Knowing Your Value as a Creative
It’s not about the number of hats
Unicorns. Rockstars. God. These are terms used by people who hope to get everything out of one job title. For years creatives have had to juggle the load and scope of entire creative studios with the payment of a junior designer.
Crushing deadlines, unrealistic expectations, and insulting criticisms about how easy it “should” be to do what you do are all too common traits of a creative’s work day.
And hey, we get it. This job market is a fragile one, and the thought of standing up for yourself, or talking back to nonsense feels like a risk you can’t afford to take.
Of course there’s value in being multi-disciplined in your field, but there’s a difference between doing your job well and being the thin line that holds your company from falling into ruin (seriously, how does this place stay in business?).
But there are ways to stand up for yourself, know how to make the best use of your time, and get employers to value your expertise over your ability to say “yes”.
Your time really is money
Creatives often see the extent of their value as being able to accomplish projects. By providing the best looking art in the shortest amount of time, you become the best of the best, right?
What creatives don’t consider is that most managers see employee time as a flat standard. Brandon, whose job is to create a spreadsheet by copying and pasting information generated from a website, has the same project turnaround time as Stacy, who is in charge of creating a fully designed landing page using this data; full of visuals, graphics, and structured typographical layouts.
But Stacy is a pro, and she gets it done in time. However, instead of being impressed, the manager assumes this is the new standard. Now every deadline is shortened with a higher scope of work, and the cycle continues.
By crunching these projects you rob yourself of the value of your own time. And burn out is right around the corner.
If you build it, they will come
One of the most common questions we hear from artists is “What should I charge?”. The fear in this question is having high rates scare away potential clients. But by having a respectable rate you rid yourself of clients who don’t understand what it takes to make art that’s quality and lasts.
Doing a company rebrand for $500 might sound awesome to a young artist. But once you find yourself in endless meetings, millions of notes, and months beyond the initial deadline, you’ll find that you’ve worked yourself into a corner.
That’s why you should be pricing your time out. Even if you give a flat fee, add on an hourly rate so that if things do drag on you’re getting compensated. And sometimes, the client will realize they’re wasting their own time when they see the invoices rolling in.
Get Jon Wooten’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Pricing high means weeding out bad clients, but you should always have a backup plan in case things take longer than expected.
Respect your own time, and clients will follow suit.
An army of one
Freelance and contract artists aren’t just making art. They are also their own project managers, researchers, art directors, representatives, and more. They have to become their own one-person studio to be successful.
But creatives are constantly undervalued. Back in the day it was from websites like Fiverr, UpWork, 99Designs, and more outsourcing work to countries with much smaller cost of living. These days companies are looking to utilize AI to be more cost effective.
The problem has always been the same though. When it comes to relying on an artist or robot for changes, understanding the task, providing a long term solution that can be built upon, these sources are not reliable and often cost the companies more money in edits and end up settling for a result no one is happy with.
So show your client, or potential client, that you’re more than just a pretty brush. That you know what you’re talking about, you have experience in your field. Show them you can be trusted, and your rate isn’t just because you have expensive hobbies.
Creatives must learn to stand up for themselves because no one else will.
I don’t come to your job and tell you how to make burgers
Saying “yes” to everything, whether it’s an entire project or simply feedback on creative work, can lead to a disrespect of your position. You should always listen to feedback, but the solution lies with you. You were the one hired to complete this task, you understand the principles of design, you know how things will be received by people.
So tell them that. Use your “professional opinion”. Put your foot down on bad feedback. Let clients know why things work and don’t work. You’re not a “Do-boy”, and clients will quickly learn you can’t be prompted to make slop.
It’ll be scary, uncomfortable, and may even fail sometimes. But the more you stand up for yourself, your time, and the value you bring to projects and clients, the more respect you’ll get.
It’s better for a client to drop you from a price tag, then to suffer through a toxic work environment making peanuts.
Once you master your craft, master your self-realization. You’ve earned where you’re at. Now tell them about it.
Believe in yourself, and don’t ever stop making art.
With love from
