I’m Ed Zitron, Founder of EZPR, and This Is How I Work
In a public relations industry in which companies vie for consumer and media attention, Ed Zitron is unique. You probably haven’t heard of him unless you work in a related field, but Ed is honest, maybe a little weird, and is pretty good at what he does.
He also advocates a non-bullshit approach to public relations, often criticizes his colleagues, and even wrote a book on the subject .
I should note that Ed has approached me and my colleagues before regarding the coverage of the companies he represents, although I have not personally written about them. Ed himself is more interesting.
Location: San Francisco, California and Oakland, California. Current position: CEO and Founder of Media Relations & PR Agency EZPR , Professional Twitter idiot at my business address @edzitron. One word that best describes how you work: Publicity Current mobile device (s): iPhone 6+, iPad Air 2 (with Logitech Type + Bluetooth keyboard cover) Current computers: 27- inch iMac 5K Retina, 27- inch iMac , MacBook Pro Retina 15- inch , ASUS ROG G750JZ (for games)
What apps, software or tools can’t you live without? Why?
I have ADHD (inattentive type) and a learning disability called dyspraxia (I’m British – that’s what they call it). Basically, it is a combination of different things, which means that I need everything I work on to be available wherever I am, even if it’s not a particularly sensible request.
I work primarily on Mac because of the Spotlight functionality. I need a quick way to find something. I’m not organized enough to have a nicely structured folder system.
iMessage is undeniably my most important “app” in the sense that it keeps me in touch with a lot of people, including my chief of staff, Royal Hebert , to whom I specially bought an iPad Mini so that, regardless of device, I can do more than just send messages. him, but the messages I have sent are waiting for me. Even if it’s on my phone. Royal is the complete opposite of my brain; he is organized, careful, his brain moves linearly, and so being able to compensate for things like “at 3 pm on Friday, bother me until I send this report” is critical to him. He also sends me call reminders via iMessages so I can really hop on them along with my phone number. This seems very insignificant, but please note that if I have an iMessage phone number on my phone, I can just press a button and make a call. These are the small seconds of my workday that make me less anxious. In fact, Royal is my data digger, life fighters and enforcer, and to call him an assistant is to greatly underestimate what he does.
I’ve also learned to put a computer connected to iMessages, Dropbox and Google Drive in any slot or place that I could be in at any given time that requires work. It’s not about being out of reach; The point is that I can very quickly do the same thing as in one place, in another.
The reason is that my brain senses that it is moving at eight hundred miles per hour at any given time, and I am an emotional, forgetful creature that will do nothing because I have not reached a computer or device that could print. one day I had an idea.
This means the iPad Air 2 has changed my work a lot. I can type (unmoderated) at 120 wpm, and the Type + keyboard can really keep up with my keystrokes. I can open it at any time and actually get a lot of emails at once. The only problem is that Outlook, my email application, has the nasty habit of not working well between applications. Plus, I can sit on Lyft and actually do significant work in 20 minutes, unlike if I only had an iPad.
In terms of software, here’s what I use:
All Google: EZPR is all Google. Are you not good at Gmail? Get out of my face. Google Docs, Google Drive, whatever. It’s all in one place, which is good.
Evernote: I stopped using it for years, but recently returned to it when I got my iPad Air 2 and realized that taking notes is not hell. It also connects to Skitch , so when I take screenshots, they are immediately transferred to the cloud. This is useful.
Slack : My whole team is on Slack all day. We have separate channels for work (coverage we have clients, new cases, outgoing cases, etc.) and fun things like Youtubes and Dumb where we post silly things I found on the internet like Dirty cowboy . “ The important part is that anyone can get me on Slack throughout the day, and it will leave a long trail of what I need, like the coverage reports for the clients I submitted that I would forget about. was sent and then ask for otherwise three times. This is inevitable for searching. I also used mIRC as a kid (I’m really cool), and so it’s only natural.
Also, several clients have Slacks that I connect to. Switching between the two can be frustrating, but it’s actually helpful to be able to send people something in there, rather than sending another email. And I can see that I sent it faster than if I was emailing.
