Hello people of the internet! Yesterday I travelled all the way from Newport to London to “interview” to be on a certain “business” related TV show. So I thought I’d come on here and talk a little bit about it.
Spoiler alert: I didn’t make it through.
Applying for a certain show…
I’m not going to say what the show was as I dare say I signed some sort of confidentiality agreement, but you might be able to guess.
If I’m being really honest with myself, I think I partly applied for it as some form of validation? I sometimes have my doubts about my abilities to run a business - sometimes for good reason I guess - so I thought maybe if they wanted me on the show, then perhaps that would mean I must be doing ok? Maybe I don’t suck that much if someone wanted me.
Literally the very next day I had an email saying I could pick my time slot to come down to London for an interview.
“Shit, that was quick.”
Then the logistics actually hit me if I did manage to get onto the show. how would Rachel manage with the kids? What would happen with the business? How would I keep my mouth shut? We kinda knew it would be unrealistic for me to actually say yes to the show should I get the offer, so I spent the rest of the day wondering what to do.
Then they called. Asking if I still wanted to come down. Suddenly I had a little bit of a confidence boost.
“If they’re calling me they MUST actually like my application and want me, right?”
Despite the logistics, something told me to book the slot and just go for the interview. Just book a train and pop to London for a few hours. No biggie. After all, you never know what will happen if you follow your impulsive whims. Look at Teddy Eva Scents.
A very short trip to London
After a delayed train and a rushed taxi - fuck me Taxi’s in London are a rip off - I JUST about got to the studio in time. I went through all the bollocks and before I knew it me and 8 other people were sat in a semi circle saying who we were and where we come from.
Then we were given 30 seconds to say why we think we should be on the show.
Unfortunately, I did the whole “Ross” thing and spent 30 seconds shooting myself down.
Does anyone else struggle with self sabotage?
That’s all I did for 30 seconds is give them reasons why I’d be shit.
I literally started it by going “I donno if I’d be any good if I’m honest. I’m not the most professional or very business minded. I’m a bit weird and I kinda just follow what I fancy doing and apparently it’s being here doing this.”
It was 100% self sabotage.
I’m not sure if part of me knew the kids - and Rachel - would hate me being away so I just fucked it all up on purpose. Maybe I just hate bigging myself up. Or perhaps I just gave myself a built in excuse - if I don’t really try, then I can’t fail as hard and feel the rejection as much.
If I had the chance again I would try and sell myself better. Perhaps even just oversell myself. Just go with some shit like…
“I’m the perfect blend of entertainment and business. I know how content works and have organically grown to over 100,000 followers across all our social media accounts from creating highly amusing content. Then on top of that we’ve somehow managed to run a business that’s done X revenue in 4 years. And I bring the highest level of sex appeal that the show has ever seen.”
Last bit might be going too far, but still.
I know I’m a bellend and can come across as a twat, but I’m not arrogant and would rather put myself down than big myself up.
A bunch of the others sat there and talked about how they grew a business to X sales, or they talked about what they were good at, how good their idea was, and all that other shit. Then I just shat on myself. Typical Ross.
And that was it. They picked three people from the group and the rest were told “sorry, but that’s it.”
All that time applying, printing a few documents, making a CV for the first time in 10+ years, booking a train, travelling down, just to have 20 minutes and done. Not even a chance to sit down one on one.
I kinda have mixed emotions to be fair
On the one hand I feel stupid for going down and then just underselling myself. I mean what was the point if I was just going to half arse it anyway. Did I think that they actually read my CV and application, check out the TikTok, see the website, and then go “fuck me, this guy is gold.” - they probably didn’t read a thing and judge it all on that 30 seconds. After all, they probably see 1000s of people.
On the other hand I’m half glad I didn’t get in as I know the kids would hate it and I’d literally have to lie to everyone as to why I suddenly wasn’t going to be posting for a while. To be fair, if I said “prison” people would probably just say “makes sense.”
But yeah, I feel like a massive knobhead for taking roughly 7 hours out of my day JUST for a half-arsed 30 second experience.
Could’ve saved the hassle and just taken Rachel up stairs instead to be fair.
Maybe it’s jokes like that why they didn’t want me. Or maybe they did look at Teddy Eva Scents and just went “WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?”
So yeah, there’s Ross and his little day trip to London.
Maybe one day I’ll try again. Who knows.
Anything else?
See, even now I want to go “sorry for boring you.” I just can’t do it with much. I struggle going “you know what, this is genuinely good.”
I guess that’s why I know some of what we do is actually alright. Like our wax melts are alright like. On Saturday February 3rd Isabelle had her ballerina burner in her room and wanted to light “Swan Lake” - back when she poured Starry Night as it for her challenge, it’s now a different scent. And we STILL haven’t changed it.
We’ve put it on almost every single night for 1-3 hours. It’s been on now for probably 30+ hours and I can still smell it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s obviously not as strong, but it’s still there. And that’s one cube on a clamshell. No wonder some of you wait a few months between orders 😂
I guess when you have an unlimited supply of wax melts you don’t tend to worry about making them last.
Likewise with the new diffusers and room sprays, I’m proud of them. I think they look awesome. And that’s ok to say. I don’t have to shit on myself and say they suck. I can give myself a little pat on the back and say “Ross, you did good there mate,” and that’s ok.
Maybe we all need to give ourselves a pat on the back a little more often.
“I’m a really good parent.”
“I can make an awesome panna cotta.”
“I’m an excellent love machine.”
So here’s a shite challenge for all of you still reading. Drop something in the comments that you’re good at. Big yourself up. Don’t be scared.
Much love,
Ross & Rachel x
Jeez this is me all the time. One thing I’m good at ….. crochet. But if I'm complimented on it I’ll say, aw there’s probably a few mistakes it, knowing full well there’s not, as my ocd would make me rip it out and redo it if there were! I play down the effort and time it took. Constant self sabotage!
It takes a lot of balls to do what you have, which can be scary and the easiest thing to do with that is put yourself down about it. Somehow you manage to balance everything you do, and keep it so grounded at the same time! It’s amazing how you do it! Am gutted you didn’t get on said TV show, I’d have treated myself to a TV license to watch you!