Philosophy. Poetry. And most-important, self-promotion.

I don't want to jinx anything but life on the GeorgeCo, LLC, a Delaware Company front has been nothing if not busy.

When I started as a soloist, I decided upon a couple of rules for my business. I'd worked for others my whole life. I made a conscious choice not to do that again. So I was going to Sinatra my way through my waning years. My way.

My rules were straightforward. But in this day and age, demanding.

1. I wasn't going to work with people I didn't like. 

2. I wasn't going to work for brands I didn't respect.

3. I was going to price myself at the very top of the market--based on my belief that a bloated ad agency (redundant) would deliver less and charge at least 50% more.

4. I would reaffirm my favorite of David Ogilvy's maxims--one that I believe, most have forgotten. That is, "First-class business in a first-class way."

5. Since I've been working almost 40 years, I have one of the best "Rolodexes" in the business. I'd make every effort to have the industry's best-people working on businesses I tend to. I  never confuse availability and capability.

Just now, on Twitter I read an exchange between two friends I've only ever met online but I feel I could have a beer with, something I don't dole out lightly: Vikki Ross and Dave Trott.

First I read Trott, who quoted one of the B's of BBH, Nigel Bogle.

Not to be outdone, Vikki Ross wrote:

It's hard to bark or argue with a client, but those quotations are a pretty good way of letting your clients know how you and your business are going to comport themselves. They're more than a style guide, though I like their style. They're a substance guide.

All of these guideposts seem to be working for GeorgeCo, LLC, a Delaware Company, at least so far.

What strikes me as a bit counter-intuitive is that in the run-by-accountants Holding Company era, my precepts are just about the opposite of how, I think, most publicly-held agencies are led today.

Maybe the difference is this simple: GeorgeCo, LLC, a Delaware Company is adding value. InterPutzLeechoCom is a low-cost data and service provider staffed by the cheap and inexperienced.

That's it for me today, except for one more thing. GeorgeCo, LLC, a Delaware Company also believes in the power of poetry. In fact, I don't really want to work with clients who don't. (My second client quizzed me on Thoreau's "Walden." When I passed, she gave me a six-month's retainer.)

So, I usually send clients this poem as a way of describing what I try to do differently. Yeah, it's a little sappy. And it certainly isn't hip and cool. But guess what? I don't care.