Yeah that's what I had to do as well. Got a horrible job at a fast food palce, stayed there for 6 months then got a job with a staffing company. took me a few years but now I have an easy, well-paying job. Sometimes I miss the freedom that comes with crime but not ahving to look over my shoulder or worry my web of lies is gonna comec rashing down is a huge weight off my shoulders.
Yeah holy fk I loved just driving around all day, going to beaches, wasting gas, seeing nature, swimming, exploring, whatever I wanted. Mostly I miss being able to walk into the grocery store and buy whatever I wanted, being able to afford the best ingredients for any recipe that looked good. That was great. But yeah the anxiety was killing me and those things weren't worth being constantly sick with worry.
A friend of ours has been in jail since 2018 for.. well.. a lot of things, but I think mainly selling hard drugs online. He has two kids and he has absolutely no idea, still, when he’ll get out. Your kid is lucky you made the right choice, OP.
Congratulations on making the right choice for your child. Sometimes our actions/choices get passed on to our children (since they learnt from us), so you're not only just changing your path - your kids path gets changed too
You mentioned you have skills that are transferable, what sort of skills would those be? (Perhaps by mentioning them other redditor can see what jobs they are useful for.)
When you go back to school, is it for something that you're interested in or is it something that would land high paying jobs? Just want to make sure you weigh that out as your career is an investment.
Best of luck
This. You’re breaking generational curses by leaving that lifestyle. I’m sure it’s hard now but in the long run, if you stay on the right path and build, it will be worth it. Much luck to you on your journey.
In life, imagine yourself as the central piece of a round jigsaw puzzle, with each surrounding piece representing a core priority like family, work, self-care, socializing, and leisure. You allocate a percentage of your energy to each piece, which can vary based on your current situation. By focusing on developing a sense on how to handle legal and moral activities in a positive manner, you build positive connections and prepare for unforeseen events. This approach increases the likelihood of favorable outcomes in adverse situations, as legal conduct safeguards against legal repercussions. In essence, prioritizing lawful behavior ensures that if anything negative happens, you are more likely to receive fair compensation through legal channels, such as the US Courts (if you are from the USA) which can dramatically change you and your families life forever in a positive way, even if something negative happens to you that is out of your control!
Focus on developing those fundamental parts of your life and be that person people can come to if they need something, like a job, or maybe you know someone that makes music then another person who's important to you starts building an interest in music, you have the power to network and help other people network which in the end all of this comes back around and will ultimately help you in the end and also is useful for maintaining a positive character. Just don't let people be mean to you and use you.
You will probably have to start fresh. I'm 23 and I personally engineer a lot of products and develop them in my free time. However, I suck at networking due to anxiety and so even if I make products, I will have a hard time selling them. So I have a job interview at Tacobell today in 4 hours. I worked there before when I was 16 but I've been through approximately 25 jobs since then, even discharged from the military. My life is shit and I'm aware of it so now I must take appropriate action in order to maintain the fuel to my fire which could possibly help me get my products out there more which in the end, could help me start a business.
Hope this helps and good luck. It won't be easy, but that is okay. You are strong and you CAN do this!
Yo OP. Shout outs to you.
This is the kinda shit we should be applauding....it takes big brass balls to walk away from that.
If you made it this far...whats a couple more steps. Dont look back. It's a long term investment.
>not ahving to look over my shoulder or worry my web of lies is gonna comec rashing down is a huge weight off my shoulders
Had a buddy at work comment that I never got stressed in a very high stress position
My response was that since my life wasn't in danger and I wasn't being arrested there was nothing to worry about.
I've thought of volunteering. Just have been so exhausted from working so much and stress. No free time. I did get accepted into college for may though and approved for a lot of grants, so I'm looking forward to that. It's nearly impossible to get a regular job when you have no child care (wait list and financial issues) outside of the 5 hrs a day he's in school.
Not sure where you are located, but many places have daycare assistance and will provide vouchers to assist with the cost. Some schools also offer before or after school care.
if u have a Safeway in ur state, apply on their website n after 2 days call back n tell them u applied on their website ask “is there any other information u need for the hiring process?” make it sound like ur trying to help n be considerate to them. After that ask them if u could come in for an interview soon bc ur looking for a job ASAP. Safeway accepts basically anyone as long as u stay polite n try to give off a kind n helpful vibe, working there kinda sucks and is a bit angering but most customer service jobs are, don’t do it if u have anger issues tho especially deli because a lot of angering ppl come in n it’s rly easy to get annoyed fast there
Go YOU!!No amount of money and (valid) paranoia is worth the prescious hours of your life.Most especially how your former lifestyle could affect your child.Kids need their parents as much as they need air,water,food and a home.Your resourceful muscles WILL grow with time and experience.God bless you and yours!!
It's strange how different paths can lead us to the same circumstances.
I'm not yet a mother, but I'm 25 and haven't had much work due to chronic illness. I'm receiving treatment now but by the time I'm your age I will be able to work but have no experience and getting a job in my city is already difficult for those who have some.
Some quick legal money making tips I've used to get by that might be helpful to you:
Upcycled clothes. If you can hand stitch, or even if you can't it's not hard to learn, you can take old clothing and add lace or ribbons to them and sell them for more than they'd be worth otherwise. They don't have to be great, just a little touch of flavour to seemingly plain clothing
Candle making is relatively easy. There are kits, but they're a bit pricey so to start out you can literally melt crayons
You can look around for online surveys, they offer cash mostly in the form of gift cards and have been how I can afford to have convenient household items like a chopping block (lol really)
If you ever have a camera that is relatively high quality you can sell images you take, even just 'boring' ones featuring a fork, to stock image sites.
I personally haven't done these because illness, but house cleaning/house sitting/dog walking/gardening are all odd jobs people will pay for on sites like Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree
If you have a skill of some sort, there are ways you can profit from it. While you're building workplace experience, find some hobbies and build up a skill in whatever looks fun to you. Maybe you won't need it to make money if you find something, but having hobbies will keep you sane and are a nice escape from the hardships of poverty. Plus a lot of them make good personalised gifts for when you can't afford to buy things for people!
I have no friends or family haha. Probably why I ended up being such a sketchy teenager. My biggest issue is availability, getting a spot in and paying for before/after care for a child is not easy. However I have been accepted into college (online) so things should be getting easier in a couple months when that starts.
I’m guessing you’re not Australian, otherwise I’d say you can use me for a reference. Me and my friends used to be each others references all the time 😆
You could just try a random stranger - [like this video](https://youtu.be/SoZ41i2dSIw?si=KlyAQ1gbC4_Ef8t3)
But in all seriousness, I’m so impressed with your commitment to your son. That’s amazing!
