“I’ve seen a lot in my day.” -VW

Sat, 18 May 2013 20:51:18 -0400

I’d never wanted to drive a Volvo so badly. #SF...

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:12:34 -0400

I’d never wanted to drive a Volvo so badly. #SF #goldenhour

Awesome parting gift via @raycloyd - carrying onto the plane...

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:55:44 -0400

Awesome parting gift via @raycloyd - carrying onto the plane with me on Tuesday. #thankyou #hasselblad

A Happy Friday! (And the result when folks run late for their...

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:12:44 -0400

A Happy Friday! (And the result when folks run late for their portraits.)

One of only a few items I’m having shipped to San...

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:52:43 -0400

One of only a few items I’m having shipped to San Francisco. #taylor

Sitting on my front porch earlier today.

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:15:27 -0400

Sitting on my front porch earlier today.

Took a break from moving today.

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:22:45 -0400

Took a break from moving today.

Soft focusing. #macro #bokeh

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:06:14 -0400

Soft focusing. #macro #bokeh

Most beautiful box I’ve ever seen. #hasselblad #retro...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:58:29 -0400

Most beautiful box I’ve ever seen. #hasselblad #retro #design #film

Finding some interesting things while doing this moving...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:31:17 -0400

Finding some interesting things while doing this moving business. #firstgrade #portrait

Taking a one-role-only break, then back to packing. #nikon...

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:33:29 -0400

Taking a one-role-only break, then back to packing. #nikon #hasselblad #zeiss

Tally descent lunch #1: Gordo’s

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:49:15 -0400

Tally descent lunch #1: Gordo’s

House rented. Apartment search in SF begins. But I will miss...

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:28:12 -0400

House rented. Apartment search in SF begins. But I will miss McDaniel St. Good times here and more to be had.

Productivity, evaporated.

Sat, 11 May 2013 19:28:23 -0400

Productivity, evaporated.

Morning visit with my wonderful neighbors, Nana & Poppa...

Sat, 11 May 2013 11:13:03 -0400

Morning visit with my wonderful neighbors, Nana & Poppa McGinniss.

Subject: Doing Things A Little Backwards (A Farewell Email To An Amazing Company & Culture)

Fri, 10 May 2013 10:36:00 -0400

I have never understood why folks send farewell emails at the end of the day. Emails are more likely to be read in the morning and who doesn’t want a full day of attention?

So I’m doing things a little backwards today. Which is pretty reflective of my last 5 years at the agency – and I hope you sit back for five minutes, take a few sips of coffee and read my last email.

In December 2007 when I started as an intern in PR, I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into. Actually, I had no idea what I was doing in general – I just knew I was 1 of 2 dudes in the department, surrounded by hot older girls with a steady income. AKA best job in the world. Somewhere between flirting and handing out my phone number three times a day, I figured it out, without too many people knowing I started-scared-shitless (and not really of Carrie because I had 22 years already under my belt at that point.)

Fast forward two great years to Andy’s office where I recall begging him to give me a chance in advertising. Once again, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I was fresh out of college and who better to beg, in tight jeans, then Andy. :)

So I landed in ‘new business, helping Curtis with random shit’. That was the general title, job description, and torture tactic Andy secretly deployed as payback to my constant nagging.

My first office as Curtis’ little helper, I shit you not, was the closet across from the back stairway with a white desktop iMac that sounded like a clogged Dirt Devil Hand Vac. Each time I walked out of my “new office,” and Mike Murdoch/Andy caught a glimpse, they both murmured, “Look, Cliff’s coming out of the closet!” Hence the name “Itsa Closet.” I was a pretty damn good sport about it.

There were two things that Andy failed to mention about this “position”:

1. It is still unknown if the poor women who held this position before me quit after a few weeks or if Curtis “drove her to quit.”

2. It would change the way I approached business, forever.

It seemed I was expected to think like Curtis and know everything about business development on my first day but I realized that was the expectation in which I needed to strive towards, if I wanted to stick around. I spent every second (in meetings I had NO right attending) listening, watching, observing and consuming. I secretly started taking/reading books off Curtis’ self (10+ in year one) and taking responsibility for every task I could handle. Most of which were tasks Curtis still executed himself, which in my mind was a waste of his time. Before too long, those tasks had become part of my job and CZ not only stopped trying to do them over my back (we all know what this is like), but he trusted me enough to stop yelling for an update every 5 minutes from down the hall.

