Josh Of All Trades – Where It All Began

I’ve had a lot of different jobs in the past two decades. It’s a joke around the office that if someone needs something done, chances are I probably moonlighted in that profession at some point in my life.

Need your house painted? Done it. Looking for a new car? Yep, that too. Protecting the free world? Count it!

Of all my jobs, working at an advertising agency is by far my favorite, but each job has helped prepare me for my work at JP Marketing.

You know the old saying, “Jack of all trades, but master of none”? Well, I don’t like that saying. Instead, I’m changing my personal slogan to “Josh of all trades, and master of client services.”

At the end of the day, that’s exactly what being a jack-of-all-trades has made me.

How, you ask? Let’s start at the beginning with the first job I ever had.

I was 16 when I was hired as a busboy at Catalano’s restaurant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It doesn’t exist anymore, but trust me when I tell you that it was a swanky establishment.

My first lesson was in observation.

I had become a ninja of sorts, you see. Lurking in the background and never imposing on any meal but ensuring that guests were never short on water or bread. It was the subtle cues that customers would drop that were most important. Were they finished with their plates? Did they have a question? It was my job to decipher those codes in order to provide an excellent customer experience.

In the food service industry, you know that people are VERY particular when it comes to their food and experience at a restaurant. This is a lesson I learned quickly.  And no matter the experience, I learned to keep my cool, be understanding, and do whatever it takes to make the customer happy.

Working in the advertising industry is a little different, but I do have to be observant. For my clients, this is their livelihood. For some, it’s like a child they have raised from day one. I understand that, and though sometimes we have to challenge our clients to do what’s best for them – at the end of the day my job is to make my client happy.

And I am a master of that.

Check back for more blogs about my escapades in the working world and how it helps me every day at JP.

– Joshua Ders, Senior Account Executive