We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful David Mendonca. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with David below.
David, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
After a 17 year career as a blue collar Journeyman Lineman I embarked on bringing awareness to the epidemic that has plagued America, “absentee fathers”. I myself am guilty of being an absent father. I soon realized that this problem was widespread and needed to be addressed. I saw that this was an untapped niche that was much needed in the line industry I was in. We decided to utilize social media and podcasting as a way to bring awareness to the curse of fatherhood, which is distance. Since then we have expanded to a Radio Station 96.9 KDAZ that serves the SW to over 750,000 listeners. And have opened up a Shop for our supporters to buy merchandise which the proceeds go 100% to our Foundation. We have also teamed up with the National Fatherhood Initiative and are working on collaborating with All Pro Dad. To better serve our listeners’ needs.
David, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I spent 17 years as a lineman before starting my podcast and foundation, during a difficult period in my life. But before all of that, I was a Navy combat medic and then a college graduate in computer networking, which seemed the sensible thing to do at the time. Having been a kid who grew up on a ranch outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, a corporate life stuck in a cubicle turned out to be soul-sucking. I could not wait to make a change.
Then one day, I was waiting to meet my little brother when he pulled up in a four-wheel bucket truck wearing line gear and boots. Impressed, I remember thinking, “Who the heck is this guy? What the heck is this?” I was intrigued. It turns out being a lineman wasn’t just in my family. It was also in my future. I then started a career as a Journeyman Lineman.
In 2018 around 16 years into my career as a traveling lineman, my wife came down with a chronic illness. It was Christmas Day. She’d just made dinner and said, “I’m not feeling good. I’m going to go take a shower.” She went to the backroom, then came out in a panic. I could see it in her eyes. “Something’s wrong.” She said “I have to go to the emergency room.” This was during the H1N1 Flu outbreak so I couldn’t bring the kids to the hospital to be with her. She went alone, and I stayed home with them. At two in the morning, I got a call from the nurse, saying her heart had stopped.
Everything in my world just stopped. I started having these thoughts. “What am I going to do? How am I going to raise these kids? What’s happening? She’s a young 34-year-old woman at the peak of her health and getting ready for a marathon how can this be?”
So obviously, I couldn’t go back to work. We didn’t know what was going on with my wife the doctors didn’t have answers for her condition. So that started my process of being home. During that time, I started seeing how much I had missed with my children. Soon though, my family was literally ready for me to leave. They were uncomfortable with me being home that long because I was always on the road, and they weren’t used to it.
I started seeing that I didn’t have a relationship with my daughter. So I started falling back to an old pattern like how I was raised. Militant and structured. A “tell me dad versus show me dad.” “You need to do this, this, this.”
Being a husband and father was new territory for me. I only had to do it on the weekends or whenever I came home. It did not fly with my family. My wife was out of the hospital and extremely sick, and the kids were in disarray.
Here I was thinking I was doing everything for my family. That’s when I really started putting in the work and doing some self-reflection, looking in the mirror and being honest with myself: “Man, I’ve been a bad dad. I’ve been a bad husband.” Let me tell you, that hurts. So that sparked this whole movement of becoming a Show Up Dad and being more than just a paycheck..
Fast forward to today. I am a successful podcaster and speaker helping blue-collar guys be better fathers, husbands, and crew members. You’ll also find me helping to train the next generation of linemen as an instructor at Cal/Nev JATC in Southern California where my beautiful family and I call home.
As an Influencer we are helping men to step up in their role as not just the provider, but a presider and protector. To be “More than Just a Paycheck “
We are able to do this through our coaching, which is solution-driven training. As such, we won’t waste time digging into the past. We will focus on the present and future in a solution-driven way and work to find effective solutions to change your life right now.
The approach we are taking is different in the sense that we are virtual in nature. We have utilized social media to grow our influence combined with public speaking and actively training new lineman apprentices. We have made an enormous difference in the lives of many. We are talking about the hard things that men go through, from mental health , addictions, trauma, attachment disorders etc. We are able to bring solutions and awareness to these problems that have plagued husbands and fathers for far too long.
The current project my wife and I have embarked on is a new marriage series called “Marriage on the Line,Life Line”
All marriages — even the really good ones — need mending. The routine of jobs, kids, chores, and other commitments can overshadow romance and passion with any husband and wife. As a result, couples can feel disillusioned, or even alone.
That is why my wife and I have created this Marriage series . A platform for husbands and wives to come on and share what they do to be successful.
We feel honored to have guests such as
Casey and Meygan Caston, founders of Marriage365, which is the #1 online streaming service for relationships.
Tony and Alisa DiLorenzo co-hosts of the top marriage show ” ONE Extraordinary Marriage”, Tony and Alisa speak to a worldwide audience about sex, love & commitment, and challenge every listener to make their relationship a priority.
Trey and Lea from the Stronger Marriages Podcast who have authored some amazing books on marriage and family.
How did you build your audience on social media?
As with anything in life whether it be marriage, fathering, husbandry etc… CONSISTENCY is key. You have to be consistent , whether that be in your message, content etc. it is a grind, and sometimes like the famous words of my dear friend Dr. Billy Alsbrooks, you need to ” set yourself on fire and let the world watch you burn.”
I have been consistently airing a podcast every week for 2 solid years as well as posting encouragement daily on all our social media platforms. That bullheaded no quit attitude I developed from becoming a Lineman helped me to be able to be consistent.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Being able to overcome all the naysayers who said that I was nothing more than just a Lineman,that there was no more to life than Linework. That is a huge obstacle to overcome especially when that obstacle is your listening base.
I was told, that you were not a real lineman until you had your first divorce. So far we have been able to break that culture stigma. Through sickness and almost death we have been able to stick it out and bring hope to those who need it. Sometimes our Mess IS our Message.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/Theshowupdadfoundation
- Instagram: @theshowupdad
- Facebook: theshowupdad
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mendonca-
- Twitter: @Linehand6111
- Youtube: @theshowupdadfoundation7632
- Other: As always our ministry is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit – EIN 86-2265617 and your donations are tax-deductible. https://www.instagram.com/theshowupdad/shop Link to Our shop Ways to Give: https://paypal.me/theshowupdad?locale.x=en_US https://venmo.com/code?user_id=3615755228677246169&created=1672017922.212944&printed=1 https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theshowupdg
Image Credits
All Images are created by the Show Up dad Foundation I Own the rights