An other one bites the dust!

[fordtough1]

That sux Greg, good luck to you in whatever your next move is.

Fuck this pisses me off.

Seriously, whose ass do I have to kick to get your economy back in order?

I don't know whose ass that would be for sure, but I wish someone would kick it.

[gkitching]

Wow! ..What can I say?! ... I love you guys maaannnn


Brett .. What would DIYMA want to know about me? Are they hiring?

scorpio .. she's always checking me out but she never says anything ..

Paul .. Almost 150 in that pic. and thanks

Nico and Ivar .. my overseas friends and 2 of the nicest guys around ..

Matt, Tibbs, Christian, Oldschoolmsfan .. I feel yas and wish the best for your families too!

Stipud, fordtough .. count me in on the ass kicking!

dwnrodeo, grid .. you guys ROCK! smarter then the average bear I think

Brian, Harold .. you bastards! What a couple of vultures .. hehe .. J/K! thanks for trying to help!

Roland, FuzzySD, KH .. I wish you guys happiness too! (and everybody else for that matter)

To be honest I'm actually kinda relieved. It's been tough for awhile and now that it's over, there's allot of stress taken off my shoulders. I'm not sure at this point whether I will remain in the 12volt world or not. It was a passion, and I should be thankful for having been able to get paid for doing what I love to do. Most people live there entire lives without having that opportunity.

But ultimately, as the government and financial analysts would say, I'll be retrained and re-enter the work force in some capacity. And they'll be able to take me off the Unemployment stats. Forget that we've lost yet another small business, and the jobs I created. Forget that thousands of small businesses and the jobs they created are gone. We'll all just end up working for big companies that will have people that milk it for their personal gain, give themselves multi million dollars bonuses, right before they file bankruptcy and need the government to bail them out too. But enough of the politics and it's only a part of the whole that contributed.

Ironically, I just read an article about a gathering of the powers of the biggest names in 12 volt. Pioneer Alpine Kenwood and even Sony. The article made a big deal about this historical event. They're trying to figure out why there has been such a sharp decline in customer awareness. A stat stated that customer awareness is down over 60% in the past 2 years. Geez .. I'd like to know the percentage of the 'specialists' that have gone under in that same time period. Think there is any correlation

Sorry for the 'speech'. But your comments were very much appreciated and I felt I owed it to each of you for trying to lift my spirits. Like I said, I'm not gonna disappear. It's just unlikely I'll be able to have a comp handy with a window constantly open with the forum running all day. Especially not at home with a teenage daughter. But Steve is helping me with that!

[denim]

I too am very sorry to read about this. Good luck with your next path.

[Zarnov]

Sorry to hear Greg, best of luck Man!!

Here's hoping this door closing will open a few more for you!!

[itchnertamatoa]

haven't been around much lately, but damn
good luck and best wishes from Tahiti mang

[bretti_kivi]

The reason I say DIYMA... well, there's always the option to keep your hand in. Maybe there's less work, but maybe it will pay well, especially if you have a set of skills / templates that work exceptionally with "standard" vehicles. DIYMA isn't hiring, but there are guys looking for people to do bespoke work because they can't / won't do it themselves. And if you can make it easy for yourself (If, for example I created a speaker ring for the car I drive and then take a mould, I could create lots of those for minimal cost, whereas the "big boys" see the market as being too small. That those customers are more likely to pay more - there's no real choice - implies that if you are well known within a small market, that market may also be big enough). That was my thought, that you could keep something on the side, and though it might not pay the bills, it would probably help
I'm also reasonably sure that there's a lot of money floating for individual pieces; stuff like I was doing last week, that roof advert for political purposes - pizza delivery guys, they need roof lights, you just have to convince them and be able to deliver with the skills. Or how about prefab custom fit sub boxes for supercab pickups? I don't know what the state of the place is, but - in every change, there is an opportunity. Take some time out, take a deep breath, and look around you. If you were capable of earning that many trophies....you can't be *that* bad

Bret