I just wanted to thank Hugh MacLeod from gapingvoid for giving me permission to post the cartoon below on my latest version of my resume. Though I am not currently looking to move to San Fransisco and work at another agency, I was inspired by Advergirl’s latest series of blog post’s titled “Advertising Resume Makeovers” to update my own.
“Go ahead, Shana. Rock on.”
Earlier today a colleague of mine reminded me to check my Twitter account. So I went on this afternoon at 2PM to take a look.
The latest Twitter was from Hugh MacLeod.
It was posted 1 minute earlier.
My response Twitter said “What?? Heath Ledger is dead??”
So of course, me being a pop culture junkie, I had to go onto my iGoogle home page to see if People.com had posted anything…… THEY HADN’T!!
10 minutes later I looked again and it was up. The article said “Heath Ledger found dead, more information to come…”
So through the wonders of social networking, I found information out before it hit the magazine’s website.
I had to go to my MySpace page to change my status to “Shana is shocked that Heath Ledger is found dead.” Instantly, 4 people left me comments is response and 2 people changed their own status to “RIP Heath”
Interesting…….
On a completely different note, today is the last day to resister to vote in The CA primaries. I was reminded of this by a friend of mine who posted MySpace bulletin this morning
“If you haven’t already—today is your last chance to register to vote on February 5th.”
I took it one step further and in my bulletin I provided my MySpace friends the url to download the application and the address where to send it to. An hour later a few of my friends commented as well as sent out their own bulletins about the subject.
The uses for social networking are endless, but mindless entertainment (I apologize for calling a talented actor’s death, mindless entertainment—It is just for emphasis) spreads much faster than actual news.
I love that it is easy to get into the head of the consumer, because for the most part, it is my own head.
Hugh’s realities about getting to do something “creative” for a living:
1. It’s a great privilege. So there’s a lot of other folk chasing after the same prize, and the barriers to entry are high.
2. “Creativity” is extremely time consuming. My cartoons didn’t get any good [to me, at least] until I had spent well over a decade working obsessively on them. Hell, I’m still not there yet.
3. When you get into the “creative” zone, the lines between “work time” and “off time” start getting blurry. And the deeper you get into that zone, the blurrier the lines get. I often work from seven in the morning till midnight and think nothing of it.
4. The thing that turns a job into passion, that turns work into play, is a sense of mission. When you’ve got a real sense of purpose, the lines that separate work and play evaporate. So instead of thinking about how “creative” or “uncreative” your job is, ask yourself what “purpose-idea” your job is articulating.
5. A “purpose-idea” just doesn’t land on your lap because you’re lucky, smart and good-looking. A sense of purpose only comes your way usually because you’ve been working your ass off over a long period of time, intensely cultivating it. And yeah, sometimes that will appear to more mainstream people as “Having no life”. To hell with them. They don’t know or care about you. Successful people get to where they are by doing the stuff that unsuccessful people aren’t willing to do. Harsh but true.
Personally, one of the most influential blog’s is gapingvoid by Hugh Macleod.
1. Add 25% to amount of hours you work every week, and fill them with fun, interesting, useful, stuff. Google allows its employees 20% of their work time to devote to their own personal projects. If your employer won’t allow you to do this, you should unilaterally make the time for yourself, hence the extra 25%. Your peers in the office may think you weird at first, but after a while it’ll start paying off.
You have to know what is out there, playing around on MySpace has actually helped with a few of my ideas along the way…. What other industry rewards you for being a MySpace geek?
2. I had no life in my 20′s. Get used to the same. While my peers were partying or zoning out to TV sitcoms, after work I’d head for the coffee shop or the bar, and crank out cartoons until bedtime. Sure, I must have looked a real lonely ol’ saddo, sitting there doodling away, but at the time I didn’t really care. I enjoyed doing it, plus I knew I was on to something. Besides, the typical twentysomething TV-enhanced nighttime existence didn’t interest me too much. Tis more blessed to make than to consume etc.
This is some great advice… It is actually month six of my year long TV strike (month two for the writer’s strike) and I have learned that there is much more to read, create and play with then old re-runs of Friends.
3. All business is creative, just sometimes it’s hard to see it. And it’s especially hard to see it when you’re leaving the office at the same time as all the other yutzes you work with.
This goes along with number 2, put in the hours…. They will be worth it…….
4. Creative people like other creative people, even if they’re far more senior than you. The great thing about creative people with power and money, is that they would much rather have somebody working for them who reminds them of themselves when they, too were young, rather than remind them of the jocks and cheerleaders they went to highschool with. And you know what? Finding those kind of young people is actually harder than it seems. Truly bright sparks who are honest, reliable and hard-working are rare, even in the younger cohorts. So if you ever meet an older “Creative” like that, don’t be scared of her. Don’t be scared to seek her out. She’s probably just as delighted to have found someone she can give a real opportunity to, as you are for finding someone offering a real opportunity.
This describes my boss, Cheryl
5. P.S. When I use the word “creative”, I prefer to use it in quotation marks, metaphorical or otherwise. As words go, it’s pretty meaningless. There are a lot of people in the “creative” industries who wouldn’t know an original idea if it jumped on their lap and peed on them. Aimee Plumley was right. Hipsters ARE annoying. Truly creative people tend to defy the usual stereotypes. Always keep that in mind.
6. Never, ever forget the “Sex & Cash Theory”. The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the assignment covers both bases, but not often.
Our CDB campaigns vs. HP direct mail
7. Always remember: You’re playing the long game. General Kutuzov told the Russian Royal Court that all he needed to defeat Napoleon was “patience and time”. His approach horrified a lot of people close to the Czar, who were hoping for something a bit more swift and glorious. But it was “patience and time” that allowed the good ol’ Russian winter to come along, and freeze all those poor Frenchman to death. The rest is history.
Great advice…….