PLan b

My plan B is to instruct at FlightSafety or SimuFlite. They always seem to need quality instructors somewhere, and corporate aviation isn't as cyclical as the airlines.
 
kellwolf said:
You don't even need a degree for this one. My wife worked hotels in Orlando, and just about every assistant manager she worked for worked their way up through one of the hotel areas. Front desk seemed to have a better jump on housekeeping, but even food service was a track to assistant manager if you were in the right place at the right time. Don't let UCF sell you a "Hospitality Management" degree when you could already be on the track simply by working at a hotel. BTW, I was on one of the focus groups that helped design that degree back when I was at Sea World. I wasn't impressed.
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:yeahthat:But she made a career of it. Anything is like that. In the military, you can enlist, have the VA pay for college, spend 4 years enlisted and then do a enlisted commissioning program, or,you can get the degree yourself, and go straight to O-1. I see your point, but it's not my primary field, so as it's been said, without experience, I'd only have my degree and connections to fall back on. Luckily, my mom has many connections as it's what she ued to do, so, if that is all I bring to the table then that's it. Like in aviation, just hope the next guys connection and experience isn't better than mine.
 
wantfrieswiththat said:
My plan B is to instruct at FlightSafety or SimuFlite. They always seem to need quality instructors somewhere, and corporate aviation isn't as cyclical as the airlines.
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Well, sort of.... We have hiring cycles just like the airlines except that ours are 180 degrees out of phase with the airlines -- we have already seen a HUGE increase in resumes coming in, last year at this time we had to beg to get a few resumes every couple of months.

I'll have to disagree with your comment about corporate aviation not being as cyclical -- I think that you don't necessarily hear about about all of the small departments that have downsized and gone away but make no mistake about it, the corporate jet/King Air is still often the first thing that the bean counters look at when they need to trim costs. A true business person will realize the advantages of a corporate airplane go far beyond it's monthly cost BUT that doesn't change the reality that airplanes are often seen as unnecessary by many decision makers when money starts getting tight. There are several FlightSafety centers that have already seen a pretty marked decline in revenue this year and then we have others that are giong to triple in size.
 
Well I'll be graduating with the typical airline pilot degree in in December or May, after that I'll be flight instructing which for me is an income increase considering right now I'm making 0 dollars. After that I'm enrolling in auto technician classes. I figure as long as there's 2.8 cars or whatever for every man woman and child in this country you can't lose. That and I'm still ditching the desk, won't get rich, but can definitely eat.
 
Seggy said:
That is why I want to do it.

I figure that it is such a crappy time to go into real estate not to many people are doing so. With that in mind, I figure I will have a better ability to find a higher end broker to work for. Once you get the license it takes a few years to get your brokerage license and more commission.

With that in mind, get it now, establish myself, network, prove myself when times are tough, and then when the market turns around, hopefully, I will be in good shape.

That is my plan.
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Yeah, real estate is still decent, at least down here. My SO has been doing it about a year (got into RIGHT before it took a crap) and the first 6 months there was nothing...just lots of expenditures (MLS dues, NAR dues, local dues...and you though ALPA was bad?!?). That has changed drastically in the last 5 months. I am LUCKY to see her a couple of hours a night. She's out the door at 8 and I won't see her again until 9 or 10 at night, and then she is busy in the home office until midnight doing other stuff. Days off? Yeah, forget it. But, it is VERY busy down here and she is doing quite well for herself.
 
TheOneMarine said:
Anything is like that. In the military, you can enlist, have the VA pay for college, spend 4 years enlisted and then do a enlisted commissioning program, or,you can get the degree yourself, and go straight to O-1. I see your point, but it's not my primary field, so as it's been said, without experience, I'd only have my degree and connections to fall back on. Luckily, my mom has many connections as it's what she ued to do, so, if that is all I bring to the table then that's it. Like in aviation, just hope the next guys connection and experience isn't better than mine.
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Honestly, I don't think a degree in Hospitality Management would net you anything other than an entry level position. In Orlando, you can't swing a cat without hitting someone with hospitality experience, some with multiple years of it. In an environment like that, more than likely, HR departments are gonna go with experience over the degree. I'd bet your mom's connections would be more helpful than the degree.
 
