I love being a creative person doing work for clients. But balancing my artistic temperament with business skills is a challenge. It has taken me many years to get mostly right, and I’m still working on it. Here are a couple of struggles I’ve faced, that you might feel, too.
1. Pride.
I work hard on every project and I feel connected to the designs I do. When I was starting out, and even beyond that, I’d get upset if someone “did something” to my work after I handed it over. Sometimes they did things I thought were ridiculous – change the font in the logo, or completely rework the logic of the website, but use the same icons, or recolor the illustration into garish neons. Horrors! But it wasn’t my place to tell them they were ruining all my hard work, because it wasn’t mine any more.
My learning: Let the payment be the reward. Get a screenshot, get paid and let it go.
2. Competition.
When it comes to creativity, I am a journeyman, not a genius. There are jillions more talented, visionary, and skilled designers out there. I used to stalk their projects with envy and even jealousy. I wanted to be like them – clever, successful and sought after. And when realised that I wasn’t, I felt rotten. When I look at other designers as competitors, rather than colleagues, I am coming at this from a bad perspective. I do my thing and I do it well. I have a small but appreciative client base. There is enough work for all of us.
My learning: Comparison is the thief of joy.
3. Value.
I still haven’t quite got the knack of this one. I charge the same hourly rate that I charged 20 years ago. Back then it was high. Now it is not high and I have 20 years’ more experience! I need to raise my rates. One plus is that I “productised” my logo design service by setting a flat rate and managing expectations. Clients know what is included and I can put the brakes on endless back-and-forth changes. Sometimes potential clients tell me I am too expensive. I refer them to Fivvr, where there are talented designers happy to work for less than I ask.
My learning: don’t engage with clients who quibble on price.
