Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:03 Good afternoon, everybody.
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Jordan Goodfellow here, getting ready to kick off today's episode. Really excited to have our special guest all the way from Phoenix, Arizona. But before we do that, just wanted to say welcome. Thanks for being here. And, uh, we're really excited. We're growing. And, uh, we got some great stuff coming up in the future. One of the best things that can help us help grow what we're trying to do here, which is teach and train. All the professionals that are in this industry of the live event world, uh, is to tell somebody, let them know what's going on. Give us a quick plug, give us a review, drop five stars down there, tell them how awesome we are and, uh, share it out. Let people know what's going on. So thank you so much for listening in today. Can't wait to learn, gain some new knowledge. I hope you get some value from this. We're going to be talking about how you can move into the next phase of your career, whether it be in the industry or not in the industry. It's going to be a great day because this is the gig ready podcast.
Speaker 0 00:01:03 <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:01:19 All right. Hey, we're here today with Mr. Joe Mack first and foremost, the co-host with the most honest, he's a rock star and we are also here with Mr. Joel young he's lighting designer, director known for artists such as Nickelback and others. We're excited to have him here. Joel, thank you so much for taking a couple of couple of minutes to join us today.
Speaker 2 00:01:44 No trouble. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 00:01:47 It's uh, it's going to be a good time. We're going to be talking about probably one of the most challenging things that any of us have ever had to deal with in the world of COVID, which is change. Um, you know, in this day and age, we, I don't know about you. I hate change. I hate it when things are different than they were. Um, and it makes it really difficult sometimes, but, uh, Joel, you have a, it sounds like you've made some incredible transition and really positioned yourself in a way to succeed going forward. Uh, so we're going to talk about that a little bit today. Um, Joe, as we've kind of moved from COVID we're at like 12 months now, uh, how have you been handling this? I mean, I know we jumped in, this is our third episode together. Um, you want to talk just a quick, second about kind of your transition out of where we were and into, you know, just, Oh crap, the mindset of change that you had.
Speaker 2 00:02:42 Sure. Um, so when, when COVID hit for me, um, obviously, you know, you started losing bookings, you start losing days on the calendar. Uh, it started getting real scary, real fast, but, um, one thing I had been doing on the side just for myself, uh, as a creative was I started a, um, laser cutting grip tape for skateboards. And so, um, so I took that, that skillset, um, to, to a different level. Nobody else in the world is doing it. There's, there's nobody designing grip tape for skateboards, with a laser and doing it in a creative way. So, uh, so I kind of saw an opportunity as more and more bookings were getting canceled on. Maybe this is something I should do. Um, so I started a grip tape, uh, design company for myself, uh, called Joe Matt grip. And, um, you can find me on Instagram at Joe Matt grip.
Speaker 2 00:03:44 And, um, basically I took, I took this love of skateboarding and, uh, created a small business out of it. And, um, I sell grip tape score, old-school cut, um, uh, palpable Alta and Santa Cruz and all the old brands from the eighties. Um, and I saw him for like 20 and 30 bucks a piece, uh, with, you know, designing with my laser cutter and making them fit. Absolutely perfect so that, um, people, uh, people get excited about it. Well, and it's made, it's made some headway, I'd become a grip tape dealer. I actually get dealer pricing on my product. Um, so I can, I can, uh, make a little bit of money on the side, you know, and it's, it's not, uh, it's not paying my bills a hundred percent, you know, luckily my wife is working full-time, um, but it's definitely making it easier to swallow and it's keeping me creative and technical in ways that I hadn't imagined, um, pre COVID. Um, so, so Joel, uh, you, uh, as a lighting designer and a programmer and a lighting director, you've toured around the world, uh, for many, many moons. Um, why don't you tell us a little about that and then why don't you tell us, uh, your experience just leading up to COVID and after COVID?
Speaker 3 00:05:07 Yeah, so I started touring right out of college in 1989. My first tour was Debbie Gibson. I was third carpenter and a quick little funny story about that. And this will go to always applying yourself no matter how little money you're making or how small the project seems. I'd taken a year off of school and, and, uh, gone to Vegas and a guy that was an alumni of university of Arizona. This guy, Doug tally had gotten me all my work when I was in Vegas and I was getting ready to come back, go back to Tucson, to finish my last two classes and get my degree. And he was designing a set for a community theater project for arsenic and old lace. And so he, that they needed, uh, a tech director and, you know, worked my way through college. So I built sets until it was time to hang lights.
Speaker 3 00:05:51 And then I hung lights because carpenters work a lot longer. Um, so I did it for me. It was like 500. It was that they had to pay basically it paid for food and gas while it was there. I built the set pretty much by myself with just a couple of volunteers at the community college shop, cause that was donated to us. And then on, um, loading day, um, we had to load everything in flatbeds and haul them from the shop to the theater and get everything set up. Well, a bunch of, uh, Vegas union guys would volunteer because a woman directing it, Barbara Brennan and her family owned cinema services, which pre PRG was the big lighting company in Las Vegas. So, uh, fast forward we go, do I do this load in it's a couple of days of load in, move on back in Tucson, the year comes up at school, I finish off stuff and I'm getting ready to leave.
Speaker 3 00:06:38 And I get this phone call from my roommates and in Tucson, um, that this guy, Omar Abdurrahman is trying to get ahold of me. And I'm like who? And the living God is Omar underarm. And so I say, yeah, go ahead and give him my, my number. So I come to find out, so this guy calls me and he was one of the volunteers that day. He was one of the union volunteers and he is a touring production manager to this day. Um, he does lots of acts and, uh, but he had found himself in need of a third carpenter. And because of what he saw on that one day that he volunteered for that load in a year, almost a year and a half later, a year and four months later, he tracked me down and offered me a job. And he called Barbara and she said, I don't know how to get ahold of him, but try Doug.
Speaker 3 00:07:24 So he called Doug. Doug said I don't have his current number, but I know he's back at the university called the university theater office. So he called the theater office. They weren't going to give him my number until they mentioned Doug, because I actually got Doug's wife had been killed in a car crash while she was in college. So he and her parents sponsored a scholarship. And I actually had gotten that scholarship. Um, so Doug was well known in the office there. So he gave up the office, gave him my roommate and in the, my roommates and Tucson's phone number. And then they gave him my dad's number and that's where he finally got home, pulled me. Cause of course this was like, you know, at this time cell phones were like an army old army field phone. I mean, you have to have a backpack and a battery that, you know, weighed 50 pounds.
Speaker 3 00:08:03 Yeah, exactly. So, so that was, that was how I got my first tour. And, you know, had I, because I wasn't making any money doing that. How had I had a half-ass attitude about it? Um, instead of applying myself fully that opportunity probably never would've caught, you know, and that goes there. I, I got, uh, uh, the next tour I did, we sold the piano lift, the hydraulic panel lift from the Debbie Gibson tour, got sold to Richard Marx tour. And, uh, and the Omar sold me with it. So I was head carpenter on Richard Marks. And then my next tour, I got hired. I bet I harassed, um, Michael Keeling at obese, um, relentlessly until he hired me. I called him once a week and sent him a letter once a week until they hired me, finally hired me. So he wouldn't have to hear from me anymore. He literally said that. So I just gave you the job so I wouldn't have to hear it.
