This morning marks our one hundred and fiftieth Monday Morning WHIP! One hundred and fifty! Can you believe it!? For this momentous occasion Stan has found some advice that is as true today as it was the day it was written. Behold — Stan’s very first post!

Making the transition from aspiring creative to working creative isn’t easy. Never has been. Never will be.

It takes a combination of four things; talent, work, persistence and luck. Yes luck.

Talent is a given. If you haven’t got any, there’s not much chance you’ll ever crack a gig. So if you don’t have talent buy yourself a suit and go work as one.

Getting a creative gig takes work. A lot of work.

Don’t think that because you’ve got a degree you’re guaranteed a job. You’re not.

It takes work. A lot of work. That’s where persistence comes in.

If being a creative is what you want to be, what you really want to be, then you’ll get a job. Eventually.

But getting that job takes persistence.

It might take you a month. It might take you three months. It may even take you a year.

In essence, it takes as long as it takes.

I’m temped to tell you not to despair, but I know you will. I did!

But if being a creative is what you want to be, what you really want to be, you have to keep on keeping on. No matter how long it takes you.

Because sooner or later you’ll be in the right place at the right time to land a job.

It may not be your dream job. It may not be at the place you always saw yourself working. But your first job is a result of talent, work, persistence and luck. A lot of luck.