The Future of Careers: How to Find Success on Your Own Terms

[00:00:00] Something that I coach people on and I'm very vocal about in my content is that um, if you're feeling discouraged in your career or in your, in your life, in your livelihood and you're wondering why opportunities aren't coming to you, just know that there is nothing wrong with you. If there's anything wrong, it's probably just in the way you're presenting yourself and that's an easy fix and that's what we help people do.

Here's the million dollar question. How do men like us reach our full potential? Growing to the men we dream of being while taking care of our responsibilities, working, being good husbands, fathers, and still take care of ourselves? Well, that's the big question. In this podcast, we'll help you answer those questions and more.

My name is Brent and welcome to the Fallible Man Podcast. The Fallible Man Podcast, your home for all things man, husband, and father. [00:01:00] Big shout out to Fallible Nation. That's our private community. There's more in the description or show notes below. A warm welcome to our first time listeners. Hey, we know there's a lot of content out there.

So thanks for giving us a chance and I hope you enjoy the show. Be sure to leave a comment, a review or reach out to me on social media at the fallible man. Let me know what you thought of the show. My name is Brent. Today. My Braxton Wood. Braxton, welcome to the fallible man podcast. Thank you so much for having me, Brent.

This is awesome. Now Braxton, as you know, we like to start out kind of light. So how's your trivia? Uh, I would like to think good, but we will see. Fair enough. Here we go. What country is James Bond girl Lea Seydoux from? Is it? A Luxembourg, B France, C Belgium, or D Canada,

France. Alright guys, you know how this works. Don't cheat, don't jump ahead, don't look it up. And for God's sake, if you're [00:02:00] driving, please don't write it down. We'll come back to that later. Braxton, I don't do credentials. I don't do beginning introductions because that's not accurate. So in your own words today, in this moment, who is Braxton Wood?

Braxton Wood is a maniac that probably does too many things but loves doing them and is just a big nerd and Ultimately loves helping people make the most of their lives and their livelihood. I like it. I like it big nerd What's your flavor of nerd here? Um So my background I always attribute everything kind of to like my profession, which is I guess what a lot of us guys do So my background is in marketing and business services.

And so, uh, the, the nerd part is tech software. I have a tech industry background that flavor nerd. Okay. So you say I, I'm, I have an it hit background. It's worked it for years. And even inside tech, there were like different flavors of nerds. I [00:03:00] had this one job, it was great, because I had my guys who were cell phone guys.

And like, just, if I had a cell phone issue, it didn't matter. Make, model, brand, doesn't matter. They knew it. I had my graphics card guys. These guys like, they would talk about graphic cards, operating systems, on the graphic cards, drivers. 20 years ago, uh, there were, there were different flavors, even in theirs, like, wow, but it was a great place to work because you could find anybody to fix any problem you had between all the guys who got out of different parts of IT.

It was so funny. I had no idea that was possible until I worked there. I was like, Oh, wow. Okay. I thought I was kind of geeky when it came to computers. And until I worked here, I'd never heard about people talking about the, you know, the dot builds on the GPU of a graphics card. This decade old. It's funny how, uh, those kind of opportunities kind of [00:04:00] open, broaden your horizons.

Like, oh, I'm not even, like, these guys are like the Tyrannosaurus of geeks. Like, what's happening here? Right here, I thought I was this big computer nerd. And when I started working there, I'm like, oh, I'm actually a fairly normal guy. Okay. It's a wholly didn't peg that, but sure. Braxton, if you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?

Oh man. Ever since I was a kid, I would have this recurring dream that I fly. Like, and my, my favorite ever since I was little super Superman was always my favorite. So like just being able to fly, I think that, Oh my goodness. So in the Superman, Batman, it's Superman, huh? It, I enjoy the Batman movies. I enjoy the Batman story, but I'm a Superman dude all the way.

Yep. Oh, I don't know if we can be friends.

No, my, my best friend is a Superman guy, so I have love for the Superman people too. Yeah. Okay. If you were to look. Oh yeah. I can appreciate that. That's my brother. He [00:05:00] was, as much as I'm a Superman fanatic, my brother was the Batman fanatic grown up. So we got along well enough, I guess. If you could only have one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

One meal for, sorry. Oh, one meal. One meal. If I could have one meal for the rest of my life, uh, I love Asian food, so I might have to go with sushi. That's not a bad choice. Yeah, I think it's Sushi. Okay, Sushi. What does your morning routine look like? Everybody talks about their successful morning routines.

What's your morning routine? Or do you have one? I'm not one of those guys. Yeah, like, I think it's a waste of time to make your bed when you get up in the morning. That's me. Um, let's see. It's, I don't know if it's that interesting. Uh, wake up, roughly Between 530, 630, depends on my mood, the night before. Um, usually immediately shower.[00:06:00]

Um, uh, sometimes I read a few pages of whatever book I'm reading. Um, and then I'm trying to get in the habit of going to the gym. So, the gym is in there somewhere. And then, you know, kiss my wife. Um, make my lunch for the day if I need to. And off to, off to work we go. Really it. Okay, okay. What's the goal of the gym?

Um, I, yeah, the goal of the gym is to just maintain my health, but also like I'm admittedly a little overweight. Um, and so I want to get down to my, you know, my, my high school physique. I think if I strive hard enough and if I'm dedicated and committed enough that it can happen, but it's got to be committed.

So. Okay, okay. I, I, I love, I'm a personal trainer, so I love understanding why people are wanting to do it. It's important to know what you're wanting to accomplish. [00:07:00] It's a good thing. You got to play, right? You know, where you want to go with it. What purchase of a hundred dollars or less have you made in the last year?

That's had the biggest impact on your life. Purchase dollars or less, man. Um, so this goes back to me being a nerd probably, but, um, so as, as someone that owns two businesses, um, and, and a nerd on top of it coming from the tech industry, I find any way to help me optimize my, my work schedule, my My routine with work, things like that.

And so, um, I, uh, am in like, I nerd out on lifetime deals for software. So I bought a, uh, a lifetime deal on a piece of software for my business. That was like 70 bucks. So that'd probably be it. Oh my goodness. What's off lifetime software do you buy for 70 bucks? Yeah, so it, there's a marketplace for it and I can go into this if we want to, because it's pertinent to what I do, but, uh, [00:08:00] this particular platform is, I told you I'm a nerd.

It's a Google Maps scrape tool. So it, it's a way to basically get leads from my business rather than running ads. I can scrape Google Maps and it will pull any business data off of Google Maps as long as the business is registered on Google. Okay. Interesting. I, I, I'm, I enjoy lifetime deals. It's just most times like, Oh yeah, that sounds like an amazing deal.

I don't have 800 laying around, you know, lifetime one. I've got a couple of those lifetime deals that I love is like, you know, right time, right place. I happen to have the cash for it. They, they made me because I hate monthly rate cream bills. Yeah. Oh yeah. I was to sit down with you at the dinner table with your family.

