During the early 1980s, when I was a young man fresh out of college, I wanted to work in the advertising industry as a writer. I took the traditional approach and sent résumés with my three best writing samples to 80 advertising agencies. The response I got? Zero.

I made several follow-up phone calls, only to learn that my résumé had not even been looked at. One creative director told me that he had a stack of résumés from writers that was four feet high, and that he had not looked at one of them. I was frustrated, but that frustration stimulated a humorous way for getting those creative directors’ attention.

Around that time I had begun to notice homeless people having particularly good success at begging by holding up ripped cardboard on which they’d written these words: “Will Work for Food.” They had discovered an effective way to advertise and motivate people to give them money. Recalling the old saying, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” I created my own sign that read, “Will Write Ad Copy for Food.” Then I had a friend photograph me holding it. I made 80 copies with my contact information stamped on back, and mailed them to those same ad agencies. It was amazing; I heard from more than half of them.

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