We’ve all been down this road.  A small project comes along and it of course has a small budget.  You think to yourself, ‘hey, I get this project in/out, get a portfolio piece, and we’re done in two weeks!’.  Ahh, if life would only be so simple.

A friend who has been doing print design for about 15+ years mentioned to me once that it is the smallest clients and/or projects that will pay less, expect more and be hell bent on driving you to the brink.  He was right.  Though, it took me about 5 years to realize this because I’m a pretty slow learner.  It always seems to start the same way, the client comes in and immediately starts referring to the project as ‘small’, ‘not a lot of work’, and they ‘have a good portion of it completed’.  They further state something to the effect that ‘all I need you to do is..’.  To quote Han Frickin’ Solo - “Here’s where the fun begins”.

I don’t know what it is but if you try to be a nice guy (or gal) in this scenario and charge less, or God forbid nothing at all, you are quickly heading up $#&* creek.  Many of these clients will suck the very life force out of you.  And in case you haven’t noticed, creativity most often flows from a calm mind, focus and overall good vibes.  By the end of a project of this sorts you may be ready to pack your bags and head to the corporate cubicle (though there is nothing wrong with this). 

Ironically enough (though none of the things that I say are true all of the time), its the clients that do place value on design, development & marketing who will tend to give you more ‘say’ in the project.  They are also understanding that if you promised to do ‘A’, ‘B’ & ‘C’ - and the project ends up having ‘D’ & ‘E’ added on - they don’t freak out on you and look at you as if you are trying to steal from them.  They may want to negotiate an additiona price, but negotiation is a good thing.

Just be careful of the small projects please, they will give give you grey hair, anxiety attacks, and you will start annoying everyone aound you.  Don’t let the creative force die!