“Stay stubbornly optimistic,” said Tina Roth Eisenberg, on the stage of Design Thinkers this year – “There’s enough jaded 30-something ladies out there.” After the last three years, marked by a blend of pandemic, war, and economic downturns, this phrase is at risk of becoming my personal life mantra. I find myself secretly yearning for 2019, when we were a bit younger and life a bit simpler. I feel annoyingly adult – I drive my car to my office, collect loyalty points at grocery stores, and spend more time in Google Sheets than Photoshop. Yet, amidst business obligations and family duties, 2023 has brought many nice moments that, in retrospect, bring a smile to my face.
With 2020 coming to an end we are saying good-bye to an era that raised and shaped our generation. After everything that happened, life will never go back to normal — it will move on, transform, advance, and become normal eventually as we all get used to the new reality.
Even our steady life in Canada was shaken by the breath of this new plague. We were reminded of how fragile humans are in the face of nature, both physically and mentally; how tenuous our social institutions are and how it can all go to hell if we stop paying attention.
I’ve been working from home, dealing with uncertainty and enjoying people from a distance (like my dear friend Edmund put it) for a while — 2020 didn’t change my life much but it changed my perspective. If I had to name it, I’d call it a ‘Year of Going from Me to We‘.
Oddbee is fully remote. It wasn’t a conscious choice at first — it happened over time.
Oddbee is a creative digital agency specialized on branding, websites and product design for tech startups.
In the early days of the company, when I was working my way up from a freelancer to an agency, friends would sometimes refer their friends who were looking for work to me. Having lived in two countries and travelled a great deal, I naturally built a network that spanned 4 continents. Candidates would come from all over the place and I simply said yes to the best, no matter how remote.
An introvert and an immigrant I know what it’s like to spend days and nights chatting with family and friends overseas. In my 20’s I studied, worked, partied, played Need for Speed and managed a long-distance relationship – all online. Working with a remote team didn’t scare me, but it always felt that we were missing a personal connection.
March 1. After a month-long offsite in Playa del Carmen, tanned, fit (from frequent workouts – thanks to my accountability partner and our amazing developer Yulia👋), tired (from intense work) but well-spirited (as in good spirits and equally good amounts on margaritas in my system) we arrived back in Toronto. I had ambitious plans to grow the team, got a few projects lined up and was generally looking forward to the new year to unfold.
On march 10 everything started to shut down.
First came fear. Uncertainty was in the air, same as the pressure to move and make decisions fast. Three of our regular (and some of most cherished) clients got hit hard – one of them went out of business soon after. I checked my bank accounts to see how far we are from running out of cash and took a deep breath. Ever since then 2020 has been a marathon.
Now, almost a year into Covid I want to pause and reflect on this unusual journey. I’m very grateful that our industry was mostly spared but this is not to say it was an easy ride.
I did an experiment – deleted my Instagram and Facebook apps for the most of January. For no higher reason other than to take a break – I felt like life got too cluttered (or I got too addicted). I kept messenger, email and other practical stuff, just turned off notifications.
For those who don’t know – I run a digital agency, I work online, I work from home (or anywhere else) and I’m in charge of my own schedule – all of the above comes with its benefits and price, sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it – but that’s a whole different rant for another day.
So, here’s what I discovered in 3+ weeks without social media.
My life has been a journey of becoming a Someone. Someone smart, important, successful and hopefully, someone good. Trying to do well in school, getting a degree, emigrating to Canada, going back to college, getting a job, starting a business, finding a partner, getting a house – all the things I was doing to prepare myself for a better life.
But where does this prep work end and the life begins? – you ask.
I wanted to write an honest post about 2018, about success and emotional turbulence, hopes and unmet expectations, pleasant surprises, minor disappointments and big support of my friends.
But if I write it as is, would I want to publish it online? Or would anyone even want to read it? And how honest can you be when talking about yourself anyways? Better I let my judgements go and share the parts I want to remember… So, here’s the bright side of 2018.
If you still want to read it, I warn you – it’s going to be long.
My first morning in Tel-Aviv happened to fall on Saturday. This is what the city looks like on Sabbath. Everything is closed, streets are empty, public transit is not working. It feels strange and spooky but adventurous! It feels as if you have the whole city for yourself to explore.
Working as a Professional Tourist.
One sunny morning while I was checking some ancient shrines in Kyoto I got a message from my friend Katerina: – Do you want to work at Tokyo Museum of Advertising for a day? – Hm… Doing what? – Working. As a tourist. They will close the entire museum for the day and you’ll get 4 personal tour guides. All you need to do is listen and ask questions… and then you get paid.
It sounded like a damn good deal.
That day I took the first train to Tokyo and was at the museum by the set time. It belongs to Dentsu the famous advertising agency that almost entirely dominates the Japanese market.
The museum trains their staff by brining in english speaking guests who act as tourists. It was a great experience. I felt that my teaching, design, people, and communication skills all came together in one-of-a-kind job – a professional tourist. If you ever visit the museum in Tokyo you’ll likely hear fragments of the vast feedback that I left after my visit 🙂
Now I can say I have Japanese work experience. Otsukaresama deshita!
