After I got here into the asphalt trade, mid-way by means of 2022, one of many first calls I took was with the person who individuals advised me was an “asphalt influencer,” and since I used to be so new I wished to verify I related with him as quickly as I might.
I bear in mind not likely understanding what to even ask about, as a result of I solely had just a few weeks underneath my belt that first time we spoke. Nevertheless, what I do recall from that dialog with Marvin Joles, the previous host of the favored Blacktop Banter podcast, and creator of a large again catalogue of video and net content material on social media, was that the trade was rather a lot greater and extra complicated than I would beforehand imagined up till that time.
Whereas most would take into account asphalt-pavement to be a distinct segment subculture, the truth is that, like others of its form, it shares lots of crossover with different blue collar, trade-based professions. What speaks to the onerous working individuals of the blacktop world has the potential to crossover to all trades-people.
Eli Joles & Chad Jung at PAVE/X 2025Marvin Joles
This consists of the present shift in the direction of an consciousness about psychological well being. Whereas current research have proven the development trade to be extra vulnerable to destructive outcomes regarding employees who battle with psychological well being points, there’s been an parallel rise of consciousness and outspokenness surrounding the subject.
Final yr, Jamie Roush, the previous president of Dynapac North America, made information by championing main psychological well being initiatives aimed toward encouraging contractors and enterprise house owners to be proactive with their workers because it considerations psychological well being.
With all this in thoughts, once I heard that Marvin Joles, the asphalt influencer, was taking a step again from his podcast and the multi-media machine, I wished to sit down down and discover out why from the supply.
Branching Out Into New Territory
I caught up with Joles shortly after he returned from the Nationwide Asphalt Pavement Affiliation (NAPA) Annual Assembly, which came about in Hawaii in 2025. NAPA has largely been made up of asphalt producers, plant house owners, and quarry males, or what blacktop guys jokingly seek advice from as, “the large guys.” Nevertheless, increasingly more pavement upkeep contractors are beginning to understand that what occurs to the large guys, additionally results them, ultimately.
Likewise, NAPA is beginning to make it extra of a degree to succeed in out and construct relationships with the “smaller” asphalt corporations working within the trade.
Joles, on being a part of the NAPA Influence Group and Assembly Planning group. “It is one thing I am actually enthusiastic about being concerned with, as a result of it is all about how we appeal to extra individuals to the asphalt trade. Everyone knows there’s an ongoing labor dilemma, and it’ll worsen when the older technology retires, and we need to guarantee that the asphalt trade is positioned as a wise and funky possibility that younger persons are conscious of.”
Eli Joles on Dynapac Curler at PAVE/X 2025Marvin Joles
NAPA works all year long to foyer in Washington on behalf of the asphalt trade at-large, however additionally they work in much less direct methods to affect infrastructure coverage, in addition to, act as a self-regulatory physique for asphalt producers.
For contractors who primarily work with sealcoating, striping, or pothole patching, NAPA conferences have the opportunity of feeling a bit overwhelming at instances.
“There are huge corporations, for positive, with tons of of workers,” Joles defined. “It is like all of the circuitry and hydraulics of a paver. You do not see any of that from the surface, however it’s all hidden beneath the floor, making the whole lot work the best way it does. They work with Capitol Hill, environmental companies, and different associations in order that the remainder of us can exit and unfold round some asphalt and sealcoat and make a dwelling.”
Along with seeing how the blacktop-sausage is made, Joles mentioned that it caused different advantages he’d not imagined forward of time.
“For me, there have been some alternatives that took place that I by no means would have even had on my radar if I would not have been there,” he mentioned. “A number of the larger contractors at these occasions have extra work than they will even do, and also you introduce your self, what you do, and who is aware of? You is perhaps getting a name down the road to sub with them. It is a highly effective networking alternative, you already know?”
When One Door Closes, One other One Opens
I lastly bought right down to our current time collectively at PAVE/X in Chattanooga, TN, the place I first heard the rumors swirling that Blacktop Banter was coming to an in depth, and I requested him point-blank what the journey was like that ultimately led to this huge determination for him.
