Weighing The Value
Sometimes a project comes across your desk and your gut reaction is: “There’s no way to make this work.” That was my first thought when a return client reached out about a branded mural at a local mall. The target budget was so low I didn’t think I’d find an artist who’d say yes. When I reached out to the first handful of my go-to candidates, the estimates I got were at least double the target. But as the saying goes, one man’s trash is another’s treasure.
I ended up mentioning the prospective project to an artist in passing, not expecting them to be interested, but to my surprise, he not only was interested but also willing to meet the target budget. He hadn’t had many mural opportunities yet, and so there was value to him in getting the experience, beyond the financial compensation. He was hungry. I knew from past experience, there might be some issues around meeting deadlines or other things I’d throw in the “professionalism” category, but I decided as long as I was clear about that with the client and they knew what they were getting themselves into, it was worth a shot.
It’s something I still grapple with: Finding clients creatives willing to do work at what I’d consider less than fair value, versus holding firm and only doing work where clients are willing to pay a fair amount. I get both sides, some people just can’t afford to spend more than they’re offering. But others just look to cushion their bottom line as much as possible, in spite of the detriment to the creatives bringing their talents to the table. As a connector, my job isn’t necessarily to make perfect matches, it’s to make strategic ones. Ones that might just lead to growth on both sides. And so sometimes that means I have to accept a reality that is less than perfect, in hopes that the juice, in the end, will be worth the squeeze, for all involved.