Speaker 4 00:08:55 And then, and
Speaker 3 00:08:56 Then my, I did one tour, the cult, which Steve Cohen designed. And I came in at the last minute, they were going to have, uh, uh, this French guys on Eve who was one of the Tel scans were built by chameleon and France. They were going to have Sean Eve programming. And then Sean, I can't remember his last name. Uh, one of the operators would come in later and learn the show and take it over. And they decided it was too complicated to do that. So they wanted the operator that was going to do the tour to be there for rehearsals. And I got a call like in the middle of the afternoon and ran to the airport, jumped on a plane. And four hours later, I was in rehearsal in Los Angeles for, for the cult and then Cohen designed that and partway through that tour, he called and asked me to be a lighting director for Crosby stills Nash. And then that was it. That was lighting director of them from then on out. Wow.
Speaker 2 00:09:44 Awesome. So you didn't
Speaker 3 00:09:47 Mean for that saga to be quite so long, but
Speaker 2 00:09:49 No, that's great. It gives everybody a good background on you. So you were, uh, let's see you and I in December pre COVID, we were, uh, together playing with jingle ball. Yes ma'am. I went away and you went on a cruise ship, tell us what happened there.
Speaker 3 00:10:08 So I, I had a, um, job with princess cruise lines to go, and re-install a show that we had designed to preview previously designed on a new ship. And then I was supposed to have like five days off and then go to a second ship to do an update. Cause they were changing some of the, some parts of the show. And, um, that was right at the end of February at the beginning of March. And luckily lucky for me, I was on the, uh, cruise ship that got held off the coast of San Francisco for something like five days at sea and three days in port. So I was, uh, yeah, quarantined. I spent, well at sea, I spent five days in a room that's like 10 feet by 12 or 13 feet or something like that with some 20 minutes that
Speaker 2 00:10:55 They completely locked you down on board,
Speaker 3 00:10:57 Locked down completely couldn't lay. Yep. Yeah. Inside cabin, no daylight, no sunlight, no nothing.
Speaker 2 00:11:05 Now, uh, you had, uh, um, a really important event that was coming up right after that. Um, and we talked a little bit pre-show here. Um, what, what, uh, what was going on right after your gig on the
Speaker 3 00:11:20 Well in between the gigs? It was supposed to be in between. I had like five or six days off in between the two gigs. My daughter was getting married and, um, tragically I'd missed that event. I ended up being quarantined at a Marine Corps air station Miramar during the actual, um, ceremony.
Speaker 2 00:11:37 And there was a cool way that you were able to attend. Um, uh, go ahead and tell us, tell us a little about that.
Speaker 3 00:11:44 A lot of nerdy friends in our business that know video, I, as soon as I realized I wasn't going to make it back, I fired off a big batch email thing. I think I might've posted on Facebook saying, Hey, I'm going to miss a wedding. I need video solutions so I can see this thing it'd be present. And, um, Joe Mack, I guess, forwarded it to Eric at elation. Um, because I guess the year before that or something, when he had surgery, they had done a telepresence thing with him. Yeah. Yeah. And they called me and said, Hey, we've got this. If you want, we'll package it up today and send it to your family. So they did that. And then through much drama and mechanations, we finally figured out how to, uh, how I was going to be able to control it. And, uh, and so yeah, it was the, the shell bought at, uh, if anybody's watching big bang theory, literally the shell bot, it's an iPad on a segue, a little segue and you can raise the pad up and down.
Speaker 3 00:12:38 So when I roll up to a table at the reception, I would drop the pad pad down to like table height level. So I was, I love everybody when I go out on the dance floor, did you raise it right back up? So, so I was able to see the wedding and drive around the wedding with the shell bot. So cool. So, so you were able to, to at least be there for your daughter's wedding to some degree, uh, obviously wasn't as, as, uh, um, the way you would want it to be, but my partner was there, so he was able to walk her down the aisle and do the dad stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:13:13 That's awesome. And, um, I'm, I can honestly say I'm really glad that that was able to happen. Um, not the way you would want to start the whole last 12 months that we've been through, but okay. Making the most, uh, making the most of the situation that we're in. I think that those of us in the live event industry, that's what we're, we've gotten pretty darn good at. Um, you know, you make the lemonade out of the lemons you're given and hopefully we make it a little bit sweeter than tarts.
Speaker 3 00:13:40 Well, and that's a, that's a story that's going to live forever in your heart. Right. I mean, as, as hard as it was, well, it's funny, I should send you guys pictures because they actually like, you know, they had the goofy photo booth thing, you know, where you put on stuff. So we drove the segway in there and there's like, me and my mom and my partner with, you know, funny hat on the segway.
Speaker 1 00:14:03 Hey Joel. Remember that time? 25 years ago when
Speaker 3 00:14:09 Yeah, it was pretty, uh, it was pretty entertaining hour. Um, now we're, we're post COVID everything's shut down. Um, you know, how, how long was it before you decided to pivot? Well, you know, like everybody, when this all started, you know, we didn't know what was going to happen. We didn't know how long it was going to last. We didn't know how much was going to be canceled or not canceled. Um, and so when, when this happened, luckily princess, you know, they, they honored the full contract, everything got paid. So that was nice. Uh, even though we, we, you know, we, we pretty much completed the first project, but hadn't started the second one. But, um, but that was fortunate. Um, and you know, everybody has savings. You quite plan on being unemployed for two years, but you figure you have enough to cover a slope four to six months.
Speaker 3 00:14:56 Right. So initially when this all happened, you know, the, the idea wasn't, what do I do now? It was more, how do I get through to the next step? Like how right. I'm sure everybody was that, what, what changes do I have to make now in terms of spending or, or negotiating, you know, payments on stuff or whatever to get through until we come back. And I think that's everybody, everybody that's in our position, that's, that's still waiting and everybody that's in our position, that's moved on and found other jobs. I think initially those first few months, nobody was rushing out to look for work or not very many people. Most of us were, were thinking our strategy was how do we get to when we start again? Yeah, yeah. Um, and you know, and I, I had a beautiful 2017 Dodge challenger, TA three 90 to 485 horsepower, you know, muscle car.
Speaker 3 00:15:48 That was my toy. And, uh, you know, between payments and insurance and stuff, it's a grand a month. And the day Nickelback called and told me they were postponed. Um, I took it down, sold it cause I'm like, I can't afford a thousand bucks a month on a toy, you know, got to get rid of the things that aren't, aren't, um, critical aren't needed just to make sure that you you'd be okay. You can always get another toy later. Yeah. But, you know, so we made those changes to start with. Right. And you're trying to figure out what do you do? What do you do to get through? And my partner is a video touring video guy. So he was a lighting guy for 16 years and then went to video because it's so much easier. Um, the video guys come on, but he's like, hang along. Heck yeah. You know, it works for a company, Mike, I got the same wall. Every tour, it goes up the same way. I don't have one of those crazy lighting or exiles and they got 150 dropdown pipes with one light hanging 20 people or the grid. Yeah. So
Speaker 1 00:16:48 It, it just has been difficulty to different areas. I will say, as, as a video guy shifts the difficulty.
Speaker 3 00:16:57 Um, so he, uh, he was doing, he was supposed to be going out on Bieber and that of course canceled. And he had just taken quite a few months off. Cause he wrapped up his tour in December and with the daughter getting married in March, um, he, the beginning of March or mid-March March 14th, he, uh, he just was like, well, you know, it's not practical to go and start anything just to have to leave right away for a wedding or whatever. So he did like a little bit of project in January or February, like a week or two of work, but fundamentally, you know, he had, no, he already had worked for like three months, four months when this, when this all happened. And that was my choice. So unlike other people where they had a spouse that still had an income, um, when it ended for us, it all ended all income zeroed out in one fell swoop, so wow. And all potential income zero.
