By the time I was twenty-eight, I was already on to my second career. My first job was as a youth worker in churches, which I did from age 21 to 26. But it’s hard being a youth worker forever. Because, while the ultimate boss may have been out of this world, the worldly management team was certainly less than inspiring and definitely less competent. So, after five years, I was caput. So what to do next? How could I take the creative skills I had developed and turn them into a career.
I SAW THE DINGY, SMOG FILTERED LIGHT
I looked around me and saw my future–bad advertising! Not that I really wanted to do bad advertising. What I saw were a lot of bad ads and I knew because of the creative work I did in churches, I could do better. Besides, I had done a good job selling the invisible, how hard would it be to sell things people could actually see and touch? So off I went to J-school and two years later I had a portfolio and was ready to take on the world.
MY CAREER GOES VROOM VROOM
My big break came when Ron Sackett saw my portfolio and gave the opportunity to work on, cue the trumpets, HARLEY-DAVIDSON! What could be better than to be a 28-year-old American male working on HARLEY-DAVIDSON! There was just one problem; I actually was not a big motorcycle guy. As a gone-to-seed, former offensive tackle, I was plenty big and macho. But, I had really only ridden mopeds. Truth be told, I found motorcycles kind of scary. What if they wanted me to ride along on one or worse yet drive one? But this was my big break and I wasn’t going to blow it. The first few ads weren’t bad. Here’s a good example:
If only the folks back at Our Lady of Ever Perpetual Sanctification, Virginal Purity and Adoring Adoration could see me now; they would be so proud–a Harley ad with an almost-biblical-sounding headline.
MOTORCYCLE CRASH LEAVES YOUNG MAN WITH SEVERELY BRUISED EGO
The ads I was doing were okay, but the themes were getting repetitive. I was writing as if the reader were a repo man who had the same relationship with his Harley as a thirteen year old might have with her horse. So soon, it became apparent that I really didn’t have the right stuff for HARLEY-DAVIDSON! Like a middle-aged executive trailering his Harley to Sturgis with a fresh set of leathers in his Tumi suitcase, I too was a pretender. My tender, sprouting career was running out of mojo and I knew it.
FOREST CITY, IOWA HERE I COME
But Ron saw something in me that made him say, “Hey this guy may not be a Harley guy, but he sure could do a good job trying to getting the gray-haired set to buy Winnebago motor homes. How deflating, to be a 28-year-old American male working on Winnebago motor homes.
For as disappointing as it might have been in the moment, Ron was right. I could do a great job with motorhomes. I understood their wanderlust, their wanting to bring the comforts of home with them and the joy they felt seeing family and friends in far away places. A couple times a month, I would travel down to Forest City, Iowa and talk to executives, engineers, designers and customers–I was very into it.
Within three grueling months, I had written a 64-page magazine, dozens of ads, radio spots and direct mail pieces. I stayed on that account for three seasons, eventually providing guidance to other writers on the business. It made me a real copywriter.
FINDING MY INNER SHAKER
There’s a Shaker Hymn that puts it well (The fact that I can quote a Shaker Hymn is the 437th reason to believe that I wasn’t ever meant to be a Harley writer):
‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
The post-adolescent Tom Hayes so badly wanted to be someone he wasn’t ever going to be. Fortunately, Ron Sackett was able to see the authentic Tom Hayes though my macho mask. While I may not do a very good job with simplicity, I was fortunate to find myself in the place just right. And when I was in the right place, I excelled.
Over time, I have gained greater insight as to what I am really good at and what I am not. This has allowed me to surround myself with tremendously talented people who complement my skill set and to find places where I can do well.
COMMEMORATIVE GIFT
My good friend and great art director partner Joe Hemp created a wonderful gift for me to commemorate my transition from writing on Harley-Davidson to WINNEBAGO MOTOR HOMES! Twenty-five years later, I still have it and still cherish it. It sits on the top shelf of my closet to remind me to be who I really am.
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