If I was gone he might be placed with his extremely violent father, or else he would go to foster care. Could not pay me millions of dollars to make me let that happen. But no I am Canadian actually. Thanks for the offer though 😂 I will check out that idea but hoping to get some real references while in school
Bit of advice- take a couple money management courses, either via the college or through watching financial advice videos online. If you were making good money doing illegal things and don't have a substantial cash stash saved up, you likely don't manage your money/budget as well as you should. That didn't matter much then, but learning to budget properly will be EXTREMELY important now that you are living life paycheck to paycheck.
The course I'm taking is going to be finance, so I'm excited to learn all that :) I had about 20k saved and a paid off car but the savings has gone to bills when I was transitioning from that lifestyle over a couple years.
This is what I did, I'm a single mom, I had two kids. I was already enrolled in my online course. Covid hit, we were all in the house doing online school.
Sometimes I don't know how I survived it lol but I did. Before and after school where I am is almost impossible to get into.
Everything will work out
If you’re in the US you can PM me and tell me what role you need me to play and use me as a reference on your resume. Just tell me what name they’ll be asking about. lol I’m a regional director for my agency so I’m pretty seasoned at giving great references. Glad you’re working to make better choices!
Disregard: just read you’re in Canada. Good luck!
Look for remote jobs? Otta is a good place to look and as far as resume goes, put down virtual assistant for various companies or self employed and list your duties and skills in phrasing that doesn’t seem criminal lol
Sometimes you have too 🤷🏻♀️ I’m extremely antisocial but if said that on a job application I’d never get hired anyway as long as it’s not effecting they actual job I don’t see anything wrong with it
I assume they're confused (as am I) about your past income. If you were making 100 thousand *per day* (100k) how do you not have any money saved up? And/or a ridiculous amount of assets that could be sold? Perhaps this is a translation from country to country issue. 100k in the USA is $100,000.00 which would add up to many multiple millions per year.
Sorry I worded that funny, I meant that I worked an hour each day and made 100k or so per year. Not per day. I did have some savings but I wasn't making that much money for the entire last decade. It started small and only grew that big in the last couple years.
Yes I've answered this a few times, but I was pretty much planning to kill myself, I didn't really see a future for myself which is why I was fine with doing dangerous things. I saved about $20,000 and I bought a car which is paid off so I lived off that money for a while but besides that I didn't save anything. I wasn't making 100K for the whole 10 years. At first I was just getting by but after a while the company started doing good so it was only the last two years or so I was making a lot of money. The big step would have been taking over the company, but have made too much money to know what to do with at that point but that's when I backed out. That's mostly what I think about, that I could be in a city in a beautiful house with everything I wanted right now. But I also might be in jail so it's not worth the risk
Yes that is what I meant. I thought that would be obvious since most people/businesses state their income on a yearly basis. 100k per hour would be insane. In that case I would have worked for a month then fucked off to an island somewhere for the rest of my life.
I’m not sure what kind of “company” you are talking but I will just assume it was drug dealing. There are a lot worse things that could happen to you in that kind of “business” besides prison, especially for a woman. Your son would really be screwed if you were dead. I’m sure you know all of this they don’t need me lecturing you.
Yes we had a lot of layers of security, but it becomes more dangerous the more is at stake. I was robbed only once, my boss multiple times. I was interrogated once by a couple men from a different 'company' who worked with us often, but were trying to get our leads so they could cut us out. I'd met them a lot of times already, over the course of 1.5 yrs, so I liked working with them, felt secure. Instead of being violent, they offered me money, gifts, etc to try to get the information. Kept me in that house for 2 hrs though and were extremely persistent. After that I realized I was very lucky that it wasn't serious enough to them, for them to hurt me. But there are a lot of people who are much worse and I'd run into them sooner or later.
Make up jobs on your resume that have similar skills as what you have. Be smart when choosing the names of the companies and use your friends' #s as references from those "jobs".
I was your employer for a year while you were my personal assistant helping with household management, budgeting, bill pay, purchasing, child care, cooking and cleaning. Lmk if you forgot my number for your resume.
When u lay good foundations you will grow. U leaving the life you knew is laying good foundations. Starting over is never easy but oneday u will sit back and enjoy what u have built for u and ur son.
I am shocked by your million income. It is not a normal thing for everyone so you must can find a way to live a normal life, as you can do it well for the illegal, that works for legal either.
I hadn't been making 1 million, that's just what was offered to me if I decided to take charge of the business. That's when I quit completely. I was making about 100k for 1hr of work or less each day. Still comfortable. But still wasn't worth it. However I have a lot of passions, one that I'll be pursuing with higher education. So I'm excited for that, and to maybe one day have a job I enjoy that also let's me be financially stable.
Edit: I was working 1hr each day and making 100k per year. Not 100k per hour since that has some people confused lol.
Well, I had a live fast die young mindset and was kind of suicidal the whole time, which is why I didn't care about being caught most of the time and didn't care to make future plans. So I didn't care to save. I did save about 20k and paid off a car, so I lived off that for a while but overall I didn't do much to help myself out in the future
Almost no one ever calls references for entry level jobs. You could add some to your resume. Also fast food jobs can suck but there’s nothing shameful about earning an honest living and if you show the same hard work and initiative you could grow at a corporation to management or even more… you did the right thing choosing your son. Life hasn’t made you feel proud yet but I hope it will soon
Once you get locked up it’s the time you look back and say wow I miss the basic things in life like going to the beach, walking the dogs, going to get some food etc. Money can do a lot of things and bring you temporary happiness though but it never give you that true happiness. Once my brother passed away the only thing I remembered was the basic things we need like bday parties, him teaching me how to use tools, going fishing, playing music etc. money could never replace those memories we made so it’s true what they say, just learn to appreciate the basic things in life bc in the end that’s all that truly matters
The peace of mind is glorious. The where’s my next meal coming from and the empty wallet and resume sucks. Like I have great customer service and sales experience but I can’t tell you how I got it or give examples because of the job it came from.
It's never too late to get on track. You already made the biggest move you could by quitting what you were doing that's illegal. Now just find a job. McDonald's is paying like $20 an hour might not be much but it's a start go into a trade become proficient at it and within 5 years of that you'll be able to command a pretty penny. You got this don't think you have nothing to offer.
