Not long ago, I reached out to a freelancer friend to ask for an agency recruiter email address but they refused to share it with me. They apologized politely and told me that I was “the competition,” therefore couldn’t oblige. 

I completely understand this mindset, but I don’t agree with it.

My philosophy is, there’s more to be gained by a collaborative, community-based approach, where freelancers openly share contacts and references. I routinely share my contacts with other freelancers and I benefit when they return the favor. 

Not only that, when I’m contacted by an agency recruiter while I’m already booked on a gig, I always provide them with a list of names of other freelancers. And I know those freelancers will do the same.

Then, recently something happened. Another friend of mine shared a comprehensive Google doc containing dozens of agency recruiter emails, built up by a community of freelancers. It expanded my contact list by 10x and I was pretty stoked.

Now, I’m not a vindictive person, but I must admit I was very tempted to refuse to share this list with the freelancer friend who refused to share that single contact with me. 

I think my natural reaction illustrates a principle… we are hardwired to mirror the actions taken toward us. When someone is nice to us, we tend to be nice back. When we are treated poorly we become vindictive. It may not be right but we can’t help it.

So, in an effort to contradict my own human nature, and show a gesture of goodwill, I shared the list with my freelancer friend. I have not yet heard back.

Generosity can only be a good thing. Closing myself off from others only hurts me. If I make myself an island, I might end up as a castaway.

.......

Career Featured Freelance Leadership

2:44 PM

I’m fascinated by the aging process. As I’ve grown older, I’ve grown wiser. However, I’m discovering that, culturally, my growth is much slower. My tastes seem to remain locked in time, like an ancient mosquito imprisoned in amber. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I suspect it’s affecting my creative judgement.

The other day I found myself recoiling at a popular music track that had a couple hundred million views on YouTube. I shook my head and wondered how young people could listen to such derivative, unimaginative noise. And then it hit me… I sound like an old man. Like the ones I heard railing against my generation when I was younger.

It got me thinking.

Apple’s “1984” TV commercial is considered the best ad of all time. However, it would likely be received with yawns if it ran on TV in 2016 for the first time. That’s because an ad dramatizing a dystopian future in which a specific product is the cure has since been done to death. And yet marketing departments are still studying and imitating old ads and old formulas.

Should senior advertising executives retire earlier in their careers and hand over the reigns to someone younger before they become anchors in their companies? It’s a good question.

Over the years, I’ve had many advertising clients in their 40’s and 50’s who were painfully out of touch. Now I’m realizing that I’m not immune from that disease and it’s given me more perspective.

I’m only in my mid forties, but if I’m honest, I have to admit that I’m more and more out of touch with popular culture. The culture I’m appealing to every day.

So how can we possibly stay current as we age? I don’t know. It’s a vicious treadmill. And the speed setting is currently up around 9.5.

I think the answer is this: as senior advertising executives age they must be more self-aware and question their creative judgement more often. And trust younger execs who are more in tune with the core audience. That kind of approach is a true sign of maturity and humility.

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Career Leadership

11:26 AM

Leadership can be challenging. Among other things, it takes confidence. Nobody wants to follow a weak, apprehensive leader. Therefore you must project confidence in order to inspire others to follow you. But there isn’t a pill that you can just pop and instantly become confident. So most people fake it. 

You might have ascended the corporate ladder and been placed in charge of other people through your intelligence, charisma, charm, enthusiasm, hard work or some other way. But, no matter what, you must have confidence.

Most leaders, in their effort to show confidence, become very unsavory. If you lead people, take this evaluation to see if you have true confidence or just arrogance masquerading as confidence. 

1. Do you refuse to admit error?

Let’s face it, no human being is immune to this character flaw. We all hate to admit we’re wrong. We erroneously assume that admission of error is a sign of weakness. But it’s not. It shows other people that you can be truthful with yourself, which instills greater trust in your followers. We all know that nobody knows everything, and nobody bats a thousand. Sometimes we strike out. If you refuse to admit error, stop pretending. We’re not buying it. Just say, “I messed up on that one.” Then correct course. That will earn heaps of respect from everyone.

2. Do you refuse to accept criticism?

You can spot an insecure person by how defensive they get when they are critiqued or criticized. Especially if they are immediately defensive. A person who is self-aware will listen to criticism and internalize it before responding. They do so because they seek self-improvement and allow themselves a moment to consider whether or not the criticism is valid. We are not always right. And we don’t always see the flaws others can see. If this is you, start welcoming criticism. True leaders not only welcome it, but they invite it. 

