Career Change at 40. Crazy? Or Crazy not to?
I go into detail about my career change at 40, as I truly surrender to the unknown by pursuing my purpose in the men's wellness industry.
MEN OVER 40MEN'S WELLNESSTRANSFORMATION
40, what a number. I almost panicked when I looked at the calendar at the beginning of August. I was never really one to make a big deal out of a birthday, but this year was different. I turned 40 over the weekend. This was the first birthday I made an effort to celebrate in many years, since my birthday was usually ruined by an active storm season in the Gulf and remembering the sadness and depression of the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I've been working tirelessly behind the scenes on this website, thebrostone.com, along with YouTube content ideas to share my health and wellness journey with men worldwide. Let's begin with a little bit about the journey.
How did I get here?
I worked in construction for over 13 years, running a commercial flooring business with my father. Work came to a screeching halt during 2020, a time we shall never forget. When it was time for business to resume, our business was slow to adapt to the new work climate. We were outbid job after job by cheaper labor, but not just cheaper; more than half our labor cost, which was already very competitive. The jobs we were forced to take weren't worth the aggravation or the low profits. The crew of mechanics we employed had to find work elsewhere because there were no jobs on the schedule. Things weren't looking good, and tensions between my father and me were at a boiling point. There wasn't enough money coming in to keep both of us plus a few crew members steady.
I also learned a lot about myself during this part of the struggle. I HATED working in construction. Most of the tradesmen hate being on the job, rightfully so because their lives were miserable, filled with drugs, debt, and anything you could possibly think of to complain about. You think women gossip and complain too much? Wait until you have to get 100+ grown-ass men into a room first thing in the morning for a job meeting, a meeting that usually wastes 90% of the time everyone spends in there.
The huge general contractors are completely unprofessional and waste tons of material and time. The entire jobsite is a breeding ground for misery and negativity. It began to eat at my soul. I couldn't take it anymore. My body was taking a beating from crawling around on concrete for 6-8 hours a day. I was breathing in toxic fumes from adhesives and dust from all the trades after being on the floor all day. My hands, back, and knees aged twice as fast as normal people experience, not to mention the copious amounts of drugs I used to meet these mission-impossible schedules given to us by the general contractors. The job schedules always ran behind. It would fall on the painters, floor installers, and other finishing trades to work without days off to catch the job up to schedule.
This brings us to the legal, most stressful side of the trade. You could get sued for not keeping good records to prove the jobsite wasn't ready when you arrived to do the work you agreed to. You might be stuck in a court battle for payments if the general contractor goes bankrupt. I remember a handful of jobs over the last 13 years where we just took the loss on an unpaid invoice. You have to look at the big picture: Are you going to pay an attorney $5,000 to get $5,000? It's one of those situations where you lick your wounds and carry on with your chest out and a smile, even if it's a smile disguising deep pain and severe disappointment. Sounds like a great industry to work in, right?
The Shift
I tried to stick it out. I learned this trade for over a decade, and I was damn good at it. The icing on the cake was when my father decided he didn't want to open a showroom for flooring materials after we had agreed to do this; in fact, it was the only reason I stuck around for this long. He broke the news to me in the middle of a job he forced me into for a contractor I HATED. The job was a complete shit show, and I decided to quit in the middle of a project, something I've never done before. My dad and I didn't speak for about a year. We eventually talked and did a few jobs after that, but the jobsite was so toxic that he actually got in my face to fight me on a big, out-of-town hotel job. He basically threw a nuke inside of a volcano at that point. I was so fired up that the other people on the job had to keep us apart. That was the last straw. I decided to drive 5 hours back home the same day to start my new life.
The words exchanged during that incident were seemingly unforgivable at the time. I already had tons of resentment toward my father. Father-and-son combos are one of the most difficult business dynamics to navigate. It's like two lions trying to rip each other's throats out over the ground we walk on. It's usually pure chaos. That experience hurt me deeply. I was in so much pain that I cried like a little bitch for a few hours, thinking, "Did I just waste and throw away 13 years of my prime years working for an ungrateful boss? Did I destroy my body for over a decade to find out there was no happy ending or financial upside?" You might be thinking, "Why didn't this guy just start his own flooring business?" I couldn't spend one more day installing floors or being around that industry, even if I were pointing fingers with my own crew. No amount of money could ever make me go back to that toxic business.
The Transformation
Thankfully, I invested most of my money in growth stocks and appreciating assets, which gave me some time and freedom to pursue my new career path in the men's wellness industry. I've been on this wellness journey for nearly 5 years, but the last two have been without construction and me doing different side jobs while trying to figure out how I'm going to create the new life I want to live, the life I deserve to live. I already did the work of transforming myself from a miserable, out-of-shape, lost soul to a version of myself who I can be so proud of that it makes me and my ancestors smile daily.
I thought to myself, "How can I share my transformation story with other men worldwide? How do I make a living telling my story and sharing the methods to the madness?" I'm still working on all of this. I learned about product affiliate marketing and how to create a website. I see everyone and their grandmother making YouTube videos and posting their struggles online to earn a living. Why not me? I didn't just lose 50 pounds; I kept it off while shaping my body towards the look of a Greek god. I wake up in the mornings excited to meet the new version of myself who's ready to conquer the unknown. I'm fired up and fully alive again as I learn a completely different set of skills for a new, challenging career. I'm embracing being a novice at creating videos, writing, and sharing my story and progress the best way I can right now. I'm a former slave to misery and a job I hated who decided he had enough of mediocrity. It's time for me to light a fire under everyone out there, especially men. It's time for our society to start moving and lifting weights and spirits to create the life we all deserve with health and wellness. It begins with the men. We need to start showing up for ourselves, family, friends, and community. We need to become leaders again, and that all starts with YOU.
Conclusion
Please join me on this journey within to find the man you know you can be, the version of you who unlocks your highest potential. I'm going to post, write, and create videos weekly to share my progress, story, and updates as I build the business of my dreams, helping you the way I'm helping myself. I'm not a doctor, physical trainer, nutritionist, counselor, or medical professional in any way, shape, or form, but I did my own research, and I want you to know you can too. It takes consistency and discipline. It takes having enough of past disappointments and not living up to your full potential. It takes changing the way you eat, look at food, and observing yourself through multiple lenses of reality to see who you are buried under all that comfort and programming. It takes the complete destruction of your old life, even if you're someone like me who spent over a decade building shit for other people. It's time to build yourself now. It's time to go all in on your mission of purpose and fulfillment. Thank you for reading and supporting my work. I'm going to show up for you every single day, just like I do for myself. I'll see ya'll next time.
Keep showing up!
-Neil Broyard, The Brolosopher
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