I’ll never forget the evening, 6:00pm two weeks in, Curtis asked if I had ever written an RFP. When, ON GOD’S EARTH, would I have ever written a RFP? “What the hell is a RFP?” I thought. We both knew I was full of horse shit when I immediately answered “yes sir, of course.”

I wanted to punch myself in the mouth but didn’t get the chance because Curtis said “alright, great – because I am traveling this afternoon and you need to get me a draft first thing in the morning so I can send to Cooper Tires & Rubber Company. Oh, and don’t fuck it up.” Instead of punching, I shit myself. Then I worked through the night, the first of 100 all-nighters I’m sure, and I set my own standard for all other RFPs to come.

Getting the opportunity first, and figuring it out after, seemed to be the trend and I never turned one down – even if that seems a bit ass-backwards. This mentality brought me more knowledge, confidence, initiative and satisfaction than I ever expected to gain in my profession.

And the list of crazy-hilarious, ridiculously-stressful, out-right-absurd instances went on in the next 3 years or so, and I wouldn’t trade them for a minute. Our passion and energy at this place blinds us sometimes from stopping and saying, “FUCK – we do some pretty amazing stuff. For some really awesome clients. With some pretty badass, interesting people, who I can call my co-worker and a lifetime friend.” And it doesn’t get much better than that.

A las, here is my attempt to highlight particular folks that have made a big impact during my time here. I know I will forget someone but here it goes in my common theme of ass-backwardness:

To all of my friends at the agency. You know who you are. You have always been more friends than co-workers and I love you all. Thanks for dealing with my craziness (and adding to it) these past few years – may it never stop.

Sheila – thank you for always understanding, giving the best POV about situations and supporting everyone’s emotions each day. You should be given wonderful prescription drugs for the stuff you effortlessly deal with at this place! :)

Buddy Walker, Steve Smith, Lindsay – I would have never survived without everyone rolling their sleeves up, always on short timelines and always willing to help make our presentations, RFPs and efforts look amazing. Buddy, you were the first person I told about my insane trip to chase down ‘the one that got away’ across the country. And you were just as excited and happy as I was – I’ll never forget that.

Carol/Debbie/Emily/Courtney – God bless you all for not banning me from your offices. You always knew that abrupt visit, with my hesitant smile, was going to mean it needs to be done… yesterday. :) Thank you for always enhancing my crazy packaging ideas and knowing the time sensitivity and importance of business development. Ya’ll are the best.

Rob/Jason/John T/TJ/Eric T/Hector – thank you for always believing in my talents, creativity and actually listening to my opinion/direction, knowing my answers were as close to CZ’s as you were going to get. And if they weren’t, you all knew I was completely fine being the fall person. Rob, I’ll never forget when you were presenting a ‘riot of fresh fruit’ campaign, internally, for the Topical Smoothie pitch in the beach – “We’re REVOL-TING! We’re REVOL-TING!” It was at that point where I saw strategy meet visual creative, and the execution come to life.

Matt Thompson – constantly proving that one man can do it all. I hope to become a passionate family man much like yourself while still doing great things in my profession and passionate side projects. Thank you for all of your guidance and POVs through the years with both Colleen and myself.

Rusty Howard – I not only aspire to drink whiskey/bourbon right out of the bottle and be the first to wake-up, unscathed, but I hope I can mimic your ability to stay calm in stressful situations. You helped me learn that stepping back and basing our thinking around business solutions should always be at the core – and you always provided amazing examples to keep everyone on track.

Andy – thank you for having faith in my desire to get experience in advertising, talking Curtis into “letting me help,” and for an uncountable amount of laugher through the years. But most importantly, thank you for showing me how to compartmentalize my emotions in this crazy business. “HERE SHE COMES!”

Carrie – thank you for not budging when Curtis said, “absolutely not,” when Andy wanted to hire me full-time. We all know that the best way to get on Curtis’ good side, is to get on your’s first! I’m thankful to have Englert DNA: having the constant passion and most of all, the drive for nothing but excellence.

Mike McHaruge – I admire everything you do, believe in, and how you see the world. I have always been compelled by your stories, experiences and random knowledge. Your life values are spot on in my book. You treat people with respect and define great character – ‘who you are and what you do when no one is watching.’ I have felt privileged to know about your most recent achievements as an influential speaker and future as a published writer. But most importantly, you hold an amazing place in the heart of the most important person in my life – which means you will always hold a special place in mine.

Jaime Zoller – my partner in crime, my sanity, my business development mentor and overall best friend. The amount of knowledge I consumed from your expertise is invaluable and it has been a pleasure learning from your experience and wonderful management stills. Your passion and energy is contagious and I seriously doubt this will be the last time we work together. In the most non-creepy way possible – I love you!

