Model vs. Photographer - Why I Walked Away From Agency Life

Two types of businesses dominate the tech scene right now - agencies and startups.  Agencies are pretty, polished, and beguiling.  Agencies sell a lifestyle.  Startups on the other hand are gritty.  Unlike agencies though, startups solve problems.  (And if they don't solve problems, they try to solve the wrong problems, and they fail).

A good way to imagine the differences between agencies and startups is to imagine the difference between a model and a photographer.  One sells an intangible image (the model), and one creates a product (the photographer).  But they both need each other to make the business of fashion work.  Very few models take interesting photographs, and I've heard of even less photographers that look good in front of the camera.  It's the same deal in tech.  If you rock out at a startup, chances are you'll feel like a zombie at an agency.

When I first moved to Colorado from New England this past October, I started working at an interactive marketing agency.  I thought that the stability would be good for me, and for a few months it was.  But as Crush It author Gary Vaynerchuk said in almost every interview and keynote he has given over the past 2 years - "You can't ignore your DNA".  I'm a renegade.  I don't like rules.  I have to make customers happy and I have to make real things.  I am also not very polished.  I'm awkward.  But I have a lot of heart and I get people excited about things.  I don't belong out on a client date and I don't care about status.  I'm not the model.  I'm the photographer.

This blog is going to be all about transitions, both personal and professional.  I've learned the importance of transitioning gracefully from one project to the next from my experience in triathlon.  It's a sport where precious minutes are lost if you stop to think too much about your next move.  You just have to change clothes and go with it. 

The transition from New England the West was easy for me.  I'm not comfortable being, well, comfortable.  I'm the girl that skipped school to hang out with the gutter punks when my classes got too easy.  Boredom kills. But that's just my DNA.  And yours is different than mine.  Diversity is important.  We need it to be like that. 

Agencies need startups and startups need agencies.  Models need someone to take their picture, and photographers must have on object upon which to focus the gaze of their lens. 

Goodbye agency, goodbye to all that.  This pioneer must go out to stake her claim in more wild and uncharted pastures.

Comments

[Trypnotik]

I couldn't agree more! My first tech job was with a seven person startup, and it has always been the only way I have ever wanted to work. Welcome to the wild and wooly west. :)

[Jamie Ontiveros]

Good luck. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next.

[Kate Brown]

Thanks guys! I didn't realize how much I loved startup life until I jumped back into it. It's the "working all the time" thing that I actually love the most. <----- I have problems, lol.