[cmitch]

Jeremy, sometimes, working hard is not enough to convince ignorant douche bags that your work is not only rewarding but a serious career choice. In 1995, my wife opened up a wedding business and we lived in a mobile home. You can imagine the laughter we received, even from our own family. Comments like, "are you serious? Who is going to even give you the time of day much less trust you with their wedding if you live in a 'trailer'?" lots of hard work and 16 years later, we have out lasted many of the very family businesses that criticized us and have watched competitors drop like flies. They're not laughing anymore and we are a very respected business in our area, save for the occassional asswipe, we come highly recommended by our customers as proved by posts in our facebook page.

My advice is to ignore these butt rangers, chuckle under your breath and a few years from now when you build/buy that nice house with a couple of luxury vehicles in the driveway, then they will see how serious and committed you were. Screw 'em! And good luck! I know you can achieve whatever you set your mind to.