a setback for the new Michigan and Great Lakes layout. - Maybe not so much anymore!

Good luck on your new business venture!  You will do fine!  Matt

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

"....I still will be involved with model RRing.  I will build a small diorama to hone my modeling skills, and use it for model RR photography.  I hope to be posting great photos to the Sunday Scenic showcase here very soon.  "

There you go!

Good luck.

Good luck Jim.

Making a decision like changing career paths is scary. You had the stuff to make the hard decision and I sincerely hope you do well. As for keeping up with model railroading, I suggest looking for a club in your area. That will allow you to run your trains, keep up with the hobby while providing comradery with your fellow members.

Best of luck to you in your new endeavor.

Good luck in your new business!

By the way, pet photography especially portraits are big money at least around here.

Best of luck, Jim! If the 765 picture I purchased from you is any indication, you definitely have the talent to do this.

I am sending you an email...

Best of luck to you. Sounds like a good plan....

Best of luck to you. I am glad you are not putting us on a side track during your upcoming career changes as I really enjoy your posts.

You are smart to keep your day job until you have a sufficient client base to pay the bills.

Wish you all the best.  Glad you will still be in the hobby and active on the forum.

Art

Jim....glad you have made this decision!  I remember when we talked months ago about marketing and advertising with OGR, you were trying to decide when/if you were going this route so sounds like you are taking the plunge!!  I have emailed you so I am ready to help all I can to assist you in making this a success!!

Alan

Thank you for the kind words everyone.  I wish I could pull the plug on my job today, but I need to ensure my family is taken care of before I leave that position.

I think it is realistic to think that 3 to 5 years I can be doing photography as my primary income, and maybe supplement it working part time somewhere else if I need too.

Alan I will get back too you on what talked about soon!  

Good luck with following your dream.  I was what you call a "tree hugger".  I stayed with the same company for 36 1/2 years.

.....

Dennis

You'll do great! Enjoy your new endeavor. Lots of folks wish that they had the moxie to make a big change in their lives, you are doing it. At 54 years old I quit my job and went back to school to become a chef. It didn't work out but I am extremely happy that I did it.

Good luck with your photography from someone who did the same thing back in the 70's when 120 Kodak film was the best and only way to go.

Before Digital, when you had rolls of 35 and 120 film and a big cost to get developed you had better make sure you got the shot right. Let's just say it did not work out the way I would have liked, but I never gave that hobby up.

I did a lot of train and young children's sports back then, now I still do trains and general stuff.

I wish you all the best of luck and I hope you just keep doing what you love and it will all work out for you,  keep the passion and the love and you will succeed.

Keep us posted on your endeavor and again Good Luck!

Rich in NH

I have been with the same company for almost 18 years.  I have a degree in engineering that I have never used, and honestly by the time I was in my last year of college I didn't want to do it anymore.  

Photography is a hard space to enter.  Either someone has a DSLR and thinks they are great photographer, or someone has an iPhone and is perfectly happy with what it produces.  I think I have a good sold marketing plan.  As much as I love photographing trains, it is nothing I can even come close to making a living on.  

It makes good sense for anyone to keep the hobby at a level which is manageable with the other priorities in your life. Best of luck with your ventures.

Jim, all the best to you. Keep us posted as your career progresses please.

I just retired in June of this year.  Stayed with my employer for 33 years.  Matt

Jim,

  Best of luck in your ventures.

Make sure you stick around on the forum.

Alex

Alex

Not leaving the forum of the hobby anytime soon.  Just scaling back.

Best of luck. I have been self employed for 41 years, it's not all been great, but most of it has. When you go to bed each night you know that right or wrong you have made the best decision that you could make with the knowledge that you had available to you at that given time. Yes, you're decision.

Brad

best of luck to you! i have been self employed for 38 years and other than a few times especially when i first started did  i questioned my sanity (most people who know me question it all the time) i never regretted  doing it. best advise i can give you is to watch you expenditures closely. its easy to overextend yourself in the beginning. work hard and the results will pay off.....

Good luck, I'm sure you'll come out swinging.

You can always have a carpet layout around your feet while you shoot those photos.

Hi Jim,  My collection of your train photos almost got me kicked out of the Crappiest Basement Society.  They look awesome.... 

Your photos are excellent.  As a small business owner I know that it isn't just the craft you have to worry about it is so much more.  Most of it centers around marketing and execution.  I saw your website which is a great marketing beginning and I know your follow through skills on sales which is what execution is all about.  The final tip is passion.  Love what you do and it will all work out....

I wish you the best. 

Good Luck Jim! Change is exciting and invigorating!!

I was sitting down at my desk editing some photos after the kids went to bed tonight and came up with a way to keep a layout, and keep the room for a studio!  

There is a short but wide "hallway" that goes behind the stairs to the basement.  It is where I have my computer desk, printers, and camera equipment now.  I was thinking that I could move all the computer stuff into the room where the studio is going and build a nice switching layout in its place.  The computer and desk would easily fit into the studio and I would have a nice 15 ft by 4 ft section to build a switching layout.  

Sounds like a doable plan......kills two birds with one stone and more importantly, gives you somewhere to blow off steam......pun intended!

-Pete