What is one funny story that they would tell on you? Oh, no. Oh, no. Um, [00:09:00] so this story doesn't come up as often, but this is probably the one that my wife would leap to. Um, when we, we were first married, it was our first night together in our apartment after being married. So brand new couple, like things are still even awkward being married in a way.

And I managed to clog the toilet and being newlyweds and not having anything like not having any household items. She had to go to the store to buy a plunger and come back home with it.

So that's a bonding moment right there. Like we, we realized we were the one for each other at that point because we both came out of it. Okay. Awesome. I love it. What's one random fact about you that people don't know? Oh, man, there's a, there's a few I can share. Um, just, I, um, am an amateur ballroom dancer.

Yeah? [00:10:00] Okay. Yeah, and it, yeah, it's something I got into when I was 18 and just, great way to meet girls, by the way, for anyone listening. Um, yeah, and I just, it was something at that age I just fell in love with and it's something I still love even though I don't do as often. But yeah. Does your wife dance with you?

We do. Um, she's, she's not, I don't know. She would, I think if you were to ask her, she would tell you. Yeah. Braxton doesn't take me dancing near enough. And, but I think also, um, uh, she only knows what I've taught her and I'm probably not the best teacher. And so she would probably enjoy it more if we together had a, a unbiased teacher , so, so that she could learn it for herself and not from her perceivably biased husband on.

How to dance, but yeah, I talked to a lot of guys, very few guys actually like legitimately actually take their wives dancing. So the fact that you do, right, she, she's got a good, she doesn't know it's [00:11:00] in Paris and shopping here, but I talked to a lot of men and if you're like, Hey, you take your wife dancing.

They're like, uh, either hell no, or where are we supposed to go dancing? Right. Yep. A lot of us live, I live in a real small town, so dancing is not something that happens a whole lot. Right. Hmm. Braxton, what is something everyone should know about you before we dig into today's show? Um, I should know about me.

There's a lot of ways I could answer this as well. Um, so I'll just say at a high level and as a disclaimer, I tend to be very polarizing. Um, and like, I'm very blessed that I have, um, a pretty decent audience for my content. And with that comes a lot of flack as well. So I would say I tend to offend a lot of people with my opinions and my perspective on a handful of things.

That's probably it. Oh, you're in good company. We're all about stepping on toes here, so you're fine. [00:12:00] Cool. You're going to fit right in. Hey guys, we've been spending a little bit of time just getting to know who Braxton is today. I wanted you to get a feel for who he is, what he is, what he's about. In the next part of the show, we're going to dive into education, employment, and career development.

We're rolling our sponsor. We'll be right back with more from Braxton Wood. Now, before we go any further, I wanted to share with you guys. I don't always tell you how much I love doing my podcast. Like I passionately love what I'm doing. And one of the things that makes my life better as a podcaster is to work with a company like Grow Your Show.

Grow Your Show is a one stop podcast do it all. Now. I use Grow Your Show for my marketing, but Grow Your Show is literally a one stop shop. You can record your episode and just drop it off with them and they take it from there. It's amazing. If you are interested in picking up podcasting as a hobby, or maybe you're looking to expand your business and use podcasting in that aspect, talk to my friends over at Grow Your Show.

Adam will take care of you. I guarantee it. I trust him. He's my friend. [00:13:00] He's my business. Colleague, and I wouldn't trust anybody else with my show. All right, guys, welcome back in the first part of the show. We just spent some time getting to know who Braxton Wood is and what he's about and what he's like.

This part of the show, we're going to jump into education, employment, and career, as well as get a little bit better idea of what Braxton actually does and why he's here today. Now, Braxton, let's just start off with. Tell us about your company career on command and being an executive career coach. What, what does that even mean for most people?

So what I help people do is take command of their careers and land their dream job, land their dream career on their own terms. And a lot of that is based on my own personal experience, which I'm sure we'll get into. Um, but I. I help anyone that, career changes are really what I enjoy helping people do especially.

Um, because most, I think most people don't realize the opportunities that are available out there. And what I found is, a lot of people, [00:14:00] knowingly or not, kind of put themselves in a box. And they think they're limited by that. So I help people eliminate a lot of limiting beliefs that they may even think that they don't have.

Um, and once that happens, then we're able to really focus and find the bullseye on the target to whatever their dream career is.

Tell us a story. How did you get here? Right? I mean, how do you, how do you even line up for this kind of a career? Cause I, I would definitely agree. There's a lot of careers and stuff out there that people have no idea exist or that they do. How did you get to this? So it's kind of a long story, but to summarize.

Um, I'm a product of homeschooling. I have not set foot in a classroom since I was 11 years old. I do not have a high school diploma. I didn't get my, I don't have any certificates. I didn't go to college. I don't have any degree either. And so to answer your question, how I got here, [00:15:00] me being, um, being very self directed in my education as a teenager, um, forced me to really understand the value.

of learning, not schooling, but learning and gaining knowledge and again, not having, not taking the path to get any sort of paper that said I was well informed, that said I was well educated, forced me to have to follow a career path that was purely based on merit, right? And so what I found when I did that was that that is actually a more efficient, more effective approach than going to college and getting permission from.

Some institution that says, you're, you're ready. You're ready for the world, you're educated. Um, and so me going through that journey, um, and being able to land jobs at tech companies where they required [00:16:00] a bachelor's degree or greater, um, or working for, you know, international coaching companies, uh, where there's a very refined skill, skillset they require and me ha happening to have that skillset again because of my self-directed approach.

Um, I realize that there's something to that approach and it's something that I felt the world needed to hear because so many people are getting discouraged and frustrated with where they're at in their careers. And I want to help alleviate that because it's not as complicated. It's not as hard. As people think, but it requires you to get out of that box that you're limiting beliefs are putting you in.

And one of the things I, I hate to say it, but I fervently believe one of the ways we put ourselves in that boss box is by thinking that education is the answer. It didn't let me rephrase that. Not education, but schooling is the answer. We limit ourselves by thinking that schooling, or [00:17:00] that smart paper is the answer.

So that's how I got here. So you didn't do the traditional education route. Now as a homeschool parent, we've been homeschooling our kids since COVID. Oh, can I say this? I don't know if I can say that on air anymore yet. I'm sure like I'm going to get like a YouTube strike for that, uh, after schooling fell apart there and what the school system area coughed up and I'll give them, you know, they did their best, right?

Try and I'll, I know a lot of teachers in our school system, so I'll give them that they did their best for what they had to try and come up with some solution, but it also brought a lot of attention for me to what their classes look like. And so my wife and I decided to start homeschooling our kids and we go through a company with a curriculum and so it's not entirely free form, uh, there is, but I'm actually much happier with at least the curriculum.

