Dave Trott’s Blog

What I notice at present is all anyone seems to care about is money.

On all the blogs everybody is upset that planners earn more than creatives.

Why?

I wouldn’t do their job for double what I get paid.

I love this job, in fact I’d do it for less than I get paid.

In fact I did.

When John Webster (BMP) offered me my first job, he asked how much I wanted to be paid.

I said, “Well I’m getting twenty pounds a week working in a bank, and after tax I take home sixteen pounds. So I’d like that please.”

John said, “I’ll pay you seventeen fifty.”

I thought, “That’s two pound fifty less than I’m getting. But I really want the job.”

So I took it.

I didn’t get paid until the end of the month.

When the pay packet came, it was double what I was expecting.

Instead of giving it back, I kept quiet.

The next month the same thing happened, they’d paid me double.

I just hoped no one spotted, and asked for it back.

Eventually, after several months, it clicked.

John had been talking about salary, not wages.

So when John said seventeen fifty, he meant a year, not a week.

Seventeen fifty a year was £35 a week.

Double the £17.50 I’d been prepared to work for,

And I was having the time of my life.

I couldn’t believe it.

It was like being at art school.

Except someone paid to run what I did on TV for everyone to see.

They paid me a fortune for doing something I’d have done for free.

All the people I worked with were intelligent and attractive.

It was not only the best job I’d ever had.

It was the best fun I’d ever had.

Remember when England used to be good at football?

The players used to do it for fun.

Maybe we’ve got the same attitude as Premiership footballers.

We don’t do it for fun anymore.

We just do it for money.