3. Do you ever ask for input? 

A person who never asks for advice is a pathetic soul indeed. We all need input. It’s impossible to have effective output without quality input. Transfer of information must be a two way street. No matter what your level of achievement, there’s always something more to learn. Plus, our subordinates often have genius thoughts and ideas they hesitate to share, perhaps out of their own insecurity. If you simply say, “What do you think?” you can coax those ideas out of them and potentially revel in the genius together. Or even inspire additional ideas.

4. Do you order people or ask them?

Some people love to exercise their authority. They love to command and control. But true leaders prefer to inspire and empower. They request instead of demand. It's been said that Andrew Carnegie, the famous tycoon and philanthropist, always asked people to do this or that task. He’d say, “Do you think you could take this on?” or “How do you feel about performing this task?” The magic in this approach is that people are far more likely to work harder if they feel apart of the decision instead of subjected to it. It’s just simple psychology. 

5. Do you swagger?

Swagger never invokes the awe and respect that swaggerers believe it does. Their refusal to make eye contact, their refusal to acknowledge other people in the halls, their obsession with appearances, and their slow, meandering stride—as if they’re unburdened by responsibility of any kind. Then there’s their condescending remarks and their dismissal of input or ideas. You know what I mean. The only thing missing is the stench. This is a true sign of insecurity. Truly confident people don’t need a facade. They’re comfortable in their own skin.

6. Do you love flattery?

Everyone blushes when they’re complimented, but most people tend to get uncomfortable when it’s excessive. But not arrogant people. They can’t get enough. In fact, they often surround themselves with brown-nosers. Contrarily, leaders with true confidence care little for flattery. It offends their sense of humility. They’d rather shine a light on their mission or their team instead of themselves. 

7. Do you have compassion?

The aforementioned character traits are bad enough, but leaders who project an emotionless, robotic image can invoke the icy chill of post-war Stalinist Russia. That is not an environment that inspires people to do their best work. It’s an environment that inspires people to search for a new job. Next time you have to ask someone to work late or take on an uncomfortable task, show compassion and sensitivity. Feel bad about it. Maybe roll up your sleeves and help. And when your subordinates deliver for you, reward their loyalty and dedication with something special. A bonus, a free lunch, a shoutout, whatever. Compassion and appreciation goes a long way.

I’m sure there are additional signs that you are mistaking your arrogance for confidence. But seven feels like a nice number.

If you lead people, avoid the perils of the above points. To be confident you don’t have to be pompous and prickly. Build true confidence through belief. When your beliefs are founded on truths, you’ll have natural confidence. But have the humility to accept new information and grow. The more you learn—while staying honest, humble and compassionate—the more truly confident you’ll become. And the more people will gladly traverse mountains for you.

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Career Featured Leadership

11:02 AM

It’s very well known that daring to do great things makes us uncomfortable. Which is why the vast majority of people never do anything great in their careers or their personal lives. If we can’t embrace the nausea we feel when taking risks, we shouldn’t expect great things to happen.

One of my techniques for overcoming internal resistance to risk is to imagine myself as an old man on my death bed. In that moment, realizing that I always played it safe would be far more stomach churning than any single risk I could take now. 

To inspire you to take a giant leap, I’ve compiled 15 powerful quotes. Enjoy. And dare to do something great before it’s too late.

“Courage is really about choosing what’s right over what’s easy. Practicing your values, not just professing them. And choosing to be brave over being comfortable.”

-Brené Brown

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

-Nelson Mandela

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

-Muhammad Ali

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

-Winston Churchill

“What is the difference between a hero and a coward? . . . No difference . . . They both feel the same . . . the hero is more disciplined and he fights those feelings off and he does what he has to do.”

-Cus D’Amato

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

-T.S. Eliot

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

“I think any time people behave in a way that's truly them, then they'll never fail. You get in trouble when you try to copy others.”

-Gabrielle Reece

“You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.”

-Aristotle

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.”

-Michael Jordan

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

-Thomas Edison

“I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

-Rosa Parks

“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”

-Napoleon Hill

“Success is 99 percent failure.”

-Soichiro Honda

“You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.”

-Mary Pickford

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Career Leadership

3:15 PM

Technically, a stigma is a mark of shame or disgrace. It gets applied to a person—often unfairly—and is not easily removed. 

