Welcome to Great Job Nat! 🍾🍾🍾
A sometimes-comedic, always-philosophical newsletter & podcast where we go on a journey to discover what it means to truly do a Great Job.™
If there’s one thing we all know, it’s that no one knows anything.
Life used to be so SIMPLE, didn’t it? You were born a baby. You went to school. You went to college. You got a job. You bought a house. You had a spouse. You had a baby. Your baby had a baby. Then, you died. WOW. Imagine. What a full life. Great job!
But now? Today? Ha, ha! Ahhh, hahah… what does it even mean to live a valuable life? You can’t just do school-college-job-house! Where are the houses? Where are the jobs? Where is your decency? You must consider the WHOLE WIDE WORLD in your daily decisions. Otherwise, everything’s going to hell in a handbasket baybee! Isn’t it?
NO! At least, I don’t think so. Hi, I’m Natalie “Great Job Nat” Badillo and I’m an expert at what it means to do a Great Job™. At least, I will be. And so will you. We’ll figure it out together. Week by week, in our little Substack community.
EVERY WEEK:
For FREE subscribers:
A newsletter every Sunday (A weekly essay + 5 Favorite Things Right Now At This Exact Moment™)
50% of podcast episodes (Starting in May)
For PAID subscribers:
A newsletter every Sunday
The Humpday Pickup (A dose of inspiration in the form of a link/writing prompt/other inspiring thing, sent out every Wednesday.)
A monthly advice column (“Dear Great Job”)
100% of podcast episodes! (Starting in May)
who the eff am I?
I’m Nat. I’m a screenwriter, cartoonist for The New Yorker, stand up comic, and one-woman-showman with a five-star show called Cake & Violence.
I’m a Bay-Area-Californian who grew up in a big ol Mexican-American family and I’m a former Stanford University soccer player who’s won a National Championship.
[ INSERT RAUCOUS APPLAUSE ]
Jk that’s not a brag, that’s a regret, because HOLY SHIT! Who knew that a life of really competitive sports could cause a sense of deep-seated emotional trauma that makes every day post-retirement feel like an unfulfilled opportunity to win at some invisible game? Hahaha ahhh…
I’ve already tried too many different ways to live a “valuable existence.” To BE a GREAT JOB. (Whatever that means.) I won that soccer thing. I majored in mechanical engineering. I ran a footwear company by conning Bloomingdales into lending me brand-name shoes (long story). I designed apps for tech companies, delivered groceries for Instacart (this undoes the earlier brags), and somehow finagled a job in the New York state government as a “digital consultant” (a job that turned out to be 90% sitting in a cubicle struggling to open packs of dry-erase pens, but I digress).
I’ve since given in and devoted my life to writing stories, being weird on the internet, and performing live comedy. But is that ENOUGH? I’m more fulfilled than I was making money in the techosphere and YET—
None of the lives I’ve insofar lived have shown me a sustainable route to happiness, nor made me feel like I’m contributing to a happy future for all. I’m tired of competing, I’m tired of basing my self-worth on money and accomplishments, and I just want to know: How does one truly do a Great Job™?
There won’t be one answer. There will be many. And we will find them all.
why subscribe? because do it!
This newsletter is where I put everything that doesn’t fit in teensy social media squares. We’ll talk about everything from Jean-Michel Basquiat (genius!) to microwave mug cakes (are they gross?) to the news (but not too much) to gut health trends, etc. I’m all over the place, baybee.
For FREE subscribers:
A newsletter every Sunday!
For PAID subscribers:
Longer essays and interviews!
Bonus cartoons!
An advice-column-to-be (How to Do a Great Job™)
A PODCAST. (Starting in January)
I know what you’re thinking: For five bucks? A smorgasbord?! That’s right. Gimme them Lincolns, baybee.
Also, OTHER stuff:
Intermittent writing classes & community Zooms
Stay tuned for those, I always post updates on the ‘gram.
TL;DR - BE A GREAT JOHOBAS WITNESS
We can’t be a cult if we don’t have members, y’all. If you wanna help promo the newsletter out of the culty goodness of your little cult heart, bang my line by sending an email to nat@greatjobnat.com or DM me @greatjobnat on instagram and I’ll send you some fun little assets to spread the word of our lord, Great Johobas.
I also encourage you to comment on literally everything. Introduce yourselves, tell me what you like, tell me what you hate, jk be nice, actually no be honest. This is a conversation! We’re a friend group now and we’re SO cliquey 💅🏼
