Episode 144 features Alyssa LaBotz, entrepreneur, freelancer, video editor, traveler, and a fellow coffee drinker.
We discuss starting in economics and ending in editing, finding time for ourselves, burnout, balance, structure, age, and much much more.
Mentioned and Helpful Links from This Episode
Music created and provided by Henno Heitur of Monkey Tongue Productions.
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–Begin Transcription–
00:00:00:03 – 00:00:23:26
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent palmer.com anything but alien aliens in the prime of their lives touches all of humanity. My Arthur Treacher’s uniform still smells, but memories of my first job are fresh. And you’ll be hearing more from Hal on this show again very soon. This is The Palmer Files episode 144 with Alyssa Labotz, entrepreneur, freelancer, video editor, traveler, and fellow coffee drinker.
00:00:23:31 – 00:01:03:57
Agent Palmer
We discussed starting in economics and ending and editing, finding time for ourselves, burnout, balance, structure, age, and much, much more. Are you ready? Let’s do the show.
00:01:04:02 – 00:01:05:00
Agent Palmer
Hello, and welcome to.
00:01:05:00 – 00:01:24:56
Agent Palmer
The Palmer Files. I’m your host, Jason Stershic, also known as Agent Palmer. And on this 144th episode is Alyssa Labotz. Alyssa thought she might like to be a lawyer, went to school for economics, became an entrepreneur, and is now a freelancer editing video. We discussed those transitions as well as her love of traveling and the videos that she’s made that document her travels.
00:01:25:06 – 00:01:46:14
Agent Palmer
The importance of getting into something creative plus age, coffee balance, feeling comfortable, imposter syndrome, having a specialization, burnout, and well, all of that and more is coming your way shortly. But first, remember that if you want to discuss this episode as you listen or afterwards, you can find all related ways to contact Alyssa and myself in the show notes.
00:01:46:29 – 00:02:12:53
Agent Palmer
You can visit Alyssa’s website, Labotz’s Media.com. That’s lab OTz media.com, or you can see her travel videos on YouTube at roaming with Alyssa. Don’t forget, you can see all of my writings and rantings on Agent palmer.com. And of course, email can be sent to the Palmer files at gmail.com. So without further ado, let’s hit the road.
00:02:12:58 – 00:02:43:27
Agent Palmer
Alyssa, I know of your work editing Retro Days, but what I really wanted to start with was this I went to your website and on your about page, you stole, my respect by saying that you should have known better than to get a degree in economics. I, did not get a degree in economics, but I should have known better than to get a degree in communications, which, while I am kind of tangentially in communications, I basically just got a degree.
00:02:43:27 – 00:02:54:49
Agent Palmer
I had no idea what I was going to do with. So I just wanted to know, since you’re in video editing and production. Why economics first?
00:02:54:54 – 00:02:56:37
Alyssa Labotz
Oh, man.
00:02:56:42 – 00:03:01:41
Agent Palmer
Why? Why did I go all dad on you? Like, is this the parents conversation?
00:03:01:46 – 00:03:20:01
Alyssa Labotz
No. It’s like at the time, I thought, okay, well, going back, even before economics, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. Okay. So I was like, I’m going to get a poly side degree, and then I’m going to law school. And then I was like, yeah, I don’t know that I want to go to school that long.
00:03:20:06 – 00:03:34:28
Alyssa Labotz
You like economics? It’s more versatile. I can do whatever with that. So I did that. I had no interest in it. Like even before I graduated, I wished I had done something different.
00:03:34:33 – 00:03:43:49
Agent Palmer
Okay. For a four year degree. Yeah. And you, even though you had, like, when did you realize you had no interest here?
00:03:43:54 – 00:03:50:50
Alyssa Labotz
Basically, once I started upper division and started taking all the Hitchcock.
00:03:50:55 – 00:03:53:43
Agent Palmer
But you didn’t. But you didn’t want to change.
00:03:53:48 – 00:04:21:13
Alyssa Labotz
No. It was like at that point, it was like I just wanted to get the degree done with and over with an and yeah, I, I just had no interest in it. And most of my classmates who were also econ majors ended up going into like right out of school, going into banking or insurance or, you know, nothing that I was interested in.
00:04:21:18 – 00:04:47:45
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I well, I mean, first, I applaud you for making a decision, okay. Because I started as a liberal arts AA and they were like, okay, well, it’s two years and you have your degree. What now? And I was like, I don’t I don’t know, like, I, I made the least, I made all of the least, the most general decisions I could possibly make at every step.
00:04:47:49 – 00:04:56:39
Agent Palmer
Like, so where does video come in in all of this? Because that’s not anywhere in your learning track.
00:04:56:43 – 00:05:18:07
Alyssa Labotz
I know that came in way later because I actually ran a pet sitting company for ten years. Okay. So yeah, I started that my senior year of college because I knew I did not. I wanted to work for myself. I didn’t want a 9 to 5. I didn’t want to work with other people. Okay. So I started that and actually ran that for ten years.
00:05:18:07 – 00:05:51:34
Alyssa Labotz
And it was a good business, but it was not, like mentally fulfilling or stimulating. And the older I got, the more important, like creative expression and just getting into more creative realm, it became more important to me. And I had been editing my own like, travel videos for years. And, I was trying to think of what else I could do because I wanted to change things up.
00:05:51:34 – 00:06:26:22
Alyssa Labotz
I wanted to do something where I could work remotely, and I was like, well, I love editing, but I didn’t go to school for it or anything. And you know who would hire me if I don’t have like some it like good degree or all this training in it. But, I just decided to start applying to like, freelance jobs, and the only thing I had was my own travel videos that I had edited, and people started hiring me, and I couldn’t believe I’m like, I can’t believe someone’s paying me to do this.
00:06:26:22 – 00:06:39:36
Alyssa Labotz
Like, wow, I just, I, I tried it, but I didn’t believe, like I could do it, but I thought, well, I have nothing to lose. And that was like almost six years ago, I think so, yeah.
00:06:39:37 – 00:06:51:01
Agent Palmer
And like, I mean, it’s it’s been six years. Are you like, I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. Like, I’m so glad I made this decision. Like, is that where you are?
00:06:51:05 – 00:07:11:28
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah. I mean, I still love editing. I never get tired of it. I love doing it. And I’m glad I made the switch. And yeah, I do. I don’t know, I don’t like to regret things or think like, oh, I wish I had done that differently because I’m like, well, whatever. You know, I can’t go back and change the past.
00:07:11:28 – 00:07:25:25
Alyssa Labotz
But, if I did go back, I would have liked to do it sooner because. But I didn’t know, you know, I didn’t know at the time I was trying to figure it out. And I didn’t even think it was a possibility. But.
00:07:25:30 – 00:07:50:12
Agent Palmer
So where in, like, I don’t know, high school, like, does like because you don’t just decide randomly on a whim to start doing your own travel vlogs and like editing them. Like, that’s not something I know people take video when they’re places and then share it, but very few people actually edit those things. So like, where does that start?
00:07:50:17 – 00:08:25:50
Alyssa Labotz
I don’t even know. I like that I didn’t start doing that till I was maybe like 21. But yeah, I, me and my sister traveled a lot. So I had all this footage and I wasn’t taking the footage for the purpose, like, oh, I’m going to turn this into a video, you know? But we just had all this funny footage of us traveling, and I don’t even know what I don’t know, I don’t even know when I like, I actively started the editing thing or, you know, why it came into my head?
00:08:25:55 – 00:08:37:51
Alyssa Labotz
Even growing up, like me and my sisters would make videos and movies all the time, and I don’t know, I think I’ve just always had this, like thing in my head of making videos.
00:08:37:51 – 00:08:48:21
Agent Palmer
Are there like, do you have other creative things? Is it just like, do you write? Do you play instruments or whatever? Like are there, are there other creative outlets for you?
00:08:48:25 – 00:09:02:16
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, I mean I well, I play the piano, but I don’t play it regularly, but I’ve been playing it since I was a kid. I love the piano. And I do paint, but that’s like nobody sees those that once.
00:09:02:23 – 00:09:02:31
Agent Palmer
That.
00:09:02:43 – 00:09:03:12
Alyssa Labotz
Maybe.
00:09:03:16 – 00:09:03:50
Agent Palmer
That one’s for.
00:09:03:50 – 00:09:17:41
Alyssa Labotz
You. Maybe like 1 or 2 family members, and then they go in my closet. It’s just for me, like, because I enjoy doing it and I yeah, I love doing it, but it’s, you know, it looks like a kindergartner could have painted it.
