Hazel's Hitchhiker

31: Potential Life Decisions

Hazel

We were back on the road again early that Thursday morning. Leaving Phoenix, it was essentially six in the morning. Joey was the one that wanted to leave early. And I warned him about the rush hour traffic that we would be facing. Interesting enough, there was barely any traffic on the west side of the city. Hell, getting out of Phoenix was really the easiest thing ever. And if was that easy, we'd get to Austin late that night.

Who was I kidding though? There was no way in hell we would get there that night. There would undoubtedly be some kind of interruption that neither of us foresaw coming. Let's just hope it would be something small like a blown-out tire or a cute puppy crossing the road. With all this thinking, my sunglasses were back in my mouth getting slobbered with saliva. Joey was back to bopping again. Maybe it was time to listen to another podcast from Dave Ramsey. A minute into the podcast, something in me didn't feel like listening. Without thought, Dave Ramsey went off and my fingers began searching for radio stations to listen to.

"Dave Ramsey not doing it for you?" asked Joey.

"I don't know. Guess I'm not in the mood to listen to him right now."

As soon as my words were shared, the boy's face lit up as if he were excited that we wouldn't have to listen to Dave anymore. Maybe he actually was. And here I was hoping that I had created a new Dave Ramsey fan. Oh well.

"Craig told me about this guy named Noah Kagan. He has a podcast about entrepreneurship and business in general. I actually took the liberty of downloading some of his podcasts last night. Maybe we could listen to him?"

Noah Kagan. Never had my ears even attempted to listen to him. This was the first time I had ever heard about him. Maybe this Noah guy would be a nice break from Dave. And with my permission, Joey began playing Noah Kegen. This guy was completely different from Dave Ramsey. My ears couldn't believe it when it heard some curse words. Dave never cursed. He was a clean-cut guy that everyone could listen to. But he was a breath of fresh air. In the fifty minutes that we listened to the first podcast, Noah was talking to this guy who was trying to start an online business and the risk that came with it.

The dude that Noah talked to, didn't feel like he had enough money and felt like it was risky because of the family that he had to feed. It never occurred to me how much thought it took into starting and running a business. How does anyone actually do that? How was Joey's mom able to start such a successful painting business? How many people actually wanted to buy a painting? With all this thinking, the two of us were completely quiet during the duration of the podcast. Joey was even able to stop bopping. It was a miracle. Once the podcast ended, Joey began looking at his phone with all the possible podcasts we could listen to.

"So what did you think?" he asked still searching through the list.

"Honestly, he was pretty interesting. I'm down to listen to another podcast if you are."

The boy had no response for about a minute while his eyes continued to aimlessly scroll. Was he aware that I had responded? And before I could say anything, he gave a response.

"Have you ever considered majoring in business?" His phone immediately went into his pocket.

"Not really," was all that my tongue could respond with being caught off guard with that question. "My entire focus throughout high school was nursing and only nursing. My father never let me think about anything else."

"Well, your parents are in Italy. Now is the time to think about it. Business is where it's at." There was a confused look on my face. "Think about it. You like Dave Ramsey. He's literally the only thing you listen to. Dave Ramsey's show is about money. Saving money, investing money, all that other crap. I'm no expert, but I would say that deep inside of you, there is a hidden interest in you that needs to be woken up. You're interested in Business Finance. You need to major in Business Finance or at least something related to that. The hell with being a nurse. This is your time."

He had some good points. Maybe I was interested in Business Finance. Maybe I was. At that moment, it felt like something indeed was waking up inside of me. It was an interesting feeling. Hopefully, it wouldn't be lost. There was still plenty of time to think about it.

"You remember when we stopped at the diner and I was giving them shit about the design of the restaurant?" My head nodded in remembrance. It pissed me off so much that he did that. "And you remember when we talked about GCU while we were at the Grand Canyon?" How could I forget? Without waiting for a response, he continued speaking. "I think Craig was on to something when he told me about Noah's podcast. I'm starting to think that I might have some kind of eye for business. The idea of starting my own business sounds kind of intriguing."

"And what kind of business would you start?" I asked trying to focus on the road, but it was hard considering that this was big news. The boy had an idea about his damn future."

"Maybe we could go into business together," he joked. "We could sell condoms or some crap like that."

Condoms? One could assume he was actually joking as I lost control in laughter with him doing the same.

"I suppose I could raise money for the condoms and sell them for double their worth," was my response.

"And we could sell them to a bunch of old people at the retirement home. They're such an underserved market when it comes to safe sex."

We both continued to laugh and make inappropriate jokes. Never would I have imagined this moment with Joey. Laughing and joking with him was like a strange dream.

This was quite a chapter! Important decisions on the way! Don't forget to comment and vote!

What kind of business would you start?

Should Joey and Hazel major in Business?

Should they go into business together? What kind of business?