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Turned the train table into a Lego table by covering it with Lego sheets. The separated all the Legos by color in separate buckets. Boys will destroy those efforts shortly. (Taken with Instagram)

Lessons in Greatness - BE Dustin Schmidt

Five years ago today, Old Hat added its 5th employee to the roster. He came to us from Manhattan, KS where he had been an athlete on the track & field team and in the past five years, he has defined what it means to be an outstanding member of the Old Hat team. There's no one I have used more often as an example of how to do things right than @dustinschmidt. And as humble as he is, I'm sure he grows tired of me constantly singing his praises. But I'm serious when I tell people that they can look no further than Dustin to model their behavior after if they want to achieve success. Around here, we all call him "Duffy." And it feels weird to call him anything else. So henceforth, I'll refer to him by the name a client mistakenly called him... Duffy (or Duff).

Here are a few things Duffy has done that I feel like everyone should learn from.

1. Write a Great Cover Letter

I've told many people this... Duffy had this job won when I read his cover letter. The dude could teach a class on cover letter writing. He referenced Old Hat specifically and talked about wanting to be a part of what we do. He referenced his experience in and around collegiate athletics. And he mentioned a common acquaintance that further made him stick out in my mind.

You wouldn't believe how many people submit cover letters that say they want to work for "your firm." At least let me know that YOU know where you're applying for a job. And I don't want to read about how great you are. I want to read about how great you'd be AT OLD HAT. Duffy did that. He knew what we do and he told me how he could benefit us. Duffy, like all potential employees, had to submit a test project. I'll be honest. I was not blown away by his work. But I was blown away by Duff... HE was great. And I want great people.

2. Define Your Own Path

Time and time again, Duffy has brought new talents and revenue streams to Old Hat through utilizing his time outside of work expanding his own talents. When Duff started here, he was a print designer. But he spent his time outside of work not just honing his skills as a designer but he invested his own time and money in learning the art of photography. And when I saw how talented he was at that, I started selling that as a feature of what Old Hat can offer. Fast forward to today and Duff is the go-to photographer for the OKC Thunder team and dance team and he is our director/videographer on all of our on-site shoots. He has shot video and stills for Michigan, Utah, UNC-Greensboro, Notre Dame, South Carolina, OKC Thunder, North Texas... the list goes on and on. And on and on and on.

Duffy didn't fill an existing need here with this aspect of his talent. He created the need. He said, "I can do this. Sell it." And we did.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that he's also now a creative director and he designs all of the websites we produce. To say that Duff is a talent would be an insult to him because he so far exceeds that term.

Please note: Dustin is the one SHOOTING the photo.

3. Be Likable

To start, Duffy is humble. He treats praise as if it's the plague. That's part of why he's so likable. Everyone at Old Hat likes him. Everyone that meets him likes him. If you don't like Dustin Schmidt, there's something seriously wrong with you. I'm serious.

Also, Duffy is the most quotable person I've ever known. He has all these little soundbites that he drops on us. Wisdom for the ages. They're so good, we're considering doing a Dustin Schmidt quote generator on our next website launch.

4. Work Your Booty Off

I don't know anyone that works as hard as Duffy. He has done photoshoots that start at 6a and go until late that night with barely a break to eat. He goes all over the country almost weekly during our "busy season" and never lodges a complaint. Just this past week, he shot footage all day Thursday and Friday... and then again on Saturday. Flew home Sunday and was at work today. And he's never one time in 5 years made a single comment about how hard he works. He doesn't have to. We know it.

There are certain people in this organization that we can say without hesitation are largely responsible for our success. Duffy is one of those people. He is a lynchpin and without him, we would not be nearly as strong a company. Pattern YOUR behavior off Duffy and I assure you that you'll have success. It would be impossible not to.

We presented Duffy with his 5-Year "gameball" which only one previous employee (Robert) has received. This was a small token to recognize his contributions but does little to actually show the level of appreciation we have for what he has brought to Old Hat.

So thank you Dustin "Duffy" Schmidt for 5 Years of Awesomeness. If we're lucky, you'll be here for at least 50 more.