00:09:17:46 – 00:09:41:03
Agent Palmer
I mean, if you gave me some paints, I feel like you’re you you would get a healthy dose of like, oh, that’s horrible. I’m. If you want a visual medium out of me, it’s going to be with words. And that’s it. Yeah. I’m not. I’m not drawing anything. Painting or. Annie. No, that’s not that’s not going to happen for me.
00:09:41:03 – 00:09:53:46
Agent Palmer
So, like, you, I don’t know. I’m you’re you’re on your own for six years now, but you work for people kind of. Yeah. You’re collaborating like.
00:09:53:51 – 00:10:24:52
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah. It’s not it is nice to work with people and it’s like, enough. We’re. I can, you know, interact with people and collaborate. But I’m still just kind of like working on my own. And I really like freedom and independence, and setting my own schedule like that is always been the most important thing to me. And I’ve kind of geared all of my decisions in life around, like being able to do what I want.
00:10:24:53 – 00:10:27:25
Alyssa Labotz
So yeah, all right. It’s worked out good.
00:10:27:25 – 00:10:35:31
Agent Palmer
All right. You set your own schedule. So. Morning person. Night owl. What what do we what do we what are we doing?
00:10:35:36 – 00:10:52:29
Alyssa Labotz
Well, I’m naturally a morning person, but I’ve gotten into, like, for basically five years now. A really awful habit of going to bed late. And I still wake up at a normal time. Now, that’s the thing. So I’m just chronically sleep deprived. But yeah.
00:10:52:30 – 00:11:15:12
Agent Palmer
Hey, welcome to the club. I wanted to I, I, I haven’t always been a night like a morning person. I was a night person for very long time. And then, like, I don’t know, probably somewhere in my 30s, I became a morning person. Like, not like just. It just happened one day. Yeah. I feel like I don’t know when I, I don’t know if I can pinpoint it.
00:11:15:12 – 00:11:21:11
Agent Palmer
And like, since then it’s been like, yeah. If I stay up late, I’m still getting up early.
00:11:21:23 – 00:11:25:17
Alyssa Labotz
What is early to you? Like, how is it is early?
00:11:25:17 – 00:11:29:21
Agent Palmer
I mean, my alarm set for 630, but I always wake up before it.
00:11:29:25 – 00:11:30:43
Alyssa Labotz
Oh, wow.
00:11:30:48 – 00:11:57:05
Agent Palmer
I don’t want to, like this. Is. This is the thing, right? Like I am now a morning person. I don’t want to be like, I, I, I would I, I, I mean, sometimes I can go back to sleep, but I always regret that decision. But I’m, I’m up like, yeah. No before my alarm like I, I don’t I like the safety net of having the alarm even though I turn it off before it goes off.
00:11:57:18 – 00:12:03:51
Agent Palmer
Yeah, but I do worry like. But the day you don’t set it, like going to be like, I’m going to sleep in and miss everything.
00:12:03:55 – 00:12:17:54
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, I know I get those phobias too. I used to be like yoga, where I would wake up naturally on my own between like 6 to 630. And now I usually get up at eight.
00:12:17:58 – 00:12:32:49
Agent Palmer
All right. So I mean, that’s fine, you know. Do you I mean, are you you’re I know you’re in the West Coast. I’m on the East Coast. How do you juggle time zones? Because I know not all of your clients could possibly be in your time zone.
00:12:32:54 – 00:13:00:07
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah. I mean, the time zone hasn’t been an issue, and I’ve even, like, you know, I will go to Europe for months at a time, and even then, like, I’ll just find a way to work within, like usually maybe there will only be a few hours that are off, you know, where I’m working and they’re not, or vice versa, but it usually hasn’t been an issue.
00:13:00:12 – 00:13:30:45
Agent Palmer
I don’t I mean, I if when it comes to this particular hobby, I guess, of a podcast time zone math, maybe the thing I hate the most like out of it. Like I, I don’t mind the editing, I don’t mind the scheduling, I don’t mind the record. I by me love the recording. Like every peace, love it. Time zone math hate it it like I just I absolutely hate it because I don’t know, my brain just doesn’t want to.
00:13:30:50 – 00:13:33:29
Agent Palmer
Like, I have to write it down every time.
00:13:33:33 – 00:13:34:19
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, I.
00:13:34:24 – 00:13:40:56
Agent Palmer
I just can’t I don’t know, I just can’t do it. How are you with, I don’t know, juggling multiple projects.
00:13:41:08 – 00:14:01:19
Alyssa Labotz
Well, I just get stressed. But the thing is, like, I will never, if I’ve, like, committed to something or given a certain due date, like I like, once I’ve given my word, I’ll just work until, you know, I get it done. So just now the.
00:14:01:19 – 00:14:01:53
Agent Palmer
Late nights.
00:14:01:54 – 00:14:14:21
Alyssa Labotz
Have, like, even though it’s stressful, I’m not going to ever, like, drop the ball unless there’s some weird circumstance out of my control. So it’s like, even if I have to stay up late and be super stressed and.
00:14:14:23 – 00:14:15:44
Agent Palmer
Okay, so that’s where the.
00:14:15:49 – 00:14:16:02
Alyssa Labotz
That’s.
00:14:16:02 – 00:14:34:35
Agent Palmer
Where the late nights come in then. Yeah. Okay. And I mean, I guess the other question is you’ve been doing this for long enough now, so I, I mean, I have a very dangerous question for you. Do you feel comfortable?
00:14:34:40 – 00:14:35:20
Alyssa Labotz
Editing?
00:14:35:29 – 00:14:43:17
Agent Palmer
No, just, you know, you’ve got clients, probably steady clients. Like, do you feel comfortable?
00:14:43:21 – 00:15:18:31
Alyssa Labotz
Not really. I mean, that’s the thing about being freelance is, like. It is. It’s nice because you’re on your own, but it is can be draining that, like feeling of either needing to get more projects or it’s like even when you have consistent clients, things happen and they back off or whatever. It’s that you always feel like there’s a slight, I don’t know, no, like things change in, like, you gotta stay on top of it and yeah.
00:15:18:36 – 00:15:43:13
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I mean, I’m, I’m a contractor, freelancer, consultant, what have you. For almost as long as you’ve been doing video editing, and I, I hate it because, like, I, I’m very good at the project at hand. I’m horrible at getting the next project. Yeah. That’s where like that. Like that’s where it is, like, you want to give me something to do?
00:15:43:18 – 00:15:52:45
Agent Palmer
I sure I’ll. Yeah. Great. You want me to find something to do? I don’t know about that. That’s. Yeah.
00:15:52:50 – 00:16:26:02
Alyssa Labotz
I know it. It does get tiring. And that’s the thing I’m like, well, I don’t know. I feel like it puts me between, like, a rock and a hard place because it’s like, I love being independent and on my own. But I also feel like the stress and fatigue of, you know, worrying about clients and stuff. And but then I feel like if I were to get, you know, some job working for somebody 9 to 5, I think it would suck the soul out of me or something.
00:16:26:11 – 00:16:49:27
Agent Palmer
I mean, it’s definitely possible. Like, do you have any other, bigger aspirations? Like, do you want to do you want to edit a movie? You want to, you know, a music video, like, you know, like there are other there are I mean, within video, there are a bazillion things you can do, like city have like a, a pipe dream list of like I’d love to like edit a feature film or what have you.
00:16:49:32 – 00:17:13:20
Alyssa Labotz
I mean I would I for not a feature film but I would like a documentary would be cool. I have I have a lot of my own projects that I want to edit, but the like my paying jobs come first, obviously. So it’s like I have to do that first. And then a lot of times I don’t have time at the end of the day to like, work on my own stuff.
00:17:13:25 – 00:17:34:50
Alyssa Labotz
And I have. Yeah, I, some of them are just like interviews of family members, like about their life and like kind of like a legacy video, you know, overlay like footage and stuff and, and old photos. And so, yeah, I have, like, projects of my own, but.
00:17:34:54 – 00:17:40:15
Agent Palmer
I mean, I look, I feel. Yeah. Because I.
00:17:40:20 – 00:18:10:40
Agent Palmer
When you spend all day in it like for me in an audio editing suite, the last thing I want to do when I’m done is edit this show, because I’m just editing is I like it doesn’t matter what show you’re editing. I just spent hours editing something else. I want to jump in again. But I also feel like, but I like this, so it’s it, it’s it’s a little, both like when you when you’re talking about the, like, the legacy videos, did you shoot those two?
00:18:10:45 – 00:18:24:32
Alyssa Labotz
Yes, I did, but I the thing about me is that I love editing and I hate shooting. And so when I film, it’s kind of like I’m not doing anything fancy for that.