Avoiding a stigma is like walking through a minefield. In our hurried age, people make shallow judgements about you based on stereotypes, personality, title, age, even wardrobe. Then they lump you into a category. This can all happen in an instant. 

It’s mostly a result of laziness. It’s taxing on our brains to actually get to know someone thoroughly and discover their hidden talents before forming an opinion about them.

Here are three common stigmas and how to overcome them:

The “in-house” stigma.

In ad agencies, there’s the in-house stigma. Like an in-house photographer or in-house editor. These individuals are generally viewed as not being as ambitious because they don’t work at an independent, cutting edge studio or production facility. Therefore they are assumed to be not as good. This is true sometimes but not always. Either way, it’s a powerful stigma that is unlikely to change. To overcome it: Try looking outside your day job to help establish a better reputation. Take on personal projects in the evenings and weekends and make something great. Or quit your job and seek out a hot, independent company.

The “wallflower” stigma.

Not everyone is a hilarious stand up comedian or life of the party. Some of us are quiet and shy. Which means we are frequently disregarded. People aren't comfortable around us and they avoid conversations. This is all despite the fact that many of the greatest artists and craftsman are socially awkward wallflowers. To overcome it: Learn to start conversations. Read more. Read the newspaper. Read books. Have an opinion and express it. Help your career by being more outgoing and sociable. I’ve had the tendency to be a wallflower but I’ve forced myself to be more outgoing and engaging over the years. And I’m glad I did.

The “uncool” stigma. 

The uncool stigma is probably the most shallow and offensive of all. Your wardrobe, manner of speech and social presence can sometimes determine whether you sink or swim. Personally, I applaud people who refuse to change who they are just to appease the cool police. However, if you feel that you’ve been stuck with the uncool stigma and want to remove it, you can. To overcome it: Use your talents. Do some risky and original work. Make it truly great. Then make sure people see it. It will supplant the uncool stigma over your head. Or you could simply develop a new sense of style. Change your wardrobe and image. It hate to admit it but this has worked for some people. They went from frumpy to hip and everyone seemed to view them (and their work) differently. Just like what happens on that TV show, “What Not To Wear.”

Stigmas are a painful reality. They affect how people view your work. If your raw creative output was the only criteria for judging your work, the world would be a better place. But that’s a pipe dream. Don’t waste time waiting for human nature to change. Refuse to be stigmatized. 

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Career

11:12 AM

What does your physical presence in a room of people say about you? The way you carry yourself, the way you speak, your volume level, your amount of eye contact, your wardrobe, your facial expression, everything.

I’ve been around a lot of people in my career and I’ve always been impressed by people who have an instant presence when they walk into a room. And then they impress even more when they speak.

The advertising industry attracts extreme personalities. Bubbly extroverts, gloomy introverts, arrogant people, shy people, brash and pushy people, and a host of others. There are people who dress like hipsters and people who dress like the janitorial staff. There are smilers, frowners, arguers, whisperers, shouters, jokesters, laughers and painfully awkward people. 

All of these character attributes affect our work. They can hold us back or propel us upward. So when you walk into a room, what’s your presence? When you speak and interact with others, what signals are you sending?

I’ve given this a lot of thought over the years and I’ve taken a lot of mental notes. The things that give people a powerful presence are actually amazingly simple. There’s no voodoo or mystery at all. 

Here is a shortlist of things that I believe make a huge impact on our personal and professional lives. They might seem obvious but, shockingly, most people don’t follow them.

1. Smile. This is one of the most effective weapons in our arsenal. A genuine smile is disarming and friendly. Any tension in the air will immediately dissipate. Plus it’s infectious. It literally compels others to smile back at you. Conversely, a scowl or straight face repels people. It makes them not want to hang out with you after work, because you are presumably a boring or rigid person.

2. Give a firm handshake. It goes without saying, but a firm handshake implies confidence and dependability. To clients it shows you aren’t a pushover. On the flip side, a limp, squishy handshake implies timidity and insecurity. So don’t be afraid to squeeze.

3. Keep good eye contact. It’s easier to do this when you’re listening to someone speak but doing it when you are speaking is powerful. It communicates intensity and conviction. Practice it on your spouse, your friends, your dog, a wall. It’s even more powerful with fewer blinks. One of my good friends uses laser-focused eye contact while he’s speaking and it elevates everything he says. I believe he really means what he says.

