
Today I had to touch up my knowledge on Photoshop and get some work done for 2 friends. However they were two totally different experiences.
I hope this article serves as a lesson to anyone asking someone to help them out to know exactly what they want.
There is nothing more frustrating than getting a word document that looks like it was made by a 5 year old learning to use Microsoft word for the first time accompanied by the words “make this look good.”
I laughed to myself a little bit when an old saying I popped into my head that goes “you can’t polish a turd” although I thought it was best to keep that thought to myself.
Working with these type of people are the reason I am going to get into a serviced based business without much bias and personal opinion. It’s what I love so much about PPC advertising, there is only one outcome when it comes down to it and that is results.
Doing any form of digital design I take my hat off to anyone in that industry and I hope they have their systems down to a fine art or they are in for a world of hurt in unpaid invoices, clients that request change after change but don’t want to pay for it and just all around frustration in all areas of business. You need to be extremely organised and top of things to run a business like that profitably.
Back to the two people I worked with today.
Person 1: Has no idea what they want, they want you to find all the images and put everything together and of course when you’re finished they are never happy with it and you have to start from scratch.
Why does this annoy me? Because I am not a graphic designer! It’s a case of showing hands that you should and then it becomes an expectation rather than one of.
I did one flier for the company that they liked and now all of a sudden I seem to be the go to person for any graphic design work which is not my domain at all.
I enjoy playing around with Photoshop but I do not like being put on a deadline and doing all the background work. If you want me to do something for you, have a finalised drawn up draft not some half assed word document that you have whipped up in 30 seconds that is riddle with mistakes and expected me to do all the work for you.
Nothing pisses me off more.
Person 2: One of my best mates, rings my up and asks me how to do something, I quickly explain that unless he has done it before it will take him hours to do it properly so I said, send me the image, exactly what you want done and I will do it for you.
I had the image within the next 5 minutes, made all the changes, he called me back to say he had got it and it was exactly what he was looking for. 20 minutes work and both parties are happy.
The different is night and day.
The people that are closest to me I would always give up my time to help them out with whatever they needed. I know if I was in a similar situation they would do the same for me but that is not why I do it. I do it because that’s what friends do.
On the other hand someone hassling me to get something done and annoying the shit out of me if they asked me for a favour. The answer would be flat out no.
I have read a lot lately about The Pareto Principle and as I get more and more experience under my belt I can’t help but to see how true it is. It states that for many events approximately 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
Meaning the other 80% of the causes that account for the other 20% of the effects if you can avoid it you shouldn’t waste your time on it as the value out of it is extremely limited.
Be smart with your time, cut as much of the bullshit out of your life as you can. That includes clients if they are taking up more time than they are worth cut them loose. Concentrate on the things that are bringing in 80% of your revenue.
And in all of this, never forget who your real friends are because you know when you need them most they will be the ones there that have your back unconditionally.
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