Robin Dhondt
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Note

My email signature confesses for me.

From the desk of Robin Dhondt

Robin's email signature with the Totally Flawesome sticker and a disclaimer about typos, a green arrow pointing at the misspelled word seriuosly

Confession: I'm a copywriter by trade. And still, I make a lot of typos.

For 25 years, somebody always caught them before I did. An art director. A proofreader. A very patient client.

Now that I'm going solo as a speaker, nobody catches them anymore.

So I had two options. Hide them and hope nobody will notice. Or just show them.

I chose option two. This is my new email signature:

“Found some typos? Congratulations. Each one was placed by hand, checked twice and left in there on purpose. (We take being imperfect very seriuosly around here.)”

Yes, “seriuosly” is seriously wrong. It's the only typo I actually planned. The others are real.

You see, flaws you hide make you nervous. Flaws you show make you human.

Paula Green did it for Avis back in 1962. Ten minutes ago, I did it for my inbox.

Gold or garbage?
You decide.

Every post here is a draft. Tell me what's worth keeping and what belongs in the trashcan. I can take it. (Mostly.)

More from the desk

Close-up of Robin's t-shirt: a grinning vintage salesman giving a thumbs up, with the words Hang in there, it gets worse
Note

Good news: things might get worse.

For 25 years I worked as half of a creative team. Now I no longer have a partner who tells me whether my ideas are pretty good or utterly garbage.

Read more →
Robin in his green jacket presenting the Avis ad We try harder on the big screen in the barn at Boereau, in front of a full room
Hero

The woman who taught me flaws sell better than strengths.

Meet Paula Green, one of the first female copywriters on Madison Avenue. In 1962, she did something unthinkable. She wrote the truth.

Read more →