Joel walks in the door after a hundred cold calls. His six-year-old looks up and asks: "Daddy, how many calls did you make today?" That moment says everything about what it means to be a working dad — your kids are watching everything. Even the stuff you think they're not paying attention to. In this episode Joel — VDR at Barracuda, husband, and dad of two girls — gets real about the star system keeping his household sane, why community is the most underrated tool in a working dad's toolkit, and what it actually feels like to walk through the door and go from salesperson to dad in sixty seconds flat. No highlight reels. Just a working dad figuring it out.
Three things you'll learn:
What we cover:
00:00 — Introduction
Joel, VDR at Barracuda, husband, and dad of two girls aged six and three
00:00 — The star system
How Joel and his wife built a reward system that teaches values, earns trust, and keeps the house from falling apart
00:00 — Board games over screens
Why Joel's family is deep in their Disney and board game era — and how they got there
00:00 — The community piece
How Joel found DadGood, why he stays, and what it means to finally have a group of dads who get it
00:00 — Walking in the door
What it actually feels like to go from sales mode to dad mode in sixty seconds — and how Joel makes the switch
00:00 — Letting go of control
Why Joel says this is the most important thing he's done for himself as a father
00:00 — The hundred calls moment
When his six-year-old started asking how many calls he made that day — and what that moment meant
00:00 — Parting words
Don't do it alone. Go further together.
About Joel
Joel is a VDR at Barracuda Networks and a father of two girls — Kennedy, six, and Mickey, three. He is a husband, a community builder, and a working dad figuring it out one star chart at a time.
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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