My kids are actually learning like history, [00:18:00] things that actually happen, not the, not the touched up history, like history, which is nice. Um, I'm, I have a, my grandfather was a principal and a history teacher, and so I'm, I'm big into learning from our past, but. You know, you didn't have that. And I know when I was growing up, like homeschool kids were the weird kids where I'm like, there's something wrong with you.

Right. Which in hindsight is like, Oh yeah, I totally missed that. Entirely. So what did you do? Because I know it didn't used to. How old are you? Let me ask. I'm 37 at this moment. So homeschooling certainly wasn't as organized back when you were in school as it can be now. So what did you do and what did you learn?

Um, It's, it's hard to describe. So when I say homeschooling, I use that term very loosely, but that's the word I use so people can kind of understand, but I was not taught by my mom [00:19:00] at all. Um, sixth grade was the first year that I started homeschooling and my mom basically the textbooks and stuff and I went through them and I did the quizzes and that was it.

I was, when I say self directed, I was very self directed and even me being 12 or 13 years old when I first started at that age, it was like, I had this. overwhelming, um, sense that I needed to make sure that I did this right because I didn't want to screw up my life later. That's me as a, like that's, I know most kids at that age are not like that and so that's why I think homeschooling doesn't work for some people because I, I, I have to credit some, a lot of my success to the fact of how motivated and how committed I was to just making sure I didn't screw my life up.

So I, but yeah, my mom would buy all, she did not instruct me at all, like I, I am dead serious. I did not get any instructions for, from anyone. And a lot of people, this [00:20:00] is when people start telling me Braxton, that's impossible. And it's honestly the truth. And this is the kind of box that I'm talking about we put ourselves in.

It's like, give a kid something they're interested in and they're, they want to learn it. You have to just create the environment where it's interesting to them and where they'll learn it. For me, I, there were certain topics. I did have an interest in history. I know not everyone does. Um, yeah, so that's what I did.

And so starting from sixth grade all the way through quote unquote high school, I got books. I read them. I did quizzes that was associated with them. And then when I, when I got to high school age, I will say that I actually did do schooling through an accredited high school. It was a, they were accredited high school, but they did it all through the mail.

And so I did technically have, I didn't, I wouldn't call them teachers, even though that's what they call themselves, because all you did was read the textbook, do a quiz, and then you would mail the quiz in and they would grade it and send it back to you. So, but, but through that, you know, between [00:21:00] junior high and through that experience in high school, um, that was my education as a teenager.

And so through that, that accredited school. , um, uh, I, there was a psychology class they required that was required that I took, which I actually loved. Um, and because of that class, I, for a long, this for a long time as a kid, I thought I wanted to be a, a therapist or a counselor because of that class.

There's obviously the math, there's obviously the history. Um, I even took, it was a poor choice on my part. I even took a, an auto repair course through the mail, which was just, I, they shouldn't have offered that. But like, I did that because like, oh, I want to learn how to fix cars myself. That was a bad idea, but that wasn't on them.

That was on me. Um, anyway, that's what I did. And I always joke that I'm a homeschool dropout because I, if I finished all the programs and all the courses with that accredited high school. Then I would have gotten a high school diploma, but I got tired of it and I got sick of it and two [00:22:00] classes short. I just decided I'm not gonna do this anymore.

And so I didn't do it and I didn't finish. So that's my joke about dropping out of homeschool. I, yeah, but that's what I did. I actually homeschooled myself our senior, my senior year. I, uh, we moved my senior year, the summer before my senior year. And where we moved to, my mom went to take and give me a red shirt for school.

And I only had like, I had front load of my high school career, so I could only go part of the day. My later years of high school, I only had like one credit left to graduate and it was elective credit by that state. And I'm like, this is stupid because they said I could go a full day all year. I could go half a day all year if I found a job they approved of for a credit for one elective credit.

That's like gym, man. I'm not doing a whole day all year. So I elected to homeschool. And my mom's like, Hey, public school is free. You want to homeschool? You're paying for it. I was like, all right. [00:23:00] So turns out the state we're in didn't support homeschooling at the time. So I had to go through the next state over to homeschool.

And so, right. It was all this correspondence. And then halfway through the year, another school at another state bought them out. And it was a religious school. So then I had to meet their requirements for Bible, which had never, I thought, okay, well, that's easy. My dad, my dad was a missionary preacher. So it was like, okay, at least.

Familiar subject, right? My dad struggled to help me with Old Testament survey for that school. Like it was every obscure fact ever in the Bible. They mentioned it once. And so, but I ended up having to meet all their requirements and they had more requirements than the state I was in. So I ended up doing a full year's worth of [00:24:00] work my last six months of school, plus the half year's worth of work in the preceding semester for the other school, uh, all while paying for it myself.

So I graduated from some school in someplace in Mississippi I've never actually been to, but I do have a diploma that says their name on it. That's funny. I, I can't hardly spell the name. It's like Coesco or Kosico or something, Mississippi. Uh, but it was like, huh? But yeah, it was, it was that like they'd send me the workbooks and the books and I just do it on my own.

And I worked a full time job while I was doing it. I was working construction. I'd come home and. Knock out one subject a week if I wanted to, and then move to the next subject. And it was just totally on my own. My parents were like, Hey, this is the way you want to go. Fine. Make your own path. But yeah, it was that mail order back and forth.

My kids now, [00:25:00] like they have like video teachers along with their workbooks and this counts as this or this counts. Like, okay. I'm like, I'm so glad my wife is keeping track of all this. I get lost in that mess, but it's a little more, a little more organized now. If you go that way, I still know other people who are doing exactly the way you grew up.

My wife was schooled that way. After sixth grade, her parents just like bought her school books. She didn't get her GED until after we were married. And it was because I encouraged her to. She felt like it weighed on her. She felt like it was something she needed to do or wanted to do. So I was like, hey, go get your GED.

There's classes at the local college, go get your GED. That's what you want. Uh, so at least you have that, but yeah, it was that like her parents just, well, here's a book and just let the kids lose, you know, they did the best what they knew, but didn't know. So, so what are your thoughts [00:26:00] on traditional education now versus some of the other options?

This is something that I'm very vocal about because most people don't understand the history of our education system. And so it's based on what's called a Lyceum model, which was popularized by Aristotle. And the whole basis is like lectures, the testing, like what we, what we see is very familiar and standard, that's, that's what it is.

It's called a Lyceum model, but it's been proven to be an ineffective model. Um, there's a, there's a gentleman I follow, his name is Dr. David Bowles. He's a PhD in education and he basically says the same thing. He talks about how the American education system is one big experiment that we never stopped doing, even though it has been proven to be ineffective.

Um, and so that's why I've recognized while not having a ton of structure created for me, I created my own structure, which I know a lot of people wouldn't do, um, especially [00:27:00] as a youngin, but, um, not having that structure allowed me to really go on my own terms to understand what my interests are. So I think that's the difference.

