10 Jobs I Want.

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This week, I am covering some of the places that I am interested in working at, as well as how I would need to improve to be a qualified applicant. Here are my top 10:

Digital Content Intern at Pencils of Promise

Skills Required
– Video editing on any professional software
– Experience with DSLRs
– Strong understanding of social media metrics and the importance of data

What I Need to Work On
An important aspect of this internship is to have skills in video production. I have been making videos for over 4 years now and have a lot of editing experience, so I believe I am already reasonably qualified in that regard. The other aspects of the job, however, like social media data analysis and heavy blogging, are not as much in my wheelhouse. To gain these skills, I want to continue working on my blog and building my own social media brand, using myself as a case study to learn more about data analysis.

Video Production Intern at DP+

Skills Required
– Varies depending on type of internship, but generally requires very strong filming and editing skills
– Knowledge of brand marketing and development

What I Need to Work On
My experience with filming and editing could make me a pretty strong candidate, but my knowledge of brand marketing is still not very good. Again, practicing with my own social media to see how I can continue to grow my personal brand would take me to the next level.

Content Intern at The Mill

Skills Required
– Good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel
– Knowledge of Canon 5D preferred
– Pursuing coursework in film production or digital media

What I Need to Work On
I have a basic understanding of Excel, but it is not nearly strong enough. I need to watch more tutorials, and I am also considering taking a class to learn more. I have not worked with the 5D specifically, but I have worked with near identical cameras, so that should not be an issue.

Creative Director at Wieden + Kennedy

Skills Required
There are no official listings out for this position, but I have seen the work of several of their creative directors. It would require a powerful creative vision, lots of experience directing large scale productions, and great management skills.

What I Need to Work On
I have been following WK’s work for a long time. They make the Old Spice commercials as well as many of the KFC commercials, and I love what they do. This is my dream, but to get a position as a creative director, I would need way more experience in content planning and directing for commercial video productions. This would mean continuing writing and directing my own productions and working on becoming a strong leader while refining my craft and developing my vision.

Creative at Mother

Skills Required
There are no official listings for positions, I would have to inquire directly, but the requirements would roughly be several years of experience in brand marketing strategy as well as in production for photo and video advertisements.

What I Need to Work On
Mother does a lot of really unique advertisements. I would need to really developing my understanding of brand marketing and strategy through my courses, as well as through internships and jobs in the marketing field. Refining my craft as a video producer through practice will also be necessary.

Creative Director at Virtue

Skills Required
– 8-10 years agency experience as a creative.
– A background in copy but an understanding and eye for good art direction.
– Can create big ideas and the tactics that accompany them. And then sell them in.
– Emotionally intelligent with the ability to manage other creatives.
– Solutions oriented. Knows how to deal with feedback and relay it to their team.
– Strong knowledge of digital production and experience with video shoots.
– Strong presentation skills.
– Pragmatic but inspired.
– Has a diversified background and a variety of interests to draw inspiration from.
– CPG, Beauty, Fashion or Luxury experience is a plus, but let’s see what else you’ve got!

What I Need to Work On
I need to work in the field for almost a decade before I can qualify for this, but it would be a very interesting job. Working at different advertising and production agencies as well as gaining experience in leadership is what I would need for this.

Art Director at SPARK

Skills Required
-Stellar presentation skills and the ability to articulate big ideas in a simple way
– Build strong concepts no matter the industry or media
– An eye for how to create great, art directed work
– Handle multiple production jobs from pre-pro to post
– Experience leading others
– Passion for cross-departmental collaboration and commitment to the team concept
– A true student of the industry

What I Need to Work On
I would need to diversify my experience from just video to all art fields, while also working on my leadership and presentation skills. I want to practice my graphic design skills a lot more, while also working toward leading a video production team to gain the necessary experience.

Creative at Martin Agency

Skills Required
There is no official listing for this position at the moment, but an intense understanding of video as a craft and brand marketing strategies would be key.

What I Need to Work On
I would need to develop a very strong portfolio, while at the same time practicing with promoting my own content to really nail down my marketing abilities.

