creativecircle, Author at Creative Circle

Working in a creative field as a freelance writer, I often stay up too late at night and find it hard to get to sleep when I do go to bed. It rang a bell when I read that “creative, gifted and highly sensitive” people may be more subject to anxiety. When you go to bed and sleep badly or not at all, you may experience your anxiety as restlessness, tossing and turning, jolting awake suddenly, nightmares, or brief panic attacks. These prevent you from getting the deep, restorative REM sleep you need, and can, in turn, hinder your creativity.

Anxiety, I’ve learned, is a habit like any other, and it can be calmed in a number of ways. Below are some recommended interventions for calming worries and fears that may be arising from your creative work.

Consciously make an effort to calm yourself down an hour or so before you want to go to sleep. Dim the lights, and find an easy, quiet distraction to engage your mind with lighter concerns (I play solitaire). Make yourself a cup of soothing peppermint, lemon or ginger tea.
Establish a consistent bedtime. This actually trains your brain to get tired at a certain time of night. Following a familiar winding-down routine can be comforting.
Write in your journal, or just jot down a few thoughts on a slip of paper. I find this to be invaluable when I get stuck chewing over a worry or a negative feeling. Getting a thought out of my mind and onto a piece of paper gives me the space to calm down and think of other, less consequential things.
Stay away from your bed after you get up in the morning, and reserve it for sleeping. Sitting in bed and working, texting, eating or talking on the phone are all distractions. Going to bed means going to sleep.
Some quiet background noise can also help distract you from your worries and get to sleep more easily. Turn on the radio at a low volume.
If your anxiety is strong, stop trying to sleep and distract yourself. Get up and walk around a little, read a book, do a little chore. As my sister once advised, “Do anything except think about your life!”

And don’t forget: You’re not alone. Insomnia plagues an estimated 50-70 million Americans and is cited as one of the top 10 reasons for lower productivity at work. It makes it harder to focus on your work, makes you more prone to making errors, and makes you more inclined to emotional mood swings. We could all have other habits we may not even be aware of that are disrupting a normal night’s sleep, so make sure you get the sleep you need to be at peak creativity.

Julie is a Creative Circle candidate, experienced freelance writer, editor, and content creator in Santa Monica, California. A mentor and a career advisor, she cares about the community of freelancers who are finding new ways to work successfully in today’s gig economy. If you’re interested in working with Julie, contact Creative Circle Los Angeles.

Let’s see a show of hands: How many of us started to consider a career in advertising based on Mad Men? Or Melrose Place, if you came of age during the ’90s? Hollywood has always been fascinated with Madison Avenue, and consequently, there are a lot of skewed, distorted, and just plain wrong ideas about working in the industry. Even though it’s fun to think of advertising as a glamorous, volatile career where glamorous, volatile people fight, drink, and sleep with one another, advertising is more of a business than a soap opera. Below are a few of the myths that paint the most unflattering portraits of us advertising professionals and what we do.

Myth #1: Creatives are sensitive, moody people

Many people, even other advertising professionals, still think of creatives as little better than werewolves in Warby Parker glasses: One minute, we’re normal and reasonable, and the next, we’re raging out of control and going for the throat of anyone who deems to lift their red pen against us.

The truth: When many of us first start out, we give our all and are married to our concepts. But over time, those with long and/or successful careers learn that advertising is more about good customer service than it is about making art. So we learn to compromise, collaborate, and be approachable. And once you’ve paid your dues, proved yourself, and realized that people genuinely want and respect your opinion, you’re less inclined to be combative.

Myth #2: Advertising is a complete boozefest

Even beyond Mad Men, the industry gets a lot of press that makes it sound like everyone drinks, all the time. (Arnold Worldwide in Boston famously has a vending machine that dispenses beer).

The truth: People who work in the industry definitely like the occasional beer or cocktail, but the three-martini lunch is a relic of another era. Many agencies sponsor happy hours or stock their fridges with microbrews as a company perk, but as agencies become increasingly more corporate, there are also standards of conduct that preclude drinking to excess or bad behavior to promote a safe, harassment-free working environment for everyone.