So in terms of like how the system works, I, I honestly, it's designed to instill conformity in us to make us. Um, less, uh, less, uh, objection, um, when the, in, here in the States when there was this question of like, okay, during the industrial age, we had all these factories and what the need was at that time in the workplace was loyal, committed workers.

And so a lot of people know John D. Rockefeller is a famous kind of, you know, in, in our early history. He helped found the General Education Board. When they saw this need, we need factory, factory workers that are going to, you know, stay in line and toe the line. And so there was this concept of like, how does, how do we get people [00:28:00] stay, stay in line and toe the line?

And well, they discovered it takes 12 years to indoctrinate a populace. So, then the general education board and the education system was founded based on that principle. Most people don't know this, but me being who I am, I did the history, I want to make sure I understood this. Um, so, obviously, we know what 12 years we're talking about.

It takes 12 years to indoctrinate a populace. So, but then the question came up, Mr. Rockefeller, and he had some other people too, it wasn't just him. Uh, Horace Mann was another one, if anyone wants to look him up. Um, John, what are we going to do? Like, how are we, what are we going to teach kids all day for 12 years?

And what his response was, teach them everything about nothing. That is, that principle is the foundation of our education system, everybody. So when you think about the lunch bell ringing or the recess bell ringing, we're, [00:29:00] we're, we're conditioned to run to and from based on that. That's how the factories worked as well.

The lunch whistle would sound and things like that. Everything is all about conditioning. And so me, and like I said, I offend a lot of people when I talk about this, but no one wants to acknowledge that this happened. As soon as I bring it up, no, like they, they changed the subject. And I, I wish people would embrace that this is what happened.

There was even a, um, a journalist at the time during the industrial age when this was all happening. And his name was H. L. Mencken. Go Google him to see what he said about it. But he basically said the whole point of the education system is to not. And I'm paraphrasing, but to not lift up lawyers and create artists and creatives and thinkers, we have enough of those.

We need people that fall in line, basically. Braxton's take on our system is it is designed to keep us just stupid enough that we follow it. [00:30:00] The path that we're told to take, but smarter enough to be productive for. Other people, and I refuse to, I refuse to accept that. I refuse to embrace that. So, which is another basis of coaching that I do.

It's like, you guys need to understand that it's important that you start ripping down the walls of that box that you've put yourself in, even though you may not realize that you did it. Yeah. I was teaching you about Batman versus Superman. I'm not sure we can be friends. I like, we, we're going to be great friends.

You and I are going to go along. I was even like thinking about following up as you started talking about, I was like, Ooh. I'll follow up with this question about Rockefeller and see if you've heard about that concept. And it's like, and you went right into it, it's like, it's okay. We can be friends totally on the same wavelength there.

What is your take on the current job market? I've recently found a term, uh, I've been looking at going back to work. I've taken, I took a year off to try and get this [00:31:00] monetized and I haven't gotten there yet. So I'm going back to work. And I'm applying to jobs left and right and I came across a term I hadn't heard before talking about ghost jobs and companies putting up all these positions that they actually have no intention of hiring for.

What do you think about our current job market? I know there are a lot of people frustrated out there. Yeah. So perception is reality. So whether you think the job market is. Um, taking a downturn or not, you're, I believe you're right. And by that, I mean, yes, there is merit to, I'd like, I just had the tech company I used to work at, um, just laid off, um, a dozen people a couple of weeks ago.

Um, and layoffs, I'm, I'm on LinkedIn on a daily basis and I see stories of people getting laid off. And it feels like it's, you know, 2008 all over again, a little bit. Um, there's merit to that, [00:32:00] but by the same token, it's 2023 and there's opportunity everywhere. And so. We just don't, um, we just don't know where the opportunity is because again, we've been conditioned to, to have blinders on for certain things.

Um, excuse me, um, you know, like, for example, I know that. There's no reason that someone can start out making 25 an hour in their profession. Some people don't make that much. That's not a ton of money, but it's a start. And one way you can immediately start making 25 an hour is go take a one day class to get certified to be a phlebotomist, as an example.

One day. And that's all it takes. There's opportunities like that everywhere. But we've been conditioned to not watch for them. And so we don't, we, we, um, like we're not aware. We, we're, we don't know what we don't know. And so that's part of what I do is help people [00:33:00] understand there's all these different ways that you can make a living for yourself, that you can have an income, but we maybe just put ourselves in a box without even knowing it.

And we're not aware. That, that explains so many of the phlebotomists I met.

That's a fair statement.

Um, I, I, my grandmother was a nurse and so I'm a little, and my mom was a CNA for a while. And so I'm a little judgmental, right? I, I, I met some phenomenal nurses and this is not a bloated nurse. I met some phenomenal nurses over the years. They give you a shot. You don't feel anything. They stick a needle in your arm.

You don't even notice. I've met some phlebotomists and they do this all day, every day. And they miss your vein a dozen times and beat crap out of your arms and it hurts like it's like you do this all day. How can you not be good at this? [00:34:00] I don't know. Now I know that's, uh, that's a little, well, terrifying and exciting.

I didn't know you could do it in one day, but it is a little terrifying at the same time on this end of it. I mean, I, I don't go to the doctor very often anyway, so I can't judge them too harshly because I have to be dying to go to the doctor

in your experience. What are most of us getting wrong when we're trying to move forward in our careers? Cause I know, uh, in the it sector, one of the ways, the only way I found to get a raise in like the it sector is to change jobs, right. To go to a different job. And I know we moved past a time where company loyalty is, I go back two generations and it's like, if you were loyal to the company, you were a made man, you were set for life 25 years or 30 years for your company.

Um, You've got a great pension, you're going to be taken care of, [00:35:00] they're going to treat you well, they're going to move you up. Now that doesn't exist anymore, that model has changed in the industries. And I know in the IT field, that's about the only way you get it raised is to take a different job. So, you know, there are a lot of people out there who want a better job, who want to move forward.

What are we getting wrong? You said, talked about perception some, what are we getting wrong in trying to move forward in our careers? Yep. So there's a few things. The first thing you touched on it. That's something. that I coach people on all the time and I even talk about it in my content is the quickest way to get a pay raise is to change jobs.

And the, the fact that you brought up like, you know, being a company man, like this, this definitely has to do with that, um, where, where the attitude with our employers has changed where they, they almost have a turn and burn mentality with their employees, right? The tech company I used to work at used to have 600 employees on average.

[00:36:00] They have half that now in more recent years. Because they just turn in burning people and they're building a reputation for themselves. You don't want to work there. Um, but yeah, to answer your question, it's, you can, well, I think what happens with employers is you're with them long enough that they think they can either take advantage of you or they think that, you know, everything is going good because they don't ask for your genuine feedback.