Video Production Intern at Goodby Silverstein

Skills Required
There are no official listings for positions, I would have to inquire directly, but the requirements would roughly be several years of experience in brand marketing strategy as well as in production for photo and video advertisements.

What I Need to Work On
I need to keep developing my portfolio and building my personal brand, while diversifying my skills enough to be useful in multiple ways. Through participation in an internship this Summer, plus my individual and course work over the next year, I think I will have the required experience.

Video Production Team Member at HZ

Skills Required
There are no official listings for positions, I would have to inquire directly, but the requirements would roughly be several years of experience in brand marketing strategy as well as in production for photo and video advertisements.

What I Need to Work On
Building my brand and refining my craft as a videographer through real world experience is what I need to land a position here. I also need to broaden my horizons to master different software applications, both for editing and analytical purposes.

Thanks for reading, tune in next week for my take on collaboration in the workplace!

Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, and the Art of Marketing

Images: Brian Bloom and
AT&T AUDIENCE Network

The Tim Ferriss Show #343: Seth Godin on How to Say “No,” Market Like a Professional, and Win at Life

In November of 2018, author and entrepreneur Seth Godin returned as a guest on the Tim Ferriss show. Godin has written over 40 books on marketing and personal development, and in this episode, he shares a few key insights on how to manage life and market effectively. Here are just a few of the tidbits from the episode that I found the most intriguing.

You are your own boss, and you probably suck at it.

This one really stuck out. As Godin describes it, you are your own manager. You decide the things you do and don’t do every single day, so you should treat yourself the way that you would expect a great manager to treat you. A good manager wouldn’t let you waste hours watching YouTube, or scrolling through Instagram, then Twitter, then Snapchat, then Facebook. They wouldn’t talk to you in the negative and demeaning way that you talk to yourself. Instead, they would be focusing on making you better at every step, so that you can work as efficiently as possible and find deep meaning in what you do.

This is not easy to do. It requires a great deal of discipline and practice, but if you can learn to manage yourself, then you can start to do some really amazing things.

Find your smallest viable audience.

For a long time, I was under the impression that products needed to be made for the largest audience possible. In doing so, they would be able to make the most sales. But in recent years, I have discovered that the opposite is actually true, and Godin sums this up perfectly.

Godin gives the example of Tim Ferriss himself. Tim is a millionaire with an extremely successful podcast and a long list of bestselling books, but 99% of people on Earth have never heard of him. Fans like myself are more than willing to listen to his shows and on occasion, buy his books, but no one else really cares. Even so, he doesn’t need a massive audience, he just needs his small group of die-hard fans who will support him endlessly.

This principle is true of all marketing. I thought for a long time that whatever content I produced, it would need to appeal to a massive audience in order to be profitable. This simply isn’t true. If you want to grow your customer base, find the group of people who really like what you do, and let them pay you for it.

People will pay. A lot.

According to Godin, the biggest mistake a new business can make is pricing their product incorrectly. He cites the example of ketogenic dog food. It is marketed as being much healthier and higher quality than other dog food brands, so naturally, the price is considerably higher. The actual difference between brands may be marginal or nonexistent, and it may be produced for just as much as the other dog foods on the shelf, but that’s not why people buy it. They buy it because they think it is high quality and it makes them feel good. If it was priced considerably lower, it might be more cost effective, but the customer would also think that it was a lower quality product, and probably wouldn’t buy it.

Some people love a bargain, but more people love quality and status. Buying the best, most expensive product leads one to believe that what they are getting really is the best, and it also sends a message to the people around them that they have the money to buy these expensive products. People aren’t looking for cheap knockoffs, they want the real deal. That’s why when you walk into Walmart and you have to choose between name brand Aspirin or Walmart’s knockoff brand, you probably choose Aspirin, even though the ingredients are exactly the same in both and Walmart’s is half the price. People don’t buy logically, and if you choose just the right price, you can take advantage of this to make a whole lot of money.

Thanks for reading, and make sure to head over to Tim’s blog to listen to this podcast for yourself, there are a lot of deep insights that I didn’t cover. Come back next week for my next post, and make sure to check me out on social media!

Josh