Freshbooks : If I hadn’t been invoicing and arranging payments through Freshbooks , I wouldn’t know what’s going on at some point in the financial side of my business. It’s easy for a stupid person like me to ask for money and find out if I was given money thanks to Freshbooks. You push a button and say, “Hey man, I need money, that’s why,” and they can send it to you. Thank you Freshbooks.
Dropbox: This is Dropbox. You have your damn files wherever you put them. It syncs between machines. I install my Office Suite and browsers on each computer in order to save on them. As a result, I have nothing to lose.
Tweetdeck : I spend most of my life on Twitter talking to reporters, talking to friends, saying really stupid things that no one likes, but still I have followers and the like. I am using a Tweetdeck with multiple columns; the usual suspects (mentions / replies / favorites / retweets), as well as a separate column that looks for references to my book This Is What You Do. That’s because Amazon reviews are important, and I’m happy to just say, “Hey, look if you like the book or not, I’d appreciate a review.” It helps. Mostly I just use it to keep track of everything that happens in the tech and media industries, because that’s what I do.
Adium: This is the best chat app if you have multiple accounts. Yes, I am still using AIM. Do you want to talk to me on AIM? ezitron. There are three of us left.
I have no unusual way of reading the news. I actually found out about it through Twitter and the newspaper (and their websites) and just … reading. I read Techmeme if I feel super-lagging in everything.
The problem with the conditions I have, even though I am successful in some way, is that I am not really structured and therefore I call on other people to help me structure, be it Royal to help my brain work. or Kevin , my friend. who is digging data, some pitching and has not yet come up with a suitable name.
How is your workplace arranged?
I have two different jobs. One in my house in San Francisco, another in my “office” in Oakland. The reason is that because we are a distributed team (San Francisco, Boston, Portland, NY) and my job is mainly to send emails, I can do it from anywhere, including a toilet or a beach in Hawaii. Sounds great, except that you can poison your own personal space if you work from home in a classic place where you relax. It ceases to be a home. So I made a structured effort to keep work and home separate.
For me, your workspace should be both a place that is conducive to work and one that is pleasant to be in. You should feel comfortable, energetic, and enthusiastic if possible.
San Francisco: I live in a relatively quiet part of the city and as such I’m lucky enough to have enough space to create a really useful home office. Sometimes I have to force myself to go down there because it’s so easy to grab a laptop and do a lot of work with it.
So when I got the seat, I found a nook – one long, distraction-free area with a large sunny window and my iMac Retina 5k. I use the trackpad because I really, really love gestures and swiping (for example, four-finger swipe up = view all windows, navigate backward / forward in the browser with two-finger swipes, or two-finger swipe up / down). One important thing I did was, since I am collecting original comic art, I installed a 21 page installation in the gallery as well as the Guardians of the Galaxy Team # 1 cover (drawn by Arthur Adams and Brian Michael Bendis ). own along the same wall using a computer. This was done so that I was not just a blank wall – I could see something impressive, magnificent and completely unrelated to my work. It turned a relatively empty and gaudy space into something more exciting and invigorating to sit in. When you’re having a crappy day, it’s nice to be able to look up and see something beautiful done by a local artist who is nevertheless amazingly good at what he does.
And this is a good reminder that I am a great nerd and proud of it. I’ve watched Guardians of the Galaxy 13 times. Do not judge me.
Auckland: I built my office in Auckland 30 minutes from home so that I have a space that would completely separate me from my home. This meant that I could leave the office work (in theory; I would say I only get about 70%, but this is an improvement), and also use the space in a different way than I do. The office is in a former laundry room, which is very, very strange. A giant brick box.
I built it for two reasons:
- I wanted to work there myself, with a huge desk and the ability to work faster, harder and without the internal connection to my own home.
- Most of my work is connected with communicating with reporters and getting to know them. Most PR agencies and people seem to focus on weird cocktails, drinks, or coffee, with no concern for relaxation at all. As a result, I wanted it to be a place where reporters could a) come and relax and work outside their office (which happened several times) or b) entertain them and get to know them much more often in a way that is not inherently “labor intensive”.
- Most public relations offices are as dull as they can get. Large glass windows. If people want to drink there, this is usually the worst alcohol possible. If people want to hang out there, it’s austere and dull, and it seems like it works.