Speaker 1 00:17:46 So what, when did you make, when did you kind of come to that conclusion of, Oh, crap? Well, it looks like this isn't going to go the way we kind of expected it. We really need to look at making some serious adjustments.
Speaker 2 00:18:00 Well, you know, with, with unemployment, unemployment, doesn't pay much in Arizona. It's like two, if you max it out, it's something like 274 bucks a week or something. Um, so it's not very much, but with the federal aid aid, we, you know, we were doing okay at the beginning and that's back when we were still thinking, you know, when is it going to come back? When is it going to start? How long is it going to last? Um, but you know, I'm not designed. And I think the challenge for most of us facing this right now is that I don't think most of us are designed to sit around like the people in our industry. Aren't people that are comfortable hanging out, doing nothing. We, I know for me personally that come around June, July, I was just depressed and I wasn't depressed about money.
Speaker 2 00:18:42 I was depressed about lack of, um, lack of accomplishment and lack of focus. Um, uh, you know, we've all been going through that. Everybody, you know, I was in the exact same boat all summer, you know, tried trying to keep the kid entertained, trying to keep the kid, you know, doing stuff. And then I, I almost neglected myself in the process. Um, and then I found out, you know, medically, I had to take a break. And so I, I had, I was, I was into forced mode, no matter whether I wanted or not. Yeah. So that's kind of when I started thinking about the next thing, cause I was like, you know, I, I still had an unemployment coming, but I was like, I can't, I have to have something to do each day. I have to get up and go somewhere and feel like I accomplished something.
Speaker 2 00:19:31 I mean, for you, Joe, you have a kid to take care of. So there's, that's a direct thing. I mean, we don't have that. So we get up and play computer games, which is awesome. But at some point that's not enough. Yeah. We set up a schedule for the kid day one. I mean, literally, you know, we shut down on Friday by, by Monday morning we had a schedule, we were doing things. So we were meditating every day. We were, we had a really good routine because I didn't want to have things shut down and we just kind of like float, you know, like where are we going to do today? And so, uh, so we kept, we kept a pretty strong schedule. And then when we got to the summer, I backed off because I want him to have fun and, and be able to hang with his friends. And uh, cause he was just, he was playing online all day every day. So yeah.
Speaker 1 00:20:17 That's Oh, schedule's great idea. Actually. I mean, we didn't even go that far. Cause school was so up in the air, I've got two boys, 10 and seven, so fourth grade and first grade trying to figure out that. So my wife became, full-time like full-time school teacher basically. Um, and trying to keep them on schedule, which was in the beginning, certainly challenging. Um, so, and I'm trying to figure out how is my company gonna shift? What are we going to do now? It's like we were doing mostly wholesale. So all of a sudden, you know, it's the door slammed in your face, you walked right into the glass plate and trying to figure out where to go. Um, so did you just start looking around Joel or did you, like you said, okay, let's just find the first thing that comes around or was it a,
Speaker 3 00:21:02 I started looking around and what, you know, I told the show Mack this the other day, the interesting thing I discovered very quickly is that I'm literally not qualified to do anything. I can light some of the biggest bands in the world and, you know, have 600 little robots at my Beck and call and program a very complicated control board, but I can't be a security guard at the local justice court. That's not, I'm not qualified for that. So move on, move on. So, um, so oddly, you know, the, the interesting thing and I've actually with friends, I've talked to that, uh, that started looking around again, um, they've said kind of the same thing. It's, it's the problem is, well, it's multifold really. Um, first of all, lie about how much money you made. You never want to tell them for sure, because they're just going to immediately assume you're never going to stay for any amount of time.
Speaker 3 00:21:55 So you have to lie a bit about your background. Um, but, um, it, it's hard for anybody not in our industry to understand what we do and how that would be applicable to any other industry. Like one of the jobs I applied for was, um, basically nine one, one operator at the airport and, uh, you know, and I'm like, and I'm trying to describe that. I spent, you know, I'm constantly in rodeo radio communication, but I run a show and I tell 16 guys what to do every single day. I'm very comfortable. I'm a pilot. I fly airplanes and run so well. I used to when I had money, um, you know, so I'm comfortable talking to like air traffic control and other aircraft. And, but, you know, because they don't really understand what that means. It's hard to, and the really hard thing is that, um, you know, all the applications now are online. So I told my friends, my neighbors, one of my best friends and other people, if I can get an interview, I can get a job. The problem is getting past the paperwork. The problem is getting them to see what your potential is and give you the opportunity to explain that. Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:23:07 I got, I got, uh, I got an interview once because I told somebody I put at the bottom. One of the shows I did was the stinky cheese man and they said they wanted to interview me just to ask me about that show.
Speaker 3 00:23:20 That's funny. That's very funny.
Speaker 2 00:23:22 What is the stinky cheese man?
Speaker 3 00:23:26 So the first job that I got back, so when I was in high school and college, um, working my way through school, cause I just got scholarships and loans and grants and paid for my own school. I didn't have any parents with money that paid or anything. I hustled my ass getting through school. Um, I worked for produce at a grocery store. So one of the things I started hitting up was produce departments and Sam's club was the first place to call me back for an interview. Um, so I went in and did it and they hired me and it was, you know, 12, whatever it was 1250 an hour or whatever. Um, but I had something to do each day and to be quite honest, it just felt good to get up and go somewhere and be productive. Yeah. Um, human can, I didn't care that I was getting less than I was making on unemployment because I wasn't utterly depressed every day. Yeah. Right.
Speaker 1 00:24:11 That's awesome. I mean, you're right. Accomplishment. Um, just the, the physical activity of getting up, doing something each and every day, uh, I think is incredibly important. And we have the temptation to sit around. I mean, geez, Netflix, Amazon. I mean, it makes it so easy to just sit on our butt for Mo I mean, I know people that basically the rest of March is shut down. You know, like for us, we got home March 10th by March 18th. Pretty much everybody was shut down for the next 12 days. It's like everybody went underwater and nobody wants, I was like, Oh, all right. Finally, to the end of Netflix by April 1st. Yeah, exactly. And um,
Speaker 3 00:24:51 We found the end exactly.
Speaker 1 00:24:52 But we really need that accomplishment. Um, I, after Sam's club kind of, where did you progress? Did you say? Okay,
Speaker 3 00:25:01 Definitely. Yeah. Sounds good. It definitely wasn't my end game. Right? Like it was just the first thing to call. So I took it, um, and through that I kept hustling looking online, did it beat and every place else for jobs. And one of my big concerns to be quite honest was, you know, being independent, I've always paid for my own healthcare and suddenly I didn't have, you know, for my partner and I to have healthcare is 1100 bucks a month for healthcare with a $3,500 deductible and the $8,000 annual out of pocket. And, uh, and I didn't have a lot, a hundred bucks a month anymore to keep spending on health insurance. So one of my priorities was trying to find a job somewhere that had health insurance, and that was going to be as important as what the hourly salary was and, um, and other stuff, but just, you know, you're in a time with an international pandemic, you want to make sure if you get sick, you can go to the doctor.
