You start getting fired from your first job the day you get it.
Because you start to relax.
So you stop doing everything that got you the job.
Which was whatever it takes.
Working all the hours there are.
Contacting absolutely every creative director you can find.
Not being picky about where you work.
Just wanting a job, anywhere.
Just to be working and doing ads.
The energy, the enthusiasm, are irresistible.
And they work.
But the funny thing is, as soon as you’ve got a job, you stop doing it.
You relax.
You start to work reasonable hours.
You look at what everyone else is doing.
What time do they come in, what time do they leave?
Then you copy that.
And the senior people in the department, they like a drink.
So you copy that.
And they don’t work too hard, they go to the bar, or spend all day on FaceBook, or sit around telling jokes.
So you copy that.
And what you forget is, that you’re not senior.
So you can’t get away with what they can.
You haven’t got as much work under your belt as they have.
You haven’t earned the right.
The CD will swallow it from those guys.
He won’t swallow it from juniors who haven’t done anything.
Why should he?
You had one advantage: energy.
And you threw that away when you got hired and relaxed.
So you get fired.
Happens to all of us in our first job.
That’s when you ask the question.
How do you get your second job in advertising?
Well, how did you get your first?
The answer is still the same, whatever it takes.
So you work on your portfolio, all the hours there are.
You call up everyone you can think of.
You call and write to creative directors, headhunters, friends in the business.
You ask everyone and anyone for help.
The energy is coming off you like sparks.
Now you can’t relax and work reasonable hours.
Now you can’t do the same as everyone else.
Because they’ve got a job and you haven’t.
So you need an advantage.
And that advantage is energy.
That’s what a creative director is always looking for.
That’s what will shake up his department, and give him something he hasn’t got.
That’s what will eventually break down resistance.
That’s what will get you the job.
Then what’s the first thing you do when you get the job?
You relax.
Go back to the way you were when you got your first job.
Start to work reasonable hours.
Watch what everyone else does.
And behave like them.
Like everyone else, you stop doing exactly what it was that got you the job in the first place.
What made you different.
And you start to behave like everyone else.
You lose your point of difference.
And pretty soon you’ve got another question.
How do you get your third job in advertising?