Often I’m very late to the party.
Discovering the delight of 80s dance music in the 2010s.
Becoming a fan of the White Stripes well after they disbanded.
And this TV show called “The Bear”.
My wife had been talking about The Bear for quite a while. Months. Maybe over a year.
She had seen it while visiting her son. She knew I’d like it. And regularly mentioned this.
It’s a drama (or is it a comedy?) about working in a professional restaurant kitchen trying to make it through each day. But you probably already know that because, as I said, I’m often late to the party.
I figured I’d like it. Thing is, we didn’t have Hulu in the house yet we did have a backlog of other things to watch from other streaming platforms.
Shows like Slow Horses, or Hacks, or some new season of Love Is Blind. (Please don’t judge me, I already have enough self loathing from habitually watching each season.)
Finally, we signed up for a Hulu trial.
The Bear is amazing. I once spent 2 weeks cooking in a summer camp kitchen for 12 to 16 hours a day. Making food. Fighting exhaustion. Very intense.
This show is like that. You are there in the kitchen. Lots of shouting and chaos. It’s intense. Sometimes funny. Amazingly written and edited and acted. So many little details that feel so real. Stuff many people would miss. I love it.
It reminds me that I never ever want to work in a pro kitchen again.
However I love the intensity of everything going on all at once and under urgent time pressure. I love the idea of having to juggle so many literal plates. And dealing with the absurd things that happen in pro kitchens. Like getting a mis-delivery of 200 lbs of pork vs 200 lbs of beef. Or the gas range breaking just before service.
Juggling lots of details is something I really do enjoy. Keeping track of knowns and unknowns and working with incomplete information. Complexity is fun for me.
So when I get to work with a new client and clean up their world of email marketing, make everything run smoothly, learn about their clients and identify stories and messages that will excite those clients, it brings me joy.
That is my happy place.
When you and I work together, it’s a win win for both of us. We both get to do more of what we enjoy. Your time is freed up to work on the parts of the business that excite you the most.
And we take care of the rest.
Want to learn how that works? Schedule a time to talk by following this link.
Talk soon…
Michael Helmke