plane musings

i wrote this on a plane trip back from boston.    
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it was written from a place of exhaustion and hunger; but also with a slight plane-wine buzz.

for posterity.

I regularly get asked about what I do by the people I’m interviewing.  It always gives me a nice pause as I ponder how “lucky” I am to do what I do.   I’m lucky on many levels.
 
My job is to find out what makes people tick  – it’s pretty specific down to what makes them BUY ALL THE THINGS, but it’s still about getting into that emotional and practical territory that influences the decision-making process.
 
I get to fly all over the country and talk to all sorts of different kinds of people.  This week, I talked to families in LA and Boston about their family decision-making processes for a major kids cable network (Talk about RELEVANCY!)   Last week I talked to young adults in LA about their alcoholic beverage purchases.  Before that, I was in Philadelphia & San Francisco talking to ladies about their cleaning routines and why they do what they do.   I’m pitching a project that would involve me talking to small business owners  about accounting software, another project that would involve talking to CEOs of major companies in China, Brazil, Mexico and India about their fears and dreams, and still another project that would bring me to rural locations in Texas, Illinois and California to talk to parents & ‘tweens’ about seatbelt safety.   I’m also pitching a project where we’d do virtual interviews about entertainment choices with ‘Millennials’’ about an up-and-coming cable network.
 
Another upcoming project would be revisiting how people use online music services such as Pandora and Spotify ( a continuation of a project we did last year); and in a few weeks I’m going to be helping a golf magazine strategize to figure out the type of advertisers they should be focusing their efforts on.
 
I’ve worked on several fashion & retail clients – from online websites to offline clothing and shoe merchants, A few months ago, I talked to elite teen athletes about an upcoming sports retailer’s campaign, and before that I talked to women in Los Angeles and New Jersey about how they purchase fashion accessories.
 
I’ve spent a good amount of time doing movie-related research – from uncovering why & when people go to the movies to the tools they use to plan movie-going occasions.  This is my FAVORITE topic, for sure.
 
I just moderated an online board about family-style dining establishments where people spent a week posting insights about their decision-making process when selecting a place to dine out.
 
It’s an awesome job, if you’re a nerd like me that really, really loves to try and uncover insights.
 
But I’m also lucky because I work for myself.   Although I’m in a partnership LLC, at the end of the day I report to ME.   I have a somewhat flexi-schedule and it means I’m able to see my wonderful baby boy more than I would if I still worked for a large company.
 
My life is good.   My job is great.   I’m lucky.   And I don’t think about it or say it enough.