361: Career Reset in Seconds: Rebuilding Confidence, Identity, and Your Next Step with Joe Mazzarello

A routine day at work can change your career and your life in seconds. In this episode of The Mid-Career GPS Podcast, I’m joined by Joe Mazzarello, whose story is both intense and deeply instructive for any mid-career professional navigating change, uncertainty, or a career pivot.

Please take care as you listen. This episode includes a brief discussion of a serious workplace injury, surgeries, recovery, and rehabilitation.

Joe spent years working as an elevator mechanic. Then, during what seemed like a normal workday, a split-second slip pulled his left arm into a running machine. Joe walks me through what happened, the shock of the accident, and the long road that followed, including surgeries, occupational therapy, and learning how to live and work with new physical limitations.

But this conversation is not only about recovery. It is about identity, resilience, career reinvention, and what it takes to move forward when the version of your career you once knew no longer fits.

Joe shares how he moved to Ohio during his recovery, started taking on small handyman jobs, and eventually built those jobs into a residential remodeling and renovation business. His story offers a powerful reminder for mid-career professionals who feel stuck, overlooked, or uncertain about their next move: you do not have to wait until you feel completely ready to take the next step.

In this episode, Joe and I talk about how to rebuild confidence, tell your story, stop managing other people’s reactions, and let your actions prove what you are capable of doing. Whether you are navigating a career change, rebuilding after a setback, preparing for interviews, or trying to find more meaning in your work, this conversation will help you think differently about fear, gratitude, mistakes, and momentum.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• How a routine job became a life-changing accident for Joe
• What recovery taught Joe about identity, confidence, and resilience
• Why career pivots often begin before you feel ready
• How Joe turned small handyman jobs into a residential remodeling business
• Why adapting to new limitations can create new opportunities
• How to tell your story in interviews, networking conversations, and client meetings
• Why you cannot control how other people receive your story
• How choosing the uncomfortable path can help you grow faster
• Why mistakes can become one of your best teachers
• How gratitude and realism can exist at the same time
• Why taking action matters more than waiting for certainty

Why This Episode Matters for Mid-Career Professionals

Mid-career change does not always arrive neatly. Sometimes it shows up through a layoff, a missed promotion, a bad boss, a stalled job search, a personal transition, or an unexpected life event that forces you to reconsider what work means to you.

Joe’s story is a powerful example of what it looks like to rebuild when the old path no longer works. For mid-career professionals, that message matters. You may not be recovering from a workplace injury, but you may be recovering from disappointment, rejection, self-doubt, or a version of your career that no longer feels aligned.

This episode will help you ask better questions about your career, including:

What story am I telling myself about what I can and cannot do?

Where am I waiting to feel ready before I take action?

What evidence do I already have that I can adapt, learn, and grow?

What would change if I stopped trying to control other people’s reactions and started owning my story more fully?

Joe’s journey reminds us that building your Mid-Career GPS is not about having every step figured out. It is about taking the next step, learning from what happens, and trusting that progress often comes from action.

Memorable Ideas from the Conversation

One of the strongest messages Joe shares is that mistakes are your friend. That is a powerful shift for anyone in a job search, career pivot, or leadership transition. Too many mid-career professionals wait for the perfect plan, the perfect resume, the perfect answer, or the perfect timing. Joe’s story challenges that thinking.

He reminds us that action creates clarity.

He also shares why telling your story matters. Whether you are interviewing for a new role, networking with someone in your industry, talking with a potential client, or trying to build credibility in a new field, your story can become one of your greatest assets. But only if you are willing to tell it.

Listen to This Episode If You Are:

• Considering a career pivot or career change
• Rebuilding confidence after a professional or personal setback
• Feeling stuck in your current job or career path
• Trying to find clarity about what comes next
• Preparing for interviews and wondering how to tell your story
• Learning how to lead yourself through uncertainty
• Struggling with fear, self-doubt, or perfectionism
• Looking for inspiration to take your next step

Connect with Joe Mazzarello

Joe Mazzarello is a residential remodeling and renovation business owner based in Ohio. After a serious workplace accident changed the course of his hands-on career, Joe rebuilt his professional life by adapting his skills, taking small steps, and choosing to keep moving forward. Today, he continues to grow his business, train his nephew, and build something meaningful for the long term.