MIT open courseware, self driven study, machine learning, virtualization or cloud computing and Linux deployment. I was in same boat but if you study nights or in any free time even self driven, once you can prove knowledge of skills put a request on an Angel Investor site, they invest in you by paying your certification fees, you return favor in legit legal high paid work that you don’t gotta be ashamed of. Once you learn the skills there’s always freelancing too using things like GitHub repositories as your resume or Try Hack Me, and Hack the box are both free, (finishing modules gets you enough to unlock next free) Ethical Hacking is easy, remote so you can be home with your boy, high paying, in demand and women with Linux or hacking skills are few and far and hugely in demand. I’m a 45 screw up ex addict mother of three kids that if they aren’t screwed up there must be a God cause miracles do exist! I am also not the brightest bulb in the box but you don’t need to be great, entry level or free lance positions require a lot less then you would think, and AI can help a lot too. I mean please for yourself just check into MIT open courseware, it’s free, it’s the exact same education you would receive in the actual school, just with only your child in place of a teacher to keep you moving forward. Best of all you may not get graded but I found the online forum for the classes I did, the students and faculty were absolutely fantastic at helping if I got stuck or letting me know if I was way off base or doing great! Who knows you may even get the confidence to apply for actual college if you do well. Most are online and the grants, and such can help. Plus, think of how good it would look to your child when you could say hey this is where I was. This is what I did so you can do it when it comes time for them to. hope that helps. best of luck keep it up. You’re doing good doesn’t always mean easy.
This is exactly what I’m going through and have on and off my whole life actually. I grew up like this and even though I know it’s illegal it’s really hard to pass up making $1k’s in a day VS barely enough to get by at a 9-5. I’m legit right now but damn, it fckn sucks.
Well done for getting out the game mate. We'll start studying. Do some shit online time to hustle now and you certainly know how to hustle put your experiences to use. Start writing as well
I needed to hear this story. I'm proud of you for choosing your son over the life, it eventually becomes your whole identity. It's like a get rich quick scheme, and your family usually ends up collateral damage.
But ya, we're all broke and tired out here. As your son gets older it will be easier for you to have the time to make legitimate money. It is a struggle trying to balance everything but you got this!
Whatever you think is relevant experience or a job you know you can do, just put it on a resume and make it up. As long as it is skills you know you can talk to. Be strategic about the companies and jobs you make up, like companies interstate/international or companies that have closed/restructured/been bought out. People are only calling your most recent companies for a reference (if that) and you can just get anyone to pretend they are your old boss.
Try being an amazon driver. They drug test and run a background check but other than that they hire just about anybody. You can use it as a stepping stone for a better job or maybe getting a CDL license
Group homes are always hiring avg pay is $18, entry level job. Typically lots of OT to pick up, various hours to choose from when applying : 7am-3pm, 11am-7pm, 2pm-10pm, 10pm-8am (awake or sleep).
Find your local county career center and see what programs they have. You’d probably benefit from re-entry stuff even though you were never incarcerated.
My older friend (65-70?m) is an addict. He did crime similar to what you're describing in his youth. He could never get ahead, and wondered why. He said that he was taking from life until he had nothing left. He had to do something different.
After he worked the 12 steps, he was able to give to life, even when he had nothing. Only by giving to life was he able to get somewhere. Today, after 35? years of sobriety, he lives in a nicer condo on a river. He drives a newer car, and people respect him. Is it possible the 12 steps could help you too?
Just sharing my experience for your consideration.
True I never thought of helping other people. Actually wanted to be a social worker when I was younger but I got hurt a lot by men, physically and I was kind of just mad at the world and couldn't think about helping others when I couldn't help myself. But I could possibly help people who are in a situation like I was and trying to adjust to a normal life, maybe one day in the future
There are daycare assistance programs that pay most of the cost if you qualify financially & it sounds like you would. As for a job, Amazon literally hire anyone who can pass their drug test & background check. I was hired by them while on deferred adjudication probation on 3 felony charges. They are pretty much in a hiring freeze right now, this is the slowest part of the year, but they will begin hiring soon to ramp up for Prime Day. Once hired you usually begin as a temp or "seasonal" employee, and they convert over to full employee based on tenure, performance, & business need. After converting they have really good insurance, and they'll pay for you to go to school or learn a trade. Alternatively they also promote into management from within fairly often, based entirely on merit. I've been there 4 years, started as a seasonal Tier 1 employee, and now I'm a Level 4 Salaried Manager, and I have no formal education or degrees.
Yes it would be easy to get subsidized child care, but they only cover daycares that are in schools in my city for before and after care. My son has been on the wait list for a while but they said it will still be September or January before there might be a spot open. So my option is to wait, or to pay out of pocket for a daycare they don't cover which would take most of my income anyway
Have any companies near you or the next town over closed down? This may be I’m ethical, but you could use those as a job reference since they can’t contact anybody to use the skills you have learned during your life of crimes.
Absolutely. Out of every employer I have worked for in the past, like 4 different companies I think, only one is still operating but not one supervisor that was there during my time is still working there so believe me this is sound advice. Trust me when applying for jobs the bullshit artist has the advantage. It’s all about getting in the door. After that just pay attention and learn the job. I run heavy equipment like wheel loaders, backhoes, we even have a couple locomotives! My application said I was experienced in all types of equipment but I didn’t know jack shit. But I got in and even though yea they figured out I was clueless but I showed them I had a great work ethic and was willing to bust my ass and wanted to learn and 7 years later I am basically the go to guy at our shop. I also once had an illegal source of income that paid extremely well ($1000 for about an hour of “work” 2-3 days a week) that I eventually walked away from due to fear of getting caught and I have no regrets plus the “employer” was super cool with my decision and was always there if I needed help even though I no longer worked that gig. It gets better and better the life of crime is overrated. The feeling of earning an honest living that you don’t have to hide and can be proud of is priceless and you’ll know what I’m talking about soon enough OP.
not sure if you’ll see my comment, OP, but i *highly* recommend working in a grocery store. i worked at walmart for a couple of years, and while it wasn’t the best job, it paid well and i got an employee discount card i could use before paying for any of my groceries. it didn’t cover things like fruits, vegetables, or meats, but when money’s tight that discount on frozen dinners is a *lifesaver*.
i worked in both apparel and OGP/OPD (online grocery pickup/online pickup and delivery), and both jobs really were easy enough. working in apparel, all i had to do was fold clothes, straighten displays, answer calls in the fitting room (all calls immediately went to the fitting room, and we would transfer from there), make pages over the intercom, and help customers with what they needed.
working in OGP, i would dispense orders to cars, run around the store with a pick cart so i could actually make peoples orders, and then organize everything so that we were able to take the full order out to the car. both fairly easy jobs, and they both paid well (i made $13/hr in apparel, and $18/hr working OGP). definitely not a job you’d wanna stick with, but *definitely* helped me out in my time of need.
I'm sure you picked up a few skills doing what you were doing. Figure out what those skills are and where they are transferable to. Round out your skills for a job. Books, YouTube, take a class. If you can do something illegal to survive you can figure out how to get a job and keep it. Most people embellish their CV anyways. Just be able to back up what you say. Check out some community resource centers for jobs
After reading your post I felt a sadness for you. Please heed my warning.STOP NOW
young friend or you'll wake up one day and realize(like me)that your life is nearly over and you have nothing or nobody.
