“I work at a shit agency.
The accounts are shit.
My working conditions are shit.
We do shitty work.
Management is shit.
The account people are shit.
The planners are shit.
The pay is shit.
It’s in a shitty neighborhood.
Our new business record is shit.
It’s shit.”
--Hundreds of thousands of ad people
from around the world.
I just ran across something in the comments section of Dave Trott’s blog, http://www.cstadvertising.com/blog/2011/04/next/#comments. He wrote this to a reader: “Don’t worry too much about being at a shite agency. From what I hear from people, nowadays everyone thinks they’re at a shite agency. It’s tough everywhere and most ad agencies seem to have lost their way. As Churchill said ‘If you’re going through hell the best thing to do is just keep going.’”
I don’t think you can get better advice anywhere than that which is from Churchill. Just keep going.
Fred, my brother, the lawyer, tells it to me like this. “I say to people ‘I didn’t go to the best college. I didn’t go to the best law school. I don’t work for the biggest firm. I might not be as smart as you. But, I WILL WEAR YOU DOWN. I will work you under the table until you give up.”
Just keep going.
Keep typing.
Keep showing better work.
Keep listening beyond what the client says to what they really need.
Keep working.
Keep writing.
Keep coming back for more.
Keep fighting.
You might be in a shit place.
You probably are.
But if you keep going and you still go down,
at least you’ve gone down fighting.
And with dignity.