Throwing Dice

I just got back from spending the weekend in Las Vegas. I'm not much of a gambler... primarily because I hate losing money. Which might be a good thing to take into account when reading this particular blog. But one thing I love to do is play craps, or, "throw dice" as I prefer to call it. There are a number of "safe bets" that one can play and if you stick to those and ONLY those, the "house" has less of an advantage over you than in any other game in Vegas. That is to say, of course, that the odds are still against you. But not as much as the other games. So I can typically go out, spend the whole weekend throwing dice and come home with not much more and not much less than I started with.

Starting Out Losing

Saturday morning, I went to a table and got $100 worth of chips. Within 10 minutes, I had lost it all. That's how it goes sometimes. Trust me... that hurt. It usually takes a lot longer for me to lose that much and boy do I hate losing $100. So much so that I didn't gamble another dollar for the rest of the day. I kept trying to talk myself into trying again but I certainly had an "I don't want to lose" attitude. I figured if I didn't play, I couldn't lose.

Ya Can't WIN if you Don't Play, Either

By Sunday evening, I was ready to try again. As the saying goes, "When you fall off the horse, you gotta step back up to the craps table." Or something like that. So again, I got $100 in chips and set forth playing my "safe" bets. An hour later, I walked away from the table with $420. Not enough to retire on but I sure was happy.

This experience really got me thinking about how this applies to what I've done with Old Hat. And the similarities are plentiful.

Lost More on Non-Investments than Failed Investments

A pretty successful businessman once told me that he had lost more money by NOT investing in certain things out of fear than he'd ever lost on failed investments. I never forgot that statement. He'd had many investment opportunities come his way. Some succeeded and some failed. And some he'd passed on only to kick himself later because of how well that investment ended up doing.

Same would have been true if I had stopped playing craps this weekend. I lost $100 my first time out. But if I hadn't tried again, I would have lost the $320 that I ended up winning by trying again.

Now I'm not stupid. I know that the odds are stacked against you in Vegas and that most of the time you play, you're going to lose. But how is that different than in business? MOST small businesses fail. And while I haven't kept track of how many of my ideas have failed and how many haven't, I can assure you that if I had stopped trying things, I would have lost out on a lot more money than I ever did on trying and failing.

Rolling the Dice

Every time I step up to the proverbial table at Old Hat, I have the potential to lose/fail. And I've probably failed more than I've succeeded. But just like when I play craps, I tend to only play the safe bets. I'm not going to win big on any of them. But I won't lose big either. You won't see me put $100 down on any of the hard ways. Which means you also won't see me win really big on one roll of the dice. I'll have numerous bets out there and hope I win on some of them.

I gambled when I hired our first employee here. Wasn't totally sure I could pay him. But it paid off. I gambled when I hired Robert Smith to head up client relations. He wasn't a "producer" which meant I couldn't charge for his time. Initially, all he did was cost me money. But now, Old Hat could not operate without him. I won big on that gamble. I gambled when I hired @TracieHitz. Safe bet, sure... but a gamble. And I won on that one. I gambled when we added video production. I gambled when we added web development. I gamble every time we hire someone knew because you don't know if it's going to work out. And I lose sometimes. But if I had let any of our failure scare me away from gambling, Old Hat would still be a one man operation, providing print design for 4-5 universities. Instead, we're a 30-person operation, providing print design, branding, consulting, web development, mobile applications, video production and animation for 80+ universities and professional sports organizations.

I'll do anything for @mjriordan (Taken with Instagram)

Mac n cheese with bacon. Omg! (Taken with Instagram)

Another car rental company to add to the list of places I'll never use again. (Taken with Instagram)

Crazy good fish tacos. (Taken with Instagram)

Newest member of the Logsdon Boy household... This is Thabo Sefolosha Logsdon. Zye and Tace named him. (Taken with Instagram)

Just came inside from showing the guys some of my skills. I think they were impressed. (Taken with instagram)

Please HuMAYliate Me

HuMAYliation is back, my friends. And boy am I excited.

What is HuMAYliation?

Glad you asked. Every year, Old Hat dedicates the month of May to raising money for the prevention of child abuse. This will be the fourth year in a row that we have launched an effort to raise money for this cause. Money raised locally is given to The Abbott House and donations that come in from around the country are given to the National Children's Alliance.