4. Give the gift of validation by nodding while others are speaking. It doesn’t necessarily mean you agree, it means you are giving them your full attention and you understand what they are saying. Try this game: next time you’re in a conference room full of people, give validating head nods to the speaker. You will find that their eyes eventually settle on you more than others. This is because you’re giving them what they need: validation. And, surprisingly, I’ve found that it makes it easier to make a rebuttal. Perhaps because they truly feel you heard them thoroughly. After all, most people (especially clients) just want to be heard.

5. Learn the art of small talk. This one didn’t come easy to me. I’ve been shy since childhood. But I’ve learned the power of casual conversation. The key is having something to talk about and there are only three things: (1) Yourself, (2) the other person and (3) topical subjects. It’s easy to talk about yourself but it’s better to get the other person talking about himself/herself. However, the best thing you can do is listen to news radio or read the newspaper (or the online equivalent.) It makes you informed and gives you something to talk about. 

There are many more things you can do, but these five will give your life and career a big boost. If I were to add one more, I would say increase your volume. Many people (including myself) are soft talkers and sometimes get drowned out or interrupted. 

Lastly, the above principles are ultimately only effective if you have something relevant and valuable to contribute. Otherwise, it’s all for nothing. 

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Career

9:27 AM

Probably every art director working in advertising right now has asked himself/herself, “Why didn’t I choose to be a writer instead?”

As an art director, I’ve probably spent most of my career comping. And most of that time has been spent looking for images. It’s a sad reality and one of the reasons that I’ve become disillusioned with advertising over the years. 

Presentations have increasingly relied upon amazing layouts to dazzle clients. In my early years in the business (in the mid-nineties), it was still acceptable to present sketched comps to clients. This was great because everyone’s attention would be focused on the idea itself. It was impossible to trick any client into buying a weak idea that was obscured by beautiful eye candy.

Nowadays, if you walk into a meeting with simple sketched ideas, the reception is likely to be flat. Everyone expects finished-looking comps.

It’s only natural to try to find someone to blame for this trend. But if you ask me, we art directors can only blame ourselves. 

As highly visual people, we understood the power of beautiful visuals and we used them to gain an advantage. We discovered that our visual powers of persuasion even worked on seasoned creative directors who should have been able to see past pretty pictures, but were swayed anyway. We competitively out-comped the other art directors when multiple teams were assigned to the same project. We stayed up later and later to craft our layouts. And it worked. Our work stood out.

But look where we are now. Everyone expects luscious, high-res comps and incredible graphic design. If we have three days to develop ideas for a creative brief, we spend one day concepting and two days comping. We spend less time brainstorming ideas and more time scouring the web for great images. This has led to weaker (but prettier) ads.

I don’t think we can put the genie back into the bottle. What’s done is done. We can only look forward. The future lies in ad agencies building studios full of young graphic designers that specialize in making stuff pretty, so art directors can spend their time directing not designing. This is how it’s typically done at agencies in London. And at certain agencies like Wieden+Kennedy (or so I hear).

I do think it’s a valuable skill to be able to craft beautiful stuff. It’s empowering. But it doesn’t make bad ideas better. Sometimes it’s only a façade that hides shallow work.

I would love to see creative directors try something refreshing. Instead of expecting highly produced comps when reviewing ideas internally, CD’s should demand to see only sketched comps. It’s a true test of the power of an idea. The make-up and lipstick can come later.

I’d also love to see agencies remake their studios by filling them with young, talented graphic designers who are dedicated to comping. Perhaps treat it as a bootcamp for newbies, who eventually transition out of it and become fully-fledged art directors (knowing that it’s not very rewarding to spend your time “wristing” other people’s ideas, so nobody wants to do it for very long.)

Things won’t really change until CD’s start demanding changes. Demanding that their art directors spend more time concepting with their writer partners. Demanding more emphasis on raw ideas. Demanding that they stop using beautiful layouts as a crutch.

If you’re a young art director in school and you also happen to be a decent writer, you might consider switching to being a copywriter. You’ll have more of a life. You’ll go home from work earlier. You’ll get more time with your wife and family. You’ll get more sleep.

On the other hand, as an art director, you’re kind of a one man/woman band. Often I’ve worked alone because my writer partner was on vacation or unavailable. And I managed pretty well, since I was able to use my design skills to bring ideas to life singlehandedly. 