As a result, my office in Oakland is divided into separate sections.
My real desktop setup. I use a very long pottery table connected to a 27-inch iMac and dual monitors. I dedicate one monitor entirely to Twitter, the central monitor to what I do, and the third to Slack. This means I can focus on my real work while still following Twitter without changing windows, as well as Slack. It sounds glaring (it is), but it’s also a way to figure out and limit my distractions. I also see Twitter as part of my job, but also as a way to take my mind off the ongoing workflow. It’s like a small valve. And it’s great to devote an entire screen to conversations with colleagues at work. They deserve it.
My entertainment setup. I have a giant Lovesac “sactional” sofa — nine and a half feet by five feet eight inches, which is enough for three people to basically sit as much as they want. In front of it is a 119-inch projector projected onto a Black Diamond screen (I have blackout curtains, but that allows it to be used in any ambient light), connected to a variety of different devices (Apple TV, PS4, etc.). It’s a good way to recharge on a particularly shitty day, but it’s also great to offer reporters who would otherwise be chatting with me the opportunity not to go to a soulless mixer and instead relax and play video games or watch a movie. Or, seriously, if they have a product to test that can use a large screen for a better view, I have the technology. Also, if there is a friend in town, a reporter or not, the sofa will be great.
Conference table. On the rare occasion that I actually host a meeting there, I have a real conference table that can face the projector, which means I can also turn around and say, “Hey, look at this.” I also have two giant balls, night and day, that sit on the conference table. My best friend Phil Broughton gifted them to me as a joke, and they became a staple of EZPR’s headquarters.
We also have a fully stocked bar (with cocktail mixers – Phil was a bartender in Antarctica), snacks, beers for all sorts of people, and I have everything I need for a sous video there. I had dinner parties in the sense that I cooked steaks for everyone, and we chatted about nothing. The goal is to relax and work if you really need to.
By the way, my “style” of communicating with reporters is mostly “hey, I want to talk” and very rarely does it actually involve me when I say out loud “SO, HEY, I GOT THIS CUSTOMER”. Developing a relationship in a professional sense does not have to be some weird compulsion or, moreover, a direct expression of “TODAY WE SHOULD DISCUSS THE WORK.” Nor do I expect anyone who has drunk my beer, whiskey, or Manhattanians to owe me anything. It’s just an opportunity to say “hey, look at me. I’m fine. Maybe answer this letter. “
What’s your best time-saver or life hack?
The best life hack is knowing your weaknesses and accepting them. I’m good at working with the media and talking to them in a way they don’t hate. I do not know how to manage things in calendars, organize and keep things perfectly neat. My life hack is to admit that I’m not good at things and find the right people and software to fix it.
What’s your favorite to-do list manager?
In fact, I let my own anxiety attract me based on my knowledge of myself and the results of my business, and make a to-do list for me. That being said, if I need to do something, I usually use iMessage Royal. He has become a good friend of mine and also understands how to prioritize for me. When I assign tasks, I use Pyrus (this is a former client, information disclosure) because it is very easy to see if someone has actually done something with it. I also require people to either assign things on it if they want them to be accomplished, because that will regularly prevent me from doing that.
If I’m falling behind, I also use Due . He’ll literally nag you until the job is done (or, well, you tell them it’s done). This usually annoys me enough to actually do it. This is what I put off and what I hate. Lot.
What device, besides a phone and a computer, can you not live without and why?
It’s really weird, but Swash. This is a $ 500 item that effectively iron and refresh your clothes. It sounds weird on TV, and in a way it does, but when you literally have a learning disability, when playing with the iron makes you sad and angry, that’s great. You use clips to stretch the garment and then put it on for 10 minutes, and in most cases it fits perfectly to the border. This means that I can drop the thing and then take a shower, and by the time I get out, it will be ready. It cuts down on time and frustration in my life. Ironing is not a big problem for most people these days. Or they use a laundry service that iron their clothes. They are quite expensive ($ 2-6 per shirt) compared to Swash.
I must also explain that my dyspraxia really frustrates me when it comes to particularly difficult and discreet tasks such as ironing. So if you take one of these situations out (and fiddle with the ironing board, et cetera, et cetera) from my life, it will improve immeasurably.
