Time to fly...
Hello friends. This email marks the official launch of the inaugural, flagship, widely-acclaimed Katie Martell Weekly. Let's celebrate this momentous occasion:
(Be sure to load images so you can appreciate my obsession with animated gifs...)
Let me start by saying that there are 100+ of you who have signed up for this. You're all nuts. You're a mixture of marketers, aristocrats, entrepreneurs, and a beautifully diverse "other" category (shoutout to half my softball team who signed up for this not knowing at all what they were in for. Go Scouts!)
Whatever walk of life you're coming from, I thank you for the support. Each newsletter will be a collection of the things I've found, read, written, or heard this week that I find share worthy. Maybe you'll learn something. Maybe you'll think I'm innovative. We might just change a life here, people.
Tally ho.
In this edition:
Leaving a "real job" to become a consultant (AKA what the F did I just do?!)
"No one gets a female workaholic."
How to get people to care about you.
The creative worlds bullshit industrial complex
The millennial enigma.
The best advice I heard this week.
1. Leaving a "real job" to become a consultant (AKA what the F did I just do?!)
Today I posted a stream-of-consciousness about this new endeavor of mine, and the fear I had about announcing my decision to leave a job to consult. I swear a few times, too. Oops. Read it on LinkedIn.
2. Quote of the week
Comes from my product marketing BFF whose employer was recently acquired for many multiple commas.
"I should have never been a chick. No one gets a female workaholic."
It's so sadly true.
3. How to get people to care about you
My friend, the brilliant Devin Bramhall recently penned an excellent post at the Startup Institute's blog, Why No One Cares About You (and How to Make Them). Entirely timely, good advice.
4. The creative world's bullshit industrial complex
This was one of those "heck yes" articles I found recently from 99U editor Sean Blanda that calls out an ugly truth in the world of online advice:
"The bullshit industrial complex is a pyramid of groups that goes something like this:
Group 1: People actually shipping ideas, launching businesses, doing creative work, taking risks and sharing first-hand learnings
Group 2: People writing about group 1 in clear, concise, accessible language. [And here rests the line of bullshit demarcation…]
Group 3: People aggregating the learnings of group 2, passing it off as first-hand wisdom.
Group 4: People aggregating the learnings of group 3, believing they are as worthy of praise as the people in group 1.
Groups 5+: And downward…. "
I think "the line of bullshit demarcation" is obvious, when you're aware of it and looking for it. Be careful who you take advice from. The loudest voice is not always the most credible. Read his article, and feel the burn. (No, not that Bern. #ImWithHer)
5. The millennial enigma
My friend Meg Murphy wrote a piece for TriplePundit on how companies can best design a workplace for us perplexing millennials. Her point? Keeping us engaged as employees is really not that complicated. We really aren't a new species, contrary to popular opinion.
6. The best advice I heard this week
came within a coffee shop in Brookline as I finished some work after meeting with a client. A woman in a wheelchair came in, and wanted to sit at a table nearby. I offered to move the chair for her when she laughed and said, "no thanks!"
She then stood up - yeah, stood up - and moved the chair herself. I told her she should use that trick at parties and lay claim to a miracle :) She laughed, and we had a fascinating conversation about what life is like for someone in a wheelchair. At the end, she left me with some pithy advice:
"Life is short, and it's hard for everybody. Get over yourself."
So good.
Thanks for reading edition #1 -- see you next week.
-Katie