15 “Whatever That Means” and "You're Getting A Piece Of Bacon Mate"

Guest 1

[00:00:00] I have been laid off and I had this choice to either continue going down the corporate path to try to find another role or to start something on my own. And I felt a lot more energy around the idea of starting my own business. I felt like this was the opportunity to do something that really resonated with me. I could tailor it exactly to my strengths and my interests, and what I found was that just because you are really excited and lit up by this potential business or idea, it doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to land with an audience. [00:00:36][36.5]

[00:00:40] I had difficulty reconciling my vision with what people were looking for. That recognition was something that made me lose a lot of momentum at the beginning. How do I make my vision make sense to other people? And when there were certain logistical things that made it difficult for the studio to continue, and I decided to close the business I had lost, I think the confidence in myself that I knew how to create my own career, and I went back into this mentality of, I have to find another company that's willing to accept me, and I can believe just enough in what they're building that I am willing to contribute. You know, my energy to it. And what I found in. I've now been in this role for a year now, working at this B2B marketing SaaS startup. Of all the words, that that internal motivation is still not there. I'm still not lit up by the idea of working for a company that sets these goals. And, is not really in touch with who I am as a human being and what I uniquely offer.

And, I think that I've come to this recognition that maybe that doesn't exist in a corporate setting, the ability to. Really thrive is something that might only be available to people who are entrepreneurs, and that's been such a weird realization. Essentially, I lead a team of content writers, designers, and a social media specialist to create a growth strategy for the marketing team, specifically their brand, team. So it's. It's a lot of, research and thinking about how to sell a product. That is not, I would think, fully delivering on its vision. Like what the mission of the product is. And that creates a weird tension, you know, how do I market something that's incomplete? Or how do I be careful to not oversell something? And it's something that I think about a lot. I think the problem we're trying to solve is real, and I think that our attempt at the solution is also real. The difference between the ideal of what we're trying to build and what we actually have is so large that it really kills a lot of motivation. And we're also creating a product that the ethos of the product is, skills based tiering, that the ideas we're trying to move, into this future where people are not hired on the basis of their resumes and connections, as much as being able to show that they have skills, in certain domains. And we create talent assessments as the way that people are demonstrating their skills. So you can hear there's a difference between the vision for skills based hiring as a whole versus how we're creating a solution that is a skill, like a product to solve a problem, but we're not really solving it, whatever that means. I don't know exactly what will happen, but I do really love the idea of working remotely. I think that's something that I want to hold on to have a remote business. And I would consider living in Europe, especially during election year. But if not, I'm not wedded to any particular future at this point. [00:04:23][222.2]

Naty

[00:04:29] Hey, folks. It's Naty. We'll be back with more right after this break. [00:04:32][3.6]

Guest 2 [00:04:37] Oh. But the f piece of bacon. I think that's it. And it was tiny. And it was. There's no line works. It probably doesn't even look like a piece of vegetable. Because her husband was full. Kevin. I even said to her like, oh, my God, he liked Kevin Bacon. She was like, no. Oh, that's a weird question to ask about. Great. You're getting a piece of bacon, mate. Are you okay? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I to be him. I always ask him the same thing every time because I'm interested in their response. And I think when someone is feeling pain, they open up to me more. Maybe it's because I kind of like in a vulnerable position about like if they've ever had like an unexplainable experience in their life. Do you know what I mean? It's something kind of weird. And they always go, no, I don't think so. And then I'm like, oh, okay, well, not everyone does. And then be like, I guess there was this one time, and then it will be some mental story where you're just like, how is that not a weird experience?

But then they'll kind of go really deep into it and it's always so interesting. It's actually one of my favorite parts of this show, George. I remember when I first got tattooed, I didn't like the fact that there were other people in the room, and I felt like I had to be, like, really stoic. Whereas actually, when you have an audience, it's a lot easier to just be, like comfortable. Obviously, everyone's experience of pain is different and some people don't feel it as much and some people feel it more. So I think obviously pain is like there's a lot of people I tattooed who say, I'm going to put my headphones in, and I don't think I've talked to a single person in ten years who's actually sat with the headphones in and not spoken to.

