Anyway, summers for kids are usually for recreation and relaxing before the next school year starts. I firmly believe kids need this time to really live and be kids. For the most part that is how my summers were until I was about 11 years old. I had the option of staying at home all day. My other option was to go to work. I chose work.
I didn't have to go work. I didn't have to pick up slack for my parents to help pay rent or anything drastic like that. My parents always made ends meet. Our family didn't always have a lot of surplus cash though, so if I wanted extra shit, I had to earn it. I also wanted to feel useful, important, and grown up. At the time, tearing shingles off a roof and then throwing them into a trailer was about the only option I had.
I worked for $2 per hour until I was about 13 years old when my dad gave me a raise to $5 per hour. At the time, $5 per hour was higher than minimum wage and $200 per week was a fucking fortune. However, this meant I couldn't just take days off when I wanted, I couldn't get distracted making shingles into throwing stars, and I had work like everyone else.
This was pretty fun until I was about 16 years old, a few of my friends worked for my dad during the summer at that point, but I was angsty and bored and wanted to go out and experience things! I really had no idea what I wanted to do but it wasn't hauling lumber around a job site.
During the school year I had my first "real job" when I turned 16. We had built a house for the franchise owners of some McDonald's around our area. My dad set it up and I was hired. The last couple of years I was in high school, I worked there for the most part. I had to pay for my own truck and the insurance. I came short several times and my parents picked up the slack but I worked all the fucking time. I was putting in 35 hours per week and going to school. This was crazy nonsense but where I am from, they put a premium on working, above education.
One thing became pretty clear to me back then...I hated working. Work was the worst but could be a little better if I could get a friend hired on and we could throw nuggets at each other.
Back in East Texas I never held the same job very long. I have done everything from flipping burgers, being a janitor, filling orders at a warehouse, washing dishes, construction, installing cable, satellite TV, commercial satellites, cashier, locating utility cables, tending bar, and working at a flea market. It was amazing that I could find so much work in a place that really doesn't have a lot of jobs or opportunity. That is when I realized I was really good at interviewing.
When I finally left the butthole of the Lone Star State that is East Texas and came to Austin, I had no idea where to start. One little quirk that has kept me from construction work most of life is the fact that I am afraid of heights. When I worked for my dad, this was worked around. I just had other duties like cutting, trim, framing, and getting made of for being afraid of heights. In Austin I assumed that any construction job would mean that I would be hanging over the edge of a skyscraper so I didn't even try. The first job I actually landed was in sales.
I will begin by saying that I was naive and stupid when I got here in 2008. Where I am from, if a man works in an office, he is either a boss or a sissy. So I figured getting hired at in an office setting meant that I was finally on my way up! (I ain't no sissy Jack!) I knew what a call center was, but they kept calling this place an office so I went with it. I didn't know what an office should look like so I questioned NOTHING. Now, I can look back and tell you that even the appearance of this place was shady as fuck. It looked like they could close up shop and run at any moment. No decor, cheap and tiny cubicles, old school phones, and cheap computers.
In the interview a soft looking and sassy speaking gentleman named Brian quickly made comment of my relaxed dress to a job interview.
He said "So, you wore blue jeans to a job interview."
I didn't want to admit that this was the best I could do so I said "Well, where I am from, you never know what you might have to do to get hired. I thought you might have me weedeating or something."
I got hired.
Training was 1 day of shadowing people on the phone. The next day was trial by fire. I was sat down at a cube with a phone, a pen, a pad, and list of names and phone numbers with debt amounts next to them. I didn't even get a computer yet. When I asked about it, they laughed and assured me I wouldn't even need it.
The list was a list of all the people that had said NO to the debt settlement program. Not a list of people that had said NO once, but it was the list of people that had said no repeatedly and became homicidal when I mentioned where I was calling from. You had to get 3 deals from that endless list before you were allowed to have new leads.
That place was so sketchy that even though I was promised giant commissions and live changing money, I rarely made any money.
It was a shady and criminal enterprise but it was the best damn sales training anyone could ask for. You had to be quick on your feet. Calm and collected at all times and demand the ONE CALL CLOSE. I was fucking good at sales, I just needed a place not run by shysters and con men and I would be golden.
From there I would work in call centers selling home alarm systems, legal package bullshit at LegalZoom, SEO packages at Yodel!, and hustling HBO at Time Warner Cable. Time Warner Cable being the worst soul sucking job anyone could find themselves in.