00:18:24:45 – 00:18:54:14
Agent Palmer
Is there a reason? Like, because I, I, I helped out editing. Producing what? I helped a friend make a doc, a full length documentary once. And we’ve talked about it on this show before, and I don’t know what episode that was. And that allowed me to be like, oh, well, my, my, my editing skills are fairly transferable from audio to video.
00:18:54:14 – 00:19:19:00
Agent Palmer
Like it, it is different, but it’s not like what the skills I’ve learned is the when to cut, when not to cut, when to fade, when to, you know, those are transferable. And then I was like, I’m going to do a short, a short, I’m going to make a short and as we record this, I still haven’t edited the short, but I did, create a shot sheet and shoot the short.
00:19:19:05 – 00:19:41:16
Agent Palmer
And what I learned is, I don’t know that I have that skill. I might be able to learn that skill set. I don’t know that I have that skill set. It’s like I don’t. I’m just all I know from my limited video experiences. You always want more because you can never go back. Yeah, that’s all I know.
00:19:41:16 – 00:20:06:05
Agent Palmer
So I’m like shooting everything and trying to do multiple angles with like. I mean, it’s all like phone stuff. So it’s like, oh well, I’ve got phones. I’ve got an old phone like, let’s just shoot everything from wherever. And I’m, I’m sure the at it’s going to be okay. I’m sure my shooting is going to be probably the detriment of the entire project.
00:20:06:10 – 00:20:09:12
Agent Palmer
But I think you have to learn those things.
00:20:09:17 – 00:20:09:48
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
00:20:09:51 – 00:20:38:56
Agent Palmer
And I just, I don’t know, I, I kind of like my audio space. I know nothing against video. I know it’s the future and I know I have to learn it because when I do look occasionally at that next potential 9 to 5, everybody’s like, oh, you to podcast, do you do video? Oh yeah. Oh, okay. Well at least you’re in the future.
00:20:39:01 – 00:20:41:05
Agent Palmer
I’m here in radio landscape.
00:20:41:12 – 00:21:15:17
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, I don’t know. I’ve seen like that is very becoming increasingly more common where people want not just an editor, they want all these other things like, it’s like you, you’re suddenly having to have all these different skill sets that, I mean, I guess they’re, you know, can intertwine or be connected, but they’re very separate ones. And I’ve been seeing that more and more that it’s like, you can’t just be a one trick pony.
00:21:15:17 – 00:21:23:53
Alyssa Labotz
People want you to do all these other things. And I don’t know, I prefer to just I think it’s better to like, specialize in like, oh yeah.
00:21:24:00 – 00:21:52:49
Agent Palmer
Look, I, I agree, I think it’s very important to specialize, but I, I’m going to I’m going to. So one of the things that I tend to do, maybe to the detriment of my pocket book, is I spend a lot of time talking people out of doing podcasts. In my freelance consulting expertise, whatever. I spend a lot of time going.
00:21:52:53 – 00:22:15:11
Agent Palmer
What’s your episode three? What’s your episode ten? If you don’t have an episode ten, you probably at best doing a mini series at worst, you probably just want to find somebody else’s show to be on because you don’t need your own right. Like, I talk myself out of client work all the time, but I also have a hard time lying to people being like, man, of course you could do three episodes and then fall off the face of the earth.
00:22:15:11 – 00:22:38:57
Agent Palmer
That’s a great business plan. But one of the things I explain to a lot of these people that especially those that don’t know what they’re getting into, and this is where I try not to be, it’s not egotistical, but like, I try not to be like, oh, you need me, but but I usually end up describing it as like, oh, well, Alyssa, if you want to do a podcast, you you need somebody like me for the beginning.
00:22:38:57 – 00:23:00:45
Agent Palmer
And they’re like, well, I don’t how much are you? And I’m like, no, no, no, no, you don’t need me. But you need an editor who can also produce. You need somebody who’s not just going to take the footage or raw audio, edit it and send it back. When you’re starting out, you need like a producer. I don’t know what other title to give it of somebody who can be like, you were too long here.
00:23:00:50 – 00:23:22:12
Agent Palmer
You need to move along. You need to, you know, maybe, smile at the camera, look at the camera, look off. Like you need somebody who’s going to give you more direction than just an editor who’s giving you the edited product back. Right? Yeah. Do you? I mean, I call that producing because I don’t know what else to call it.
00:23:22:12 – 00:23:23:06
Agent Palmer
Like that other.
00:23:23:06 – 00:23:25:50
Alyssa Labotz
Stuff that are that producing, do you.
00:23:25:55 – 00:23:37:53
Agent Palmer
Like, is that something that you kind of do for clients a little bit like even though you, you, you want to specialize in editing, but like you probably do a little producing too, like even just with feedback.
00:23:37:58 – 00:24:02:20
Alyssa Labotz
I generally I mean, if they ask for suggestions or like, what do you think I could do different or whatever, I’ll do that. But generally I don’t like pipe in and give them my place. Like unless I think it’s going to make a big difference. But generally I’m just like, okay, well, it’s their thing and I’m there to edit it.
00:24:02:20 – 00:24:16:42
Alyssa Labotz
But if if they ask for it, if it’s kind of like if there’s going to help them in a big way, then I’ll, you know, suggest something. But generally I kind of leave that up to them.
00:24:16:46 – 00:24:27:13
Agent Palmer
All right. This is the big question I’ve had for you that I’ve been saving. You’re out on the West Coast. Yeah, that’s where all the videos get made. That’s where everything.
00:24:27:18 – 00:24:28:30
Alyssa Labotz
All the state.
00:24:28:35 – 00:24:34:03
Agent Palmer
That’s where all the videos get made. That’s where everything’s being made these days.
00:24:34:08 – 00:24:37:24
Alyssa Labotz
Like. I mean, I guess you don’t, I don’t know.
00:24:37:25 – 00:24:38:25
Agent Palmer
I don’t want to walk down to.
00:24:38:25 – 00:24:40:29
Alyssa Labotz
Like, Hollywood movies or what.
00:24:40:29 – 00:24:50:57
Agent Palmer
I don’t know, I just assume everything’s made out west. You know, some stuff in Vancouver, some stuff in LA, some stuff in Albuquerque. I hear everything’s out there.
00:24:51:02 – 00:25:02:56
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, that is true there. Yeah, Vancouver is big. I think for movies at least, and obviously LA. So I’ve never heard of Albuquerque, though.
00:25:02:56 – 00:25:19:07
Agent Palmer
That’s new. I just started hearing about that one. That one I just started hearing. I don’t know why. I’m not sure why. Albuquerque. Maybe they got good tax credits. All I’m saying is like, if you, you know, you you should, you should. I think you should try a big movie.
00:25:19:12 – 00:25:19:43
Alyssa Labotz
Wow.
00:25:19:48 – 00:25:22:26
Agent Palmer
I think I think that’s your next step. Like, because I, I.
00:25:22:26 – 00:25:24:20
Alyssa Labotz
Don’t think anybody would hire me.
00:25:24:25 – 00:25:29:57
Agent Palmer
I see, I don’t know. Okay, fine. Let’s get you an independent film.
00:25:30:01 – 00:25:36:56
Alyssa Labotz
That maybe I think I’m, like, too much of a small fry that you hired for anything vague.
00:25:37:09 – 00:25:42:28
Agent Palmer
The skills are transferable. Like you have to start somewhere, right?
00:25:42:33 – 00:25:50:20
Alyssa Labotz
Like, I, I still have the imposter syndrome where I’m like, feel like like I don’t know what I’m doing. Okay, I don’t know.
00:25:50:20 – 00:25:57:59
Agent Palmer
You know how many, how how many, how many videos have you edited as a like, you know, hundreds. Thousands.
00:25:57:59 – 00:26:03:45
Alyssa Labotz
Wow. Yeah. Hundreds. I have no clue. Okay. Hundreds.
00:26:03:50 – 00:26:16:05
Agent Palmer
If you still have imposter syndrome after hundreds of videos. And look, I do. In case you’re wondering, I still have imposter syndrome after hundreds of episodes over here. Okay.
00:26:16:10 – 00:26:17:45
Alyssa Labotz
And,
00:26:17:49 – 00:26:50:11
Agent Palmer
It’s just something we live with, but we shouldn’t let it stop us from moving on. Yeah, like I’m so you edit for Retro Days, Tony Rapinoe writes for Retro Days, and Tony has published many books. And Tony says that they’re all flukes. And he still has imposter syndrome. Right. Like we can get jackets made up. There are plenty of us who have done ten times, hundreds of times what other people have not even tried that.