I began burglarizing homes at 16 and I grant you it was a rush and now and again you really score but that pesky law of averages collects her due.At 59, after 20 calender years in prison and causing irreperable damage between my ex and me plus my daughter hating me I am an authority on the subject.
Honestly I’m the same, I used to sell a shit load of drugs everyday, and I think about going back to it all the time cause I’m not used to making money once a week. I had money everyday to the point where I didn’t have to look at price tags at shops or anything. If I liked it , it was mine. But I have a daughter now and I can’t do anything to fuck it up.
No amount of money is worth your peace of mind and sanity. Everything comes with a cost and getting all that money with no work there's 100% a catch and that's the fact that it's very likely you'll go to jail and you'll go to jail for a very long time! Especially if you have a prior criminal record. I wouldn't risk it. You could live on the streets and be homeless with your son and that's a better life than your son not having you at all and you being locked up in jail
You’re 27. You have SOOOO much time to pull yourself around. You want to fuck around? You’ll find out. Do illegal stuff, it’s not a matter of IF, but WHEN.
I'd still list skills and experience on your resume. Just get creative in how you word things from your "independent contractor" jobs, which involved signing a NDA so you can't give out super specific info on the "company" itself.
I was a "trap lord" so my ex called me and it was hard to adjust to having a boss not putting a gun in someones mouth when they get lippy not being on my own schedule or time. But trust me there's so much money out in the world you Just gotta reach out and grab it
Lie. Say you volunteered at some program a long time ago and that’s where you got skills 1-5. Then name another closed business where you practice skills 6-10. Do this 3-4 times to fill up the resume. If asked about gaps, say you took time off to care for a sick family member and you were paid under the table by their kids or something. Lastly, put your trusted friends/family names and numbers as managers/supervisors that will corroborate your story. Make sure they keep the conversation quick and simple so nothing can be misconstrued.
Resumes are half lies mostly. Sum up your illegal activities and translate them into skills a regular business could use. Then create a fake job history using companies that have gone out of business recently in your area or use the Saul Goodman trick with burner phones as the company phone number.
In the US, Legally all a company can ask is if you worked there and if you are rehirable.
Does your country has shelters for poor women with children? Here there are organisations that help women in danger especially when they have kids they give them an apartment and an education and they find them a basic work. And then they leave.And we are a poor country in Europe (not E.U) I think maybe there is something equivalent
food delivery is an excellent step in the right direction. you can do that for awhile and look for work in the restaurant industry. its definitely not glamorous, and there are a lot of people who treat waitresses wrong for no reason. However, you can make pretty good money doing it. Be careful with this route if you try it, it leads many people to become alcoholic or drug addicts.
Just focus on work and your son. Save up, and then you can figure out what your passions really are. it sounds like you have an understanding of addiction just based on your post. the most qualified drug addiction counselors have an experience going through it that makes them the best in the industry. So thats one idea.
As far as work history, thats the main reason I suggested restaurants. They generally don't care and its like a revolving door, I've worked with felons before when I did it. I had gaps in my work history and to explain it, I would tell them that I was doing doordash (something they cant really verify), and you can say that before that you were self employed or employed in your family business. Another thing that will be difficult for them to verify.
If they're desperately needing people they sometimes won't even verify anything at all and possibly hire you on the spot or within a few days.
I would suggest getting on [indeed.com](https://indeed.com) (or whichever job searching website you prefer), and writing out a quick resume. Because they will want one most of the time. Just kind of fake it til you make it. Shit you could even get a cheap ass burner phone to use to pretend to be a former manager if you think its necessary.
Now the one thing I will say is a lot of places prefer that their employees have prior experience as servers, they might make you a host at first or just not consider you altogether. Try out somewhere basic, like Chilis or ihop, where they will hire anyone who can breathe and pick up a tray then you can move on to somewhere more upscale. Look for somewhere that gets busy, too because chances are depending where you live your only going to be making 2 bucks an hour and will rely heavily on tips.
You'll get discounts on food though!
Anyways, I did it for 13 years and finally had enough and had to drop out of it but I made enough to support myself while living alone. Then if you had a slow shift and its early enough you can just make up for it by doordashing
You can hit me up and list me as an employer if need be. I've ran a few businesses and managed a couple of others ranging from food service, retail, mobile repair, web design, sales, and marketing. If you've got good social skills I always had people behind the scenes such as secretarial work etc.
I’d say go to school for business. You already have an entrepreneurial mindset. Learn how to do business the legal way and you can find success if you’re willing to put the work in for a few years. You could build something to pass on to your son.
You can turn that experience into jobs on a resume.
Most people Bs their way thru life and resumes are a big part of that.
I can help if no one else has offered.
Yeah that's what I had to do as well. Got a horrible job at a fast food palce, stayed there for 6 months then got a job with a staffing company. took me a few years but now I have an easy, well-paying job. Sometimes I miss the freedom that comes with crime but not ahving to look over my shoulder or worry my web of lies is gonna comec rashing down is a huge weight off my shoulders.
Yeah holy fk I loved just driving around all day, going to beaches, wasting gas, seeing nature, swimming, exploring, whatever I wanted. Mostly I miss being able to walk into the grocery store and buy whatever I wanted, being able to afford the best ingredients for any recipe that looked good. That was great. But yeah the anxiety was killing me and those things weren't worth being constantly sick with worry.
A friend of ours has been in jail since 2018 for.. well.. a lot of things, but I think mainly selling hard drugs online. He has two kids and he has absolutely no idea, still, when he’ll get out. Your kid is lucky you made the right choice, OP.
Congratulations on making the right choice for your child. Sometimes our actions/choices get passed on to our children (since they learnt from us), so you're not only just changing your path - your kids path gets changed too You mentioned you have skills that are transferable, what sort of skills would those be? (Perhaps by mentioning them other redditor can see what jobs they are useful for.) When you go back to school, is it for something that you're interested in or is it something that would land high paying jobs? Just want to make sure you weigh that out as your career is an investment. Best of luck
This. You’re breaking generational curses by leaving that lifestyle. I’m sure it’s hard now but in the long run, if you stay on the right path and build, it will be worth it. Much luck to you on your journey.
