StocktontoMalone…
On paper that’s what we were: Two really talented individuals who should’ve complimented each other like two sides of the same coin. At least, that’s what our bosses thought when they paired me with “Luke.”
As people went, Luke was a really nice guy. As art directors went, he was really good. We were both young, seemed to like the same stuff. Seemed to have the same philosophy about work and business, even faith. We shot the breeze in each other’s office most every day, hung out during lunch, etc. I thought we had a vibe… the operative word here being, “thought.”
But when it came to work, all we did was fuss and fight. He didn’t like any of my ideas; I didn’t like any of his. With the exception of a couple good-to-great projects we pulled off, we got virtually no work done for about 6 months. We were like two eighth graders. We went to our bosses on several occasions and actually said the words: “We don’t like each other, please separate us.” It was sad… God was it sad.
To this day, Luke’s my guy and all is forgiven. But I swear, for those 6 months I wanted to stab him in the tongue with a Sharpie. He felt the same way.
Just goes to show you that birds of a feather may flock but if they ain’t equally yoked they’ll peck each other to death.
Moonlighting
While doing some boring packaged goods stuff by day, I once had the chance to do some hot creative work after-hours so I approached one of my former coworkers, an art director to help out. It was a great chance to do some award-winning work and make a little loot to boot. Now we had our differences at work but she was talented and hungry; and when you confuse having business opportunities with having a vibe, valleys can seem like ditches. So we hooked up.
It was a disaster almost from jump. We didn’t share the same goals; her views on creative and day-to-day stuff were totally different from mine. We weren’t equally yoked, but I felt that the chance to do some great creative, build our reps and make some extra loot was enough to keep pushing. Man, was I wrong.
Not only did things not go as we’d hoped but our lack of vibe drove us to part ways. Some nasty paperwork changed hands, some insults flew and we never worked together on the side again. It also made our daytime gig a little awkward, to say the least. And what’s worse is we’re still not friends, not even to this day. Haven’t spoken in years, in fact.
Hopefully, I’ve laid out the importance of being equally yoked in business. We’ll get deeper into building business relationships in the “Let’s Build” chapter. Until then, lemme leave you with these:
4 Keys to getting Equally Yoked:
1. Be Honest.
You can’t vibe with folks if folks don’t know what you’re truly about. (Do you.)
2. Be patient.
Sometimes you’ll vibe slow, sometimes you’ll vibe quick. Just be patient.
3. Don’t Settle.
Go for what you know and keep working ‘til it comes.
4. Pray.
God’s the best matchmaker in the game. Period.
As people went, Luke was a really nice guy. As art directors went, he was really good. We were both young, seemed to like the same stuff. Seemed to have the same philosophy about work and business, even faith. We shot the breeze in each other’s office most every day, hung out during lunch, etc. I thought we had a vibe… the operative word here being, “thought.”
But when it came to work, all we did was fuss and fight. He didn’t like any of my ideas; I didn’t like any of his. With the exception of a couple good-to-great projects we pulled off, we got virtually no work done for about 6 months. We were like two eighth graders. We went to our bosses on several occasions and actually said the words: “We don’t like each other, please separate us.” It was sad… God was it sad.
To this day, Luke’s my guy and all is forgiven. But I swear, for those 6 months I wanted to stab him in the tongue with a Sharpie. He felt the same way.
Just goes to show you that birds of a feather may flock but if they ain’t equally yoked they’ll peck each other to death.
While doing some boring packaged goods stuff by day, I once had the chance to do some hot creative work after-hours so I approached one of my former coworkers, an art director to help out. It was a great chance to do some award-winning work and make a little loot to boot. Now we had our differences at work but she was talented and hungry; and when you confuse having business opportunities with having a vibe, valleys can seem like ditches. So we hooked up.
It was a disaster almost from jump. We didn’t share the same goals; her views on creative and day-to-day stuff were totally different from mine. We weren’t equally yoked, but I felt that the chance to do some great creative, build our reps and make some extra loot was enough to keep pushing. Man, was I wrong.
Not only did things not go as we’d hoped but our lack of vibe drove us to part ways. Some nasty paperwork changed hands, some insults flew and we never worked together on the side again. It also made our daytime gig a little awkward, to say the least. And what’s worse is we’re still not friends, not even to this day. Haven’t spoken in years, in fact.
Hopefully, I’ve laid out the importance of being equally yoked in business. We’ll get deeper into building business relationships in the “Let’s Build” chapter. Until then, lemme leave you with these:
4 Keys to getting Equally Yoked:
1. Be Honest.
You can’t vibe with folks if folks don’t know what you’re truly about. (Do you.)
2. Be patient.
Sometimes you’ll vibe slow, sometimes you’ll vibe quick. Just be patient.
3. Don’t Settle.
Go for what you know and keep working ‘til it comes.
4. Pray.
God’s the best matchmaker in the game. Period.
…like peas ‘n’ carrots.
—Forrest Gump
—Forrest Gump
