I once took a reasonably healthy pay cut to go to work for a certain agency, specifically, to work for a certain creative director who I felt could teach me more than I could learn from almost any other creative director in the country. I didn't realize it would turn out the way it did, but it was one of the smartest moves I ever made. I got more out of taking that cut in pay than I got from any other job I've ever had, because I learned more from that job than from any other I've ever had.
The point is, there are other benefits to be gotten from a job besides salary, not the least of which is the education and experience you get working with different kinds of people. If you take a calculated step backwards or laterally, you can often end up eventually earning far more than you would have had you not taken that step.
The truth is that a career growth pattern usually follows the same lines as everything else in life: it has its ups and downs. Everyone has good days and bad. Some days you're especially quick and perceptive, other days it's a little tougher for you to come up with a layout that knocks you out, or a headline or marketing plan that reeks of genius. The same thing is true with jobs. You'll have good jobs and bad, jobs where there will be so much you can learn that you'll be in awe of the people around you, and jobs where you'll be bored, and the people around you will put you to sleep. It's because of the dull jobs that the expected growth rate can slow up a bit.
There are exceptions to the rule: that one person in a zillion who begins in a flash at dawn, reaches fame and fortune by lunch, and then retires rich in the middle of the afternoon. You hear about him, see his picture in all the trade publications, and you watch him being interviewed on talk shows. He's an almost impossible rarity, though.
For most folks, careers in advertising offer a different kind of satisfaction. Most people never become rich and famous. They're never interviewed by the press, and they're never on a talk show. Oh, they have fun all right. It's pretty tough to have a career in advertising without having any fun. They still get the thrill that comes from working on an ad that makes people ooh and ahh, or from producing a great-looking television commercial, or from hitting on a marketing strategy that they just know is right. Negotiating a media buy that lets a client "own" a medium when you have almost no money to spend can make you beam with pride, too.
Perhaps that kind of personal satisfaction isn't Chateaubriand at the Figaro in Paris, but it ain't chopped liver in Canarsie either.
The advertising business offers most people the chance to live a decent life, to raise a family if they want, and to live comfortably in the process. They can become contributing and respected members of their community. They have enough extra time to develop something in their lives besides their jobs.
That all sounds simple, pleasant, and comfortable, doesn't it? That kind of personal satisfaction should be enough to keep anybody warm on a cold winter's night. And in the final analysis, what more could you really ask for?
Well, some folks find that there is a lot more to ask for. And they go after it. They become obsessed with the idea of turning themselves into one of the finest art directors, media planners, or marketing people in the business, and they throw everything they've got into getting there.
It's a very personal thing, really. An art director like that might spend an entire Sunday in the office redoing the type on an ad simply because it didn't measure up to his standards. Not his agency's. Not his client's. His.
There's a lot to be said for that kind of drive, and you'll never get all you can out of this business if you're not willing to put that much into it. But paying that price doesn't guarantee fame and a million dollar shack in Cannes, either.