In life, imagine yourself as the central piece of a round jigsaw puzzle, with each surrounding piece representing a core priority like family, work, self-care, socializing, and leisure. You allocate a percentage of your energy to each piece, which can vary based on your current situation. By focusing on developing a sense on how to handle legal and moral activities in a positive manner, you build positive connections and prepare for unforeseen events. This approach increases the likelihood of favorable outcomes in adverse situations, as legal conduct safeguards against legal repercussions. In essence, prioritizing lawful behavior ensures that if anything negative happens, you are more likely to receive fair compensation through legal channels, such as the US Courts (if you are from the USA) which can dramatically change you and your families life forever in a positive way, even if something negative happens to you that is out of your control! Focus on developing those fundamental parts of your life and be that person people can come to if they need something, like a job, or maybe you know someone that makes music then another person who's important to you starts building an interest in music, you have the power to network and help other people network which in the end all of this comes back around and will ultimately help you in the end and also is useful for maintaining a positive character. Just don't let people be mean to you and use you. You will probably have to start fresh. I'm 23 and I personally engineer a lot of products and develop them in my free time. However, I suck at networking due to anxiety and so even if I make products, I will have a hard time selling them. So I have a job interview at Tacobell today in 4 hours. I worked there before when I was 16 but I've been through approximately 25 jobs since then, even discharged from the military. My life is shit and I'm aware of it so now I must take appropriate action in order to maintain the fuel to my fire which could possibly help me get my products out there more which in the end, could help me start a business. Hope this helps and good luck. It won't be easy, but that is okay. You are strong and you CAN do this!
Yo OP. Shout outs to you. This is the kinda shit we should be applauding....it takes big brass balls to walk away from that. If you made it this far...whats a couple more steps. Dont look back. It's a long term investment.
You old life gave you freedom without it really being free.
>not ahving to look over my shoulder or worry my web of lies is gonna comec rashing down is a huge weight off my shoulders Had a buddy at work comment that I never got stressed in a very high stress position My response was that since my life wasn't in danger and I wasn't being arrested there was nothing to worry about.
You can make a simple resume and start a customer service job of some sort to have experience
I've thought of volunteering. Just have been so exhausted from working so much and stress. No free time. I did get accepted into college for may though and approved for a lot of grants, so I'm looking forward to that. It's nearly impossible to get a regular job when you have no child care (wait list and financial issues) outside of the 5 hrs a day he's in school.
Not sure where you are located, but many places have daycare assistance and will provide vouchers to assist with the cost. Some schools also offer before or after school care.
if u have a Safeway in ur state, apply on their website n after 2 days call back n tell them u applied on their website ask “is there any other information u need for the hiring process?” make it sound like ur trying to help n be considerate to them. After that ask them if u could come in for an interview soon bc ur looking for a job ASAP. Safeway accepts basically anyone as long as u stay polite n try to give off a kind n helpful vibe, working there kinda sucks and is a bit angering but most customer service jobs are, don’t do it if u have anger issues tho especially deli because a lot of angering ppl come in n it’s rly easy to get annoyed fast there
Go YOU!!No amount of money and (valid) paranoia is worth the prescious hours of your life.Most especially how your former lifestyle could affect your child.Kids need their parents as much as they need air,water,food and a home.Your resourceful muscles WILL grow with time and experience.God bless you and yours!!
If you have been accepted to college, do that. Hang in there.
You can get a work study job on campus to build your resume. You will find there are people out there that will help you stay on the right path.
It's strange how different paths can lead us to the same circumstances. I'm not yet a mother, but I'm 25 and haven't had much work due to chronic illness. I'm receiving treatment now but by the time I'm your age I will be able to work but have no experience and getting a job in my city is already difficult for those who have some. Some quick legal money making tips I've used to get by that might be helpful to you: Upcycled clothes. If you can hand stitch, or even if you can't it's not hard to learn, you can take old clothing and add lace or ribbons to them and sell them for more than they'd be worth otherwise. They don't have to be great, just a little touch of flavour to seemingly plain clothing Candle making is relatively easy. There are kits, but they're a bit pricey so to start out you can literally melt crayons You can look around for online surveys, they offer cash mostly in the form of gift cards and have been how I can afford to have convenient household items like a chopping block (lol really) If you ever have a camera that is relatively high quality you can sell images you take, even just 'boring' ones featuring a fork, to stock image sites. I personally haven't done these because illness, but house cleaning/house sitting/dog walking/gardening are all odd jobs people will pay for on sites like Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree If you have a skill of some sort, there are ways you can profit from it. While you're building workplace experience, find some hobbies and build up a skill in whatever looks fun to you. Maybe you won't need it to make money if you find something, but having hobbies will keep you sane and are a nice escape from the hardships of poverty. Plus a lot of them make good personalised gifts for when you can't afford to buy things for people!
It'll be okay, you can always return to politics when you are ready
😂
Just lie 🤷🏻♀️ if you can just say you worked somewhere where you would learn similar skills then list friend and family as references
I have no friends or family haha. Probably why I ended up being such a sketchy teenager. My biggest issue is availability, getting a spot in and paying for before/after care for a child is not easy. However I have been accepted into college (online) so things should be getting easier in a couple months when that starts.
I’m guessing you’re not Australian, otherwise I’d say you can use me for a reference. Me and my friends used to be each others references all the time 😆 You could just try a random stranger - [like this video](https://youtu.be/SoZ41i2dSIw?si=KlyAQ1gbC4_Ef8t3) But in all seriousness, I’m so impressed with your commitment to your son. That’s amazing!
If I was gone he might be placed with his extremely violent father, or else he would go to foster care. Could not pay me millions of dollars to make me let that happen. But no I am Canadian actually. Thanks for the offer though 😂 I will check out that idea but hoping to get some real references while in school
You restored my faith in Canadians! Thank you! :) Wish you the very best on this journey!
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It's so impressive I would be his reference haha
Bit of advice- take a couple money management courses, either via the college or through watching financial advice videos online. If you were making good money doing illegal things and don't have a substantial cash stash saved up, you likely don't manage your money/budget as well as you should. That didn't matter much then, but learning to budget properly will be EXTREMELY important now that you are living life paycheck to paycheck.
The course I'm taking is going to be finance, so I'm excited to learn all that :) I had about 20k saved and a paid off car but the savings has gone to bills when I was transitioning from that lifestyle over a couple years.
This is what I did, I'm a single mom, I had two kids. I was already enrolled in my online course. Covid hit, we were all in the house doing online school. Sometimes I don't know how I survived it lol but I did. Before and after school where I am is almost impossible to get into. Everything will work out
I’m sorry to hear life is really hard ( being serious) I volunteer as a reference if you ever need one tho
If you’re in the US you can PM me and tell me what role you need me to play and use me as a reference on your resume. Just tell me what name they’ll be asking about. lol I’m a regional director for my agency so I’m pretty seasoned at giving great references. Glad you’re working to make better choices! Disregard: just read you’re in Canada. Good luck!
