Freelancers—3 Clichés to Ignore

Some clichés are helpful, or at least not harmful. Maybe “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” reminds you to eat healthier food. If not, no harm.

But other clichés, especially those related to business, can lead you the wrong way.

Let’s start with the cliché I’ve heard a lot lately.

Cliché #1: Done is Better Than Perfect

This cliché is attributed to Sheryl Sandberg when she was at Facebook, but it may have been around much longer.

What does it mean? Done is better than perfect is a nod to perfectionists, who will tweak, edit, change, tinker, fiddle with, and mess with something to achieve perfection, with the result that the project is never completed.

In other words, you’ve wasted a lot of time due to your goal of attaining perfection.

The cliché implies you should finish whatever you’re working on, so at least you’re done with it and can move on.

The Problem with “Done is Better Than Perfect”

There are a few obvious problems with this when it comes to the type of work most of us do.

The first problem is that this cliché is fine if you’re working on your own projects. It’s terrible advice for client projects. Most of us are working for external clients. They’re the ones paying the bills.

So, they’re expecting a job that meets all of the defined criteria, completed to a high standard.

Does it have to be perfect?

That's the second problem with this cliché. Let’s agree right now that our type of work is more art than science.

There is no “perfect”.

Perfection is highly subjective. It’s in the eye of the beholder. What’s perfect for me might not be for you or your client.

You might finish a project that you think “checks all the boxes”, but the client might say, “Yeah, but I just don’t like it.” So, let’s agree there’s no perfect.

However, let’s go back to “checks all the boxes”. If you have a project that needs to include A, B, and C to meet all criteria, but you didn’t get around to doing C, you can’t consider it “done” because you want to move on.

Or let’s say you finish a project but then review it and decide you could improve it before sending it to the client. But you’ve already spent SO MANY hours on it. Maybe you could just send it as is.

Here’s an example. A friend makes short videos for food companies. He’d finished one and was happy with it. It was ready to go to the client.

But after a few plays, he felt the voice-over audio could be a bit better in spots. He knew what he had to do to improve it. It would take a few hours.

At this point, you might ask yourself, would the client even notice? Is it worth more time? But for my friend, it hardly mattered whether the client would notice. He noticed. That was enough for him to fix it.

The point is this: once you’ve given something to a client, they assume it was your best effort. Why would you hand over something that you knew could be better?

Oh, right, because it’s done, and that’s better than perfect. No…

Cliché #2: Move Fast and Break Things

This was famous around the early days of Facebook. It’s sort of related to “done is better than perfect”.

“Move fast and break things” sounds exciting and disruptive. Everyone likes to move fast, especially if it’s faster than the competition. And whether you break things on purpose during testing or by accident, well, that’s just the cost of speed and innovation.

If you’re releasing software with a few known bugs that could annoy the users, don’t worry, we’ll fix it in the next round. It’s how we roll…

The Problem With “Move Fast and Break Things”

It’s the same problem as “done is better than perfect”. You might choose to work that way for your own projects, but it doesn’t work for client jobs.

Does your client know your emphasis on moving fast? Do they accept that some things will be broken? In most cases, probably not.

I once worked with an IT partner who always took on more work than he could complete within his deadlines. He would show up the day before a client presentation and say something like, “We got this all done (good), but there are a couple of little things that aren’t quite working yet”. (A resigned shrug from me.)

So, what would happen in the client meeting? Rather than focus on everything that had been accomplished, the client would dwell on “a couple of little things”. The client expected everything to be done for that presentation.

The few “broken things” that seem like nothing to my IT partner (we’ll fix it next time) start to erode client confidence. They lose trust. If these things are broken, what else doesn’t work?

The simple answer is to slow down and not take broken things to clients. It’s a sure way to lose them.

If you want to speed through and break your own stuff, have at it. My guess is you’ll soon tire of that, even for yourself.

Don’t get addicted to the adrenaline rush of working quickly while creating a trail of wreckage that needs fixing.

Cliché #3: The Client is Always Right

This just sounds like good customer service.

It’s the focus of millions of articles on customer satisfaction, meeting customer demands, how to adapt your company to meet customer needs, etc.

And to a certain degree, the accuracy of the cliché is obvious. If you don’t meet customer requirements, you’ll soon find yourself without customers.

But here’s the sticking point: the word “always”.

The Problem With “The Client is Always Right”

Simply, the client is NOT always right. They may be right in their project definitions, preferences, target markets, etc.

And when you get a briefing with all the details, you may have questions, but in the end, the client is right. It’s their job.

But when it comes to how much they pay you, when and how they pay, and when the project is due… that decision is yours, not the client's.

You determine the price, terms of payment, and due date. There may be some back and forth on all of this, but in the end, you should know what works for you and your business.

If the client can’t agree here, what do you do? Walk away.

With your experience, you know that your terms are sensible. Don’t let anyone bully you or push you into accepting unreasonable terms. You’ll never succeed in taking ridiculous lowball prices, 90 or 120-day payment terms, or ongoing rush-rush jobs. They are recipes for burnout.

While you are here to serve your clients, your absolute priority has to be to take care of yourself. Always remember you are your first priority.

See what else I have to say about this: Who’s the Boss, You or Your Client

There’s a lot about what to believe and what to ignore in my book, How to Start a Successful Creative Agency. It’s the essential business guide for graphic designers, copywriters, filmmakers, photographers, and programmers.

With over 300 pages and 23 chapters, it’s available at Amazon (Paper & Kindle), Kobo (ebook), Apple Books (ebook), and Gumroad (PDF).

 Five Stars on Amazon: So Much Great Insight

“Andy Strote has been in the marketing world for a long time and has a lot of helpful advice. While I do not plan on starting an agency anytime soon, the advice in this book can apply to freelancing as a business as well. And, who knows, I might start an agency someday, now that I've been able to benefit from all of Strote's helpful tips. Recommend this one!”

Reviewed in USA, June 25, 2022

 The book is packed with useful information to help creatives start and grow their business.

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