BE YOURSELF. TELL THE TRUTH. INCLUDE OTHERS.
hey baby, THE BEST
IS YET TO COME!
BETTER > SAME
A true story. I told two people at the same organization that their new branding considerations “sucked”. It was a casual conversation. The specs were indeed pretty. They were “agency” polished. What they lacked was an understanding of the business, the culture and the customer. It was obvious to me that these were made by some talented creatives who knew little of this business and the market. One person shrugged me off saying, “I was salty because I didn’t do it”. The other person told the owner what I had said and the next day I got a call from an unrecognized number. The voice on other end was familiar and without an introduction asked, “Why do you think the new brand sucks?” For a second I thought, “Rut Roh, Raggie!” But this owner was not irritated, he was curious. So, I told him. To my surprise he said, “You’re right. I don’t like them either.” He couldn’t put his finger on it and hoped someone would help him figure it out. He talked about his managers and this agency relationship, thanked me and said I sucked for not coming to him first.
What makes something suck is that it doesn’t work. It doesn’t do the job. It doesn’t accomplish the goal.
Cisco Jablonski
Feather Revolutionary
“Things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos is because things are being loved and people are being used.” ~ Disputed, yet amazing quote.
I think we all have this underlying sense that if we are not buying something or being useful to someone, we have less value. That is at the crux of this whole “Feather” thing. Everyone has value and something to offer. People should be embraced for their uniqueness and included, not just exploited for what they can buy or do for us. The people in our lives have a value we often miss because we’ve become too busy. We have to tell the truth. The truth is, we need each other.
I live every day in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, WordPress, Google Adwords and similar applications creating, mining and planning. I am currently obsessed with Figma and Active Campaign and love learning new tools and skills. My passion is making things better. The challenge is that making things better means change.
I’m a creative and youthful optimist trapped in a body that everyone keeps reminding me is getting older. The upside to years of experience (if you are paying attention) is that you learn… a lot. You learn what works and what doesn’t. You experience what others get right and what they get wrong. You experience mistakes with big “aha” moments you can never forget.
At this point, I am way past the 10,000 hour mark for mastery and there is no way to show anyone what over thirty years in this business is like. They don’t see the hours of frustration and time invested. They say, “How long will that take, five minutes?” or “I can’t get that on Fivvr.” There was no way to make this site encompass all the knowledge, ads, sites, proposals, pitches, fights, PowerPoints, meetings, deadlines and all-nighters. I opted for the wisdom that came with experience and had a little fun instead here.
With time, experience gets worked in as instinct, intuition and know-how. “Those experiences granted you new skills and together those things created your true and inherit value…”, said a good friend of mine. I miss you very much, Andy.
Everyone is marketing something today. The real value in me isn’t in what I do, it’s in who I am. It’s the one thing no one else has. I think that is true for all of us. Only a more inclusive and light hearted vision is going to change things. We need this more than ever today.
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What’s with the Feather?
Business marketing problems tend to always be the same; not enough money, not enough customers, not enough sales, not enough traffic, not enough conversions, not enough time, not enough leads and so on. There never seems to be enough of anything which creates so many pressures and dynamics between people having to work together. We get too close to the problem to see them clearly. We lose perspective and get weighed down. Because I am most often afforded the luxury of an outsider’s view, I get to be impartial. I get to be honest. Feather is the idea that we can fly above problems and solve them with a different perspective and with fresh ideas. Feather is getting above those aforementioned problems.
Feather is about being lighter and with clear thinking . Feather is my personal brand of creativity.
Knocked Over with One
Sometimes little things happen that change your life. One little event sends you on a new path and all you did was be yourself. I love those movements. I often felt like a caged tiger on boring conference calls while bad players pretended to solve problems but in reality were invested in perpetuating them. It was during one such project that my idea for feather came about. I had worked hard on many aspects of this particular project trying to make all the dynamics and voices involved fit together. On a Zoom call, I jokingly said one thing that would kill the project and spur a new division to be created within the client’s company. Okay, what I said was equal parts truth and joke. I was told this comment knocked the owner over with a feather. I simply said, “As expensive as this thing is getting, why don’t you just hire Matt.” Matt was the most talented of the six contractors. Four people couldn’t do what he did in the same amount of time. They hired him and saved time and money.
Light as One
Happy people are just more productive. That’s a scientific and well researched fact. Positive emotions invigorate human beings, while negative emotions have the opposite effect. So why is the business world full of long faces? Why do so many appear to be miserable succeeding or on their way to success? A recent survey identified three main causes of workplace unhappiness as poor remuneration (money), lack of recognition and lack of support from colleagues and management. I believe we have lost the spirit of cooperation because of the old belief you have to “work hard.” It’s as if happy people can’t possibly work hard and have to feign agony. I learned long ago that nothing is more important than feeling good. It’s good for your health and productivity. Maybe one reason robots are more productive is because leaders don’t have to create happy workplaces for them. Many are learning the difference between hard work and productivity. Feather is a reminder that being light-hearted, playful and inclusive is creative rocket fuel; at least until those robots take over.
A Few in My Cap
A mentor told me, “if you don’t tell your story, someone else will tell their version of your story.” I have quite a few feathers (accomplishments) in my cap. I’m not going to give you a highlight reel. I have messed up a lot but that’s part of the professional experience. Knowledge and talent have yet to take me where tenacity and experience have. So yeah, I have extensive experience in the marketing arena and with that, many accomplishments. The first is that I still do what most people only dream of, I earn a living doing what I love. I have endured years of trends, economic changes, recessions, a pandemic and financial difficulties for myself and clients. I have won over challenges that would cause most people to quit. I have worked with more than 300 individual businesses of all sizes. While most people go through many career changes, I have been on a single course. That is because my business is marketing and that means change. I have been very fortunate as a result of embracing change, not only in the evolution of creative and technical skills, but in finding opportunity in challenges. If you live in southeastern Virginia, you have seen, heard or read something that I had a role in creating. My work has also been utilized by some of the largest companies in the world and created positive change in their communications and business challenges. I can share my portfolio privately with your request. Ask for a link here.
Ruffle Some
As a parent, you can’t raise a child without upsetting them sometimes. As a business partner, you can’t only agree with people and still be seen as a leader, unless you’re a politician. If you are going to lead, you have to be willing to upset some people for the right reasons. I’m willing to upset people if it will improve their life. I don’t upset people that are curious and on an improvement path. I upset the ones that want to stay where they are even though things are not working. I don’t upset people that respect and value the opinions of experienced professionals. I upset the ones that don’t like feedback. I’m okay with upsetting people and being upset by people. Some of my own biggest breakthroughs were from people that cared enough to risk upsetting me. Feather is about reminding us all, you have to take yourself less seriously and listen. People offer tremendous value in their different perspectives, views and opinions. You have to stay open. Even if you don’t like what they have to say, there may be a nugget of truth that could make a real difference in your business or even your life. A feather can tickle and torture, it’s up to you.
