Brain vs Brawn

As a rather newcomer to this site, I've taken it upon myself to peruse the local scenery and take in all that the AR has to offer.  I've been extremely impressed for the most part.  I think the attitude of sharing stories, concepts, tips and so much more is a wonderful display of comradely and community pride.  Very few industries participate in sharing "trade secrets" but as we venture deeper into the digital age I do believe it will be the future.  

I was rather shocked however when I recently encountered the hot button issue of "going too far" for a listing.  The examples brought into question ranged from vacuuming and cleaning to painting and remodeling.  Now, don't get me wrong, there IS a line to be drawn somewhere, but I was pretty shocked at the arrogance of some respondents to the question.

There are fewer than 850 people in the US who do my job each day.  Compare that with the 168,400 real estate agents, or the 359,260 loan officers.  Given the demand for my expertise, it might be understandable if I was too busy to do ANYTHING but my daily routine...(which I must admit seems to be the case all too often).  However I can remember the last time someone asked for help and I turned them away.  Even as I compose this blog, I'm on my 14th hour at the office and I'll be back here again in less than 8 hours!  

To me it's a matter of success vs. failure.  Someday I know all of my hard work will pay off.  More than that though, my tasks today included showing the nice gentlemen in the office below how to print a document...twice...filling up the fountain at our building with water so the pump didn't burn up and mentoring a high school student interested in the advertising industry.  My day tomorrow doesn't look much better!  

At the end of the day, I always ask myself what I did that helped contribute to those in need, and everyday I find examples as such.  Do I get my slacks dirty sometimes? Do I help others when there's no monetary compensation involved? Did I ruin my tie in the fountain today?  ABSOLUTELY!  Could I have better spent my time crafting vector-based animations, digitizing and recompressing media?  ABSOLUTELY!  Would I be as happy, as successful or as far ahead as I am today if I hadn't gone the extra mile?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!

I'm 26 years old.  I own my own advertising agency.  I've purchase millions of dollars in media and my work has been aired nation wide for the last 6 years straight, without missing a day.

How did I get here?  I busted my tail writing scripts, answering phones and learning the ins and outs of my craft at a local ad agency while I was in college.  Six years later I'm the owner and CEO.  As far as I'm concerned, brain and brawn are not mutually exclusive.  It takes a mixture of both to truly succeed in today’s world!