One could only become an ex-philosopher by rising to an even higher level of consciousness, in which case philosophy would become redundant. This can happen, for example, in the case of enlightenment.

Most people, however, are at a considerably lower level of consciousness than that of a serious philosopher...and they also consider philosophy redundant. :-) This means that the company of genuine philosophers is restricted to a pretty small group of people.

You can confirm this by attending events such as the Superbowl...