00:26:50:11 – 00:27:06:25
Agent Palmer
Like we’re like, yeah, but I’m not. But it’s it it’s only so good. It’s like though you’ve got published works on the internet, videos on the internet. I’ve got published episodes. Tony’s got published books. Oh, we should get out of our own heads.
00:27:06:30 – 00:27:09:09
Alyssa Labotz
We’re doing things with that. Yeah.
00:27:09:13 – 00:27:16:02
Agent Palmer
So, like what I say? Like, you know, maybe something bigger. Look, you you know what? You have the skills.
00:27:16:07 – 00:27:39:42
Alyssa Labotz
I know part of me feels like I have. I have imposter syndrome. And then at the same time, I’m like, not afraid of rejection. Like, I feel like I’ve got nothing to lose. So it’s like, if I wanted to try something or apply to something, I’m like, whatever. And I don’t like take it lightly. I put effort into it.
00:27:39:42 – 00:27:43:20
Alyssa Labotz
But it’s like, if it doesn’t happen, I’m like, okay, whatever.
00:27:43:23 – 00:28:13:35
Agent Palmer
But that’s the best attitude to have. Like, where does that come from, by the way? Like, I know for a fact that my lack of a fear of rejection comes from three years of looking for a job when you like, but like, which was during the pandemic when nobody was going to like, you were getting rejected. You were just getting like you were just sending resumes and applications into the ether, and they were just getting swallowed by a black hole.
00:28:13:39 – 00:28:37:56
Agent Palmer
And so, so that taught me like, well, you can’t be afraid because you’re not going to get rejected anymore. You’re just never going to know. And then the other side is this podcast where like, I don’t want to sit here and talk to myself, so I have to send out invitations and people will say yes or no, or just like the resumes, it’ll go into a black hole.
00:28:37:56 – 00:28:57:45
Agent Palmer
I’ll never hear from that person again. And it was those things that were like, yeah, but I don’t have a fear of rejection now because I’ve been ghosted, enough and rejected the few times that have been like, I actually get excited when I get a know or like a rejection because it’s like somebody took the time. Yeah, somebody took the time.
00:28:57:45 – 00:29:00:07
Alyssa Labotz
To actually read it. Yeah.
00:29:00:12 – 00:29:20:01
Agent Palmer
But like, that’s that’s how I learned to deal with rejection. I don’t think maybe me ten years ago, me ten years ago is probably a lot more afraid of rejection. But like, where are you fear? Why are you so fearless when it comes to rejection? Like, how does that come about?
00:29:20:06 – 00:29:42:38
Alyssa Labotz
Well, kind of similar to yours, actually. And I don’t think I even knew I had it in me. So back in like 2019, I was actually going to move to Germany. I’m a dual citizen. So I was like, going to go move there and live there for a year and get a job. Okay. It was like when I was still running my pet sitting company.
00:29:42:38 – 00:30:10:32
Alyssa Labotz
That actually is what spurred me to start video editing, because I was like, I want to leave. I need a job that I can do remotely. So first I started with applying to jobs in Germany, which is like impossible. I cannot tell you how many resumes I sent out. Like, even for the most basic of basic jobs, that I was way overqualified for just sending them out, obviously putting effort into it.
00:30:10:32 – 00:30:33:29
Alyssa Labotz
It’s not like I was just like shooting off resumes and applications. I was putting effort into it. I, I didn’t get basically any responses back. The few that I did was like, yeah, rejection. And I was like, at one point I was sitting there and I was like, oh my gosh, I can’t believe how good I’m handling this.
00:30:33:32 – 00:30:53:35
Alyssa Labotz
Like, not trying to to my own horn, but I’m like, whoa, I like I don’t even care. I’m just like, okay, next, you know, and even ones that I thought would be really interesting or cool job or that I was kind of hopeful about, I was like, okay, and I don’t know, I had it in me and I didn’t even know it was there.
00:30:53:35 – 00:31:17:24
Alyssa Labotz
I guess that I was didn’t care about that. And, I don’t know if is if it’s like just something in me or I don’t know if it’s all the Buddhist books I’ve read about letting go. I don’t know, I don’t know what, but I, I learned it once I started getting rejected from all the applications I sent out.
00:31:17:24 – 00:31:24:39
Alyssa Labotz
And. Yeah, and know I just still feel that same way. I’m just release control of it.
00:31:24:52 – 00:31:27:52
Agent Palmer
You’re a dual citizen here and there.
00:31:27:52 – 00:31:29:15
Alyssa Labotz
Germany. Yeah.
00:31:29:24 – 00:31:44:30
Agent Palmer
Okay. Yeah. Like is I mean do you have a pet. Do you, do you, do you not want to stay here anymore or you just wanted to go somewhere else for a year?
00:31:44:35 – 00:32:08:57
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah. Just to go do something different and then, it’s good to get on the insurance there when you’re young. Because if I ever wanted to move back there when I’m older, I would get the insurance. And so I don’t know, I just just to do something different. I love traveling and exploring, and I a lot of times I just get this feeling like I just need to get away.
00:32:08:57 – 00:32:10:17
Alyssa Labotz
So.
00:32:10:22 – 00:32:18:27
Agent Palmer
Like, do you think you could go a year like just traveling and not have, like, could you be the rolling Stone like, I don’t, I don’t need a home, like,
00:32:18:32 – 00:32:44:06
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, I, yeah, I, I really I think so, yeah. I mean I’ve done well the longest I’ve done is like five months and I got cut short because of Covid and I came back, but, yeah, any time I’m on a trip, I feel like, I’m not ready to go home. I, I feel like I could just travel for a very long time.
00:32:44:06 – 00:32:45:26
Alyssa Labotz
Well.
00:32:45:31 – 00:32:57:45
Agent Palmer
Is there, and I’m not. I’m not pushing, but, like, is there a reason that, like, you haven’t started the travel vlogs back up again?
00:32:57:50 – 00:32:59:58
Alyssa Labotz
Like my videos? Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:00:01 – 00:33:02:20
Agent Palmer
For you. You know, your videos.
00:33:02:25 – 00:33:26:51
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah. Well, that’s one of those things where it’s like, I haven’t had time to work on, like, it’s like I want to. I have all the footage. I’m. I have these, like, I started the Chile series where I went to Chile and Argentina, and I’m like halfway through that and it’s, I haven’t even had time to finish.
00:33:26:51 – 00:33:42:49
Alyssa Labotz
And I just did a Baltics road trip and I have my storm chasing videos from this year. So I have all this footage, but I just I would love to, you know, make them and put them out every week. Again, I’m just like, I don’t know, lately I haven’t had time.
00:33:42:49 – 00:33:45:53
Agent Palmer
I think it’s time to make yourself a client. Like just.
00:33:45:58 – 00:33:46:38
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
00:33:46:43 – 00:33:50:25
Agent Palmer
I think it’s time. Like, put yourself into the workflow.
00:33:50:29 – 00:33:54:00
Alyssa Labotz
And, you know, and make it and just schedule it for myself.
00:33:54:11 – 00:34:29:01
Agent Palmer
Right. Like, I don’t know, I it’s it’s the travel thing. I’m going to ask this because I, I was, I, I don’t want to say like, no, I mean, I guess the truth is like, I, I had an anxiety attack and that kind of killed all my, like, living with anxiety, killed all my travel, basically. I can try, but I also before that lost my interest in, like, really traveling to faraway places.
00:34:29:06 – 00:34:45:05
Agent Palmer
I just don’t I like I’m, I’m a curious person in other capacities and other things. There’s not a book I won’t read or, you know, things I won’t watch or listen to or whatever. But like, when it comes to travel.
00:34:45:09 – 00:35:16:38
Agent Palmer
And look, I was I was this is this is the thing that always astounded people. Like, I spent nine years in the tourism industry as a marketing person, and like, I was happy to promote my own town, Alyssa, come to my hometown. But, like, I don’t I don’t have that, like, wanderlust for, like, I want to go that that other place, I want to go somewhere else and while the anxiety keeps me from flying and like busses and trains, I can drive anywhere I want.
00:35:16:43 – 00:35:39:42
Agent Palmer
And I also feel like there’s a part of me that’s like, if you just took a six hour circle from where I live, I haven’t touched, what, 4% of maybe the things that you could see in that thing. So when it comes to wanderlust, it’s like, well, I, I have a million things that are close to me.
