Advice for Single Ladies

I'm not sure where to credit these fabulous gems, my friend Brandon stumbled upon them and sent them my way. They are an absolute crack up, enjoy:

Cargo

Yesterday Josh and I rode our bikes to the Pearl to look around at Cargo and a few other shops.

Here are some of the items I enjoyed:

Lemonade

This is a good reminder, I need to see this documentary:

Unemployed Day 5,6,7

Don't worry everyone, still unemployed, still working on staying busy during this "sabbatical." I don't think I've worked long enough to earn a sabbatical yet. I've been staying pretty busy looking for awesome jobs (if you're reading this and you're an awesome job, look no further... I'm ready for you).

Wednesday night I attended AMA's Professional Development panel with my friend Stacy. The panel included: the director of Filter Mark LeBlanc, the creative recruiter at Wieden+Kennedy Lauren Ranke, and the talent scout for Nike's global marketing Jen Jacobs. The evening was a great refresher for me and the speakers were all full of great things to say. Best advice I walked away with:

• Find the people who make you jealous and surround yourself with them. Talent always pushes you to be better.
• It's hard not to act desperate when you are desperate, but treat your job search like a relationship.
• Learn how to edit yourself, be relevant and interesting.
• Don't pretend that the social web doesn't exist, it does, learn how to use it. The best quote from this topic of discussion came from Lauren:

"Twitter is like this river of information and it just keeps flowing and flowing and you can dip your cup in and drink from it whenever you want, it's that simple."

The speakers did a great job of being relevant and interesting. It's a hard time and can be an even harder time if you're a junior, that's another thing they touched on. Everyone is looking for a high-level of experience and how do you get that?

Well friends, that brings me back to my sabbatical. Maybe I haven't worked long enough to earn it, but it's definitely a blessing. I have learned a lot of tools and now I have a lot of time to put them to use.

So, yesterday I had my good friend Max over for lunch. He's in a similar boat and so we're teaming up and I now have another new project started. It's one I've had going in my head for a while, but I'm really excited to have some partners on the project and to see how collaborating will grow the idea. I'll share more once it gets going.

Other things I've been doing to stay busy? Eating a lot of content. Tons of it.

I've really been enjoying this video from WKE.

I just wish they made it easier to share- why no embedding link? I think that's the best way to share content... they do have a download button, but it doesn't work. Anyway, check it out, I wish I would have thought of it. They did do one really great thing for sharing, they uploaded all of the images onto Flickr, so you can download them and reorder the content however you like. Love it. Okay, I would love it. But I just checked their Flickr link and nothing is uploaded yet. Hmmm... it would be awesome to see if people remediate it.

Maybe I'm a little late on this, but Natalie shared this video today and it's great. The Internet works in mysterious ways:

Alright, ready for the weekend. Going exploring... where? I don't know yet, but let's hope the weather holds out.

Unemployed Day 4: Getting Stuff Done

Today I attempted to install a procrastinator's worst enemy into my Firefox. It's called LeechBlock and it allows you to successfully lock yourself out of websites for set periods of time. Yes, I have a problem, it's called Facebook. Don't pretend like it's not your problem too. I tried the add-on out for 10 minutes and it worked just as it was supposed to. I would say try it out for yourself, only for some reason my Firefox is now completely dysfunctional and I'm back to Safari. So... until that's figured out, I'm practicing self-control.

I met again with my freelancer friends to think more about organizing a creative collective. We're brainstorming projects. I'm pumped to have people to work with. Outside of school, it can be hard to find good partners to build your portfolio with, so this is really refreshing.

I'm working on the project I mentioned yesterday, the one I have yet to come up with a name for. But, I am very pleased to announce that my first interview will be with the Creative Director of Agency Culture at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, Ronny Northrop. I met Ronny at the One Club's student portfolio show last spring and had a great conversation. I'm really looking forward to catching up and I think Ronny will be the perfect guy to kick off my interview series.

Buckminster Fuller: The Lost Interviews DVD #2 arrives in the mail tomorrow from Netflix. Excited to finish up that series, and looking forward to a good reflection. By the way, if you haven't tried Netflix, you really, really should. I love it. A lot.