Instagram @joey.mozzarella 

Final Thoughts

If you are in a season where your career feels uncertain, Joe’s story offers an important reminder: you do not need to have everything figured out before you begin. You can take the next step, learn from what happens, and adjust along the way.

Your career does not have to look the way it used to in order to be meaningful. Sometimes, the next chapter begins when you are willing to own your story, choose the uncomfortable path, and keep moving forward.

Listen to this episode and use it as a reminder that your next step does not have to be perfect. It only has to move you forward.

Transcript

Welcome And Listener Discretion

John Neral 0:03

Hello, my friends, and welcome to the Mid-Career GPS Podcast. I'm your host, John Nerrl. This is the show for mid-career professionals who feel stuck, undervalued, or unsure what's next, and know that doing more isn't the answer. Here we focus on how you show up, and that means how you make clearer decisions, build influence, and take control of your career. Let's get started. Now, I'm intentionally being vague here because I want Joe to tell you his story. That's his job. However, I want to pre-alert you because Joe will share some elements of his story that involve his accident, and we talk about certain aspects of his accident and recovery. And that may be triggering for some listeners. So listener discretion is advised. Joe's story is more than just resilience and perseverance. You will hear how Joe's accident really shifted his mindset to a place of incredible gratitude and what it meant for him to not only own his story, but to simply tell it and to tell it in a way without any expectations for how it was received. Joe is an example of how we can all show up as our best selves. So it is my pleasure to introduce you to Joe Mazzarello. Joe Mazzarello, welcome to the podcast. It's great to have you here. Great to be here. Thank you for having me. Yeah, big shout out to our friend Dean Cox for introducing us and uh and connecting us. I really appreciate that. You've got an amazing story, my friend. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So so Joe, we always start off with what was your mid-career moment? Please tell us.

The Elevator Accident And Survival

Joe Mazzarello 2:18

Well, that would have to be uh my accident, actually. I uh I was an elevator mechanic for many years, you know, worked my way up the ranks, you know, apprentice helper, then became a mechanic. And uh one day I was doing pretty much a run-of-the-mill job called a cable shortening, something I've done a million times before, and finished up the job. My helper was cleaning up the tools, and I went upstairs uh into the motor room, which is on top of the building, to just kind of check the machine, you know, what you normally do after a job. And I'm walking around this machine as it's running, and the machine is basically like a motor that turns a giant steel pulley, like a big, maybe three-foot diameter steel pulley. And uh, I'm just walking around the machine, making sure it's going good. And as I walk around the machine, I kind of slipped. It could be a little greasy in those motor rooms sometimes, and I slipped. And if you've ever slipped on ice, you know, maybe one foot goes out in front of you, and you put your arms out to your sides to kind of catch your balance. Well, I had a rag in my left hand when I did that, and the rag caught one of the steel cables that goes over that big pulley, which is called a shiv. But the uh the rag caught one of those steel cables and it pulled my arm into that shiv and it sucked me in there and it grabbed my entire arm from the forearm down and was still spinning, so it kind of picked me up and cartwheeled me over the machine, it spit me out and threw me into the wall. And I do remember kind of landing there on the floor and not really knowing what was going on, and I stood up, and it's funny. My first thought in my head was, why does this machine sound so funny? I just I just fixed this thing, it should be good. But that was me, that was the sound of me. And uh I first thing I did was I felt some some like something on my foot. And when I looked, I just saw blood dripping onto my shoe. That's when I noticed my arm. And I had ran over to the stairs where my helper was downstairs cleaning up the tools, and I remember just yelling, yo, down the stairs. And my helper came running up and he looked at me and he went, What did you do? And I said, I don't know, but you gotta call somebody. I didn't, I was in shock. So I remember laying down on the motor room floor waiting for the paramedics, which uh felt like it took days, but apparently they took four minutes, from what I heard. And the paramedics came, they uh literally sat me in a uh in a in a wheelchair and kind of plastic wrapped me to the wheelchair and then wheeled me downstairs, put me in the ambulance, and uh brought me to the hospital. And seven surgeries later, uh, I luckily still had an arm, thankfully. I had some really good surgeons there because uh yeah, the way my arm looked when I got hurt was something I've never seen before. I mean, the best way I could describe it was you know how if you grab a soda can at both ends and you crush it in your hands, that's kind of what happened from my fist to my elbow. My arm just kind of got crushed and it was it was pretty gnarly. There were things hanging out of my arm that I didn't even know were in an arm. So yeah, it was wild.