It takes a special breed of person to work in a call center and survive. It takes a maniac, or a giant loser to work in one and like it. At all of these places, I learned a lot and honed my skill and sharpened my salesmanship blades! The only problem was that every single day a little piece of my soul died. I would get excited if I had to legitimately take a shit. Humans aren't supposed to get THAT happy when they have to poop. But, if that BM is going give you about 10 minutes of freedom from being chained to a cubicle by a headset, then it was a magical poop every time.
After about 3 years of hard time in the call center world I had had enough. I looked elsewhere. I worked in a window tint / car audio place for awhile. The owner was a maniac though and would lose his temper all the time. He lost it with employees and customers alike. Learning how to tint windows and install car alarms and radios was super cool but this fat fuck had a bad attitude and that didn't sit well with me. After some foul words one day, I antagonized him until he fired me. I took a brief unemployment check vacation.
I worked for a total of 7 workdays in some machine shop. It was hard and I never really grasped what the fuck my job was so I just quit.
Finally, I got a call from a temp agency that said a solar company needed some office help. I went for the interview and was woefully under qualified for the position. The guy that interviewed before me had a suit and tie. I had on...jeans and that fucking blue shirt again. This wasn't on purpose...I guess I just didn't update my wardrobe much.
When it was my turn to interview the guy asked "So you don't have any kind of technical or science background at all?"
I said "I think I had a friend in high school that had a meth lab."
I got the job.
This place was amazing and I was able to put my phone sales skills to use and learn about a field that I still work in part time and I am passionate about. Unfortunately, this was a young company that had some struggles that they did not make through and it closed up. Those guys were awesome and I still keep in touch with one of them. They are all doing fine still doing the good work of solar.
Again I bounced around from job to job until getting hired on at the solar company I work for now. Finally I found the job that compliments my blue collar background, allows me to use my sales skills, and does not chain me to a desk. The company treats everyone like human beings not numbers, treats their customers with the most respect and attention I have ever seen, and refuses to do the wrong thing under any circumstance.
I was finally happy with a "job".
Up to this point, I never stopped looking and applying for new jobs. I sat through countless cattle calls where some smiley young lady would hand everyone water and try to sell you on the "culture" of this work place.
"Fridays are bagel day! Free bagels every Friday ya'all!"
Being that I have no college degree and a questionable work history, I always found it weird they were trying to sell me so hard on why I should work for them. I guess because they know that the job is menial and below standard for anyone that has a mind of their own so they need to church it up with snacks and video games in the "lounge".
They always promised pay that would be unheard of for someone like me. Basically telling me that, walking in off the street, I could make 6 figures my first year if I applied myself. Then they would show an example of a model employee that was doing just that. After some time you realize he/she was the ONLY employee doing that and usually not by ethical means.
I have standards for sales if I am going to last any length of time. First I have to believe in what I am selling. The first sales job scarred me for life when I realized it was a scam. I felt guilty and I do not do well with guilt. Secondly, I need autonomy. I cannot be in a call queue. That is demeaning and painful. Lastly, I just want to do my fucking job and go home. I don't want to play games, engage in company culture or be best buddies with any one. You fucks work at the same place I do so I know what kind of bad life decisions you make. I can do that on my own.
Most call centers are full of people that are drunk during the day. The management team are not as qualified as they are loyal, so they are basically ne'redowells with decent paycheck. They like to buy those giant watches and wear ridiculous shoes. I cannot take them seriously, so I certainly had a hard time looking to them for guidance or leadership. At any given time I can pick out a call center manager from 100 yards away in the dark. Those guys are the fucking worst.
The thing that I always took with me was finding the transferable skills that the job offered. I paid attention to those. When I reached a point of diminishing returns, I would just leave. Sometimes quietly and sometimes by getting fired in some comical way. I never left before some d-bag would pull me to the side and say "You could make a lot more money if you improved your attitude."
But money is not a huge motivator for me. I never had it growing up and I know that life can be good with or without it. I have a good attitude I just don't make a habit of becoming friends with everyone I work with. I do have friends I met through jobs, but only a few.
Learning from all these places was my education. I learned how to use a computer, CRMs, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and other things you don't learn tearing shingles off of a roof in 100 degree heat. I learned fancy words like closing ratio and sales metrics. I learned how to talk to people and I learned how to really listen to what people are saying. I learned how to uncover needs and be creative for the good of your client. I learned that there will be no more bagels if you wait to go to the break room until your break time.