Myth #3: Copywriters are failed novelists, and art directors are wannabe filmmakers

Even today, it’s a common belief that advertising creative departments are filled with artists and writers who really want to make movies but don’t have what it takes to make it in Hollywood.

The truth: Given how intense the competition is to break into the industry, it’s safe to say that any copywriter who makes it in isn’t a failed anything. It’s true that a lot of would-be creative writers end up seduced by the promise of a steady paycheck and job security, but that doesn’t mean they have an agent on speed-dial. And likewise, being an art director is one career and being a filmmaker is quite another.

Whether you’re a copywriter or an art director, advertising is a demanding profession that requires constant learning. Most of the copywriters I know, myself included, are happy to have a stable job that pays well and allows us to do what we love. Many of us do have side hustles, but we’re not planning on quitting the day job. However, some creatives do transition to the production side — and yes, a few do go on to make movies (most famously, directors like Michael Bay and David Fincher).

Myth #4: All account people do is schmooze the clients and play with spreadsheets

If you based your ideas about account professionals only on pop culture and snarky comments from the creative team, you would suspect account managers were a bunch of killjoys who lived for spreadsheets, free meals, and bleeding red ink all over the creative.

The truth: Account work may be a different kind of work from creative — and it’s work that does often lead to meals and drinks with the client — but it’s still essential and time-consuming. Account managers are basically the people who reassure the client that those millions of dollars are well spent (which means they’re constantly reassuring the client of how amazing the creative is). And because their job is to know their client’s business problems and their outlook on advertising and marketing, account professionals often have unique, valuable insights into the creative work.

Myth #5: Advertising professionals are brash, egotistical jerks

Almost every depiction of advertising in popular culture makes advertising professionals look like liars and megalomaniacs — and this is perpetuated by the fact that it’s usually the outspoken, Don Draper-types who get press coverage.

The truth: Advertising does require a certain amount of showboating and self-promotion to get ahead, but most of those people forging ahead are doing so on the strengths of their professional accomplishments. And if you’ve ever wondered why so many advertising agencies are named after their founders rather than given some creative name, it’s usually because those individuals started making their own names at other people’s companies and needed to communicate the unique selling proposition of their new agency.

It’s true you are going to meet some jerky people in advertising, but it’s probably not much worse than any other profession

What do you think?

These five advertising myths just happen to be my least favorites, but there are dozens more. What are some of your pet peeves? Let us know in the comments!

Lisa is a Creative Circle candidate and seasoned advertising copywriter who lives in Los Angeles. Her background includes both in-house and agency work on Fortune 500 and global accounts in the consumer and healthcare/pharmaceutical fields. She excels at words, fashion, and cats. If you want to work with Lisa, contact Creative Circle Los Angeles.

One of the most longstanding, silly, and harmful advertising myths is that account people and creatives are very different types of people — like, “mortal enemies”-type different. You know how the stereotypes go: Account people are obsessed with spreadsheets, rules, organization, and sucking up to the clients. But as a creative, if you want to do good work, rise in the company, and enjoy your job, it’s important to see past the stereotypes and embrace the idea that you and your account people are on the same team.

Building a productive and mutually beneficial relationship with your account team doesn’t have to feel like brown-nosing, and it’s about much more than going out for drinks after work. In fact, you can put these ideas to work immediately.

Show up for meetings

Once you get to a certain point in your career, it seems like you’re spending more time in meetings than doing work, and the temptation is great to skip a meeting here and there — after all, if someone from creative goes, they can take notes, right?

Even if you don’t think you need to, GO. It’s a sign of respect to whoever organized the meeting. It also lessens the workload for your account team, since if you don’t go, they have to do double-duty by taking their own notes as well as catching you up on creative input. Even if a creative colleague takes notes, you will be missing out on opportunities for input and discussion, you look less engaged, and you may find fewer opportunities for growth within the company down the road.

Before you start concepting, spend quality time with the creative brief

You know how you and your partner can spend a week (or more) concepting, hashing out ideas, going back and forth, and finally you come up with 10 amazing ideas, and your creative director blows through them in two minutes? This is kind of what it’s like for the account team when you spend 30 seconds to scan through the brief and then toss it aside.