Whichever way you look at it, I believe art directors are the hardest working people in advertising. That is, if you measure it by perspiration instead of inspiration. Too bad the majority of ideas never see the light of day. That’s a lot of man hours spent making beautiful clay pigeons. 

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Career Perception

6:36 AM

The world is full of ignorant people. We despise them. We’re embarrassed by them. We sigh and shake our heads because they give humanity a bad name. Then we thank God we’re not one of them. 

Right? 

Actually, there’s a good chance you are ignorant as well. In fact, a one hundred percent chance. If you stop to think about it, we are all ignorant in some respect. 

Nobody—absolutely nobody—knows everything. It’s impossible. Not if you had a hundred lifetimes. So why are there so many know-it-alls? Why are there so many “infallible” people? Do they really think they’re smarter or better?

There are two kinds of people:

1. Those who don’t know it all but pretend to.

2. Those who don’t know it all and admit it.

Between the two, the people in category number two have greater potential in life. Here’s why.

Both categories of people can hunger for knowledge. Both can stay up on the news, read books, have meaningful discussions and debates. But the people in category two have humility, which turns out to be the special sauce that enables greater potential. 

Humble people openly admit error. They aren’t afraid to say, “Huh, I didn’t know that.” They’re more likely to abandon their preconceived notions. They’re less biased. They’re more teachable. And therefore more situated for personal growth.

They’re also more willing to take risks and make mistakes, which is critical for success. Soichiro Honda said, “Success is 99% failure.” Are you willing to fail to achieve success?

These people view life as a never-ending journey of personal growth and achievement. They acknowledge their own ignorance, take aim and destroy it. 

Conversely, “know-it-alls” find it extremely painful to acknowledge their shortcomings. Perhaps they’ve spent years accumulating a treasure chest of knowledge or academic achievements. Perhaps they’ve garnered admiration and praise from parents, family, colleagues and associates. So admitting ignorance or incompetence in any way exposes a weakness they’d rather not admit: that they might be wrong. Their reputation just can’t take the hit.

They are particularly disdainful of less intelligent, less accomplished or uncredentialed people. So they disregard them completely.

Take for instance, a folk remedy for a health ailment. Often know-it-alls will disregard it, because it’s unendorsed by the scientific community. They’ve embraced an established system that refuses to even investigate a natural remedy claim. So it threatens not only their beliefs but their allegiance to the intelligentsia.

So how does this observation help us in our professional careers? 

If you make a concerted effort to change your mindset, admit your own ignorance and suppress the sting to your ego, then you begin to take the first step toward becoming more. You’ll not be afraid to make mistakes, not be afraid to change your mind, not be afraid to stick your foot in your mouth, not be afraid to apologize.  

Projecting an aura of infallibility doesn’t garner admiration. It makes others doubt your sincerity and honesty. And ultimately doubt your leadership. 

The first step toward greatness is the decision to be humble and have the courage to acknowledge your own ignorance. Then take aim and destroy it by enlightening yourself. And—this is key—if your new found understanding doesn’t align with your preconceptions, you must swallow your pride. Which is easier said than done. 

I’m amazed at how many ways I’ve been enlightened by new information in recent years, and how strong my human nature resists it. Damn stupid pride. It stops us from growing and becoming better humans.

Our world is more connected and more informed than ever before. There’s no better time to retool your brain to analyze everything. So take the time and make the effort. Help change the world for the better. Go in search of ignorance. Starting with your own. 

But be careful when you set your sights on someone else’s ignorance. You can’t force someone to understand something, no matter how hard you try. You can’t cram it down their throat. Don’t forget, they have stupid pride as well. They won’t change unless they want to. So do it tactfully and subtly. Forward a blog posting or great article and say, “I found this really interesting.” And speak about your own transformative experience, rather than trying to “school” them.

You leaders out there, be humble. Admit mistakes and bad judgement calls, then course correct. You have a lot more eyeballs on you, which means you can be a great influence. You can lead by example.

* * * * * * *

Career

12:29 PM

We’ve all been told since childhood, “Quitters never win.” But then, what about smoking? Or alcoholism? Or any other destructive habit? Clearly, sometimes, quitters do win.

Wondering if you should quit your full-time job to freelance? You are not alone. Thousands of people are thinking the same thing at this very moment. Even though we constantly fantasize about quitting, fear compels us to stay full-time. Particularly those who have never freelanced before.

