After much soul searching I left a job as Regional Sales Manager for a major lawn & garden chemical company in 2005 and never looked back. My new fulltime job was Real Estate Investment (which I was already doing on the side since '97). I was tired of constantly being on the road away from my wife and we had a daughter that was about to be born and I refused to be an absentee father. My old job had a 6-figure annual salary with full benefits but it wasn't worth the sacrifices I was being forced to make. God has truly blessed me and I thank him each day for what he has done for me and my family and the opportunities he has made possible for us.

A non compete in AL isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. The crook that we bought our business from went 1/2 mile down the road a year later and opened a business to compete against us. I called our lawyer and he said we’d have to prove loss of income to get it to hold up in court. He hadn’t hurt our business at the time and never did and now he’s out of business.

Not worth the ink used to write on that expensive piece of paper.

Should have some plaintiff lawyer by here shortly to tell us we are wrong....

It’s your life make of it what you will.

Do what is best for you and yours! Good luck!

They have limits. I think one year is as long as it can be enforced. There are other limits as well, and if you signed the non compete before (even one day) you were officially employed by your company its not enforceable

If you're mechanically inclined and actually learn the trade instead of being a parts changer, you can make a very good living doing hvac work. My son is in the business, went out on his own several years ago and does very well. It is hot and brutal work in the summer time

From what field of work and into what field of work?

What line of work were you in?

I didn’t start work at Mercedes until I was 29. Been there over 22 years now.

Non competes are there to scare the employees to not try it. Legally it’s not gonna work except in a very rare circumstance. Dang I’m old I didn’t realize Mercedes had been here that long.

Yep. First customer ready vehicle rolled off line February 14,1997.

Then came Honda, then came Hyundai, somewhere in that mix the Toyota motor plant was built and now we're waiting on the Toyota manufacturing plant to be completed.
Automotive loves the Southeast.

I started climbing poles and digging holes at 19 years old.
Stayed in the same career for 30 years, even did the same thing in the military.
Some call that a rut, I call it an identity.

Haha.. it hasn’t been bad at all we usually get up eat breakfast, walk the dog and go fishing. Once summer vacation is over I find something to do nothing wrong with starting another career at 40.

I'm a house husband and Mr. Grandma! 😆
The only problem is that I seem to have more chores now than when I was working!

That’s the damn truth my chore list has doubled luckily I can take 🍺 breaks as needed lol

I dream sometimes about quitting my job, moving to the coast, buying a boat, and taking folks fishing everyday. I’ll never do it though, I’m not a risk taker when it comes to money. That’s why I’ll never be rich or do what i have actually wanted to do my whole life. Maybe in 17 years when i retire.

I burned out after 25 years in banking and finance and retired early. Got bored pretty quick and went and got my CDL. I haul parts to Shaw’s employer 5 days a week and am home every day. No stress, no employees, very few responsibilities, and a nice little paycheck that keeps me out of my actual retirement funds. I’ll do this until I get tired of it.

20 years on active duty, 24 years with defence contractor retired and happy