Get Ta Work!

 "This is a message to those who think they can coast through life and work."

I'll be blunt. YOU CAN'T. In fact, odds are if you are trying to do this, there is somebody you work with that wants to punch you in the face. True story. There is only one way to not be that guy. Work and more work. Work at life and work at work. Sound depressing? Too bad. Because if you don't work hard you will be unsatisfied, and worse... unworthy.

I started working when I was 15 at a small fruits and vegetables shack called 'Joseph Kelly's'. It was run by a large man with a larger mullet who despite his ability to be lude and ridiculous in his work, he was my first boss and for that will hold a special place in the far left back corner of my memories. And if there is one thing that was permanently ingrained into my innocent youthful mind it was that every job after the last job is and always will be easier and less ridiculous. For example, in my current job I do NOT have to jump into a trash large trash bin and push down the trash so we could fit another days worth of nasty rotten fruit because boss-man was too cheap to pay for an extra trash pickup. How often did I do this you ask. Often enough that we had a name for it on the to-do list... "Dumpster Dance".

"If there is one thing that was permanently ingrained into my innocent youthful mind it was that every job after the last job is and always will be easier and less ridiculous."

I also had the wonderful opportunity to work for a college performing arts center at my alma matter University of Kentucky (Go CATS!). I was lucky enough to be given the title Light and Sound Manager. Sounds pretty stellar, but alas it really just meant that I got to spend looooong sweaty hours up in the rafters 30 feet in the air clamping lights that in a matter of mins reach temperatures that light arm air on fire in close proximity. Oh yes. Epic suck. Don't get me wrong, it also had great perks. Like running a 32 channel sound board for a live jazz show in an auditorium of 1200 people who are in a musical euphoric state of awesomeness. Like any job though, there are periods of suck hopefully followed by periods of 'I'll tell my kids about that'. But I can remember thinking...

"Glad I'm not jumping into a dumpster right now."

I'll spare you any more of my life work history. I'm sort of getting to a point. And that is the harder and longer you work hard at something, the more you will appreciate the work you're doing now. I like to put things in perspective. Do I hate when my Creative Director kills my genius ideas? Um, yes. Is it still better than jumping up and down on top of rotten fruit and vegetables in a dumpster? Most definitely. Now if I had never had those difficult experiences early on... I'd probably be that lame ass coasting along in his job waiting till 5pm to clock out. Instead, I work for toward something great. Try to impress my self every now and then. Maybe even impress others...

"The harder and longer you work hard at something, you will find that the more you appreciate the work you're doing now."

In closing, I think starting to gain work ethic early on makes a big difference. So if your reading this and old enough to carry something. You should get a job.  And thank you Joseph Kelly's and all my past, present and future bosses that will make my life hell. You taught me one thing; that at the very least, nickname the shitty chores. "Dumpster Dance!"

(note - that is not me, but the act was quite similar)

 DML

Place of Zen

Most of us in a creative field have one. It's that place you go to, to solve those problems you can't by sitting in front of your computer. An area that lets you clear your head of distraction and just think.... creatively. Let's call it the "Place of Zen" or even could be a "Chair of Awesome Thoughts".

I'm going to share my Place of Zen. Although I'm a little timid to do so, as I fear once I share this magic place every asshole in the area will start going there and it will no longer become my place of zen but den of douchebags. But alas, this blog is sort of dependent of my experiences... so brace yourself.

Once a week. Sometimes more. I manage to clear my morning of stupid meetings and walk from my humble abode in Laguna Beach to a somewhat hidden gem cafe. Madison Square Garden Cafe. It's nestled off PCH in what I like to call the art gallery row in North Laguna. What makes this a hidden gem is the fact that it looks like your grandma's house in the country with antique decorations hanging all over the place and in the garden. From the front you don't even realize it's a cafe, so the average tourist will just walk on by to the greasy spoon Cottage next door.

The best part is the garden out back. It's secluded from the world. It's giant trees and large fence block out all the sound from all the assholes driving the loud ass muscle cars and Harley's down PCH. In this garden are trinkets and weird objects and statues hanging and placed in unique places throughout. It's like being in a not scary Tim Burton garden. Bascially it's food for the creative brain to have so many interesting things to stare at...some even stare back.

My routine starts with ordering a coffee or Cappacino and the bagel with lox. I find my little nook in the garden and sit down with a good people watching view. I bust out the moleskine (yes, I'm hipster like that) and prepare for the ideas to flow. Some days the ideas are brilliant, most days they are just ideas on paper. But the only distractions are the ones in my mind. No computer, no Twitter, no Facebook, no Instant messaging, perhaps the occasional email read... but few compulsive distractions. I'm in my Place of Zen.

Now not everyone is lucky enough to live in 75 degree and sunny weather next to a garden paradise cafe. But your place of zen doesn't have to be fancy. I recently read an article on the99percent.com about finding your creative armchair. They say to get up out of your office chair and find your armchair to do your creative thinking. I love that idea. Every office should have a great lounge areas for people to go and unplug. If you have a minute check click over. It's a great read. Better written and has similar points to what you just read here.

Now that I've shared by Place of Zen, I hope you fools will stay away from it. Although I encourage everyone to find there own place where you can get away and just think.

A few tips:

1. Make sure it's close. You don't want to have to make too much of an effort to go.

2. Don't go too often. You want it to feel special everytime you go. So don't wear it out like your favorite T-shirt.

3. Don't bring the laptop. Bring the notebook. Writing things down makes it real and an idea your more likely to keep thinking about.

