this is the world we live in.

"...am I fired?"

Little did I know that my masters degree would prepare me this well for working at a startup. I remember the seemingly endless and equally frustrating discussions about logos, fonts and colours. If I didn't know better, I might as well be in the computer lab back in Edinburgh arguing my case in front of Tash and Sinead. Now I'm arguing my case on the 9th floor in SoHo instead. I've never worked at a startup before, and it's an interesting process to say the least. And as always in life, you need to know when to shut up and when to speak up. Last night - I did the latter. The founder is based in London and the CEO goes back and forth. Gmail and Skype in all it's glory yes, but sometimes, miss-communication is bound to happen. To make a long story short; I'm supposed to write a founding story. In order for that to happen, I kind of need to know how the company was founded. This was never clear, hence a story made up of words without substance and personality. Two things that are kind of crucial. So I fired away a fairly ballsy email to the CEO last night after he reminded the digital team that we needed an "About" story. I was pretty blunt, opening line being: "Can I be blunt? I'm gonna be blunt." - then I said my piece. I also might have mentioned that the founder's bio on his page was merely "a list of achievements, i.e bragging". And I said that reading it made me not want to buy anything from him. My conscience caught up with me at the end and I realised that maybe this wasn't my place to say these things, having interned at the company for only two weeks. So I ended my email with "...am I fired?" pressed "Send" and went to bed. Not only did I sleep like a baby, I also woke up to an email saying:


"Definitely not fired. Definitely going in right direction."


Shutting up: 0 
Speaking up: 1


Exhale.

"i wasn't sleeping!"

Yesterday I was working from home because I had a Skype interview. I was in the middle of doing research/writing copy when the phone rang. The guy on the other end introduces himself and points out the fact that we were supposed to have a Skype interview about 10 minutes ago.

Great.

Usually when I go to interviews I'm always ridiculously early. My record is two hours. Most of the time I have to awkwardly hang around the neighbourhood before it's a reasonable time to show my face in the reception. So now, when being pretty much "right there" the entire time - I'm late. Don't even get me started on the irony.

I'm wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. Shit! I throw on a blazer, quickly jump on Skype and I phone the guy.

Me: Ahem.. so that wasn't the best first impression.
Mahdad: Were you sleeping?
Me: NO! (Even more ironic, I had been up for hours and hours.)

The guy is asking me some good questions, mostly focused on social media. I'm feeling the pressure. I need to make up for "being late". I like the guy, which is even worse. Because that makes me want to give an even better interview. I gave some pretty decent answers, I think. (I hate when you see them taking notes, it's like oiii come on, what are you writing there? A little peek please? Juuuuust a little one.)

As always, I was being honest about my situation and my search for an employer to potentially act as a sponsor for my visa. At one point the guy goes "you're from England so..." which results in me not only interrupting him, but semi-shouting "I'm from Finland!!". (Idiot. Stop shouting.) (And yay! Patriotism.)

The interview is a wrap and the guy says jokingly "you can go back to sleep now". Which again, results in me semi-shouting (no actually - I was shouting this time) "I WASN'T SLEEPING!" and making a sad face. Pouting and everything.

We hung up.

In the afternoon, I was offered the internship.
I must have done something right.

If my @bangonthemoney Twitter account was still connected to my phone he would have received a witty comeback. Unfortunately, I just saw this now. 

What a joker. Too good! Kudos. TVI Designs. Check it out, folks.

the interview from hell.

I was early for my interview. As always. Standing in front of a door marked "Room 303". The door was locked. I could hear a loud voice coming from inside. "What the hell is going on here?", I thought to myself. I knocked, not really sure what to expect. A friendly looking guy opened the door and it turned out I was in the right place. A bunch of boxes were piled up in the corner, a massive shark balloon was lounging out in the middle of the room and there was a huge table over by the windows. In case you didn't know - because I sure didn't - these are all attributes that help in the creation of an awesome first impression.

They were nice guys the two founders, friendly looking, happy. They asked me the usual; background, experience and all that. Then they talked about the website, how it works and so on.

Then all hell broke loose. One of the guys told me to pick one object in a hotel room and then sell it to them. I asked if I could pick any object in this imaginary hotel room. Sure, I could. First thing that came to my mind was a giraffe. Seriously Jo, don't say giraffe. I went for something more conventional. A TV. "Are you ready?" one of the guys says.

Words coming out of my mouth: "If I have to be."
Words in my head: "I wonder if I would die if I jump out that window?"