And like even those people who think, well, I can't think past pain, I'll be completely consumed by, I won't be able to talk. So I'm going to put myself in a comfortable place, which for them was better. I do like listening to music or they never ever do it. Ever. And I always say like, that's absolutely fine. You can do whatever you want to be as comfortable as you can be, because I was, you know, this is not a particularly pleasant experience for you, but they never, ever do this. It's really interesting. I'm obviously open to chatting and stuff, but not all tattooers are. Also, most people are much better at dealing with pain than they think they're going to be. And obviously there's a fear of the unknown and that's a massive part of it. Even if you do come out of it with a, you know, permanent change your body that you wanted, there's still the fear. Like, I can probably count on my hands the amount of people who've actually tapped out and said, I can't do this. So maybe that's just myself. And the idea that pain is like this really, really awful thing. It doesn't have to be that awful, but I don't, I, I mean, I don't like it, but I can I can sit eight hours in a talk with a tattoo and that lived to tell the tale. So I think that it is the amazing job that is not very good for your body. I think I don't notice it as much anymore because I literally spend so much time doing it, but there's no other way to a tattoo apart from getting into some really weird positions and then regretting it for the whole rest of the day or whatever. So it is. I mean, it's very hard on the rest of you.

I think mentally it's actually like a brain, obviously like a silly and like, rewarding job. You know, if you're a creative person, it's like the best thing ever. And I love it. I wish that I could also be a robot who didn't need to preserve my spine health of doing the same thing. I think I'm actually better off than a lot of people. I know a lot of people who have really bad back problems. Fairly good with that. I do have bouts of like, really painful back problems, but like, not very often and I'm definitely not made to it. So I'm really lucky with that. And I can do my best to like, make it better for myself. But it's that in tattooing when I first started, I remember my mentor saying, like, it's a really judgmental industry. It's really fickle and like, people are nasty to each other. And I was like, is fine. Like, I don't believe that, oh, you know, is fine. And then I experienced all of that. And then you start feeling like, oh my God, I'm becoming that because I'm falling into that line with all this bullshit. Basically, I came into an industry at a time when it still was quite heavily male led. I think it still is, but it's definitely better than it used to be. Yeah, I feel like there was almost a little bit more pressure on, you kind of feel yourself just because you feel like you don't quite fit in the space of really dark times in tattooing, since I'm still in it. I mean, I think it always was back in the day, but since I started, there's been some big waves regarding like misogyny and abuse of power and stuff, which is horrible. And it kind of makes you think, like, I don't want to be like associated with any of this.

This is awful. There's more inclusiveness in who can tattoo. You know, there's not so much judgment because there is so many more people who can, like, fight for the side of the people who didn't have a voice before, which is really positive. And there's some really great studios with loads of really cool people who make really good work. And there's always going to be old fashioned people who want to. And it seems to be the same. But I think since, like, you know, stuff coming out about like certain tattooers who have tattoos would take advantage of their position of power. Really? Because, I mean, let's face it, if you're tattooing somebody or you have you are in a position of power and some people decide to abuse that. And I hope that since like some stuff like came out in like 2020, there was a shift in, I think, a few different industries in the tattoo industry regarding kind of, that kind of threatening stuff, mainly towards kind of females, client point toe. And there was a little bit of a shake up where it kind of felt like some guy should have probably stood up a bit more and been a bit more open about their opinions of those things to kind of show allyship to it. I don't think they really did, but that's not really I don't know, that should be American or not, but I think a lot of people like, kind of miss the boat on that and didn't really show that they were supporting, quite an important thing. [00:11:17][399.9]

Naty

(00:11:19] Hope you liked the episode. Please help us out by rating us, sharing with your friends, or buying us a coffee at buy me a coffee .com / What the hell is my job? It costs us money and time to be here for you at the start of every single week, so please consider supporting us. See you next time. [00:11:19][0.0]

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