Today’s guest is Erin Fitzsimmons, a graphic designer whose amazing work directly led to a book deal
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“i like type. big type, small type, medium type. fancy or sans fancy. i like what happens when you fuse type and pictures, creating visual worlds for the viewers to explore. lately, i’m happy simply doing something creative before i fall asleep. at the end of the day, i’m just a girl who likes type a bit too much.”
– Erin Fitzsimmons
There are many ways to judge a person when hiring them. You can ask friends for recommendations, view their resume, or check out their website.
But also pay attention to their bio.
A bad example was when a potential intern tweeted to me about a job, and her Twitter bio was “slacker extraordinaire.” #Fail.
But in reading Erin Fitzsimmons’ bio above, how could you NOT think that she would be passionate and incredibly talented when it came to print and book layout.
In this week’s podcast, we cover the following topics:
- Erin’s path from photojounalism major to photo editor to book cover designer
- How Erin and I got connected, and the recap of our first meeting of the minds
- Erin’s process for negotiating to do a freelance job for a book on negotiation
- At what moment Jim closed his eyes, made a wish, and clicked the mouse
Jim talks Oscars, t-shirts, and four rules for knowing when to measure metrics.
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Sometimes my podcast is a packed information source that includes a rant, and sometimes it’s a rant that happens to contains a few valuable nuggets. As always, the goal is to entertain and inform.
First up in the podcast is an Oscars rant about bad speeches.
What they do wrong
- Utter shock
How the heck are they in utter shock? It seems as if they are not shocked that they won, but as if surprised their name was called at all. It’s as if they were a contestant on the Price is Right!
My problem is, you KNOW you have a 1 in 5 chance of winning! You’ve known this for a month! Why the utter shock?
Today I question the spread of social media to every last place on earth.
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Hey everybody… big announcement on the podcast today.
To be honest, I’m not *quite* ready to make it. There are still details to iron out, marketing aspects I want to finalize, and just so many other things i want to do before I’m ready.
But today on the podcast, I wing it. Why? Three reasons:
1) Right before heading home to record the podcast, I met up with Wired’s NY Bureau Chief, John Abell. When I mentioned it to him, he said “Just write it… my new goal for my personal blog is 15 MINUTES. Sure, I may go back and make some edits later, but I don’t agonize over it anymore… I put down the best thoughts I can in 15 minutes and roll with it.”
2) My friend John Murch, who replied to a long, hand-wringing dilemma e-mail over a fairly big decision I sent him last last week with just four letters: JFDI. You can substitute the F for what you want, but loosely translated, it’s Just Freaking Do It.
3) It’s the entrepreneur’s way. I’m Type A. I’m an extreme perfectionist. I want to wait and wait until everything is just right before moving forward. In fact, that’s why it took nearly 3 months to get this podcast off the ground… I wanted the name perfect, I wanted the sound perfect, I wanted the icon perfect. But that’s never the case. So better to get it out there at 80 or 90%, vs not getting it out there at all.
So as you might have guessed from the title, the announcement is:
I got a book deal.
When I started this blog and podcast nearly three years ago, I ran it by one of the Executive VPs here at the office, Dan Shar, to make sure it was appealing to the Wired audience, I didn’t offend anyone, there weren’t any sales or advertiser conflicts, etc. After 3-4 weeks, he said, everything is fine, just use your best judgment and push it live without me.
As Jim heals from a broken arm, I, Brandon Werner (Intern 1.0 for long time The Hopkinson Report listeners) am back with a very special edition of The Hopkinson Report.
On the last episode I hosted, I talked about how I’ve been creating my own web content, so I decided to talk to two people who I think are making some of the best web video out there, Grace Helbig and Michelle Vargas.
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Take plane travel. Some things are good, like getting to board early (with the executive platinum crew and the Octo-mom toting a crew of toddlers). It’s like traveling first-class at an economy price.
But some things are not so good. Like getting denied the request to sit in the roomier exit row, specifically because I only have the use of one arm and couldn’t open the door (they ignored my request/joke that my other arm is now REALLY strong).
Oh, and some other things too, like brushing your teeth, opening a cereal box, tying shoes or buttoning buttons.
> It means you have to rely on others more.
> You have to be more humble.
> You need to ask people for assistance.
And what I’ve learned is that these situations bring about a heightened sense of customer service, and really give employees a chance to shine — or to fail miserably.
In this week’s podcast, I take you through five quick scenarios, and point out how the key employee interaction succeeded or failed (you can guess which ones went well or not):
1) On an American Airlines flight
2) At a Banana Republic retail store
3) Online shopping
4) Dining at a restaurant
5) Having lunch in a city park
In the end, I give you the one simple thing — you can teach your employees, build into a website, or start to do in your own life or personal business — that will make the difference between a good customer service experience and a bad one.