For 16 years I moved from agency to agency, always as a full-time employee. I had never freelanced before. Although I toyed with the idea many times (usually because I was fed up with my boss, my employer or my client), I never took the plunge. Then I “got quit” a couple years ago and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

After a few months I thought to myself, “Why didn’t I freelance a long time ago?” But, of course, I knew the answer. . . I was scared.

My career had been through peaks and valleys, but way more valleys than peaks. Through it all, I always held out, thinking that something great was bound to happen eventually. But nothing really did. At least not to my satisfaction. Except to say I gained valuable experience working with other people and was privileged to work on some big, notable brands. 

The other day, as I was thinking back on my career, it occurred to me that others are struggling with this quandary right now. If you are, read on.

I can’t say freelance is for everyone. I’ve met some people who hated it and others who loved it. The truth is, everyone is different. There are a few factors to consider before you make your decision. Test your situation using the criteria below.

CRITERIA:

1. Marital status

A lot of people think their marital status or family situation has a lot to do with it. The truth is, it does not. There are plenty of successful freelancers who support families quite easily. The main obstacle for some is the lack of health insurance benefits for freelancers. While that’s true, it shouldn’t be a barrier. You only need to work one or two days of freelance per month to pay for your whole family’s private health insurance plan. Unless you have a child with a chronic health condition, requiring frequent doctor visits, freelancing is totally viable.

2. Personality type

This factor should have more to do with your decision than anything else. Are you a confident/optimistic type or a worrying/pessimistic type? If you’re a worrier, then perhaps freelancing is not for you. 

Then again, full-time employment is not much comfort either. You could be laid off at any moment without warning. At least when you freelance, you become master of your domain and nobody controls your fate but you. To me, that’s more comforting than full-time employment at a company that has little regard for employee loyalty or longevity. 

Also, I used to be a worrier, but now I’m not. Thank you, freelance.

3. Personal experience

It’s true, seasoned veterans tend to get more work. Only because the hiring agency is getting extra “insurance” through their accumulated knowledge of the business. The downside with seasoned veterans is they often have less social and digital experience. 

My advice? 

If you’re a seasoned pro, bolster your social and digital presence. Start a blog, an Instagram or Tumblr page, start tweeting. Package your favorite un-produced social and digital ideas—and put them on your site. 

If you’re a newbie, emphasize your youth, enthusiasm, cultural relevance and hard work ethic. And play up your social and digital chops as well.

That said, it’s really about generating the big ideas, irrespective of the media vehicle. That’s what keeps agencies calling you back again.

4. Brand experience

This seems to be important. Although I’m not positive, because I’ve personally been blessed to have worked on a lot of Fortune 100 brands. So even though I wouldn’t consider my portfolio stellar, I do have notable brand experience, especially in automotive and tech. 

But I know other freelancers who have less big brand experience and they’re doing just fine.

5. Ambition

This is another huge factor. You can’t wait for things to happen, you have to make them happen. The biggest key to successful freelancing is networking. As they say, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. So get to know a lot of people. Make connections. Also, spend your downtime on personal creative projects. You will be way more fulfilled. 

The second biggest key to successful freelancing is, you must work hard to impress each employer to give them a reason to call you back again.

6. Current financial status

Sadly, some people are too heavily leveraged. They’ve been living beyond their means and have little or no savings, huge car payments, big rent payments and hefty credit card balances. This is a recipe for disaster. My advice? Streamline your expenses. Live modestly. Stop pretending to be a rock star. Even the real rock stars are eventually forced to play concerts at county fairs in their golden years just to make ends meet.

Another factor not numbered here is your spouse’s state of mind. The decision to quit will probably be met with a lot of resistance. And after you quit, they’ll continually urge you get another full-time job. Especially the wives. The security of a full-time job is important to them. In this scenario, you have two choices: (1) prove that freelancing is viable for your household or (2) admit defeat and go find another full-time job.

During my freelance stints, I’ve had a number of full-time job offers, but my personal preference is to remain freelancing unless the greatest job in the world comes along. Even then, I wouldn’t take a full-time job unless I freelanced there first. My downtime is too precious. I have a ton of personal creative projects in development.

EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY

If you get laid off, don’t panic. You’ll be surprised how un-scary it is. And you’ll probably like it. I did and I still do. But it might take 2-3 months to hit your stride.

Recently, my good friend Stephen was sharing stories of his successful transition from agency employee to president of his own company. He quit his job and started a small agency in Boston, where he now has a handful of clients, an office space and employees. I asked him if it was scary making the move. He said, “Yes it was.” However, he quickly found out that there was nothing to fear. Things worked out fine.

