Embracing the big and scary

A short opinion on big clients

Photo by Ingo Stiller

I used to get a little scared when really big clients came knocking. 😬

Am I good enough to work with this large corporation, multi-national retailer, well-known institution, or high-profile startup?

But what I’ve learned over years of working with them is that most have less design maturity than you’d think. You can’t compare everyone to Silicon Valley darlings.

👉🏼 If they have low design maturity, it’s an amazing opportunity to show your value by upskilling them on best practices. You’ll become indispensable.

👉🏼 If they have high design maturity, it’s an amazing opportunity to learn, and you’ll come out of the project with more valuable skills than you started with.

Most likely it’s somewhere in between. You guide and teach them a lot but you learn just as much. Both parties are better off for it.

So if you have the skills (hard and soft) to deliver for those dream clients, don’t be afraid to dive right in. They need you as badly as you want them.