Thanks for all the replies. I had no idea this would be so interesting when I started this thread. I'll elaborate a little more on my career.
I started working at 10 years old pulling weeds in rice fields, and worked my way through college doing that. I loved farming and wanted to be a rice farmer.
My first 2 years after college, I worked at the LSU Rice Research station doing research on rice fertilization. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot, but wasn't really happy there.
After that, I worked for 3 years as Farm Manager at the UL Lafayette model farm. That was fun too, but I really wasn't happy there either.
Then, I got a job at a large farm supply company and worked as a dispatcher and salesman for 5 years, then they moved me to manager of one of their stores in a small town. That was lots of fun too, but I was tired of working for others, and wanted to own my own business. So, after 16 years with that company, I bought an existing lawn care business.
Three days after buying the lawn care business, I figured out the business did not exist. I hired a lawyer and filed criminal charges against the seller, and ended up getting my money back. Then, now at age 43, I started knocking on doors and finding work for my lawn care business.
Now, 18 years later, I no longer mow lawns, but we still do a little bit of landscaping. Most of my work is with high schools, universities, and municipalities doing athletic field maintenance and renovations and construction. I call this my version of farming. I get to plant, grow, fertilize, spray the fields, just like if I were farming crops. The big differences in what I do vs. traditional farming, is that I can name my price. And I don't harvest anything.
I really enjoy my work now, especially when I can spend a day spraying fields, or laser grading on my tractor.
And I am rich beyond my dreams. I don't have a lot of money, but I have lots of happiness, and that makes me feel very successful.
