(Thanks to many of you who completed our industry survey. If you haven’t chimed in yet, the survey closes in just a few days. Visit https://revthink.typeform.com/to/tpKZNP) This past weekend I climbed the tallest mountain in Colorado: Mount Elbert, elevation 14,440 feet / 4401 meters. On the ascent, I was reminded (again, as I’ve climbed many…
Insights
While holding briefings and meetings in New York City this past week, I was pleasantly surprised to hear how many studio and agency owners are reading (and benefitting from) these weekly-ish emails. But even in a major market like NYC, the challenges keep coming fast and furious… What challenges, you ask? Among the top hot…
Like many workaholic creative entrepreneurs, I rarely took meaningful breaks from running my busy studio. I had every intention of doing so, but my self-talk usually went something like this: “As soon as this huge project is finished, I’m taking a much-needed vacation!” Then weeks later after said project was finished: “Ugh! That project was…
Yesterday in Confab – our Live Weekly Forum – creative thinker / writer / speaker Richard Holman shared a beautiful encouragement with the several dozen creative entrepreneurs gathered for our weekly Zoom call. Being the 4th of July here in the US, I find myself in a reflective, thankful mindset. Which leads me to share…
This month I think I’ve heard the phrase “feast-or-famine cycle” about 37 times. And I hate it. Then RevThinker Ashley and I were speaking with a motion design studio owner in NYC. We were discussing how the latest best practices in sales is, ironically, recognizing that most sales problems aren’t sales problems… They are marketing…
In our latest podcast, Marcel Ziul explains why the term “consultant” is all wrong. I agreed. So like Don Draper of Mad Men (who famously wordsmithed, “Why I’m quitting tobacco…”), now you understand my subject line, “Why I’m quitting consulting.” That said, I’m no quitter. Creative studio owners may not need “consultants” per se, but they…
Happy Monday. “No, we don’t have a budget. Just send us a proposal, ok?” Has a client ever said this to you? Did you believe them? Don’t fall for it. Ever. Here’s why… Years ago over drinks I challenged a client of mine (a VP/Creative Director at Discovery Channel) and he laughed: “Of course, yes,…
(Because I have this discussion with multiple owners multiple times every week, I thought it would be helpful to collapse my thinking here in a shareable format.) By now, we all understand the importance of narrowing one’s positioning. But how to narrow is where most owners get it wrong. Perhaps you’ve heard yourself say something like…
After a full week at Promax in LA, I thought I would share my biggest takeaway from the conference. You might expect I’m sharing a big insight into the seismic shifts in the entertainment industry… or the evolution of branded content → brand content → content… or the rise of Netflix / Hulu / Amazon…
