BEVERAGE IDEA: Pleasant time wandering around Kingston street market. Chap selling his own brew. Felt rude not too. Very palatable pale ale with a slight tang of summer. Yum.

BEVERAGE IDEA:

Pleasant time wandering around Kingston street market.

Chap selling his own brew. Felt rude not too. Very palatable pale ale with a slight tang of summer. Yum.

RECEPTION IDEA: I could rant for an age about the loss of British icons. From trains to phones , global homogeny has fucked up a lot of British touch stones. So nice then to see this old call box in The foyer of an ad co in NYC . A prize will be given to the first commenter to guess which company…

RECEPTION IDEA:

I could rant for an age about the loss of British icons. From trains to phones , global homogeny has fucked up a lot of British touch stones.

So nice then to see this old call box in
The foyer of an ad co in NYC .

A prize will be given to the first commenter to guess which company…

DIARY IDEA: Thought it may be interesting to try out a weekly diary post about my adventures in business start up land. I’ve been in business for two weeks. Week one was mainly setting up systems - chats with accountants, tax stuff, health care (not sorted yet) and all the kinds of admin I normally hate. When you’re doing it for yourself it takes on a new importance. It’s almost fun. Almost. The business card adventure took up the rest of the week. Not being tied to an office felt liberating. Marching around Manhattatn seeking cool posters and print partners. This week was packed with meetings. I managed 3 or 4 a day. My first set of meetings without the back up of an agency. I’ve been talking my game so long now, the meetings felt comfortable and productive. One meeting in particular left me smiling all day at the potential. I was so excited I forgot about another meeting. Luckily it was a friend. Still, first ball dropped. Damn. Organization is my weak spot so I vowed to myself I would be 100% on top of stuff like scheduling. Lesson learned. I’ve now become one of those dreadful people who is constantly on their phone. Checking the calendar, confirming emails and updating my business conversation list. Two speaking projects have landed. One in Montreal. Really thrilled. I find speaking engagements terrifying during the lead up but really enjoy them on the day. I have to build a whole day workshop, so this is a good meaty project to begin. Yesterday, I nearly got hit by a (fast) car first thing in the morning (I had the light). It left me shaking. A dust up with ex followed, all this before 8am. The rain poured and my mood wouldn’t lift, knocking my creative mojo out. This is where the benefit of an office full of peers helps. When you enter an office you “break state” as they say in NLP. This shifts mood and gears, helping to compartmentalise. I need to learn some new patterns to help me break state and snap out of personal problems. I end the week in a good place: two big speaking gigs/workshops and 2 clients on board. My model is to gain 4 clients and work with them long term. I like building real relationships in business based on mutual trust and “skin in the game.” So Im on track. Media-wise, agencyspy ran a piece about my new endeavor and the New York Times posted a single sentence about my move. That single sentence quadrupled my blog hits. Facebook has been lively too. A lot of good friends, people I hadn’t connected with in ages and some pottential clients all wished me well, gave me solid advice and generally made me feel like I’m doing the right thing. So, thanks for your support everyone. It means a lot to me.

DIARY IDEA:

Thought it may be interesting to try out a weekly diary post about my adventures in business start up land.

I’ve been in business for two weeks. Week one was mainly setting up systems - chats with accountants, tax stuff, health care (not sorted yet) and all the kinds of admin I normally hate. When you’re doing it for yourself it takes on a new importance. It’s almost fun. Almost.

The business card adventure took up the rest of the week. Not being tied to an office felt liberating. Marching around Manhattatn seeking cool posters and print partners.

This week was packed with meetings. I managed 3 or 4 a day. My first set of meetings without the back up of an agency. I’ve been talking my game so long now, the meetings felt comfortable and productive. One meeting in particular left me smiling all day at the potential.

I was so excited I forgot about another meeting. Luckily it was a friend. Still, first ball dropped. Damn. Organization is my weak spot so I vowed to myself I would be 100% on top of stuff like scheduling. Lesson learned. I’ve now become one of those dreadful people who is constantly on their phone. Checking the calendar, confirming emails and updating my business conversation list.

Two speaking projects have landed. One in Montreal. Really thrilled. I find speaking engagements terrifying during the lead up but really enjoy them on the day. I have to build a whole day workshop, so this is a good meaty project to begin.

Yesterday, I nearly got hit by a (fast) car first thing in the morning (I had the light). It left me shaking. A dust up with ex followed, all this before 8am. The rain poured and my mood wouldn’t lift, knocking my creative mojo out.

This is where the benefit of an office full of peers helps. When you enter an office you “break state” as they say in NLP. This shifts mood and gears, helping to compartmentalise. I need to learn some new patterns to help me break state and snap out of personal problems.

I end the week in a good place: two big speaking gigs/workshops and 2 clients on board. My model is to gain 4 clients and work with them long term. I like building real relationships in business based on mutual trust and “skin in the game.” So Im on track.

Media-wise, agencyspy ran a piece about my new endeavor and the New York Times posted a single sentence about my move. That single sentence quadrupled my blog hits.

Facebook has been lively too. A lot of good friends, people I hadn’t connected with in ages and some pottential clients all wished me well, gave me solid advice and generally made me feel like I’m doing the right thing.

So, thanks for your support everyone. It means a lot to me.

NEW PRODUCT IDEA: Burger in a Bottle is an old video but I wanted to repost as I was thinking about the guy I made it with. Paymon moved over to the west coast to become a real contender in advertising at a large ad co. He’s done amazing work and may not thank me for posting this but it still makes me laugh. It’s kind of a gentle skit on agencies that produce products. It’s a bloody hard trick to pull off that’s for sure. Anyway, forgive the quick and nasty production. I hope it makes you smile: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=plpp&v=v1xvDDpRQA0

NEW PRODUCT IDEA:

Burger in a Bottle is an old video but I wanted to repost as I was thinking about the guy I made it with. Paymon moved over to the west coast to become a real contender in advertising at a large ad co. He’s done amazing work and may not thank me for posting this but it still makes me laugh.