Then he shared a great story. Once, a few years back, his young daughter was climbing a tree on a sunny afternoon. She was playing on the branches, having a blast. But, at some point, she lost her footing and found herself dangling from a branch, holding on for dear life. As her grip began to slip, she cried out, “Daddy! Help!” From a few feet away, he couldn’t help but laugh because she didn’t realize that her feet were only 3 or 4 inches from the ground. He told her to simply drop. After some convincing, she finally looked down and was relieved to see her toes practically touching the grass. She dropped safely on the ground. “This,” he said, “was just like me when I was afraid to take the leap.”

What an awesome illustration. The point is, you will make a soft landing if you decide to quit and freelance. As long as you resist the fear, stay positive and be tenacious.

PROS & CONS

Here I’ve listed some pros and cons of freelance versus full-time. Perhaps it will help you in your decision.

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Career

12:55 PM

Ahh, the allure of a client with deep pockets. Winning their business would give you an incredible rush, fuel your agency growth, triple your staff and hold the promise of a fat, year-end bonus. But beware. They might just trap you in a cycle of addiction and abuse.

There are so many different analogies to draw upon, such as “the golden shackles,” the “poisoned apple,” or “selling your soul to the devil.” But I think the best analogy is simply, prostitution. 

Anyone who has worked in advertising long enough and in some of the larger agencies knows what I mean. The top agency execs talk about pushing for “great work” and the “big opportunity” at hand, but they roll over at the first sign of client resistance. They promise clients quick turnarounds, annoying brand mnemonics and horrible ads overloaded with features. Just whatever keeps the waters calm and the sailing smooth.

However, before we underlings go around pointing fingers and spitting venom, consider this: the C-level execs are not the only ones guilty of compromising their integrity for a few bucks. We workers are just as guilty. We moan and complain about life in the trenches but we keep on slogging through, collecting our paychecks and fearful of getting fired for rocking the boat. It’s all about fear and greed, no matter what your place in the pecking order. 

Fear and greed are the two greatest forces at work in advertising today. Perhaps 95% of ad agencies fall prey to them. The other 5%—the Wieden’s, the BBH’s and the Droga’s of the world—don’t. And they deserve much respect.

For years I came to accept the fact that, in the business world, mediocrity is simply more profitable. Most agencies took the path of least resistance by building their businesses through “client service,” not creative leadership. They gave clients what they wanted—not what they needed—in exchange for a chunky retainer fee. 

But Apple changed my opinion about mediocrity being more profitable. 

Steve Jobs reviled mediocrity and wouldn’t settle for less than perfect art. Sure, he produced a few stinkers (like the Apple III and the Newton) but his heart was in the right place. He never compromised his integrity. Eventually, Apple grew to have the largest market capitalization on the planet, proving to me that mediocrity is not always more profitable. 

In this, I’ve discovered one fundamental truth of building an advertising agency with real integrity: you must accept slower growth.

Apple did not grow big and strong overnight. It took many years. Likewise, agencies who want to be the very best in everything they do, must turn down RFP’s, must swiftly fire bad clients, must not take “no” for an answer and must empower everyone in their companies to exercise backbone. This almost certainly means they will grow slowly. 

The more discerning and picky you are, the longer it takes. Whether you’re trying to select the perfect avocado at the supermarket or building the perfect racing yacht, you can’t rush it. You have to seek out the great clients. The ones who trust your leadership, who buy remarkable work and have the courage to navigate uncharted waters.

Top agency execs often defend their decision to take on high-paying bad clients, claiming to use the income to fund smaller, more creative ventures. And that sounds good. The problem is, it rarely happens. That’s because, when you create a culture “yes” and an army of “yes men” it’s difficult to suddenly get tough. The tough guys you might have had didn’t stick around. It has to be all or nothing, right from the start. You’re either a pirate or a pushover. You can’t be both.

Bad clients demoralize. They oppress. They demand last minute, quick turnaround work. They lack respect and appreciation. They re-write scripts. They carry tweezers and get into the minutiae. They just don’t get it. Why hire an expert and then dictate everything to them? Would you hire a top-notch tax accountant and then proceed to tell him how to do his job? How about a surgeon? Of course not. But clients do it to agencies every day and the agencies bend over backward to please. (Or forward, to be more accurate.)