Speaker 3 00:25:50 Right. Like that's super important. So that was really kind of the guiding. Yeah. Right. That was kind of the guiding light of, of what I was looking for. So the jobs I was looking for a full-time jobs, but be jobs where I could get benefits. So I ended up getting two other interviews. Um, I probably to be quite honest, sent out 30 applications maybe. Well, and I got the three interviews Sam's club, um, Amazon called me back or sent me emails back for a video interview where, you know, you just get on and there's questions and you give your answers to the camera and it's filmed. And then they look at it later and then a company called biolife. And, um, and I had gotten this kind of, this is my persistence level. This is the doggedness that I talked to you about beforehand, you know, hunting down jobs and annoying Michael Keeling till hired me and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 00:26:45 Um, so I was, you know, no matter what the job is again, um, I respect whatever job I'm doing. And so when I'm slinging produce at Sam's club, I don't have my phone on because I'm getting paid to do work for them, even if it's 12 bucks an hour, 1250 an hour, and I'm going to do, I'm going to focus on that job and do the best I can. And, uh, so I get out of work. I was doing a morning shift, like five to one 30. So I get out of work and I check my phone and there's this message from this woman, um, Jessica at bio life about wanting to set up an interview for Tuesday and biolife had been one of the intriguing companies and it's a plasma collection company. And they'd been intriguing in that benefits were started day one, the day you started, you're eligible to sign up for full benefits.
Speaker 3 00:27:31 Wow. So to me that was like spectacular. That means, you know, Ty's health insurance running out, uh, at the end of September, you know, and it's like mid September at this point. Um, and, uh, and I'm like, well, we can get, you know, we'll be able to chip. That'd be great. I get some benefits right away. So I tried to call back that day. I call it's at least 15 times. It could have been more. It might've been a little less, but isn't that ballpark and got answered once and got put on hold for 45 minutes. So, so I called back Saturday. I kept trying, I couldn't get through to life. Um, and then I called, uh, uh, Sunday. I figured they were close. I didn't bother calling. I thought, you know what, Monday, I'm just going to drive down there and set up an interview. And a Monday comes, I get out of work. I looked on, you know, Google it up. I look, and I realized they're closed on Mondays. I'm like, well, that's, well, I'm sure I look. So I'm like, you know what, screw this tomorrow. I'm bringing a change of clothes to work when I leave here. And it's like, it's an hour drive from where I'm working to where the bio life is because they're literally opposite directions from my house.
Speaker 3 00:28:39 So, uh, so I take a change of clothes and I'm like, I'm just going to show up Tuesday for an interview. Just tell them I'm here for an interview. What's the worst you're going to do. Pick me up, come no worse off than, yeah. I changed clothes in the parking lot and drove over to bio life and winning and talk to the receptionist. Then she went and got, uh, an assistant manager or somebody I don't even actually know who this woman was. And she came up and she's like, Hey, really? Sorry, Jessica got promoted. And she left over the weekend. Um, but Hey, you're here, I'll do an interview. So she went and got paperwork and awesome. And we did an interview and, uh, you know, just a few minutes talking to me about 10 minutes, maybe talking about me and then a bunch of talking about the company and stuff.
Speaker 3 00:29:20 And then she was like, yeah, I'll say, you know, let's set up an interview for you with the center manager, um, for later this week. And I was like, well, I can do it a day after about two 30 or I can do it Friday. Cause that's my day off. And they set one up for Friday. So again, Friday morning, how to interview with him again, about 10 minutes talking about me. And then a lot of time talking about the company. And at this, I had done some research on the company and, uh, and was aware of how explosively, uh, their growth was right now. They're expanding 20 to 25 centers a year and have been for the last couple of years and are planning on it out for at least the next three. Um, so, so you know, the, the idea of benefits right away and, and, and, uh, a company that's growing, I thought seemed intriguing at this point.
Speaker 3 00:30:07 So I go and do the interview with the guy goes really well. I'm feeling pretty confident cause I'm thinking, well, shit, you know, you spent so much time telling me all the great virtues of the company. If he wasn't interested in hiring me, he wouldn't have wasted this time. He would have talked to me and then gone, well, have a great day. We'll call you later. So as I left, he's like, okay, you'll probably hear from us by the middle of next week. And I'm like, great. So Wednesday comes the next week. Um, I don't hear anything. Oh, during that first part of that week, I get an email from Amazon to set up a video interview for the next Saturday. So, um, and that job was for something called delivery station liaison. So you work for Amazon, but you work at one of the third-party delivery companies.
Speaker 3 00:30:49 And what you do is expedite unsuccessfully unsuccessful delivery. So driver can't make a delivery, gets kicked back into the system, shows up on your computer. You figure out why it couldn't be made, how to get it made. And then you get it sent back out, which sounded fun to me. I mean, at least it's a problem solving sort of task, you know, you're, you're coming up with new solutions all the time, scheduled time oriented, like a load in would be in stuff where you got to get things on quick. Um, so anyway, back to the song that, sorry, the song it's so long, but it was quite a process. Um, so I CA I don't hear anything from him that week. So I think it was Thursday. I sent an email saying, Hey, just touching base, thanks for the interview. Um, you know, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 3 00:31:28 I can't remember all the shit I said, but it was basically staying in touch sort of email. Um, so I did a video interview Saturday at Amazon, and then, uh, the next week I still haven't heard from him by Wednesday. So I sent him an email that morning saying the job I had applied for was one called med history, uh, med history. It's where they, it's the people up front, where they sign you up and go through all your medical background stuff before they hand you off to nurses for stuff, basically advanced reception. Yeah. Um, so, uh, so I'm like, I send an email saying, Hey, I'm sure by now you found a great candidate for your med history position. Uh, I really want to work for bio life. Uh, you won't regret it. If you give me the opportunity, um, you know, I'm here when you're ready, basically, this is what it said.
Speaker 3 00:32:15 And uh, like 15 minutes later, I get an email back saying, Hey, we lost your application, click this link and redo your application and then send me an email right away after you're done. So I went and did it. The position was for phlebotomist, which I assumed at the time you had to be like a trained phlebotomist to, to, to, to get the job of the boss. So I said, I did the application, send it back and said, Hey, just so you know, I'm not a phlebotomist. Um, so like 15 minutes later, the assistant manager, Carson calls me and she's like, Hey, it's Carson, Austin's assistant at biolife. We want to offer you a job. I said is a full time. She said, yes. I said, it doesn't have benefits. She said, yes. I said, well, I accept.
Speaker 5 00:32:56 I didn't even care which job it was
Speaker 3 00:32:58 Made. No difference to me. You're going to have to <inaudible> that's fine.
Speaker 5 00:33:03 There's a phlebotomist I am
Speaker 3 00:33:06 In the real world is, um, are the people that draw blood. So when you go to the doctor's office and get blood drawn, that person's a phlebotomist and you go to the hospital and there they come in and suck the fluids out of you. That's a flaw. Got it. Well, my son-in-law is actually a phlebotomist, the guy, my daughter married. Um, but at bio life, the only thing you're doing is cooking veins for plasma removal. Well, for blood removal, we separate the plasma and we give you the bulb back. Um, so yeah, so I talked my way into that one. I just harassed the guy until I finally got the job. Then, uh, that process, you know, once they hired me, it was quite a long process to actually get to a start date. It was about three weeks because they have to do all this background on you and all because you're dealing with like biohazard medical materials and there's all sorts of FDA regulations and stuff.
Speaker 3 00:33:56 And it's parent company is Takeda. It's a Japanese pharmaceutical company. That's the parent company of buy-to-let. Um, but, uh, consequently in that time, once I had started this process with biolife and done all this stuff for my background and w one of the other quickly oddest sides, if anybody's out there looking for work, get a copy of your high school diploma, if you don't have it, or your high school transcripts. Because even though I had my, my college stuff, my life only for the job I got hired for, which was a sample processing, um, they only require a high school diploma and they really didn't care about my college stuff and didn't even want to see it. Like I was like, well, I don't, I don't have any of my high school records, but I got my college stuff. And it's like, yeah, that's not
Speaker 5 00:34:42 No Perkins. I'm like if I went to college, like I did the early part of, I did the second part,
Speaker 3 00:34:53 I actually had to go and get my high school transcript. Um, so you got, you got hired as a phlebotomist to start. I got hired in sample processing. Okay. So after the plasma is drawn and put in, you know, it gets separated from your, your blood gets brought out. It goes through a device that uses pressure to separate the plasma from the blood. And then the plasma goes into a bottle or a bag or a bottle center. And then the blood goes into a reservoir. And after a certain amounts have been drawn, then, um, the cycle kind of reverses in the blood, your blood cells get put back in. So there's no loss of blood cells when you're donating plasma and people get, um, you, you get compensated for plasma donation and it can be quite a bit. Um, so it's one of those just for our listeners.
