In the movie City Slickers, the seemingly wise old cowboy Curly said the secret of life is to focus on one thing, to the exclusion of everything else. If you do that, he said, everything else will take care of itself.

I’m not sure that’s the secret to life. But it does get you a lot of practice. Advertising is all I do. Which makes me uniquely suited to help you solve a whole mess of marketing problems.

I’ve been in this business for a long time, at agencies and in-house marketing departments. And I’ve worked on all kinds of accounts. Finance, tech, automotive, healthcare, insurance, real estate, retail, entertainment, apparel, pharmaceuticals, tourism, gaming, home care, non-profits, B2B,CPG, small business, startups, recruitment, and lots more I can’t remember.

I’ve worked in all kinds of media, too. TV, radio, magazines, newspapers. out-of-home, collateral, brochures, websites, articles, online advertising, emails, apps, UX copywriting, UI copywriting, web banners, newsletters, every social network, search, SEO, streaming video, and lots more.

One thing. In infinite variations.

A few more things about me:

Before I got into advertising, I held a bunch of low-prestige jobs including subpoena server. Subpoena servers don’t get tips. It’s not like delivering pizza. They’re never happy to see you.

I once worked as the writer’s assistant during Season 1 of the TV show Monk. During that time, I bombarded the showrunner with at least 1,000 ideas for episodes, beats, jokes, and clues. Eventually, I wore him down enough that he bought one of them, which became the Season 2 premier, Mr. Monk Goes Back To School.

The moral of the story is: persistence—even to the point of annoyance—works.

The lower the stakes, the nastier and more vicious people get. This is true in all industries.

I am a believer in what I call the Golden Rule of Creativity: Everybody likes their own ideas best. That includes me. And you. But as long as you expect it going in, you should be OK.