4. Avoid the smart phone withdrawals. The longer you can go with out checking your phone the better. I think I went 15 minutes once... started to feel nauseous. Until I checked Facebook.

So interwebs... what's your Place of Zen or special Armchair?

DML

What Are You Clicking on?

My ability to understand and appreciate banner ads has become skewed. All over the web live these somewhat creative ads telling me something about a brand. It could be a new product that's somehow light years better than the last one. It could be a promotion for me to win something like an iPod (ooooh!). But are people clicking? Well, analytics tells us yes! .5 percent of people that come to a site are clicking banners. At least that is what is considered successful. Apparently there are banners that do worse. Let's go back to the .5 percent. That's half of one percent. Half of one percent out of 100 percent. Let that sink in... That clicking noise is me slamming my head against my keyboard. Seriously the only time .5 percent should be considered good is when we are talking about chances a asteroid will hit Earth or odds of getting attacked by a shark. Not when talking about how many people click something I designed to sell a product.

So what do people click on? What gets better than .5? Then it hit me... Dumb shit. People click on the most ridiculous, random, sometimes raunchy material. It's rarely an ad for Kleenex telling me they created a new even "softer tissue". Although, I would be curious if there is anything softer than the Kleenex Ultra Soft, as I would sleep in a blanket of those.

I'm a consumer. So, what would I click on? Recently, a picture of a dog that looks like Chewbacca (left). And a Craigslist post about a guy looking for a girl he saw on the subway that morning. Maybe it's another damn OK GO music video. Whatever it is I'm clicking the hell out of it. In fact I stopped working on the banner ad that nobody clicks on to click on something that isn't even relevant to...well, anything.

I never really thought to write this thought down until my friend @artisticseed sent me an e-newsletter of her agency. The newsletter is clean and not content heavy and lists the standard fair of news updates including "Check out our new TV spot" and "Check out our blog" links. But at the bottom was this amazing gem (below).

This brilliant photo of an employee and two dogs with thought bubbles is awesome. The Caption asks users to post on Facebook what the animals are thinking. I think...to myself "who has time for this". Then I click and post something inappropriate and only funny to two people (one being my mom). Damn you random photo of a cute girl and two unproportionately sized dogs! You got me this time. And probably the next.

Come to find out later that the photo above lead to the highest click-through rates they ever had on their newsletter. Thought bubbles for the win!

This by no means banner ads aren't successful in terms of value. Out of that .5 only so many need to lead to purchase to be worth while. But I think we can all learn to speak to our audience in a better way at times.

Now the question is can I convince clients to do away with banner ads in lieu of dogs with thought bubbles? I'll get back to you. Until then I think there is some new product that has a feature that is amazing and needs some banner designs! Look for the ad on your favorite blog and click on it please. I need to get to my .5 percent. Thanks.

Drew

Followers, Friends and Fiestas

I wrote this back in March for Dmnews.com and you can read that article here. But going back through some past articles I thought this one still was really relevant to what's happening today in the social media space.

Enjoy...

Recently, I was invited to spend a Sunday at a friend's house and be part of her weekly cooking show. Like any good guest, I dined exquisitely and overindulged for the camera. The rest of the day was a roundtable of good laughs and creative thinking with like-minded people. I took a moment and stepped back to realize that I had never met any of my fellow foodie friends before—at least not inperson. They were all fellow Tweeters I follow on this social media phenomenon called Twitter.

By no means do I consider myself a social media expert. My 530 followers on Twitter are meager compared to Ashton Kutcher's four million. Even Darth Vader has 133,500 followers! Twitter has become so powerful that brands like Southwest and Best Buy have dedicated staff running their Twitter accounts. But I feel I've discovered something that very few have: I know how to reach Twitter's true ROI.

If you play in the social media space, you know that its purpose is to build relationships. But what do we gain in return? Some gain knowledge; humor; and some…well…the ability to waste time. While I use social media for all those things, I began to realize the obvious notion that I'm connecting with real people. Soon, I evolved my Tweets from self-promotional to conversational. And people responded in kind. Friendships with like-minded people formed and the sharing of knowledge in my field was helpful and satisfying.

That Sunday I realized that my new friends were coming from social media outlets like Twitter and LinkedIn. Most of you are probably thinking, “I have enough friends. Why seek out more?” I'll tell you why. There was another reason we were all gathered together that Sunday afternoon, besides the delicious food @cyuskoff made: We were all nerds in our artistic fields. From photographers and writers to creative directors and television producers, we bonded over the same funny blogs we read and argued about who's going to buy the new iPad. Some may call this networking. And you would be right in a sense. But networking is such a formal way of making connections. Social media makes it more personal, since we are connecting as peers and friends. So now when I ask my new friend @jonathan360 to link this article to Digg, it's less of a business request and more of a favor. Or if I need creative help, I can ask@mayhemstudios for a consultation. Now I have laughs, handshakes and a Sunday afternoon to go along with that Twitter name and headshot. That goes a long way, where a simple business card can't.

This isn't an instruction manual to social media. It's just a reaffirmation of something we all already know: Personal connections mean more. Is this going to help you get more followers? No. Will it help your next collaborative project and career? Definitely. So today I no longer look at my follower count but instead my friend count. I have 32 friends on Twitter.

You can follow me @drewlewis