John Neral 5:20

So, Joe, first of all, thank you for sharing that with us because it it certainly sounds horrific and traumatic. And I'm curious, in that moment when you were laying up against the wall and coming to and trying to figure out all what happened. When, if any, did like panic set in for you?

Joe Mazzarello 5:44

Um right at the beginning. Like I said, when I got when I felt something on my foot, I looked at my foot and I saw the blood dripping, and that's when I kind of realized what had happened. Because before that, I thought it was just something wrong with the machine. And then when I saw my arm, I was like, Oh, I know what just happened. I I just got hurt in this machine. And that's that's I think when I started to panic a little bit. I mean, uh unfortunately, I never blacked out during that whole thing. I kind of wish I did in hindsight, but I mean I was awake for the whole thing, and uh yeah, I I was panicking a little bit, but uh yeah, yeah, probably the whole time I was panicking well there. And then once I got to the hospital, I mean, the last thing I remember at the hospital was getting put on a table. I felt those cold scissors cutting all my clothes off from my ankles up to my collar, and they pulled my clothes off like that magic trick when you pull uh like the tablecloth off and all the cups stay. My clothes came right off, the mask went over my face, and I was out in seconds. And I woke up 11 hours later after my first surgery. Oh, wow. And I was still pretty panicked then, too, because I was still very confused and you know I didn't have a working arm, and it was it was wild, it was a crazy moment.

John Neral 6:56

Now, this happened to your left arm, correct? My left arm. Thankfully, I'm a righty, yeah. Okay, so I was just gonna ask you that. Okay, so that's I I don't want to say that's good because it's not good, but at the same time, it's not your dominant hand, correct? Yeah. How long after the accident did it take for you to get back to work?

Recovery In Ohio And Career Pivot

Joe Mazzarello 7:17

Well, um, after the accident came a lot of occupational therapy, physical therapy. I mean, that stuff lasted about a year. And then um after that, I was home on workers' compensation, kind of healing up and stuff. My arm definitely wasn't, you know, uh in working condition. But as I was healing up and my arm started to get better, uh, I started honestly just getting bored with staying home. And uh, oh well, actually, also during that time while I was healing up, uh, I had lived in New York, and my sister, who's also we're super close, we're like best friends, and she was my neighbor at the time, and she got a job promotion out to Ohio. So I said, you know what? I'm out of work, I'm going with you. So I went to Ohio, and that's where I was kind of doing most of my healing here in Ohio. And then, like I said, I was sitting around, not doing much, not working, and that's not me. I'm not the kind of guy who could sit still for very long. I mean, you already have me sitting here for longer than I sit most of the time. But uh, so I just I was thinking of what to do. I I had already left New York, so I wasn't an elevator mechanic anymore. And uh I figured try my hand at maybe doing some handyman work, which is actually my you know original line of work. My grandfather was a home improvement contractor, my father was a home improvement contractor, so I decided, hey, maybe while I'm uh you know healing up, maybe I could just grab a couple small jobs here and there to make a few bucks. But uh, in doing that and grabbing those small jobs, those jobs started to accumulate and the jobs started getting bigger and bigger, and then eventually I said, you know what, this is what I'm doing, and this is it's good because that's what I actually really like to do too. I mean, elevators was a great job, but my passion is home improvement for sure. So today, your work looks like what? Today I do all types of residential interior remodeling and renovations. I mean, I take care of anything from small handyman work like installing a faucet to fully remodeling your kitchens and bathrooms.

