Ash Ambirge, Author at The Middle Finger Project

Sometimes “It Is What It Is” = Best Business Policy of All

Yesterday I stumbled across a website called—are you ready for this? Yoga For Bad People. Now, when you just read that, you either had one of two reactions: 1) Fucking love it. 2) Not for me. And that is what the branding is meant to do—attract the people who will love them, while actively repelling the people who won’t. Too often, we go to great lengths to attract, but not repel. We don’t like to tell anyone they don’t belong.

May 7, 2017

Working Yourself to DEATH: A Twisted Badge of Honor Reserved for The People Who Are Really Hurting

I remember when I was a little girl, I had a brilliant way of dealing with problems: Take one slice of American cheese. Fold it into fours. Pile two squares onto each cracker. Get as many crackers onto the plate as you could. They say that some people “stuff down their pain” with food, but I think it’s the opposite: You want your pain to be noticed by somebody else. It’s the only way you can show just how much

May 6, 2017

Perhaps This is What Entrepreneurship Has Given Me Most: It Has Taught Me How to Fight for Myself.

The men came with trucks. To the naked eye, they looked like movers. In and out they passed the length of the trailer, hurriedly, sweatily, carrying boxes upon boxes back and forth, like ants. “Can I get you an iced tea?” I asked. They gulped them down like dogs. I wanted them to like me. I didn’t know if they’d really be able to sell my mother’s pewter knickknacks at auction—nor her collection of John Grisham novels, her wooden end

May 5, 2017

How Do You Make People Care About Your Work—Even When Your Work Is Lofty, Intangible, and Abstract as F***?

I’m working with a client, right now, who wants to sell emotional intelligence. That’s the result you get when you work with her. EQ, instead of IQ. And emotional intelligence is actually really, really important. It’s one of the biggest predictors of success, believe it or not. She’s read the literature. I’ve read the literature. The pope’s read the sweet, sweet literature. So the question then becomes: How do we make other people care? The problem, of course, is that

May 4, 2017

There’s a Difference Between Being Proud of “The Work You Do” and Being Proud of Yourself

Floating through life, without ever thinking about much, is way too easy. You could plow through your to-do lists, keep your head down, busy yourself endlessly, and then wake up in twenty years and realize: I gave my life away, like a trinket to be bartered, and today I look around me and realize: It was a bad deal. Here’s a soberingly serious question: Do you actually like what you do? Does it energize you, the way a trip to

May 3, 2017

What Do You Believe? Package THAT.

Everyone wants their ideas to spread. This is what marketing is all about. What is often neglected, however, is that you have to have an idea first. Everyone’s trying to sell “design” or “copywriting” or “coaching” or “services”—God forbid—but these things are merely categories, not concepts. What do you believe? Package THAT. *You were waiting for a dick joke, weren’t you.

May 2, 2017

You Aren’t Obligated to Be the Same Person You Were Five Minutes Ago

So often, we make choices based on “what feels right for us.” To most people, that sounds like sage advice. You’re “being true to yourself,” after all. What we don’t consider, however, are the limitations. If you’re constantly making decisions based on who you are in this very moment, you don’t leave any room for who you want to become—or who you need to. Sometimes, you’ve got to do what DOESN’T feel right. Sometimes, you’ve got to say “fuck it”

May 1, 2017

An Airline Makes 50% of Its Revenue From 20% or Less of Its Seats. AND THAT’S REALLY SAYIN’ SOMETHING.

You ever walk through the first-class section of an airplane and think, “Who are these fucks?” I’ll tell you who they are: The people that make up to 50% of an airline’s revenue. Fifty percent! Which is striking since, you know, there are, like, five seats up there, compared to the bajillion the rest of us low-lifes sit in. But isn’t that telling? An airline makes 50% of its revenue from 20% or less of its seats—which is precisely why

Apr 30, 2017

Creativity Doesn’t Need an Ulterior Motive

The other day someone took note of my new daily blog post. “You’re launching something big,” they said. “No,” I replied. “I’m just a writer.” We’ve gotten so used to there always being an ulterior motive, that we’re suspicious when there isn’t one. Do the thing you’re called to do, especially when you have no motive.

Apr 29, 2017

Make Something That Matters

Things aren’t always what they seem. An email list full of 100,000 people is meaningless if only 100 of those people open the emails. Similarly, an email list of 100 people, with 100 of those people opening them, does mean something. Who is more successful? And who is doing something that actually matters?

Apr 28, 2017

Author: Ash Ambirge