By Gini Dietrich
At least a hundred years ago, I walked into Lightspan Digital and found Spin Sucks sitting on the desk of every employee (OK, so it was last year).
What an ego boost! To say I was pleasantly surprised is putting it mildly.
This was all the doing of one Jamie Rutter (with a little help from boss, Mana Ionescu).
She made sure everyone at least scanned the book and she took photos of the book in different parts of their office.
It was a fun campaign to follow along with…and Jamie made it all possible.
This year, she scoured my Pinterest page for the perfect birthday gift and she, Mana, and the rest of the Lightbugs dropped off a chalkboard and other fun things.
But I don’t like her because she bribes me (though it certainly doesn’t help). I like her because she’s smart and H-I-larious.
She is a DePaul University graduate, where she transplanted from Dallas and never went back. (Can you blame her? Chicago rocks!)
Jamie is a staple in the comments here so I asked her to sit on the Spin Sucks Inquisition hot seat.
What is the Biggest Mistake You’ve Made in Your Career?
Not attending networking and educational events early on, and it would be a mistake if I wasn’t still attending industry events.
That sounds cliché, but I’m 100 percent serious.
I hit a wall in my first job and kind of scrambled. It felt like I was playing catch up with the rest of my peers when I finally decided to make a change and start going to things such as Social Media Week and email marketing workshops.
Because this industry changes so often, you should never feel completely fulfilled with who and what you know.
Going to networking and educational events isn’t just for job searching, it’s an irreplaceable part of keeping your skills sharp.
Getting to know and learning from other professionals challenges what you’re doing every day.
What is One Thing about Yourself that Would Surprise Most People?
Outside of work I’m a generally risk-free person, but I love to randomly do crazy things.
I’ve gone skydiving twice (the second time was supposed to be solo but the weather was unforgiving) and have rappelled down the Wit for charity.
My bucket list includes more places and things to jump from, shark cage diving, and kayaking with orcas.
(Note from Gini: She also wants someone to donate money so she can do that base jump in Dubai that we featured in Gin and Topics last week.)
Pretty cool for someone who spends nine out of 10 Friday nights curled up on the couch watching Netflix, no?
If You Could Achieve Everything You Ever Wanted in Life, but Had to Die 10 Years Sooner, Would You Make that Trade?
Um. I guess that depends on what 10 years early is relative to?
If I’m supposed to live to 100, yeah I think I could spare 10 years.
If I’m supposed to sputter out at 60, maybe I should save those 10 years to spend with cool people (and, more importantly, eating 10 years’ worth of cupcakes and donuts). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(Note from Gini: See? H-I-larious!)
My number one goal in life is to be happy. Hopefully I can achieve that without having to give up 10 years of it.
What Industry Advice or Practice Would You Most Like to Cry Foul On?
Stop. Hating. Facebook.
UGH. Just because Facebook keeps catching on to marketers gaming their algorithm, isn’t letting us use their platform rent-free anymore, and the demographics are changing doesn’t mean it’s our enemy.
Facebook is unfair and sometimes stupid, but hating isn’t going to get anything done.
All the changes just force us to get more creative and do our jobs better.
You have to try harder to get attention and clicks, those likes mean more and you have to stay on your toes to adjust your strategy.
Plus, Stickers.
I’m not about to abandon ship when it’s full of extremely accurate emoticons such as Business Fish.
What is the Best Book You’ve Read in the Past Six Months?
I don’t often read books cover-to-cover (I’m sure you remember a certain conversation with Mana about that, Gini), but this one was worth it.
It’s really insightful and backs up solutions to communication issues with psychological reasoning.
So not only is it smart, but the lessons are easily applicable. I’m actually going to re-skim it for our book club later this month!
I’ve also cracked open Everybody Writes and can’t wait to finish it!
Why Does Spin Suck?
Spin makes things harder for the rest of us by obliterating trust.
Consumers are getting smarter and, to quote the cinematic masterpiece Role Models, “you can’t bullsh*t a bullsh*tter.”
Where You Can Find Jamie Rutter
You can find Jamie on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and LinkedIn.
She also is on Imgur or reddit, but I don’t get the bonus points for figuring out her username in either spot.
You can also keep up with her professional work on the Lightspan blog.