Ron Lindeboom
2
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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Wow, David. The creative director at that agency really reminds me of someone. I know it will come to me, but for the life of me, I just can’t seem to recall the guy even though his face and voice are very familiar. Even the mustache rings a bell. But, oh well…
:o)
Remind me to never work with that agency.
Ron Lindeboom
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[Franklin McMahon] said: “The creative people who have this desire become very successful, it does not even depend on skills often, its tenacity and drive.”
to which [Chris Blair] replied: “I just don’t believe this is true, even in this country. You cannot succeed ONLY on desire, tenacity and drive. You MUST have skills and abilities that match. You can possess those skills and abilities… or you can hire them out, but you cannot achieve high levels of success without them. That’s like a restaurant who has great marketing and advertising, a cool space, and funky and friendly waiters…but their food sucks. You won’t be eating there long based on their desire and tenacity at getting you in the door if that food continues to suck.”
Chris,
It is true. And there are plenty of restaurants that have succeeded with terrible food but a great schtick and ambiance. There’s a restaurant here in Paso Robles that is downright terrible. They are even truthful in their marketing and call it Big Bubba’s Bad B-B-Q. All of the locals even joke that “at least they’re truthful” and that “they don’t mean ‘bad’ as in good, but simply bad.”
The place is almost nearly always packed. Why? The food? No, the fact that they have sawdust on the floor, serve huge drinks in iced plastic cups that are so ugly that I wonder why anyone would want to take them home (but they do), and the topper is their mechanical bull. It runs almost non-stop.
And success is ALMOST NEVER based solely on talent. Some of the most talented musicians and songwriters that I have ever heard are so obscure that few would know them if I named them.
I once heard a music promoter friend of mine joke that one of Creedence Clearwater’s biggest songs had been pushed by the label’s A&R and promotions people just to prove that rock n roll didn’t have to be three chords, thank you — the one they pushed had only two.
Success is more often based on tenacity and desire than it is on talent. The University of Michigan a long time ago did a study on success and examined their alumni to see what factors played in those that succeeded. They concluded that attitude and enthusiasm were far more valuable and contributed far more directly to success than did things like intelligence and ability and talent.
We had a guy in our company who was one of the smartest people that I had ever met. In three years he did little to nothing. He accomplished little, even though he had mountains of talent, knowledge and ability. We finally got rid of him to hire Abraham — who had none of his predecessor’s knowledge or ability. But what Abraham did have is drive and ambition. In half the time of his predecessor’s tenure here, Abraham has accomplished 10 times more, at least. It may even be double that estimate.
Our Power of Artistic Passion issue of Creative COW Magazine examined this phenomenon.
Yes, it is indeed BEST to have both drive and talent but if I have to make due with only one, give me the drive, every time. I have met far too many talented people who have accomplished nothing and are going nowhere.
Your mileage may vary,
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
РAntoine de Saint Exup̩ry -
I thought that you did a good job on the scene. Maybe you could have tightened-in on the chocolate a time or two as it is such a key element in the scene; especially when she reaches for both pieces at once.
Other than that, I am not sure that there is much else to do other than you have done.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
creativecow.net -
Grinders? That’s a cool term, Franklin. I may have to start using it. ;o)
Outgrowing old clients. I like that comment. Businesses really do have to think in terms of leveraging their growing skill levels and abilities. You cannot keep working at the same level that you did when you were just starting out.
Good post, Franklin.
Ron Lindeboom
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[Rafael Amador] “…when you give somebody an special price they try to scrub you more than any full price customer.”
Boy, is that ever The Truth, Rafael. ;o)
I have always found that the person that grinds you for a low-ball price is also the one who can never be satisfied, not matter how good a job you give them. They also have no loyalty and will often try to destroy your reputation when they don’t get a Lord of the Rings epic production for their salted peanuts budget.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
P.S.: One of the best ways I have learned to deal with people like this is to quickly turn the tables on them by asking them, “So, what business are you in? Tell me a bit about yourself.” When they do, I then ask them can I get it in writing from them that when I need to get X product or X service that they provide, that I can get it for 90% off — oh, and have that in writing, please? They never want to go there and it quickly ends the conversation and usually ends any kind of negotiation — which is quite fine with me.
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Rafael is from Loas. And Rafael is probably not exaggerating when he says that he has the only purchased and authorized copy of Final Cut within hundreds of miles of him.
I have talked with many software companies that tell me that in many countries of the world, they see DVDs for sale in the marketplaces that have their entire software line for sale for very little money, everyday. There is nothing they can do about it because the laws are different and cultural mores also make it nearly impossible to enforce any kind of protections for their work.
Also, as Rafael points out, it would cost most people in his country six months to a year’s salary to buy Final Cut Studio, so they don’t. The lucky ones can afford a computer.
Life is not as easy in many of the world’s poorest countries, when compared to the United States, Europe, Canada, and many of the other more affluent nations.
You do good work, Rafael, and I have to take my hat off to you for not taking the easy way out in your own business.
Ron Lindeboom
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PS: We don’t host at NetSol, we only use them for parking our domains, etc.
Abraham does use NetSol’s hosting service for his personal stuff and he loves ’em.
One of the cheapest and best hosting services that I know of is HostPro.com and I used them for years for some of my side projects and outside accounts. About $100 a year and they have great uptime, lots of bandwidth, great features and their support is very good.
Ron Lindeboom
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[Steve Wargo] “We used to use Network Solutions but you can never talk to anybody.”
We have used Network Solutions since the beginning and they have always been spot on for us. We switched to GoDaddy for about a year but it seemed too flakey to us and we didn’t trust their degree of security as much as we do Network Solutions, so we went back.
NetSol has always been very good for us.
Ron Lindeboom
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[David Roth Weiss] “Believe it or not Todd, I wrote a review of 3D Impact Pro for (oops Ron will hate this) POST MAG. in about 1996. People couldn’t believe it was possible to generate broadcast quality 3D animation from an app that cost like $39.95.”
In 1996, I used to read Post Magazine, too.
I don’t hate Post. In fact, if I were a multi-millionaire, I’d buy it.
Ron Lindeboom
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Man, who is the composer? I’d like to get hold of the soundtrack. (Although I think it is a little wandering and all over the board in its arrangement — a little tightening up and simplifying it a bit more would serve the music well.)
🙂
Ron Lindeboom
PS: In seriousness, I would start with the voice-over and edit an entirely new video, cut to the voice-over (which is the best thing in the video.)
Oh man, I am being ornery again.