Can a broken arm kill Jim’s love for technology and social media? Stay tuned:
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Loyal listeners of The Hopkinson Report know a few things about me:
- I never miss a week (once in the last 118 episodes)
- I love technology, being online and all things social media
- I love mountain biking (I compared the ‘flow’ of biking to a business in Episode 113)
So when I was away for the first part of my vacation while mountain biking some epic trails in Seattle, the capable Brandon Werner filled in. But then the unexpected struck when I came back to the east coast to go biking in the rocky trails of the Pocono mountains.
While I think that I bring lots of energy and passion to my podcast, and am usually pretty articulate, I’ve never pretended that I have a great “radio voice.” Well, that distinction is made even clearer when you listen to my guest Matt Walters, a professional voiceover actor.
This podcast is truly a “must listen.”
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Everyone likes to quote the opening movie line with the gravel-voiced actor belting out “In a world…” but in reality, the people behind the success of movie trailers, commercial reads, and cartoon voices don’t get the recognition that they deserve.
This week I speak with Matt Walters, and he gives some great tips for getting into the business, how he got his start, and some hysterical examples of how my tagline could be read.
Topics we discuss:
- The interesting (and somewhat deceptive) way Matt got his start by defying stereotypes and pulling a “Karate Kid” move
- The process of getting an agent and breaking into the business
- Techniques for getting ready and warming up
- What happens when you get a nasal cold
- The different way a voiceover actor watches TV
Check out Matt’s voiceover reel:
We then talk about the godfather of voiceover, Don LaFontaine. Reading his wikipedia page, and watching a video tribute to him, you realize how amazing this guy was. Can you believe he’s done more than 5,000 movie trailers and hundreds of thousands of TV ads and promotions?
We also talk about whether it’s better to have a big part in a small movie, or in his case, a small part in a big movie. Matt played Owen Wilson’s work friend in Marley and Me (also starring Jennifer Aniston).
If your product or service isn’t doing the one thing it needs to, it’s time to get off the bus.
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Quick story…
that leads to a metaphor about your business. Let’s get right to it.
My Dad came down to NYC from Boston for a visit. We did a father-son road trip, spent some quality time together, and all was good. On Monday morning, we embarked to get him on the bus back to Boston.
For those unfamiliar with the Northeast, a plane ticket will run probably $200 RT, and you have to deal with cabs and security. The train is also over $100, and might save you 20 minutes of time. And driving is a headache with traffic. So the Boston-NYC bus route is very competitive – and thus economical – with promotional fares as low as $1 and usually around $15-$20 each way.
There are 3-4 main competitors:
- Fung-Wah bus (I’ve found people that have NOT ever taken the Fung-Wah bus, LOVE to tell others to take the Fung-Wah bus)
- Greyhound/PeterPan (The veterans that are feeling the pinch, leaving from the decrepit Port Authority and trying to upgrade their fleet of old buses quickly)
- BoltBus (An upstart with new buses and Wifi)
- Megabus (A double-decker version of BoltBus)
Let me say that all four companies have their issues, but today my Dad happened to be on Megabus.
We made it everyone! 100 episodes! I’ll cover 10 lessons learned, the big party, and give some shoutouts.
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Wow, 100 episodes – pretty amazing. I’ve been at this for more than 2 years, week in, week out, whether I was tired or sick or excited, I carved out a little time to try and share some thoughts with you.
Listen, I’m an oldest child, I’m a Leo, and obviously I like to hear myself talk. But I try to be aware of that and not get TOO full of myself. I realize this isn’t 21 seasons of the Simpsons or some of the other social media guys with millions of followers. It’s not the frontpage of the NY Times, the cover of Wired, and it’s not even a video podcast. Even 2010, some people don’t even know what a podcast IS.
Hi, this is Jim Hopkinson, Wired’s Marketing Guy, bringing you the marketing trends that matter. Welcome!
Today is Part 2 of my interview with photographer, Diana Levine – smile! [Camera clicking]
Jim Hopkinson: Hey, everybody, this is Jim; welcome back. I am here again with Diana Levine. We talked about photography last time, we talked about how she got her start as a photographer working for magazines, going freelance and all the cool celebrities she works with, and this is Part 2 of the podcast. And, we’re going to talk about the equipment she uses, how the internet and Facebook and new media has influenced her profession, and then some tips and tricks for photographers.
So, welcome, Diana.
Diana Levine: Thanks for having me, again.
JH: So, let’s go right to the equipment. How much of being a great photographer is the equipment? Do you need the best equipment to be a great photographer?
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