2 years ago, our May was spent in utter huMAYliation. Last year we used a different method for raising money but our fans and our staff wanted to bring back huMAYliation because it was so much fun the first time around.

During the month of May, all members of the OH staff will commit to performing a humiliating act of their choice. Honestly, these tasks range from humiliating to embarrassing to just downright disgusting. And you can view what we did last time around by visiting humayliation.com.

Last time around, if we reached our goal of $3,000, I personally committed myself to running down Main Street in Norman wearing a speedo, swim fins and a swim cap screaming, "Where's the pool?" and playingMarco Polowith passers-by. This year, we're adding a little twist.

I'll Do What YOU Want Me to Do!

This year during the month of April, we are soliciting ideas from YOU for what the grand finale humiliating act should be. Send in your ideas to info [at] oldhatcreative.com, tweet them to us, send 'em on facebook, or whatever. We'll pick the top three most feasible and most humiliating and if we reach our dollar goal, I will perform that humiliating task.

As long as it's not going to result in me going to prison or the hospital, I'm game. So send in your ideas and let's get the ball rolling. If you submit on twitter, please use the hashtag #humayliation.

#humayliation #old hat creative #abbott house #charity

A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.

Michaelangelo

Word up, Michaelangelo.

The quote above... "A man paints with his brains and not with his hands..." I read that and thought immediately of all the talented designers we have at Old Hat. They are not painters but they are definitely artists of the highest grade

Believe it or not, I used to scoff at the idea that graphic designers are artists. It was easier for me to do that when I was the lone designer and the only person I risked offending was myself. But I did not see myself as an artist. I saw myself as a person with a given skill that had somehow figured out a way to turn that skill into a profitable venture.

But saying that the group of designers at Old Hat are not artists ought to get me punched in the the gut. They create something from nothing. They take a blank canvas and using their tools (computer, fonts, photos, etc.) they create something beautiful and inspiring and motivational. Those pieces, be they websites, print collateral or videos, stir emotion inside of sports fans all over the world. I am in awe of what our designers do. And I am honored that they continually make Old Hat look so dadgum good.

You Get What You Pay For

If there's one thing I've learned in the eight years I've been running Old Hat, it's that finding talented, hard-working designers that understand what it takes to design for this niché industry is HARD. I never really thought that I possessed any special talent... I honestly didn't. I thought, "Well shoot, if I can do this... anyone can." Boy was I wrong. Hiring designers that 1) are passionate about sports and 2) understand what it takes to design for sports is one of the most difficult things I've had to do. I'll get portfolios from extremely talented designers and when I ask them for a test project related to sports, it comes back and they have completely missed the mark.

I was always told that when you hire a designer, you're not paying them for the 10 hours they spend on your project. You're paying for the 10 years of experience they have that will make those 10 hours result in an amazing product. I've never believed that to be so true as I do now.

Preach it, 'angelo...

Point is, Michaelangelo had it right. A designer doesn't design with his hands or his computer or his Wacom tablet... A designer designs with his brains. And when you contract Old Hat to create something for you, you're getting a few hours of our time and years and years of time that it took for the designers to be as good as they are. And I'll put my guys up against any collection of designers in the world.

#Michaelangelo #old hat #branding #design

Call me old fashioned...

... but I like listening to records. I'm not old enough to really remember when that was the only way to listen to music. But I do remember my parents huge collection of country/western albums. I had a record player in high school but it broke so for a long time I've held tightly to my vinyl collection and finally received a new record player for Christmas. I love the act of selecting a record album. No playlists... No mixing songs/artists. I select an album and I'm committing to THAT album. I like the act of carefully removing it from it's sleeve so it doesn't get scratched. I like the thought that if I'm not careful, I can't listen to that album anymore. I like lightly placing the needle on the record. And I like only getting a few songs before I have to go flip it over or select another album.

Music is important. Music is delicate. I enjoy the notion that if I'm not careful with it, I can't listen to it anymore. Don't get me wrong... I certainly enjoy the convenience of my iPod. Last time I tried to take my record player on a jog with me, it didn't work out too well.

I think there are many parallels to this and running a business. There's nothing easy about starting a business, marketing it and maintaining the relationships that make you successful. You can't simply create a "playlist" of how you're going to operate on the first day you open your doors and let it play. You have to choose it carefully, you have to apply it delicately and chances are, you're not going to get very far with it without going back and re-visiting it. You might have to flip it over. You might have to choose a different one altogether.

