In honor of ‘International Talk Like A Pirate Day,’ I am reposting a link to one of our (FREE) ebooks, “TWEETING BLACKBEARD: How clever brand strategy, word-of-mouth advertising & social networking, brought a premature end to the world’s greatest pirate”.
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Thayer Academy's Career Day provides junior and senior students the opportunity to attend three separate panel discussions concerning potential career choices.
Today's Marketing Communications. Beige.
As it turned out, of the five panelists, I was the sole creative professional in the room. Instead of discussing creative innovation and outside-the-box thinking, we were discussing brand essence, ROI (Return On Investment), algorithms, and how our habits are tracked and targeted by social media.
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Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, H.R. Robots & The Employment Sausage Grinder
In today's recruitment world and due to resume-weeding speed requirements, H.R. robots and their mechanized A.I. brains have become the career advancement gatekeepers.
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Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Graphic Designers.
The end of a once promising profession is near. I stand at the chasm with knees wobbling.
Read MoreAhoy! A Free, "International Talk Like A Pirate Day" Gift
In honor of today being–“International Talk Like a Pirate Day,” I am offering a free download of my e-book, “Tweeting Blackbeard: 10 Swashbuckling Business Tips From The World’s Greatest Pirate”.
Download! Hey, it's FREE!
I wrote the book with my eldest son, Foster, now a freshman at Elon University. Yes, in its original form, it was a term paper about buccaneer Edward Teach, commonly known as Blackbeard. The two of us, worked together and converted an “A” paper into this fast-paced and easily digested business e-book. Perhaps, this is a form of pirating but Foster and I prefer to think of ourselves as privateers.
Okay.
Just for fun, I ran the last paragraph through the official, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Pirate Translator.
Here goes.
The pirate speaks, I wrote t' book with me eldest son, Foster, now a freshman at Elon University. Aye, in its original form, it was a term paper about buccaneer Edward Teach, commonly known as Blackbeard. T' two o' us, worked together and converted an “A” paper into this smartly-paced and easily digested business book. Perhaps, this be a form o' piratin' but Foster and I prefer t' think o' ourselves as privateers.
Enjoy! – Doug.
Doug Eymer
slide 28 | creativity + business require a slightly schizophrenic personality. (but in a good way!)
Forgetting to Drain The Swamp + Other Lessons of Running a Creative Business
As a creative professional, know that at some point, during your professional career (through either your own desire or necessity) you will have the opportunity to “strike out on your own”. These are some lessons that I have learned during my 30 year career.
On Tuesday, I presented this in webinar form, to friends and colleagues from my alma mater, Rochester Institute of Technology, RIT. Enjoy! –Doug.
The Little Project That Wouldn't Go Away
Books for Young Marketers: Volume One
Designers, copywriters, project managers, product group heads, pre-press experts, customer service professionals, etc., etc., etc.
EYMER BRAND Laboratories + Think Tank, has recently developed a series of children's books, specifically targeted to you and your profession. Through easily digested words and lush visual desserts–you will allow family and friends to experience, first-hand–your frazzled workday journey.
Children (as young as 4), will confront–last minute revisions, extended meetings, and unsolicited feedback from the client's clue-challenged brother-in-law. Moments of pure genius will be quickly and unremittingly extinguished.
The first edition, The Little Project That Wouldn't Go Away, focusses on a pro bono (free) assignment that grows multiple appendages, consumes an abundance of creative effort–only to suddenly burst into flames and vanish!
Future publications will include:
"I Don't Know–What do YOU Think?"
"I Hate Green"
"Does this Font Make Me Look Fat?"
"The Crowd Source Manifesto"*
*For more experienced readers. Contains strong language and disturbing content.
Forgetting To Drain The Swamp & Other Pleasures Of Running Your Own Business
For the majority of my professional life I have run my own business. This wasn't actually part of my master plan, it just happened to work out this way.
To be quite honest, I love the control, the balancing of roles, and the freedom — although I tend to work most weekends and at least 12 hours a day during the week.
Vacations?
Huh! They are a sign of weakness.
Can you go and see a movie in the middle of the day?
Sure.
However, you will most likely be burning the midnight oil while ‘serial employees’ are tucked snuggly in their beds.
I went to a great college, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)–but my real professional preparation came from a gentleman that I worked for, during my high school and college summers.
Bud Jenkins, was the golf pro at the Pennhills Club in my hometown of Bradford Pennsylvania. Bud was like a second father to me, and provided the ‘push’ that I needed to get out of my rural western Pennsylvania town and into a big city environment–where I could best succeed in the professional path that I had selected.
It was Bud who taught me the phrase, “If you can’t go first class, don’t go at all.”
He was a risk-taker and many times, marched to the beat of his own drum.
In his youth, unsuccessfully tried out for a catching position with the Chicago Cubs.
As a young man, Bud spent many years working as assistant pro and later pro at the New Orleans Country Club, where he enjoyed the colorful clientele that you might expect from such an establishment.
He once told me that if he could do anything that he wanted in life, he would find a job on Bourbon Street, where as a barker, he would usher people in and out of one seedy establishment or another.
As a golf professional, within a private country club, Bud supplemented his modest salary with profits from his pro shop retail sales as well as by providing one-on-one golf lessons.
As members of Bud’s pro shop team, it was our responsibility to take care of members as they entered and exited the golf course. The serious golfers kept their bags in the back room of the golf shop, where they were carefully cleaned and stowed after each round.
In addition to teaching me the general rules of business, Bud taught me was how to professionally manage my personal feelings, while conducting professional business services. In other words, how to bite your lip, and remain polite–despite whatever might be being tossed your way.
In the back room of the pro shop, where no customers were permitted, Bud had placed a small business card size sign above doorway.
We could read it. Members could not.
The sign read:
“When you're up to your neck in alligators, it's easy to forget that the initial objective was to drain the swamp."
I can be working around the clock for days on end–but when there is a sudden lull in the action, this little sign suddenly pops into my head.
This in a nutshell, is the most difficult part of running your own business. The merry-go-round never stops. But at the end of a long day–what a feeling of accomplishment!
A couple of years ago, I was able to track down Bud through his daughter, Teresa. He was still living at the time but his mind was being ravished by Alzheimer’s Disease.
In my short telephone conversation with Teresa, she said that he would often say, “I know that I had a great life, I just wish that I could remember it.” – Doug.