I’ve just officially accepted my place on the September 2023 course and I am buzzing! I can’t quite believe that a chance encounter in a London pub one Friday afternoon back in April 2022 has taken me down this path. I have always wanted to work in the advertising industry since I was a little girl; my fascination started in the early 90s, watching VHS recordings that my mum taped for me, of Bewitched, with Elizabeth Montgomery, and being fascinated by the ‘old school’ adverts.

Now there are three months left until the course starts, and I’m juggling the prep around having two young children, a husband, a home, and a job, and all the trappings and mental load that comes with all of that. I am stepping out of my comfort zone in a way that I haven’t been able to do in years, and it feels exhilarating – and also a bit terrifying. But then again, nothing really worth doing is easy, as they say.

With that in mind, over the past two weeks I have slowly been making in-roads into the prep; reading in the early-morning and late-night hours when the house is still, listening to the podcasts at work, taking 10 minutes between chores to add another sentence to this blog post… and I’m getting there, very slowly at the moment but nonetheless surely, and I feel like I’ve already learned, or had my thoughts confirmed about, a fair few things already.

My three biggest takeaways so far:

1. Don’t only think outside the box, have ‘silly’ ideas too; sometimes the best ideas aren’t the most logical or make the ‘most’ sense
2. Think about context – how does the consumer think/feel about the product now? How do we want them to think/feel?
3. It’s OK to have crap ideas; often that’s how you find the way to good ones

I find it very reassuring that that last point is a bit of a running theme in the things I’ve read and listened to so far. Personally, I know I can get too caught up in trying to get something ‘perfect’ and I have to remind myself – don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Hence why it’s taken me way too long to write this.

The next one will be even worse, hopefully.

Alex Harbour

@ajharbour