Bikini Destinations

This is probably my favorite blog subject line. It's borderline clickbait, but I assure you there is a very real story about a show called Bikini Destinations. 

My first full-time job was at a place called Broadcast News Channel. If that sounds like a fake broadcasting company to you, then you are correct and shrewder than 24-year-old Adam was. The company would call businesses and tell them that they had been selected by Terry Bradshaw to be his Pick of the Week. And if they paid just $30,000, Terry would showcase their company on MSNBC (albeit at 3:30 am). Broadcast News Channel went out of business after they had called every business in the United States—twice. It was not a cool job, but I did learn to write and edit, and I was first exposed to graphic design.

My next stop was HDNet: a network started by Mark Cuban. It was the first-ever all-HD network—which was cool until every other channel was as well. I made all the DVD menu screens (remember those?) and burned them to HD DVD (it’s less likely that you remember those). One DVD menu that I’ll never forget creating was for a riveting program entitled Bikini Destination. It featured women in bikinis rolling around in exotic destinations. When you're at a new job, meeting new people, and your monitor is adorned with mostly naked women, making a positive first impression is significantly more challenging. 

Still, I did learn graphic design and how to make DVD menu screens for an obsolete platform. And this mostly bad job was the catalyst that changed my life and propelled me to go back to school. 

Seven years later, I started my own agency and am now in my favorite destination. If your current location is not what you want, don't be discouraged; you may be just where you need to be right now. You might be stuck in your very own bikini destination. And, though it may be uncomfortable or unpleasant, work hard, learn what you can, and—when the moment is right—get the hell off that island.