SO CREATIVES – WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? IF THE ANSWER IS EVERYTHING YOU’RE STILL OK.

ARTICLE POSTED:March 24th, 2010 by Todd

Fear as a positive tool not an inhibitor.

It’s a strange concept in a field known to chew creatives up and spit them out in a relatively short time. In fact if you talk to a range of creatives from those early in their career, middle of their career or those rare few who have lasted long enough to be long term industry leaders you’ll get an impressive range of mental states. You’ll get those too terrified to speak their mind. Who are literally trapped in a cycle of yes sir, thank you sir. You’ll find those so beat down by the system and their clients flip flopping state of instability that they are bitter to the point of aggressive outbursts and constant late night complaint sessions over too much alcohol. You’ll get those who have stood up to the world and love their job and the creative power they exhibit. Or those who simply had enough one day and left it all behind. And you’ll get all those in between. (I know I fit into a few of those myself). The fact is creative people as a whole are very emotionally sensitive people – no matter how hard skinned we can seem at times. That doesn’t make them weak. That doesn’t make them afraid. It also doesn’t make them untouchable. In fact all we are is passionate about “stuff”. (And I do mean “stuff”). We all have our nuggets of passion that we hold onto and our hates we have to deal with to enjoy those moments of joy. The trick becomes – balancing the two and ensuring you have more joy than heavy lifting.

Over the last decade of my career in this industry as well as other industries I admit to a lot of fear and if someone says they don’t have any I challenge that. It’s a human trait and like all emotions is equally important and to be embraced. Especially to the people who are tasked with connecting brands and materialistic needs to human beings who are after all each a boiling pot of emotion and chaos. After all – you wouldn’t ask someone who doesn’t speak French to give a speech in English to a French crowd.

So there it is – your all have fear and so do I. Suck it up. Unfortunately more and more in a field dominated by growing technology and knowledge which has empowered the client and the consumer and in turn taken a large measure of control and power away from the creative mind has left a sense of vulnerability in one’s skills and ideas. “Why don’t I just design my own ad…my camera copies files to my computer and I have Corel Draw”. That statement is important. And our fear usually tells us to run for the hills or scream for attention with confidence builders like our experience or education. However the reality is this is a powerful turn of events. And it’s ok to feel a little less in control.

Could you be anti-corporate in a corporate world? Maybe. Do you need to be to still have a say? Not at all. It is all a matter of perspective. A champion of going left when they expect you to go right is still a respected trait no matter where you stand. Breaking change and taking chances. Our fear is more than often an inhibitor and therefore viewed as a bad feeling. But it doesn’t need to be. Fear, like all emotions has its place. You enjoy being scared during a scary movie. A little fear keeps us working hard (but hopefully not all night) not because you think you’re wrong in what you may need to present or finish the next day – but because you’re nervous about acceptance. Elevated adrenaline will make the project sell through or that end of the day “good job” compliment all the sweeter. Fear – if you let it – can lead to a very rewarding beginning to a positive result. My suggestion would be to embrace it. Accept it but don’t look at it as negative. It’s not an easy task and in fact we’re all still working on it. And if it truly is a negative fear you should do the scarier thing and turn left instead of right. Too often we hide from our fear as creatives and don’t embrace it as part of the process of people. I wonder if more people did embrace and use their fears how the industry would evolve in the eyes of the burn out and abused who have left or dipped their toe in every few years.

So what are you afraid of?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 9 24 am and is filed under All Blog Posts, Inner Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

SO HERE IS MY THOUGHT AND WHY ITS ANYTHING BUT MINER, AN OPEN LETTER FROM OUR FOUNDER

ARTICLE POSTED:January 16th, 2010 by Todd

Cheers…and welcome to Miner Thought.

What is MT and where will the future hopefully lead us…an open letter from an honest creative.

So…I’m the punk. Or at one time I was. Though the dreadlocks and pink mohawks of my youth have long since gone away, the loud music and the spirit of doing things differently whether hell or high water still remains a deep part of my moral fibre. I once promised myself that I would never go “corporate”, but as I got older and things began to cost money and somewhere along the way entered the engine I once fought so hard to be against. Call it selling out, call it growing up, call it irony. Whatever you call it, it happened. And you know what? I don’t really mind that much. Part of aging maybe. Or perhaps realizing that once I got into it that we are all very similar (and I’m still glad that I have managed to work for independent agencies and boutique firms). But being in advertising and marketing for what is fast approaching a decade I have still managed to do what I want and move from industry to industry and experience to experience.

So the rebel is still in there somewhere. But is it possible that it manifests in a different method now? I was once told that I seem to be the sort of person who moves from project to project and challenge to challenge with the thought: “…hmm…I think I can do something cool with that…”

With that thought I started to look at what was missing in my professional life and came across a new thought: I work for a lot of cool brands at a senior creative level and with a lot of cool people and it rocks…but at the end of all things when the curtain does fall I fear it may feel a little selfish. What am I doing to help?

As the about page will tell you Miner Thought has been a lot of things (it was once called Toy Twuk Studios…what was I thinking…) and in my career – which is now entering its second decade – so have I. So why not put that creative experience, curiosity and developed skill sets to something tangible and valuable to really helping others. Not just organizations and charities – but community centres, individuals, groups, schools, hospitals, events, heroes and victims. Why not offer creative help to those who have such an IMPORTANT message but sometimes lack the media experience or dollars to make that message not only relevant to their target but look engaging and well designed.

In 2010 Miner Thought had begun to evolve its own mission and is actively recruiting (more on that soon). We no longer simply want to do nice branding and design – but do it for people who need help. But with that thought comes an obvious reality. I have clients that trust in me after all this time and new ones who want to work with me and the teams I work with. So for now we are looking at operating as much as we can in the non-profit sector when we are not working on paid work. This may sound impossible but it’s not – as I and those who will hopefully join MT in the coming months as we ramp up all still have day jobs or strong freelance careers working actively in the paid sector. (I am currently a Senior AD for a downtown Toronto digital agency). That helps pay the bills and helps us pick our clientele.

As mentioned on the non-profit side of MT I am looking at growing a small and dedicated team of do-gooders who are looking to dedicate some of their time to help. I’ve already talked to a few of you and I hope to talk to many more. Part of what makes this so much fun and fulfilling is connecting with the organizations and charities out there and helping them beyond creative services by simply spreading the word. Letting others know about them, their projects, their efforts and more. I hope the blog part of MT will evolve into a platform to profile others as well as let MT individuals cover some of the things they do to help beyond the work.

So with all that together I hope that this site will not only work as a strong project showcase for what MT is doing but a social conduit for what our team is doing and what YOU are doing. In the end always helping.

In the long run, I hope and imagine that Miner Thought will eventually work as a pure 100% non-profit creative service group, surviving off of sponsorship donations to help us put food on our tables and continue to donate our time and imagination to helping those we can.

I hope you will help and if you think you can PLEASE contact us.

Cheers,
Todd Lawson – Owner | Creative Director

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 8 44 am and is filed under All Blog Posts, Inner Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.