What are some of your best everyday activities? What’s your secret?
I am really good at meeting people in a professional sense and getting to know them and also maintaining good professional and personal relationships in some way. My secret, at least in PR, is that I am not worried about the word no, and I am convinced that personal and professional barriers are carved in stone. If someone can’t post a story that is a friend of mine, I won’t get mad at him. Even if they said they would do it, don’t do it. Because, after all, this is a work situation. This does not make them bad friends or bad people. And nothing I ask them to do is as a friend, except “you can read this letter and tell me what you think.”
What do you listen to while you work?
I’m a big fan of Queens of the Stone Age , so this makes up a big part of my music day. That being said, I’ve recently been in awe of Soundgarden along with the old System of a Down . When I really need to focus, I sometimes use silence, but I like it when something is in the background.
Oddly enough, I foundRam Jam’sBlack Betty to be good productive music. If I’m having a particularly lucky day, I’ll wear Queens of the Stone Age’sSmooth Sailing . If I am relaxing at the end of the day,Foghat’s Slow Ride . It is not related to the content of the said song.
When I’m really upset and need to pump something up, I listen to either Queens of the Stone Age’sFairweather Friends orSponge’s Wax Ecstatic .
Music has a strong emotional impact on me, and I have learned to use it to help me throughout my work day.
What are you reading now?
I just re-read the entire Nextwave by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen. I also put together about 20 pages that will soon embellish HQ in all their pride. This is a great comic, well written, funny and funny. He also resurrects many top Marvel characters such as Forbush Man, Elsa Bloodstone, Boom Boom, and Devil Dinosaur.
I also reread a book on the lies of former CIA lie detectors called Spy The Lie . It’s great, brutal and fun. As an act of humility, I try to remind myself what lies look like and how I can completely avoid or detect them before they harm me or someone I love.
Are you more of an introvert or an extrovert?
I may seem like an extrovert to most people, but I’m an introvert. Many times I want to be left alone and relaxed alone. Despite the fact that I am at work, where, apparently, should be social and all that. As a result, I rarely go to networking events. I prefer three to six people with whom I can talk at the same time, instead of a large group that I need to analyze. I can do public speaking (I just ran a panel with 50 people watching and did not die! ). But I like being alone or small groups.
How do you replenish?
I play video games. I am watching a movie. I spend time with friends. I exercise a little. I’m driving.
One of the biggest things I try to do is break my instinct to become negative and overly serious. Usually PR people take themselves too seriously, but in business in general it is easy to get stuck thinking that everything is terrible. That means I have a battery of my own silly funny videos: The Internet Has Been Wheelclamped , Bane Outtakes , The Dirty Cowboy (a history of country music leading to a man dancing beautifully to strange music), British comedy show Shooting Stars’ insult series to Jack Dee and some others.
Truth be told, Twitter and my idiocy is an outlet for my deluded thoughts, almost like pressing the exhaust valve in my brain. Even if it’s a bit of a job, it’s still a way to give free rein to some thoughts. Silly joke here, the thought of the product is there, it helps clear my brain.
I also have a wonderful little corgi named Bertie. He is about 25 pounds and can jump. I send him to dog kindergarten during the day because otherwise he would be sad because I will be working. So I get him home around 6:00 pm and we usually sit on the couch together, play tug-of-war or play with a toy, or just let him lie on top of me. He’ll put his head on my hand and look at me if I’m sad, and even in my worst mood, it’s nice to see through the eyes of an animal that thinks you are great because you feed him food and get him toys.
I have put in a lot of effort to surround myself with friends who are not tech savvy. Among my closest friends, in addition to one or two reporters (as I do, this happens), a Dominican monk , several scientists, comic book writers and artists and, of course, a professional dog trainer. I do not find myself, although I am in the bay and in technology, next to a lot of “techies”, and this is a relief.
Plus, cooking really relaxes me. I learned sous vide about a year ago and it became a really great way to feel like I could build something outside of work.
What is your sleep pattern?
I like to get up at 8:30 and go to bed at 12:00. This usually works. I don’t sleep enough because I don’t sleep well.
What thoughts keep you awake at night?
