Meet Jim Harper

We recently connected with Jim Harper and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jim, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.

There is so much creativity on this planet. It’s amazing how some people spend their short time on this rock creating such beautiful things. And so many go absolutely unappreciated. Music, Film, Theater, Art, Design, Engineering, Comedy, Innovation. For some it’s only fuel is money, but fortunately for some people, it’s something they feel they have to do. They see the past as a set of challenges and also inspiration. They want to make something better, make something relevant, make something with meaning.

Even more, there are people who just want to enjoy life with their family, their friends. See beautiful places. meet interesting people and celebrate life.

The contrast is there are people on this planet that don’t want anyone else to be able to have a normal life and simply exist. They want power, and believe it can only be attained by control. I can’t relate because I’ve never experienced it and have never had the desire to live this way.

The reason I’m optimistic is for both of these different mindsets. I’m optimistic because I know in my heart, some people just want to enjoy. The others who want control I believe are juxtaposed by people who see right through them, and work hard while they are here to oppose them and keep things safe for their family and friends. The optimism comes from the fact that there will always be humans who know what is right and what is wrong. And they try to help keep our “leaders” in check by knowing this.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

It took me about 50 years to realize this, but I’m a “shared experiences” person. If I try something really good, I want someone else to try it. If I listen to a band or artist that’s really good, I want them to experience it as well. I love sharing. And not just in a social media aspect. I want to experience it with them. In Carrie Brownstein’s book, “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl,” just one of the amazing quotes on music she makes is: “That’s why all those records from high school sound so good. It’s not that the songs were better—it’s that we were listening to them with our friends, drunk for the first time on liqueurs, touching sweaty palms, staring for hours at a poster on the wall, not grossed out by carpet or dirt or crumpled, oily bedsheets. These songs and albums were the best ones because of how huge adolescence felt then, and how nostalgia recasts it now.”

There are things we like that aren’t necessarily the best thing ever, but the experience we had when we heard them, saw them, played them, etc. make them part of our lives. The reason I got into being a CMO at an ice cream company is because I love sharing that experience of trying new flavors, discovering new inventions and being at a beautiful place like our parlors to do it.

I think that’s why I naturally got into design and marketing, to collaborate with other like-minded people. People with a passion for something. I have run across people in this business that do it because of money or the job, and while those could be by products of the thing we’re trying to grow or sell, the people who do it because they love it or they HAVE to do it, are the ones I relate to the most. So you can take this to the bank, if I’m trying to sell you something, or get you to do something at one of my jobs, it’s because I believe in it or completely love it.

I’ve spent decades of being sub-par at at my job, learning, trying, but if you stick with something a long time, a bomb goes off and you all of a sudden take this set of tools and you start making things that work. And it’s a wonderful feeling. I have a nice list of clients I work for that have been in business a long time. I can’t take all the credit, but I 100% can take some of it, because if I built something or designed something for them, and they’re still kicking, it’s because it worked.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1.) I’ve said this a billion times and I’ll keep saying it, read, research and watch. You have to be cognizant of your world. Some of the world’s most amazing musicians play some of the world’s worst music. You can be a technical wizard and a virtuoso, but if you’re not making music that stands out or is different, your audience is limited. I’m talking about taste. Even if you listen to lame tracks, you still better find out who einstürzende neubauten is or. you don’t know jack about music.

2.) Be Nice to who deserves it. If you and I go eat and your’e not being overly nice to the people serving your food or giving you your drinks, we’re not going to be friends anymore. This country has gone to absolute hell on people being nice to each other. People are using our leadership as an example on how to act and it’s not pretty, because nice isn’t part of their vernacular. It’s how people remember you. If you are mean, you’re going to be remembered for it.

3.) Patience. It’s a virtue you know. And the patience I’m referring to is the process. The process of making, branding, designing, it’s not always the first idea or concept you come up with that’s going to be the best.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

Yes, myself. With ADHD you are accidentally and unknowingly sabotaging yourself on a daily basis. Moving around and shifting focus, leaving cabinets open, not addressing the important thing you need to get done because you working on the thing you’re supposed to be doing later. it’s weird. But the highlight? Bursts of creativity, productivity and other things that rhyme with -ivity, and next thing you know you did 8 hours of work in like 4 hours because you got down to business.

While it’s a challenge, it’s also the thing that’s given the ability to multitask, put out multiple fires and create really cool stuff.

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Image Credits

Chris Ryan

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