be using. It turns out he was then replaced by a relative of the principals. The politics of education suck! Even with all that, I still say stick with it. Instead of turning away work, raise your prices until you get less work brought in and use summer to catch up.