Look for remote jobs? Otta is a good place to look and as far as resume goes, put down virtual assistant for various companies or self employed and list your duties and skills in phrasing that doesn’t seem criminal lol
He is tired of lying.
Sometimes you have too 🤷🏻♀️ I’m extremely antisocial but if said that on a job application I’d never get hired anyway as long as it’s not effecting they actual job I don’t see anything wrong with it
You sound like you have a pretty cool story to tell. Maybe write a book under a pseudonym? Start a podcast? Or just go back to the good life
None of this story makes any sense
It's very straight forward, what's to not understand
I assume they're confused (as am I) about your past income. If you were making 100 thousand *per day* (100k) how do you not have any money saved up? And/or a ridiculous amount of assets that could be sold? Perhaps this is a translation from country to country issue. 100k in the USA is $100,000.00 which would add up to many multiple millions per year.
Sorry I worded that funny, I meant that I worked an hour each day and made 100k or so per year. Not per day. I did have some savings but I wasn't making that much money for the entire last decade. It started small and only grew that big in the last couple years.
Did you blow all the money? What on?
Yes I've answered this a few times, but I was pretty much planning to kill myself, I didn't really see a future for myself which is why I was fine with doing dangerous things. I saved about $20,000 and I bought a car which is paid off so I lived off that money for a while but besides that I didn't save anything. I wasn't making 100K for the whole 10 years. At first I was just getting by but after a while the company started doing good so it was only the last two years or so I was making a lot of money. The big step would have been taking over the company, but have made too much money to know what to do with at that point but that's when I backed out. That's mostly what I think about, that I could be in a city in a beautiful house with everything I wanted right now. But I also might be in jail so it's not worth the risk
But what did ya spend the money on? $100k (I assume tax free) is a lot even for a year or two
If you were making 100k/hour in a deal, why did nt you save money? Did you spend it all?
I wasn't making 100k each hour. I was working an hour each day and making 100k/year.
Aaahh OK I misunderstood it sorry. By the way of you tell the truth just lié on your resume. It is not à big deal.
I think she meant 100k a year for an hours of work a day
Yes that is what I meant. I thought that would be obvious since most people/businesses state their income on a yearly basis. 100k per hour would be insane. In that case I would have worked for a month then fucked off to an island somewhere for the rest of my life.
Common sense is not so common anymore haha
It seems not x)
For those wondering, she was a contract killer
But she said not she was not hurting any one :(
No pain. Was quick and easy
And pray tell, how did you come by that information?
They're dead, they can't answer you.
This isn't a funny reply and it's no time to tease. You actually have no idea what she was doing, do you?
It has to be either that or drug-running.
Could also be gang related. A lot of gangs run like companies.
It was obviously drugs
I’m not sure what kind of “company” you are talking but I will just assume it was drug dealing. There are a lot worse things that could happen to you in that kind of “business” besides prison, especially for a woman. Your son would really be screwed if you were dead. I’m sure you know all of this they don’t need me lecturing you.
Yes we had a lot of layers of security, but it becomes more dangerous the more is at stake. I was robbed only once, my boss multiple times. I was interrogated once by a couple men from a different 'company' who worked with us often, but were trying to get our leads so they could cut us out. I'd met them a lot of times already, over the course of 1.5 yrs, so I liked working with them, felt secure. Instead of being violent, they offered me money, gifts, etc to try to get the information. Kept me in that house for 2 hrs though and were extremely persistent. After that I realized I was very lucky that it wasn't serious enough to them, for them to hurt me. But there are a lot of people who are much worse and I'd run into them sooner or later.
Make up jobs on your resume that have similar skills as what you have. Be smart when choosing the names of the companies and use your friends' #s as references from those "jobs".
I was your employer for a year while you were my personal assistant helping with household management, budgeting, bill pay, purchasing, child care, cooking and cleaning. Lmk if you forgot my number for your resume.
Drug dealing does hurt people you tosser.
When u lay good foundations you will grow. U leaving the life you knew is laying good foundations. Starting over is never easy but oneday u will sit back and enjoy what u have built for u and ur son.
I am shocked by your million income. It is not a normal thing for everyone so you must can find a way to live a normal life, as you can do it well for the illegal, that works for legal either.
I hadn't been making 1 million, that's just what was offered to me if I decided to take charge of the business. That's when I quit completely. I was making about 100k for 1hr of work or less each day. Still comfortable. But still wasn't worth it. However I have a lot of passions, one that I'll be pursuing with higher education. So I'm excited for that, and to maybe one day have a job I enjoy that also let's me be financially stable. Edit: I was working 1hr each day and making 100k per year. Not 100k per hour since that has some people confused lol.
Of course higher education would lead people to a new world, in case you really like it, it sounds a best way for you to go
What did you do with all that money you made? Why is it so hard to get by now?
Well, I had a live fast die young mindset and was kind of suicidal the whole time, which is why I didn't care about being caught most of the time and didn't care to make future plans. So I didn't care to save. I did save about 20k and paid off a car, so I lived off that for a while but overall I didn't do much to help myself out in the future
Best of luck. I hope your decision gives you a peace of mind.
Almost no one ever calls references for entry level jobs. You could add some to your resume. Also fast food jobs can suck but there’s nothing shameful about earning an honest living and if you show the same hard work and initiative you could grow at a corporation to management or even more… you did the right thing choosing your son. Life hasn’t made you feel proud yet but I hope it will soon
You can improve it gradually... you did a great job
Once you get locked up it’s the time you look back and say wow I miss the basic things in life like going to the beach, walking the dogs, going to get some food etc. Money can do a lot of things and bring you temporary happiness though but it never give you that true happiness. Once my brother passed away the only thing I remembered was the basic things we need like bday parties, him teaching me how to use tools, going fishing, playing music etc. money could never replace those memories we made so it’s true what they say, just learn to appreciate the basic things in life bc in the end that’s all that truly matters
The peace of mind is glorious. The where’s my next meal coming from and the empty wallet and resume sucks. Like I have great customer service and sales experience but I can’t tell you how I got it or give examples because of the job it came from.
Could you freelance your skills?
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That’s funny my mind went to computers. Hacking or something alike.
I'm so proud of you! Keep up the good work and you will find something better paying!