00:35:39:42 – 00:35:57:27
Agent Palmer
I haven’t done, but I don’t have that, like, I want to go to the rest of the world. I yeah, I’ve been across the ocean like, I, I’ve done it in my youth. I guess I just don’t have the interest. It’s just not there.
00:35:57:32 – 00:36:05:04
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, well, that’s I know people like that, that they’re just, you know, they don’t have the desire and. Yeah.
00:36:05:09 – 00:36:31:40
Agent Palmer
Okay. I’m just I’m just saying that I but but it also makes me feel like you should probably just when you can get out there, shoot the video and then, you know, get yourself a sponsor so you don’t have to pay for the travel anymore. So it works, right? That’s that’s what we’ve all been led to believe. You want to sit there and talk to me about imposter syndrome.
00:36:31:40 – 00:36:37:57
Agent Palmer
And I just keep thinking, yeah, but if you make enough videos, somebody is going to sponsor you to go other places.
00:36:38:01 – 00:37:06:21
Alyssa Labotz
I did, you know, it’s weird. I did get a, an email from somebody through my website saying that they’ve been enjoying my travel videos and they have a, a place in Romania or something, which I’m like, okay, well, that sounds interesting, but it was just kind of like, I don’t know the name in the email. It wasn’t like a weird email, but it didn’t seem like it was some particular.
00:37:06:21 – 00:37:26:56
Alyssa Labotz
And I was googling the person, like, is this, like real? I don’t know, some weird sex trafficking ring or like what? Like it’s like somebody has contacted me, but I don’t travel. Like, I don’t know if it’s real or not. I mean, like, we love to have you stay at our, Airbnb or whatever, and I don’t know that it was like a specific town there.
00:37:26:56 – 00:37:33:05
Alyssa Labotz
And I’m like, well, that could be cool if it was real, but how do I know they’re not like, that’s psycho or.
00:37:33:19 – 00:37:55:15
Agent Palmer
That’s it’s a it’s a tough call. And I’ve had, like, I, I know it’s not the same, but like, I’ve had people like I have a blog that people find out I actually read and review books, like in, in text form, not like and I’m not, I’m not throwing shade at people on like TikTok or Booktok or whatever it’s called.
00:37:55:15 – 00:38:15:08
Agent Palmer
Right. But like I think people find and go, oh, somebody who’s actually writing, like, we’ll get SEO value out of this. And like, I get some shady emails. It’s like, hey, can we send you this book? And I’m like, well, I, I’m curious, but nothing. This book doesn’t sound interesting. Like, I don’t know what. Like, they’re just like, oh, somebody who reads a book.
00:38:15:08 – 00:38:47:54
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Like, maybe do a little bit more homework than just someone who reads. Yeah. It the the, the proliferation of unsolicited emails that are either legit but weird or just strange. There’s a lot. And so I guess thank you for, taking my unsolicited email to be a guest on this show through your website.
00:38:47:58 – 00:38:56:46
Alyssa Labotz
Because, well, Tony had told me about you before, so I knew you weren’t, like, totally out of left field. Some weirdo approaching me.
00:38:56:51 – 00:39:18:30
Agent Palmer
I mean, it is it is one of those things where, at least from my perspective, as somebody who has to, like, reach out to people finding an email or even a web form on a website that works is not as easy as you might think it would be.
00:39:18:34 – 00:39:20:23
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
00:39:20:28 – 00:39:40:57
Agent Palmer
I’ve, I’ve had, because I, I am, I refused to invite somebody publicly because I feel like it puts undue pressure on them if, like, somebody likes that thread, that tweet, that blue sky thing or whatever, and it’s like, oh, well, now somebody wants you to do it and you’re like, I don’t want to do a podcast.
00:39:41:02 – 00:39:57:47
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I don’t want to do that. So I’m always like, how can I do this privately? You know, where they can say no and only hurt my feelings? And that’s fine. But like, sometimes it’s really hard and sometimes you just have to be like, well, all right, I can’t invite that person.
00:39:57:52 – 00:40:00:27
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
00:40:00:32 – 00:40:17:21
Agent Palmer
I don’t know. I, I’m, I’m excited for you. I, I, I’m going to just, be in your email now, like, once a month being like, Soviet. Have you started working on your feature length? Whatever your, your new independent film.
00:40:17:26 – 00:40:22:46
Alyssa Labotz
Your maybe that’s the motivation I need to start working on something.
00:40:22:55 – 00:40:28:32
Agent Palmer
Or maybe you just project. Did you work on your own video?
00:40:28:37 – 00:40:28:54
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
00:40:29:07 – 00:40:39:32
Agent Palmer
Do you, do you do you have I, I energy is different. I’m not asking about energy but like do you have the motivation like you want to. You’re just tired.
00:40:39:37 – 00:41:07:20
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, I want to I’m just tired and it’s like by the time I’m done with work and stuff and then just life, like trying to cook food and exercise. It’s like, do you laundry and see family? I’m like, by the time I’m done with that, I, I, I feel like I hit this weird burnout a couple of years ago and I because I was working like, a lot.
00:41:07:20 – 00:41:13:24
Alyssa Labotz
And, I feel like I haven’t recovered from it’s like.
00:41:13:29 – 00:41:14:25
Agent Palmer
Okay, but a.
00:41:14:26 – 00:41:16:18
Alyssa Labotz
Very chronically tired.
00:41:16:21 – 00:41:23:14
Agent Palmer
Very important distinction, though. Did you realize you but you did realize you were burnt out?
00:41:23:19 – 00:41:30:12
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah. I was like, I’m running on fumes here, and I’m so burned out.
00:41:30:12 – 00:41:49:36
Agent Palmer
And how long did it take, though? Because like, I know people that like, I’ve had to tell it like I’ve got friends where I was like, yo, dude, you’re burnt out. And it like, they have to hear it, right? Like they’re not they, they, they’re tired, but it’s like they’re whatever or whatever. Like there’s always an excuse and it’s like, no.
00:41:49:41 – 00:42:00:02
Agent Palmer
And it’s not like an intervention, but it’s like, I, I think you’re burnt out. So like, was it a self realization or did somebody help you like.
00:42:00:07 – 00:42:28:03
Alyssa Labotz
I knew, I knew I was like pretty burned out for probably almost a year and it just hit a point where I was like, I cannot keep going at this rate. And I had, several years ago I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. And I’m like, fine. Now I’m not even taking medication or anything, but I’m very it’s forced me to be very aware of myself.
00:42:28:05 – 00:43:00:02
Alyssa Labotz
My stress level and my body because I don’t want to reactivate it. And, because before I would just push through and just I would just go, go, go and not listen to my body or my mind or anything. And that’s what got me, you know, that problem in the first place. So I just had to, like, I’ve been forced into listening to myself because naturally I would just be like, I tell my body and mind when I’m done and I’m just going to keep going.
00:43:00:07 – 00:43:25:14
Agent Palmer
It’s such a it’s so like it’s in ignorance of you saying two. It’s like, no, I can, I can definitely do this. Like, I, I know for a fact in the last year, working on stuff, it’s been like, all right, I like I don’t, I don’t go to sleep at 11, but I try and make sure that the work stuff is all off by 11.
00:43:25:19 – 00:43:35:57
Agent Palmer
And that’s at the latest. Right. Like, I very much like, try and create the illusion of a 9 to 5, just because it helps with some of that balance stuff.
00:43:35:57 – 00:43:38:47
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, I have some structure, but I.
00:43:38:52 – 00:44:02:34
Agent Palmer
I know that like, younger me would have been like 11:00. What are you doing? You could go till two. It’s like, I know, I mean, I yeah, yeah, I could, but I don’t want to like you. You start listening to your body and you’re like, I should wind down. Like I might be able to fall asleep when my head hits the pillow.
00:44:02:34 – 00:44:09:03
Agent Palmer
If I work until 11 or 3 a.m.. But that’s not that’s not good for anyone.
00:44:09:08 – 00:44:31:06
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, I, I know, and there’s, like, something about getting all like, I don’t I feel like I’m like 20, I’m 36. But I feel like I’m 20. But it’s like I’ve noticed age as I’ve gotten older, like things affect me way more. And just like lack of sleep and all that, it hits me so much harder.
00:44:31:06 – 00:44:53:08
Agent Palmer
I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m only I have to do the math because, like, math is hard. No, I’m only 41. And again, I’m, I’m, I’m kind of in your boat. Like, I feel like I’m 20, like, I don’t, I like, I don’t know, for some reason, like when, when you’re in college and like, you see somebody who’s 40, you’re like, that person’s old.