So I pretended to sell them a TV. It went something like this:

Me: Hi, I'm Jo from........................................................ Jo's TVs.
The boys: Jo's TVs! (Laughter.)
Me: So can you tell me about the TVs you have in your hotel right now?
The boys: You don't know? You didn't do the research?
Me: Uhm. Apparently I didn't. Refresh my memory, please.(At this point a loud drilling machine goes off in the hallway. Excellent timing. Also, how do you do your research on something that was made up five seconds ago? Is there an app for that?)
The boys: We have Apple TVs and they are the best ones.
Me: .....I can not only match that product, I can top it.
Guys: How?

Questions that followed were "Does it come with a remote control?" and "How can we make money off this TV?".

This was by far, one of the worst things that has ever happened to me during an interview. I understand that this is a Sales & Marketing Internship - but seriously. I repeat: seriously.

I looked like a moron. The most obvious reason for this? This was a fictional environment. Put me in a real-life situation like this, i.e put me in front of the customer, and you'll get the real me. And a pretty awesome one. Why would they have me do this act, when, in 2011, acting is the last thing you should be doing as a marketer. I know how to talk to customers. I'm genuine, personable and likable. I've been doing it for 12 years. That's 4380 days (leap years excluded). You pick up a thing or two.

However, I don't think we're a match. In fact, I think we're from different worlds. I think I have a different approach and a different perspective - and I don't think these guys are looking for a new one. One of the guys might have a Goldman Sachs Global Leader Award but has he dealt with a customer who's taken a shit in a store?

Exactly.

That being said, I withdrew my interest in the internship. It's a great product and I'm sure these guys will be doing very well for themselves. Best of luck to them.


In hindsight - I totally should have gone with the giraffe.

waiting, rejection and 90 seconds of christianity - DNYHM vol 6.

Now, let's cover my second week in New York. Not nearly as busy as the first week and I held back with my applications while waiting to hear from the ones I had interviewed with, slightly (read: majorly) blown away by the overall response. 

For Monday (September 26) I had to make a video for sourcing company BAMKO following my successful application. What the hell. I don't want to work in sourcing! Hence, they didn't get a video. Also, check out their website. How evil looking?

On Tuesday I had a phone interview with The Charter Network for the role as Marketing Assistant. My friend said the website looked like some sort of Scientology organisation. It does. Phone interview went alright and they said they would get back to me at the end of the week. They did. I didn't get it. Pheew. If it would have been offered to me it would have been a "no" - so everyone's happy! (Tom Cruise too. Suri, not so much.)

On Wednesday I had my interview with Oriel Wines. My favourite by miles, and miles and miles (not Davis)! Was given a bottle of wine to take with me. How awesome? I left after being introduced to everyone in the office, wanting it more than any other of the internships I had applied for. Gave up my atheism for about a minute and a half and prayed to baby Jesus that I would get the job.

Did I? Maybe I did.

At the very end of the week I had a casual Sunday interview with blogger Rachel, the girl behind Pizza Rulez. I can't even begin to describe how good it felt to (professionally) swear during an interview. Waiting to hear back from her. (Maybe I should have washed my mouth pre-interview? Nah. Allow.)

there's a new girl in soho.

It's me. Yesterday was my first day at the office as the new Digital Marketing & Content intern. The company shall for now remain a secret. (I'll tell you why later.)

From where I sit I probably have one of the best views in SoHo.

On-desk necessities. 

Sights on my way home are not too shabby either. Also, I must get a decent camera at some point. As much as I love my iPod it doesn't take the best photos.

Things could be worse.

the best of #iphone5. no, wait - #iphone4s.

Among the whys, WTFs and "When is iPhone5 out?", Twitter, while heavily permeated by disappointment, delivered at least some comic relief:

designmilk Design Milk 

I was really hoping to see Tim Cook in a black mock turtleneck and jeans. #iphone5

Rove Rove McManus 

I think I like Apple's other grey-haired guy with glasses better. #iPhone4S

collinspencer Spencer Collins 

Why is no one making Tom Cruise/whatshername jokes. Isn't their daughter named Suri? #iphone5

TheDrunkySingle The Drunky Single 

I'll buy the #iphone5 if it hovers over water & the ground & follows its owner when drunk otherwise Ill still lose/drop it at some point.

Don_Cote Hector Hernandez 

“I expected a unicorn but all Daddy gave me was a pony!” #iphone4s

frigginbrownie Mike Brown 

Just heard that the new season of Arrested Development will be exclusive to the never to be released #iphone5

fair enoughs and failures - DNYHM vol 5.

Here comes the honest and uncensored update on my job hunt in New York City - full disclosure guaranteed.


Week #1:


The Tap Music - Waiting to hear back about visa business. But other than that, I'm all aboard. (Extracted JPGs from my 3D animation below.)

Vizlingo - I declined the offer because of my interview with Oriel Wines. Bold move perhaps, but I'd rather be bold than boring. Let's hope it was a winning move too. Otherwise, I will feel like an idiot.