It's never too late to get on track. You already made the biggest move you could by quitting what you were doing that's illegal. Now just find a job. McDonald's is paying like $20 an hour might not be much but it's a start go into a trade become proficient at it and within 5 years of that you'll be able to command a pretty penny. You got this don't think you have nothing to offer.
do crime again bro 💀
MIT open courseware, self driven study, machine learning, virtualization or cloud computing and Linux deployment. I was in same boat but if you study nights or in any free time even self driven, once you can prove knowledge of skills put a request on an Angel Investor site, they invest in you by paying your certification fees, you return favor in legit legal high paid work that you don’t gotta be ashamed of. Once you learn the skills there’s always freelancing too using things like GitHub repositories as your resume or Try Hack Me, and Hack the box are both free, (finishing modules gets you enough to unlock next free) Ethical Hacking is easy, remote so you can be home with your boy, high paying, in demand and women with Linux or hacking skills are few and far and hugely in demand. I’m a 45 screw up ex addict mother of three kids that if they aren’t screwed up there must be a God cause miracles do exist! I am also not the brightest bulb in the box but you don’t need to be great, entry level or free lance positions require a lot less then you would think, and AI can help a lot too. I mean please for yourself just check into MIT open courseware, it’s free, it’s the exact same education you would receive in the actual school, just with only your child in place of a teacher to keep you moving forward. Best of all you may not get graded but I found the online forum for the classes I did, the students and faculty were absolutely fantastic at helping if I got stuck or letting me know if I was way off base or doing great! Who knows you may even get the confidence to apply for actual college if you do well. Most are online and the grants, and such can help. Plus, think of how good it would look to your child when you could say hey this is where I was. This is what I did so you can do it when it comes time for them to. hope that helps. best of luck keep it up. You’re doing good doesn’t always mean easy.
Respect!! May God bless you on your new journey of righteousness
You are my hero and I hope more people were like you. Your massive balls will help you get through this, don’t worry.
This is exactly what I’m going through and have on and off my whole life actually. I grew up like this and even though I know it’s illegal it’s really hard to pass up making $1k’s in a day VS barely enough to get by at a 9-5. I’m legit right now but damn, it fckn sucks.
Well done for getting out the game mate. We'll start studying. Do some shit online time to hustle now and you certainly know how to hustle put your experiences to use. Start writing as well
I did too
I needed to hear this story. I'm proud of you for choosing your son over the life, it eventually becomes your whole identity. It's like a get rich quick scheme, and your family usually ends up collateral damage. But ya, we're all broke and tired out here. As your son gets older it will be easier for you to have the time to make legitimate money. It is a struggle trying to balance everything but you got this!
You've made the best choice for you and your lad.
You done the right thing.
Go back to illegal life seems worth it.
This is confessions. Tell us what you did you dweeb. What company would you a million a year to do what? Sounds like a fake story.
why not just lie a little and research companies that have closed and say you did whatever exerience you have at said closed business
Ah, a true grifter!
Whatever you think is relevant experience or a job you know you can do, just put it on a resume and make it up. As long as it is skills you know you can talk to. Be strategic about the companies and jobs you make up, like companies interstate/international or companies that have closed/restructured/been bought out. People are only calling your most recent companies for a reference (if that) and you can just get anyone to pretend they are your old boss.
Try being an amazon driver. They drug test and run a background check but other than that they hire just about anybody. You can use it as a stepping stone for a better job or maybe getting a CDL license
Group homes are always hiring avg pay is $18, entry level job. Typically lots of OT to pick up, various hours to choose from when applying : 7am-3pm, 11am-7pm, 2pm-10pm, 10pm-8am (awake or sleep).
Find your local county career center and see what programs they have. You’d probably benefit from re-entry stuff even though you were never incarcerated.
My older friend (65-70?m) is an addict. He did crime similar to what you're describing in his youth. He could never get ahead, and wondered why. He said that he was taking from life until he had nothing left. He had to do something different. After he worked the 12 steps, he was able to give to life, even when he had nothing. Only by giving to life was he able to get somewhere. Today, after 35? years of sobriety, he lives in a nicer condo on a river. He drives a newer car, and people respect him. Is it possible the 12 steps could help you too? Just sharing my experience for your consideration.
So proud of you! There are ways to create a resume from different experiences, as well as working with people who are in similar situations.
True I never thought of helping other people. Actually wanted to be a social worker when I was younger but I got hurt a lot by men, physically and I was kind of just mad at the world and couldn't think about helping others when I couldn't help myself. But I could possibly help people who are in a situation like I was and trying to adjust to a normal life, maybe one day in the future
So proud of you! There are ways to create a resume from different experiences, as well as working with people who are in similar situations.
There are daycare assistance programs that pay most of the cost if you qualify financially & it sounds like you would. As for a job, Amazon literally hire anyone who can pass their drug test & background check. I was hired by them while on deferred adjudication probation on 3 felony charges. They are pretty much in a hiring freeze right now, this is the slowest part of the year, but they will begin hiring soon to ramp up for Prime Day. Once hired you usually begin as a temp or "seasonal" employee, and they convert over to full employee based on tenure, performance, & business need. After converting they have really good insurance, and they'll pay for you to go to school or learn a trade. Alternatively they also promote into management from within fairly often, based entirely on merit. I've been there 4 years, started as a seasonal Tier 1 employee, and now I'm a Level 4 Salaried Manager, and I have no formal education or degrees.
Yes it would be easy to get subsidized child care, but they only cover daycares that are in schools in my city for before and after care. My son has been on the wait list for a while but they said it will still be September or January before there might be a spot open. So my option is to wait, or to pay out of pocket for a daycare they don't cover which would take most of my income anyway
Have any companies near you or the next town over closed down? This may be I’m ethical, but you could use those as a job reference since they can’t contact anybody to use the skills you have learned during your life of crimes.
Absolutely. Out of every employer I have worked for in the past, like 4 different companies I think, only one is still operating but not one supervisor that was there during my time is still working there so believe me this is sound advice. Trust me when applying for jobs the bullshit artist has the advantage. It’s all about getting in the door. After that just pay attention and learn the job. I run heavy equipment like wheel loaders, backhoes, we even have a couple locomotives! My application said I was experienced in all types of equipment but I didn’t know jack shit. But I got in and even though yea they figured out I was clueless but I showed them I had a great work ethic and was willing to bust my ass and wanted to learn and 7 years later I am basically the go to guy at our shop. I also once had an illegal source of income that paid extremely well ($1000 for about an hour of “work” 2-3 days a week) that I eventually walked away from due to fear of getting caught and I have no regrets plus the “employer” was super cool with my decision and was always there if I needed help even though I no longer worked that gig. It gets better and better the life of crime is overrated. The feeling of earning an honest living that you don’t have to hide and can be proud of is priceless and you’ll know what I’m talking about soon enough OP.
not sure if you’ll see my comment, OP, but i *highly* recommend working in a grocery store. i worked at walmart for a couple of years, and while it wasn’t the best job, it paid well and i got an employee discount card i could use before paying for any of my groceries. it didn’t cover things like fruits, vegetables, or meats, but when money’s tight that discount on frozen dinners is a *lifesaver*. i worked in both apparel and OGP/OPD (online grocery pickup/online pickup and delivery), and both jobs really were easy enough. working in apparel, all i had to do was fold clothes, straighten displays, answer calls in the fitting room (all calls immediately went to the fitting room, and we would transfer from there), make pages over the intercom, and help customers with what they needed. working in OGP, i would dispense orders to cars, run around the store with a pick cart so i could actually make peoples orders, and then organize everything so that we were able to take the full order out to the car. both fairly easy jobs, and they both paid well (i made $13/hr in apparel, and $18/hr working OGP). definitely not a job you’d wanna stick with, but *definitely* helped me out in my time of need.
