From the course: Working with Creatives

Value of creative work

From the course: Working with Creatives

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Value of creative work

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- Okay, let's talk about money. Nobody becomes a graphic designer to get rich quick, or slowly. If that was our goal, we would've chosen a different path. But we do have to pay rent and eat, so of course, money is important, and it can be an easy part of the process, or the worst part of the project. I wanna start by talking about the value of what we do. Creative work is not easily quantified. So sometimes clients question the value. But if you do, you miss the point. You're paying for our creativity, for our ability to create order from chaos. We get paid to communicate your message, and not for the time it takes us to solve the problem. The time it takes is actually our burden, not yours. Is a brilliant logo worth less because we had the idea during the initial meeting? Is it worth more if it took us two months to come upon the best solution? Either way, the ultimate value to your business is the same, and that's what you're paying for. There's an apocryphal story that illustrates this point perfectly. A factory was brought to a stop because a crucial piece of machinery just didn't work anymore. Management called a mechanic, who spent five minutes inspecting the machine. He pulled something out of his toolbox, tinkered with it and the machine for a minute and it was fixed. The factory was up and running again and everyone was thrilled, until they got a bill for $5,000. The factory owner angrily asked for a breakdown of the costs for this five-minute work. The mechanic sent back the following. $10 for the replacement part, and $4,990 for the 25 years of experience that allowed him to solve the problem in five minutes. It's perfect. We don't wanna spend more time on a project than is necessary to get the job done right. So our time is our business, and the fabulous solution we come up with is yours.

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