Unemployed Day 3: A Collective of Sorts

Being unemployed has its perks. There is a lot more time for spontaneous collaboration. This morning I met up with a few friends and fellow freelancers (when I say fellow, I am implying that I am going to try my own hand at the life of a freelancer, for now).

We're getting together to start a collective of sorts. It's still in the works, so I can't spill the beans just yet.

I've also started working on a new project, which will be progressing over a few months. I've made it my goal to get to know this industry better, to understand where it's going and to learn about the people in it. I am going to be interviewing creative directors, planners of all sorts and strategists. I'm particularly interested in the planners and strategists because these roles are often somewhat elusive. I plan on filming my interviews and sharing what I learn. I think this will be a valuable tool to students and juniors. It will also be extremely valuable to me in my own process. So far I already have my first two interviewees lined up and I can't wait.

If you know someone I should talk to, or if you would like me to talk with you, feel free to contact me: ashlystewart@gmail.com

Unemployed Day 2: Bucky's Mind Part One

Psychic Phenomena from universe on Vimeo.

This morning I spent a few hours with "Buckminster Fuller: The Lost Interviews," which comes from a series done by Damien Simpson on his 70s show Psychic Phenomena.

About a week ago I read the Wikipedia entry about Bucky and realized I really wanted to know more. I'm still digesting the first interview, but I have to say, I am very taken with Buckminster's philosophy and blown away by all this man knows. I'll post a full review once I finish the interviews.

I also got to spend lunch with Mark Rukman. Mark and I crossed paths during our time at ID Branding. It was great to work with Mark for the short time we had. Brand strategy and account planning are two different things, something I will be diving more into with my time off. Mark is a great account planner, and I am glad to have him as a friend.

Finished the day by baking some delicious cookies.

Yeah, they really are as good as they look :)

Unemployed Day 1: It Begins

Okay, so it's not really the first day I have been unemployed, but today I have made a decision to use my unemployed days wisely. I can't tell you how often I have heard, "If only I didn't have to work everyday, I would get so much done!" So I consider myself lucky. I have some valuable time off and until I have the privilege of working again, I am going to make the best of it.

Everyday I am going to learn, explore and create, and post is all right here.

And... here I go.

Seth Godin: Linchpin

Seth Godin talks to PSFK about his new book Linchpin:



Don't do your job, do the work.

Another great review.

Technology

This is really amazing.

Relationships Based on Authenticity

I took this image from Paul Isakson's presentation regarding behavior on the social web. If you haven't checked it out, I would recommend it.

Looking for Love:

Ashly is seeking a mentor, also referred to as a teacher.

Agencies are like relationships and I am back on the market. I'm going to be optimistic about this layoff. I'm looking for new opportunities and I'm excited to see what relationships will grow from this.

TODAY'S THEME:

BE INDISPENSABLE, NIMBLE AND FEARLESS.


Onward.

Also, my new site is going up soon.

I Love Experiments.

This is a really fun and brilliant idea...

Blu Dot Real Good Experiment from Real Good Chair on Vimeo.

Best. Promotion. Ever.
I wish I found that chair.

The Post-Crisis Consumer

The Power of Yes

The Girl Who Scilenced the World for 5 Minutes

The Girl Who Scilenced the World for 5 Minutes:
You are what you do, not what you say you do.

The Teens' Speech

A wonderful project from the UK's Barnardo's and Poke London.


The Teens Speech - Official Premiere

The Teens' Speech | MySpace Video

Jesus can walk on water, but Chuck Norris can swim through land.

Some of you may remember last year's tree. But this year... even better.


This year's tree is a gem alright.



Say hello to Morgan Freeman.

The Future

Some great stuff from some smart people.

Interview with Rishad Tobaccowala on advertising’s digital and social media future by Simon Mainwaring:




Interview with Simon Mainwaring:


The Future of Work:

The Future Of Work

View more documents from Jeff Brenman.

What's Next in Advertising:

What's Next (2009) UBA 60 Edition

View more documents from Paul Isakson.

Creating Advocacy and Conversation:

How to create advocacy and conversation, Planning-ness 2009

View more documents from Frank Striefler.

And this required reading via Deb Morrison.

Today's Thoughts

It's GORGEOUS outside.