Show Notes: At 24, Doug Wenz was in a homeless shelter. His son had just been born while he was in rehab. His daughter was on the way in Florida. The life he wanted felt impossibly far from the one he was living. Then one night, standing outside a dirty apartment in Florida, everything in his head went quiet. And he heard one thing: go home. That moment saved his life. In this episode Doug — commercial insurance veteran, new company founder, husband, and father of four — gets rawer than most guests ever do. The addiction. The relapse in 2020. The affair he found out about while in treatment. The dad who locked him out of the house at 11:30 at night and booked him a flight the next morning. And how all of it — every single painful piece of it — led him to the family he has now and the father he's becoming. This one is different. And it might be the most important episode we've released.
Three things you'll learn:
What we cover:
00:00 — Introduction
Doug Wenz, commercial insurance veteran, new company founder, husband, and father of four — with one more on the way
00:00 — The family picture
Two kids from previous relationships. A stepdaughter. A two-and-a-half-year-old son. A baby girl due in December. And a wife he just married in September.
00:00 — The moment outside the apartment
Standing in Florida at 24, everything loud in his head — until it went quiet. The feeling that told him to go home. And the call he made to his dad.
00:00 — His dad locking the door at 11:30pm
The hardest decision his father ever made. The flight booked for the next morning. And why Doug says it saved his life.
00:00 — The relapse in 2020
Eight and a half years clean. Then COVID hit. Then treatment again. Then finding out about the affair. And having no choice but to face everything he hadn't faced at 24.
00:00 — What he missed and what he's getting back
The kids he couldn't be there for. The men who stepped up in their lives. And why finally being present for his son Levi is the greatest gift he's ever been given.
00:00 — What a man actually is
His definition then versus his definition now. And the client with a nonverbal autistic son who showed him what real fatherhood looks like.
00:00 — Why men suffer in silence
Society telling men they can't have feelings. What happens when they believe it. And why showing emotion in front of your kids is the most powerful thing you can do.
00:00 — The generational shift
Hard times create strong men. Why Doug thinks millennials are more self-aware than their fathers. And what he refuses to leave behind for his children.
00:00 — Parting words
You are not alone. Whatever you're going through — you don't have to do it alone.
About Doug Wenz
Doug Wenz is a commercial lines property and casualty insurance professional with eight years of experience and the founder of a new company he's building from the ground up. He is a husband, stepfather, and father of four — with his fifth child on the way. He lives in Prospect, Connecticut.
About Working Dads
Working Dads is the podcast for fathers figuring out work, family, and everything in between. Every week host Johnathan Grzybowski sits down with working dads — founders, executives, investors, and everyday fathers — for honest conversations about the guilt, the grind, the marriage, the money, and what it actually takes to build a career and a family without dropping the ball on either.
No gurus. No highlight reels. Just real talk.
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