Monday, April 24, 2006

Why did you get into this business?

Why did you get into this business? Not how – a topic for another time – WHY?

I’ll start. I wanted to be in a creative environment and have fun. And I did! And I still do…

I could have done a lot of other things, but this is the one thing that seemed to be the most challenging with concurrent “fun"-ness.

At the height of our best “fun,” we are exciting; exuberant; amusing; entertaining; stimulating. In short, we are all of the best ingredients for creativity and challenging thinking.

At the worst, we are boring – a sure fire way to lose clients.

Clearly there is way more to the equation; accountability; experience etc… But, look around – read the trades – “Exciting” is a damn good place to be. “Boring” isn’t…

So:

“You’ve achieved success in your field when you don’t know whether what you’re doing is work or play.”
- Warren Beatty

And so it goes… Everything else aside, that is a great definition of success – particularly when you’ve worked through yet another night, or traveled through yet another time zone, or answered yet another RFP…

Are you having fun? Tell us…

Posted by David on 04/24 at 11:27 AM
(14) CommentsPermalink
  1. I´m here because is the perfect mix between science and art.

    Posted by Juan Pablo Carrero  on  2006-04-24 19:05:59

  2. For me it was a question of pace. I began as an architect, and found waiting months, if not years to see the final product was not in line with my personality. I also enjoy the idea creation too much to wait for long periods of time before getting to dive into a new challenge.

    Posted by Wayne Kaufmanschmidt  on  2006-04-24 19:15:22

  3. Your column reminds me that I went into this business because I liked to write and at least in advertising I could make a living. It also reminds me of one of my first bosses, who said "I hate writing; I love having written." This business generates a very frustrating, crazy and insane environment for people who like to create. But when a seed package lands on my desk and I feel compelled to open it, when I read through the copy and it flows like water, despite the 30,000 revisions no consumer will ever know about, when I go to a landing page and I can't help but move my cursor to the key link—I finally understand what that boss was talking about.

    Posted by Mark Spector  on  2006-04-24 19:29:23

  4. Growing up I became extremely interested in both art and computers. It didn’t take long before I found out that both interests could be pursued at the same time. Back then I was using Harvard Graphics to develop birthday posters for the family. Now I have the pleasure of working with a large team developing campaigns for major marketers. It’s like I never had to grow up, but just found more friends who had the same interest.

    Posted by Joe Grigsby  on  2006-04-24 20:43:04

  5. Truthfully, I was in book publishing and I wanted to make more money. Which I did. But the more interesting question is why did I stay in this business. One night at 3:00am I was complaining to a coworker about the hours and the demands of the job, and she said, "Yes, but you love the challange." "What makes you think that?" I replied. "Because you're here in the middle of the night, trying to get this job done. If you didn't love the challange, you would've found an easier way to make a living." She has since gone on to making her living in an easier way. I'm still here, trying to get jobs out in the middle of the night. Apparently, I love the challenge.

    Posted by B.A. Rosenblum  on  2006-04-24 21:32:28

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