Speaker 3 00:35:36 Well, a normal, we just changed our programs. So we have tiers now, but basically if you can donate plasma twice a week, because it's just fluid, it's like, you just drink a lot of water and, uh, you can donate only two days apart. So if you donate it on Monday, you could donate again on Wednesday if you wanted, but you can only do it twice a week. Um, but normal donation would be, they split it. So it would be like 20 for the first donation and 50 for the second. But when they're, once you're in the system, um, when they need, when they're more desperate to get donors, they up those things. So like right now we have a new donor special that's, uh, eight donations in a month and you it's 800 or $800 puddle or $700. Wow. Wow. So, so it's one of those sort of recession recession-proof industries because when people are broke and not working, they can go get plasma, donate plasma and, and get money for it.
Speaker 2 00:36:30 I just heard the other day about, you know, with all the, um, the winter shutdowns, we had it here in Oregon ice storms. We, we couldn't actually record this podcast last week because I had no power. Um, and, uh, but I understand that like the red cross is, uh, and, and blood banks are like desperate for, because, because all the appointments were canceled nationwide with all the storms. So, so getting blood out there is like really important.
Speaker 3 00:36:57 Yeah. And you know, the, um, at the beginning of COVID, um, everything for donation slowed way down. So the stockpiles have dropped overall for both plasma and blood. Um, and it was just, it started picking up again at the back end of the year. Um, but there was a real law once COVID hit for donation. So that sacrifice was pretty low. So in the course of going through all this nonsense with biolife to get, get started, I actually got offered the job at Amazon, um, which was more money. It was like two 25 or two 50 an hour more. Um, but having done my research on bio life at this point, and a lot of it, um, I felt like biolife was the place I was going to have a lot more opportunity for growth. And, uh, and so that's where I decided to go. I took the biolife job.
Speaker 2 00:37:45 So then, uh, so you, you took that job and, uh, as just in talking with you before about this, you, you jumped, uh, positions pretty quick. There, you worked your way up the ladder pretty quick.
Speaker 3 00:37:59 I'm not one to sit on my ass to be quite honest. I, uh, I, uh, I'm used to being in charge and I like being in charge and I'm pretty focused and pretty organized and pretty determined. So I got hired to do sample processing, which means when the, when the plasma donations over the bottle or bag comes back to us and we draw samples, uh, that we freeze that get sent off to labs for testing, and the bottles got to get frozen. And then they got to get box later and then blood samples come to us that we have to draw for other things, for serum protein, electrophoresis tests, and atypical antibody tests and all kinds of nonsense. Um, so that, that was what I was in great part is it's kind of an independent area. So nobody messes with you. You're back there by yourself, kind of doing your thing and play music or do whatever.
Speaker 3 00:38:42 And you just kind of, it's really nice for that, but about five weeks into it, um, they decided to make me a trainer. So I got signed off on training and in all my areas. And then, uh, uh, I've literally only been there since October 7th. That was my start date. So we're at four and a half months now, roughly. Um, I, uh, the machines that we use, the plat they're called plasma phoresis devices. So they're separate the blood and the plasma. Um, they're made by a company called <inaudible>, uh, which is based in Chicago, here in the States. And, uh, one of each center is supposed to have two people that repair them. Um, one of our managers was one of our center. Supervisors was one of our repair techs and she got promoted and was leaving. So as soon as I found out, she was one of the texts. I was like, Hey, if you get this job, I want to be an Aurora attack. So let them know. So she got promoted, she got found out, she got the promotion on a Friday and on Tuesday morning, we're closed on Monday on Tuesday morning. Uh, the manager walked up and said, Hey, I hear you want to be an Aurora attack. So a couple of weeks later, I flew off to Chicago to learn how to fix a machine. So that was my next bunk.
Speaker 1 00:39:58 How similar is that to like moving light repair?
Speaker 3 00:40:02 Yeah, much easier. Actually, they build it much more friendly.
Speaker 1 00:40:06 You know, honesty
Speaker 3 00:40:08 Components are really, uh, they're well-designed machines. They're really, really simple to service in most regards. Um, they cost a hundred times more though. Oh, yeah. Shift on some more. Yeah. And these are, you know, and these machines last a long time, I was just doing a service on a couple of the other day. And I think they had, at this point had 11,000, um, uh, rotations on them at that point. Wow. So they last a long time, as long as they maintain them, they last a really long time. So it's not just
Speaker 1 00:40:38 Up to him and whack and you know, Oh, that's now,
Speaker 3 00:40:42 No, not quite like a light. We got needle stuck in people's arms and we don't want them going South in the middle of a donation. So that's literally how I fixed Telus cans in the beginning. Nobody probably very few people listening to this podcast will be old enough to remember the tele scan, uh, Mark, too. Um, but literally if something wasn't working, you just walk up to the side of it, hit the door and receipt the boards, dead ass serious. Well, it's like, uh,
Speaker 1 00:41:10 I mean, I worked for Nocturne for years and a lot of, a lot of our V products. I mean, you could just walk up to the front hand or gaff tape from the ground. That was always a fan favorite. As people are waiting for the show to start, and they're like, you know, something flickering on half a tile, you walk out with a quarter roll of gaff, tape hoop, toss it up, whack. It turns back on like something, Oh
Speaker 6 00:41:34 My gosh, you hear people behind you. Like everybody gets excited.
Speaker 3 00:41:39 They're hysterical. Cause they were just like such big boxy, British, really bright, simple units. Yeah. They, the beam was gorgeous. Um, they didn't, I mean, in fairness at that time they had rotating gobos and they color mixed, even though it was done with gel. So you don't really only got like, you know, 12 or 15 get colors out of them. But, um, but yeah, they were interesting units. So, so that was the saga biolife. And then right before, um, because, or because they're expanding so much, there's a lot of turnover in terms of people moving up or moving to other centers. So like a new center opened here in Phoenix, um, on the other side of town. And so we lost like five people, maybe six people because they transferred to that center because it was closer to home. Um, so there was a lot of turnover and stuff, but they, right before I left, I found out they were hiring, um, for lead tech positions, which is basically there's one center manager, two assistant managers, four to six center supervisors.
Speaker 3 00:42:37 That's concerned the management team. And then there's like six lead techs. And they're the ones who theoretically lead techs actually run the phlebotomy floor. Um, and then the managers do manager job supervisors do manager jobs, but the leak techs handle the floor production of, of all the, the phlebotomist and where donors are gonna go. What are there's multiple areas? Each area has like six beds in it. So you're, it's constant flow of people in and out of areas. Um, you know, donations ends and it takes a while to reset that, that couch for, uh, a new donor. Cause you've got, gotta put, you got to clean everything, you got to put up a new set. So it's, it's really about, you know, the, the job is handling traffic flow. It's a loaded. Um, so, uh, so I applied for this, they were hiring training, lead tech and, and like four, three, they had position of three or four lead texts. So I went ahead and applied because I wanted the raise. And, uh, um, did the interview, well, Joe, you had a question. Go ahead.