Client relationships are the same way. Getting the client is the easy part. Just like purchasing the album is the easy part. Keeping that relationship in pristine condition so you can go to it time and time again is tough. If you want to be able to rely on that client time after time, you have to treat them with respect every time you deal with them. You might have 5 years of daily contact and great collaborations. But one slip, and you could scratch that relationship badly enough that it might never play properly again.

Gotta go... Time to flip the record over.

#entrepreneurship #sports marketing #old hat creative #client relations #record players #record albums

Thank You

Growing up, my father instilled many things into my character. But the one thing he drove above all else was the importance of saying "Thank You." I remember the embarrassment I felt when I'd go stay at a friend's house and I'd forget to say thank you to their parents when my dad showed up to pick me up. He'd make me get out of the car, go ring their doorbell and tell them thank you. It was embarrassing but it also prevented me from EVER forgetting to say thank you for things.

Eight years ago, on this day, I opened Old Hat's doors for business. As I've mentioned many times, it was me, all alone, it a 10 x 10' office space on Campus Corner in Norman. What Old Hat has accomplished since that date is no less than miraculous considering my lack of experience running a business, our location (Norman isn't a hotbed for creative activity) and our relative obscurity in the market. And those accomplishments are due to countless people and their contributions to our success. I wish I could mention them all by name. But you know who you are and you know what you've done for Old Hat. And for that, I offer my sincere and humble gratitude.

So thank you to everyone that works at Old Hat for the sacrifices you have made to do amazing work. Thank you to everyone that used to work here for the contributions you made to our success. Thank you to every single one of our clients for trusting us with the responsibility of assisting you to achieve your goals. Thank you to everyone that ever recommended Old Hat. Thank you to our competitors for pushing us to be better. Thank you to our families who have also sacrificed time with us so we could make Old Hat great. Thank you to the book writers who gave us all great ideas on how to make Old Hat better. Thank you, thank you, thank you to anyone who ever had a positive impact on us.

Here's to a great eight years... and hopefully many more.

Side note: Showing your appreciation to people has to be the easiest thing in the world to do but it's something we all fail at miserably. Tell someone, "Thank you," today for the impact they have had in your life. It will make you both feel good and they deserve to be thanked for even the smallest thing they have done for you.

#thank you #business #entrepreneurship #old hat creative

So I had this old Grandfather Clock...

In 1977, my parents had a son and named him Zac. 3 months later, they bought a grandfather clock. 35 years later, I still operate just fine but the same cannot be said for the grandfather clock. Plus, I've aged better as I'm not covered in this seventies style spotted wood stain.

The clock hasn't worked in years and I'm told that it'll cost more than the clock is worth to actually get it working. That, combined with the fact that I really have no desire to have a really loud clock in my house made me decide that I should find a different purpose for it.

So here's what I did. First, I took a really crappy photo of the clock lying on my kitchen floor. This was after I removed all the chains and weights from inside of it.

Then, I painted it with 2 coats of Valspar Kettle Black Satin paint. I was going to use primer first but the lady at Lowe's said that the paint had primer in it so I shouldn't need it. She was right. The clock was mostly covered after just one coat. Did 2 coats just cuz. Then I stood the clock up and took some sandpaper to the edges to give it that distressed look.

What good is a black, distressed clock that doesn't work besides being cool decoration? Well, it's no good at all. So I decided to turn it into a bookshelf. I cut boards to size and then put L-brackets on the inside to rest the shelves on. Then I painted those black as well. Here's the finished product. The photos suck but I'm happy with the finished product.

How Strong is your Product?

Two of my favorite places to eat in the entire world are Victoria's Pasta Shop on Campus Corner in Norman, and Meers Burgers in Meers, Oklahoma. Both have amazing food... some of the best on the planet. In fact, the MeersCheeseBurger was listed as the 3rd best cheeseburger in the nation by some food publication. What's interesting about these places is that their service typically ranges from mediocre to awful. At both places, you have to wait too long for initial service, too long for the food and the wait staff is anything but friendly. At Meers, there doesn't even seem to be a rhyme or reason to who waits on what tables. It's like the waitstaff battles over who has to take you until someone finally gives in.

