Today on The Handsome, we have Brendan who is married to Ellie Snow, of Mint. I actually met Ellie & Brendan at Alt 2010, they both went which I thought was super cute. I also think it's pretty rad that they're both graphic designers! I'd love for Nick to be a designer, but his heart & career belonged to video games ;) Hope you enjoy Brendan's interview!
Please tell us a little about you and what do you do: I am an art director at a mid size ad agency in Raleigh, North Carolina. I love to cook, but I love to eat even more; I love to play soccer, but I'm much better at watching it; and I love to design, but I hate writing about it. :) Oh, I'm also one of the editors at OK Great!
What are your thoughts about blogs + blogging? I'm not just the president of hair club for men, I'm also a member... ZING! Seriously though, I'm a big supporter of blogging for what it can do for one's personal & career development. It's the most cost effective marketing platform out there, and if you approach it sincerely, it can be a hell of a lot of fun.
How many hours a day does your wife spend blogging? Not as much as you'd think. This has changed a lot over the past two years for a couple of reasons. First, of course, is because of how much she has diversified her core business. For a while, I think, Ellie's blog was her priority, but she tried to always have side projects to keep her occupied. One of these projects, Hello Tenfold - her stationery shop, has really taken off and has definitely usurped Mint as her day to day priority. Secondly, she has become, quite simply, very good at blogging. It doesn't take her nearly as much time to put together a unique post as it did when she first started.
If we're talking specific hours a day, and I had a rubber band gun to my head, I'd probably say 1-2 hours.
What do you do during this time? If she blogs at night, then I just stare at her in boredom. If I get bored doing that, then I'll whip up dinner for two or watch Premier League replays. I got her hooked on Dexter recently, though, which meant all of her blogging was already done by the time I get home. How conveeeenient!
Any silly/crazy/funny stories or experiences related to blogging you'd like to share with the readers: I find it very amusing to try to explain blogging to someone my grandparent's age. I couldn't tell you the number of times we have had to explain to a family friend (or better yet a family member) that Ellie doesn't actually make everything on her blog and that it isn't all for sale. She's prolific, yes, but good lord!
Is there any one thing that annoys you most about having a blogger wife? She get's tons of free swag in the mail; she finds amazing things for our house while researching posts; she get's to talk design with loads of women her age; and she get's paid for all of this. Nope, nothing annoying about that.
Thanks for sharing with us today, Brendan!
ps: I think it's fabulous that Ellie spends only an hour or 2 a day
on the blog, I'm inspired to do the same but I get so sidetracked! ;)
Be sure to check out the old archives of The Handsome here! If you have a request or there's someone you'd love to see up here on the handsome or if there's a question you're wanting to ask the guys, leave a comment and let me know! Thanks to Melanie for coming up with the column name!
