Hey Y'all!
It's been awhile since I've done the first 50 in this get to know me blog series, the questions can be found here.
51. If you could choose your own work schedule, would you? I do! It's awesome. It'll be more scheduled as the season opens up though.
52. Is there one job you’d never ever do? I wouldn't want to be a telemarketer ever again, worst job ever, and that was for the Police Benevolent Society.
53. What’s the first thing you do after getting home from work? N/A I'm already home. For any other gig it's to take off my shoes.
54. Who or what inspires you in your career? Everything! Creatives find inspiration everywhere.
55. How do you approach taking time off from work? I make sure time sensitive stuff is done, then, I take off when I need/want.
56. What’s something an outsider wouldn’t know about your industry? It's not as easy as it looks.
57. Do you have a morning routine at work? If so, what it’s like? Generally I start my day by checking email, social media, etc. Then I get started on what needs done. Not much of a routine, but I don't know how to explain it since it's not the same day to day.
58. What’s your commute to work like? Non-existent for the blogs and social media, a 5min walk for the workamp gig.
59. Are you able to work from home, and if so, do you enjoy it? Yes, and yes.
60. Do you get along with all your coworkers? Yeah, I like me. For the other, yes the owners are very nice.
61. What’s your favorite thing about your current job? The creativity I have over all aspects of running things day to day.
62. What annoys you most? Not having customer/reader engagement.
63. What’s the career highlight you’re most proud of? Going from PT to Management in a little over 6mo.
64. Do you think you’ll stay in your current gig awhile? Why or why not? If it makes financial sense, yes. We plan to continue workamping, but shorter gigs going forward.
65. What type of role do you want to take on after this one? I like what I'm doing. I enjoyed retail management, but I prefer smaller companies.
66. Are you more of a "work to live" or a "live to work" type of person? Work is necessary, but family is always #1.
67. Does your job make you feel happy and fulfilled? Why or why not? These are getting redundant, and I'm getting bored. I love doing what I do, I love the creativity. I love seeing my customers happy!
68. How would your 10-year-old self react to what you do now? I had no "I wanna be... when I grow up" type ideas, but I think I'd think this is pretty cool.
69. What do you remember most about your first job? It was pretty easy. Leggs Hanes, even when it was busy it wasn't too much. There was always at least 3 of us there, and we shared the responsibilities.
70. How old were you when you started working? Babysitting, around 14. "Real Job" 16.
71. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? The aforementioned telemarketing, and Kmart. Both horrible.
72. What originally got you interested in your current field of work? Growing up a kid of crafty creative people?! Dad worked for JoAnn Fabrics in the warehouse, then as a truck driver for many, many years. (Ride-alongs were awesome when they still allowed them!) He finished his career with them at company headquarters in the order shipping/receiving department. Mom wouldn't call herself crafty, but she was (and is) always re-decorating, painting, making curtains, etc. For the workamping, it just makes sense with our lifestyle.
73. Have you ever had a side hustle or considered having one? This was it. Now it's my hustle hustle.
74. What’s your favorite part of the workday? Designing something new, coming up with new ideas.
75. What’s the best career decision you’ve ever made? I don't know that I've made it yet, but so far it's been believing in myself. Now I'd like to generate enough income to consistently be able to pay for a tank of gas or 2, or 3...
What's been your best/worst job? Share in the comments below!
Let's finish up the work questions section!
76. What’s the worst career decision you’ve ever made? Leaving Fabulous Gang (Salon) for Fiesta Hair & Tanning. Or really not going back when the owner called and offered me a huge sign on bonus and the Salon Manager position if I'd come back.
Fiesta was such a hard company to work for, the rules only applied to some, the mandatory travel meetings only applied to some, the receptionists would write up retail sales under her name so she'd earn more money, breaks were non existent even if we were dead.
Fabulous Gang was a smaller salon, in a smaller town, but it was just as busy and had loyal customers.
77. Do you consider yourself good at networking? Not really, I'm not much of a people person.
78. What career advice would you give to your younger self? I don't know. I learned something from everywhere along the way.
79. Do you believe in having a "five-year plan"? Not really.
80. How do you separate your work life from your home life? I don't start working until I've eaten breakfast. I stop for lunch, and I quit for the day by 3:30 most days. I take breaks in-between sometimes too, that's the nice thing about working from home. For workamping, none of the shifts are too long, and we get lots of breaks.
81. When will you know you've "made it"? When I can rely on my income to generate income every month. That's the current goal.
82. Are you looking forward to retiring, or do you plan to work as long as possible? I'll do this as long as I can, I truly enjoy it!
83. Have you ever had "imposter syndrome"? Nope.
84. What do you think about workaholics? You do you Boo. For me other things are more important.
85. What qualities do you look for in a boss? Constrictive critic, creative, fair.
86. Do you have a professional mentor? If not, do you want one? Not really, and no I don't really want one. I get tips, tricks, advice, ideas, etc. from several sources (online and in person) and that's enough for me.
87. What energizes you about your career? The ability to create freely.
88. Are you into after-work happy hours? I never participated much once I was an adult. I got along with most of my coworkers along the way just fine, but we all had other real life adulting to do after work.
89. How do you motivate yourself in your career? IDK. I guess because I'm interested and invested in what I do, and love to create it's pretty easy. I don't think about it, I create a loose schedule and just do it.
90. What's the best career advice you've ever heard? Don't stay somewhere that doesn't respect you as a person.
91. What's the worst career advice you've ever received? Not really advice but the worst reason to stay in a dead end is because "It's a paycheck". There are too many good jobs out there to stick with something you hate.
92. When you started your current job, what most surprised you? How much more work it is, and how much I love it.
93. How do you pick yourself back up after making a mistake at work? Fix it, and move on.
94. How do you deal with work stress? Take a break.
95. Do you have a work bestie? Myself?! LOL
96. What's one work-related thing you want to accomplish in the next year? Learning new things, about Campground operations behind the scenes.
97. Who has had the biggest impact on your career choice? More of a what, not a who. The plan after my previous job location closed was to take the rest of the Summer off, and start looking in the Fall when school started back. Life had other ideas. I got sick, and then Covid was also happening during treatment. I started crafting again, and that became my "job". I didn't love the making 100 of the same thing aspect, and switched to teaching others, blogging, and custom orders only.
98. What does your family think of your career? They think it's cool.
99. What's the best thing you've learned in your current position? Working for yourself is so rewarding.
100. If you could do it all over again, would you pursue the same career? Why or why not? I don't know. Where's the "re-start" point? Maybe if I'd have stayed in Ohio I'd have stayed in the beauty industry. Maybe I'd have stayed in retail. Maybe I'd use my business administration degree in some high-rise in Cleveland... Who knows? Or maybe all paths would lead me right here anyhow.
Have a great day,
Craftin' Wife
