A truly fun and unique employee manual that is actually fun the read.

2. 3
Before You Begin
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Congrats on acquiring your new agency model. It was handcrafted
by expert makers, misfits and smarty pantses who saw that the
world was in need of a new way of creating content.
This manual will introduce you to the functionality of this new
model and instruct you on how to maximize the quality of work
you may produce with it.
So start your livestream and alert your followers.
It’s time for the unboxing.
Say hello to
the new model.

3. Introduction
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Here’s your first project:
Build Trade School.
This isn’t a pre-made, one-size-fits-all-
uncomfortably kind of place.
We have a very rare opportunity here,
to make the kind of place we want to
work at, that produces the kind of work
we want to make. And we’re doing it
together, brick by brick, idea by idea,
espresso machine by arcade game.
It’s a custom build designed to fit our
clients, our future clients, and you.
Speaking of which, let’s talk about you.
Welcome,
Trade Schooler.
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4. Here,
we’re all makers.
From partnership to strategy to creative,
no one is exempt from creativity and being
masters of content.
The lines that define traditional job titles
aren’t blurred here. We never painted them
to begin with.
You’re a master of your trade, sure, but you
also know how to do a bunch of other stuff
that may or may not have anything to do
with your day job.
That makes you a hybrid, an odd duck
from an unusual background with a
career path that looks like a zigzag.
That’s why you’re here.
A Typical Trade Schooler
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5. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Master of Culture and
super random stuff.
You’re a consumer of culture, inspired by movies, music, games,
TV, books, comic books, expressionist art, vintage bohemian
fashion, 10th century Ottoman calligraphy, the early works of
Beyoncé, and anything that gets you out of bed in the morning
and makes you forget to go to bed at night.
Those are the things that define your work–the raw material from
which two existing ideas converge to become something new.
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6. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Play by your own rules.
This is an open-source startup, and we’ve unlocked all the cheat
codes and enabled god-mode. Don’t assume anything is sacred
or set in stone. If something’s not working, fix it. If you have a
better idea, make it. You have the controller. Just blow on the
cartidge,* press start and FINISH HIM!!
*MILLENNIAL/GEN Z DISCLAIMER:
Back in the 80s and 90s, video games were on physical cartridges.
When the game didn’t work, it was believed that blowing into the
cartridge to remove the dust would fix it. It has since been debunked,
but at the time it totally worked.
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7. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Life is short, careers are shorter. If you’re not making something you
actually like, then what’s the point? Weekends? Retirement? Pfft, screw that.
Every month, you should be able to show off something you’ve made.
Something worthy of the trades, the awards, the client’s praise,
your portfolio, your feed, your mom’s fridge, that person you’re hitting
on at a bar, whatever.
That goes for everyone from account to creative.
Be bold, be different, and make the kind of things you like to make.
Do work your mom
would be proud of.
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8. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
It’s called Trade School for a reason.
Master your craft. If you’ve already mastered
it, master something else. If you have an idea
but don’t know how to do it, learn.
Take “I don’t know” and weld a big ol’ “yet”
at the end of it.
If you’re not growing,
you’re shrinking.
The day you were hired.
The day you achieved something
you never thought was possible.
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9. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Or to quote the Daftest of Punks, “harder, better faster, stronger.”
Part of our growth as master content creators is to do more with
less time, be scrappy and efficient, and–in the words of lame office
speak–move at the speed of social. Lame phrase, true sentiment.
Learn a task. Do it again. Automate it forever.
We got our mind on our
money and our money’s
in our time.
Fun fact: “Snoop Dogg has an IQ of 147,
which officially confirms his genius.”
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10. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Processes aren’t laws. Briefs aren’t commandments.
Ideas aren’t our babies.
Don’t be afraid to challenge each other, poke holes, or kill ideas. And
don’t be afraid to push back and defend your work. Find the tensions
and obstacles and make them the solutions. Be opinionated. Be a
critic. Be a skeptic.
Just don’t be a jerk about it.
Let’s throw down.
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11. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Ever been asked something that anyone could just
Google? Yeah, we’re better than that.
Be as valuable as you can. Don’t give co-workers
work that you can do yourself. Be resourceful and
curious, learn what you don’t know, and add to that
value every day.
We’re not saying you can’t tap into the expertise of your
co-workers. Just that if you can do it yourself, do it.
Be the answer,
not the question.
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12. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
We know. You’re busy, and sometimes just don’t have the time. But
neither do your co-workers. And for all you know, they’re pulling
their hair out cuz the pitch is tomorrow and the shoot got delayed
and their kids are sick and the pipe in their bathroom just burst.
So let’s make everyone’s job easier, shall we?
Solving problems is what we do. Legal killed a concept? Cool, we’ll
think of a better one. Budget got cut? Scrappy is our middle name.
A massive pandemic rocked the whole world? We keep moving and
dive in to help.
Solving problems is what we do. Nothing can stop us.
Bring the solution,
not the pain.
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13. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Meetings are necessary. They’re also where the work
doesn’t get done. So let’s do everyone a favor:
Make 1hr meetings 30min.
Make 30min meetings 15min.
Make 15min meetings an email.
Make an email a slack message.
Make a slack message a funny meme.
You get it. So use the hall pass on the right to get out
of any meeting that’s not useful.
You’re welcome.
“That meeting
was way too short.”
-No one ever
And lo, the people were liberated from the
meetings, and there was much rejoicing.
Disclaimer: The “Meeting Hall Pass” card is only valid for getting out
of meetings when used to actually get some work done, go on a walk, get
morecoffee,findoutwhatyourkids/petsaredestroying,watchaYouTube
video, or look at anything but a screen for a few damn minutes.
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14. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Clients don’t keep agencies that give
them exactly what they asked for.
Our job is to give them what they
need, not what they want.
So overdeliver. Surprise them, even
if you don’t think they’re ready for it.
Be so good that our clients wonder
why their other agencies don’t do
what we do.
Order pizza,
deliver Italy.
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15. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Puns aside, there’s no such thing as a boring project. Just boring
ways of doing it. Find a new way, a faster way, or at least a way
that’s more fun. Then find something Trade School is missing
or missing out on, and make your own dream project out of it.
Force yourself
to learn something new
with every project.
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16. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Only stupid reasons to not ask questions.
We know, you’re insecure. But guess what, we all are. And the
question you’re afraid to ask is probably the question on every-
one’s minds. So open up, be brave, preface it with “this might
be a stupid question, but…” if you have to. Just don’t be silent.
It’s better to ask a stupid question now than to make a stupid
mistake later.
How to help people not feel stupid:
• Don’t use acronyms. Or at least spell them out every
first mention.
• Spell out what needs to be done, who needs to do it and
when it needs to be finished.
• Avoid sarcasm, eye rolling, name calling, secret twin
languages, self-haircut shaming, video meeting screenshots,
sweeping the leg or wearing pink on Wednesdays.
There are no
stupid questions...
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17. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
Perfection kills creativity.
That’s why we’re cool with mistakes. In fact, if you’re
not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough.
Fail fast. Learn fast. Keep tryin’ and you’ll get there.
And don’t drive angry.
The only way to get things
right is to do them wrong a
whole buncha times.
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Fun fact: Phil Connors
endured “Groundhog
Day” 12,403 times.

18. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
You’re a human first,
a Trade Schooler second.
You have partners, kids, dogs,
parents, friends and lots of things
that are, honestly, more important
than making a bunch of ads.
This place is full of different
perspectives–we learn from and
respect the hell out of each other.
We send Slack messages at “mom
o’clock” and answer them the next
morning from the veterinarian’s
office. Bring your whole self to
work, every day, and never
apologize for it.
Even if it’s in a minivan.
IRL,
all the time.
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19. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
There’s never been an idea, no matter
how good, that hasn’t been made
better with the help of other talented
professionals.
That’s just science. Probably.
We’re in the trenches together, people,
so let’s bring drinks, turn up the music
and have each others’ backs. Together,
there’s no problem we can’t solve, no
load we can’t lift, and no ideas we can’t
bring to life.
Engage secret handshake.
Let’s do this, y’all.
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20. A Typical Trade Schooler
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA
WRITE IT
DRAW IT
Now it’s your turn. We all have things that have formed
our work philosophy. Maybe it’s something your parents
used to say while tucking you in, or a life changing lecture
from a college professor, or something you read on a
Laffy Taffy wrapper.
So channel your inner Oprah and write it here. Write it
for you. Put it in a place you’ll see it every day. Then get
to making the best work of your career.
Make your own mantra.
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21. HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL:
Read it
Don’t read it but say you did
Award acceptance speech visual aid
Coloring book
Coaster
Sun visor
Spy disguise
Telescope
Church fan
Halloween mask
Pandemic mask
Beach nap face cover
Laptop cooling pad
Table leg leveler
1(833) MAK-SHIZ
www.tradeschool.works
THIS DOCUMENT ISSUED BY TRADE SCHOOL • ATLANTA, GA