How do I turn Detecting into a career?

[sonofamahalla]

I've kept records, done the math, and even gold nugget hunting isn't gonna make you an income you can live off here in Colorado. I can make it to the gold areas about four months out of the year in my 4X4, longer if I had horses. On a good day I MIGHT find 2 grams of nuggets, worth around $100. Subtract fuel costs and that leaves maybe $65. I can get away from the house one full day out of the week. That makes my total profit for the month $260. That's a tad over $1000 per average year. That's enough for ONE mortgage payment on my house and maybe a nice dinner......

Dusty

I was hoping someone would chime in on nugget hunting, since it's something I know nothing about. Thanks dusty!

Let's say you quit your day job, and instead of going out one day a week, you went out 6 days a week. I would assume that 6 full days of hunting is about all one could manage physically with one day off, but correct me if I'm wrong and you think it would be possible to go out all 7 days a week. Nobody said this was going to be fun, it's a job now

You also said a GOOD day is 2 grams, and I'm sure there's days you'll get skunked, too. So let's average out to, say, one gram per day? Does that sound reasonable? So now you're looking at 6g/week or 24g/month or $1200/month.

You said you can only get out to the gold areas four months out of the year? Why is that?

Let's go so far as to say you get out there 6 months out of the year. You're now looking at $7200/year, or about the same as working part-time at McDonalds for a year. Except that you're doing manual labor, 6 days a week, and that's *before* gas, MD batteries, and other associated expenses. If, somehow, you can get out there year-round (and weather doesn't stop any of your 6 days/week), you're now looking at making about the same as a full-time job at McDonalds, but BEFORE expenses, and working MORE hours.

So when you say you can make a living with just a MD, define "living".

Even 'Small Nuggets', especially in quartz or in 'odd' formations can bring in anywhere from $2000 to $10000 per OUNCE. Specimen Nuggets is where the money's at. Although rare, some VERY nice ones have been found in the Dakota's, but it's places like Alaska, California, Nevada, British Columbia and of Course Victoria (Australia) that produces the Unique and Highly sought after 'Specimen Nuggets'. Finding OLD 'Drag-lines' and 'Tailing Piles' is the ticket in Nevada, while anywhere in that 70 x 20 Kilometer 'Zone' in Northern Australia is key. All you need is 'TIME' and the 'WILL' of which some of us just don't have....

 

[gtoast99]

OK first and FOREMOST can you PLEASE stop with THE random CAPITALIZATION. I normally don't point out spelling and grammar mistakes, as they're not relevant to the merit of one's arguments, but in this case it's making it rather hard to read with a straight face.

DUDE! The guy isn't climbing EVEREST or opening a freakin' RESTAURANT

It's called an analogy.

But you're right, climbing Mt. Everest to illustrate the difference between a goal and a plan might not have been the best choice for a professional treasure hunter. Since 1953, more than 1400 people have climbed Mt. Everest, which is considerably higher than the number of successful professional metal detectorists.

-A steady Income from "FULLY PAID" Rental Property so you can afford to stay in Any State, Country or Otherwise.
-ZERO DEBT with some savings for some 'Up-Front' expenses
-A vehicle that is paid for..
-Metal Detecting Equipment that is already paid for.

Sooooo.... the plan isn't to be a professional detectorist at all. The plan is to be successful at something else long enough to pay off your house, car, all other debts, and then rent your house and travel the world in a van looking for lost objects.

Essentially, the plan is to retire. In that case, there's lots of professional metal detectorists!! HAHA

Oh, and while this may be a good start, it still isn't a plan on how to be a professional treasure hunter. It tells us how to become financially independent, which is a good basis for anyone, especially before starting a new business. But it doesn't say anything about how and where to find enough treasure to put food on the table (remember, MD'ing make significantly less than minimum wage), how to find the big ticket items with significant frequency, how to avoid depleting those big ticket items in a given location, expected costs associated with travel and lodging, expected frequency of clad jewelry and large value finds. So again, it's not a business plan for the professional treasure hunter, it's simply the start of a retirement plan.

