Your missed opportunities?

[imoldernu]

Anyrhing other than financial instruments...

Businesses or careers that you had an opportunity devote your w*rking years to, as an occupation or active manager or owner, but not as an investor only.

Mine came after a career in retailing, when I opened my own business in what was then, brand new... Computerized Signs. Begun with the idea of opening franchises. It was in 1985, at the same time as when "FASTSIGNS" was beginning as a two man business, and which pretty much followed my own business plan, and now has more than 500 franchises. They were on a fast track and opened their first franchise in less than a year after "learning" the business. My own expansion was in the final planning process, two years later, when stopped by a health issue. (that prompted my happy retirement)

The second, wasn't really a business at all, but an opportunity to buy a 250 year old house for $30,000, and which sold a few years ago for $1.6 MIllion, and is now a bed and breakfast where a weekly rental is as high as $8400.
I've posted it before, and recently found some pictures from the time we lived in it, there on Martha's Vineyard in 1960 through 1964. The 1720 House - Home.

And the last... was an ill fated attempt (along w/BIL) to launch "The National Worry Bureau" (sigh)... precursor to Facebook... way back in 1971... and thereby hangs another tale...

A thousand other Imaginatideas but these were the most fun.

What was/were your missed opportunity(ies)?

 

[NW-Bound]

Nothing much to add, as I did get myself involved in a couple of ventures, which ended up costing me money. I would be significantly better off financially by now, if I stayed with megacorp. Bigger 401k, pension, no missed income.

On the other hand, staying with megacorp might have driven me insane, or to a heart attack.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Did not go with my High School buddies to Woodstock. I stayed home and worked.

 

[Walt34]

On the other hand, staying with megacorp might have driven me insane, or to a heart attack.

There's not much future in that so apparently you made the right choice.

I decided what I wanted to do right out of high school and pursued that. No regrets. All in all very rewarding although not so much financially - I'll never be able to sail around the world but neither was that ever a goal - but better off than lots of folks.

 

[NW-Bound]

There's not much future in that so apparently you made the right choice.

The truth is that if I did not hang out with groups of friends who were bigger risk takers, I would not take the jump. By myself, I am not the really gungho type who takes the initiative.

And if I did not have what I perceived as a better option, I would have stayed at megacorp, complained bitterly while there, and survived it till early retirement just like so many others. Many wished to have that opportunity. But I thought the grass was greener elsewhere.

But if I saw that my friends were doing things that they liked while I was stuck at megacorp, that feeling of frustration would be what caused me the heart attack or insanity.

It was the curse of having more than one option.

 

[woodguy00]

Turned down a job offer at Microsoft headquarters in 1987.

 

[Moemg]

I also missed Woodstock because I did not like camping . My friends returned filled with complaints about the conditions . I wonder how they tell the story of Woodstock now ?

 

[Bestwifeever]

August 15, 1966, last Beatles concert in Washington DC. My best friend surprised me with tickets. My parents made me miss it.

 

[Walt34]

August 15, 1966, last Beatles concert in Washington DC. My best friend surprised me with tickets. My parents made me miss it.

I was there, my sister's friend couldn't go so they gave the ticket to me.

You didn't miss anything. All I heard was silly girls screaming and the stage was so far away one needed a telescope. Complete waste of time.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I was there, my sister's friend couldn't go so they gave the ticket to me. You didn't miss anything. All I heard was silly girls screaming and the stage was so far away one needed a telescope. Complete waste of time.

Hilarious if you used my ticket! I would have been one of the silly girls screaming.

 

[Sarah in SC]

A friend and I were walking along the Boothbay Harbor waterfront when we were about 17 years old. A huge beautiful wood sailboat was docked there, and we couldn't help but notice the crew was entirely made up of very hot young blonde Scandinavian-looking guys.

And one 19 year old girl.

We stopped to talk to her and she said she was the cook, and that she'd gotten on board back in England with no experience at crewing, and it was a great ship and tons of fun. They were heading down the coast to the Bahamas after a few more days in port, and she said they were looking for a few more crew, if we were interested, she'd put in a good word for us.

We said no, we had school to get back to at the end of the summer.

And I still regret it.

 

[2B]

A friend and I were walking along the Boothbay Harbor waterfront when we were about 17 years old. A huge beautiful wood sailboat was docked there, and we couldn't help but notice the crew was entirely made up of very hot young blonde Scandinavian-looking guys.

And one 19 year old girl.

Did she happen to tell you all the guys were gay?

 

[Sarah in SC]

Did she happen to tell you all the guys were gay?

She gave us enough information to suggest entirely the opposite!

