
[JUNE 7, 2022 – BLOG] We casually use the phrase, timing is everything, but the success of something is often related to when it happens. My best example is when I started my company, T3 in 1989. To the skeptics, it would have appeared to be the worst time to get a new advertising agency off the ground during a deep recession. Especially to headquarter the company in what was, at the time, sleepy Austin, Texas, a town particularly hurt during the downturn. And, Austin certainly wasn’t the center of the advertising world either!
As I recall, by the late 1980’s, all of the savings and loans failed, and the real estate wasn’t worth the dirt it was built upon. Companies were folding right and left and the ones who made it suffered massive layoffs. Many people were out of work.
However, we had a new business model. We were lean and nimble. We were able to zig when everyone else was zagging. We offered creativity, hope and energy in a time when many were struggling to survive. My driving mantra was that we simply couldn’t afford to fail. My family depended on the success of T3 as well as our clients.
My point in all of this, is that there needs to be an element of risk when we harness the right time to do something. When everyone is headed in a certain direction, taking a bolder and less traveled path may help you find success beyond your wildest dreams.
We have seen many companies recently who thrived during the pandemic, because they offered the right service or product at the right time. Our needs shifted and the successful companies adapted quickly to those changes.
To some, being at “the right place, at the right time” has an element of luck laced in it. I agree, but we make our luck if we are strategic and bold.
Find your timing, and purpose and reach for the moon and stars.
Pictured at the top: Nothing requires accurate timing more than when I am trying to capture a beautiful sunrise or sunset, like in this photo. Donning my rattlesnake boots, I went out to a big field to set up my easel and paint “Dusk Wields Passion,” which sold at the Curator Gallery in New York.
Still reaching!

Gay Gaddis
Founder. Author. Artist. Trailblazer.
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