By living in 'Simple Dwellings', you could EASILY save enough to take short (or extended) trips to Countries like Australia, the UK, Indonesia, Greece, CUBA, you name it!

You forget that he's making less than minimum wage (as again, besides shipwrecks or the occasional cache, I've yet to see anyone make anywhere close to minimum wage with a MD. Affording food and gas on less than minimum wage will be a challenge, let alone saving up airfare to Australia.

Who wants to live in Suburbia when you can live and detect literally ANYWHERE you choose!

When I retire, I'll become a "professional" too

 

[ohiochris]

Not trying to start an argument or anything, but to all of you who think that it cannot be done, you need to check out this thread.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=40460

.

Im not gonna actually "say" that there may be something wrong with this story or the pics , but routinely on a fishing website that I am a member of , some people tell incredible stories and post edited , or exaggerated pics of their catches.......or use someone elses picture altogether. Some have even spun elaborate tales and had many fooled for months. Generally , if something looks unbelievable , thats your gut telling you that things may not be as they seem.

If it is real though , thats awesome.

 

[gtoast99]

Im not gonna actually "say" that there may be something wrong with this story or the pics , but routinely on a fishing website that I am a member of , some people tell incredible stories and post edited , or exaggerated pics of their catches.......or use someone elses picture altogether. Some have even spun elaborate tales and had many fooled for months. Generally , if something looks unbelievable , thats your gut telling you that things may not be as they seem.

If it is real though , thats awesome.

I don't think aquaman is making stuff up, mostly because he isn't trying to sell me anything!! HAHA Those are the ones I watch out for

Also, he said his technique rarely involves a metal detector anymore. So whatever he's doing, he's finding many, many years of Hawaii's lost deposits. But my guess would be that he's withdrawing at a much faster rate than deposition, so whatever technique he's using, probably won't last forever at those rates. Anyways, that's just my opinion, I could very well be wrong.

 

[Treasurebone]

Wow this thread has gotten a LOT of action...I will have to sit down and read all the responses.

 

[Sultan of Sand]

A recipe for tragedy here.

Telling someone to "take the risk" is easy advice to give, but there's a lot more to it if that risk is to be successful. Planning, preparation, research, and common sense, for starters.

What about the guy whose dream is to win the lottery? To "take the risk" he sells everything he owns, empties his bank account, cashes in his IRAs, and buys a truckload of lottery tickets. And loses. Now what?

Before I threw away all I had for a life of metal detecting, I would like to find one person - just one - who is successfully doing this.

Do you know how many people "take the risk" by opening a restaurant, for example, and then lose everything within a year? It has probably happened many times over in your own town, wherever you live. I have a high school classmate whose husband did just that. His sports bar closed after 14 months. That was four years ago, and he is still buried in bills he accumulated while he was open. It was his life's passion, his friends encouraged him to Take the Risk, and it ruined his life.

Look around you at the relatively new businesses that have closed just in the past year. These were all opened by people who followed their dream, and lost.

Hate to say it, but there are a lot of people who do not have the genes to succeed in self-employment. They are fine when working for someone else and being told what to do, but they are lost without instructions from the boss.

Drop it all and follow your dream?

Will you be there to pick up the pieces after they follow your advice and it all falls apart?

Negative waves dude!!!!

Any restaurants in your town that are successful? How about the Graphic Art place that does all the signs in your area? or, Joe the auto mechanic who does good work for a fair price offering an alternative to the chains and dealerships? Your insurance agent, financial advisor, doctor, dentist, accountant all folks who decided to give it a shot on their own. Who you gonna call when your central air doesn't work and noboby has the gumption to hang their own shingle?

