Building My Career, One Titleless Job After Another

Entrepreneurship, cherry picking and my indecisive self.

If I told you all the jobs I had ever since I got out of college, you wouldn’t believe I’d end up here. Or that I’d end up anywhere, for that matter.

Brushing up on the topic, let me give you a glimpse of the path I’ve had so far. Not only is it not linear, it almost feels like every step was taken in a different dimension altogether. I’ve been drawn to the hospitality industry ever since I was 10 years old. Naturally, I decided to take Hotel and Restaurant Management as my diploma course. I became a baker and cake decorator after graduating then somehow jumped onto a cafe and barista life. So far, so good? I suppose so. Somehow, it still feels connected.

After that, I was recruited by my brother to head operations for his new venture, an organic and local producer of chai concentrates and led the Philippines’ chai awakening. It was a small company. How small? It was just the two of us at the first 2 years. Nobody knew that though, and since we made our own titles, he became CEO and I was VP for Operations. Funny, isn’t it? We thought so too and so I didn’t really take the title too seriously.

Since I wasn’t one to stay still in one place for a long time, I simultaneously grabbed an opportunity to lead a new cafe concept within a coworking space in Makati. All while being a VP at my brother’s company. It was hectic, but I loved it. I was applying the skills I learned from my previous cafe startup, adding in my business vision and had seemingly unlimited resources to make it happen. It was the perfect scenario.

That was almost the end of 2019. That makes it 2020 in a few months, doesn’t it? We all know what happened in 2020.

The pandemic hit all my plans for the cafe, resources were cut, construction was postponed and all else fell through. We all went through the phase of uncertainty, the lockdown and not knowing when or how we could pick it back up again.

Fortunately, the coworking space backing up the cafe plans called me back again. Not to work on the cafe this time, but to get involved in their core business. I literally had no idea how it worked. I had about 2 months to deeply immerse myself in the business and know everything I can about it. Not only that, we were saving the business from dying. Instability slashed the total employee count from about 50 (when I was working on the cafe concept, I think there were more than 50 people running around) to 10, including the founders and custodians and maintenance guys. We were dubbed as the rescue team.

I haven’t had a title since 4 paragraphs ago, did you notice? It’s because I didn’t have one. Until now, I don’t know what to call it. Was it Operations Manager? Was it Facilities Manager? Should it be called Floor Manager? Area Manager? I don’t know. As far as I’m concerned, it was Everything Manager. I had to know everything that’s happening on a daily basis, be prepared and make sure all the spaces (we had 4 buildings: 3 in Makati, 1 in Cebu) are ready for business.

A joke we always tell is if anyone happens to promise the Eiffel Tower to be there when a client arrives, I had to make sure it happens. My problems scale from a missing spoon all the way up to saving a building on fire. Everything was my problem.

It was like learning to fly a plane, while the plane is already on the air, writing the manual myself, all while carrying a cabin full of passengers who shouldn’t know there’s something wrong. Oh, I forgot about the best part, the plane was on fire. That’s how it felt like.

I’m not lying when I say it was exhausting. I wouldn’t lie to say I didn’t have so much fun either.

Although after all the stress, I wanted to do something unexpected and go somewhere nobody recognizes me. One major lockdown in August 2021 did it for me. I decided to move on. Since then I came to work on random part-time jobs. Living like a college student again, I was a barista for a few months. I did all sorts of things here and there. It was peaceful, but I missed playing the risky game.

A New Beginning

Aspect Prints came at a time when I was wildly dissatisfied with where I was, who I was and what I was doing with my life. A certain image kept creeping in my mind every night as I sleep.

The train is leaving…

I felt like I was stuck at the station for too long. I was too complacent, too deeply seated in my comfort zone and it’s about time to leave the station. The train is leaving!

I played with the idea for a while and found a word that stood out. Aspect. In the train world, aspect is a visual representation of a sign, much like how colors and shapes represent a certain action. Green for go, red for stop.

Getting on the shirts printing business just might be a sign for me to move forward. This is my green light so the train could finally leave.

What’s Your Job Title, Then?

Now? I don’t know. I don’t have one.

I simply go by being called a Yardmaster. Sounds dope, but it’s not exactly clear what it means. A yardmaster in a train station is basically the general manager, orchestrating all the movements in and out of the station.

As an entrepreneur fighting to build this brand, I am solely responsible for everything that goes in and around the business. So yes, I’m sticking with Yardmaster.

Don’t Ask for My Resume

It’s not that I despise resumes, but having to present my resume gives me a bit of a sense of fear. I have one, but all the jobs I’ve had didn’t require one. During a phase of my life when I believed that I need a job, I sent my resumes out, and got butchered right after. I suppose it’s because as I listed my previous work experiences, it just doesn’t make sense. And now I realize that those jobs aren’t the ones I’m exactly excited about anyway.

I loved the freedom of not having an exact scope of responsibilities, but having to constantly dig deep within and around me to find the skills and necessary to do whatever is needed of me. Resumes don’t reflect that, not in the slightest way.

Now, I’m doing things on my own and running a company however I want. I know for a fact never to trust a piece of paper with a list of previous work experiences and all the fancy job titles. It has never worked for me, and I’m no longer fazed by it.

Be you, be good and then prove it on the field.