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Episode 38

ERNIE HARKER

Hypo-Active Productivity

Show Notes

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10/17/2017  |  57 Minutes

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This week’s guest: Ernie Harker. He is the Executive Director of the CREATE Team at Maverik. He’s done it all. Illustration - check. Voiceover and Acting - check. Start up and run a creative studio - check. Give birth to Nitro - yeah…check. At the end of the day, he’s just a dude that loves enjoying simple moments with loved ones.

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At Maverik, the CREATE Team is literally more than just Marketing, cause it’s an acronym which stands for Culture, Research, Events, Advertising, Theming, and Excitement. The CEO is actually called the Chief Adventure Guide, and the IT department is called Connect (NOT rafting Engineers as Ben thought), so it makes sense that the Marketing team have just as much a badass name as the IT department, if not better. 

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Ernie grew up in the thriving metropolis of Chubbock Idaho (http://cityofchubbuck.us) and had to rely on illustrative and creative time-fillers when his parents got rid of the TV for he and his 8 brothers.Shortly after graduating college with a degree in Art, he started his own Creative Production Studio and eventually started working full time for one of his favorite clients, Maverik. 

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PERSONAL TICKS

  • Audible - avid audio reader. aka listener
     

  • Tim Ferris. Known in the Harker household as Brother Ferris. 
     

  • Meditation and Yoga and Exercise - it helps him feel like he’s always doing something
     

  • Creating experiences with those you care about and enjoying the simple moments they bring
     

  • Nothing is more important than the time you spend with the people you care about the most

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PERSONAL TICK OFFS

  • Mobile phone captivation  - in social settings people will be together and not even be together 
     

  • His hypo-active productivity disorder
     

  • Video gamers - this goes against his hypo-active productivity disorder (self-diagnosed)

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PROFESSIONAL TICK OFFS

  • Email - you could spend a full work day putting out fires that pop up in your inbox.
     

  • Ernie shares his Do’s and Don’ts with job-related emails
     

  • When people think everyone is a creative or branding expert

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PROFESSIONAL TICKS

  • Building and designing a creative experience - EVERYTHING you see and experience at a Maverik store is produced in house where the CREATE team has complete creative liberty and control to design an immersive experience
     

  • Presenting - sharing his passion about branding and the underlying strategy, the building blocks. Often marketing presentations only share the end result, and neglect the process.
     

  • Writing - Ernie’s working on a book that identifies 7 Steps (it’s always 7 steps) to Building a Brand
     

  • Illustrating
     

  • Working with creative superstars. Not only are these designers incredible in the job they’re hired to perform, but they bring forward their very best work because they also benefit when they walk into a store and see their best efforts on display.

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CONNECT WITH ERNIE

Transcript

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Episode transcript coming soon.

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