John Neral 9:22

So for the so for the listener who is is trying to piece together all these elements of your story, right? Because we're we're we're kind of getting to the part now about like, okay, so you know, your accident happened how long ago? That was 2015, my accident. So 11 years ago. So 11 years ago, right? And now you have your own company. You're do you have people who work for you as well?

Joe Mazzarello 9:47

Uh, right now, just one employee who's also my nephew, and we work together every day. Great. Yeah, good.

John Neral 9:52

I love a family business. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So what was that like for you essentially having to restart? Because for so many people who are listening, right, they find that you know they've gone through a re-org, they've lost their job, or they didn't perform well on a job, they they lost their employment. And it's obviously a different situation than yours. But from a thought process or even the emotional side of it, the restart is is similar in a lot of ways. What was that restart like for you?

Joe Mazzarello 10:31

Um

Working With Limits Without Quitting

Joe Mazzarello 10:32

a little scary, but um I was also, I'm also the type of person who doesn't like to not be able to do things. So it was, you know, when when I thought about the limitations that I do have with my hand and my wrist and my arm, uh, that just didn't sit well with me. And I and I didn't like that, you know, I didn't like just thinking, oh, I can't do this line of work because I have a bad left arm. I started more thinking, like, how can I do this line of work with a bad left arm? And I just kind of dove into it. And I mean, it was a little nerve-wracking at first, but slowly I just started working and and proving myself to myself, you know, realizing through these little jobs that I'm doing, like, hey, I can do this. Maybe I could take on more, maybe I can take on more. And I might not use my hand and stuff exactly the way that I used to, but I learned new ways of doing things, which kind of, you know, broaden my horizon, so to speak.

John Neral 11:30

Yeah. And and sounds like doesn't hold you back in any way either.

Joe Mazzarello 11:33

I don't let it hold me back. No, no. I mean, there there are little things that I can't do that, you know, I won't say hold me back, but they just kind of caused me to change how I do things, you know. Like I can't quite lift things the exact same way, but I just gotta, you know, turn my arm a different way or use a different part of my arm. But it was all kind of that learning curve to get back to what I really wanted to do.

John Neral 11:58

Joe, you're someone who is clearly very skilled, right? You've got you've got tremendous home improvement skills, mechanical skills, and things like that. In in your in your healing and your recovery post-surgery, did you ever consider doing something different? And and by different, I mean not the labor-intensive type jobs that you currently do today.

Joe Mazzarello 12:26

Um, the thought crossed my mind. It did cross my mind, like, you know, like uh maybe I should get a job that, you know, I don't need to do any heavy lifting or things like that. But like I said, that like I feel like I'm I'm just so drawn to this kind of work. I just I love, you know, just getting in there and turning wrenches and figuring things out and learning how they work that that it just didn't sit sit well with me to not you know use my hands and do some kind of blue-collar work that was always just my passion.

John Neral 12:59

In I'm I'm I'm I'm hesitating here because I I'm trying to find like the exact right word I have to say. And I may screw this up, so forgive me, forgive me if I do. But like in in your in your recovery, in your journey, right, to to get to where you are today, was there a time when you were working for somebody else? Um, were you doing any of that kind of work?

Joe Mazzarello 13:26

Yes. Oh, actually, when I when I said that uh, you know, I was healing up and then I started doing handyman jobs, the way that started is I thought, you know, let me just get see if I can get a few hours of work a week just to kind of dip my toe in in the industry. And so I actually went on Craigslist and I was I was looking for carpenters who wanted a helper. I just wanted to be a helper and I thought, you know, I'll just hand some guy tools, at least I'll be on the job, I'll be involved somehow. And I started working for a guy who was about my age and he had his own business. And, you know, in working with him, I was already kind of, you know, more advanced than just a helper. I had been doing this kind of work for a long time. I learned a lot from my dad and stuff. So um I quickly became on the same level as that guy who had hired me. I wasn't just a helper. And then after a while with working with him, I started bringing my own jobs in that we would do together. And then eventually he had his own jobs and I was bringing in jobs. So we kind of just parted ways on very good terms and everything. You know, I just started bringing in my own jobs and thought, you know, I got I got these to take care of. He has his jobs to take care of. So that just kind of kickstarted me off into doing my own thing.

