What does it take to be a master in your craft and an incredible husband, parent and renaissance man at the end of the day? Well, look no further than our Manager of Paid Search, Eric Bush. He’s figured out a way to juggle his incredible workload for Brafton, and show up full-time as a husband and dad too.
How does he do it all?
Well, for one, his espresso machine is a heavy lifter.
“So, I’m obsessed with coffee. I grind my own beans, tamp it down, froth the milk (my ‘late art’ game leaves much to be desired) and I’ve got an entire setup located just a few steps from my desk. Thankfully I also have a faster single-serve machine in case I only have minutes between meetings.”
But how did he get here to transform Brafton as we know it? Let’s find out.
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An Everywhere Man
Pinning down Eric’s timeline is something only few have had the chance to do. To start, the South has been a major part of his life for a long time, having gone for his undergrad degree at Auburn University and now returning to his birthplace of Nashville, Tennessee.
While ‘down on the plains’ at the AU, he double majored in Marketing and Criminology… and a little bit of everything else in between.
“When I was young, it gave me options to figure out what I wanted to spend my time earning a paycheck for the rest of my life.”
He had the freedom to change his major a couple of times because figuring out what you want to be, and honestly who you even are, at 18 is an impossible task. However, this curiosity led to Eric attending law school immediately after graduating from Auburn. Those years of higher education informed his future endeavors where he experienced a quick, but in his words still “too long” stint as an attorney and then made a switch to the marketing world, something he has always had a passion for.
“I’ve done a bunch of things leading up to Brafton,” says Eric as he reminisces about his exciting career. “I worked in the video game industry for about 10 years with a couple of different companies — IGN and Complex Networks are two of the most well-known. While at Complex Networks, I got to travel around the world and go to conferences often – giving me a chance to let my inner-nerd shine bright.”
Where has his work brought him to, you ask?
“I’ve worked in Birmingham, Alabama; Nashville, Tennessee; New York City; Orlando, Florida; San Francisco; Seattle, Washington; Vancouver, Canada; Leipzig, Germany; the United Kingdom and the city closest to my heart Seoul, South Korea. I was lucky enough to adopt two of my children from South Korea so it will always be a special place to me.”
A People Person
Eric is someone who has been around the world and back again, so what keeps him focused and motivated in his work at Brafton, isolated in his home office collaborating virtually thanks to Google Meet?
“I think what’s great about Brafton is we have people from every professional background, in almost every time zone and located in a bunch of different countries. It’s just a great melting pot of different people here.”
Going even further in regards to what brought him here, we chatted on how just about everyone at Brafton has a career story that isn’t linear.
“[Brafton’s diversity] really makes for a better company overall, because you don’t get people that are shoehorned into only thinking about this or only talking about that, because that’s their specialty when it comes to marketing, and that’s all you get to do. It absolutely makes for a very cool team dynamic here.”
What’s more, Brafton gives him the chance to stay home and cultivate an incredible relationship with his 4 children. His oldest just turned 13, and his youngest turns 10 in January!
And Eric, being the do-it-all type he is, found a way to get more involved.
“I finally got them into soccer, and I’m coaching their teams; my son started doing tryouts for travel teams recently – and considering my obsession with soccer I couldn’t be prouder.”
His youngest daughter made it onto the local middle school cheerleading team — which aligns with his wife’s history of being a competitive cheerleader herself.
“She just came home last night with all the bags and stuff for cheer, with the shoes and the bows and all that stuff. I was really into it when she showed me and I just smiled,” he says grinning. “I love my job and I love what I do here at Brafton, but if I am being completely honest, I do it all for them.”
A Numbers Guy
But what does Eric do when he’s not out on the field coaching his kids to victory, or brewing up the best espresso you’ve ever had? He’s a numbers guy.
“No day is the same here. We support many clients with paid search. The way that the product is set up is that it’s KPI-oriented and will depend on the context of the client and their needs,” he says. But after a moment of reflection, continues with “I think what ties it together, and the number one thing that I’m trying to do with paid search, is just increase other companies’ business. And that’s the part that I like doing the most is just growing businesses through advertising.”
But at Brafton, things are constantly evolving to meet the latest trend or expectations for our clients.
“When I first started doing paid search at Brafton, we almost exclusively worked on Google ads, and now we started working on YouTube, short-form video and display ads. There’s a never-ending supply of continuing education opportunities because I’m always looking for what’s around the corner.”
You’ve made an enormous impact on the company, and continue to contribute so much to the people and teams you work closely with, Eric. With only 2years down, we’re excited to see what’ll be written in the next chapters of your life at Brafton.