Putting together a good creative brief is no small feat. It’s not something they open up a template for, jot down a few notes, and then spit out of their computers 10 minutes later. A good creative brief is the culmination of research, time spent understanding the client, and deep insight into business needs. It’s surprisingly difficult to write a good one.

Don’t just review it to make your account team feel better — do it because it will help you produce work that’s on target and will satisfy your client. It will lighten your own workload, since you’ll arrive at viable creative solutions much faster and spend less time creating work that the creative director will yank off the wall.

Invite them to review your work early

A good way to send your account team the message, “Hey, I respect what you bring to my job,” is to have occasional creative check-ins with them (of course, always make sure your creative director is OK with this). Even if it’s not much more than ceremonial, it’s a good way to make them feel like they’re being included in the process. And, if by some chance, the creative team has gone horribly afoul of the creative brief, these check-ins allow for quick recalibration.

One of the biggest complaints we creatives make about account people is that they don’t understand good creative. Here’s your chance to help them learn. Explain your way of thinking, give examples of different creative executions you could have used but let them know why your solution solves the problem. You may be surprised by how eager they are to learn, and how useful that is: a seasoned account executive can crank out a headline or a tagline that’s almost as good as anything your creative director can write.

Go out for lunch, happy hour, or team-building exercises

There’s a lot to be said for getting to know your co-workers as people, outside of work. You don’t have to become best friends with your account team, but the occasional lunch outing lets you get away from the pressure of the work environment and get on more friendly terms. Plus, it helps you dispel all those unflattering stereotypes that account people can hold about creatives!

And finally, remember you really are on the same team

Yes, at the end of the day — after you’ve included them, made them feel respected and shared the secret creative handshake — it can still be frustrating to work with people who don’t quite see it your way, pressure you to work faster, and make demands on your time. But don’t forget you both want to create fantastic work that will make your client a huge fan of the agency — as well as have a fun job that affords work/life balance. You and your account team can be partners in all of that together.

Remember when you were a teenager trying to get your first job, but everything you applied to said, “entry level, must have at least 6 months experience,” and you thought, “WELL, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET EXPERIENCE IF NO ONE WILL GIVE ME A JOB?”

That’s what it feels like trying to get work in a new category or industry. If, for example, you have consumer packaged goods work, but you pine to do automotive advertising, or you work in social media and want to switch to UX/UI, you’ll find the switch more difficult than you’d think. Even if you already have a solid agency background, employers often insist on a certain amount of experience in a product category. And it’s usually for good reason: Many fields are highly technical or have a set of standard practices that it can take years to learn. But it brings you back to that conundrum: How does anyone get experience if they have to have some before they’re considered for a job?

Don’t give up! There are more opportunities than ever to get related experience that can help you get your foot in the door.

Do some editorial work

Product categories like automotive, technology, and even fashion can be hard to break into because they all employ such specific terminology and require in-depth knowledge of the product, its history, and the marketplace. If those are industries that call to you and you’re passionate about them, start writing about them. If this pushes your comfort level a little, start small by contributing smart, well-written Amazon reviews and work your way up.

If you have a true knack for both the subject matter and the writing, pitch your ideas to publications or websites. Better yet, create your own blog on the subject, which will allow you to add content and social media bullets to your resume.

Spec work

Doing spec work in the category you aspire to could help your cause, but only if it’s polished, insightful, and generally amazing. Many creative directors will argue that it’s a lot easier to do spec work than to come up with great creative that solves a client problem and can realistically be executed. Just be honest and don’t try to pass it off as produced work.

Hobby/pro-bono

True story: I have a friend who was obsessed with fashion, and she organized and promoted dozens of fashion events. She wasn’t making much money, but she created a brand so strong, she was able to get sponsorships from huge companies like H&M, Bloomingdale’s, and Uniqlo. Eventually, she needed a consistent paycheck, and without too much effort and absolutely zero experience in proper advertising and marketing, she landed a senior strategy job at a social media agency that handles Fortune 500 clients — all on the strengths of what she’d been doing essentially as a hobby.

