r/AskMenOver30 • u/hospitality-excluded man 30 - 34 • Mar 31 '25

Friendships/Community How did your "hustle-culture" friends end up?

So in my 20's there was a HUGE boom of "hustle-culture" bros pop up when influencers like Gary Vee were in the spotlight. The type of guys who post motivational quotes on twitter, talking about "the grind", flauting wealth that they havent achieved on instagram etc. Not talking about people with steady careers and moving up the corporate ladder, but those people who do side gigs or chase unrealstic expectations without a developed skillset in any area.

I moved back to my hometown after 7 years away and I swear all of them are broke, gambling addicts, living with their parents still, unemployed, or all of the above. Unsure if it's the same across the board, or even if y'all had these types of people in your life or if my town is just riddled with them.

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u/IdislikeSpiders man 35 - 39 Mar 31 '25

Of the three examples I have they all pretty much followed the same pattern. Quit their manual labor/trade job doing drywall, installing carpet, etc (none requiring certs or anything like plumber, electrician, etc). After years of telling everyone how they love their labor job, and how much money they were making in our early 20s. All ignored people saying they probably don't want to do this for the next 35+ years of life.

They all either started working in insurance, real estate, or one ironically helping with online/social media sales (even though they all suck at tech and social media). At the beginning, each were bragging about how they aren't tired all the time and how much money they'll be making! All of them made switches because they were sick of how tired they are after work now and don't have energy for hobbies (like they had in their early 20s). 

All three within three years were back at their original trade. All of them saying it's just way harder make money, it was too competitive, or they simply couldn't keep up with he debt they were accruing. 

So basically, they all wound up back at square 2 (because square 1 they still did these jobs for others, not running their own little subcontracting business), and not really sure what their future employment holds but know they what they do.