A post where I say Freelance Ad Guy a lot!

Over on Twitter I decided partly as an experiment and mostly just for fun to create a sub character to my already very decidedly caricature of myself.. I created Freelance Ad Guy and since his wisdom would be sporadic at best he became a sub character instead of having a whole new account. I like to think of my Twitter account as a sitcom with an ensemble cast. Why would there be a need for Freelance Ad Guy? Well he takes all that goes wrong behind the scenes not only in Advertising and Marketing but the whole creative workplace and then relates it in an entertaining manner. Now in doing this I have offended some people because he does hit a little too close to home for some and.. well… I get to see Freelance Ad Guy as an acronym.. some people are just not very nice. The more fun ones are when I get accused of giving out “trade secrets” sure sometimes Freelance Ad Guy gives acceptable wisdom but for the most part its a joke, not to be taken seriously. I wouldn’t hire Freelance Ad Guy and I would hope you wouldn’t either. Obviously people out there are because I would’ve ran out of material before I started if Freelance Ad Guy wasn’t getting work. I look at this little Twitter show of mine as an extension of what I try to do with my interns, I don’t so much focus on teaching them how to use particular software because they should already know that, I focus on trying to impart all the things I learned the hard way doing this for almost twenty plus years. Now if they listen I don’t know but I can at least say I tried…

Talking with a friend today about Ed McMahon’s passing got me thinking how even though we’re not all talk show hosts we can use a sidekick.  I’ve always thought that Conan O’Brien was funnier with Andy Richter back in the day and now that the two are working together again I find myself watching late night television again.  Let’s not forget Paul Shaffer and David Letterman.  All these guys are stars in their own right and can be successful on their own but when they team up, the creative result is television ratings gold.  So why does my brian think that us little guys having a sidekick would be great? I know your thinking “If I wanted a middle aged man to sit at the end of my sofa and laugh at my jokes I would’ve let my unemployed brother in law move in” While that is a nice charitable act it’s not what I’m seeing in a sidekick.  Chances are you already have a sidekick or even multiple sidekicks be it your spouse, best friend, barber that kid who live in the apartment down the hall..  These people you see during your daily routines, you chat with them about this and that and through conversation ideas are generated, a new perspective is seen or the solution to a sticky problem is revealed. This is what makes having and also being a sidekick such an awesome cool thing. We take for granted that these people help us out all the time and don’t notice how hopeless our endeavors are without them.  Everyone want to be the hot shot star but it doesn’t matter what you do trying to do it alone is the recipe for mediocrity.  So let’s make room at the end of the sofa and get that conversation rolling who knows what greatness will come from it.