It’s kind of a gentle skit on agencies that produce products. It’s a bloody hard trick to pull off that’s for sure. Anyway, forgive the quick and nasty production. I hope it makes you smile:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=plpp&v=v1xvDDpRQA0

DRINKING IDEA: I was honored this week by an invite from the Prime Minster at the Minsitry of Culture. At his palatial digs, he gave me this fine bottle of wine, created to promote the Prudent Boozers movement. Excellent cause: http://www.prudentboozers.com/site/intro.html

DRINKING IDEA:

I was honored this week by an invite from the Prime Minster at the Minsitry of Culture.

At his palatial digs, he gave me this fine bottle of wine, created to promote the Prudent Boozers movement.

Excellent cause: http://www.prudentboozers.com/site/intro.html

STREET ART IDEA: Might be the best photo I’ve taken - JR SoHo.

STREET ART IDEA:

Might be the best photo I’ve taken - JR SoHo.

STRING IDEA: I was rushing to a meeting in SoHo and this stopped me in my tracks; string stretched across fencing.

STRING IDEA:

I was rushing to a meeting in SoHo and this stopped me in my tracks; string stretched across fencing.

STREET ART IDEA: Detail of the Cernesto piece.

STREET ART IDEA:

Detail of the Cernesto piece.

STREET ART IDEA: This is gorgeous! Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

STREET ART IDEA:

This is gorgeous! Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

ART IDEA: Skulls are a bit of an art cliche but I love this one. It’s made from sweets/candy and filled the entire window of a SoHo art gallery.

ART IDEA:

Skulls are a bit of an art cliche but I love this one. It’s made from sweets/candy and filled the entire window of a SoHo art gallery.

BUSINESS CARD IDEA, PART 6: Last post about the cards I promise :) Here is a selection. I have about 250 in total. I sat in the bar and went through the whole stack. It was so much fun discovering some of the random patterns and pictures that emerge. A little bit of Silver Surfer here, the Dunes of Arakas there, a piece of Lambretta, some animals, Big Ben, endless shapes and forms, all different. There are some I don’t even want to hand out. As I was playing with the cards, a small crowd of bar staff and patrons gathered round. “Those are sharp man!” said the bar guy. Yup. This is the second time the cards have drawn a crowd (first time was at the printers). I’m really happy with them and proud to hand them out. In summary: Minimum info yet conveys what I do, where I am, who I am and my web address Super-high production, this is what you will get working with me, imagination plus care in execution Each card is unique and depicts aspects of what inspires me. Inspiration is where good ideas start and this a reminder of that Creative Rule. They smell of lasers. Okay, I’m done crowing about my cards. Thanks for reading! Also special thanks to DM who made this all possible. I won’t name him in full just in case he gets in bother for moonlighting.

BUSINESS CARD IDEA, PART 6:

Last post about the cards I promise :)

Here is a selection. I have about 250 in total.

I sat in the bar and went through the whole stack. It was so much fun discovering some of the random patterns and pictures that emerge. A little bit of Silver Surfer here, the Dunes of Arakas there, a piece of Lambretta, some animals, Big Ben, endless shapes and forms, all different. There are some I don’t even want to hand out.

As I was playing with the cards, a small crowd of bar staff and patrons gathered round. “Those are sharp man!” said the bar guy.

Yup. This is the second time the cards have drawn a crowd (first time was at the printers).

I’m really happy with them and proud to hand them out.

In summary:

Minimum info yet conveys what I do, where I am, who I am and my web address

Super-high production, this is what you will get working with me, imagination plus care in execution

Each card is unique and depicts aspects of what inspires me. Inspiration is where good ideas start and this a reminder of that Creative Rule.

They smell of lasers.

Okay, I’m done crowing about my cards. Thanks for reading!

Also special thanks to DM who made this all possible. I won’t name him in full just in case he gets in bother for moonlighting.

BUSINESS CARD IDEA, PART 5: Here is a stack of them fresh from the machine. An unexpected but pleasing side effect is that each card smells of laser!

BUSINESS CARD IDEA, PART 5:

Here is a stack of them fresh from the machine.

An unexpected but pleasing side effect is that each card smells of laser!

BUSINESS CARD IDEA, PART 4: Here is a picture of one of the rare posters I’d found as it goes put through the laser printer. I had ten different posters, including an awesome Fantastic Four cover as drawn by Jack Kirby (one of my creative inspirations). At this point, I stopped looking at how much this was costing. It was worth it. Each card would be totally unique, made from beautiful posters and put through 4 different production stages.

BUSINESS CARD IDEA, PART 4:

Here is a picture of one of the rare posters I’d found as it goes put through the laser printer.

I had ten different posters, including an awesome Fantastic Four cover as drawn by Jack Kirby (one of my creative inspirations).

At this point, I stopped looking at how much this was costing. It was worth it. Each card would be totally unique, made from beautiful posters and put through 4 different production stages.

BUSINESS CARD IDEA, PART 3: I was playing with my alphabet fridge magnets and settled on a layout I liked. DM added his magic and transfered the rough idea into a tangible logo. Pictured is the first proof copy from the laser printer. Nice!

BUSINESS CARD IDEA, PART 3:

I was playing with my alphabet fridge magnets and settled on a layout I liked. DM added his magic and transfered the rough idea into a tangible logo.

Pictured is the first proof copy from the laser printer. Nice!