Fresh

The Portland Advertising Federation (PAF) put on a great lunch yesterday.  It was a talk given by Mike Byrne from Anomaly. The topic was about how his agency re-thought their business model. He included a lot of interesting tidbits that had me scribbling notes. Some of the things he mentioned had me thinking, “how can they possibly get away working like that?!” while other points had me nodding furiously in agreement. Even though the talk was geared towards running an agency, I thought his points could be applied to one’s day to day work, and life in general.

Here are some of my key take-aways from the talk:

“Strive to be Stupid”

(More heart and feeling, less relying on rational thought.)

-Stupid ain’t dumb

-By being stupid you can be brilliant

-Smart is business as usual

Being in the “Value Business”

-They don’t bill for time, but for the value of their endeavors.

-Time isn’t money. Charging for value is harder but honest and fair.

-Work for businesses that you want to see grow

-Ask yourself: “what businesses should we loose?”

-If a business does not have money to spend up front, consider asking for a percentage of the company as payment (even 1%). This changes the way you look at a project for the better, too.

What would Obama do? (surround himself with really smart people)

-Never pass up the chance to sit down and talk with inspiring people

-Know the best people. Hire some of them.

-Small companies do the most interesting things

Encourage failure. Try to Fail BIG

-Fail forward: interrogate “why?”

-Ask more questions, ask early and ask often.

-Don’t apologize for seeking clarification.