If you come from a traditional background and you want to work in social, there’s nothing to stop you from taking on your own projects. You’re probably already working on your own personal brand; pretend you are also your own agency and promote it on social media.

Network in that industry

Break out of the usual habit of going to the usual advertising/marketing/communications professionals mixers and go to events that cater to your would-be industry. Network the same way you would in your current industry. You might be able to land freelance or in-house opportunities. You’ll also gain insider knowledge about the field and the market by immersing yourself in the culture. You may also be able to join industry-specific associations, and list these memberships on your resume.

Now wrap it up and tie a bow on it

A great way to quickly showcase your emerging skills is to create a page on your website/portfolio that is dedicated to your experience in that industry — even if it’s a mixture of spec work and non-advertising projects such as press releases and blog posts. Include a blurb that talks about your ambitions, but also talks up your previous accomplishments. At the very least, hiring managers will be impressed by your ambition and dedication. And if the work is good and it complements an already-strong portfolio, you may get your chance to work in a category you really love.

A couple years ago, I was on a videoconference, presenting work I’d created with my art director for a long-time client’s new line of business. The client said they wanted to push the creative boundaries to make sure this new product wasn’t lumped in with the rest of their offerings. We took the idea and ran with it.

I had fallen in love with a really “out there” solution, convincing my art director that it was on target and my creative director that including this concept would show a broad range of thinking. So, everyone signed off on it.

When that work went up on the screen, one of the clients laughed and literally asked, “Is this a joke?” While I sat there in quiet shock, my creative director just rolled with it and said something about pushing the work; I don’t even remember his exact words because I was, at that moment, willing myself to have an out-of-body experience. I was terrified that I had lost my team’s trust and dinged the agency’s reputation in the eyes of the client. “Bad” doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt (but “destroyed” gets close).

Spoiler alert: I lived through it. I did not lose my job. We did not lose the business. I have gone on to have plenty of other awkward creative review moments, both internally and with clients. Each time, I rebound a little more quickly, and with a little more grace.

You remember the “7 Stages of Grief” from your freshman psychology class — the idea that you go on an emotional journey through shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing, and acceptance before you get over a loss? You’ll go through a similar journey following a terrible creative review, from wanting to crawl into a hole to knocking it out of the park in Round 2 and getting on with your career.

Stage 1: Feeling awful

For many of us creatives, there is an arbitrary and fuzzy line between the “work” you and the “personal” you, and having your work dumped on can cut you to the core. It’s OK to take it a little personally.

If your company culture is such that people go out and shoot the breeze or commiserate over a pint, then by all means, go out, lick your wounds, and bond. Just remember, you’ll need to be at peak creative the next morning, so don’t impair yourself.

Stage 2: Coming to terms with the truth

Set your defenses aside and be honest with yourself: Was the work bad or sloppy? Was it too radical a departure from the client’s brand or current work? Don’t automatically go to the client-bashing place. The better you’re able to come to terms with what isn’t working, the easier it will be to make your work better.

Stage 3: Admitting you made a mistake

Let your creative director know that you took the feedback during the creative review seriously and are eager to try again. A good creative director will never throw you under the bus for one misstep. But remember, your work is a direct reflection on them, so your creative director might not be feeling too great right about now either.

Stage 4: Asking for help

One of the most important steps for getting the work right is to meet with your account team and spend some quality time with the creative brief. This document is your roadmap when you start a job. The creative brief represents your account team’s best efforts at conveying the client’s insights and desires. If you think it’s off-base, it’s worth having a conversation with your account team so they can then talk to the client and revise the brief. Your account team doesn’t always get creative, but they know strategy, which is just as important for doing the job right.

Stage 5: Sweeping it under the rug for a few hours

Seeing your work publicly derided and then taking responsibility for it is a lot for a sensitive creative person to handle! If time allows, give yourself a night to deal with it and then put it behind you. Treat yourself to a nice meal, see some friends, or just watch cat videos and go to sleep early; whatever works to take your mind off the situation for the night.