I’m an anxious person, and my brain often likes to wake me up and say, hey Ed, remember all this bullshit you have to do tomorrow? In addition, sometimes chaotic situations arise in which it is said that everything will go to hell. Sometimes I very rarely wake up with a good idea to write something in my next book, but mostly it’s “you need to worry about something.” Last night I woke up thinking, “Damn it, are these raccoons again?” as they attacked my trash.
What are you doing differently from your peers in your field?
One important thing I noticed is that for some reason I belong to the all too rare group of tech PR people (I’ll get it on Twitter for this) who really know their stuff when it comes up. in those. I am not saying that I am a genius, but in general I follow applications, I can build a computer, I constantly read (historically and currently) to understand what industries I work in. in a book or comic, I read them entirely. It’s a principle that basically is to “try and know as much as the reporters you tell,” which may not be possible, but I’m trying pretty damn well. It takes a lot of effort. It’s not easy. It takes concentration. But it’s great when you can sit with the reporter and really intelligently discuss the client instead of saying, “Well, you see. This is the thing. Right? That’s right. “It’s simple: you work in games? Play a lot of games. You work in technology? Use all applications and read about them. Learn about the big players. End.
Anyway, I don’t use a pitch form where you send the same email to 50-150 people at once. I truly care about the people I offer and who do their job well. I care more about results than about looking good or feeling good. I care too much about it, so when I lose a client, I feel very emotional. I’m not lying . Is always. If I understand that this is not true, I will step back and say, “No, this is bad.” I’m not afraid to publicly attack bad PR people who pitch endlessly, and I’m not afraid of large-scale attacks on the industry because they generally promote very, very bad habits that border on harassment (for example, calling people on the phone when they really do not want to be [called]).
Overall, though, I would say the real difference is what my friend Matt Weinberger said : “You made a career as Ed Zitron.” It sounds a little arrogant, but it actually means that I myself, without embellishment, control only to a certain extent. My Twitter is my positive and negative thoughts, my clients know the real me like most people. I’m proud of who I am, even if it’s a big, preoccupied fool. I don’t mind making random enemies and I enjoy making good friends. I’m not a cheesy PR guy who loves running or drinking coffee, loves the media, or uses hashtags. Thanks to this, I have made many enemies and many good friends, and I am happy with what I do. If I had to become a freaky Lovecraftian PR brand lord, I think I would go back to writing about video games.
Fill in the blank: I would like _________ to answer these same questions.
Warren Ellis. I also appoint Phil Broughton, who is a “health physicist” (nuclear safety specialist).
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
On the very first day of work, my dad promised me never, never to lie. It may not count as advice per se, but it was the greatest thing to be followed. I don’t know if I would be lying if he hadn’t told me this, but I love my father very much and I completely keep my promises.
My dad was also a very successful management consultant and so he gave me another great piece of advice: Don’t overload yourself or you won’t succeed. It’s very easy to want to take on every client for business reasons in order to feel “successful,” but if you don’t succeed for everyone (or at least most of them), you’re not doing well. Job.
One day a man on the street came up to me and my brother Matt and said, “Don’t drink, this is rude,” which may not be the best advice, but it was the best advice I’ve ever had.
What else would you like to add that might be of interest to readers or fans?
I think that any PR person can take everything much less seriously. This does not mean that they are negative people – in fact, the opposite is true. I want everyone to unclench and say, “Okay, maybe I shouldn’t just talk about how good PR is.” I think PR is good fun, but not what I would say that I am great at my job, nor is it the most important career. If 50% of us disappeared overnight in the Infinity Gloves style, no one would notice, except maybe our clients.
Finally, and this is the best advice I can give, learn to ask for help and rely on the people closest to you. When things go wrong, there is no shame in going to someone you respect and asking for advice. It took me over a year to be ready to hire someone to complement my disorganization, and I was ashamed until I saw how much Royal prevented things from failing. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to hire someone full-time – it could just be a virtual assistant, or ask a colleague for advice, or something that suggests you suck it in and say you’re not very good. in everything. Ironically, weakness can be strength.
I work chaotically, quickly and it is very unpleasant to look over my shoulder, because I constantly use command tabs. Relying on people to compliment my style has made me so much better at what I do.
Oh, and I will mentor anyone.