Is It Worth It?

By Ryan Clark

When a prospective client asks if I’m interested in a particular job, my immediate questions are, “when is the deadline, and what is the budget?” Usually those two bits of information will tell me what I need to know — if I have the time, and if it’s worth my time. But more often than not, there are other facets of the job that can sway me, even if the timeline is ridiculous and the budget is pitiful.

For years, I’ve approached each new job or project with a fairly arbitrary set of qualifiers. I’d like to think I have concrete standards, but anyone who has ever been self-employed (even though I’m not self-employed full time at the moment) knows how hard it can be to say “no,” even when you should.

Recently, I feel as if I’ve finally uncovered my personal qualifiers in a way that I can articulate. My hope is that by finally understanding some of the logic behind my decision-making — choices that in the past, I made purely on gut instinct — those decisions might be easier to make in the future.

There are three main categories that apply:

The job itself.

The client.

The money.

By “the job,” I mean: Is it a project I can emotionally invest in? Is it something I believe in? Am I designing for something of good quality and taste? Will this particular job lead to more work? Is it, at the very least, something that will likely make a great portfolio piece — even if I don’t feel connected to it?

“The client experience is … a huge piece of the puzzle.”

The client experience is also a huge piece of the puzzle. Will they be easy to work with? If I’m hired by an art director, will they properly filter the client’s demands? Will the demands be reasonable? Does the client have the experience to know how the design process unfolds? Will they be friendly? Although it’s an important factor, this category is the wild card, as it can be very hard to gauge from the onset. Unless I’ve worked with this client in the past, I don’t really know how the relationship will play out. Sometimes I’ll scan the initial email for clues as to how they communicate or how experienced they seem.

Money is always a factor, but it’s usually more to do with my time than anything. Will I feel properly compensated for the work? Will I have to rush through the project in order for the budget to be worthwhile? Does the money translate accurately to the scope of work? Would I be better off spending my time on something else, from a financial standpoint?

If I’m being honest, I’ve found that most of the time I only need two of these qualifiers to be present for a job to feel worthwhile.

“Ideally, every job would meet all three qualifiers — but in reality, they rarely do.”

Ideally, every job would meet all three qualifiers — but in reality, they rarely do. If I were to hold out for a project where every requirement was met, I wouldn’t be working most of the time. In hindsight, almost every job I can think of lacked one of these qualifiers, and was still worth the time. Instinctually, I looked for the other two.

So, now I ask myself:

If the client seems reasonable, and the budget is decent, will I work on a project that doesn’t necessarily excite me? Probably.

If I’m fairly certain it will make a great portfolio piece, and the money is good, will I suffer through a difficult client? Probably.

If the client is someone I’d love to work with, and the job sounds really cool, will I do it for cheap? Probably.