How To Tell Your Story

John Neral 14:40

So take us back to that moment when you're looking on Craigslist, you're trying to find some helper type jobs, you're reaching out to people. Because one of the things that a lot of people who listen to this show struggle with is they struggle with how they tell their story. And they find sometimes, and and it's it's a it's a common trap we all face at some point, where like you have to you feel like as if you have to convince someone you can do the job. So in a in a corporate job, let's say they might say, Oh, I'm really dependable, I'm reliable, I'm a great communicator. And honestly, they don't care about that because that's expected, right? But they get this convincing type energy in terms of how they tell their story. You've got a story that nobody has, right? It's it's unique to you, and and we all have our own unique stories, but you have a very monumental event that happened, right? And so now you're looking at going back into doing similar type work and you're meeting people, you're meeting contractors to potentially hire you. You have to tell your story. What advice would you give the listeners in terms of what you felt was most helpful in terms of how you told your story?

Joe Mazzarello 16:02

Um just start telling it. That's uh, you know, like uh what you know what first off, like I feel like any kind of situation like that, it feels awkward to tell your story. You know, it it's odd, people don't want to talk about things like that. But I feel like kind of any awkward situation can be solved by just diving in, just tell the story and then see what happens. And you're just gonna kind of learn from telling your story, you know. And uh, you know, I I I also don't be so concerned with uh how the other people are gonna take that story too. I mean, I kind of my story is what my story is and how people take that, that's fine, but I just feel like my work speaks for itself too. You know, I I don't really have to convince anybody why I'm able to do this job. I could just show you. So, you know, I've always been the type of guy who tries to outwork everybody around me. And uh, so that that's really what it is. I kind of let my actions tell that story for me. Yeah.

John Neral 17:07

I want to go back to something you just said, which and I'll paraphrase here for a second, which was not not getting tied up or wrapped up into what other people think about your story. That's hard to do. Yeah, it is. How how did you how did you maneuver that to just not not get so wrapped up in the outcome or what other people think about your story?

Joe Mazzarello 17:33

Well, um actually, I feel like I've always been the type of person who I I'm gonna walk towards the uncomfortable situation. I feel like if you stay comfortable, then you're not gonna really get better or advance. Like I wanna put myself in that uncomfortable situation because every uncomfortable situation you put yourself in, you you can learn from. You'll always you really don't learn much by hitting home runs every time or staying safe. You learn from doing what makes you feel a little bit awkward or makes you feel a little bit nervous, and then just see what happens. And then when you come out of that situation, you're gonna say, This went right, this went wrong, but you're gonna have something to take to the next time that'll make you even better.

Gratitude And Identity After Trauma

John Neral 18:25

When you look back on these past 11 years, what's the biggest thing you've learned from your injury?

Joe Mazzarello 18:32

Um there's always a silver lining. Always. I mean, uh, something as bad as this. I mean, I thought the world was over when when my injury happened. I mean, I thought, you know, all types of working with my hands was going to be finished, and that was like who I was too. And I thought just my whole identity was gone. But when I looked back, I would not change anything about that day. Because if I didn't get hurt, I never would have moved to Ohio. I never would have met my wife in Ohio. I never would have had my daughter, I never would have started my own business. So I mean, as crazy as it is to say if I had to go back and do it all over again, I would still get hurt a hundred percent. Yeah.

John Neral 19:18

It sounds like there's a lot of gratitude in that.

Joe Mazzarello 19:20

Oh, yeah. I am, I am very like, it's weird to say, but I'm very thankful that I got hurt, really. I mean, I mean, you know, I wish this all could have worked out without me getting hurt, but the fact that it did was really the the jump start to my my new life and who I really enjoy being. I'm I'm I'm very happy in my life right now. I love my wife, love my daughter, love my job. I just I enjoy getting up every day and just doing what I do, and I couldn't ask for more, honestly.