I also learned that at any job, I was expendable. I was an ass in a seat and there was some other person that wanted his own ass in that same seat. I learned that human beings are not designed for the world we live in today. Some people function better in it than others but it just isn't right somehow. Sitting in chair, staring a screen, repeating a script over and over an over for 8-12 hours is mindless, soul crushing bullshit. I thought I was dealing with depression for a long time but I have come to realize I was just living an inauthentic robot life that no one should be happy with.
2 days off per week and 2 weeks of vacation a year is a weird American invention that is designed to keep people earning paychecks to pay for shit they don't need and can't afford without any time to enjoy it. Then you get to spend your best years staring at some fat dudes ass crack across from you until you retire when you are 65 or 70 and pray for the sweet release of death....or less dramatically, trips to Florida.
I am not special. I'm just not built for that. I need independence and sustenance. I don't desire to be a millionaire as much as I desire to do work that means something.
So at the end of 2016 I said my goodbyes to the job I loved at the solar place. I had found something that I was truly thrilled to do. That was when I really started plugging away hard at my business building and selling fitness equipment. (Later in 2017 I asked to go back to solar part-time because I love it, missed it, and needed some extra cash.)
Even though I hated most every single minute at those jobs, I learned a ton that made my current enterprise possible and even owe that experience to how well it is thriving.
First, I learned that people want to speak with someone if they are buying something new. I learned that no questions are stupid if you are going to be spending your hard earned money on a product. I learned that some customers aren't a good fit. I learned that the customer is not always right but there is always a professional way to let them know that. I learned that you don't have to wear slacks and button up shirt to be taken seriously, that is the costume of a clown. If you know your shit, and come at people correctly, they will respect you and buy from you. I learned that if you aren't going to go to college, then you need to teach yourself by paying attention. I learned that I will never wear giant watches and I hate sports analogies. I learned that a bagel is like a dollar and free ones aren't that important and ironically enough, I learned I don't even like fucking bagels. (But some of those toppings were bomb as fuck)
If you have kids and a mortgage and other responsibilities, I don't suggest job hopping. It is perilous and risky. It borders on irresponsible. I had the luxury of youth and no children on my side. I also had the added benefit of a lower standard of living.
What I do suggest is listening to that little voice in your head that says you want something else. I suggest ignoring that other voice that sounds like Lumberg telling you to be reasonable and stay where you are forever because it is safe. There is no safety in conforming to a life that makes you unhappy. You cannot get more time to follow your dreams. You will die and it will suck even worse if you die driving home from a job you hate where you had to work an extra hour because Karen called in again because her mouth herpes flared up.
Humans are ancient creatures and have evolved so well because we followed our intuition and did what we needed to survive. We were meant to hunt, gather, build, and create. It goes against our very being to drone on in an endless hellscape of halogen lights and copy machines. No grown man or woman should have to take orders from a guy that combines his first initial with the first 3 letters of his last name to make up a new stupid name and that listens to EDM in his older model BMW. Fuck that guy.
You may think that there is no money in doing what you dream and that is true if you never do it. But you might surprise yourself if you actually give it a shot. I didn't think there would be any money in me building boxes out of plywood for people to jump on, but it's paying bills now. Sure the boxes alone are nothing. But its my strategy and the connection I make with people that keeps things going. At the end of the day, I get to look at a tangible product that I created and molded myself. I get to see a customer that is super stoked to get one of products and thank me. They thank me for doing something that I LOVE TO DO! Honestly, I have to control myself because I can go over board with showing gratitude. I just get excited.
If the only days you are excited to get out of bed are Fridays and Saturdays, there is something wrong with your life. The good news is that you can change it.
If you think getting a new job is going to do that, you are changing jobs just to do the same thing over again. Sure this job pays more than that one and so on, but if you took money out of the equation, then would you feel fulfilled? Would you be happy?
Being unhappy at a job is a truly American construct built by older generations in times of scarcity and want. We are living in more thriving times now and good ideas and good people can do well easier than ever. You can start a business without ever leaving your fucking house if you wanted to. That is insane. It is hard to think of an excuse not to.
This path is not for everyone. Some people do love their jobs. You know what? Good for you. This post isn't for you.
If you are one of those people that find yourself staring out the window daydreaming, or getting shit faced at lunch because it's the only way you can face going back to work, then this is for you. There is plenty of room for new ideas or better spins on the old ones. If you want to do something because you genuinely enjoy it, and you care the customers you expect to buy it, you are going to do well. It will take work, learning, reading, strategy, and trying to figure out what the fuck taxes are...but it is possible.
Then you can walk into work on the day before you actual last day, push all the bagels onto the floor, make fun of that guys giant watch, and leave. Or you can be professional which is probably the better option. Less fun but more professional.
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