And even if they do, they don't take it to heart when you give it to them. Um, that tends to happen. I'm not, I'm trying not to blast all employers because not all employers are like this, but I see this as a very common thread, um, even with people, VPs that I work with. Um, so that's one thing. Another thing is, is like, you don't realize how far you can go with just a resume that's on point.

Um, I review hundreds of resumes every year. And again, this is anecdotal based on my experience, but based on the hundreds of resumes I've seen. [00:37:00] The average resume is around a 30 percent match for the job. So there's a, there's 70 percent of an opportunity there to opt for optimization to position yourself as a better candidate.

I, I once had a coaching client that had graduated from college. He had his degree for seven years in a very in demand field. But he still didn't, he still couldn't find his first job in that very in demand field because he did a terrible job presenting himself as a qualified candidate. And my background, like I said earlier, is in marketing and in tech.

Your resume is a marketing tool for yourself. And the better that people understand and realize that, the better you will catch the eye of employers. So that's one of the things we do in my coaching program is. Help people understand, how do you get your resume to go from a 30 percent match to a percent match every single time?[00:38:00]

Because even at an 80 percent match, you're doing three times better than everyone else for that job. So you're in the top 1 percent for every job you apply to. These are the kinds of things that people don't realize, like this is what you're missing. Okay. I was actually watching a clip, I think on one of your platforms, maybe TikTok, talking about that the other day.

It was like, of course, I started thinking about my resume. And it was like, Oh, I bet my resume sucks. I actually used to do a lot of hiring for my last company, uh, and training and the guys I worked with, they handed me a couple of resumes like, Hey, we're, we're looking at these guys on a hire. I wasn't a part of, and I handed it back like all these red marks all over the resume.

And my partner was like, what the heck man has like, [00:39:00] uh, no, no, this is wrong. This is wrong. This contradicts this, like, he's like, let me have you go through my resume before I leave the company, just so I want someone to like scrutinize the crap out of it, but a good hiring manager going to look at your resume and they're going to scrutinize it.

To an extent, and I know, I know like this much of it, right? I, that's, I know this much about it from being that guy looking at them, but I think we all were taught early on, like you have one resume and this is what it looks like. And that's how it is, right? This is, if you ask for my resume, this person, this person, this person are all going to get the same resume.

And listening to your TikTok videos, like. I've been missing the ball on this. I think, I think I'm doing this wrong here. That's where the biggest opportunity is because everyone use what people don't realize is job hunting is [00:40:00] very much a skill set. And so that's like, that's what we teach when my, with my company is like, most people don't think of it that way, but if you, there, there is a very step by step methodical, intentional skill set you can develop around this.

And when you. Fully comprehend it, job hunting is not a chore. Writing a resume is not a chore. It's almost a thrill. And like, it can be that. And most like this is again, when people say you were out of your mind, Braxton, I've never heard someone say that. I know, but like, imagine being able to write. Like what, one of the things I help people understand is that it's very important to tailor your resume for every job you're applying to.

And I always get the argument like vehemently back. I don't have the time for that. I don't have time to do that for every job I want to apply to. I don't have the time, I can't, like, there's no way, and what I explain to people is, is you will spend, is, for whales, applying to 300 jobs[00:41:00]

for 10 jobs, and you will get more interviews with the 10, because you're being intentional, and like, They're like, Oh, like I have a, my, I have an early case study when I first started this business. She had been unemployed for a year, um, and was a very talented professional, but wasn't getting any job interviews.

And this was the problem. She had a very bare bones resume that she thought was really good, but it didn't address anything for any employers. It wasn't, it wasn't showing anything for any employers. It wasn't, things like that, that would, and so.

As soon as you start to learn to make your resume as a, again, a good marketing tool that makes employers excited when they read it, that's, that's all it takes. And so it's just a skill that you have to build up and get good at. Um, but it's funny, like, I honestly believe I'm the best resume [00:42:00] writer in the world, but I refuse to write resumes for people because it, because it completely conflicts with that whole concept.

So like, I think resume writing services are scams for that reason, because they have to use the law of averages. to give you a kind of sort of good resume that is good enough for the type of job you're looking for. But you're going to pay 600 bucks for the privilege of having someone do that. And it's still less than a 30 percent match for the job.

So what are you really paying for? So that's, that's part of what we do, is we help people understand this whole concept. I, I saw a guy who, yeah, it's, it's, I think he only works with a handful of people at a time and like it's thousands of dollars for him to write your resume. But he like, I think there's a guarantee on like two or three jobs you apply to, you're gonna get one of them or something.

It was like thousands upon thousands of dollars. I'm like, Mm-Hmm. . I'm sorry, when I'm unemployed, I don't have thousands and [00:43:00] thousands of dollars to update that. So that must be people applying for stuff while they're working or something. That's, to me, it sounds like, like if, if I were to make, I, I have a guarantee too, but I don't guarantee people jobs because I can't control their effort and I can't control the decision of the employer, of the employer.

Right. So I have a guarantee, but it's not that, but like, to me, it sounds if there's someone that's making that promise, it almost sounds like. They're, they're writing the resume for one job, but then they tell you to go apply to five and there's your, you know, now they've met the guarantee. Like that's how some of these resume writing services work.

It's just like banking on positioning your resume in a certain way so that it meets the guarantee for example, but you as the consumer that paid for that service would, wouldn't know any better. Oh my goodness. It's all a crazy scam. All of it's insane. I just, I, I. I become such a skeptic when it comes [00:44:00] to services anymore.

I see all these little niche services pop up. I'm like, uh, what's, what's the, I'm, I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Right. Because there's every industry I, and I've had a broad range of jobs over my life and everything I've ever done is like, you get into it and you find out there's so many little pieces to it that the majority of people never know because they're industry specific.

And everybody in that industry knows that. But the majority of the world has no idea. And so, you start trying to get into something and you're like, Oh, there's like this whole world out there of this that I had no idea existed. And, and so I'm always like, I, I get excited about some things, but I'm, I'm probably a little bit pessimistic sometimes about it.

Cause like. Okay. I, I, I hate the fact that companies are using like keyword screeners over [00:45:00] resumes these days. Like my brother applied for a job that he was super qualified for that the, like the general manager of the site, they, they wanted it like they're begging for his resume. It took him two and a half years to get it because the company outsourced to another company.

They screen the resumes. And so like the guy who ran the place and ran the team was working with my brother for two and a half years trying to tweak his resume enough to get it through the screeners back to him so he could actually hire him. Like he, the job was going to be his, we, they just had to get the resume past the bureaucracy of it.

It was like, ah, that, that system just doesn't seem like it works. I can address that. Sure. Like a lot of people want to hate on those tools [00:46:00] and I get why. And so if you look at it from the perspective of the employer, if they post a job, they will get a hundred applications that first day. And so like me as a business owner, I have, I have a database of my, my list, both my clients and my leads, right?

And it's, I have thousands of them and it's the same thing for employers, but for applications, they need a database. And so this, those screeners, those hiring platforms, the software they use. Helps them manage those applications. I don't fault them for using them, because it's a necessary evil for them to keep everything in order.

