I’ve always loved this quote and on my first draft of this post, the title was ‘That idea is stupid’ because those words were the motivation to write this story down. Also, I know there’s a lot of ‘fake’ Einstein quotes so I hope he actually said this!

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
– Albert Einstein

A long, long time ago I got a job at a Canadian media station. Most the girls there were not particularly nice to me. From what I gathered I was the weird internet girl and they didn’t like me. That’s ok, I’ve always been a little different and danced to the beat of my own drum.

The boss I was hired by believed in me and my weird internetness. I was doing something unique and it was 2009, the start of mainstream social media. I was excited to learn from him and work together making cool internet as a team. Then he left for another job. My new boss had been there for a lonnnnnng time. Like before the internet long time. He was NOT into my ideas and along with the girls, thought I was weird.

One meeting I suggested they put hashtags on tv screens while a show was on and he said “that idea is stupid“. Well, we all know how that turned out, don’t we…

A couple years later I worked a full-time job as a Director at an agency. We were planning a big event for the launch of a new vodka flavour. I knew about this cool social media printer setup that would print any Instagram post with a pre-determined hashtag to a little paper that was also a sticker. I’d followed this company since it’s Kickstarter and knew it was finally available for hire. In a meeting I recommended it and everyone loved the idea. I priced it out and we had to fly in the guy and the four printer machines from NYC and put him up for a night in a hotel. It was kinda expensive but compared to the entire event not thaaaaaat much. In the next meeting, my idea was on the chopping block. I fought like hell to keep it on. Pleading that it would be the coolest thing and social media feeds narcissism, meaning everyone will want cute photos of themselves to take home. Thanks to that idea and the printer the event was a HUGE success, trending in Toronto then Canada for most of the night.

Moral of the story

Don’t let what someone else says stand in your way.You might be able to see something they just can’t visualize it because you’re ahead of the game. Go with that. Go with your gut, believe in yourself. Put your ideas out there. Don’t be afraid to speak up. 

You never know how big your idea will be until you put it out there.