A busy, productive, and vastly more positive week than I could have hoped for. Pleased with the new role, feeling uplifted and optimistic about the strategy, and a good vibe from a great and hugely supportive young team, who have all suffered magnificently to strain the limits of their English.
More busy-ness and business to come next week in London, and feeling much more like I'm a useful part of the commercial world again.
The end-of-evening private party courtesy of Jana (centre of pic), mit drag queen singer and a thoroughly Berlinesque/modelesque 'scene' definitely added to life's rich tapestry somehow. I'm just not quite sure how. And restraint was shown. So unlike me :)
So, I get paid in Euros. Between negotiating my deal in December, and today's 4-year low rate against the $, I'm down 20%. AKA a 20% pay cut :(
But then today appears to have created a new role. VP, Global Accounts, with a fun, and challenging (relatively short) list of targets. Tokyo, California and elsewhere look like they all beckon, and I am finally able to plan to spend my birthday actually having a proper holiday for the first time in years (last September didn't count, too short, and too stressful a situation, given the outcome).
Despite lack of sunshine, I'm thinking a road trip to Nantucket or Maine (since I'll be able to hire a car, yay!), given a love of lobster and sauvage coastlines, especially since home base will remain NYC, due to my stubborn inability to give up on things, and my desperate desire to settle down and start growing roots. Might have to borrow a dog, though, given that the chances of getting Henry over in time are slim.
Weather's lousy again, but it's time to mull the new longer-term strategy for Madvertise USA, that was agreed today, over flammkuchen unt bier.
Two observations about Berlin: Crikey, it's cheap here (ok, so anywhere other than Tokyo would be after NYC), and how obediently everybody obeys the ampelmann. I'm a jaywalking fiend!
Meanwhile, grateful of certain Facebook group removals... Just in case you should be reading this :)
...and my debut encounter with the Madvertise office. Just tailing off into the end-stage of the Berlin workday (with a few hours of emailing New York to come). An interesting and positive day, and the team are all perfectly delightful, which is always good news.
Some strategy yet to iron-out, and it looks like I'll be involved in another, doubtless painful, transition to Salesforce.com. But otherwise, alles ist gut.
I just met my first German Golden Retriever. Thankfully, his owner spoke great English. Made me realise how much I miss my Henry, and how he's the only love of my life that has ever contributed to my sanity, rather than pummelled it!
Against the predictions, the weather was gorgeous today. And I just worked out why my feet hurt - my walking tour of most everything I wanted to see in Berlin has just taken me 6 hours. Most of the museums and those few galleries that were open, plus the Wall and the Brandenburg Gate, and even located my next hotel (MUCH better!) and the office.
One too many currywurst, though, and a beer (with a Swedish backpacker, naturally) by the canal on the grass in the sun, and now I'm back, exploring done.
So down to some preparation for work tomorrow, and to start planning. The best revenge, they say, is to get on and have a good life.
Where the weather is absolutely miserable, putting paid to several of my sightseeing excursions :(
And my temporary accommodation for the weekend (due to everywhere being booked out) is above a biker bar! But hey, it's a bed, a better place beckons on Monday :)
So everyone keeps reassuring me that this is the beginning of a new era of prosperity, stability and the universe putting good things my way.
I wish it'd hurry up! The worst cab journey to JFK, ever, took me an hour and forty minutes (yes, honestly) in the worst traffic I've ever encountered on the highways there, followed by the single worst trans-Atlantic flight ever (combo of 21-stone next door neighbour and seat 34G on an A330. The one between the two toilets that also doesn't recline because it's against a bulkhead.) Oh yes, and you had to pay for drinks, and they didn't take cards. All class. All the way.
Dusseldorf airport now for a two hour stopover. It's, umm, small, and nothing is open yet. Sigh!
In a pattern I seem doomed to repeat, I am leaving yet another city without the woman I fell for who led me here :(
Back in a couple of weeks, I hope.
Returning from a lonely farewell-to-New York meal at Pearl, I walked through the set of the live action Smurf movie, being shot right outside my apartment!
All packed, and ready to resume the life of a nomad. Flight to Berlin leaves this time tomorrow. Should, insh'allah, be back on the 31st May. Although that depends on the visa, and whether 7 empty pages are to be filled or not in June.
Meanwhile, talking of empty pages, I have several slots left for meetings while in London (w/c 24th May), if anyone is interested!
Modern media is pretty special. I'm en route out of a meeting, and yet know (from tweets) all about Gordon Brown's resignation as UK Prime Minister, and the imminent arrival of a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government.
Watching his closing words, he stepped down with remarkable grace. There is no denying that he has tried in his own way, and worked hard with the absolute best of intentions.
"I have been privileged to learn much about the very best in human nature and a fair amount too about its frailties - including my own" - Gordon Brown.
That sentiment feels very understandable. Unfortunately Gordon, it's not enough to have your heart in the right place, you have to win the popularity contest too. Immense dignity in defeat, a lesson I'll be taking in.
Despite battling with an evil gremlin recently, I quite like this:
"Choosing the lesser of two evils isn't a bad thing. The cliche makes it sound bad, but it's a good thing. You get less evil." - Noam Chomsky
"The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount". - B. F. Skinner
As reported here.
It's an interesting pattern, and one that most of us saw coming... Predominantly SMS-based 'mobile marketing' firms are being pulled into the vortex of 'mobile advertising'. This makes perfect sense, as these companies know mobile, and its unique attributes, and have been working on clients and agencies for years (often having not quite closed the sales cycle yet!)
It's an extra string to their bow, and one that mobile advertising providers will appreciate - tapping into that rich seam of talent, experience and a client base (albeit one that perhaps does not provide annuity revenues).
So is this the beginning of a new spate of acquisitions? I think it might be. Just as above-the-line agencies once took over star performing DM agencies, I suspect mobile advertising players will start scooping up mobile marketing firms. It's certainly a feature of a smart strategy for entering a market, as Adenyo are.
On the day I became a great-uncle for the first time, I'm beginning to feel too old to be doing all of this stuff, and hopefully it's time to get life back on track.
A hectic week beckons, my last in NYC for a while, with much to try and cram in before I head to Berlin to spend some time with the Madvertise crowd. My world feels upside-down yet again, and a whole lot emptier than it did when I came here. I can but hope that things are on the verge of change.
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. Or succeed." Samuel Beckett
Jon Beverley is an entrepreneurial mobile pioneer, best known for being a founder & CEO of mCommerce startup Scan Mobile. Based in NYC, Jon can be often be found in Berlin and London. He is VP, Global Accounts for Madvertise, the German-based EMEA mobile advertising network and agency. Follow Jon on Twitter @jonbev.