So, the trick is, and this is what actually what we coach people on, um, is that, just understand how the screeners work, understand how the platform works, and you can exploit it. Like, I always joke like, hiring is a game, and so, first you need to learn the rules to the game, but once you know the rules to the game, you know when's, which ones can be broken and exploited.

And [00:47:00] that's how, like, we have a lot of clients that end up getting interviews to, like, 80 percent of the companies we apply to because we teach them the skill of exploiting the hiring software of all things, which most, most people don't, there's, there's people that understand it's a thing. There's people that don't understand a thing.

So like, but that is a skill in of itself. And so like, my, my point is, is like, we can bemoan that this is the, the, the status Right. Bye. Bye. The industry, we can bemoan that this is how it works. And we, we almost refuse to do it. I know some people argue against applying to companies that use hiring software for this reason.

They're like, I'm not even going to play that game. I refuse to. 99 percent of companies use this software. So you're really limiting your opportunities to do that. Why not just better your life by learning this skill that's actually pretty repeatable and remove those barriers and discover that you can get interviews to at least half the companies you apply to, if not more.[00:48:00]

Guys, we've been discussing education and employment, career development, and the way things actually work in the world of hiring and finding the job that you want in the next part of the show, we're going to dive into what you can do to start getting your career growth back on track. Whether we're looking at growing inside the company or into our next job, we're gonna roll our sponsor and we'll be right back with more from Braxton Wood.

How well do you sleep at night? Do you toss and turn and wake up more tired than when you went to bed? Sleep is commonly one of the critical elements people fall short on in their life. The quality of sleep you get directly affects your ability to control your weight, your ability to add muscle, your stress levels, and your everyday job and life performance.

If you're ready to move to the next level and sleep has to be part of the plan. Check out our friends at ghostbed. com. If you're ready to get your best sleep. I love my ghost bed. I've been sleeping on one for a couple of years and has made a huge difference in how I sleep hit ghostbed. com. Use the code, the fallible man, 30 to get 30 percent off your order and start getting a better night's sleep tomorrow.

[00:49:00] Now let's go on to the show. All right, guys, welcome back. In the last part of the show, we discussed education, employment and career development, and the realities of looking for a job these days. In this part of the show, we're gonna start talking about what you can do to get your career growth on track, whether that's moving forward, pressing job or looking for another job.

And it's awesome because Braxton is a guy who looks at, Hey, you have more possibilities than you know, or than a lot of times what you realize. So this is really great for a lot of us. I know that this is the job market is something that has been a sensitive issue for a lot of people since. The dreaded Rona, and a lot of people lost their jobs.

A lot of people still looking for jobs. And so I think Braxton is really gonna help us out today. Now, Braxton, what are you seeing as far as like current trends in career development and how we can leverage them for our own growth? Yeah, I [00:50:00] think what I coach people on and what I kind of promote in my content, this kind of mentality that we've been talking about this whole time about, you know, betting on yourself.

It's shifting that direction, but I don't think it's shifting fast enough, and like, I still get so much resistance to, to people, like, all I try to do And even in my content is just help people understand that there's more opportunities out there, but you have to be willing to bet on yourself. You have to be willing to put, make an effort and to like show some intention.

And in doing that, I get called a bigot and a racist and just like, I, it, it blows my mind that I'm trying to encourage people and this is the feedback I get from some people. But like, that's how I frame it, is be willing to bet on yourself, be willing to you be the one to make an effort and don't wait for the permission of an employer to give you a job.

Don't wait for the permission of an employer to come work for them. Don't wait for the [00:51:00] permission of an employer to go build your experience. I got, in marketing, purely. on me taking an interest in it, practicing the craft, practicing it in my own time, doing side gigs and side hustles, whatever. But that experience matters.

And so you can slap that on a resume. That is literally how I got into a 600 person tech company that required a bachelor's degree. And here I am without a high school diploma. That's, that's all. Most employers actually value experience and skills more than education. And to some people that sounds obvious.

Like, duh. But then, but then they tell me why then I need the degree because it's required. No. Here's the things you guys gotta understand is, and, and my two dozen recruiter partners have confirmed this with me, so this is not just Braxton saying this. Most employers require a degree in their job listings as an arbitrary way to try and improve their candidate pool.[00:52:00]

So it basically is there to preclude people spamming their resume to them. Like, and we've, we've, we see it happen. I mean, I think, I'm sure we're all guilty. Like, Oh, I'm going to, I'm just going to hit easy apply on LinkedIn for that executive job. Even though like I have 10 years working at McDonald's and I'm not trying to like, but like there are people that do that.

Right. And it happens a lot. Uh, so having that degree requirement is just an arbitrary way, uh, or an arbitrary gatekeeper, I should say, to preclude certain people from applying. But if your resume is still an 80 percent match, a 90 percent match for that job, they're going to see that in their hiring system.

Their hiring software will actually rate you as a candidate based on your resume, not unlike a Google or an Amazon review. It's there's literally a star rating in some of these platforms. And that's what the employer sees. Your education. Being on the resume. Where they require it is like 0. 5 percent of that rating.

And [00:53:00] so it's all the, you mentioned it earlier, Brent, like all the keywords and, and things like that. That's what gets your resume to be a 67 percent match for the job. And when they open up the hiring software and see that. You're, you're, they're going to interview because they want to see, like, this guy knows his stuff.

This guy knows it. Let's talk to him. That's what they said. I know that's what they said when they saw me. It's like, oh, Braxton doesn't have a bachelor's degree, but he, he checks all the other boxes. His experience is aligned other than that. So let's talk to him. It's completely arbitrary. So that's the first thing I would.

I would say in terms of like this, like the, the state of affairs with the job market. Um, like I said before, it's not shifting fast enough and so there's a huge opportunity right now. I don't even know if people will ever come to understand this like mainstream, but right now there's a huge opportunity to take advantage of the fact that most people still think that those degree requirements and those job [00:54:00] listings are not arbitrary, that there are actually hard and fast requirements.

So you as a candidate can take advantage of the fact that most people are not going to apply to that job because of the fact that they're allowing themselves to be precluded, to be stuck in that box like I've been talking about now some Are there exceptions? Absolutely. Absolutely. There's exceptions.

Some companies do require a degree because the degree is required. Sometimes it's because of the field they're in. Obviously, if you're gonna apply to be a lawyer, an engineer, a doctor, probably going to need a degree, right? But that's not the majority of jobs. All, all the, I tend to work with creative professionals, sales, marketing, tech, design, things like that.

Those jobs are very, can be very lucrative, but that degree requirement doesn't matter so much. So that's the thing. So take advantage of the fact that most people think that it does matter and don't let that stop you from applying to the job. But [00:55:00] you do need to make sure that your resume is on point.

