Escaping Hustle Culture

When I Realized that Working Hard doesn’t always work in your Favor

For years, I truly believed that as long as I did my job very well and outworked everybody around me, I would be able to climb the ladder and reach higher paid positions in my industry. 

When the time came for me to finally start making that move, I realized very quickly it’s not about how hard you work. It’s about whose ass you’re willing to kiss. It’s about finding yourself in a favored position with the right people, despite your work effort, or lack thereof.

From the years of 2012-2019, I worked at an order fulfillment center for a very popular office supply company. Those first 6 years I spent working on the graveyard shift. My job was by no means an easy one. 

It was very labor intensive. Spending my entire shift on my feet, constantly moving, lifting a lot of heavy boxes, operating forklifts, and usually working mandatory overtime on a daily basis.

Despite the fact that I worked in a predominantly male environment, I still managed to become one of the top performers in my department, eventually becoming THE top performer. By the time I had left the graveyard shift, I was hitting the best numbers and had the most seniority. I was the go-to girl for almost everything. 

When my supervisor was out for whatever reason, it was my job to ensure all areas were properly covered and any side work was delegated, unless, of course, I just did it myself because as the saying goes,” If you want a job done right, do it yourself.”

In 2017, my supervisor decided to take a position on the day shift, making his position available. This was it. I thought that this was finally my time for all of my hard work to pay off. I had the best numbers, I had been there for over 5 years at that point, and I had the respect of pretty much everyone in leadership. 

I thought for sure that I was a shoe in and that there would be absolutely no question that I would get that position because surely there is nobody else who was more qualified. Even all of my coworkers were expecting me to be their new supervisor and they all wanted it for me. They all knew I had earned it.

I went through the whole process of applying and interviewing for it and I thought everything was good. I waited nearly 2 months for an answer, and then I got it in such a horribly surprising way.

I came back after having some time off to see a lady I had never seen before getting trained on some of the equipment by my supervisor. A few moments later, one of my coworkers came to me with a concerned look on her face and asked if I had heard the news.

Apparently, the girl I did not recognize was an admin who mainly worked in the front office who hadn’t even been with the company for 2 years. She never applied for the position or interviewed for it. Our warehouse manager just asked her if she wanted it and that was it. 

I came to find out not long after that she and the warehouse manager belonged to the same religion and apparently this was not the first time he had chosen a member of leadership based on that same criteria.

I got passed over due to favoritism. I got passed over because I made it very clear that my dedication would go to improving my department. What the warehouse manager really wanted was someone who would just take orders even if it negatively impacted my team. They wanted someone who wouldn’t put up resistance or use their experience and knowledge to improve the system. 

To say I was hurt and angry would be an understatement. When the new supervisor took over, I made it very obvious that I had no respect for her and was not willing to help her figure things out. They thought she was the best fit, so why would I ever need to help her? 

Over the next year, I begrudgingly went to work and just kept doing my thing. You may be wondering why I didn’t just go get a new job. Well, in the warehouse industry, it does not matter how much experience you have. You will start at the beginning paygrade all over again. No other company was offering a pay that was even close to what I was making at the time and I had just reached the point of earning 3 weeks of paid vacation a year. I did not want to start all over again.

While I was extremely unhappy with my company at that time, at least I knew what I was dealing with. It’s best to stick with the monster you know, as they say. But then, the time came when I was in a position to move to day shift, so I jumped on that opportunity immediately.

After several months, a trainer position became available. It wasn’t a move up to a salaried position as I had originally wanted, but it would still give me a bump in pay and would take me away from the long hard days of manual labor. It would also help me in the long run when another supervisor position became available again. 

Thankfully, luck was on my side this time, and I got the position. It also helped that the manager in charge of making the decision actually appreciated my work ethic and wanted me to be the one to pass that on to every new team member that got hired on. 

Unfortunately, one bad day cost me everything. 

While I was doing some work on a reach truck (a type of forklift for those who have never worked in this industry), I had to pull down a pallet that was stacked with cases of bottled water. The wood that this pallet was made of was very weak, which I did not know until I stuck my forks in, lifted it up, and proceeded to watch as this thing completely fell apart, causing a massive waterfall. 

I had to call inventory control to assess the damage and after about an hour and a half of cleaning it all up, I was on to my next duty. I had to operate a machine called a swing reach, which is huge. I got on, turned it on, and proceeded to go do what I needed to do. As soon as I started to lift up the platform, the battery died. I took it over to maintenance to have them see what was going on. The maintenance guy had me take it into the battery changer so I could pull the bad battery out and grab a new one.

I had changed batteries 1,000 times. This shouldn’t have been any different. But, I was letting my bad day get the best of me, and I missed one lousy step. This battery changing machine had a big metal “arm” with a magnet at the end, which was what was used to grab the batteries out of their charging stations. When you’re all finished, you’re supposed to bring the arm back into a position where it’s not sticking out. I failed to do that. As I was reversing the machine back into its starting place to park it, a corner of the magnet got caught on another forklift that someone had left parked in there.

I just remember hearing a loud bang, looking forward, and seeing this machine completely come apart. It was at that moment that I immediately knew that I was going to lose my job. You see, I was also a daily partaker of marijuana, which is legal in my state, but at that time, my company still had a zero tolerance policy since the company was national. Back then the rule was that if it was federally illegal, then the company would abide by that law. 

