A few days ago I wrote a post over on the Discosloth blog about Shakeup 2.0, and what it’s going to mean to agencies.
I like to prophesy, and like all contemporary prophecies everyone else should take them with a fat grain of salt.
In this case, my musings were about the state of digital marketing agencies. I created a list of 5 things that would be the make/break factors of survival in an economic downturn. For an agency, the winning factors are:
Would you go to the gym and hire a 400-pound man as a physical trainer?
No, of course not.
I wonder about the mentors, the gurus, the life coaches, the business strategists, the financial advisors. They fill my inbox and ring my phone, every single day. I can show you hundreds of my LinkedIn messages proving that these folks can do everything. Increase your sales, wealth, happiness, productivity, peace, health, profits.
I once worked in a cubicle across from a really nice guy. He was truly a caring, calm, and level-headed person in all regards, and spent most of his time doing work on his high-end desktop.
Back then, computers made noise when they worked, and you actually had to wait for things to happen when you clicked somewhere. A particularly large project locked the computer up. The fan whirred. His cursor froze, an eternal hourglass.
I have spent a good deal of time in the past week speaking with artists about an upcoming book project. After finding a dozen or so artists and designers I liked, I sent inquiries along with specifications. The responses were things like:
These are actually portions of responses that I received.
If these methods actually work, it is all well and good. But I suspect things aren’t working quite so well for these artists.
We’ve all heard about moving the goalposts. If something isn’t working out the way someone wants, it’s easy to change the goals.
The internet of yesterday wasn’t bulletproof, but you might say it was bullet-resistant.
It wasn’t regulated. It was totally distributed. It wasn’t dependent upon anything other than existing telephone infrastructure.
The crashing surf of the ocean. The cry of seagulls. A gentle salt breeze. A laptop balanced upon a pair of nicely tanned legs.
I’m excited to announce a book that has been in the works for a long time. It’s got the super-thrilling title Becoming A Digital Marketer: Gaining the Hard & Soft Skills for a Tech-Driven Marketing Career and is now available for order.
I was in the aisle and met an old friend. “We’re trying to just work to live, not live to work,” she said. It’s a nice sentiment. But behind those words were years of strain, debt, and unemployment. You can’t fix that overnight. When a lack of money negatively affects health, family, and time, more income will undoubtedly improve your quality of life. It is a luxury to be able to choose your work. It is a luxury to be able to work, even. Many in the world are unable – mentally, physically, or economically. We should be careful to not waste our chance to work.
A few years ago, I worked with a client who was all about energy.
He had an obsession about something he called “peak state” which involved eating massive amounts of fruit in the morning (he did this instead of caffeine because fruit sugars were supposed to stimulate the brain), pushups, a thumping EDM playlist, and chugging massive amounts of water.