Advice for college students

I'm guest lecturing during a friend's advertising class on Friday. I have a talk prepared, but I figured I'd ask some other folks what advice they'd give to college students who are thinking about a career in advertising or marketing. Here's what they said:

"Internship. I've hired interns. Also learn about more than advertising and marketing: learn about selling, business, retail, psychology, etc."

"Teach them the importance of a good brief. You put shite in and you'll get shite out."

"Own your name on google's organic results."

"Go into nursing or medicine :)"

"#1--Be curious about the world. 
#2--Read, read, read (and watch, listen, play)
#3--Find a mentor

#4--Eat your Wheaties. You're going to need the energy."

"Two things: (1) Learn to tell a story in words and pictures, and (2) everything else you tell them will be obsolete in two years -- some of it in two weeks, and some even sooner."

"Have a Plan B"

"Tell them not to think in silos. If you're a writer, you still have to think of strong visuals. If you're an art director, a killer headline is always key. An account executive is capable of approaching a challenge creatively, just as creatives can, and should, think strategically. It's a business, after all. Those who survive - and thrive - bring a wealth of skills to the table."

"Whenever you see advertising that works, figure out WHY it works. (Who knew retroengineering could work in the ad world.)"

"What I always tell my students is you will need to pay your dues. 3 in the morning...not rare. Suck it up and embrace those opportunities instead of whining about having to work late."

All good advice. Thanks guys. Oh, and I'm really only writing this post so I can link to it on my Delicious page, along with all the other articles and such I've gathered for the students. I hadn't even tried Delicious until another friend told me about it. Pretty cool way to keep all your links in one place, and give other people access to them, too.

When it rains...

The good news:

1. Zack rode his bike without training wheels. He can go about 50 feet or so, before he realizes he doesn't know how to steer. Or stop. But he's getting really good at falling.

2. Ben pooped on the potty. I know, that sentence is pretty disgusting for all you single, childless people. But for parents, talking about poop is like asking "How's the weather?" 

The bad news:

1. The drip in our ceiling needs to be fixed be a roofer. At the very least, we'll need a new 50-foot gutter ($200? $500?).

2. Taking down the big tree in our yard left (surprise!) a big hole in the yard. And apparently, it's not just going to fill itself up.   

3. There's water leaking from the washing machine. Don't know how. Don't know why. Just know it's wet. 

He's probably right...

Me: "Zack, we have to close the car door and lock it, so nobody takes our car."

Zack: "But daddy, nobody would want our car, because it's too messy."

Random thoughts...

1. Zack: "Other kids keep their houses neat. But we're comfortable being messy, right dad?"

2. Bought Zack his first real hockey stick today (lefty). Also got him his first Erector set. Now he knows what an Allen wrench is. And, since "Single Ladies" is his favorite song (thanks, day care dance parties), we watched the video together on YouTube. Twice.  

3. It's not that we ignore Ben. It's just that we've already had a 3-year-old in the house, so when there's someone running around in circles singing "We just got a letter, we just got a letter" from Blue's Clues, it's not worth videotaping anymore. 

4. And now I totally understand why my parents have 6 photo albums of me, and 1 of my younger brothers.   

Over / under

Things that are overrated, but not by much: 

1. Slumdog Millionaire. Watched the first half. Very interesting, but it just didn't live up to the hype. Kind of like Milk. Good. But not great.  

2. Chipotle. Ate there for the first time ever today. It was really, really good. But certainly not the best (Edritos) burrito (Edritos) I ever (Edritos) had.  

Things that are underrated:

1. Redbox, which is how we rent most our movies these days. Yeah, we end up paying six bucks each time. But in theory we could only be paying a dollar. A dollar!  

2. My iPod Touch. I read once that the key to a clutter-free mind is to write everything down. The calendar and to-do list (I like the Things app) free my brain, making room for things like the lyrics to old Duran Duran songs.  

And that makes it better because...

Marla: "Ben, please don't lick soap off your finger."

Ben: "It's not soap, it's a booger." 

The Piano Man

Here's why I love learning how to play piano:  

I can't multitask while I'm doing it. 

Every other minute of the day, I'm usually doing at least two things at once. Writing a brochure while checking email. Driving to work while thinking about my next meeting. Playing with the kids while watching TV. 

But when I'm playing piano, It's so new (and I'm so bad) that it takes 100% of my concentration just to get 30% of the notes right. My left hand hates my right hand. I'll probably never learn to play loudly, because I usually practice when Marla is putting the kids to sleep. And my stubby little fingers barely stretch an octave.  

But that's OK. Because it's really nice, once a day, to focus my full attention on just. one. thing.