00:44:53:13 – 00:45:23:35
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And now, like, I like, my younger self would consider me old, but I don’t I don’t feel old. But that stuff about listening is so much more important now. Like, I should probably eat breakfast more often. But for, I don’t know, a good 25 straight years. Like after my parents stopped forcing me to eat breakfast when it became a choice.
00:45:23:35 – 00:45:49:58
Agent Palmer
Like when you’re like ten and they’re like, make yourself something. And I was like, no, because I was just lazy back then. That got me into a habit of just not eating breakfast. And then that kind of continued. And then I was like, maybe, maybe I should start eating something. And now I still am bad at it.
00:45:50:02 – 00:46:05:15
Agent Palmer
I’m still horrible at it because a pot of coffee is not does not a breakfast make? Which is. That’s my morning routine. Make coffee, drink coffee. That’s it.
00:46:05:20 – 00:46:23:26
Alyssa Labotz
Actually, I usually wake up hungry, but lately I’ve, I don’t know, lately I haven’t been super hungry when I wake up, but, yeah, I’m just like, cup after cup of coffee, like, oh, I’m probably burning a hole in my stomach right now with all this coffee, but oh well, it’s fine.
00:46:23:26 – 00:46:40:47
Agent Palmer
We’re running out of it anyway. Let’s drink it while we have it. Right. Like I’ve been reading articles about like, the the, you know, coffee’s going to run out in 2042 or stuff like that. And I’m like, I don’t care. Give it to me now. I’ll find a replacement when there’s no coffee left.
00:46:40:52 – 00:46:47:17
Alyssa Labotz
Oh my gosh, I have not heard of that. That would be a devastating day if that happened.
00:46:47:22 – 00:47:09:33
Agent Palmer
Well, it’s this is the the climate change thing, like the climates that are conducive to growing, coffee, and a few other things. But let’s for the sake of this argument, let’s just talk about coffee, because that’s the one that’s important, right? Yeah. That the it’s getting too hot. So the, the, the the yield is not as good necessarily.
00:47:09:40 – 00:47:17:15
Agent Palmer
Or we’re getting that like hot cold hot cold, which is even worse then. Yeah. Too hot. So like.
00:47:17:15 – 00:47:20:22
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, it seems like the weather’s been going in extremes.
00:47:20:37 – 00:47:29:41
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And so, you know, it affects my coffee. It affects a, it affects our coffee people. This is serious.
00:47:29:46 – 00:47:30:40
Alyssa Labotz
You know I.
00:47:30:44 – 00:47:37:12
Agent Palmer
Know I yeah. No, this is, and I drink coffee when I’m recording decaf at night though.
00:47:37:16 – 00:47:38:09
Alyssa Labotz
Oh, wow.
00:47:38:09 – 00:47:39:13
Agent Palmer
I switch, so you drink?
00:47:39:13 – 00:47:40:13
Alyssa Labotz
I was for the night.
00:47:40:20 – 00:47:53:26
Agent Palmer
When I was, somewhere in my early 30s. I stopped sleeping, or I was having trouble sleeping, like, just. Well. And it was.
00:47:53:26 – 00:47:54:09
Alyssa Labotz
Insomnia.
00:47:54:09 – 00:48:32:13
Agent Palmer
It was insomnia, but, like, I don’t I don’t I can’t quite put a finger on what, like, there wasn’t, like a moment. It was like I just started having trouble. So, I stopped drinking caffeine after 3:00. And so I had no problem drinking decaf. I still like coffee. So it was like I just switched to decaf after 3 p.m. because I was like, people can still give me crap like, you know, for whatever stress might be keeping me up, but it wasn’t the coffee, because that’s decaf.
00:48:32:18 – 00:48:40:52
Alyssa Labotz
Are you, one of those people that gets like, if you don’t have your morning coffee, you get a headache and feel sick and stuff for you. Okay? Without it.
00:48:40:52 – 00:49:08:29
Agent Palmer
I’m okay without it. And I know this because, you know, sometimes my anxiety, I it’s not just social. So I don’t want to call it social anxiety, but, like, generally it manifests that way a lot. And so depending on what I have to do, especially if it’s something that I have to do before lunch, sometimes I will skip coffee in order to like.
00:49:08:34 – 00:49:31:48
Agent Palmer
Be a little calmer, through the things. And what I notice is I don’t have that, like mass, like you would expect with my pot of coffee every day, that it would be like, oh, like, if he skips it, it’s just going to be a nightmare. But he’s not. I can skip and it’s fine.
00:49:31:53 – 00:49:46:39
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, I’m the same way. I have, like, family members who are like, I need my coffee now. I, I feel sick, I have a horrible migraine, but I can skip it. Even though I drink a lot every day, I can skip it just fine.
00:49:46:39 – 00:50:09:12
Agent Palmer
I think I think, I think, controversially, maybe, but I think it comes from my genes because I hear from like, I love the stories from, like my, my parent, my, my father about like my grandparents that like they would always have a pot of coffee on the stove, like 24 hours a day. There was always a pot of coffee on the stove.
00:50:09:12 – 00:50:28:13
Agent Palmer
And like I was, I, I, you know, I, I crossed over as far as like I was alive when my great grandparents were alive and I met them and I remember them, but I was only like up to seven. Right. And they were already in nursing homes and stuff. But I always hear these stories about, like, if you walked in the house, there was coffee on.
00:50:28:13 – 00:50:44:57
Agent Palmer
It doesn’t matter when like you could come home at 3 a.m., there was coffee on the stove all the time, and I don’t know, I just feel like, all right, so maybe it’s not the genes, maybe it’s hereditary. But like, somewhere in my family, somebody was always drinking coffee. It’s like, okay, perfect. This. Yeah. This makes sense.
00:50:44:57 – 00:50:46:11
Alyssa Labotz
In your blood.
00:50:46:16 – 00:50:50:08
Agent Palmer
I mean, at this point, I have to be a percentage of coffee.
00:50:50:13 – 00:50:51:22
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
00:50:51:27 – 00:51:15:44
Agent Palmer
I don’t I don’t know. Oh, you know what? I’m going to go back. So I used to, before the podcast, I used to do this weird thing where I would go back and forth via email to interrogate someone like yourself, like someone I met, like, before the podcast. And I would just be like, here’s ten questions, and then you answer them, and then I’m like, here’s some follow ups.
00:51:15:44 – 00:51:29:15
Agent Palmer
And then I put it together and it was actually this podcast. And editing is much easier than those text. Things used to be. Like, one of the things I used to ask was, coffee or tea?
00:51:29:20 – 00:51:31:32
Alyssa Labotz
Are you asking me? Right. Yeah, yeah, coffee.
00:51:31:35 – 00:51:34:12
Agent Palmer
And then how do you take your coffee?
00:51:34:17 – 00:51:35:29
Alyssa Labotz
Black.
00:51:35:34 – 00:51:36:54
Agent Palmer
Just black?
00:51:36:58 – 00:51:52:45
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah. Occasionally. Sometimes I’ll like, like a little bit of whole milk in it if I have it, but almost always. But that’s how I. I didn’t start drinking coffee till my early 20s and just always have had it black.
00:51:52:50 – 00:51:55:07
Agent Palmer
Why did you start drinking coffee?
00:51:55:12 – 00:52:18:18
Alyssa Labotz
I don’t even know why. Because I used to think the taste was disgusting. Like super bitter. But I don’t know why. I just started drinking it and yeah, now and I. Oh, and for years I would only have one cup. Okay, I say I started drinking it, but I for years it was one cup on Saturday or Sunday for the week and that was it.
00:52:18:18 – 00:52:31:48
Alyssa Labotz
I’d have one cup of coffee. Okay, now I’m up to like three cups a day, so I don’t know when that transition happened, but for years it was like I’d save one cup for the weekend and that was it.
00:52:31:53 – 00:53:03:32
Agent Palmer
Okay. All right, I, I, I can I can pinpoint the moment I started drinking coffee, and it’s not for a good reason. I had a the second half of my junior year, I spent a high school semester in Jerusalem. And, well, there’s a vastly different drinking age over there. And, I started drinking coffee to sober up in the mornings.
00:53:03:37 – 00:53:29:03
Agent Palmer
And so, that’s where it started. And then it just kind of continued. Yeah, yeah. But that I, I feel like if I didn’t, if I hadn’t been like, if I hadn’t needed the wake up for, 8 a.m. class, you probably never start drinking coffee.
00:53:29:07 – 00:53:33:48
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, I mean, it it is like a nice little pick me up in the morning.