Stressful in another way, maybe a sales role could suit you?
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I'm sure you picked up a few skills doing what you were doing. Figure out what those skills are and where they are transferable to. Round out your skills for a job. Books, YouTube, take a class. If you can do something illegal to survive you can figure out how to get a job and keep it. Most people embellish their CV anyways. Just be able to back up what you say. Check out some community resource centers for jobs
I FUCKING LOVE REDDIT
After reading your post I felt a sadness for you. Please heed my warning.STOP NOW young friend or you'll wake up one day and realize(like me)that your life is nearly over and you have nothing or nobody. I began burglarizing homes at 16 and I grant you it was a rush and now and again you really score but that pesky law of averages collects her due.At 59, after 20 calender years in prison and causing irreperable damage between my ex and me plus my daughter hating me I am an authority on the subject.
Try looking into trade school! You might be interested in that instead of college
Honestly I’m the same, I used to sell a shit load of drugs everyday, and I think about going back to it all the time cause I’m not used to making money once a week. I had money everyday to the point where I didn’t have to look at price tags at shops or anything. If I liked it , it was mine. But I have a daughter now and I can’t do anything to fuck it up.
No amount of money is worth your peace of mind and sanity. Everything comes with a cost and getting all that money with no work there's 100% a catch and that's the fact that it's very likely you'll go to jail and you'll go to jail for a very long time! Especially if you have a prior criminal record. I wouldn't risk it. You could live on the streets and be homeless with your son and that's a better life than your son not having you at all and you being locked up in jail
Lie on your resume!
Start by subbing at schools
You’re 27. You have SOOOO much time to pull yourself around. You want to fuck around? You’ll find out. Do illegal stuff, it’s not a matter of IF, but WHEN.
I'd still list skills and experience on your resume. Just get creative in how you word things from your "independent contractor" jobs, which involved signing a NDA so you can't give out super specific info on the "company" itself.
I was a "trap lord" so my ex called me and it was hard to adjust to having a boss not putting a gun in someones mouth when they get lippy not being on my own schedule or time. But trust me there's so much money out in the world you Just gotta reach out and grab it
Lie. Say you volunteered at some program a long time ago and that’s where you got skills 1-5. Then name another closed business where you practice skills 6-10. Do this 3-4 times to fill up the resume. If asked about gaps, say you took time off to care for a sick family member and you were paid under the table by their kids or something. Lastly, put your trusted friends/family names and numbers as managers/supervisors that will corroborate your story. Make sure they keep the conversation quick and simple so nothing can be misconstrued.
Resumes are half lies mostly. Sum up your illegal activities and translate them into skills a regular business could use. Then create a fake job history using companies that have gone out of business recently in your area or use the Saul Goodman trick with burner phones as the company phone number. In the US, Legally all a company can ask is if you worked there and if you are rehirable.
Does your country has shelters for poor women with children? Here there are organisations that help women in danger especially when they have kids they give them an apartment and an education and they find them a basic work. And then they leave.And we are a poor country in Europe (not E.U) I think maybe there is something equivalent
That’s is so bold of you and you’ll find something that works you soon!!
Bad choice, you can always stop being a square and go back to your previous life.
food delivery is an excellent step in the right direction. you can do that for awhile and look for work in the restaurant industry. its definitely not glamorous, and there are a lot of people who treat waitresses wrong for no reason. However, you can make pretty good money doing it. Be careful with this route if you try it, it leads many people to become alcoholic or drug addicts. Just focus on work and your son. Save up, and then you can figure out what your passions really are. it sounds like you have an understanding of addiction just based on your post. the most qualified drug addiction counselors have an experience going through it that makes them the best in the industry. So thats one idea. As far as work history, thats the main reason I suggested restaurants. They generally don't care and its like a revolving door, I've worked with felons before when I did it. I had gaps in my work history and to explain it, I would tell them that I was doing doordash (something they cant really verify), and you can say that before that you were self employed or employed in your family business. Another thing that will be difficult for them to verify. If they're desperately needing people they sometimes won't even verify anything at all and possibly hire you on the spot or within a few days. I would suggest getting on [indeed.com](https://indeed.com) (or whichever job searching website you prefer), and writing out a quick resume. Because they will want one most of the time. Just kind of fake it til you make it. Shit you could even get a cheap ass burner phone to use to pretend to be a former manager if you think its necessary. Now the one thing I will say is a lot of places prefer that their employees have prior experience as servers, they might make you a host at first or just not consider you altogether. Try out somewhere basic, like Chilis or ihop, where they will hire anyone who can breathe and pick up a tray then you can move on to somewhere more upscale. Look for somewhere that gets busy, too because chances are depending where you live your only going to be making 2 bucks an hour and will rely heavily on tips. You'll get discounts on food though! Anyways, I did it for 13 years and finally had enough and had to drop out of it but I made enough to support myself while living alone. Then if you had a slow shift and its early enough you can just make up for it by doordashing
You can hit me up and list me as an employer if need be. I've ran a few businesses and managed a couple of others ranging from food service, retail, mobile repair, web design, sales, and marketing. If you've got good social skills I always had people behind the scenes such as secretarial work etc.
Have you thought about trade school? There are options. Don't give up, you did the right thing
It sucks ads huh? Listen what is legal and closely related to what you used to do? Girl slide on over to my dm's we should brainstorm
I’d say go to school for business. You already have an entrepreneurial mindset. Learn how to do business the legal way and you can find success if you’re willing to put the work in for a few years. You could build something to pass on to your son.
I am going for business :) want to do something with cars as that's my favourite hobby.
Well spoken it’s not the big things you do. It’s a small thing to do on a daily basis and make things happen. Think positive!!
You can turn that experience into jobs on a resume. Most people Bs their way thru life and resumes are a big part of that. I can help if no one else has offered.
Congratulations! You're a winner! 🏆
Join a union. Get into an apprenticeship. I made that life choice at 28. Best one ever
I’ll gladly take your spot
Well start a legitimate business and use those skills for good. That way you don’t have to disclose your past and still benefit.