John Neral 19:49

Can I ask you a personal question? Of course. All right, I am someone who does not do well around blood. I just don't. Okay. I've got a weak stomach. I mean, whenever they have to draw blood at the doctor's office or whatever, I can't even look. Like it's right. Are you that kind of person or did that stuff not freak you out?

Joe Mazzarello 20:12

You know, um, I'm not a good, like, broken bone guy. Like, you know, you ever see like those videos, like, you know, oh yeah, pulling and if someone breaks a bone or something, I can't really look at that. I I don't like that, but uh, I'm not as bad with blood. I'm I'm really not. I don't mind getting shots at the doctor. I watch the needle go. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. But uh I yeah, but I mean, I don't care how much you like you're you're okay with blood or broken bones, seeing your own arm though is something else. I mean, I I one thing that stands out about my injury. I remember when I first looked at my arm, I have never seen the color white as white as a bone. It was the whitest white I've ever seen. And like it was it that caught my eye. The first thing I saw when I looked at my arm was this white thing sticking out, and it took me by surprise. And and I realized, I was like, wow, that's a bone. I have never seen anything like that before. Before that day, I had never broken a single bone until I broke like almost all of them from the elbow down. I mean, uh yeah, I had completely shattered my forearm, my wrist was completely crushed into pretty much like little bits, like my wrist was shattered, and then all my fingers were broken. It's it's actually wild when I when they brought me into the hospital. Uh, I remember there were firefighters that were sent back to the building to look for my fingers. Oh my god. But when they were doing the surgery, they realized I had all my fingers, they were just kind of crushed into my arm. Okay. So everything was still there. But yeah, my my injury was a lot of shattered parts. I mean, I was held together with a lot of pins. I had an uh what they call an external fixator on my arm, like a big exoskeleton for about six months. So yeah, there was uh yeah.

John Neral 22:00

Pretty how much how much pain are you in today from it?

Joe Mazzarello 22:03

Today, I am not in much pain at all, thankfully. Uh, you know, a lot of people say, like, oh, I bet it hurts when it rains or whatever. It really doesn't. I'm lucky that it doesn't hurt when it rains. You know, I don't get that. I have limitations, you know, but uh they're not really painful. Like, you know, I don't make a full fist with my left hand, I don't have full use of my wrist, it doesn't move as well as my right wrist. But uh, as far as pain, I'm I'm pretty good. I'm pretty fortunate in that aspect.

unknown 22:31

Got it.

Joe Mazzarello 22:31

Good for you. That's great surgeons, too. I all, you know, shout out to those surgeons. I mean, they were great, man. They were awesome.

Pain And Perspective On Complaints

John Neral 22:39

It sounds like your medical team was just top-notch in exactly where they needed to be. Yeah. Good stuff. Um The other thing I wanted to ask you was when people go through an event such as yours, um, and and look, I had a neighbor years ago who said, if all of our problems were shoes, and we took those shoes and we threw them all into the corner with everybody else's shoes, we would always pick our own because they're the ones that are most comfortable. Right? When when you think about everything you've been through, how do you how do you um handle or process somebody who let's say you might perceive them or know them as a complainer, a whiner. Everything is a big deal. And you're like, look, I had my arm shattered. I know, I know what hardship is, kind of a thing. Yeah. Does that frustrate or bother you when you hear somebody kind of just incessantly just kind of complaining and whining about stuff on a regular basis?

Joe Mazzarello 23:49

A little bit. Yeah, a little bit. Because, you know, I just feel like, you know, stop complaining and get in there and figure it out. Whatever you're complaining about, there's an answer to it, you know, and complaining isn't you're not finding any answers, complaining. So stop complaining and just get in there. Yeah.

John Neral 24:06

I I love and appreciate your attitude so much about how you know anything can be figured out. A hundred percent. Yeah. Have to figure that out and do that. What is what does work look like for you in the upcoming

Building A Family Remodeling Business

John Neral 24:20

years? Like what's next for you in your business, or are you personally and professionally? What's what's the next thing for you that you're most looking forward to?

