NYC Jobs and What I Learned

 Aaron Aalto

NYC Jobs (and What I Learned)

2016-2020

Illustrated Thread

Moved to NYC in 2016. My first job was selling modern furniture.
 It was supposed to be temporary, but I got comfortable. I learned
 how to sell here.

I was then hired at an Italian restaurant on 34th St.

I learned the art of serving tables. I dived into the world of wine 

and food. So much of what I learned I now apply in my experience design. I got fired after a few months. A food critic got
 the wrong order. Oops.

I then started to intern as an industrial designer at a studio in the
LES. I designed teapots. Realized ID in NYC was not like CPH.
If I was going to do ID, I needed to be in Europe. I had to evolve.

Left the job within a couple months. I couldn’t afford to
 work for free.

I left NYC for 8 months. It hurt.

I went back to GA to work as a radio DJ for a Spanish radio station.

I learned to tell stories there. But I was itching to return to NYC.
I wanted to get back to design.

I returned in 2018. I found freelance design work.

In addition to that, I picked up a job working in NYC’s first mate
bar in Williamsburg.

There I learned how NOT to run a business.

Still, I was struggling to find my place. I picked up a new job at a
coffee shop in Clinton Hill. Here I learned how to upsell and
create an opportunity for myself.

To set our cafe apart & enrich our customer experience, I sketched
on bags.

I picked up a second job working at a private Art club in Chelsea.

I was freelancing part-time and I was growing very unhappy.

Here I realized that I needed to change my life.

(Skipping a few things)

Then I got sick. Food poisoning. My p/t cafe job wanted me to come
in so I quit on the phone. It’s early 2020.

After yrs of working on a portfolio and 2.5 months of using the @visualizevalue daily manifest, I got a full-time job.

I was my biggest obstacle the whole time.

I could have had what I wanted all along, but it took food poisoning to get me to wake up.

I couldn’t connect the dots back then. However, looking back I can
see a beautiful evolution. Those experiences helped me understand
 my place in the world.

Thank you for reading.