By Charlie Van Vechten

Do you remember the TV show “The Odd Couple”? Well, in a nutshell, that is me and my business partner. In a lot of ways, we are polar opposites. He says I’m anal and meticulous, I say he’s messy and impulsive. But you know what… It works. It’s just the sort of madness that has made our company surprisingly successful… even in this tough economy.

You see, we are each other’s “anti-selves.” Although we both envisioned starting a client-centered design firm that produces great results, that’s where most of our similarities end. We don’t walk, talk, or approach our business the same way; to look at us, you’d think we wouldn’t even be able to agree on what to have for lunch. Knowing how oil and water mix, it would be easy to think Jacob Tyler Creative Group should be a disaster. But ours runs like a well-oiled machine.

To see why, you just have to understand that we don’t work well despite our differences but because of them. It might be a stretch to say we complete each other… but we sure do complement our respective talents. Les likes to meet with prospective clients and draw in new business, all at a thousand miles a minute; I tend to be reserved and collected, and work like a dog to keep the agency running smoothly and make sure everyone is happy along the way. Spreadsheets and numbers speak to me, where as Les loves the thrill of the chase. One of us works calmly, weighs decisions, and is patient, the other gets wildly excited, goes with his gut, and wants it “now”.

Somewhere in that mixture, we’re doing better work than ever. Separately, we ran businesses that were doing alright. Together, our creativity and client list are going through the roof. Plus, both of us are completely reinvigorated… It’s like we are constantly challenging each other and in the end… We win, and so do our clients. Just when they think we’re ready to fight like cats and dogs, we do – but in a creative, constructive way. By motivating, challenging, and occasionally, even encouraging one another, we become far more valuable to our clients and employees than we ever were on our own.

Surprisingly, we end up agreeing on almost everything.

Is it possible your company would be better run as a partnership, and with someone who sees the world a bit differently than you do? We would like to offer a handful of tips for finding the anti-self partner that takes your business to the next level:

Find your anti-self. This is the simplest step, and yet it’s the hardest. That’s because we tend to surround ourselves with men and women who look, think, and act like us most of the time – from our friends to our employees. Think outside the box a bit, though, and you might remember a friendly face from an association conference… or even a competitor who does great work.

Think peanut butter and chocolate, not lemon juice and ice cream. Of course, you can take the whole idea of contrasting personalities too far. It doesn’t make sense to join forces with someone you don’t respect, or even outright resent. One of the interesting things about our partnership is that we almost always reach the same decision – even if we have to take drastically different paths to get to that point. What we have learned to take from that is that, deep down, both of us value and respect the same things and especially each other.

Divide and conquer… It’s funny how many creative shops we see that are run by two print designers, or a pair of internet marketing types. It’s probably that way in most businesses and most industries; it only makes sense that a pair of similar professionals will “naturally” come together … but this is one natural tendency you’ll want to avoid. That’s because another word to describe the situation would be redundant. Two or more people with the same skills and the same methodology will end up duplicating work, or worse, stepping on each other’s toes.

By choosing to partner with someone who brought a different skill set to the table – Les had a strong background in web work, while most of my business had been built on print design – each of us gained something. That leads to better work and a broader perspective, but it also helps smooth out differences in opinion. Since one of us is an authority in a different area, we’re forced to rely on each other’s best judgments when making tough calls.

Some sharing is good. Jacob Tyler is a partnership in every sense of the word. While we do divide up specific tasks, the overall strategic vision is formed together, as are questions revolving around employment, major investments, changes in client relationships, and so on.

Going into business with your anti-partner might seem like a crazy thing to do; it certainly did to us – right up until we found out how well it worked. If you think your company could use another perspective, why not brainstorm and try to find another personality who could be the best partner you never knew you were looking for?

In a city best known for its manufacturing, tourism, defense and agriculture industries, you would be hard pressed to find a concentration of innovative, creative, and inspiring professionals looking for way to change minds and spread good ideas, right? Wrong! At Jacob Tyler Creative Group, just one of many great agencies in the heart of downtown San Diego, we jump at any opportunity to positively influence the exchange of creative ideas and facilitate effective collaboration.

This explains why our office has been beaming with excitement since the announcement of an independently organized TED event coming to San Diego and the opportunities that come along with it. We are not only looking forward to listen, learn, and collaborate with this great independently organized not-for-profit design and technology based discussion, but we are hoping become more involved as well.

For those who aren’t in the know… TED prides itself on this core foundation: “We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we’re building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other (Source).”

Visit, Tedx-sandiego.com, to nominate an inspired San Diego thinker to speak, share and influence the spread of ideas and the power of collaboration at the upcoming Tedx Conference. TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design.

“In November 2010, San Diego will host its inaugural TEDx event, The Next Wave at Anthology. Participants from throughout southern California and Baja are invited to interact in a sea of change of new ideas and shared passions. TEDx San Diego brings together innovators, explorers, teachers and learners in an environment that encourages collaboration, conversation and interaction. Join us at TEDx San Diego and come prepared to be the change that makes a difference. TEDx San Diego is a not-for-profit event organized entirely by local, unpaid volunteers (Source).”

Talk about a GREAT SEO landing page campaign! I always give props to agencies that do great work and Agency Fusion really came through with this. As a graphic designer for the past 20 years, I always joke with my team about how most clients LOVE to see their logo big. By watching this video…you all now know that it’s not just me (or you for that matter if your a client watching this right now)! Not only is the video well executed, but the script is fantastic playing off the TV ads we all know and love (or can’t stand). I have to say though…my favorite line is “You paid your neighbors nephews friend a whopping 50 bucks for that logo“… cause we all joke about that too Well done!!

By Les Kollegian

When I visited the approximate 480 employee staff of Weiden & Kennedy in Portland Oregon last year, I was beyond amazed and in awe of my surroundings there. I mean… they have stadium seating for their meetings. Really?!?! I have 11 people in my small Web design firm. All I could do was think of what their monthly overhead is and I needed aspirin before I left the building.

This Super Bowl commercial written by two talented dudes over there deserves a hand shake and maybe a golf clap. This video below shows the making (it’s 20 min…but totally worth it if you’re into this stuff) and the Director and Actor just did an amazing job. What’s real and what’s CGI? I never would have guessed. See below.