Words to the Wise

My friends at The Integer Group Denver have posted some new opportunities to the Copywriter Job Board. If you’re a copywriter in the Denver area, I highly recommend that you get your resume to The Integer Group ASAP.

Need some background about The Integer Group Denver and what they’re looking for?

According to The Integer Group, they’ve “…created an environment based on the beliefs that there are no challenges that can’t be met, no problems that can’t be solved, and no conventions that can’t be broken. Our drive and determination create energy – electricity that courses through every brainstorming session and into every project and that manifests itself not only in the work we produce but in our surroundings.”

Sounds like a work-life balance to me. Here are some details from the copywriter job listing so you can tailor your resume accordingly:

“Creating groundbreaking work that drives sales and wins awards is what we strive for on every project, for every brand and every client. We’ve produced great work for some of the biggest brands in the world and for some that you’ve probably never heard of. But no matter the size of the client, they always know what to expect from our agency: innovative thinking, big ideas, and an all-consuming passion. For the business. For the brands. For the future.”

Powerful stuff, right there. If you think your portfolio has equal power and you’re interested in an associate or mid-level copywriter position where you can develop a full-range of creative ideas from concept to distribution, check out the complete listing on my Copywriter Job Board.

Oh, and just so you know, The Integer Group Denver was named 8th best Medium-sized company to work for in the USA in 2007 by the Great Place to Work Institute Inc.

In my early copywriting and public relations days, I was lucky to have some good bosses. Go and look at my resume, and you’ll see the companies I’ve worked for who gave me good bosses. They’re the ones who gave me the freedom to be creative and offer new, big ideas.

I was also lucky to have some really, REALLY bad bosses. Those you won’t find on my resume. I’m not just talking about people who didn’t understand creative work or who were just trying to put their mark on everything I did, I’m talking about some true knobs of epic proportions. Bosses who offered clients crappy work day-in and day-out. Bosses who said one thing and really meant another. Bosses who berated you in front of clients because your ideas were not what they thought the client wanted to hear.

They know who they are. They read this blog. Welcome back, by the way.

What, me? Smug, you say? Never. Actually, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank these less-than-desireable leaders for teaching me how NOT to do business. During my time at these companies, I sat in meetings where my bosses would NEVER offer new and big ideas. Nothing fresh, nothing outrageous, nothing out of the box. Everything they did lacked courage and creativity. It oozed of complacency and the status quo.

As for me, I just sat back taking notes in those meetings. Notes about what NOT to do, how NOT to act, and how NOT to ever, EVER be like these people, ever.

All the jobs I’ve hated, I’ve learned from. Successful people will tell you that learning happens more when you fail, than when you succeed. While, in hindsight, I wouldn’t call working for Knobs, Inc. et al a failure, in the beginning of these jobs, I was certain I was a failure by going against the company grain, offering fresh ideas, and not settling for the obvious solutions. The truth is, I was learning some of the greatest business lessons of my life.

My lesson today for you is to always fail forward. That means that every time you feel like you’re failing, look for the lesson. It’s there. All the time. When you’ve found it, you’ve advanced. At one ad agency back in Connecticut, I was to come up with some ‘fresh’ radio spots for a client. So that’s what I did. The result - five spots my boss HATED. He wouldn’t even show them to the client. He swore at me, threatened me and then threw my spots in the trash.

Was that a failure? Maybe at the time. Today, those five spots have brought me more freelance copywriting work than I could have ever imagined at the time.

I failed forward. You will too.