My bout as a one man wolf pack has come to an end.
I’ve recently taken a new gig for an agency. The one man band of The Scott Bishop act, now looks to have an accompanying orchestra. I’ve had the absolute fortune to not “need” a job and was therefore not looking for one, which is what I think allowed this decision to be so right. I was cruising along rather well on my own, but always in the back of my mind knew that my one-man band was not sustainable. My goals are big, and no one can achieve big things by themselves.
Fortunately, life does what life does, curve-ball. I was presented with an opportunity that was intriguing, challenging, scary, exciting, and different from my path. So I lept.
I’ve never worked for an agency so this dive into a “creative office” has certainly been an awakening. My new title, is Director of Social Influence, fancy yes I know. And the company that picked me up is Bozell (milk mustache), and it’s in Omaha. For my friends in Chicago, that’s in Nebraska. Now before you get all wtf is in Omaha, quite a lot actually. The creative / start-up community here is rocking, Omaha ranks eighth among the nation’s 50 largest cities in both per-capita billionaires and Fortune 500 companies, and your money goes a LONG way (my apt is sic). But all that is for another post.
What is most appealing for me in any situation is fit. How well a decision aligns with both what you’re good at and also what you want to be doing is what leads to a yes or a no. In regards to work, this was the first time that I’ve felt like I’ve had both.
Digital marketing and social media strategy, mixed in with a little business development is what I am good at. But that role alone would not have brought me to Bozell, and not to Omaha. I am here because both the role, but more importantly the direction of the company is the same direction I want to be going.
The department I’m heading is small and flexible for me to build what I want the way I want. And the vibe is pretty kick ass. Much more like an IDEO think tank than many of the stuffy corporate agencies I’m familiar with. The people come from an extremely wide variety of backgrounds that all aren’t from the world of agencies, like me. It’s very much an entrepreneur / start-up vibe that I absolutely love. I expect to learn more from them than I ever could have on my own. It’s a good fit, and I’m happy.
So what now? Well we’ll see. The last year and a half as a free agent / freelance / one man band was a great ride. But more than anything I discovered that to get where I want to be and do what I want to do, I can’t do it alone. This new role allows me work on strategy with bigger clients and do higher profile work, but also actually allows me to create and build on ideas I’ve wanted to but didn’t have the programming background or skillset to do so.
Since my interests have always remained my work, or projects, those are all continuing to move forward. But now I can pick and choose what I’m most passionate about and by accepting this gig, I actually have more time to work on them. This blog will be much more active because now I’ll have time to breathe and not playing all roles as I was before.
Sorry for the announcement nature of this post, I guess this is my version of a press release. Let the Omaha chapter…begin now.
Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media. He is an avid blogger and active across the net. He is @thescottbishop on Twitter
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