But if it is, you're going to get interviews to the majority of jobs you apply to. I know that one has had bitten me hard before the automatically precluding myself from something. I've had a job in particular, I remember where we were doing some, we worked for a contracting company that serviced this company, but they were doing some internal hiring from that company to fill some positions they had created.

And they actually, like the day they were doing interviews, the HR team called me. He was like, Hey, our name, your name came across our desk. You, I know we're doing interviews. Do you want to go ahead and do this? It's like, well, I didn't apply because I don't meet all your requirements. I didn't want to waste your time.

Like, I thought I was like being respectful and honorable about not making their life harder by just throwing another resume they're just going to toss because I didn't meet the requirements and then a guy that I worked with, I was super more. [00:56:00] Uh, what's the nice way of putting it, qualified, we'll go with that much more qualified and better at my job than got one of the positions.

And I knew he didn't have the minimum requirements or anything like that, but he got one of the positions and I'm like, wait, um, um, back up, how did this happen? And I, I like, I kicked myself so hard because I let this wishlist of this is our perfect candidate, keep me, I mean, they even called me and asked and I was stupid.

It was like, Oh, no, I don't meet those terms. And then years later, I'm working for another company, doing a lot of the hiring for the job roles. But I'm looking at the job description that our boss's boss put out. I'm like, we can't afford this candidate. This job is an entry [00:57:00] level job that we're hiring for.

We can't afford this candidate at what you're willing to pay. Like I'm looking at this wishlist they had on there. It's like. This is vastly, vastly overqualified for this job. This is the same way you guys ended up with me. And I was the highest paid guy doing the job. Like, this is, this is how you ended up with me.

Is you posted a res, uh, something like this and we got here and went, Oh, I don't need any of those skills. Okay. You actually hit the nail on the head there. And I don't know if you realize it or not, but you said you were, you were kind of, um, speaking from the employer's perspective. And you said, here's this job listing for the perfect candidate.

And, and that's the fallacy right there. That a lot of people fall into the trap of thinking is. What they don't realize is, is that's exactly the point is that when you see a job listing, that is the employer's ideal candidate, but they know that they're not going to get it. If you don't check 100 percent of the boxes for every single little thing in that job [00:58:00] listing, that doesn't mean you're not, you don't have a shot at the job.

Because again, you can speak to the needs and requirements better than anyone else applying to the job, then you're going to get an interview. You just will when you're in, that's how you make yourself a 90 percent match. You're, it's, it's, it's almost like a, we, we tend to be very apathetic in our job, job hunt.

Like, where else in life do we say that 90 percent isn't good enough? You know what I mean? But that's how we treat job listings. That's how we treat our applications is like, oh, I don't check those two boxes out of 40. So I'm, I'm not qualified. No, like apply to the freaking job if that's the case. It doesn't matter what those two things are.

If it's a degree still apply to it. Again, obviously there's exceptions, but they're the minority, um, just we're, we're [00:59:00] allowing ourselves to be restricted too much by this, like we've been talking about. You mentioned LinkedIn as a platform, um, and LinkedIn definitely has ups, ups and downs like any other platform, but in terms of networking, right, because that's one of the things LinkedIn really is, is it's a way to connect with other professionals.

What are the most effective strategies for building meaningful connections that can help contribute to your career growth? Because I know we like to pretend it's not, but honest to God, so much of career growth can happen because of who you know. My, my break from construction to IT was literally a who I know moment.

Yep. I hate it when people say that phrase. It's not about what you know, but who you know. And I don't hate that people say it because of the fact that it's not true. That act that there is some truth to it. But here's the thing, it may matter who you know. But what doesn't matter [01:00:00] is how you know them, right?

So there's nothing, it's 2023, this thing called the internet exists, and there's a bazillion different ways you can connect with someone. There's a dozen different social media platforms on its own to connect with people. There's nothing stopping you from doing that. But again, people allow themselves to be precluded from that because it takes effort.

It takes a little bit of intention, right? But like I've been in the same room with people like Aaron, uh, Alex Rodriguez and Dave Ramsey and Gary Vaynerchuk, if you guys know who that is. And Logan Paul, like I've been in the same room with these people and been able to shake their hand because I knew someone, right?

And again, well, yeah, Braxton, but you're, you're privileged. How does the homeschool kid that grew up in a dysfunctional family in a, in a conservative town. Yeah. Get that privilege like you want to meet there's I had nothing going for me. I It's this two faced argument people have with me. Well, you're privileged [01:01:00] Braxton.

But on the flip side, they're like, you're an idiot because you didn't go to school. Well, which is it? Because I get the same argument from the same people, right? Either I'm privileged or I'm not. But it, it, I only get that, the argument switches as soon as it becomes inconvenient for them to, you know what I mean?

I get it all the time. No, the reason I got in the same room with those people and was able to shake their hand and have a conversation with them, was because I first had a skill set, right? And I put myself out there to meet the right people and make an effort. And it takes time. It's not something that happens overnight.

There's no silver bullet to this. Like it, in my background in marketing, there's this concept about drip marketing, which means it leverages the concept that, you know, it takes the average consumer eight touch points to make a buying decision, right? Well, that's all networking is, is what are those touch points you're making so that the right people.

recognize you. So that's [01:02:00] the first thing I would help people understand. It's like, yes, maybe it does matter who you know, but it doesn't matter how you know them. So go out and freaking get to know them and quit pitying yourself because of the fact that you think it matters that you weren't born with this silver spoon in your mouth.

The other thing I would say is net part of networking is being able to establish yourself as an authority in whatever it is that you do. So the other side of it is. Okay, once you do start networking with people, once you do start making that effort to reach out to them and get to know them, what are they going to see when you do that?

And so keep your LinkedIn updated, keep like I always talk about using all of your social media platforms as an opportunity to talk about whatever that is. So if you were to go on my Facebook about three years ago, I stopped posting personal stuff. You don't see my photos of my wife and my kids on my Facebook.

But you don't see me. Oh, here's what I had for [01:03:00] dinner and taking silly photos of it. That's not what you see. You see me talking about. And documenting what I'm doing that's interesting in my, at least what I think is interesting. Maybe people don't think it's interesting. Talk, use, use the channels available to you for free to talk about your, the authority you have in your space.

And if this is especially helpful, if you want to make a career change, again, that's something that I did. The, one of the ways this is going to sound so ridiculous, but when I realized at 28 years old. That I wanted to be in marketing in tech. Uh, the first thing I did was I tried to find people in my area that would come meet with me and allow me to have like a silly seminar with them so I could talk about marketing.

So I could talk about business and I rented a library for 25 bucks an hour and five people in my community came to hear Braxton talk. Well, guess what? That went on my resume because now I can say I teach seminars, [01:04:00] right? But the employer, when you put that in your resume, the employer doesn't need to know that what you perceive it to be, like how insignificant it may have been.

