As an agency employee with an entrepreneurial bent, I always had some side thing I was working on. This was actually encouraged for creatives in ad agencies because with client work, there’s always an excuse for why something didn’t reach its full potential. Having a side project became standard fare in one’s portfolio because it showed a hiring manager what you’re like when no one is looking.
Throughout my career that thing changed over the years from running Supplicant, the largest print punk fanzine in the northeast U.S., to starting Punknet.com as one of the very first digital punk magazines. AdHoles, one of the first ever social networks, targeting the top ad pros in the business, took up most of the 2000s. More recently, it’s been comedy projects and AI-driven vibe coded experiments.
This is an important distinction, because many people see the TV-glorified version of the ad industry. My mom worked in advertising for forty years, in the agencies you saw on Mad Men like McCann. I knew when dinner was late, it was because clients are a pain in the ass. I was ten. I was ready for it when I made it my career at sixteen.
The real version of the industry is going up to Connecticut for a tour of the then creative hot shop Plaid run by the late great Darryl Ohrt, complimenting him on the amazing work he’s doing, to be told “that’s the five percent we actually show people. 95% is garbage to keep the lights on.” That’s the reality of every professional in this business. It’s like playing football. You keep getting pushed to the ground by a mob of players bigger and more powerful. But every once in a while, you see some daylight and go for it. And those moments make all the bullshit that led to it exhilarating.
I see many students going into school thinking they’re going to design a new Coke logo every day. Those opportunities are so rare, from a brand to even a new campaign, that many can go a whole career without doing more than someone else’s idea.
When I was living for a few years in Western Massachusetts, one of my side deals was painting a little bit. But I never did it consistently. It never stuck. I really fancied myself to also be a fine artist. Over a summer, a local gallery owner was hosting an Icelandic painter named Thor, and I drove him up to Mass MoCA for the day. I asked him why he painted. He said “I can’t NOT paint. It’s part of me. I can’t stop. I wake up every day and have to do it. It’s like air. Without it I will die.” At that moment, I realized: I am not a painter.
But I am a marketer. I am a creative director. I am an entrepreneur. If you don’t hire me, I have 30 things I’m jazzed to wake up for and get my hands on. With me, you not only get to see what I’m like when no one is looking, but get that same fire and enthusiasm for your project if the fit is right.
When hiring a marketer, ask what their side projects are. If it’s all client work, maybe they’re after a check more than it being the air they breathe.
Standup. Improv. Sketch. Those projects live here.
Find your why with AI for free and your MVB for cheap. Often, founders have the vision of the brand why, story, mission, and vision all in their head, but their team keeps hearing “that’s not our brand” and gets frustrated. MVB helps founders get their brand out of their head without the six figure, six month branding exercise from an agency.
Other marketers might dabble in programmatic media buying. I wrote a book on it.
That person who talked over you in a meeting in 1996? The investor who trashed your pitch deck? You may not have forgiven, but it’s also possible you’ve forgotten. With Enemies List, you’ll be able to safely store all the details of your nemesis for even the slightest infractions, create harmless curses to make you feel better, and remove them when you’re over it. Available in free, paid and enterprise tiers.
You play Wordle? Not me, with all these projects, who has time for five damned letters? Onedle is your daily word challenge featuring only one-letter words. Gives you the same thrill of getting it right and sharing with friends without being so time consuming.
There are some great agencies out there, but the barrier to entry to start one used to be hundreds of thousands in equipment and employees. Now it’s a bro with a course certificate, a domain name, a GPT-generated website and thousands of spam emails to unsuspecting local businesses, and everywhere in between. Agencies bully clients into long term expensive contracts, saying they need time for things to work. When it doesn’t, they are often stuck paying not to get results, but even worse than what they started with. I started Agency Reaper as a way to advocate for agencies who want to break their contracts for cause.
A foray with some partners into physical and digital real estate transformation.
I wrote a history book. You can decide if it’s serious or funny.
During the egg shortage while caring for my mom, I put this microsite together to help people find alternatives.
Global directory of run clubs.
NOT LIVE YET:
NOMAD IMPROV
Improv classes as wellness and teaching opportunities for digital nomads, with AI-voice assisted instructors to get new students up to speed easily.