00:53:34:02 – 00:53:52:52
Agent Palmer
It’s not a good reason. That’s not. Yeah. Kids, if you’re listening, I don’t know why the kid be listening, but, like, don’t. That’s not why you drink. Like, by all means, pick up a cup, put some sugar in it, put some, milk in it, whatever you want. But don’t don’t, don’t, don’t drink.
00:53:52:57 – 00:53:59:15
Alyssa Labotz
Wait. So what? Why did you do, you said a half a semester. A semester in Jerusalem.
00:53:59:15 – 00:54:01:08
Agent Palmer
Yeah, yeah, well, half a year, but, yeah.
00:54:01:08 – 00:54:03:02
Alyssa Labotz
Another half a year.
00:54:03:07 – 00:54:26:05
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Four months. Yeah. That’s half a school year. Yeah. Yeah, half a year. Yeah. It was, it was a complicated situation, but let’s just say I probably would have gotten kicked out of my high school had I not had an opportunity to leave it. I was a very, They didn’t know how to handle me in a very small town.
00:54:26:09 – 00:54:26:45
Alyssa Labotz
Okay.
00:54:26:52 – 00:54:34:08
Agent Palmer
And so it was like, oh, well, this this opportunity happens to exist. And it’s like, let’s get like, let’s go. All right.
00:54:34:08 – 00:54:36:46
Alyssa Labotz
So it wasn’t like a plan, like a wait.
00:54:36:46 – 00:54:37:09
Agent Palmer
No.
00:54:37:09 – 00:54:38:54
Alyssa Labotz
Like I think it was like.
00:54:38:54 – 00:55:08:48
Agent Palmer
I very much learned, I let how, how quick can I do this? I wrote, I went to school in a very rural Pennsylvania in high school in rural Pennsylvania. I wrote, theme. They weren’t essays. They were themes. I don’t know why. About religion and, of course, because it’s rural Pennsylvania. And, you know, they didn’t have the budget for like, the teachers to actually do the work.
00:55:08:48 – 00:55:39:19
Agent Palmer
They they outsourced some of the editing of themes. And I got, some responses on not just one, but two fairly philosophical, quasi religious things I wrote that were like, yeah, you’re wrong. And it’s like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone. And so, that I like, I tried to take care of the situation by myself, like, this is very much like a I don’t want to get my parents involved.
00:55:39:19 – 00:55:58:21
Agent Palmer
I think I can do this myself. And I tried, and I eventually lamented, and I was like, all right, I like yeah, I had the piece of paper, and I was like, mom, dad, I tried to take care of this situation by myself, but I’m not getting anywhere because my teacher was like, I’m not changing the grade.
00:55:58:21 – 00:56:22:23
Agent Palmer
And I was like, I don’t give a flying whatever about the grade. I I’m, I’m a little more concerned about somebody telling me, like, I’m not going to say they were anti-Semitic, but like, that’s kind of the way the comments were. They were veiled that way. And so my parents got involved, and of course, my parents went straight to the rabbi and they were like, hey, this is going on.
00:56:22:37 – 00:56:55:12
Agent Palmer
And now I was a little privileged in that my rabbi happened to be head of youth programs for the, one of the big, Reform Judaism youth organizations. So, like, he kind of knew about this program and he had added weight in this program. So, like, legitimately, like I take the thing to my parents, my parents tell the rabbi, like the next week, maybe two weeks later, he’s in our house being like, how would you like to leave?
00:56:55:17 – 00:57:24:21
Agent Palmer
Wow. And that was in November. And my semester abroad started in February. So like, this was not like, planned. Yeah. And then obviously while I was over there. I was kids will be kids. I don’t know, it’s 15 with no, no real adult supervision in a foreign country. Like, I don’t know what to tell you. I, I have not been to that many clubs ever.
00:57:24:21 – 00:57:33:51
Agent Palmer
I’ve not been to that many bars ever. I’ve not probably had that much to drink ever. I got it all out in those four months.
00:57:34:06 – 00:57:40:20
Alyssa Labotz
Where did they drink the a rock or what is that? That kind of liquor. Is she flavored?
00:57:40:25 – 00:58:12:07
Agent Palmer
Oh, I don’t know. I just I just know we were drinking and like, we, we were dumb kids. We just drank whatever was there, like, we. And we didn’t go to, like, we went to a, we went to a bar, a Mexican themed bar called Taco Taco that was bartended by a Canadian bartender. Like. Who we got to know who would tell us if one of the like, you know, Chaperons for the trip was nearby?
00:58:12:11 – 00:58:21:02
Agent Palmer
Well, we had a separate room in the back for us. It was bad. And so that’s how I started drinking coffee. Kids, it’s.
00:58:21:07 – 00:58:30:09
Alyssa Labotz
Well, that’s the way more interesting than my story of I don’t know. So.
00:58:30:14 – 00:58:35:32
Agent Palmer
It’s like not everybody’s going to have a grand story about how they started drinking coffee.
00:58:35:36 – 00:58:39:37
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah, well, at least you have one.
00:58:39:42 – 00:59:01:44
Agent Palmer
But I mean, this this, you know, I, I guess I, I, I will say, I have ebbed and flowed like I used to drink it. Very sweet. And then when you talk about, listening to your body, I switched to maple sirup instead of processed sugar like raw maple sirup. And I don’t nearly put in as much.
00:59:01:44 – 00:59:05:52
Agent Palmer
It’s it’s basically black with, like, a little sweetener now.
00:59:05:57 – 00:59:06:39
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
00:59:06:44 – 00:59:12:06
Agent Palmer
I feel like I’m getting closer and closer to it just being black every year. I go on.
00:59:12:06 – 00:59:12:46
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
00:59:12:51 – 00:59:15:39
Agent Palmer
That’s.
00:59:15:44 – 00:59:29:06
Alyssa Labotz
That’s what I. I’ll add milk, but I can’t, I don’t know sugar. And coffee is like to me. So yeah, I’ve never been like I never wanted those sweet Starbucks.
00:59:29:18 – 00:59:30:07
Agent Palmer
Oh no no no.
00:59:30:07 – 00:59:37:03
Alyssa Labotz
That’s the like, that’s. But even even, just like a spoonful of sugar in it is like too, too much for me.
00:59:37:07 – 00:59:53:42
Agent Palmer
Okay. Yeah, I, I don’t know, I, I’ll take it. Sweet. And I’ll get you your coffee. Black.
00:59:53:47 – 01:00:13:34
Agent Palmer
So let’s recap. After ten years as an entrepreneur, the pull of getting into a creative realm became more important to Alissa as time went on, and now, many years in, she still doesn’t feel comfortable, which is normal for all freelancers. She is working and getting paid to edit other people’s projects, such as Retro Days, which I’ll get to in a second.
01:00:13:39 – 01:00:36:30
Agent Palmer
And she needs to. And since our conversation has found more time for her own projects, the takeaway here is that you get to determine your values and your needs. And if that’s pivoting from a successful decade old business, you started into a realm of sleepless nights and early mornings. That’s no one’s concern but your own. Everyone is always willing to tell you.
01:00:36:30 – 01:00:59:24
Agent Palmer
Do what makes you happy until it’s counter to what they thought. Who cares? I applaud Alyssa’s decision. I wish I could say I ended up here on my own terms as a freelancer myself, but I was more or less forced here and I’m happy to remain here. But Alyssa chose to go a different path than the one she was on, and that’s to be celebrated now.
01:00:59:24 – 01:01:18:21
Agent Palmer
One of her projects is as editor for the Retro Days YouTube channel. If you’re a regular listener, you may remember I’ve had Jon Reddick and James Gaddis on who you’ve seen on camera, as well as Tony Rapinoe, who’s been on twice. Retro days is a comfort food, and that’s why I sort of collected the crew on all sides of the camera.
01:01:18:25 – 01:01:39:35
Agent Palmer
Check them out, because we could all use some comfort these days and be more like Alyssa. Choose your own path and let me know what you get up to. Thanks for listening to The Palmer Files episode 144. And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays. If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion.
01:01:39:48 – 01:02:04:27
Agent Palmer
You can find all related ways to contact my guest, Alyssa and myself in the show notes. You can visit Alyssa’s website Labotz media.com. That’s lab.media.com, or you can see her travel videos on YouTube at roaming with Alyssa. You can also check out her work on Retro Days at youtube.com. Slash retro days. That’s retro. Daze. The music for this episode was provided by Henno
01:02:04:40 – 01:02:23:34
Agent Palmer
Heitur. Email can be sent to this show at The Palmer Files at gmail.com. And remember, you’re home for all things. Agent Palmer is Agent Palmer, dot com.
01:02:23:39 – 01:02:31:35
Unknown
You.
