Jacob has a great few principals (in good order) of how to maintain a great reputation and marketability as someone in the creative field. The one I’d like to focus on for this post is about Creating and Fostering Trust with the clients.
Since 2017 I’ve been accepting freelance photo/video work. You’ve probably already heard me ramble about how cameras were my first love when it comes to the art world. I think it’s a common experience to shift your perspective on how you want to tweak your role as more work comes your way. I realized during my photo video time that I don’t like weddings! I don’t like weddings so much that one time it took me legit almost 6 months to get a video back to a couple back in 2019. Granted I showed up and ended up not liking the couple as people, rendering my excitement to capture their wedding non-existent… but still, that’s unprofessional for sure. Not much communication about it either. Kind of just dragged my feet on it, no pretty way to say it. It was a rough year. That was the gist of it. I took their wedding video during the summer and then never looked at it for months until finally one day i edited the whole thing in one go. Very Virgo of me.
It turned out pretty cute! They ended up loving it and while they were mad it took so long they were just happy to have their video. I felt like a doofus though. One, why am I accepting work that I don’t want to do. Two, why did I only charge them $500?! There’s two pain points with this approach. Since I undervalued myself I wasn’t hungry to do the work, $500 isn’t much for what I did (granted late). I also diminished some rapport with the couple and any future connections that could have branched from them. They may think twice about hiring a cheaper option, even though I always wanted to be the best budget guy…
My approach is still changing honestly, it’s a constant battle to figure out how I will sell my services fairly to both the customer and to myself. That was one of the biggest experiences that helped me reflect on that though, really owning up to what kind of work I should be putting in front of myself… But even if it is for the money at least get some dang money… Yeah that’s all. I appreciate you listening haha I’m growing.