Why are these places successful? One reason: their product is AMAZING. Victoria's serves the best Italian food I've ever had. I've eaten Italian food in Little Italy in NYC, in Vegas, in Chicago, New Orleans... all over the United States. And if I could go anywhere for Italian, I'm going to Campus Corner in Norman. Their chicken lasagna is something I'd kill for. People drive from all over the state (and country) for a burger at Meers. And I have to admit that their burgers are truly stellar. And at any given time during peak hours, there will be a line of people waiting to eat at each place.

Is your product that strong?

Victoria's and Meers Burgers don't need great customer service. Their product is why people keep coming back. And because they have virtually no competition, they can get away with it. Oklahoma Football falls into this category. Marketing Sooner Football successfully involves one thing: providing seats. As long as the product is good, people will show up.

My assumption is that there are few of us who have this luxury. Don't get me wrong... Old Hat's product is second-to-none. I stand behind what we do 100%. However, the 70+ sports organizations that utilize our services don't do it for the product alone. The Internet has made the world flat. While Meers has no competitors anywhere close, the Internet has made it so that every design firm in the world is a potential competitor. There are probably a thousand places that make Italian food just as good as Victoria's. Problem is, I can't easily get to them. With the services we provide, there are a lot of places that can provide a comparable product AND our clients can get to them just as easily as they can get to us.

We Flipped It

What Old Hat has done is flipped it. Our product IS our customer service. That's why our clients return over and over again. I wish I had a few thousand dollars for every client that has come to us and said, "We used to use XYZ Sports Marketing for this but their service was just terrible." Oh wait, I DO have a few thousand dollars for every client that has done that. I cannot count the number of clients we've gotten and kept just based on their desire to never work with our competitors again.

So is your product strong enough to make you successful without great customer service? If so, congratulations. I envy you. But for the other 99% of us, our great products have to be combined with great customer service. Always respond to calls. Always return emails. Always communicate. Never miss deadlines. Set the bar high and then jump over it. That's what Old Hat does.

#Business #entrepreneurship #competition #graphic design #customer service #seth godin

Let's Clear the Air

Almost every time I'm out jogging, I pass someone who is smoking a cigarette. Considering that most of the time the sidewalks upon which I jog are typically only wide enough for two people, it's inevitable that when I jog past these people, I catch a face full of smoke and it temporarily affects my jog. Does this bother me? Not really. They have as much of a right to smoke on the sidewalks as I do to jog on them. This is not a commentary on smoking, the health effects of smoking or the effects that smokers have on joggers. If it bothers me, I can always make the distance between us greater.

But the other day I was jogging across a street and on the other side, 3 people stood, waiting to cross my direction. One of them was smoking. As this person saw me approaching, I could see it occur to him that jogging through a cloud of smoke might make things less comfortable for me. He immediately moved his cigarette to the other side of him and then quickly took 2-3 steps off of the sidewalk and into the grass to get the smoke away from me. It wasn't until I was past him that I realized just how considerate this was. It made my day... seriously. Not because I didn't have to breathe the smoke. That was only a small benefit of the interaction. What made my day was that he was so concerned about the nuisance of his actions that he did whatever he could do to make it less of a nuisance.

Most of us continue down our paths, absorbed only in what we are doing and are only concerned with how things affect us. We don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about how our actions are affecting others. And we certainly don't realize that it's the little things that can have such a huge impact on how others feel. But this guy had as much of a right to stand there smoking as I did to jog past him while he did it. It was me that would have been adversely affected by the smoke. Not him. He wasn't getting out of my way because having a jogger run by you is annoying. He got out of my way out of extreme consideration for me. That's a rarity.

It's probably not rare that we do nice and considerate things for the people we love or the people we deal with day in and day out. It benefits us to be considerate to those people because we (hopefully) receive consideration and kindness in return.

How often are we considerate and nice to people we will probably never see again? How often are we considerate and kind when it will not benefit us in any way? I'm going to make a conscious effort this week to "clear the air" for others even when I get nothing in return. And hopefully it will become a habit that's as hard to quit as smoking.

#business #kindness #smoking #jogging #running

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