Stage 6: Kicking butt on Round 2

When you’re finally ready to pick back up on Round 2, don’t be hobbled by fear of failure, and don’t play it safe because you want to avoid the sting of criticism. Start with as much creative gusto as you had for Round 1; just be informed by what you learned. Make time for check-ins with your creative director, and work even more closely than usual with your account team.

Stage 7: Getting over it

Coming around full circle to that abysmal creative review I suffered: I got over it, and started hitting my stride again within a week. Eventually, the “is this a joke” ad became a punch line that my fellow creatives would tease me with when I was getting too cocky about an idea.

Bombing a creative review isn’t the end of the world, and through your career, you will come up with new and interesting ways to be wrong. But if you take the time to learn your lessons, you’ll find ways to keep going — and keep growing — as a professional.

Freelancers who work from home have a secret, and many of us hide it well. Like most successful freelancers, I maintain my professional identity at all times when I’m dealing with my clients. Generally, we communicate by text, email, and phone during the conventional hours of business, from around 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. They can count on finding me at my desk during the business day, phone and computer at the ready, right? Well — not exactly. When it comes to communications, I make sure that I’m living up to my clients’ expectations of my availability. The truth, however, is that I may be far from my desk when they call.

I’ve learned over several years of freelance practice that I do my best work at certain times of day, during those peak working hours when I feel I’m at a high level of focus, attention and efficiency. I see no reason for anyone else to know that, in between those hours, I might be busy taking care of personal or household tasks, or on an errand. Or, frankly, I might be lying on the sofa, staring into space. Such activities (or inactivities!) may appear to be secondary to the actual priorities of my workday, but I don’t see them as secondary at all.

For me, digressions and breaks are as important a part of my day as the hours I spend at the computer. They are key to managing my energy to get the most out of my work time.

When I held my last 9-to-5, full-time position as the executive editor of a magazine, I was efficient and successful at my job. I noticed, however, that I seemed to spend approximately six of my mandatory eight hours in the office focused on my work. I’d make the other two hours bearable through intermittent distractions, such as coffee breaks, chatting, and taking care of personal business. That feeling of wasting time was one reason I decided to start working freelance, so that I might work my six hours and be free to leave my office, or not, as I chose. But, even as a freelancer, I carried over that vague feeling of guilt that I wasn’t working my full “eight hours a day.”

After I learned about the science of human daily rhythms, I was relieved to discover that I was, in fact, living according to the healthy, natural schedule that suits me best. Most people’s natural cycles of energy and downtime don’t necessarily conform to the traditional, 9-to-5 business day. It’s physical: Our differing levels of alertness and sleepiness are regulated by our internal “circadian biological clocks.”

Generally, it takes a few hours after waking up in the morning to reach peak alertness and energy. A “circadian dip” causing sleepiness occurs from approximately 1-3 p.m., especially when people haven’t slept enough the night before. When we disrupt our circadian rhythm by keeping long or irregular hours, we have greater difficulty thinking and performing well. The Sleep Foundation advises us to take our own circadian rhythms into account when planning our day, and understand that, realistically, we will be effective at some times of the day more than others.

Some people are “larks,” full of energy in the morning, while others are “owls,” who come alive late in the day. I examined my own habits, and I came to recognize a pattern for my own peak time. I’m a lark, happy to see the morning sun. The problem was that I felt my energy lagging after the morning hours. I tracked my days for a while, and discovered that I was working at my best from morning to early afternoon. Then, I’d start to feel tired and distracted for a few hours. I get new energy in late afternoon and evening hours. Depending on how much sleep and exercise I get, my capacity for work seems to vary. On some days, working six hours is my limit. On other days, I can power through assignments for 10 hours or more.

You’ll feel good about your own performance if you take the time to observe your own daily functioning.

For a week or so, keep a log, and jot down how you’re feeling and performing at different times of day:

At what times do you feel distracted?
Is your energy low in the morning, or later in the day?
When do you prefer to take on your most challenging tasks?
When do you find that busywork is about all you can manage?
What times are you rarin’ to go? When do you absolutely need to take a rest?
Experiment with more difficult work in the morning or in the afternoon. Which works better for you?