Speaker 2 00:43:40 I, I did have a question. So you had told me that when you were applying for this lead tech position, uh, you were trying to explain to your manager how, why, like why you should be a lead tech and the best way you could do it was showing him a time-lapse video of the, of the load in and, and then voice dubbing over it. Um, all of the tasks you're doing in that load in, so tell us a little bit about that
Speaker 3 00:44:09 When I was applying for this position. Well, earlier than that, one of the concerns I found out from one of the center supervisors was what everybody looking for jobs up while this was going on is going to face. And that is how long are you going to be there? Right. That's, that's their concern. How much effort do we invest in training you or hiring you or, or moving you up in our, if, if in six months you're just going to go away. Yeah. It's not a good investment in their resources. Um, and you know, at some point in here, you know, you start thinking about, do I go back, right? Like if this is at the point that you realized, this is a couple of years long saga, the question becomes, do I go back? Like, do I buy time for two years? And if you're 25, great. Yeah, you can. But I'm 55 years old. I don't know. I don't have a lot of time to buy time for a couple years. So the lead tech jobs come up, they post them. Um, actually they had them posted accidentally back in November and I had done the application and they were like, Oh my God, the manager saw my application. Like, Oh my God, those were supposed to go up yet. Not til the beginning of the year. And I'm like, well too late now.
Speaker 3 00:45:21 So, uh, so come the new year, they post them all. And I, I find out that I've got to redo the application cause they cleaned everything out. So I do. And everybody that works there, not the central. Okay. Now I give it to other people that work, there are young they're in their twenties. Like even the assistant managers are like late twenties, early thirties. Right. Um, and a lot of them are people that are working there while they go to school. So they're training to be physician's assistants or nurses or MTS or whatever. And they, they work at a plasma center because it's medical oriented sort of, you know,
Speaker 2 00:45:53 Is that another reason why there's so much turnover in that?
Speaker 3 00:45:56 Yes. For sure. Yeah, because you get, we've lost three people in the last three months that just finished and moved on to other jobs in their field. Yeah. Gotcha. Got it. Um, so, so, you know, one of their concerns was how long I was going to be here. And at this point I had decided that if I could get myself to the position with this company, um, where I could afford to make a living and not have to go on the road, I wasn't gonna go back 30 years of traveling 85 or 86 countries sailed through the Suez canal in the Panama canal and through Alaska and up the coast and going across the Tasman sea and through the South Pacific and, you know, been to every continent, but Antarctica and seeing the world. And I'm, I'm a case waking up in my bed more often than not. Um, but you know, in all this discussion, everybody's getting ready for their interviews and they're all nervous and I don't get really nervous about anything and be quite honest, I'm way past nervous in my work
Speaker 2 00:46:49 Record to the listeners. Joel actually fell asleep before this interview and we literally woke him up before he came out. So I just, I to, I want to say that everything he was saying is absolutely 100% true.
Speaker 3 00:47:04 Yeah. Yeah. Um, so, so my first challenge was that I had to make sure that they knew that I didn't intend on leaving that I was, you know, if I could get, if I could get advancement, I was staying. Um, so the lead tech things come up, everybody gets their interview schedule and all the kids are talking about doing PowerPoints. They're gonna do a PowerPoint. And like Joe had said, you know, as I was sitting there thinking about this process and knowing what lead Tech's job was, I thought, you know, this is obviously exactly what we do with the load in right. We manage resources and people on a very tight schedule and keep things flowing in a very regular way. Um, and I thought, how, how do I, how do I describe this to somebody? Or how do I explain this in a way that, that they really understand?
Speaker 3 00:47:52 And, you know, because anybody who not in our business just doesn't understand what we do. You know, like we, our electrician that did a bunch of stuff work on our house, you know, thought we did like event lighting. Like we strung bulbs, party tents or something like literally that was what he had in mind. We talked about going out. Sometimes we do. And sometimes they do. Um, so I thought, well, the best way to do this is to show a time-lapse video of a loaded and explain what's going on, but I didn't want to just do like a dry ass time-lapse video of a load in. So, so I thought, well, I'm going to spice this up a little bit. So it ended up being a five minute introduction video With jokes. I did like an Omar. I called it. I don't know if anybody ever saw will and grace, the original series. Um, one of the characters Jack, at some point in the series ended up with his one man show, just Jack. I decided that this video was going to be just Joel.
Speaker 5 00:48:45 And so it opened
Speaker 3 00:48:47 With like, like the logo, like a picture of that, you know, will it literally said will and grace, the original series with the cast up there. And it was like, you don't know my eyes to will and grace, the original series, old Rudy productions in association with nobody of any consequence. Sadly, very sadly also sadly.
Speaker 5 00:49:07 Okay.
Speaker 3 00:49:08 And so, you know, in that I'm doing like flips of stuff in each one of those little segways and then just Joel was a picture of me that somebody had taken, we were doing Nickelback and we're setting up for a, a video interview. And so I was sitting on stage and I had to look up and then they had me on camera cause they were checking the lighting. And so there, I'm sitting on the stool and there I am on the screen behind me. So I took that as my just Joel block. So flashes to that, just Joel. And then, um, from there I cut to a video that, um, all access had made, which was like a cut together sort of promo video for, um, jingle ball. And it showed like pits of a load in, and the show, you know, a wide shot to different parts of the day. So I started, so I showed that clip in the last about 65 seconds. So I started with that. And then like in time there was a white shot. Like there were two shots early that had the front of house where me and, uh, my friend Brent Sandrock who's, the video guy were working. So the first time it popped up, I put, you know, in big red letters, Joel is here with an arrow point,
Speaker 5 00:50:11 Popped up here's Joel again.
Speaker 3 00:50:14 And then the last one was a wide shot with the, during the show where the front of house was kind of right in front of the camera. I mean, with Joel
Speaker 5 00:50:21 Running the big rock show.
Speaker 3 00:50:24 So they were laughing at that point. But then from there we cut, um, a time-lapse video overloaded and uh, and so, so I got up and at the point that the loading was going on, I started explaining everything happening in a load in what apartments were going on, you know, bringing, getting laid out, bringing rolling in motor points, going up scenery, push the floor. I did a lot of live during your interview. Okay, great. Yeah, I did that part live because I wanted to be able to, if there was a question or something, I wanted to be able to answer it easily. So I did that little part live as the video roll. There was about a three minute time-lapse video, nice. Maybe two and a half minutes of that. So I explained what was going on when the lighting started, what the departments were doing when you know, cable trusses were being built and trusted, pinned together and floated in cables being run and wheels being taken off and all the other bullshit.
Speaker 3 00:51:14 So we'd go through the whole thing. And I just did the load in up to Showtime. And then when you do a load out and then from there, I cut to, um, uh, uh, it was this a picture of Eric Clapton, a look from Eric Clapton that I did last, uh, in 2019. And it just, just a pretty look. So I had that as a background and I said, so what attributes do I have the offer biolife? And I did a list of all, all the things I thought I could bring to the company. And then the next frame was I, and I can't to be quite honest and remember exactly how I phrased it, but basically, you know, what are my downfalls or what am I negative attributes? And then there was like a pause, like three dots on the screen. And then it was, well, if you ask my husband far too many dimension here, and then I cut down.