TexasFlyer said:
No plan B. Everything I know how to do right now is pretty bad. And I been through troubled times once before. So I'm just buckling up to ride through it once again.


Plan A: Pilot - no comment needed as that's looking like a tough road

Plan B: Executive Recruiting - well, as of today a couple announcements come from my historical client base... and hiring is slowing across not only my aviation niche but also the corporate ranks of the oil/gas industry (believe it or not!), construction industry, manufacturing, retail, and finanical industries. That's every niche I know. Not sure if healthcare or IT has slowed, but those aren't my expertise or interest areas.

Plan C: Corporate Training (Sales, Motivational, etc.) - well, that dries up as well since when companies cut back, outside training consultants in those areas are not needed. So that service offering I have is not a good option.

Plan D: Career Consulting and Life Coaching - well, this was only lucrative at the executive and VIP levels since the average person can't pay enough to utilize my services. But, this business tends to tapper off during tough times since if an executive is not sure if they can find work, they won't spend extra money on these services. They actually do the right thing. They focus on networking every waking hour they have. They tend to use career counseling services when looking confidentially for the next best thing, when they are already employed! And they use the Life Coaching part usually only when their careers are paying them a lot of money but they can't figure out why their life is still out of control. So these options are out.

Plan E: Ummm, yeah... See Plan A - I guess I might as well stick to flying. That's where my heart is anyway. There is always a flying job somewhere out there, just like in any other industry that is struggling. It may get real competitive and you may need to change your life and move across the country. But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. I'll do what ever it takes to keep pursuing my passion of flying. After all, there are still real estate agents who stick it out for the love of real estate. God bless them too!
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Texas- look into Pharmacy recruiting. My background is recruiting pharmacists for a fortune 100 pharmacy benefit management company. I still keep in touch - just in case - and it seems this sector hasn't slowed down much if at all. Still a shortage of pharmacists and an excess in our prescription drug use. Corporate recruiting obviously doesn't pay as much as executive but it's decent money depending on where you get in and in what part of the country.
 
Seggy said:
With that in mind, get it now, establish myself, network, prove myself when times are tough, and then when the market turns around, hopefully, I will be in good shape.

That is my plan.
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We just sold a $150k car to a mortgage broker. The customer was super nice and very easy to work with. My boss mentioned to him how he thought it was interesting a mortgage broker would be purchasing that level of a vehicle given the market. The gentleman basically said business has never been better. He's had to reinvent himself a bit, network a little more, etc. but he's making more money than ever. Much of it comes from customer he financed a few years ago and are looking to refi. But there is a significant chunk of new business streaming from customers who found deals on houses and are making first-time purchases as well as others who have been are orphaned by their brokers who got out of the industry when the market started to dump.
 
wheelsup said:
But I would wager that the most successful people in this world don't have a degree, and if they do, it's not in anything they are currently doing.
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Thats one of the most ridiculous statements I have ever heard. The bill gates and Steven Spielbergs of this world are Few. Actors and athletes may not need a degree to be successful, but most other careers you do.

To be a doctor/dentist/lawyer/pharmacist/major airline pilot all need at least a 4 year degree. To get on with a big 4 accounting firm (KPMG/PWC/E&Y/D&T) a degree is required. Try looking around goldman sachs, lehman Bros, JP Morgan, etc... for someone without a degree. The ones you do find, are their secretaries and janitors.

Clocks said:
Statistically speaking, you don't have a prayer at becoming one of them :)

Which is why a college degree is a good backup plan to "creating the next fortune 500 company".
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Exactly.

meritflyer said:
Out of our 120 person domestic US sales force, only <50% of the group hold a BS/BA. All of them make $150-400K.