The worst part is, the business world suffers. It suffers from unrealized potential. Billions of ad dollars go up in smoke because clueless, distrusting marketing clients are demanding their way—which is almost always wrong and totally ineffective. Sadly, agencies can’t say no. The money is too good.

I distinctly remember three separate occasions in my career when rumors started flying around that a high-paying client was unhappy with our agency’s work. The client had grown increasingly demanding and prescriptive while the agency grew increasingly soft. Each time the client got their way, the work suffered. And the agency always got the blame. It just snowballed and eventually rumors of an imminent pitch review began spreading. To avert a potential account loss, the agency got desperate and gave the client absolutely everything they wanted. No resistance, no leadership, just yes, yes and more yes. In all three cases the account went into review and we lost it. Three self-fulfilling prophecies. Naturally, nobody respects a “yes man.”

It’s a little bit like being in a relationship when a woman is losing interest and the man tries everything in desperation to keep her, literally throwing himself at her feet, clutching her ankles, making big promises. Which makes him look like a pathetic loser with no shame. If she was the least bit hesitant to break up with him, now she’s sure of it. He helped her make the decision. 

So what’s the solution to handling your abusive, high-paying clients? 

Fire them. You didn’t get into this business to compromise your integrity and prostitute yourself. You got into this business to change the world and make art. And you will never do it with a bad client. So fire them. You shouldn’t have taken them in the first place.

However, prepare yourself for something unexpected. It’s quite possible that when you approach your client and tell them the relationship is unhealthy and you don’t believe they’re a good fit because they don’t listen to your expert advice. . . they’ll chase after you. 

It’s simple psychology. Like being in that shaky relationship, you’re considering breaking up when your boyfriend beats you to it and breaks up with you first. It’s like a knife in the heart. “Wait, you don’t need me? Let’s talk about this.”

And if they don’t chase after you? Good riddance. Go find another client that will appreciate your best work. If you take this approach, eventually only good clients will come knocking, wanting you for you. After all, your reputation is your absolute best new business tool. The better your reputation, the more clients want you. So fire the bad clients and attract some good ones. 

It might hurt a little but think of it like removing cancer. The surgery will be painful and set you back for a while. But when you heal, you’ll be better off. Much better off. And the employees you’ll have to lay off? What will they think? They won’t like it, but they’ll respect it. Just be honest with them.

I leave you with a great story to prove this approach works. It’s taken from The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin. (Perhaps in the future I’ll compile some more true stories of agencies firing bad clients and post them here, just for inspiration.) 

In the meantime, here’s an excerpt from Seth’s book: 

“At the dawn of the internet age, I took what felt like a huge risk: I bootstrapped an online marketing company (we invented ethical online direct mail) and grew it—thanks to some outside funding—to about 70 employees. We were big. We were doing significant projects with good clients. And we were barely breaking even, in a good month. Our investment money was running out and if we didn’t make some sales soon, we were going to have to either go beg for more money or fold. And a lot of good people would lose their jobs. This was our moment of maximum risk. 

“As founder, inventor and rainmaker, I felt a huge burden. I needed to make sales. And now. At a sales call in New York, with a famous brand, the usual was happening. The account execs and marketing guys, having nothing better to do, were beating my colleague and me up. They were criticizing our work, talking about how expensive we were, and riffing about how smart the competition appeared to be. 

“In that moment, the reality of the infinite game came to me. If saving this company meant doing this every single day, I didn’t want to do it. If I was so desperate to make each and every sale, then those sales would not reflect what we were able to do. They would merely be what the client was willing to buy that day. This wasn’t art. It was a perversion of it. While it would have been tragic and painful to have this business fail, I decided in that moment that it was better to fail than it was to lead my team down a path of mediocrity and abuse. Ten minutes into the hour-long meeting, I turned to the people we were pitching, closed my laptop and said, ‘You know, it seems as though we’re not the right company for you. We do what we do and we’re proud of how we do it. If this isn’t for you, I’m sorry to have wasted your time.’ And then I got up to leave. My stunned colleague stood up and started to follow.  

“You can probably guess what happened. The minute it was clear that we weren’t desperate—the moment we started to lead instead of beg—the sale was made. We made more sales in the eight weeks that followed than we did in the two years before. The game is infinite if you play it that way. You get to keep making your art as long as you are willing to make the choices that let you make your art.”

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(Amended 21 Jan 2014)

Career Clients

10:43 AM