Big Changes.

2 years ago, I took a big risk.  I left a job I’d only started 6 months before, because a friend was willing to take a bit of a chance on me, and hire me to work with him to build the digital team at an agency best known for print, direct mail, and in-store work.

Needless to say, it paid off. The last 2 years have been an amazing learning experience, and I’ll spend the rest of my life being grateful to the team at OSL for what we accomplished together, and how I’ve grown with the influence, help, and support of so many individuals there.

But the times, they are a-changing.

On Monday, I’ll be joining the strategy team at Klick, and starting in an industry that’s new to be as well, working primarily in the health space.

It’s not just new challenges and new opportunities that motivated me to make the switch.  I’m excited to work with the people, and the culture that I’ve been introduced to in interviews and conversations with the Klick team.

So, starting on Monday, I’ll be working downtown again. Which I’m hoping means I’m going to be a little more available than I’ve been in the past couple years, given the lack of commute.

I’m really, very, incredibly (possibly unreasonably) excited. Change is the one constant in life, and this feels like a very good one.

Bending to Reality.

I was never more creative than when I didn’t have a schedule.  I’d have deadlines, sure, and classes which were of varying importance to attend, but I had to constant, overarching reason to bend the time spent on any given task, per day, to anything other than when the work had to be delivered.  And I never missed deadlines, because everything else was flexible.

I miss being able to go on a 12 hour research binge, followed by a 4 hour writing and revision binge, followed by 2 hours of Entourage, 2 hours of sleep, delivering the finished product, and finally another 14 hours of sleep.  I have a vast array of reasons why this is no longer a feasible approach to work (mostly working in teams, on large, intricate processes where many people rely on my being accessible) but I miss it nonetheless.  I miss being able to disappear into the work, rather than have the work disappear into the process.

I also have a feeling that this type of work, the type I cherished so much, is only possible in a situation like academia, where someone is so closely defining the scope and ingredients of your work that you can be left entirely to your own devices.

I don’t have a solution or suggestion this time.  I’m just pointing out one of the inherent sacrifices in working with real world toys, rather than intellectual playgrounds.  You need to bend to reality, from time to time, in the real world.

It’s probably worth it.  This is no way means I’m not constantly looking for a workflow that mimics the best parts of complete independence, while offering the benefit of working in a skilled, motivated, tightly knit team.

Specialization.

Having a specialty is a wonderful thing. But the assumption shouldn’t be that you do everything, for a specific market or industry. That isn’t specialization, IMO. That’s loving X more than Y. While it’s technically possible to learn every single aspect of your broader field, in a specific industry, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

There’s always better value in having an expert handle something, than a dilettante. A love of the subject is still a best case scenario, and luckily, tracking down someone who has both expertise and passion is easier than it has been at any point in history.

Pick the part you love to do, and do best. Whenever possible, do it in relation to something you love.

Taking the other option is to do many aspects of your craft that you do not excel at, in an arena you love, without having the option to step outside of that box.

There are clearly exceptions, but [for example] I’d rather work with, and hire, an content marketing specialist to promote my TV show, than a TV show specialist to handle my content marketing.