I did what I could to “fake” the test. First, I used synthetic urine, which came back as invalid. HR gave me a chance to retest. I was able to get real urine from a clean source, but then I was told that I might be watched by medical staff. At that point, I had quit smoking for 2 weeks and had been pounding water like someone who was stranded on a deserted island. I took the risk and left the clean urine in the car and just prayed that I could pass it.

That test came back as diluted. So the higher ups in the corporate office on the other side of the country told my HR manager that I had to be let go. Over 7 years of hard work and dedication and a recent promotion that could have led to life changing opportunities, all gone because of ONE BAD DAY. 

Let me just clarify that I was not under the influence while I was at work. I never did that. But, unfortunately, THC is a substance that sticks with you for a long time, even if you only do it one time. Truly unfair if you ask me. But that’s not the point of this post. 

For the next few months I bounced around different jobs, just trying to find one that felt right. Seven months later, I finally found one that felt good. I would be doing a lot of work similar to what I was doing before. The first 2 years were really good. Of course it came with a fair amount of stress and hard days, but it was nothing I wasn’t used to. But in the third year, things started changing. 

That was when I started feeling deja vu. Corruption in management, people getting leadership positions who did not deserve it, and harassment cases being handled horribly by HR. That was when I realized that this kind of work was no longer for me. Corporate America was no longer for me. I burnt out not just from the type of work I was doing, but from the mental load it made me carry.

Realizing that I was nothing but a means to the bottom line and that if anything ever happened to me, I was just an easily replaceable person. After my youngest son was born in the summer of 2023, I decided during my maternity leave that I needed to find a new avenue. I wanted to work from home. I wanted to be more present with my family, and I wanted to work on my own terms. 

I decided to get licensed to sell life and health insurance. I got contracted through an agency with an awesome compensation plan. Unfortunately, I got a huge case of imposter syndrome and struggled to do the job. So I never made any money. I only lost money on paying for leads and holding errors and omissions insurance. 

I fell into a deep dark hole of depression and thought that I was never going to be able to make my dreams become a reality. So I started looking for regular jobs again. I got a part time position at the Fed Ex warehouse in my area. I only stuck around for about a month because the work was just too difficult for me. I had been doing manual labor for years, but this job was tough. I only worked 3-4 hours a night, but that was more than enough. The thought of doing that full time was unimaginable. 

But then, I had a little change in my luck. I applied for a job that was different than anything I had ever done and got a call back pretty much immediately. This job was perfect. I was getting paid the most I had ever been paid and it was very easy. It gave me a lot of down time that allowed me to start working on my blog again. 

Unfortunately, it was a contract job. After it ended, I applied to several jobs. No luck. I couldn’t believe it. I had never had so much trouble finding a job. So, I decided to go all in on my blog again and even jumped back into the insurance game. 

My biggest issue with the insurance was making phone calls. I hate sales calls and I hated making them even more. So I pivoted. Instead of calling people, I decided to combine my digital marketing skills with insurance. That is the wonderful thing about this digital time we live in. A lot of people are looking online for the type of coverage they need. People don’t want to talk on the phone anymore or have strangers in their home. 

The bottom line is that I had a dream and I found a way to make it all work for me and that is why I started this blog to begin with. I wanted other people to know that they don’t have to stay in this hustle and grind culture because they think it’s the only way to earn a living. We are learning more and more that the “American Dream” we were all sold growing up no longer applies. We live in a time where companies are not paying their employees enough to live and a lot of people have been brainwashed into thinking that there is nothing they can do about it. They just have to take it and figure out how to make it work. 

I’ve decided that’s bullshit. When you look at successful and wealthy business owners, they did not get to where they are by playing by the rules and doing what everyone else is doing. They did it by having an idea and then capitalizing on it. 

I will admit that this entrepreneurial road has not been easy. A lot of time it feels like you’re doing a lot of work for no pay out. It takes a while to break out of that employee mindset when it’s how you’ve been living for your entire working life. But chasing your dreams is not supposed to be easy. Nothing worth having ever comes easy. 

When you finally make that first sale, though, you’ll realize that all of your hard work wasn’t for nothing. Being your own boss is a grind and a hustle, but at least it’s a hustle that benefits you and your family. It’s a hustle and you decide on your own terms. You’re not slaving away to pay for some CEO’s 4th home. You’re putting in all of your effort to one day have the ability to write a blog post while you’re sipping coffee on vacation. 

If you’re someone who is burnt out, and constantly stressed because you don’t know how you’re going to afford to support your family that you hardly ever see, then I am encouraging you to re-evaluate your life and ask yourself what it is that you truly want. I can promise you that if you keep pushing yourself for a lifestyle that does not fulfill you, your body and your mind will shut down and then you’re going to lose a whole lot more than just a job. 

You will lose yourself, your sanity, and possibly your loved ones too. 

If you want to know what this digital marketing thing is all about and how you can get started, check out the Passive Daily Pay Blueprint. Or, if you’re more interested in a faceless approach where you don’t need to get on camera every day, check out the Secret Sauce. It’s perfect for busy people who just simply do not have the time to be posting all day. 

Wherever you decide to go from here, just know that your dreams are totally worth whatever comes next for you.

Until next time…

XoXo-Mandy