Why I never take a simple project
Promising myself I’ll keep this quick: I was approached by a middleman to design a WordPress theme for a client of theirs. Not a critical-type project, just something that needed a look and needed to look good. Both parties are good people (the middleman and the client).
The budget ended up coming in too low so I turned the project down.
But it got me thinking about why this project sounded so unattractive to me. Why not take a little less money and just make a skin that fits the bill? Here’s why:
- Because rarely is there a simple project. Every “simple” project i’ve taken (except for 2) ended up with too much un-simple communication, back and forth changes not in the budget, back-end fixes, nightmares collecting payment, things here and there, etc. There are no simple projects (except for 2).
- Because I don’t love design, I love solving good problems well through design. I can show you loads of great designers who’d like to make you a skin that fits. Come back to me when you’re a money-making company who want’s to do something important with your brand online. That’s the kind of interesting problem I’d like to solve.
For me, taking on “simple” projects is never worth it. You get an extra couple of grand in your pocket (if you chase down payment hard enough), but you end up spending all this time solving an un-interesting problem.
Life’s too short to smoke bad cigars.