Mid-writing update! Wicky from Oriel Wines just emailed me saying: 


"Just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed meeting you last week. I'm meeting with my team today to have one final review of all applications, and make a decision. You are one of my favorite candidates so I just wanted to make sure that you're still available. Please let me know!"


Everyone - keep your fingers crossed! It's an order.


Shecky's - I withdrew my interest in the Sales Internship even before knowing whether they had chosen me or not. Still, they emailed me the other day and asked me to get in touch about their Marketing Internship. Roger must have liked me. Or at least I assume it's a good thing when someone says "you remind me of myself". Will I get back to them? I don't think so, other than to kindly thank them for the email. As much as I liked Roger I think I'm more compatible with other companies I have had interviews with.


Ology Media - This is the place where I had the unexpected Skype interview as the Marketing Director had to work from home that day. This was also the guy that praised my website. The interview went really well (at least I thought so) but.... I haven't heard from him. And now I'm crazy paranoid that my post-interview tweeting ruined my chances. I have a habit of making up my own hashtags, it's something I do for fun. This time it was #TheCameraDoesntAddWeight followed by #ThatsWhatYouLookLike. I was blatantly (not so "blatantly" to others perhaps) referring to myself. Because I always tend to stare at that little window of myself thinking "Jeez, you look like a moron" when video skyping. Let this be a hashtag lesson. A painful one.


UrbanDaddy - One of my favourites. A tone of voice and swag about them similar to my own. Interview went okey, not brilliantly. Especially when I hadn't had the time to do my research properly. So as I was sitting there, I was praying that Kristin, the Talent Recruiter (funny title), wouldn't ask me about UrbanDaddy's competitors. She did. I died. Haven't heard from her. I don't think I'll be getting a new daddy this year. Fair enough.


I had another three people to get back to to schedule interviews. One which I had completely forgotten about and found when looking through my inbox at the end of the week. Based on that, I clearly wasn't that interested. You don't forget something that you want. As for the remaining two, I emailed one of them based on the chances of them being able to accommodate my need for a visa. He didn't reply. Ouch.


I've got more to tell you but I've decided to split it into two posts bearing in mind the kind request from Niklas to not overwhelm you with text. (I'm such a good friend.) Anyhow, that's week numero uno for you!

so that's how you start the week.

I'm gonna go ahead a proclaim this effort of the week - that's right, on a Monday. Bold move, Johansson. But if there's something I noticed since I arrived in New York, it is that you want to get up early to catch the sun these days. So I did what so many other New Yorkers do, I put on my running shoes and headed to the park in the AM. Like a health freak. Eww.

Gorgeous morning by the Reservoir.

Love it when people that have about two decades on you pass you... not okey.

Keeping up the sock trend. This morning: swallows. I'm definitely the only one wearing my socks massively pulled up over my track bottoms. (Because I'm cooler than you.)

After about an hour I was almost dead. Now I'm in a safe place, i.e sitting down. 

a montauk fog and a pizza blog.

I replied to an ad posted by the girl behind Pizza Rulez the other day. She was looking for an intern to help her get her fashion oriented blog off the ground. I replied with the requested "brief summary of yourself, one recommendation you have for PIZZA RULEZ, and some other third thing you come up with on your own." My third thing being the photo below (I'm seriously making socks my thing).

My recommendation for Pizza Rulez was to first and foremost establish a graphic profile reflective of the author and build a consistent brand.

Rachel (that's her name) replied. So this evening I headed down to Soho to meet up with Rachel and her roommate Angela. We chatted for about an hour and she paid for my drink. Which means that this interview immediately went straight to the top alongside Oriel Wines. Lovely girls both of them. This should be a good gig in terms of where I see myself in the future, i.e brand management. Come on Rachel, make the right choice here, go for the gregarious Scandinavian chick with the semi-British accent and the quirky socks.

A 6th Avenue/West Houston view of a fog enclosed Empire State Building.

a sunday postcard to dan.

Here's a Sunday postcard to my gooooood friiieeeend Dan. This is where we will be celebrating when (not if) you arrive in New York. I foresee an exquisite culinary experience.

Love, love, love.

in bed with Martin Lindstrom.

You'd think that a 25-year-old who recently moved to Manhattan would be out on town a Saturday night, possibly drinking Manhattans (tried that in Vegas once, a nice gentleman in a bar in Caesar's Palace sent them over to me and my friends. It was a nice gesture. The drink - not so much). Anyways, I'm not out getting drunk (this should make you very happy, mother), I'm reading a book I picked up at Barnes & Noble today. Education never ends.

This is me pretending that Barnes & Noble is a library.

This book got to come home with me. Let's see what truths and lies Mr. Lindstrom will reveal. Also, I'm a sucker for canned cherries and now I've found a candy that tastes exactly like them. As artificially heavenly as you can only imagine.