Speaker 3 00:51:59 And so the second half of that was if you ask my husband, well, if you asked my husband far too many dimension here, but that's just Joel put on my flash back to the Aboriginal texture. And that was the end of the video. Then I wrote credits of course, like 30 seconds of credits, rolling fast with me doing everything from executive producer to animal handling and stunts to special effects, to catering, to casting. It was, you know, assistant, you know, executive producer, Joel young assistant to the executive brewer. I were laughing by the end of it. They were laughing and they were informed. And that's really what I wanted. I imagined bio life. We'll never have an interview as fun as that ever, ever, ever again. I suspect that's a reasonable assumption. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:52:43 I mean that, I have to say that's an incredibly creative use of when you think about what we do, because it is so hard to break it down. People were to, if people ask me all the time, what do you do and how do you do it? And I like stammer over myself half the time. Yeah. You know, I'm, I'm thinking Holy, like how they, they, they just don't understand. And that that's such a key way to take and, and shift what we do and move it into a different dimension and say, here, we actually can manage people. You know, if you're, if you're, whether you're a lighting designer or an Emmy or, you know, a one audio set, carp, whatever. I mean, you know, as the lead or even as a second or third, you're still managing two, three, four people. I mean, really truly, there's almost nobody on a touring crew that doesn't manage a number of people at any given time, even though we don't think of it like management, that's what it is. And so we are, we've actually been groomed over time to be able to do that and do it effectively.
Speaker 3 00:53:47 Yeah. Um, and do it without even thinking about it. Yes. Correct. You know, you, you, without hesitation, you know, something needs to happen right now. You don't even stop to think I'm going to take over. Now, you just do it, just do it. And you know, it's funny that you say that because literally at work two days ago, we had an instance, everything we do in sample processing is on a clock, right from the time of donation starts from the time a bottle comes into the window, we start a 30 minute timer. And in 30 minutes from the time that first bottle of plasma arrives, everything that arrives in that window has got to be processed and put in the freezer. So, and then if it isn't, then it becomes a big, it's a non-conforming material and you gotta do reports and it's all kinds of drama.
Speaker 3 00:54:31 Um, and it takes, you know, I'm pretty quick and it takes me about a minute and 15 to a minute and 18 seconds to process a bottle. So, so there's only so many you can get in a clock and at some point, as they're stacking up, you decide that you've got all the bottles you can deal with and you start a second timer and you closed half the window. And the other half stays open to, they start piling up over there. But we were, it was a particularly hectic day. And I, I think in the end we had 23 bottles come into the window in 30 minutes, which is in that 30 minute window also is the time we have to use to take all this shit, put it in the freezer, which that process of putting in the individual samples away, as well as the bottles.
Speaker 3 00:55:06 It's about three minutes a cycle, if you're pretty quick. Um, and on top of that, you also have to find the time to spin up the blood samples that have come in to do speeds and heya tests. So it's not just like 30 minutes of processing plasma. It's 30 minutes for every activity that's got to happen. And, uh, so one of the centers, supervisors had jumped in with me. Um, and we ended up having a plasma spill, uh, a bad Ventline seal on some plasma, started squirting out all over. And, uh, luckily it didn't get on the bottle. If it gets on the bottle, you have to destroy the bottle. If it doesn't the bottles usable. Cause we could still, we could seal it it's are exposed, but we can still draw the samples. And so what you were saying, it just, just decisions. Um, you know, she's the center of soup and I'm, I'm just the lead tech.
Speaker 3 00:55:47 And, and I was like, Hey, you have spill finish up those, um, it's, it's the bottles pleading the can drowning samples. What do you want to do? And she's like, uh, uh, let me, let me think about it. I'm like no time to think. So donut reprint, this label, Lauren, keep drawing those samples. I'm going to clean up and get this one out. And so it was just like, I was giving her the chance to be the lead and she just wasn't ready to make the decision. And there, you know, we're on a clock. There's no time to think about it. Just move, move. Because worst case scenario, you have to destroy the bottle. But, but if I can get the samples out and get it in the freezer in time, then we have options. Even if we don't have labels on the tubes, by the time it goes into the freezer, we can still segregate those tubes and then put the labels on later.
Speaker 3 00:56:28 And you know, but it's all about just, you know, do something, even if it's the trunk doors, you just gotta make decisions to roll. You don't have time to have big group meetings and powwows and you just don't doors are at five first acts at six 30. You have shows at seven 30. I mean, it's just, it's what happens. That's what we do. Make the decision to move on. Yeah. And that's, you know, and that's, that's a challenge too, that everybody's going to face as they think about making, um, making a move into more traditional workspaces is that, you know, there's a lot in corporate world. There's a lot of kicking the can down the road that doesn't exist in our world. Right? Like 16 trucks worth of gear is coming out. It's getting set up. There's a show tonight. It's all going to go back in and that's, what's going to happen today.
Speaker 3 00:57:11 Period. There's no excuses. You know, I get frustrated sometimes because there's tasks that need to be taken care of that they always find a way to not get started. Cause they're afraid they're going to get behind on other things. And it's like, you know, and I don't, I have challenges with that. Yeah. Because I'm not used to letting things go, right. Like it has to get done today. Let's get it done today. Let's figure it out. Like everybody's going to speed up a little bit and I'm going to go take care of these things or whatever's going to happen. We're gonna figure out how to get everything done today that we have to get done today. We're not just gonna panic and forget one area while we try to deal with something else. And so not, there's not a lot of industries where things actually work on a timeline that works every day. To be quite honest,
Speaker 2 00:57:56 I was actually trying to go ahead and go dirty. You're good buddy. Oh, I was going to say, I was actually trying to describe, uh, our industry to somebody who has no clue and how it differs so much from the, the, the traditional world of an office space. You know, we hug a lot and there's a lot of cursing. There's a lot of joking, a lot of joking around there's, you know, there's, you know, it's sometimes spoonable say it's a nature of free zone. Um, you know, and, and, uh, it's, it's so much different than what I hear from my wife. And, you know, like, she'll be telling me something about her job and I'm like, well, why don't you just tell him to dah, dah, dah? And I could never do that. You know? And, and it's like, but why not? You know, I do it all the time to people that are my boss's boss's boss, you know? And she goes, yeah, but it doesn't work that way in an office. It just doesn't. And, and that's hard for us to understand if you're trying to jump into that new arena.
Speaker 3 00:59:03 It is, it's a challenge. Yeah. Um, and, and I gotta say, that's been, I was just talking to my brother about that a couple nights ago. That that's been my biggest frustration is, is how easily they kick, you know, they kick the can down the road. I, I laughed and joked and told one of them, you're all like a bunch of college kids that wait until 4:00 AM the morning, the paper's due at 10 to start writing the paper, start writing the paper when they assign it. Yeah. Started going to work a little bit. Yeah. You know, we got into a crisis thing last week because a bunch of stuff that hadn't gotten done and it suddenly piled up and it was at a critical point of having done. Cause we literally had no place to put plasma anymore. Huh. So, and so instead of, you know, being challenged everyday a little bit to find time to deal with that, you know, they put it off until it becomes a crisis and then they've got a crisis let's just not have a crisis. How about we do that? So,
Speaker 1 00:59:57 So as we're, we're actually coming up on an hour here and, uh, kind of wrapping things up, what are two, one or two things, Joel, from your opinion, you know, making that transition from rock and roll corporate live event, lifestyle into, you know, a different gig, if you will, you know, a more contemporary, you know, nine to five, eight to five type gig, you know, what are two things that people should be thinking about now to make that transition easier or make that a little bit better?