According to Dr.Thomas Stanley author of the Millionaire Next Door the average millionaire in this country is the owner of a small business. Most of them started those businesses after deciding to go out on their own. Many left cushy jobs to do so.

And, there are other ways to take risk and make it big. Anyone here buy stocks in October 2008 or feb 2009? I mean take a meaningful position based on research? I did, bought all the Ford stock I could. Crazy huh? Anyone short BP when they poked a hole in the ocean floor? Anyone buy Puts on that stock? Why not? You had days to get on the right side of that one. And for a little bit of dough you could have made tens of thousands of dollars. Last summer anyone buy Long term Puts on for profit education companies? Again big profit trade based on research. No smoke or mirrors, no special knowledge or education required. Just the abilty to read and believe in yourself enough to put your money where that belief is. Risky, sure! Foolhardy? Not even close.

There is a reason why most people in this country are not rich. There is nothing wrong with exercising caution, as long as it doesn't get in the way of the goal. If we all played it safe, economically we'd be living in Eastern Europe in the 70s.

Follow the dream regardless of cost.

 

[Dustyloins]

I was hoping someone would chime in on nugget hunting, since it's something I know nothing about. Thanks dusty!


You said you can only get out to the gold areas four months out of the year? Why is that?

Let's go so far as to say you get out there 6 months out of the year. You're now looking at $7200/year, or about the same as working part-time at McDonalds for a year. Except that you're doing manual labor, 6 days a week, and that's *before* gas, MD batteries, and other associated expenses. If, somehow, you can get out there year-round (and weather doesn't stop any of your 6 days/week), you're now looking at making about the same as a full-time job at McDonalds, but BEFORE expenses, and working MORE hours.

So when you say you can make a living with just a MD, define "living".

4 months of decent weather is an average based on my three years here. It starts snowing down here in the valley in Oct and snows thru May. The Sangre De Christo mountains and San Juan Mountains usually get their snows earlier and they last later. You can do some panning on the Arkansas River as long as that doesn't freeze up.....

Dusty

 

[gtoast99]

Follow the dream regardless of cost.

My dream is to wrestle a polar bear. There's a polar bear at the zoo, and I'm sure I can hop the fence okay. Still encourage me to follow my dream?

 

[gtoast99]

Thanks Dusty! So it seems your right, totally impractical in your area to make enough to live on by MD'ing for gold.

But hey, follow your dream, right? Because you can eat dreams for dinner, and most mortgage lenders and electrical companies will accept payment in the form of dreams. :-P

 

[Dustyloins]

Yeah, there are enough stories of lost gold mines around here to keep ya interested, if not rich......

Dusty

 

[Goldenexpress]

Sell to others

Don't know if it has been brought up, but does anyone sell their metal detecting services to others to find lost items or underground lines. If you ran on a tip basis and had an add on craigslist, I am sure you could rack up some dough.

HH Michael

 

[Cfmct]

Im not gonna actually "say" that there may be something wrong with this story or the pics , but routinely on a fishing website that I am a member of , some people tell incredible stories and post edited , or exaggerated pics of their catches.......or use someone elses picture altogether. Some have even spun elaborate tales and had many fooled for months. Generally , if something looks unbelievable , thats your gut telling you that things may not be as they seem.

If it is real though , thats awesome.

What do you find hard to believe? Aquaman puts his time in and is a very good hunter... back in the 80's the first waterhunters could come home with 50 or more gold in a weekend... I hunted a spot this past march and pulled 15 gold after a half a dozen hunts my buddy who hunted with me pulled 9 gold from a 50 foot in diameter spot... spots like this are out there... there are guys out there who can pull over a 100 gold rings in a season...

 

[Rudy]

And, there are other ways to take risk and make it big. Anyone here buy stocks in October 2008 or feb 2009? I mean take a meaningful position based on research? I did, bought all the Ford stock I could. Crazy huh?

Not me, I bought a whole bunch of Apple stock in Dec '08 at around $99 a share.

