Tweet Have you started playing with Xtranormal yet? It's a site that lets you create animated shorts by typing the dialogue. You type it. They say it – yes, anything. (Swear up a #@$%*! storm if you want to.) Lately, I've seen a few ad industry shorts that make me smile.

Have you ever tried to explain your job to your family? I've been doing this for over 20 years and I still don't think a lot of my family understands what I do.

When you're starting out, the money isn't great and neither are the hours. And sometimes you are going to work for some lousy bosses.

Did I say you'll go through some bad bosses?

For every bad boss, I've had more great ones and I've stuck by them over the years and learned a great deal. So when you find one, do the same. Also stay in touch when you move on. You'll still find yourself reaching out to them for words of wisdom. Fortunately, I had my bad experiences early in my career, but you learn from the bad managers, too. You learn quickly what to look for and what you want in a good supervisor. Remember, interviewing is a two-way street.

Then I hope years from now, you can look at things like Xtranormal and laugh about them.