Speaker 3 01:00:28 Well, that's a really good question. I would say one thing is, you know, resumes are going to be important, so you're going to have to get a good resume, but you're also going to have to kind of customize the resume to the job you're looking for. Right. So things, you know, if you're doing a resume for nine one, one operator, you know, point out things that would be more relevant to that than if you're doing a resume for working in a grocery store. Right. Like, um, so, and, but that's true for people doing resumes anywhere. We're just an industry where we never have to do resumes. So you don't really know how to handle that. Um, but also, you know, there's a certain learning curve to it because every, like Joe was saying, you know, we're, we're in an industry where you just make decisions and move on and everything gets done because it has to get done.
Speaker 3 01:01:11 Um, and there's a certain amount of patients you're going to have to have when you get into the world, but not dealing with that. Your advantage as you make a transition into a new industry for this, whether it's for just this period or whether it's a career move for you in the long run is, um, that, to be quite honest, because of where we come from, we have a certain cache, you know, we had the cool jobs. We come from a cool industry and we traveled around the world and we, we worked for, you know, big rock bands. And so, you know, I would say definitely work that angle because it makes you stand out. It makes you memorable. Um, don't be afraid to try things like me doing a video. Like I was like, well, you know, I don't know if they're gonna like a video or not like a video, but it's the best way I can think of.
Speaker 3 01:01:56 And if it makes me stand out from the crowd, then I'm going to do it. Um, so think of ways to, uh, actually one of the projects I'm working on right now, a way we store the plasma boxes in the freezer is terribly inefficient. Um, in that, in that it doesn't really achieve the goals they've set out for. Um, things have to be pulled from boxes and boxes when they ship have be shipped in certain groups. And so they, they line all these boxes, rows of boxes up one foot away from each other. So they can see the side of the boxes where the numbers are. But the reality is then you can't get in between the boxes to pull boxes out. When you need them, you have to cut kinda unstack a whole row to get to the ones you want. So I'm sitting there watching.
Speaker 3 01:02:36 And once I got in charge, I'm like, well, why do I have to leave 12 inches in between? The boxes are marked with numbers on every side? Why don't I just push, you know, row two of the boxes over next to row three. And now I have 18. And just between rows one and two, I can see the sign of real two on one side, and I can see the federal three on the other side. And now I can walk in between all the rows and grab whatever box I need individually without unstacking the whole row of boxes. Hey, you know, I haven't taken up any more space than what it's currently taking up. I've just re allocated, you know, the space because we don't need to see both sides of every box and then need to see one side of each box. Maybe your next innovation is, uh, Cadillac's made of clear plexi that are refrigerated. They can go all the way around. Right. But I would say, you know, don't be afraid to bring the, the skill sets you have and the, and the sort of, um, abilities you've learned in our industry for, for efficiency. Cause that's, I think one of the things that industry lacks a lot of and is always looking for, yeah. They're always looking for more efficient ways to get things done.
Speaker 1 01:03:39 And we know the most efficient ways to do anything.
Speaker 3 01:03:42 Yeah. Because you know, laziness, breeds, efficiency, we're all lazy. So I'm going to, I'm going to go sidebar here. Joel. The first time I worked with him, I was programming for him. And I was still pretty new to the hog at the time. And I'm pro I'm pushing buttons and he asked me to do something and he's a brilliant programmer. Uh, and he goes, wait, wait, wait, wait, why did you do it that way? And I go, cause that's how I know how to do it. He goes, yeah. But if you do it, this keystroke that you, you cut out like three keystrokes. And I said, yeah, but what's the deal. And he goes, well, okay, let's start calculating the math on that. So he's, he breaks it down to the number of seconds. I have wasted his time. And it takes you three extra seconds. Every time you do that, how many times are you going to do that? And tonight I said, I don't know, maybe a hundred. And he goes, that's like 300 seconds. You're wasting my time, stub it, five minutes, 300 seconds a night for the next three weeks, 9,000 seconds. He was all about efficiency. And I've been racing ever since. Yeah.
Speaker 1 01:04:45 Oh, that's awesome, man. Well, I think that those are some great things I would have. I would love to keep the conversation going, but I do, I have to jump because I've got another meeting to get to. But, uh, Joel, I just want to say thank you, uh, for coming on for a while. It's really great to hear someone who's been able to successfully make that transition. Um, Joanne
Speaker 3 01:05:04 Didn't get the lead tech job by the way. Yeah. I assume you're making videos. What is your, what's your ultimate goal with biolife? How are you going to take it? I'm on a stage by a lifestyle I retire. I'm pretty sure. Um, Senator Sue or a center manager would be, um, uh, my ultimate long-term goal, but because they're, they're, um, expanding so so much, they have, uh, what they call launch teams, which are groups of people that go out to open the new centers and set them up and to train staff and stuff. And I'm actually quite intrigued about the possibility of getting on the launch team. Nice. So there you go. And then, uh, you said you were going to try and maintain some industry gigs by using your vacation time. One of the wonderful things about being in the business world is there is Epic shit, tons of paid time off between PTO and vacations and big holidays.
Speaker 3 01:05:55 We have floating holidays. So all our holidays aren't fixed. We have like 10 floating holidays. So, um, I, a couple of things I want to do since I'm local now, and I have a fixed schedule. I'd like to go back and do some local theater, which would be fun again. Um, but uh, also I'm going to use some of my vacation time to get like three weeks worth of, uh, corporate gigs in a year. Nice keeps on my car, show clients and some of my meeting clients and go out there and working too. That's awesome. Well, Joni, just enough fun to add
Speaker 1 01:06:28 Anything else you want to toss in there before we go for the day?
Speaker 3 01:06:32 No, I mean the one, my biggest takeaway I think was, uh, and it was what I said in my own, um, uh, getting ready podcast was, was the work ethic and, and just getting your foot in the door, showing up, being there, you know, just like Jay Leno showing up with a bucket and rags and saying, I'm here to work. Yeah. It's funny. You mentioned that we need somebody to work here. So that, that, that was really, really a, a fantastic, uh,
Speaker 1 01:06:57 That's right. We know how to work. So go to work. I mean, that really is that that's what it comes down
Speaker 3 01:07:02 To show up and be present. I
Speaker 1 01:07:05 Am a firm believer that the professionals in the audio visual concert touring industry can outwork pretty much anybody. Um, and in the end, in the toughest of situations too. Uh, and so I, I never doubt all of it. Yeah, exactly. The hard work and the professionalism of what we've done. So guys, thank you so much, Jo Joel, um, really enjoy hearing a great success story, Joel, best to you and your husband, Ty. And, uh, I sure hope you get that center manager or you're running your own teams.
Speaker 3 01:07:38 Well, actually there's a center supervisor position, which is in the management team. It's the lowest rung of the management team, but I'm up for that. So it's good for you to go for it, let us know.
Speaker 1 01:07:49 Well, awesome. Well, thanks Joel. I appreciate it. And I hope you have a great rest of your day. Thanks guys. Awesome. Take care.
Speaker 7 01:07:59 Moving out alive can be an incredibly daunting task. And in all of the time that we've spent in the live events industry, I know that making changes can sometimes be the most difficult and the most frustrating when it comes to live events. Here's what I want to say. You are professionals and every day you make the impossible happen by making changes, shifting pivoting, and adjusting for what is best for your customers. Keep doing that every single day. And you will be just fine. Thanks so much for listening guys. If you really enjoyed this event, you really enjoyed this podcast. Share it out, tell people about it, let them know what's going on. Let them know that they can be a part of a gig ready world that is better than anything they could have imagined. So stick it out, hang tough, and we'll get back to live very soon. Thanks. Have a great day. Five stars. People let them know how awesome we are. Thanks. Talk to you soon. Take care.
Speaker 0 01:09:04 <inaudible>.
