AFTERWORD

WHEN I WAS pitching this book, it dawned on me: How old does a book seem when its topic changes by the millisecond? Remaining evergreen in a world that is always on is harder and harder to do. Every day brings a new blog post, a new marketing conference presentation, a new podcast, a new video, new tweets, new Snapchats, new photos, and new infographics explaining how to best optimize the marketing in this new era. I realized the best way to do this was to provide higher-level inspirational thinking that (I hope) won’t get old, because it’s centered on the human experience rather than on technology or platforms; those are so “here today, gone tomorrow.”

I hope that when you read this book—or reread it in 2020 or 2025—that it’s still as relevant as it was in the summer of 2015 when I wrote it—although you will be reading it using virtual reality rather than your smartphone.

I didn’t write this book from one location but, rather, from many locations. The best sources of inspiration are the people and things that are around us. I wrote late at night in Seattle; I also wrote in Las Vegas; San Francisco; Portland; Oregon; Brooklyn; Long Beach Island on the Jersey Shore; and at a friend’s house in Maplewood, New Jersey.

I wrote it at desks, standing tables, coffeehouse cafe tables, and in a comfy chair at the house of my old friends Mike and Diedre Ayers. When I wasn’t tapping away on my Windows 10–powered laptop, I was taking notes and saving them on OneNote or backing up the drafts on OneDrive. I felt I was constantly learning while I was writing. To feel and not just think, I exposed myself to as many experiences beyond the computer screen as possible. When I did foster true connection, it was with the twenty-five people I interviewed, who understood how to connect in ways we normally take for granted. Unfortunately, we tend to forget human connections in our digital distraction. We sometimes pay more attention to the computer or smartphone than to the exciting physical world and the people who inhabit it with us.

Trust me, I’m no Luddite. But trust me—reading another blog post or watching another piece of video content may not inspire you with creative ideas or flights of imagination. However, separating yourself from the world of digital devices just might. It can put into perspective what you are trying to accomplish and what your life’s mission is in the creative economy—not as a marketer, but as a human being.

You may be surprised what happens when you let your heart lead the way, rather than a bunch of numbers in Hadoop without context. We have to remember that those numbers represent the actions of people, and aren’t simply statistics alone. So, get outside more. Paint. Travel. Read. Observe. Love. Learn. Slam-dance. Rave. DJ. Feel. Solve math equations. Listen.