On Christmas Day, I turned my Blackberry off as I boarded a flight from Grand Rapids to Ft. Lauderdale.  The four of us (Kat, Tori, Alex & I) were off for a week of relaxation, sun, scuba and fun in Key West.   The next day, we used the phone once to set up a lunch and then to find our girls on the beach, and then I turned it off with no intention of even thinking about it for the rest of the week.

I brought my trusty Toshiba netbook with me, but only used it to do a mapquest and check diving conditions.  For the first time in  – well, maybe ever – I totally unplugged my business side for an entire week.

Finally, ten days later, driving to a client location on January 4, the phone went back on and the list of messages (email and voice) was lengthy.  Some were thought to be emergencies when they were left, but everyone survived, no projects derailed, and I could just smile…

Try this on your next vacation. As I found out, not only will you benefit, but your family will feel they finally have you – and your full attention – and that will be reward enough.

Sometimes, maybe once a week, I find myself at Waffle House enjoying their steak and eggs (medium, over medium, wheat, scattered and well done).  I admit, this is not where you go for a great steak, and the atmosphere is passable at best – but sometimes, good enough is well, good enough.

That’s why I was shocked recently when a employee came in while I was waiting for my order.  As soon as he hung up his coat, he went to work. He first washed all of the tables, then swept and washed the floor. All the while he was telling the other employees that a clean restaurant is a good restaurant.  That it’s good for business and they would all make more money if the place was clean and neat.  By now, my food had come and he was filling ketchup bottles.  Finally someone asked him why he was there so early. You wouldn’t believe it…

[Read more →]

You’d think, growing up in New England, that I’d be used to the cold. I actually used to love winter… spending hours cross country skiing on the old logging roads in the forests surrounding our 200-year old farmhouse.

Since then I’ve lived in mostly warm and temperate areas, and have gotten used to it. But in God’s divine humor, I’m living in Michigan and this weekend it snowed every day.  Real winter is only a week old, and I’m tired of it already.

How does this relate to media, marketing, management or ministry?  I’m open to gigs in Florida, Texas, Southern California, Hawaii, Fiji — you get the idea!  Email or call me – I’ll give you a special winter getaway rate!

Summer is just about history.  Labor Day — the traditional start of Autumn — is less than a week away, and I just got the jet ski registered and ready to put in the water! Good thing I have a wet suit!

We did have a great vacation. Early on we looked at the calendar and found only two weeks in the entire Summer that all four of us could be free to be together.  It was tightly sandwiched between Alex’s return from her language study exchange program in Germany and Tori’s month-long externship at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) in Sanabel Island.

So did a huge road trip from Michigan to Florida, fitting in a beach vacation on the water in New Smyrna Beach (where the girls learned to surf), a college visit at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, then a few days of diving with our friends at Abyss Dive Center on Marathon Key, a few days of zipping around on scooters in Key West, and finally hanging out on the beach at Sanabel Island before we delivered Tori to start work at CROW.

It was a great vacation. Why was it so good? Here are my new rules for vacations: [Read more →]

Two lessons today…

First: when you are on top of the world, everything seems to be going right, and as the church says, you’re blessed — don’t let up.  The situation can change quickly, crap can come out of nowhere, and next thing you know, you’re fighting, struggling, desperate to get back to where you were.  So, when things are great, keep working on it, make it greater.

Second: when you’re at the bottom of the pit, everything seems to be going wrong, and as the church says, you need a miracle — don’t give up. The situation can change quickly, a lucky break can come out of nowhere, and next thing you know, you’re fighting, rolling, confident that you are where you want to be. So, when things really suck, keep working on it, you can be great.

Background:  I grew up in New England and Larry Bird was my first sports hero. Kat and I lived in LA when the Lakers were on their roll of championships, she loved showtime basketball. We lived in Chicago when the Bulls were unstoppable and Phil Jackson was their coach and I did lots of work with ESPN and witnessed many of Michael’s magic moments. So our house is not united on basketball. That being said, LA fans, don’t hate me.

Tonight the Lakers were leading the Celtics by the largest margin in NBA history at the end of the first quarter. The Celtics were still down by almost 20 points at halftime.  The expert commentators had already given the game to the Lakers who had not lost a game at home in the entire postseason. The Celtics had the largest comeback from a halftime deficit in NBA history and beat the Lakers by six points.  One more game and they are the world champions.

When you’re ahead, don’t let up.  When you’re behind, don’t give up.

I can’t believe it.  I’m in the middle of producing a new reel, and I’m going through boxes of tapes, pulling out great stuff that shows off my skills — some have cool lighting, great writing, others show directing, tons of international stuff… you get the idea. The problem is this: they’re on every format known to man!

Truly, my archives contain lots of stuff I can’t watch even if I wanted to! I have Quad, 1″, 3/4″, M, M2, BetaCam, BetaSP, 8mm, DV, DVCam, DVCPro (25 and 50), DigiBeta and some stuff that’s in PAL.  I’m totally not kidding. (Does anyone remember Quad?)  Oh yeah, and now DVD and the newest additions to my stash are on HDV, XD and DVDProHD. Yikes. I need to open a post house just to dub my tapes onto some digital format that will last a few more years and actually be useful to me.

Yawn. Ok, Joe has a ton of cool tape. So what?  I’m building a new reel and parts of it will be online for your viewing pleasure, then for your booking pleasure and finally for my check cashing pleasure!  Want a copy to show your partner/investors/class/kids? Contact me and I’ll send you a DVD. No tape, just DVD. Got a project you want to talk about or know of someone who wants to give away a good BetaSP machine?  Email me:  jsindorf AT gmail DOT com.

I love the work of Robert Frost. It probably comes from my New England roots. The pictures that Frost paints with his poetry bring back so many vivid images from growing up in rural New Hampshire.

I own many Frost first editions, and a beautiful portrait of America’s Poet Laurette by renowned photographer Lotte Jacobi (signed by both of them) is one of my prized possessions.  So when this bit of news filtered down to me, you now can understand why it got my attention.

The Homer Noble Farm in Ripton, Vermont, where Frost spent more than 20 summers before his death in 1963, was vandalized by a bunch of idiots in December of last year.  A 17-year-old former Middlebury College employee decided to hold a party and gave a friend $100 to buy beer. Word spread. Up to 50 people descended on the farm, the revelry turning destructive after a chair broke and someone threw it into the fireplace.  When it was over, windows, antiques and china had been broken, fire extinguishers discharged, and carpeting soiled with vomit and urine. Empty beer cans and drug paraphernalia were left behind. The damage was put at $10,600.

Twenty-eight people — all but two of them teenagers — were charged.  You’ll never believe their sentence… [Read more →]

I interviewed a young man for an entry-level producer position today. He graduated from college in December, was highly recommended by his department chair, has done a bunch of projects since graduation and now he’s very likely to get a good offer for his first “real” job in television… being mentored by me.

Now comes the fun, learning how to succeed at work. Here are ten lessons I learned the hard way.  These are universal, they work at any job. Take notes, there will be a test.   [send this to someone you care about, there are handy links at the bottom of this post] [Read more →]

This week I have been back in my old office, working with the same people as before, and although it felt weird every now and then, it proved to me the importance of leaving a place well.

When it’s time for you to transition out of a relationship (job, church, friend, city…) leave well.  Clean up behind yourself. Make things great for whoever comes in after you.  Do things so well that the people who see you know you have integrity.

Then you’ll be invited back. A former employer may have a gig for you, old neighbors will welcome you back to their homes, and most importantly you will be spoken well of.

Finish well. Leave well. Don’t burn bridges.