BRANDING

The Value Of Stumbling Around In The Dark

After decades in the business, the recipe for success remains the same

Photo by Phoebe Strafford on Unsplash

Not a Medium member yet? Click here to read the article.

There are not many instances in my life or career where I followed a traditional path to achieving my goals. This wasn’t because I was such a maverick, intent on doing it my way and breaking with tradition. I just didn’t know any better. I took the route that seemed open to me, which was never the well-worn path of others.

When I was first starting out, rather than trying to get an entry-level job with an advertising agency, I joined forces with another novice and simply started our own. I came from the music industry and he came from media sales. I was an intuitive empath and he was a hardcore sales grunt. Somehow, we made it work.

One of the main reasons for our success was that I held such high expectations for what I imagined the internal workings of an advertising agency to be. If we were pitching against other agencies, I assumed they were bringing their best stuff, using their most talented staff, and working as hard as they could. My naivety contributed directly to the effort I brought to each project. I simply worked harder than the next guy because I believed that’s what it…