 

[Dreamer]

I am posting this for my DH, not me. Everytime that he sees a classic car selling for an extravagant amount, he says I owned a car like that or I could have bought a car like that, back in the day. I finally told him that I could have bought Microsoft or Apple stock back in the day also. If we had both been so smart back then, we would be multi-millionaires by now!

I really wish I could have been at Woodstock, so I feel for you, Cut-Throat!

 

[2B]

She gave us enough information to suggest entirely the opposite!

I'm sure if you went it would have just ruined your life.

 

[calmloki]

Back in the early eighties I sent off for the real estate prospectus on an old railroad hotel that had been used as a school for a while and had fallen into grand disrepair: one of the selling features was the three foot (!) deep mine of guano in the attic. No way we could have stayed in the bidding or kept it from falling into further disrepair with our finances, but what a dream! Deep pockets are doing cool things with it: Montezuma Castle (hotel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Another time I was hot for an ex-Air Force radar base in the the northern nowhere corner of Oregon: Condon Air Force Station (OR, USA) Coulda bought that one, and thought selling the dozen plus homes to California retirees would leave me with the base buildings and land. But Condon? Visited recently and the houses are being lived in and sold, but it's a desolate reclusive location - and the base was all heated from a central boiler pumping steam through 6" asbestos wrapped pipes on stands. Yikes.

More recently McAfee auctioned off his place in Rodeo NM: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/business/economy/31mcafee.html?_r=0 Could have gone all in on that - the house alone sold for about $200k AIR, but Rodeo?

Something wrong with me - if I was the right religion and could muster up a few miracles I could be the patron saint of absurd and crumbling lost cause real estate adventures. (I also love driving around in Bombay Beach and Salton City) Ruins of Bombay Beach - Niland, CA

 

[daylatedollarshort]

A former neighbor offered to make us a special dinner for our anniversary at the restaurant where he was the head chef. We thanked him for the thought but declined because the restaurant was so expensive.

The next year, after we moved to a different state, I read a magazine article naming him one of the ten best chefs in America. We had no idea. We passed up the opportunity of a lifetime.

Oh, well. They were very nice neighbors so we got to enjoy their company if not the husband's culinary expertise.

One of our kids continually reminds me that some of the Star Wars toys I coaxed him into donating to his old preschool are now collectors items. Our kids had so many toys growing up we would have needed a storage unit if they never gave any away.

 

[Bikerdude]

One of our kids continually reminds me that some of the Star Wars toys I coaxed him into donating to his old preschool are now collectors items. Our kids had so many toys growing up we would have needed a storage unit if they never gave any away.

I would have an additional million if my Mother hadn't thrown out my baseball cards.

 

[Koolau]

Did not go with my High School buddies to Woodstock. I stayed home and worked.

SHhhhhhhh! Don't tell everyone. Just say, "Yeah, I was there with some of my buddies!" I've heard that, if all those claiming to have been at Woodstock had actually been there, the crowd would have been in the few millions instead of the few hundreds of thousands. Why not you Bragging rights are just as good if they are true or false (at least if you bought the album and saw the movie, heh, heh.) YMMV

 

[rockyj]

There are so many might have beens,
What ifs that won't stay buried,
Other cities, other jobs,
Strangers we might have married.


And memory insists on pining
For places it never went,
As if life would be happier
Just by being different.


From Summer Storm, a poem by Dana Gioia

 

[harley]

I didn't go with Sarah on the Mongolian Rally trip. Totally wimped out.

 

[Malcolm2]

There are so many might have beens,
What ifs that won't stay buried,
Other cities, other jobs,
Strangers we might have married.


And memory insists on pining
For places it never went,
As if life would be happier
Just by being different.


From Summer Storm, a poem by Dana Gioia

+1, at least. Thanks for that!

 

[brewer12345]

In 2000 DW and I went on vacation in Vieques for the first time. The Navy was still present and land was dirt cheap, although it was clear that the Navy would be taking off pretty soon. I should have liquidated everything I owned and bought land, but I was on another path at the time. Now I can't really afford to even go there as a renter/vacationer. Ah well, it all worked out in the end.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I didn't go with Sarah on the Mongolian Rally trip. Totally wimped out.

Haha! There's still time for you to come along in 2015 when we make the Pan-American run to Ushuaia. Maybe the Darien Gap section over to Colombia if nothing else!

 

[harley]

Haha! There's still time for you to come along in 2015 when we make the Pan-American run to Ushuaia. Maybe the Darien Gap section over to Colombia if nothing else!

I think I'm probably going to regret missing that one too.