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Who here is freelancing while working full time?
GSP San Fran or Leo Chicago?
AKQA NY thoughts?
Who does your taxes? Need a recommend. Thanks.
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No. Keep your damn peace and sanity. Unless it’s a rare occurrence for a pitch or a huge project you shouldn’t feel bad about making and keeping your boundaries for work life balance. In your 9-5 boundary work smarter, not harder. Dont waste the day gabbing and get your shit done and get out. Most people who work past that often dilly dally during the day (from my own observation). There is no award for who works latest and who gets in earliest. Advertising is an industry that is all made up timelines for things we don’t need - it’s not life or death so don’t waste your youth in the office at night.
Keep your sanity. Burnout is real. The crazy good ideas happen outside of work for me.
Burnout is so real. I got so stressed at one agency with an extremely toxic boss that I actually got shingles at 31.
I’d argue you’re a worse creative if you’re always at work. What makes really good creative is experiencing life and being able to draw lines between things that may not be visible to others. Being out there, doing things, seeing what everything is like for people and using that experience for more richer insights vs a page in a pdf.
Can’t expose yourself to new ideas and inspiration if you’re always in a deck.
Not to mention hanging out with those outside of advertising so you can experience the world in which you’re advertising to
I’ve seen a mid level creative become an ECD of the entire agency and they leave at 5pm every single day. Whether or not they answer emails or are available after 5pm that might be the differentiator.
No. No. No. You're a better creative if you can set boundaries.
Yes, if you’re only working 9-5 you are going to get shit-canned.
Then it's not an agency worth working for.
You’ll never be rewarded in the amount equal to what you’re giving up. Having your own time is worth more than anything else
The amount of times I was promised a “comp day” when I worked on a day off was laughable. Or saying yes to helping out on something and then having to work a weekend for nothing in return is just offensive. I had realize that doing my job is enough and I’m not going to get fired for doing what I’m paid to do and not extra.
Time spent doesn’t equal creative excellence. You need great briefs and talent for that. But for performative agency optics, just make it appear you’re working late. That’s enough to keep leadership thinking you’re buying into their bankrupt culture of intensity.
I’ve worked with several creatives who would routinely shrug off awful deadlines in the name of work life balance. They all got canned sooner or later. It sounds great in theory, but it most of the time it comes off as selfish and leaving your team in the lurch, which it basically is
You choose a career in a client service industry. These always have long hours. This is because all it takes is one person to overpromise or underestimate something, and it compounds and affects the whole team. And then factor in waffling and difficult clients.
Your best bet is to go in-house or change careers totally.
Imagine waking up ten years from now and seeing all of the hours of your life you wasted wracking your brain for great ideas all in the name of trying to sell more bottles of [insert mediocre product name that no one even cares about anymore anyway here.]
Thats what success in this industry looks like. Go the f home and see your friends. Sure you might get shitcanned from this agency, you are pretty equally likely to get shitcanned because someone at the top sees you as a line item when it comes time for layoffs, and it really wont matter how much business you won or how many long nights you put in when those decisions get made. This place is hell.
Every workhorse creative I’ve ever encountered was underpaid, doing mediocre work, and eventually let go anyways.
I’ve been doing this 20+ years for all sorts of clients good and bad and I couldn’t stop caring if I tried. It’s a flaw. I care about everything and will kill myself to prove myself until the day I die. But also, I love this shit
You still work until 5 lol?
I try not to work past 4
The further removed a creative can become from their work, the more perspective it grants. We aren't paper pushers, we don't produce better work simply by being in an office or staring at decks. Inspiration is random and often requires distance from concerted effort. My best ideas come outside of work, so the less I can be at work, the less I force myself to try and muster a great idea, and the more likelu I am to have one. I'm more likely to have a great idea while eating a meal, engaged in conversation with a friend, on a hike, at the gym, or in the shower. Office culture is a bane on authentic creativity, and if you value that and your sanity, don't try so hard for the sake of appearances and enforce your boundaries.
If I could go back, I would do whatever I could to not work so many hours. It can often be unavoidable if you have an overly demanding cd or ecd with no regard for life outside of work, which i now consider a sign to leave a job. I’m in Europe now in my 40s so life is better, finally.
#democracyatwork
Yep
Hundreds waiting in line to do your job.
We now live in a world where technology has untethered us from our desks. Go live your life in the evenings, and if you need to be a team player, respond to slack queries or jump on tiny deck amends from your phone. Anything bigger, reply that it's the first thing you'll sort in the morning. It's a compromise, but it gets you out the door and living your life while still moving projects forward that need your attention.