The importance of planning and setting daily goals!

Good day! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

Most of us are having to stay home and work right now, so it's more important than ever to have a clear set of goals to help plan your day.

Some, have had a home office for years and have a routine to make their day productive. However, with our families at home with us, we are having to switch things up a bit.

If you don't already, I would suggest setting a long term set of goals and a daily set of goals.

Most successful people already know and understand the importance of setting goals, but I've found in the last few weeks my goals have had to change a little.

Some people call them lists, some call them daily goals but the end result is the same. The following examples are how I set up my daily tasks. While at home with my son right now, I'm teaching him to do this as well.

A.    I have a journal that I work in and at the first of the year I write down my long term goals for the year. I can go back to the front of the journal at any time and make sure my daily goals are getting me closer to my long term goals.

B.    Every night I try right down the date and my goals for the next day. I could say list, but goals mentally tells me its a challenge and not a chore. By doing it at night, it means I don't have to take time out of my morning, I can sit down and get started first thing.

C.    I try to right down at least 10 goals for my day. Don't worry if you can only think of 8, that's fine. If you have 12 that's fine. I've found for me, 10 is a manageable number. The following is a sample of a normal set of daily goals. Except the coffee, they can be done in any order.

1. Get up and have coffee. ( No goal is too small. I try to make my daily goals manageable)
2. Check and respond to e-mail
3. Network
4. Finish any work I didn't get done the day before (this is a goal that will vary from day to day)
5. Get any billable projects that need to be done today (this also will vary from day to day)
6. Get 30 min of exercise ( can be as simple as going for a walk, just something that gives you a mental break)
7. Invoicing
8. Clean office space
9. Write goals for tomorrow
10. Tell my family I love them!

These are a simple sample of daily goals I use almost every day. They change up from time to time, but they are totally customizable and when I check them off, I feel a sense of accomplishment which helps with stress.

Now, with the current situation in place I have my family at home and that creates a whole new set of challenges.

My son now has to do virtual classroom, so I have become teacher, lunch monitor and recess monitor (making sure he doesn't recess all day!). My wife is also working from home and needs the dining room as an office to do calls and virtual meetings. All of this changes my work dynamic.

My daily goals have had to adapt to the new situation. Here is how my day goes now.

1. Get up and have coffee (that will never change!)
2. Make sure my son gets to work on school and be available to answer questions or give any instruction as needed. This could take an hour and a half to two hours out of my day.
3. e-mail
4. Network
5. finish work that is undone and do any new work that needs to happen (many times individual projects will become separate goals)
6. Take at least 30 min to do something active with my son
7. Read a book
8. Update my LinkedIn page
9. Write my blog.
10. Tell my family I love them! (this will always be on my goals list)

My goals list has always been moveable and the difference now is it has to be very flexible and I need to remind myself that some of the goals just wont happen. I have to take into account the kid needing snacks and drinks (he's still figuring out he can do that on his own) and every so often I hear "MICHAEL" which always seems to require me to get up and go where ever my wife is to find out what she needs!

Even in the unusual circumstances we find ourselves in, I still manage to write down a list of goals that help make my day manageable and as profitable as it can be.

Making goals you can check, helps keep you mentally fit and helps keep better track of your day. Making your goals flexible is important  if you want to accomplish anything especially with your family at home and if you want to keep your sanity!

Stay safe and be well.
Michael Burke




© Copyright 2020 Michael Burke

That will do!

That will do, or that's good enough. I dislike both of those phrases and I hear them far too often these days.

Perhaps I have a little OCD when it comes to design, but I feel its my job to give you the absolute best designed piece that I possibly can!

That means when I design something for you I take the best photography, illustrations, and content and put it all together into a design that best communicates whatever product or service you are trying to sell.

Sometimes it's expensive and sometimes less expensive, it depends on many different factors.

Far too often I get photography or illustrations that someone took on their smart phone or pulled off the internet (which is copyright violation, it you didn't take it or create it) and asks me to use it on the cover of their brochure or on their website. I usually have to tell them its poor light, quality or resolution, and the comment I get back is; "that's good enough" or "that will do".

Good enough, should never be good enough for your business! Imagine having the contractor only put three walls on your house and saying, that's good enough or trying to do your job with both your hands and feet tied. You might be able to do it, but it will be incredibly difficult to get it done and take double or even triple the time.

It is our job to give you a product that communicates the best way possible. We have an expertise, I assume that is why you hired us. As the saying goes; you wouldn't hire a mechanic to do your brain surgery!

When you tell us, "that will do", you do your business a disservice. What we want to hear is, "That's the best designed piece our company has ever had!" and then of course hire us to do it again!

I want to say thank you to all of my clients! I appreciate your business and all the time you've stuck with me!

Michael Burke




© 2020 Michael Burke/Gotham Advertising and Design

When to recognize opportunity and take action

When do you know when it’s time to take a chance and take action on an opportunity? It doesn’t matter what the decision, whether it’s time to get a new car or to buy a house, or taking a new job, making a decision to take action can be tough and scary.

By nature, I’m a huge procrastinator. I always accomplish a task but its usually on my terms. I meet all my deadlines, but somehow I convince myself it was always my idea to get them done on time. So taking action isn't always my strongest area.

However the major decisions I’m my life have usually been when something has been put in my path and I decided to take advantage and take the path offered. Sometimes this can be scary, and recognizing an opportunity is tricky.

For example.

I used to be a plumber. It was a good job with a decent income and I did okay. I went to work at 7:30 am and came home at 5:00 pm. Anyone who has every been a plumber can tell you, new construction is great, service work stinks…figuratively and literally.

