It's LOVE of money that's the root of all evil. The money itself is fine.
Dear Students,
I address those of you from 2nd year, a week after graduation.
Those of you in 1st year are welcome to listen if you can stand it.
I wish to speak about the careers you're itching to hurtle yourselves into.
I mean to take some of the piss out of your vinegar.
Although 99% of you won't be able to learn a thing from the telling of my experience, it's possible half a line may find lodging in a brain or two.
Greater than I have taken up poorer odds.
Forget about the
.
Yes, that's the message. (most of you can tune out here)
Sure there's
in advertising.
And I know that after committing a bundle of moolah to a VCU AdCenter education you'd like nothing more than a fat envelope of green to appear under your pillow tomorrow morning.
Forget about the
Pretend it doesn't exist.
Go about starting your career as if there isn't a paycheck every other week.
Make your new job choices without asking about salary.
Don't worry.
That you have what it takes to get through AdCenter may not yet assure you it's time to pack for the trip to NY to be inducted into the Art Directors' Hall of Fame, but surely it cannot be difficult to believe you have come into possession of the mere competency required to pay back your loans.
Forget the
Always remember this: forget the
Go get a job in advertising because somewhere along the line the tango of words & images dancing together called you.
Get into this business because great advertising can lift up the weak and destroy evil.
It's hard work making ads.
I don't know what drives people who do it because there's
in it.
I do it because nothing else feels as much like fun when you've done your work well.
Don't go into advertising if you haven't been called.
Don't go into advertising if your goal is to have martinis at the Mondrian with Joe Pytka.
There isn't enough power in wanting that to make it happen.
At least not in the way you'd want it to happen.
You know without me making much of it you'll make enough
for the things you need.
But, not as much if you chase it as there is when you chase ideas.
Forget the
.
Pay no attention to it.
Go after what your inside wants--the work.
Love the making.
Screw the mammon.
You can't eat it.
However.
You can live on work. You'll see.
"Screw Fenske. He's an idealist."
I can hear you think it.
You're right.
I'm out of bounds idealistic here.
You have to be.
Don't do this if you aren't.
p.s. i've read the only money in Lincoln's pocket when he was assassinated was a worthless $5 confederate bill (issued in Richmond) like the one above
I address those of you from 2nd year, a week after graduation.
Those of you in 1st year are welcome to listen if you can stand it.
I wish to speak about the careers you're itching to hurtle yourselves into.
I mean to take some of the piss out of your vinegar.
Although 99% of you won't be able to learn a thing from the telling of my experience, it's possible half a line may find lodging in a brain or two.
Greater than I have taken up poorer odds.
Forget about the
.Yes, that's the message. (most of you can tune out here)
Sure there's
in advertising.And I know that after committing a bundle of moolah to a VCU AdCenter education you'd like nothing more than a fat envelope of green to appear under your pillow tomorrow morning.
Forget about the
Pretend it doesn't exist.
Go about starting your career as if there isn't a paycheck every other week.
Make your new job choices without asking about salary.
Don't worry.
That you have what it takes to get through AdCenter may not yet assure you it's time to pack for the trip to NY to be inducted into the Art Directors' Hall of Fame, but surely it cannot be difficult to believe you have come into possession of the mere competency required to pay back your loans.
Forget the
Always remember this: forget the
Go get a job in advertising because somewhere along the line the tango of words & images dancing together called you.
Get into this business because great advertising can lift up the weak and destroy evil.
It's hard work making ads.
I don't know what drives people who do it because there's
in it.I do it because nothing else feels as much like fun when you've done your work well.
Don't go into advertising if you haven't been called.
Don't go into advertising if your goal is to have martinis at the Mondrian with Joe Pytka.
There isn't enough power in wanting that to make it happen.
At least not in the way you'd want it to happen.
You know without me making much of it you'll make enough
for the things you need. But, not as much if you chase it as there is when you chase ideas.
Forget the
.Pay no attention to it.
Go after what your inside wants--the work.
Love the making.
Screw the mammon.
You can't eat it.
However.
You can live on work. You'll see.
"Screw Fenske. He's an idealist."
I can hear you think it.
You're right.
I'm out of bounds idealistic here.
You have to be.
Don't do this if you aren't.
p.s. i've read the only money in Lincoln's pocket when he was assassinated was a worthless $5 confederate bill (issued in Richmond) like the one above
8 Comments:
Adoption = Guilt
Money is the least of our worries. People who play favorites are much more of a concern at this point. Stop looking at who made the work and start looking at the work.
Writing like a twelve-year-old who girl stumbles over her feet while asking a boy to the dance will only speak to twelve-year olds who have no talent.
I have sold my soul for the money that advertising can give. And I have since been reborn. I have seen the light and I want to testify. **can i get an amen**
Sure you can make a ton of money doing crappy work, but money won't fill your creative passion.
At least it never did mine. I left a good job as a copywriter in New York. I was making good money. (I'd doubled my annual income in less than three years.) But everyday on the train home I'd be washed over with waves of emptiness. Creative emptiness. The money was great but the work I did sucked.
I wanted to flip the paradigm and do work that I loved and not care about the money. So I left NYC and my career to go to the adcenter and change the way I looked at advertising.
And guess what? It's working. I look forward to leaving the Adcenter and washing my previous sins away with new ideas and fresh creative and maybe even change the industry a little.
A little.
I almost took a job before coming to the adcenter. It was going from business to business, trying to convert them to switch from their current SBC telephone service, to a new and improved SBC telephone service.
Each sale I made would get me good commission. The guy that trained me made 1500 a week and he was only working there a year. And he was only 23 years old. He drove an Audi! And there were subwoofers and shit like that in the trunk. We bumped mad beats on the way to the south side of Chicago by Cicero Ave.
But then at the end of the unpaid orientation, he said “So Nate, are you excited about this? Do you see yourself doing this and making this cash?” and I said
“Uhhhhhhhh ehh yaaaa yeah could be something maybe”
He didn’t call me back. I wasn’t enthused enough. My lack of enthusiasm was the ticket. Good ticket.
to Nate & Marahaahaa,
I applaud your decision to fill the empty place inside with something more than money. Yet I must warn you: terrific award-winning advertising doesn't happen often. Even the giants must pass their work through clients who have an agenda with priorities exactly unlike those required to do what you hope. The final result of your work may not be what you first reached for it to be. Although advertising is an extraordinarily powerful form to work in, don't be afraid to continue your search past. It may be you will find yourself more fulfilled in a form such as film, tv, painting, & etc. where the work you make is the work you choose. Paychecks do not accompany such forms. It takes a strong inner calling to perform happily without a paycheck. But. Don't let the ad money fool you if you hear that other calling. The schooling you've had can be of great benefit in building your abilities both in advertising and beyond it in other fields.
to mr. fenske,
I'm a trainee copywriter and I love the fact that I have a job and i do what i like to do best.
Everyday I wake up with a smile knowing a new day with a set goal of what i want and change in the advertising world.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that, any Tom , Dick and Harry can make money but how many Tom, Dick and Harry are happy with what they do?
sincerely
Rae
young copywriter from Malaysia
Adcenter does a great job making its students believe that every real-world project will be big and that it's education is worth every cent. I'm at an agency that hires Adcenter students (as well as from other schools like Miami) and it has to be said that Adcenter students come in with too much confidence and feel as if they can jump on any account. It's almost as if they ignore their "junior status" because they went to the Adcenter. It's great to be confident. But don't be an ass about it.
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