Abbey (Frederico) Manto – my overall mentor of inspiration. How I have been so lucky to know you. I can’t even explain to people the love of design/film photography we share, our ability to talk about the emotion behind a single photograph for 30 mins and the overall love of doing a test shoot and “being creative.” I will forever cherish our side conversations, which taught me more than I would have ever learned elsewhere. I hope that one day we will be able to fulfill our dreams of organizing and executing a multi-day shoot, with nothing but Hesselblads in our focus and roles on unexposed 120 film at our hips. We really share a true passion, because “that’s all you need.”

Curtis – first off, the child naming is up to Colleen. And since she already has two siblings named Kerrie, it might be a harder sell than you think! Seriously though, this section could go on forever. From heating up your coffee to cold calling the CEO of Vision Airlines and talking him out of issuing an RFP. And instead, meeting with us in two days, when I had no idea what your schedule was like.

When I started, I never understood exactly what I was doing half of the time, but I damn sure acted like I did and figured it out (for the most part!) I started to realize/love the ‘selling’ aspect of ‘marketing a marketing agency.’ It is a true B2B play that needs B2C efforts, and you have shown me how to master that. I learned how to value our agency’s intellectual property and creativity, use our current efforts strategically, customize and packaged up our previous experience as a company, and successfully sell it to create more business opportunities. And it all happened so fast, all the time, I rarely had time to look back and realize how much I have grown.

You told me on my third day (after blurting out my opinion in a meeting I had no business attending) that you liked my confidence, in typical CZ fashion: “What you said earlier made no fucking sense but it will as you continue to learn… you aren’t a chicken shit, and I like that. Staying fearless will take you far in this business.” And although it might be a little backwards, you were right. And I have realized that part of ‘not being a chicken shit’ is taking on any challenges, tasks and responsilibities first and then figuring out how to make them great once the pressure is on. I came into this agency not knowing what the hell business development was to organically landing an amazing position at an agency in downtown San Francisco. Which is still hard to grasp and lies beyond my wildest dreams. None of which could have been possible without your constant criticism, infinite expectations, fearless leadership, and overall confidence in me. And for all of those things and MANY more, I thank you.

Although I’ve never worked at another agency OR been a ‘Vice President’ for that matter – this amazing (yet sometimes twisted) place has taught me one important thing: Take EVERY SINGLE opportunity first, and work your ass off to make it great.

To everyone else – please stay in touch and take advantage of every opportunity you have here at Bright Red/Z. I’m certainly glad I did.

Cheers to all,

Cliff

cliffenglert@gmail.com \ cliff@ironcreative.com \ linkedin.com/in/cliffenglert \ facebook.com/cliffenglert \ instagram.com/thatcliffguy \ twitter.com/thatcliffguy \ cliffenglert.com

My next stop and new home. #SF #latergram

Thu, 02 May 2013 10:45:45 -0400

My next stop and new home. #SF #latergram

Rollei on the train #latergram

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:51:42 -0400

Rollei on the train #latergram

Polaroid at Market & Church #clipper #sanfrancisco #sf...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:31:52 -0400

Polaroid at Market & Church #clipper #sanfrancisco #sf #hasselblad #polaback #latergram

Logistics - #ups #roadbike #peets #sf #rollei #believeinfilm

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 11:21:59 -0400

Logistics - #ups #roadbike #peets #sf #rollei #believeinfilm

\\

“I’ve seen a lot in my day.” -VW

I’d never wanted to drive a Volvo so badly. #SF...

Awesome parting gift via @raycloyd - carrying onto the plane...

A Happy Friday! (And the result when folks run late for their...

One of only a few items I’m having shipped to San...

Sitting on my front porch earlier today.

Took a break from moving today.

Soft focusing. #macro #bokeh

Most beautiful box I’ve ever seen. #hasselblad #retro...

Finding some interesting things while doing this moving...

Taking a one-role-only break, then back to packing. #nikon...

Tally descent lunch #1: Gordo’s

House rented. Apartment search in SF begins. But I will miss...

Productivity, evaporated.

Morning visit with my wonderful neighbors, Nana & Poppa...

Subject: Doing Things A Little Backwards (A Farewell Email To An Amazing Company & Culture)

My next stop and new home. #SF #latergram

Rollei on the train #latergram

Polaroid at Market & Church #clipper #sanfrancisco #sf...

Logistics - #ups #roadbike #peets #sf #rollei #believeinfilm