Not sure if that curbs your "statistic" or not.
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60-75 degree-less people are insignificant for a statistic. its too small a sample. btw, What do they sell???

Sales is one of the only careers where you can succeed w/o a degree. Or entrepreneur, since you are your own boss.

meritflyer said:
I manage a 22 state territory for a Fortune 500 company. We value experience and education greatly. However, if someone thinks a business degree outweighs solid experience, they're severely mistaken - at least where I work.
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Why did I think you were a mesa pilot?
 
I am logging time towards my 100 ton captains license on ships, but I also want to get into the engineering department.:)
 
We joke about the phone number for that truck driving school, but I know a few pilots that made the jump. I also know another one that became a tugboat captain! :D
 
Making change!

You throw in a dollar bill, you get back four quarters. Or twenty nickels. Or two quarters, three dimes, two nickels and ten pennies. Whatever the customer is looking for, we've got it. Whenever you think "change", I want my potential customers to think "Change by Doug Taylor".

Sure it's a zero margin business.

But I'm going to use all 15-ish years of airline experience to make it up in volume.
 
I've always wanted to be a Beekeeper... but that's another profession with dark clouds on the horizon.
There's always the military!
 
Doug Taylor said:
Making change!

You throw in a dollar bill, you get back four quarters. Or twenty nickels. Or two quarters, three dimes, two nickels and ten pennies. Whatever the customer is looking for, we've got it. Whenever you think "change", I want my potential customers to think "Change by Doug Taylor".

Sure it's a zero margin business.

But I'm going to use all 15-ish years of airline experience to make it up in volume.
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Ya know, we were talking about this the other day. Say you're standing at a vending machine with 4 $1 bills. Someone comes up and they want a drink, but only have a $5. Technically, that $1 is worth MORE than $1 now, since with only a $5, they can't get a drink. So, would it be outrageous to say "I'll give you my 4 $1 for your $5?"
 
Doug Taylor said:
Making change!

You throw in a dollar bill, you get back four quarters. Or twenty nickels. Or two quarters, three dimes, two nickels and ten pennies. Whatever the customer is looking for, we've got it. Whenever you think "change", I want my potential customers to think "Change by Doug Taylor".

Sure it's a zero margin business.

But I'm going to use all 15-ish years of airline experience to make it up in volume.
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That's a nice useage of a SNL skit, there, Dough!!!;)
 
I got a degree in History -very useless except for teaching, and you can't deny being a teacher is a pretty damn stable and secure job. Plus i'd make about 15k more than i'm making now as a first year f.o. :laff:
 
L-16B said:
I got a degree in History -very useless except for teaching, and you can't deny being a teacher is a pretty damn stable and secure job. Plus i'd make about 15k more than i'm making now as a first year f.o. :laff:
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Yeah, but you'd also pretty much start near your career's top salary potential.
 
Got a degree in Speech Pathology, became a police officer (13 yrs), did the police sergeant thing and left for this lovely and dream inspiring field of aviation. I still love it, through all of its future uncertainties.

I could have stayed with my department and be making over 100K as a Lt. right now. But I wasn't happy there anymore and wanted to make a change and work in a field that I love. And I am.

This was my plan B. I was lucky enough to work in my Plan A and do everything that I wanted to do. And I miss the money, the benefits and the family of fellow officers. But I don't miss the day to day of it. That ran its course for me a long time ago. As has this field for alot of pilots. But for me, I still look foward to going to work every day. I really do.

Sure it would be nice to grab at the brass ring. But that won't happen now for some time. And that is ok. I am just hunkering down and focusing on instructing for the time being. Now I just need to find a closer and cheaper apartment to where I work. That should save about 600 a month right there.

Right now, failure is not an option..... But my APOST certification is still good for another 14 months and I could go back to cop life......But that is a very last resort.
 
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