Joe Mazzarello 24:28

Well, uh, just bigger, better job. Well, all right, here's what I'm looking forward to my nephew learning more and being able to do things on his own. I mean, that's like uh I'm putting all the knowledge that my dad gave me, everything I've learned from my own experience. Um, I'm teaching my, I mean, he works right by my side, my nephew, every day. So I teach him every little tip and trick that I've ever learned. And, you know, I just I could see it in him that he's already growing and he's and he's learning things. I mean, we'll be working together and he's already starting to say, like, hey Joe, did did you forget to do this and that? And I'm like, Oh, yeah, you did. And it's nice to see that. Like, that means you know, things are sticking. He's really using his head. And I would just love to see him just advance and get better. And then eventually, you know, my nephew will just be able to handle a job on his own. I mean, that would make me so happy. That's awesome.

John Neral 25:22

That's awesome. Well, it sounds like you've got everything in place to correctly develop and train him and everything. So I wish you all the best with that. Thank you so much. It's so good. Joe, this has been a wonderful conversation. I thank you for sharing your story, for being so open with us about it and and what you've you've been through and

Next Steps And Closing

John Neral 25:42

have learned. As we wrap up the show, the one question I always ask people is what advice would you give them to help them build their mid-career GPS?

Joe Mazzarello 25:52

Well, similar to what we just talked about, get in there. Whatever you think that you want to do, don't let uh the fear of the unknown stop you. I mean, uh, mistakes are your friend. So don't be afraid of making them. I I know it sounds weird. I enjoy mistakes in a way, because you know, when you make mistakes, that means that you just learn something, you know. So if you're trying to start something new and you're not sure how to go about it or what to do first, just take a step. It doesn't have to be the correct one because when you take a step, two things are gonna happen. You're either gonna say, Hey, that was a the right step and I'm where I want to be, or you're gonna say, that wasn't the right step, I should have done this, and then go do that and take another step, and you're gonna learn something that way too. So just get in there, don't be afraid of making mistakes and just just yeah, just go for it. Don't complain, just go. Well, everybody complains, but just you know, still go for it. You know what I mean?

John Neral 26:52

Absolutely right. No, Joe, thank you so very much for that. Hey, if people want to learn more about you, find you, connect to you, connect with you, hire you if they're in the Ohio area, what have you. I'm gonna turn the mic over to you. Tell us all the great places where people can connect.

Joe Mazzarello 27:07

Oh, well, the uh easiest place to find me would probably be Instagram at Mazarello Home Improvements. Uh, you could see me on there. I'm posting on there every day. I show pictures of my work. I uh I even have some fun, funny stuff and uh all sorts of stuff on there. So that's probably the easiest way to find me and connect with me.

John Neral 27:26

Great. I will make sure that is in the show notes. I'm gonna give you a follow as well as soon as we're off this recording. So you get another follower there. Thank you. Joe Mazzarello, thank you so very much for being a wonderful guest on the MidCareer GPS podcast. Oh, it was my pleasure. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Thank you. All right, all right, my friends. If there's um there's one thing I I just want to leave you with as we wrap up this episode, is this you know, we all have a story, and Joe was so kind enough to share his story with us. And whatever you take away from Joe's episode and our conversation today, um somewhere at some point, just offer up a little thank you, Joe Mazzarello. Just offer up a little thanks to him for sharing a story and and what he taught you today, because um one of the things that he definitely taught me that I'm taking away from is uh, you know, we all have something. And that something is something we can really be grateful for. And that's something we get to work through. And as we build our mid-career GPS to whatever is next, that something may just be the thing we need to get us to whatever is next. So until next time, remember this. You will build your mid-career GPS one mile or one step at a time. And how you show up matters. Make it a great rest of your day. If you enjoyed this episode, don't keep it to yourself. Kindly share it with someone who needs it. And if you're tired of feeling stuck, overlooked, or underutilized in your career, go to my website, johnnarrell.com to get started. There you'll find free resources, ways to work with me, and details about the Show Up Leadership Lab, my signature membership for mid-career professionals who want to lead better, get noticed, and elevate their career. All the links are in the show notes. You can grab what you need right there. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, and if you're getting value from the show, take 30 seconds to leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Remember, how you show up matters, and I'll see you next time.