It was January 2022.

I had just quit the full-time job that had hired me away from a job I loved with the allure of more money, a prestigious title, and the promise to build a team.

After 4 months, I realized the title was just vanity, the team was out of the question, and my pay would likely never increase again.

So I quit and went out on my own for the first time.

I took any and every freelance gig.

I called it my "funemployment" stage — if it sounded like fun, I said yes.

I was a film production assistant.

I was a house painter.

I was a photographer.

I was a copywriter.

I was a social media strategist.

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While I was doing a lot of work in my zone of genius, I was doing a lot that wasn't.

On a film set one day, the Office Coordinator gave me this sage advice:

"It's not IF you get yelled at, it's WHEN. Good PAs recover quickly and keep moving."

I was doing so much work I had never done before.
I was forced to ask stupid questions.
(I asked a producer what SAG was (Screen Actors Guild)).

I didn't know the simple things like how to use a walkie-talkie.

But by the end of production, I was trading numbers with my new colleagues and had people telling me they’d call me for future jobs.

How did I go from Grade A idiot to fan favorite PA in a few days?

I asked everything to everyone.

I learned fast. I jumped in. I asked follow-up questions.

I knew not asking questions would land me in bigger trouble when it mattered.

Knowing that I would eventually get yelled at by someone made me less afraid to ask questions. It made me less sensitive when it finally happened.

Being yelled at as a new PA was seen as a right of passage. I was genuinely a newbie if it hadn't happened yet.

You don’t have to know everything in film, you just have to be ready to act and learn.

I believe many things in life are the same way.

Don't be afraid to do something wrong.

Don't be afraid to admit you don't know.

Don't be afraid of getting yelled at.

Because the thing you’re afraid of is the thing that is keeping you from being a real pro.

I hope you're pursuing curiosity.

I hope you're asking questions and getting answers.

Try something you've never done. Be bold enough to dumb.

Learn it's always worth it to hire someone to do the thing you really don't want to do (for me, it's painting - never again).

If that thing for you is marketing or content development, you can ask me questions or hire me to do what I'm best at.