01:02:31:40 – 01:02:49:36
Unknown
See?
01:02:49:41 – 01:02:54:04
Unknown
Me?
01:02:54:09 – 01:03:00:39
Agent Palmer
She’s all right. Alyssa, do you have one final question for me?
01:03:00:52 – 01:03:14:57
Alyssa Labotz
Yes. So you’re from Pennsylvania? Yep. You’re wearing a Dodger shirt. I am so what do you like about an LA team?
01:03:15:02 – 01:03:40:15
Agent Palmer
Simply put, they beat the Yankees. Oh. I don’t like the. I’m an Orioles fan, really? But, like, I don’t like the Yankees. But the reason I have a Dodgers shirt, as well as a few Dodgers jerseys, is because I became a Dodger fan while my first job out of college was, working retail unloading trucks from like, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m..
01:03:40:20 – 01:04:04:49
Agent Palmer
And if you’re a baseball fan and it’s 10:00 Eastern Standard Time, you have to watch a West Coast team. There’s nothing like you can’t not like like all the baseball on this coast is done every time I get out of work. And so, at the time, Vin Scully was still the voice of the Dodgers, and, he always told the best stories.
01:04:05:03 – 01:04:32:53
Agent Palmer
And so I kind of became a Vin fan. And since he was doing Dodger games, I became a Dodger fan. And, you know, up until the last three years, the Orioles have been absolutely horrible. So, like, if I want to root for I like to think the Dodgers are my my NL team. So I at least have a a slightly winning team on occasion that I can follow.
01:04:32:58 – 01:04:37:15
Agent Palmer
And it, it, it gets me into trouble, which is always fun.
01:04:37:20 – 01:04:38:19
Alyssa Labotz
Well, that is fun.
01:04:38:19 – 01:04:56:15
Agent Palmer
Also, this is a Sean Green, Dodger jersey. Sean Green being one of the first, like really, like everyday players in my era that was Jewish. And so it was like, like a nice little nod.
01:04:56:20 – 01:04:57:20
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
01:04:57:25 – 01:05:08:19
Agent Palmer
To him, even though, like, it’s fine. I’m that’s why I, I enjoy West Coast baseball because it gives me something to watch late at night.
01:05:08:24 – 01:05:11:41
Alyssa Labotz
Okay, well, that’s a good reason. Yeah, I know.
01:05:11:46 – 01:05:12:22
Agent Palmer
Are you a part.
01:05:12:22 – 01:05:17:06
Alyssa Labotz
Of the Orioles, the, the Pennsylvania team or not? Because I’m.
01:05:17:12 – 01:05:29:26
Agent Palmer
No, no, no, no, the Orioles are in Baltimore. Oh, and that’s where my father comes from. And fandoms are passed down that way. So late. So, wait, no sports at all?
01:05:29:31 – 01:05:42:38
Alyssa Labotz
No. And my dad was never into sports. He, like, likes surfing and skateboarding and not into sports. You know, I think he played Little league. I mean, surfing and.
01:05:42:38 – 01:05:45:14
Agent Palmer
Skateboarding are sports.
01:05:45:18 – 01:05:54:51
Alyssa Labotz
I know what I mean. Sport teams. Okay. So we know I never grew up around like watching games of any kind. I have no interest myself.
01:05:54:56 – 01:06:01:57
Agent Palmer
Okay. But but given your age. Yeah. Did you do any did you do youth soccer at least?
01:06:02:02 – 01:06:06:55
Alyssa Labotz
No. Okay I did I did tap in ballet and that was it.
01:06:06:57 – 01:06:07:44
Agent Palmer
Really?
01:06:07:49 – 01:06:08:12
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
01:06:08:14 – 01:06:10:15
Agent Palmer
Did you, did you enjoy it?
01:06:10:20 – 01:06:10:56
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
01:06:11:01 – 01:06:11:30
Agent Palmer
Okay. Yeah.
01:06:11:30 – 01:06:16:20
Alyssa Labotz
And I actually started up ballet again a couple years ago. So. Yeah.
01:06:16:20 – 01:06:17:15
Agent Palmer
For like.
01:06:17:15 – 01:06:18:15
Alyssa Labotz
I love it.
01:06:18:20 – 01:06:22:09
Agent Palmer
What. Why do you start up again?
01:06:22:14 – 01:06:47:32
Alyssa Labotz
Well, okay. So I broke my ankle in taekwondo. That was the first sporty thing I’ve ever done is taekwondo. I broke my ankle, and I can go back to it and, ballet. All the pointing and flexing and to use and plays. It really helped my ankle. And when I was a kid, I thought it was like, boring and slow.
01:06:47:37 – 01:06:51:09
Alyssa Labotz
But now as an adult, I’m like, oh, I love it so much.
01:06:51:13 – 01:07:04:17
Agent Palmer
Is this is like, I this is going to be like, my ignorance, but like, is this, is this a better I, is this more fun than yoga would be? I don’t, you know, I’m just I’m spinning all year because I.
01:07:04:17 – 01:07:09:19
Alyssa Labotz
Don’t know yoga for a long time, but I like yeah, I don’t know, I like it.
01:07:09:19 – 01:07:10:38
Agent Palmer
Better. Okay.
01:07:10:43 – 01:07:25:41
Alyssa Labotz
I like, I have, like, all my fun leotards and like, I like even though I do it at home because I’m subscribed to an online studio, even though it’s at home. I like, wear my ballet outfit and I have a bar and I like the classical music.
01:07:25:50 – 01:07:28:10
Agent Palmer
But you even you have a bar at home.
01:07:28:15 – 01:07:28:40
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
01:07:28:49 – 01:07:31:56
Agent Palmer
Okay. So you’re in now. You’re you’re back.
01:07:32:04 – 01:07:33:11
Alyssa Labotz
Committed.
01:07:33:16 – 01:07:35:22
Agent Palmer
What do you do when you travel then?
01:07:35:27 – 01:07:36:38
Alyssa Labotz
Well, I just do.
01:07:36:40 – 01:07:37:56
Agent Palmer
You can’t take the bar with me.
01:07:37:56 – 01:07:44:21
Alyssa Labotz
Okay? I know I find a chair to hold on to or something. Okay. Or center work. You don’t need a bar for it.
01:07:44:23 – 01:07:48:30
Agent Palmer
Does this has it helped your mental health?
01:07:48:34 – 01:08:11:44
Alyssa Labotz
Well, I think exercise by any form for me. Like, I get, it’s like a good anxiety reliever and I get almost, like, obsessive about exercise sometimes. So. Well, I don’t know. I mean, maybe that makes it worse because then I become like, then I get anxiety. I’m like, I didn’t exercise today. Oh, I can’t say it’s fine.
01:08:11:44 – 01:08:13:36
Alyssa Labotz
I’m like, oh, okay.
01:08:13:36 – 01:08:36:23
Agent Palmer
So let me ask you a hypothetical. If you get sick for some reason, like you have a 24 hour bug and you can’t work, do you get hard on yourself for that too? Like, are you as hard even regardless of the circumstances? Like, are you just hard on yourself when you miss work as you are? When you miss a workout?
01:08:36:28 – 01:08:56:08
Alyssa Labotz
No. I’ve had I used to get more paranoid about like missing a workout. Now I like it. I force myself sometimes. Not to because I don’t want to get stuck in that mode. Like I don’t want to turn it into like a weird problem where I’m like, I got exercise all the time. And so I, I like I’ll force myself not.
01:08:56:08 – 01:09:03:14
Alyssa Labotz
And I just tried ankle surgery again like a couple months or last month. So, I’ve done what was that? What?
01:09:03:19 – 01:09:03:49
Agent Palmer
That wasn’t.
01:09:03:50 – 01:09:22:23
Alyssa Labotz
I cuando that was to fix that. Well, no. Okay. The break healed, but I got my screws taken out. Okay. And then they cleaned up tissue and it’s like it’s been a while, but it’s, not healing. Right? So I’ve been off it way longer than I planned.
01:09:22:30 – 01:09:26:33
Agent Palmer
Oh, yeah. Well, I hope I hope it gets better.
01:09:26:38 – 01:09:35:26
Alyssa Labotz
Thanks. And and it kind of forced me to like, cool it on the workout. So I guess you know, to look for the silver lining in that.
01:09:35:30 – 01:09:39:54
Agent Palmer
I mean, as if you can find a silver lining. Yeah. All the better.
01:09:39:58 – 01:09:40:18
Alyssa Labotz
Yeah.
–End Transcription–
This transcription was processed by PalmerTech 3.1 and may contain errors for HUMINT (human intelligence).