How I Work: Three Point Four Media Co-Founder Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley loves storytelling, endurance sports, and cool sunglasses. Design by Barbara Cadorna.
Do running partners make for good business partners? We are a bit biased here at Creative Factor because that is how our story started. So, too, did Three Point Four Media founded by Bill Bradley and Noah Davis. Their venture was born over countless afternoon laps around the 3.4-mile loop at Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
Three Point Four Media is now based in both Brooklyn (where Davis lives) and Ann Arbor, Michigan (where Bradley now lives). Their storytelling studio has worked with clients you know (Google, Dropbox, Tribeca Film Festival) and ones that you will know (Gogoro, Acumen America, Wave Sports). Their fun and breezy weekend company newsletter tells you more about their favorite recipes and recent races than their business, a refreshing change of pace from most self-promotional studio missives. It is fittingly called The Loop.
Here, Bradley shares how he works, including his newfound preference for wearing chore coats, why he always makes room for a mid-day endurance workout, and why his dream personal project is to create a Spotify playlist for every Major League Baseball team’s at-bat music.
Davis (left) and Bradley got their start running together…and are still at it. Images c/o Bradley.
1. Rise and Shine
There are two fixtures: a very large breakfast (either eggs and toast or breakfast tacos) and the 9 a.m. Three Point Four Media check-in (we refuse to call it a “stand-up,” and we only meet Monday through Thursday). I’ll reply to any emails that came in overnight, then read the news before our 9 a.m. Even though it’s the Internet, I still call it “reading the paper,” which just means The New York Times, The Athletic, and the local outlets here in Michigan (MLive, Detroit News, and Detroit Free Press).
2. Work Uniform
Back when I had a real desk job, I wore a tie and blazer nearly every day. But that was at Condé Nast in the late aughts. I’ve worked from home since 2012 and have always been strict about getting dressed. Not in a shirt and tie and hard-soled shoes. But jeans and a t-shirt or button-down. These days, I wear a lot of chore coats—the crisp collar makes me feel more put together for a Zoom meeting, even if I’m wearing it over a concert t-shirt.
If you can’t locate Bradley during a winter afternoon, check the cross country ski course.
3. How I Structure My Day
There is no set structure. But this doesn’t mean chaos. Deadlines and meetings shape things here at Three Point Four.
Noah and I pride ourselves on getting things done when they need to be done. In our previous career as freelance magazine writers, we were both very good at turning things in on time—which should be the norm, not an outlier—and that skillset has been a real asset for the studio.
I keep a very detailed daily to-do list and check things off religiously, but also know when to jump on urgent client requests and shift less-pressing tasks to the next day. I have a good sense of how long it will take to get our work done, so I’m flexible when client needs arise and can prioritize accordingly. A significant part of my job is writing emails, though over the last couple years I have found that some of the most fruitful conversations I have with clients and potential clients are via text message or impromptu phone calls—so I am basically in conversation all day long.
But more importantly: a mid-day workout. As company lore goes, Three Point Four was founded over countless laps around Brooklyn’s Prospect Park in the middle of the workday. Doing some sort of big dumb endurance sport is part of the Three Point Four ethos. In the summer, I’ll hit up Fuller Park, Ann Arbor’s outdoor olympic-sized swimming pool, at lunch. Come wintertime, I am known to disappear for an hour in the middle of the day to go cross country skiing.
We get our work done when we say we will, hold our freelancers to the same standard, and our clients understand we'll do what we say we are going to do when we say we are going to do it. So going for a run between meetings isn’t playing hooky; it’s part of the workplace fabric and work ethic.
4. Playlist Favorites
I regret to inform you that I listen to a lot of Grateful Dead. I listen to music pretty much all day long. I’m also a bit of a crank and don’t listen to playlists while I work. It’s records front-to-back here. And it’s exactly what you might expect a middle-aged white guy would have in rotation. Yesterday I listened to: Steve Gunn’s Other You, Radiohead’s The Bends, The National’s Sleep Well Beast, Earl Sweatshirt’s Some Rap Songs, Zach Bryan’s self-titled album (twice), Outkast’s ATLiens, and then proceeded to put on the Grateful Dead Sirius channel for the afternoon.
The runner’s work ethic carries over into Bradley’s business pursuits. Photo by Justin Bishop.
5. Tools of the Trade
For years I kept an extensive and somewhat disjointed to-do list in a physical notebook. After seeing the very detailed Microsoft Word doc Noah kept maybe five years ago I switched from physical paper to a Google Doc.
It sounds simultaneously ridiculously obvious and not that big of a shift, but it changed the way I work and my productivity.
The key is being borderline maniacal about updating it. If someone adds me on LinkedIn that I think could be a potential client, I’ll put their name on the to-do list with a link to their profile and a note to follow up—then when next Tuesday comes around, everything I need is right there. Any relevant links I might need for a project or meeting are in there too. I can update it from my phone. Rather than have a bunch of documents spread across various productivity and task management tools like Notion or Evernote, my to-do list—I call it The Docket—is a running repository of everything I have... to do.
We recently started using the B2B software marketplace NachoNacho to test out DemandCloud and Apollo to build a lead generation pipeline. And the usual suspects: a MacBook Pro, an external monitor, an Apple keyboard and mouse, and whatever collaborative tool or CMS our clients are using.
6. Dream Studio
I really like working from home. But my dream studio would be a first-floor space with big windows, a loud stereo system, and walking distance from a good coffee shop and dive bar. And secure bike storage.
7. One Unique Thing About My Work Process…
We’re founders, principals, account directors, strategists, writers, editors, accounting, and resourcing. In the early days of Three Point Four, some potential clients didn’t quite understand this as they were used to the traditional siloed agency model. So, you guys handle... everything? was the response I got from more than a few potential clients early on.
We built the studio to scale up with projects: we bring in the freelance talent each project needs but lead the project ourselves. Over the years we’ve refined our pitch and our clients not only understand that we can do most everything, they value that. Whereas at a traditional agency, the biz dev person sells the client on the work then they get passed off to a client lead or project manager for day-to-day work.
A founder’s touch is central to what we do—we’re always involved, not only in the managing of the project, but the creative work as well.
8. Mantra
We’re all capable of growth.
This started out as a long-running bit in a group chat, where I was a nuisance to my friends doing send ups of college football coaches and tech bros. But I actually believe it now! I broke my collarbone last year, which was very painful and a huge inconvenience. It did, however, help me learn a lot about myself and how I often rush things or move too fast. After I recovered from surgery I wasn’t a totally changed man; but I did slow things down and think more strategically. Much like my to-do list revamp years ago—we’re all capable of growth.
9. My Brightest Idea that Never Saw the Light of Day
A Spotify playlist for every Major League Baseball team’s at-bat music. This would be a tremendous undertaking to maintain and upkeep: 30 teams, 26 players on each team. Rosters constantly changing. Players switching up their music when they get in a funk. It would be fun just to see the insane variety on offer. One season when Prince Fielder played for the Detroit Tigers he had Mozart’s “Requiem in D Minor” for his at-bat song.
10. To-Do List Item that Keeps Me Up at Night
None. That’s what the to-do list is for: so you do stuff on time and don’t forget the small (or big) things.
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