Anyone short BP when they poked a hole in the ocean floor? Anyone buy Puts on that stock? Why not? You had days to get on the right side of that one. And for a little bit of dough you could have made tens of thousands of dollars.

Not me. I took a large position on XLE and SLB. Recently I sold half of my SLB and XLE for a tidy profit.

Last summer anyone buy Long term Puts on for profit education companies? Again big profit trade based on research. No smoke or mirrors, no special knowledge or education required. Just the abilty to read and believe in yourself enough to put your money where that belief is. Risky, sure! Foolhardy? Not even close.

Over the past 3 months I have been repositioning my portfolio, slowly moving out of growth stocks and into dividend paying stocks.

There is a reason why most people in this country are not rich. There is nothing wrong with exercising caution, as long as it doesn't get in the way of the goal. If we all played it safe, economically we'd be living in Eastern Europe in the 70s.

Follow the dream regardless of cost.

And learn how to set up a Trailing Stop Order on your holdings.

PS: I don't have more than ~ 5% in precious metals.
PPS: My stock holdings are roughly 50% of my portfolio, the rest are in different bonds or bond funds (munis, TIPs, Gennie Maes and commercial).

 

[RALLYMAKER]

a good career move

You could learn to be good at detecting on the coast some where popular!! you would only have to find Four or five wedding bands a week Gold is 1.592.75 dollars per troy ounce ,, could be done if you were dedicated .. good luck to you .

 

[sonofamahalla]

My dream is to wrestle a polar bear. There's a polar bear at the zoo, and I'm sure I can hop the fence okay. Still encourage me to follow my dream?

DEFINITELY! I'll be the one in the FRONT ROW!

 

[LSM]

Wow.... that is a REALLY ODD example... The 'DELUSIONAL' ones were the FEDS who thought that they could create artificial Housing prices in order to TRY and sustain a 'long-term' consumer base. There is also a HUGE difference between 'REAL ESTATE' and a HOUSE, but those intricacies need not be discussed here...

I truly hope you're not a 'serious' Investor (you probably have Margin account too..). I'd be a penny stock anyway and you'd be 'hard pressed' to find a Broker that 'could even' Short Me!

The delusional ones were the ones who were buying their 3rd, 4th, 6th houses on ARMS, the people who were enjoying the paper-profits from the underwriting and the derivatives traders who convinced everyone that we were in a 'new normal' - and anyone who bought their stock.

But this is a topic for another discussion- one you probably won't 'get' either.

I professed 'nothing' as far as 'knowing secrets' regarding making a living, but merely pointed out the VERY obvious which YOU seem to be struggling with... You can hunt for Pennies, Nickels, Dimes and Quarters all day, but I'll pick up 2 or 3 times the clad on any given day in less time and effort. It's just the way it is and won't change until you have had $1 and $2 coins for a decade or two... Now compound that with the fact that my 'Coinage' is worth more than yours (about 4.5%) and it starts to add up. Now think about finding a bunch of EUROS and what 'that translates' into American$$, along with the ability to find 1000 year old coins and even OLDER artifacts, caches, etc...

Again, all theory.
Unless your standard of living is low level 3rd World, you aren't going to be finding enough "dollar coins" or "OLDER artifacts" or "caches" to sustain a stable lifestyle in a 1st World country. Proposing the existence of "TREASURE!" as an abstract theory is one thing, actually finding enough of it with a metal detector to sustain yourself is something else entirely.

The rest of what you typed...

WHA? I DON'T GET WHAT YOU'RE SAYING... COULD YOU 'BE' ANY MORE UPTIGHT?



WOW... you REALLY like to use the work 'FACT' or FACTUAL'!

