CLOSED FOR BUSINESS
On Dec 23, 2020 I officially closed Borsellino Carpentry for in-home work. This decision was definitely weighted by the COVID pandemic and the numbers in my area at the highest they have been since this whole thing started. Let me try to explain a little about all the factors that played a part in this decision.
I’ve been very selective about the jobs that I’ve done since reopening after the statewide lockdown. The last two clients that I worked for I’ve done a lot of business with in the past. They seemed to have two different views of this virus. One was very much locked down and I felt very safe working there. We always wore masks and took precautions. The other one I think wore a mask for the first five minutes I was there but for the weeks after that always seemed to “forget” which made me incredibly uncomfortable. Especially hearing the stories of dinner parties with friends and other social gatherings to which I’ve had none of since this virus started to try to do my part to not spread this thing.
To do my job it requires me to not only be inside people’s homes but I have to visit many businesses for materials. I generally purchase the majority of my materials at the local lumber yard and hardware store. However the lumber yard is full of apparent anti-maskers. Every single time I go in there, there are at least 2 or 3 unmasked workers and usually a few unmasked shoppers. So I’ve taken my business to the big box stores in the city where everyone is masked up and the space is much larger and more air to go around between people. But this requires an extra hour of driving and I’m going into the city where the COVID numbers are higher. Seems like a lose/lose situation.
During the COVID lockdown this spring/summer, I completely shut down my business operations for over 4 months. It was during this break that my back pain started to go away. I have been suffering from chronic pain for my whole adult life. This was incredibly eye opening to not be in pain and has helped push me towards exploring a new career path.
Also during lockdown, I started a podcast with my girlfriend called “Regular People Talking About Mental Health” and started a second YouTube channel. I’ve realized that I enjoy these things much more than the backbreaking work that I’ve been doing for nearly 20 years. Through the podcast, I touch people’s lives in a way that I never could with construction. My YouTube channel is all about leveling up your life and was basically formed with the notion that I was tired of my construction business and wanted to find something new to do with my life and I wanted to document it through video. By sharing my experiences and being open, honest and vulnerable, I’ve been able to help a lot of people.
So why am I sharing this with you? I guess just to let you know what’s going on behind the scenes here at Borsellino Carpentry. I’ve been burned out from construction for a long time and this has been a blessing in disguise for me. I’m terrified about what the future may or may not have in store for me. But one thing is for sure, if I don’t at least give it a shot, I’ll live with regret for the rest of my life.
As of right now I am still planning to reopen the business in the spring/summer of 2021. I’m going to take this winter to focus on finishing up the renovations to my house as well as pour myself into my passion projects with the hopes that they become my next full time gig. It is slow going though. A few months back my Borsellino Carpentry YouTube channel got monetized, so that is generating an income. I’ve got a long way to go before my personal channel hits that milestone but I’m diligently working towards it. The podcast is growing every week and we have an amazing community we are building in a facebook group called “Regular People Talking About Mental Health”. However, we haven’t figured out a way to monetize the podcast yet but that is on our radar. I also started getting into photography and people seem to really like my work so there’s a possibility of that playing a part in my future as well.
As for my future in construction, I can see myself still being in the construction world but playing a different role. I’ve been thinking about teaching and was asked if I would be interested in being an adjunct professor at Utica College but I turned it down because they wanted me to start last September during the COVID hype. I would like to do one-on-one coaching to teach people construction skills and business stuff. This might even be in the form of an online course but there’s a lot to figure out there still. I am interested in being a project manager (similar to a general contractor) to help my clients use a number of different tradespeople to get projects completed without them having to coordinate and babysit the subcontractors themselves. And I think I’d still like to do small handyman stuff. I’ve realized that I don’t like being tied up at one place for weeks or months, which is why in the future I plan to use more subcontractors to spread out the work versus doing everything by myself.
“Work Smarter Not Harder”. I know a lot of guys in the construction world older than me and they are all falling apart at the seams. Knee replacements. Chiropractors. Other health problems. All relate to the demands of the job.
I haven’t mentioned the mental health aspect yet. This job has been incredibly stressful for me. It seems like everytime I turn around there’s another stressor. I am not going to list them off as that will probably just stress me out more. The last 6 years I’ve really tried hard to work on my mental health because I knew it was having a negative effect on the rest of my life. By closing down again and possible indefinitely, I can see this major stress will diminish. Of course life is full of stressors, but when you dread getting out of bed every day to do a job you don’t enjoy… that isn’t good for your mental health.
Some might think this all too much information. But that is exactly why I’m sharing it. I was brought up in a world that told you to shake it off. Pretend like it didn’t hurt. Work through the pain. Work a job you hate just because you’re good at it and you have a stable income. Even if at the end of the day you have no energy left for anything else and you don’t want to get out of bed in the morning.
This is my line in the sand. I’m making a stand. I’m making a change.
I might fail. It is said that the difference between a master and a student is a master has failed more times than a student has even tried. If I do fail, I’m going to fail forward. By no means am I saying that construction is a bad career choice. Without construction and other trades, this world wouldn’t be what it is. But I’m ready for the next phase of my life, whatever that may be.
If you want to follow along on my journey consider subscribing to my email list on my personal website www.nickborsellino.com. There you’ll find links to everything I’m doing that I mentioned above and probably more to come!
Thanks for your time and attention today, I know it is very valuable.
Have a great day!
Nick
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