We open the show with a little Rob Base and it takes two, not the best version but we did it and it’s fitting for today’s show. A couple of shout outs to @hh.concpets sharing a few messages about preparing for a potential recession. @summitexteriorsidaho discussing moving his business from Canada to the States.

On with the SHOW we talk about Side Hustles, and we will be doing a series of these shows featuring tradespeople that have worked on other things outside of construction. I wrote a novel, a love story, a romance story set in Toronto about a woman, Hayley who recently has a breakup and is fed up with relationships discovers hundreds of love letters that belonged to a couple from a decade earlier. That is the basic premise of the story, and we are along for the ride to search for Amabel and the man in her life, Joshan. I began writing this story Dec 25, 2018, and it took me about 6 months to write out a 160-page script. I shard the story with a few friends from the film business, they loved it, they had a lot of questions, to be honest so did I. I sat on the story for another 6 months and then decided to write the novel. I suppose I was hesitant to write the novel because I’m not a writer and there are rules to writing and the literary world is a different and very pretentious world that a contractor really has no business being in. Then I realized, wait, I am Manny from Hardcore Renos, and The Construction Life and I really don’t care what people think. Fear should never be a reason for you not to do something. I embraced it and began writing the novel. Another year and I had a 600-page story, I worked on all those missing pieces of the story, and without sounding egotistical, the story really did write itself, the characters and the connections just flowed across the page.

Here we are now, a finished 525-page novel, a story that I wrote, and published and I am very proud of. People are now reading it and the feedback is very positive, women are crying several times, connection with the characters and the scenarios, their actions and they love how it begins and how it all ends. Sure, there will be people that won’t like your written words and that is fine, the story of Amabel isn’t for everyone but as a contractor I had this story inside me and I felt obligated to put it down on paper and share it with others.

This show is about Side Hustles and in construction I believe everyone in this amazing industry has a lot to offer outside of swinging the hammer. Find other passions and don’t be afraid to embrace it, build it, share it, believe in it. The rest is simply going to shape more happiness into your life. I hope you get a chance to support the book and read it, share it with others and tell me what you think of it. I honestly want to know. Thank you so much for your time.

Shared and Discussed Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q07y1JFeEE

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5GYjyMGBsYiUb4nLdoPSjw?si=0k99u5kHQDWaU-AwamMccg&nd=1

Thank you, Laurie, for reading the book and sharing your thoughts. Check out the book at www.theamabelletters.cominfo@theamabelletters.com on TikTok, Pinterest @theamabelletters and on IG @theamabel_letters

TCL has and always will be about giving back to the construction industry.