You're kinda' like my Grandpa... He see's everything in Black and White and refuses to 'see' the 'shades of Grey'. It 'frightens' him/you as it seems 'alien' and 'unconventional'... Am I getting warm? Also, my experience with individuals who make reference to the word FACT 'too many times' in a paragraph are usually the ones who have views that are 'set in stone' and are unable to 'understand' or 'accept' change and are usually VERY 'High-Strung'... From this point on, you shall be known to me as 'Dwight Shreut'! "Naysayer and Killer of Dreams"

.. is pretty much gibberish.

 

[LSM]

I have never jumped off a cliff.
I don't even know what a 'strain of fancy is'. I tried to look it up but got NOTHING. Is that your own made up phrase?

It's hillarious to me that you "looked it up" and kinda says a lot about you and your 'capacities'.

It's called a "turn of phrase."". You can look that one up, too.

I'm not impulsive, I've been contemplating this for a long time.
When did I say I don't have a plan? Ridiculous to who, you? So you're you the authority on what is and what is not ridiculous?

This doesn't require any level of 'expertise', beyond an ordinary capacity for logic and an IQ above 100, or so. It's like every high school kid who banks their future on being a rock star or an NBA point guard. Can it happen? Yes, but for every one you see, there are 100,000 who eventually had to 'get real'. I don't think what you're proposing has a success/fail ratio even that favorable.

Anyway, I'm not going to engage in a stupid and pointless quid-pro-quo (look it up!) internet forum debate where every paragraph is parsed down to individual sentences, each of which receives it's own, hysterical reply.

You think this is possible, I (and most everyone else) thinks it isn't.
Actions speak louder than words. Go prove us wrong- the measurement of your success will be the number of dollars you put in the bank. Not "stories" or tall tales, theories about an infinitely brighter tomorrow where that big score is right around the corner.

Believe it or not, I actually root for people like you, in kooky endeavors like this.
I'd bet my net worth and everything I could borrow AGAINST you succeeding, but I'm still rooting for you and hope that 100,000,000 to 1 shot lands in your lap- you swing your coil over some random spot and wind up with a trove of bootleggers gold, or whatever.

Good luck. It's all ya' got.

 

[sonofamahalla]

Not me, I bought a whole bunch of Apple stock in Dec '08 at around $99 a share.



Not me. I took a large position on XLE and SLB. Recently I sold half of my SLB and XLE for a tidy profit.



Over the past 3 months I have been repositioning my portfolio, slowly moving out of growth stocks and into dividend paying stocks.



And learn how to set up a Trailing Stop Order on your holdings.

PS: I don't have more than ~ 5% in precious metals.
PPS: My stock holdings are roughly 50% of my portfolio, the rest are in different bonds or bond funds (munis, TIPs, Gennie Maes and commercial).

Wow,

Brave Guy! I stay away from Bonds like the plague... Metals (physical) are the LARGEST part of my portfolio, followed by Oil, some VERY cheap Gas stocks and Junior Mining stocks. I have ONE bank stock that's done pretty good (Canadian Banks weathered EXTREMELY well during the recession) and that's about it. Dividends are OK, but I like more Risk and shorter investment periods. I used to be the 'Safe Investor', but my Portfolio grows MUCH quicker than it used to, but I do have to watch it very closely. I'll exit equities when they become stagnant and will go into Cash so I can take another position in a moment's notice when the Stock 'meets' my investment guidline. I even do a bit of Day and Swing trading, but that's only when I hear whispers regarding Drill results, assays and things like that... Trading the same stock multiple times a week or even multiple times a day is 'RIDICULOUSLY' Fun!

Cheers and Good Luck,

 

[LSM]

Negative waves dude!!!!
Last summer anyone buy Long term Puts on for profit education companies? Again big profit trade based on research. No smoke or mirrors, no special knowledge or education required. Just the abilty to read and believe in yourself enough to put your money where that belief is. Risky, sure! Foolhardy? Not even close.

