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I really should be working
- Thread starter WinoBlues
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This came across my YouTube feed.
I remember the garbage guys throwing cans. As a dirt poor kid I remember aspiring to being one of those guys. Then I figured out I could make a little more money as a construction laborer than working in the fields. 110° in the fields or on a site was still 110°. Construction during the day, washing dishes at night till midnight. Long hard days. No more time for school by 16. I out worked every MF'r wearing nailbags. But I was told my kind could only be laborers or cement men.
Thankfully the military still needed people at the tail end of Vietnam. Got my GED, scored high on my ASVAb and got off the path my friends were on. In the military my background didn't matter. Only my work ethic.
A decade+ later a buddy offered his couch (me going through a divorce) and an insurance job 3 hours away. Culturally a world away. Changed my life!
Decades later I am so grateful for this career. I can do what I do from anywhere I have a cell signal. I pick my clients, i choose the days and hours I work. I exert more physical energy doing volunteer projects than working. I own more construction tools than business tools. The Wife and I just decided on a wim, over wine and apps at the tap room, to fly to the East Coast for a week to see the granddaughter. I can work from anywhere. We get paid ridiculous money for very little effort compared to some guy slinging garbage cans of our shit for a living.
I respect this guy. I don't want to be him anymore. Hell, I couldn't be him anymore. But I have been him, and I respect the hell out of working men striving. Taking a shot, reaching up, wanting more than you are supposed to want.
I remember the garbage guys throwing cans. As a dirt poor kid I remember aspiring to being one of those guys. Then I figured out I could make a little more money as a construction laborer than working in the fields. 110° in the fields or on a site was still 110°. Construction during the day, washing dishes at night till midnight. Long hard days. No more time for school by 16. I out worked every MF'r wearing nailbags. But I was told my kind could only be laborers or cement men.
Thankfully the military still needed people at the tail end of Vietnam. Got my GED, scored high on my ASVAb and got off the path my friends were on. In the military my background didn't matter. Only my work ethic.
A decade+ later a buddy offered his couch (me going through a divorce) and an insurance job 3 hours away. Culturally a world away. Changed my life!
Decades later I am so grateful for this career. I can do what I do from anywhere I have a cell signal. I pick my clients, i choose the days and hours I work. I exert more physical energy doing volunteer projects than working. I own more construction tools than business tools. The Wife and I just decided on a wim, over wine and apps at the tap room, to fly to the East Coast for a week to see the granddaughter. I can work from anywhere. We get paid ridiculous money for very little effort compared to some guy slinging garbage cans of our shit for a living.
I respect this guy. I don't want to be him anymore. Hell, I couldn't be him anymore. But I have been him, and I respect the hell out of working men striving. Taking a shot, reaching up, wanting more than you are supposed to want.
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Joseph Cronin
New Member
- 4
There is a fine line. Work-life balance is always a personal decision. I like the challenge of going to work every day and finding new ways to make our business better. To each his own....
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- #309
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I never really found that balance
In my younger days, I was heavy on the work side of the line.
Now, I like wine, music, and food.
AgentGeneral
Guru
- 414
Nothing wrong with garbage slinging and cement work.
My sons a cement man. He started learning the trade at about 13. Fast forward to 34 yrs old, he makes wayyyy more than probably many agents on this board and he's built like a brick shithouse. Makes more than I do bar none and close to what my hub makes. I will say though, he now has employees doing much of the hardest parts. It will tear up a body that's for sure.
I have many life clients who are blue collar workers and have mad respect for those guys.
Enjoy the week you get with your gdaughter. To me, theres nothing better than the love a gparent has for the gkids and vice versa.