You may not be aware of your own energy fluctuations, but your log will show you that not only does your energy level vary depending on the time of day, but also your performance and results. Take the time to get to understand your own daily habits, even the ones that you may think you want to overcome.

I firmly believe that this exercise will give you the evidence you need in order to understand that you’re not lazy or undisciplined — you’re just a normal human obeying your natural circadian cycles. You’ll be ready to:

Banish those guilty thoughts of, “I should be happy to continuously work all day.”
Feel entitled to schedule your work hours according to your energy levels.
Carve out chunks of downtime to step away from your desk or drawing board, even if it’s right in the middle of that mythical, 9-to-5 workday.
Work smarter, and perform better, faster, and more efficiently, to earn more or to enjoy more leisure time.

Take advantage of, and enjoy your new habits — even if they remain a secret from your colleagues and clients!

Julie is a Creative Circle candidate and experienced freelance writer, editor, and content creator in Santa Monica, California. A mentor and a career adviser, she cares about the community of freelancers who are finding new ways to work successfully in today’s gig economy. If you want to work with Julie, contact Creative Circle Los Angeles.

Shopping your portfolio around to different agencies, brands and companies used to mean multiple trips to the printer, pounding the pavement, breaking through gatekeepers and shuttling your physical book to all ends of the city. Nowadays, things are different. If you haven’t already, it’s time to embrace the power social media has in helping promote your work and strengthen your personal brand. By engaging hiring managers and starting conversations with others in the creative space, you can leverage social media to your benefit and save a lot on printing costs along the way.

Step 1: Branding

Begin by creating consistent social media profiles that highlight your professional interests and are mindful of your personal brand. As I outlined in another post, your social media presence/footprint is a “strong representation of you, so it should explain who you are, what you do and what you’re looking for. Show your personal brand, and let your personality come through a bit.”

Step 2: Content

You put a lot of effort into your work, so make sure the content you share reflects who you are and where you want your career to go. If you have a portfolio, use imagery of your work and post some of it to your feed. What you say about the piece is important too, so talk about it — but be concise. Your viewer/reader is scrolling quickly.

The “Stories” functions on Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook are great ways to showcase video content. Let’s not forget about your animations, cinemagraphs and motion graphics work. They can live in the social space too. If you have the ability (and legal rights) to share conceptual/ideation sessions and process — do it! We love peeking behind the curtain!

Step 3: Engagement

Every freelancer or full-time job seeker — hell, any savvy social media user — should be engaging with other users with similar interests. You can use it as a source of inspiration and also apply that thought to self-promotion in the creative space by following agencies, companies and the key players within them.

Take that one step further and engage with the people you follow. Like, repost and comment on their content and point them to your profile. Without being overbearing, comment about how you genuinely relate to their content, work or creative process. If you do your homework, this is one way to get them to notice you! In the same way that you check out someone’s profile after a comment on your photo, they’ll do the same and check out yours.

Step 4: Promotion

Now that you’ve made the effort to build your profile, enhance your content and engage with members of the community, it’s time to talk about your work. Regularly. But keep in mind that there’s a fine line between promoting your work and pushing your work on others in the social landscape. To err on the promotional side, share well-rounded content not related to your work. Post about a weekend adventure or a new happy hour spot. Give your viewer insight into who you are beyond your work. After all, we know that creativity is a lifestyle!

Bonus Tip: Don’t make your followers click to read more. Make sure the important information in your Instagram and LinkedIn captions stays above the third line. On Twitter, keep it under 120 characters if you are including a link to your work!

There is truly no substitute for networking and there never will be. However, methods of networking have and will continue to change. It’s up to you to be at the forefront.

Engage. Evolve. Create something great!

Brian is the Recruitment Manager at Creative Circle New York. He brings over 10 years of experience in the creative staffing industry, leading recruitment efforts and partnering with creative professionals and agencies, startups and companies in need of creative solutions.
Connect with him on social: LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter