Creative Class

Goosebump Advertising

Garth Beyer

Snapchat could be an advertisers solution to the fading mass email list.

It’s easy for someone to delete what they can recognize as spam.

And, in this new fast-paced-digital-age world, we don’t need to read a long advertisement or watch a 10-minute promotional video to know if we are in or not. Really, 10 seconds will do.

That’s where Snapchat (and I suppose, Instagram and Vine too) comes in. If I, or any marketer/advertiser/PRS wanted, we could find millions of usernames and send a 10 second promo video of us playing music, a website to visit, an experiment we’ve done and so on in order to convince a stranger to connect with us.

It’s an entirely new feature to being personal and having fun with advertising.

Gives me goosebumps.

 

Stay Positive & Make It Quick

Robot Journalism

Garth Beyer

I recently read an article in the New York Magazine titled “The (Robot) Creative Class.” It mentioned that robots are being created to do the work of a comedian, musician, bartender, and – what stood out to me – journalist. It noted that,

Developed with Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism, Chicago-based Narrative Science created a computer program that writes basic news articles like sports-game summaries and earnings reports. It already has at least 30 clients, including Forbes and sports heavyweight the Big Ten Network.

I like to believe that, sure, robots can do the menial parts of what is required of a journalist, heck, possibly robots can have their own genre of journalism, we’ll call it Robot Journalism. I wouldn’t mind reading what a robot thinks.

Would you?

No One There To Tell You

Garth Beyer

That’s the biggest problem for the members of the creative class – there is no one there to tell you what to write on, what to create, who to connect with, how to develop a tribe or when to launch a product.

Sure, you can read suggestions on a blog, watch a tutorial on YouTube, or follow Wiki’s how-to list, but that is the opposite of what defines you as part of the creative class. The toughest part is meant to be self-assigning work – creative work that matters, I might add.

Creativity, by my definition, is interaction with ambiguous results. There is no one there to tell you exactly how to interact or specifically what the results will be – it’s up to you to set the goals, to trailblaze your way to success, and discover what works best for you.

No one tells me to write every day or to interact with 10 people a week on Twitter or to repeat the process of consuming > producing > sharing, I simply do it because not doing it doesn’t lead me to become the creative person I want to be.

When you stop looking at your creative actions as optional, it’s as if you don’t even need anyone there to tell you.

 

Stay Positive & Be Your Own Boss

Garth E. Beyer (sure, you will think your boss is an asshole at times, but at least he delivers.)

 

 

 

Looking for team members!

Garth Beyer

The other day I caught myself with Twitter opened up to interactions. I was sitting and waiting for someone to interact with me. I would tweet an interesting idea or question and wait for someone to notice, someone to reply. Boy, was I doing it wrong.

After realizing this, I switched back to my Twitter feed and started interacting with others. In minutes I was in the middle of conversations with a handful of people.

It seems that on Twitter – and in life, really – more people sit and wait rather than seek what they want out. Often times, what you are waiting for, is more or less, exactly what hundreds, thousands, millions of others are waiting for. Almost everyone I interacted with obviously had there interactions tab opened, waiting for someone to reply.

People seem to be classified as one of two people: either you move or you wait.

This blog post is about a little of both.

A partner and I are getting together a team of creative, passionate, and communicative people. Some ideas we will be producing this summer is a community art event where everyone can be an artist, as well as an online news website where people can go to discuss ethics in regard to recent events, e.g., Boston Bombings.

We are based in Madison, Wisconsin, so first, if you do not live in Madison, I would like you to share this post with anyone who does that you think would have interest in participating. We are very open to ideas and odd talents. If you do live in Madison, right on!

Secondly, I want to note that if you want to be part of the team and do not live in Madison, that’s not a problem! Obviously, we will need tech and organization tasks fulfilled. In this world, distance no longer prevents the important work of getting done. We need you.

Ethics, Energy, And Enigma

We aim to create a positive enigma. We plan to puzzle people in a way that they wonder why people have not put on events like ours before, or surprise people by connecting them with other like-minded people they have been waiting for. Through this transfer of energy, we will make a ruckus that leaves a ripple effect into the thoughts of everyone involved. The way one views the world will be brightened and we are changing the way ethics are influenced in this post-industrialistic connection economy. It’s the time of the creative class. It’s the time to stop waiting and start moving. We are here.

You can get in touch with me through email at: thegarthbox@gmail.com

 

Stay Positive & Be Bold

Garth E. Beyer

 

The Meetings You’re Waiting For

Garth Beyer

They don’t exist.

You take internships, you jump in groups, clubs, associations, you work for organizations or companies in hopes that a meeting is called and you can be the one person to shout something brilliant out.

Everyone loves that person who – out of nowhere – comes up with a phenomenal idea. For the one meeting, you take the stage, you get the spotlight, you get the credit you finally deserve.

And then it dies. Lights off. Curtain closed. Meeting over.

Is it worth it though? To work for the blind until they call a meeting? Only for the possibility of you coming up with a great idea off the cuff and them accepting it? Then waiting for the next meeting?

No one loves a light that flickers.

Or are you: Better off connecting with the few who love your constant stream of ideas. Better off interacting with members outside of the meeting and showing them what you have created. Better off doing your work for the sake of doing your work instead of for the chance to be picked.

Or – my personal favorite – skip the meeting completely to connect with someone who is also not attending the meeting. Hell, they may not even be associated with the meeting group. They may even be someone who impresses you and changes the way you work. Instead of trying to be the remarkable one, you may just meet someone who is.

 

Stay Positive & Frequent Conformity Is Overrated

Garth E. Beyer

If You’re Creating Something That Takes Time To Process

Garth Beyer

It might be worth considering to drop it.

It’s a given that we’re in a world of next day delivery, instantaneous email confirmation after you click “submit,” and immediate Tweet/email/txt/snapchat back. We’ve built our interactions (purchases, connections, and outreach) on the idea of instant feedback.

Overall, it’s a positive change. A constant stream of feedback allows the creative class to correct what doesn’t work before too many people notice, to be thoroughly bathed in motivation (thanks Zig) with positive reviews, and most importantly, the stream of feedback gets you in the habit of dancing with your fears (negative reviews). No more ups and downs. You’re either on or your off.

Processing time? It’s a dying strategy. It used to be the norm. It used to lead clients and consumers to anticipate the result. Beyond all else, it used to be something worth waiting for.

Processing was an art. It gave the creators time to interact with the buyer while they were fulfilling their orders. Thing is, now the connecting is the two pieces of bread sandwiching the purchase.

And boy do people love to have their sandwiches.

 

Stay Positive & Note, Consumers And Clients Never Get Full

Garth E. Beyer

Creative Class

Garth Beyer

Each era prior to the present is defined by what people did with their hands: agricultural, manufacturer, knowledge based. (Knowledge: experiments, hands on activities, tests.)

Now our current era of the connection economy has produced a new class of workers. Nonchalantly coined by Richard Florida as the “Creative Class.” This class of – better called artists than workers – don’t reside in cities that are built around assembly production, construction, or mechanical organizations.

There’s no age requirement, no credential, or resume that qualifies you as part of the creative class – it’s a conscious (and consistent) decision.

The difference between being part of the institutionalized workforce and the creative class is like writing a report as a homework assignment and writing it in a way that you would also share it with your peers, your community, your friends, and your tribe.

It’s the difference between doing banal, monotonous, industrialistic work and melting your passions, mentally building a mould, then transforming your liquid art into something emotionally tangible.

These artists of the creative class are managers, engineers, consultants, teachers, painters, entrepreneurs, connectors, and all around movers and shakers – but with a new class flair.

My reason for telling you this is so that you know that you’re not the only one. There are others like you. Others that are fed up with the assembly line work, others who are afraid to step out of the box (and dance), others who want to make, not just a positive impact, but real human connections.

Your ideas are valued. Share them.

 

Stay Positive & Welcome To The Creative Class

Garth E. Beyer