“Life catches as much as you, proper?” He began with. “I had some actually nice mentors that spoke data into me once I was younger, however the factor is, once you’re younger you do not at all times need to take that under consideration. You continue to must be taught the onerous manner. There is a humbling expertise that goes together with doing issues that manner.”
Anybody who’s ever owned or operated a small enterprise understands what sort of grind it may be, not simply on you as a person, however on the individuals round you, like your loved ones. It takes a particular type of toll. Nevertheless, most individuals do not consider content material creation or social media influencer work in the identical phrases. The fact, although, is that it is as a lot of a grind as every other sort of enterprise. And, in some methods, it might probably take a unique type of toll on you, and mixed with working a small enterprise on prime of it, the whole lot begins so as to add up.
For these of you studying who run your blacktop crews whereas additionally attempting to throw movies and footage of your work up on Tik-Tok, Instagram, or LinkedIn, you understand how annoying it may be to maintain up with. Now, think about that small annoyance taking over an entire lifetime of its personal, with its personal shoppers and calls for equal to the stress and complexity of working your asphalt enterprise. That gives you a small style of what it may be like.
The Finish Of The Street?
“I actually dug in on Blacktop Banter, I actually loved doing it. I like making content material for social media and highlighting our trade,” Joles mentioned of his podcast the place he interviewed each individuals from the trade, and fascinating figures from different walks of life.
David Thomas from Oman with Marvin’s family and friends at a PAVE/X 2025 Occasion.Offered by Marvin Joles
Then, final yr, Marvin began to note a development within the conversations he was having together with his friends and other people he met out within the subject.
“I had numerous talks on the present about stress, psychological well being, and I heard numerous tales of how guys handled it. At first, I did not understand that, hey, possibly that is one thing I must be internally, for myself. It was as if my unconscious was already attempting to assist me cope with what was occurring inside, however I did not understand it but. I used to be underneath lots of stress and nervousness.”
He hit a brick wall in the course of the week of the primary PAVE/X in San Antonio, TX, in 2024.
“I nonetheless thought that possibly it was simply the stress of that week, however in the course of the hole between PAVE/X and World of Asphalt [2024], issues did not get any higher,” He remembered. “We had [obligations] already in place for World of Asphalt, and we met these, however I felt form of like I used to be going by means of the motions. All of it appears like a blur now. And I wasn’t actually recognizing what was occurring with me.”
After WOA 2024, Marvin began to place the items collectively, and really perceive what was occurring to him. He was overwhelmed, over dedicated, and not likely dealing with the destructive stressors within the healthiest of the way. Because the planning for PAVE/X 2025 started to take form, he had a choice to make.
“I used to be underneath some actual strain, and it was in the course of the Fourth of July celebrations final summer time,” Joles mentioned. “Eli (Marvin’s son) and I have been at a church service truly, and all of the sudden I used to be tremendous dizzy.”
The unhealthy information, it wasn’t the holy ghost. The excellent news, it was his physique lastly placing its foot down and making Marvin face actuality.
After consulting together with his main doctor, Joles realized that remedy alone wasn’t going to resolve the basis of the difficulty: There have been just too many issues on his plate, and it wasn’t sustainable.
Joles began seeing somebody for normal remedy periods, and a clearer self-picture started to emerge from inside. This led to one of many hardest calls Joles ever needed to make when he needed to step away from the partnerships and plans he had arrange for the approaching yr by means of Blacktop Banter.
“I needed to inform my sponsors, I needed to inform my staff, the individuals we had contracts with that I wasn’t going to be taking over something new as soon as our present obligations have been met,” he mentioned. “These have been among the hardest conversations I’ve ever had.”
Since he stepped away, Joles’ mentioned that the reduction in stress has been vital, although he continues to work by means of it in cognitive remedy.
“I believe we reside in a world the place individuals search affirmation,” Joles defined. “If you wish to make content material or create a model for your online business, and it is sensible, then I believe you need to do it. It is a private factor, actually. However individuals ought to suppose lengthy and onerous, and actually ask themselves why they need to do it. As a result of if they cannot reply that questions, then possibly it isn’t factor to undertake.”
