Speaker 1: Wind down with Janet Kramer an I'm Heeart radio podcast.
Speaker 2: I want to introduce you to On the Job and
Speaker 2: host Avery Thompson. Avery shares stories of people making changes
Speaker 2: in their professional and personal lives. Whether it's a successful
Speaker 2: athlete transitioning into a new career off the field, a
Speaker 2: fly fishing tour guide trying to introduce a new segment
Speaker 2: of folks to the joys of the outdoors, or a
Speaker 2: stadium beer and hot dog hawker who doubles as a
Speaker 2: CEO of a red hot startup. We'll find out what
Speaker 2: drives them and what lies ahead. These are heartfelt stories
Speaker 2: of people finding their lives. Work on the Job is
Speaker 2: brought to you by Express Employment Professionals. This week, Avery
Speaker 2: talks to a two step and line dancing teacher in Texas.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to On the Job. Hope you all are
Speaker 3: loose and limber, because this week we're going to put
Speaker 3: on our dance and shoes and head down to Austin,
Speaker 3: Texas to talk with Vanessa Vaughan, who, as we'll hear,
Speaker 3: keeps the live music capital of the world, stepping to
Speaker 3: the beat on pretty much any night of the week.
Speaker 3: In Austin, Texas, you can find a dance floor full
Speaker 3: of people in cowboy boots twirling each other around to
Speaker 3: live music. The country dance scene, or two stepping as
Speaker 3: it's referred to in these parts is going strong, and
Speaker 3: a big reason for that is Vanessa Vaught.
Speaker 4: My name's Vanessa Vatt. I am the founder and lead
Speaker 4: dance instructor at Doublin Nothing two Step, and I currently
Speaker 4: live in South Austin, Texas.
Speaker 3: Well, Vanessa isn't the only person teaching Austin Knights how
Speaker 3: to boot scoot these days. In just two years, she's
Speaker 3: become one of the busiest and it really.
Speaker 4: Just took off quickly in a way that even immediately
Speaker 4: I was impressed with and was happy with what it
Speaker 4: has become. Now literally having thirty events on the books
Speaker 4: in the next few months is blowing my mind.
Speaker 3: Four nights a week, she's teaching social classes at some
Speaker 3: of the city's oldest surviving hockey talks.
Speaker 4: Dance is a language, so there are regional dialects throughout
Speaker 4: the South, specifically of this style of dance, and we
Speaker 4: dance a small space style that fits on our little
Speaker 4: dance floors here, and that's what we call honky tonk
Speaker 4: two step.
Speaker 3: Other nights she's teaching corporate events.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we work with a lot of the major corporations.
Speaker 4: I mean again, I never thought i'd have like Facebook, Meta, Apple,
Speaker 4: Bevo Schlektsilet recently hired us to come teach their cast
Speaker 4: and crew.
Speaker 2: That was incredible.
Speaker 4: HBO, like my inbox is always interesting, I have to say.
Speaker 3: And then there are the bachelorette parties.
Speaker 4: Which we do line dancing and it's silly, adorable fun.
Speaker 4: It's funny because we don't socially line dance in Austin.
Speaker 4: The two steples will just run you.
Speaker 3: Over whether we want to give credit to a post
Speaker 3: COVID desire to get back out amongst the people again,
Speaker 3: or the TV show Yellowstone or Beyonce's new album. The
Speaker 3: country scene is thriving these dates, and Austin, Texas and
Speaker 3: Vanessa Vought are right at its center.
Speaker 4: Well specifically, what's happening here is a massive live music scene,
Speaker 4: and just the opportunity to go out and see so
Speaker 4: much live music every week really has created a strong
Speaker 4: dance scene. There's tons of them, and it's very intimidating
Speaker 4: for a lot of people to come in and see that.
Speaker 4: But that's kind of where I step in and encourage
Speaker 4: them that everybody starts at the beginning, and it's just
Speaker 4: consistency over time, like anything else, repetition, muscle memory.
Speaker 3: Are you still excited about dancing?
Speaker 4: I'm always excited about dancing. It's always the thing I
Speaker 4: want to do the most. It really does change the
Speaker 4: way you feel. It just feels so good.
Speaker 3: Do you think you'll stick with this business for a while.
Speaker 4: I think about that a lot. I will definitely probably
Speaker 4: ride it into the ground.
Speaker 2: We'll see.
Speaker 4: But I also realize there's so much potential that I've
Speaker 4: yet to tap, and so I guess yes, I'm at
Speaker 4: a bit of a point where I'm just trying to
Speaker 4: figure out what path to take, and also to remind
Speaker 4: myself that it doesn't have to be perfect, and just
Speaker 4: allowing myself to kind of play a little more with
Speaker 4: ideas that I have versus feeling like I constantly need
Speaker 4: to be booking events and going and working them.
Speaker 3: No matter how good of a dancer you are, there's
Speaker 3: always room for improvement, and the same holds true in business.
Speaker 3: So this year, despite all her success, Vanessa's really trying
Speaker 3: to create more of an online presence to reach all
Speaker 3: those people out there who might be interested in dancing,
Speaker 3: whether they be near or far. Could you have ever
Speaker 3: foreseen being where you're at now?
Speaker 4: Not even remotely.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 4: I was in freefall during the pandemic, absolute freefall. I
Speaker 4: was borrowing money from my sister to pay rent. I
Speaker 4: was looking in my couch cushions for enough money to
Speaker 4: get a five dollars bill to get into the bar
Speaker 4: to go dance. I was in absolute freefall. So could
Speaker 4: I have foreseen this?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: So if you want to learn how to two step,
Speaker 3: come join us down here for on the job. I'm
Speaker 3: Averrey Thompson.
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