You taught a seminar. You did it. You checked that box. Good for you. That's all, that's all it takes. So do things like that to establish yourself as an authority. And as you do enough of those, more and more opportunities come to you and they get bigger and bigger. And so I went from being, uh, on paper, quote unquote, and a stupid, uneducated homeschool kid to being a contributing partner to Monster Jobs.

To having clients that were VPs at Reddit and Coinbase. And I had, I had a client that was a, um, correspondent at NBC News. Like, Israel, the people that Braxton, the weird homeschool guy, works with now, who has built trust with because he established himself as an authority over time and, uh, made an effort to get to know the right people.[01:05:00]

There, there's so much to unpack to that. I, ah. I love it when my guests say things that it's like, I'm not even sure how to follow that up entirely. Uh, because I, I know that our listeners are getting incredible value out of that. So let's switch gears just a hair with, you know, how do we start to identify and address?

Cause you already touched on it a little bit. So that leads in with this one, finally, how do we start to address those potential gaps that may be hindering where we want to go with our career set with our career progression? Uh, what, what steps do we start taking? Obviously, like the whole library thing, that was brilliant, by the way, just, just saying.

Thank you. Do, who, that, like, that's just it. Do silly things. Do you want to fill a gap? Do silly things. What, I'll put it this way. Whether you think they feel silly or not, maybe they are, maybe, like, it sounds silly that I went to a library, I paid money out of pocket to teach a seminar to five people that [01:06:00] showed up.

And I taught, I literally grabbed my iMac, my desktop iMac. And I. That's what I carried into the library in the room to do the presentation on because I didn't have anything else. Like that's what I use. It doesn't matter because then that gives you the credential. The whole thing about job hunting and even in business with what I do is about building trust.

In business we say people buy from you when they know, like, and trust you. It's the same thing with employers. They hire you when they know, like, and trust you. Um, so like it's important that people understand like there's just so much opportunity. Um, so some quick tips in terms of filling gaps. Like Uh, in your resume, list your experience in order of relevance, not chronologically, which sounds crazy.

And it's, it, is it a deal breaker? No, but it's one of those things that helps. So if you have experience from 10 years ago, it's more relevant to a job you're applying to now because maybe you realize you [01:07:00] want to go back in that field or whatever, do that. And then just, and you want to make sure it's obvious that like the tenure and stuff.

But, um, so there's a quick tip, um,

there's just so much opportunity. I, I always, I honestly just go right back to like. What are you going to do to show people that they can know, like, and trust you and those opportunities to do that?

My, my, I'm trying to stay focused. My brain is just going through my resume. I'm going, I need to fix this. I need to fix this now. Guys, I hope you're getting as much out of this as I am. Cause I'm, I'm, I am, I'm just tearing apart my resume in my head going, man, I thought I had this put together. I really got some work to do now.

Braxton, what's, what's next for you? But what's the big projects on the line? Oh man, I'm, I'm always working on more [01:08:00] courses for my clients. Um, I, it's funny, my sales guy jokes that I'm the Willy Wonka of career development. And because I'm handing out golden tickets to the best jobs is how he puts it. Um, and so it's me just leaning more into that.

But I also, um, because of the blessing of the, the partnerships I've had and the following that I have, um, I had a. Um, a literary agency in New York reached out to me and basically said, if you write a book, we'll sell it. And so I'm currently working on a book right now that kind of condenses all these principles.

Um, so stay tuned. I wish I could tell everyone that it's ready and go here and stuff, but I don't, it's not. So we're working on that now. Um, but like I, in a way I kind of view myself almost, and I'm not even a huge fan of Dave Ramsey, honestly, but I kind of view myself as the Dave Ramsey of career development because I, I've seemed to do something most people don't do, which is give a methodical step by step process to you getting the [01:09:00] job you want and doing it on your own terms.

Um, so it's me more leaning into that. Like I, I, I honestly believe like. My story and what I teach people belongs on like a cable television network or something like that. So in terms of like big very audacious goals, that's where everything I'm doing is to be able to spread my message more in this process and this method more and that's the long term goal because get more eyeballs on it and My whole goal is to upend the hiring industry really.

And to empower the, the job seeker, the employee by finding the job that they want, that they deserve but don't know how to get until they bet on themselves and find a way to do it on their own terms. Braxton, what's the best place for people to connect with you? If you go to braxtonwood. vip, um, that's where kind of like all my socials [01:10:00] are, it's where my program is, my website.

Braxtonwood. VIP and everything about me is there.

I'm adding that to my list for you. Guys, I'm adding that to my list, so that way you will have every connection point with Braxton. That will be down in the show notes or the description, whichever platform you're actually enjoying this on. I highly encourage you, just, just, if nothing else, follow him on social media because you're going to get great tips.

I'm not even a big TikTok fan, but you're going to find some really great tips on there that will help you in this industry that just is outside the comfort zone for a lot of us. Right. Um, it's been eye opening, looking for a job again for the first time in over a year. Uh, I haven't been out of the professional circle that long, but I've been with my previous company for like eight years before that.

And so I've been out of the hiring for [01:11:00] going on like 14 years or something now. Because literally I walked from one job to the next I was recruited. And so getting back into looking for a job. It's like, I know so many people are so frustrated because they don't understand the game as you termed it. And so I think this is going to help a lot of people.

And you guys can follow Braxton for more tips and insights or go work with Braxton and we'll have all those links available for you. Now, I know you guys are all concerned about. What country James Bond girl Lea Seydoux is from? You guessed France. The answer is in fact France With a name like that. I hope I'm not sure.

I've seen that suffix on many names that aren't French, right? But hey, congratulations on some Bond trivia. I'm a James Bond fan. Although I'm behind on the newer ones I, I'm a, I'm a Sean Connery guy, [01:12:00] Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan. Those are my favorite Bonds. I love James Bond as a kid. Like we, those were always the movies we rented at Blockbuster.

And we wanted to have a movie night as a kid, so I was hoping I got that one. Right. Back when you could still rent movies from Blockbuster. Right. That that's going to become one of those memes. One of these days, I think I've actually seen it. You know, I'm this old Saturday, Friday nights going to the video store.

Braxton, if our audience hears nothing else today from this whole conversation, what do you want them to take away and hear? Something that I coach people on and I'm very vocal about in my content is that if you're feeling discouraged in your career or in your, in your life, in your livelihood, and you're wondering why opportunities aren't coming to you, just know that there is nothing wrong with you.

If there's anything wrong, it's probably [01:13:00] just in the way you're presenting yourself. And that's an easy fix. And that's what we help people do. Guys with that, on behalf of The Fallible Man and Braxton Wood, be better tomorrow because of what you do today. And we'll see you soon. This has been The Fallible Man Podcast.

Your home for everything man, husband, and father. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a show. Head over to www. TheFallibleMan. com for more content. And get your own Valuable Man Gear.