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Chase the work, not the money. For as long as humanly possible. I was 50 and making under $200K, but I was winning Lions for work I wrote. Five years later, I’m making double that and still getting recruited. There’s no shame in being a late bloomer.
CD6, that’s so kind. I haven’t. I’m an introvert at heart!
I'm right there with you, and I'm riding that train until the wheels fall off and it careens off the track.
I left at 56 through choice, but still have a successful freelance career at nearly 60.
My advice would be:
Add value. Whether making money for the agency or using your experience to handle difficult clients.
Winning awards is obviously good, but is kinda a lottery.
Know that at some point you probably will be quietly nudged out. Plan for this financially, emotionally and, if you can, contractually.
Form good relationships with clients. This will help you if you fall back on freelance at some point - clients move on and often want familiar faces they can trust when starting new jobs.
Be nice to those below you - they’ll be the ones calling the shots when you’ve gone.
Actually, be nice to everyone.
Good luck. Everything will be fine.
Cultivate your client relationships. Too many people in advertising—especially creatives—focus on their agency relationships. These are arguably useful earlier in your career. But the best way to be secure when you’re older is by being close to clients.
I got aged out in 2022 and started my own agency the month after. It’s been 1.5 years and I’ve never had a better work-life balance. All thanks to awesome clients.
I got pushed out and wasn’t planning on this. I decided to pursue three paths: another agency, client side, or my own agency. I understand the agency business side well and knew I could never freelance. No agency would look at me. Clients didn’t want to hire someone my age who had never been client side before… but they had no problem hiring my agency, so that’s the path I ended up on.
First year was just me, easy work (about 15 hrs/wk) on clients I had past relationships with. I made about 80% of my agency salary.
This year I took on a design partner and we’re looking to possibly cross 7 figures in revenue… maybe a bit less, Q2 has only just started.
Have a plan B. Unless you're winning Lions (see above) this industry will quickly show you the back door and slam it shut behind you once you hit a certain age. This is one of the few industries (and maybe the only) where deep experience is seen as a negative.
At 47 I was making less as a CD than I did when I was 35. Now in my 5th year of freelance and I love it. No drama, no politics.
What age are we talking here?
Keep up with technology and stay current with social media trends. And don’t talk about being “old.” A lot of it is perception (IMO.)
This thread is making me simultaneously happy and sad. If you’re still in it and loving it then you do you!
Age 45. I’m out. I miss advertising so bad, but seeing over half of my colleagues fighting for freelance scraps reminds me to never go back in.
Fin-tech, specifically UX. Any time I talk about the creative process, they think it’s the most amazing thing since sliced bread (they call the ideation process “design thinking”).