I had been working as a plumber for about five years when we had a really cold winter. I had to drive about 30 miles in the country to fix a water leak in the freezing cold, under a house. When I finished I was wet, cold and miserable, thinking there has to be something better. I was driving down the interstate and there was a sign for a Junior college. To this day, I don’t know what made me do it, but I took the exit and went to the college to check it out. Two weeks later I was enrolled for the next semester.

I finished college there then went on to get my 4 year degree and never had to work in the plumbing business again.

I don’t know why I pulled off the highway, but something in my brain recognized that sign as an opportunity and I took it. That decision to take action changed my life forever.

When I started Jr. college, I majored in criminal justice. I was going to be a Highway Patrolman and I thought it would be a great career for me. A friend of mine had seen me on campus sketching one day and convinced me to take an art class with her. I needed an elective so I thought wow, I should really do this! The class was commercial art and I loved it so much, I switched my major to design and found my passion in life. I’ve been a designer for over 20 years and love it as much today as the day I created my first logo.

The important thing is to learn not only to recognize an opportunity, but having the courage to take action on it.

Around 13 years ago, opportunity was, again placed into my path. The advertising agency I had worked for about 10 years was closing it’s doors. I was one of the first 7 people hired (at one time the agency has 30 employees in our office) and I was one of the last 4 people to walk out the door.

The company offered to let me purchase much of my equipment, computers, scanners, etc. for a reasonable price and I took them up on the opportunity. This small investment allowed my to go into business for myself and I’ve had my own small Advertising and Design business for over 12 years. Again, I recognized an opportunity and took action.

Now I’m not trying to impress anyone with anything I have accomplished. My business is successful but not making me rich, and I have passed on a few opportunities that could have made me money and I’ve kicked myself for not taking the right action. No one can be right every time.

You have to learn to recognize opportunities when they greet you and not be frightened to take action on them! What happens if you fail? Most time you’re no worse for wear. If I hadn’t taken the exit for the college, I would have still been a plumber, it was a good job and I would have continued to be good at it. However because I took action on many of the opportunities life placed in my path, I found my ultimate passion in life.

Don’t be afraid to take action. The decision is often hard and terrifying, but I think, if asked, most people would hate to look back and say, “If only”!

When Clients should listen.

When I started in the Advertising business, it was towards the end of the "Mad Men" era. Three martini lunches, taking clients out to expensive dinners and flying them to tropical getaways in order to maintain their business. Those days, for the most part, are long gone! Yes we still cater to our clients, but meetings happen more often in the office or a coffee shop than a hotel bar. Instant contact with smart phones and mobile devices mean that many meetings don't even happen in person. Since everyone's schedule is busy, meetings have to be more efficient and time conscious.

I addition, the Agency / Client relationship has changed. In the 60's through the late 80's the Agency was the expert on marketing and branding and the client was more inclined to do what the Agency proposed for their business, because, after all the Agency was the expert!

Now days the relationship is a little different. I have observed that as clients have become more educated, the paradigm has morphed. Clients now are more vocal, and many have hired marketing specialists, or they themselves majored in marketing in order work hand-in-hand with agencies to come up with solutions to better spend their advertising dollars.

I believe the change overall has been for the better. The relationship between client and agency has become more of a partnership, where each partner cares about the brand, marketing, design of the business and wants to make sure the best possible solution is the the one that makes it to the public.

There are occasions, however where the client still needs to defer to the agency (or design studio). I'm a Creative Director of a small design shop. I have also worked for two of the largest advertising agencies in the southwest. For over 20 years I've met and listened to many clients, given input to help them create advertising solutions to help sell and expand their business and developed long partnerships and in some cases life long friendships with them. The following are three areas I've discovered, where clients still need to listen to their agency:

1. Photography- There are two areas that need to be addressed in photography used in ads and web. The first is professional photography. Everyone has a camera these days and the camera companies have given us many automatic settings that allow us to take really good images. But, let me just say that having a good camera doesn't make you a good photographer. Professional photographers train to do what they do. They understand composition and they have worked with professional designers and know what the designer needs in a photo for an ad, brochure or poster. They understand lighting and they make sure that things in the background don't look like they're growing out of someone's head. Second, is they know how much PPI (pixels per inch) is needed when they shoot. This is incredibly important if the images are to be used in print instead of on the web or on video (see my previous blog on ppi, dpi and spi). Hire a professional photographer, it will make your life easier in the long run and your company will have a polished image that will better sell your product or service.

2. Design- whether its a logo, brochure or the side of a truck, graphic designers have the ability to cut through all the garbage out there to give your brand better message. Designers don't just put something on the page because it looks pretty, there is always a valid communications reason why something is designed the way it is. Just look around you, everything you see was designed by a designer, signs, rooms, streets, buildings and even automobiles, you hire them for their expertise, trust them to do their job.

3. Time- A wise man once told me you can have any two of these but you can't have all three, FAST, GOOD OR CHEAP. This is so true. If you do it fast, it may be cheaper but you lose quality. If the agency tells you it will take a certain amount of time to get you the quality you deserve, you should listen. They have a lot of combined experience in their field and know what they're talking about. After all, isn't that why you hired them in the first place?

Good agencies welcome the new working relationships that exist between between them and their clients. We love what we do and that's why we do it! We listen to you and learn about your business in order to produce the best possible message. On the other hand, It's still very important for you to know when it's time to listen to us.


© Copyright 2013 Michael Burke