Off topic: If it's just an In and Out, whatever, but be careful with those if you're in for the long haul... Their business model relies on "one thing" continuing to exist, in its present form... One bill changing FAFSA or addressing accreditation and their ROCI goes buh-bye. A dedicated Frontline hit piece on them is usually a pretty good 'contrarian signal' that negative sentiment might be brewing and there have been legislative rumblings about them.

Follow the dream regardless of cost.

To this, I'd add that everyone be aware of the 'boulevard of broken dreams'. There is risk derived from analysis of metrics, then there's idiotic risk based on flights of fancy and pie-eyed dreaming. Lets not get too far away from what was proposed in the original topic.

 

[sonofamahalla]

OK first and FOREMOST can you PLEASE stop with THE random CAPITALIZATION. I normally don't point out spelling and grammar mistakes, as they're not relevant to the merit of one's arguments, but in this case it's making it rather hard to read with a straight face.

UMMMMM, NO!

It's called an analogy.

But you're right, climbing Mt. Everest to illustrate the difference between a goal and a plan might not have been the best choice for a professional treasure hunter. Since 1953, more than 1400 people have climbed Mt. Everest, which is considerably higher than the number of successful professional metal detectorists.

AHAHAHAHA..... and HOW MANY 'Frozen Bodies' do these guys walk by on their way to the Summit?

Sooooo.... the plan isn't to be a professional detectorist at all. The plan is to be successful at something else long enough to pay off your house, car, all other debts, and then rent your house and travel the world in a van looking for lost objects.

Essentially, the plan is to retire. In that case, there's lots of professional metal detectorists!! HAHA

Oh, and while this may be a good start, it still isn't a plan on how to be a professional treasure hunter. It tells us how to become financially independent, which is a good basis for anyone, especially before starting a new business. But it doesn't say anything about how and where to find enough treasure to put food on the table (remember, MD'ing make significantly less than minimum wage), how to find the big ticket items with significant frequency, how to avoid depleting those big ticket items in a given location, expected costs associated with travel and lodging, expected frequency of clad jewelry and large value finds. So again, it's not a business plan for the professional treasure hunter, it's simply the start of a retirement plan.

Maybe, I dunno... Why not Ask him? Your 'VERSION' of 'Retirement' is different than his and WAY different than mine. When I retire, the only thing I'll be making decisions about, is what I'm going to Eat for Lunch after a swim on the beach and a Cold Beer... You want to live 'nailed down' to some crappy suburb, go right ahead! And even then,.. Do you plan on 'Detecting MORE' once you retire? The OP doesn't have to worry about that, he has that LUXURY (to some degree) already! Heh, heh.... You'll get the whole concept eventually,,,,

You forget that he's making less than minimum wage (as again, besides shipwrecks or the occasional cache, I've yet to see anyone make anywhere close to minimum wage with a MD. Affording food and gas on less than minimum wage will be a challenge, let alone saving up airfare to Australia.

Well, I guess its a GOOD THING we have YOU to ask EVERY detectorist in AMERICA! Anyway,..
One decent ring and you'll make 'Minimum Wage' for a month,... A moderate ring, maybe Minimum wage for a Week! One slightly crappy ring and you'll make minimum wage for a day, maybe two. Now Add the Clad, add the Relics, etc and it adds up VERY, VERY quickly. ESPECIALLY when you don't have a schedule that you need to stick to! Hell, I'm nailed down with a family and I have EIGHT rings, 2 pendants, 1000 clad coins (includes $1 and $2 coins), along with some silver coins and LOTS of bizarre relics from the Turn of the Century.... IN ONLY 2 MONTHS and we have ZERO BEACHES! Now imagine what someone could amass at a BUSY YEAR ROUND BEACHES, Park Areas and so forth...

When I retire, I'll become a "professional" too

The OP stated his 'situation' at the beginning of the thread and you're STILL going to try and use that as an excuse at this point in the Discussion? I agree that you WILL be a PROFESSIONAL when you retire,.... but a 'PROFESSIONAL' "What", is up for debate!