What's it worth to you?

I recently received a project from one of my clients I work with often for some business cards. And while making business cards typically isn’t my thing, I usually say yes to them because they’re simple, don’t take too long, and I can make a few dollars here and there.

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A lot of my clients end up needing them too because I work so closely with their websites, and I already have all of their brand assets so it’s pretty easy for me to go in and knock out some cards in a few hours.

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I remember when I first started my freelancing journey, I used to hate making these things. I had the belief that I only wanted to get paid for web design and web development, and that’s it. I wanted to be taken seriously and make a living doing the main thing I wanted to do.

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But I would do them, because frankly, I needed the money and they aren’t hard to do.

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Over time, and the more I do them, I find I actually started to enjoy it. But what ends up happening is, I spend way more time than I should on some silly little business cards. Everything from making the design perfect, to researching the perfect dimensions, and even the best card thickness to make them in.

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I tend to get pretty sucked in and down the rabbit hole with some of these things if it’s somewhat interesting.

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And as I sit there and spend hours obsessing over the minute details of these cards, I start to think, I probably shouldn’t be allocating all of this time into this. I probably won’t get paid what it’s worth for the time I’ve spent making them, the money in general isn’t great, and there’s other more important things I should probably be doing instead.

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And I have too much pride to ask someone to pay me for something that I’m not 100% proud of.

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The thing is though, I was just having so much fun.

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And that alone, might make it worth it for me.

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When I first started freelancing, creating income was by far the most important factor, obviously. And it still is of course, I’m not financially where I want to be just yet.

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But as time goes on, and as money becomes less tight, and I can afford to spend more time doing things that are more interesting and can allow me some comfort to explore and experiment.

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Maybe I don’t have to take on every single project to make some extra dollars if I don’t have to, maybe now I can afford to have some fun and play around.

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I guess what I’m trying to say is, money isn’t always the sole deciding factor if doing something is worth your time or not.

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Sure, money is obviously the main goal always. I gotta eat. But if I can take something on that provides other benefits, like enhancing a relationship with a client, learning something new and improving on my skills, or even if it’s fun/cool to do… then that could possibly satisfy the need for monetary compensation for that specific project.

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It’s probably not a good thing to be so money focused at all times. Just going about your life thinking, “MONEY, MONEY, MONEY,” might actually be the incorrect way to run a business. Especially one like mine that is so personal where you work so closely with the clients.

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It tends to put a bad vibe out into the air and makes you look like the only things you care about is getting paid.

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What’s really important for the client is that you care, do good work, and are easy to work with. For me, obviously it’s getting paid, but also now the personal growth, enjoyment, and fufillment of it.

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That’s probably not the best way to run a business, you can’t get paid in “fun”, but I guess that’s the whole reason why I even started doing this in the first place.

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I want to get paid for doing things I enjoy. If I didn’t care about that, then I would get a job pushing papers and sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day.

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Instead, now I can spend a few hours on business cards or get paid well for making a whole website, either way, it’s on my terms and I decide for myself.

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This past week, a company booked a call with me that seemed pretty legit and professional, it would have been my biggest client yet.

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But when I hopped on the call with them to see what they needed, it was interesting (and not in a good way). To spare you the details, they wanted a website, but had some weird requirements and it was quite different from what I usually do.

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I politely declined it.

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I did so for two reasons:

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1. It had to be built in a software that I have never used before, is notoriously shitty, and I would have to learn in on the job. I’ve taken jobs like this in the past before (because I needed the money), and it was a complete disaster.
2. They told me straight up they didn’t have a huge budget for this project either.

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So after a day or two of thinking, I decided to respectfully say no.

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Myself a year ago probably would have said yes in a heartbeat, and I was tempted to this time as well. But considering all of the factors I just talked about, I didn’t think it would be worth my time or energy.

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It might actually cause me more stress than it’s worth.

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This is the first project I’ve ever said no to, and honestly, it feels empowering. Let’s say it was a boring but it paid well, then I’d probably do it. If it was interesting and would be a great opportunity, but paid less, then I’d probably do it as well.

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But if it’s not a great project, will have future complications, AND it doesn’t pay? Then it’s a hard no.

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It’s not an exact science, but it’s a feeling. A vibe, if you will.

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Yeah, I guess I run my business and my livelihood based on vibes, but who cares.

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I guess the moral of this story is, money is not the only determining factor of value. Maybe other ones are opportunities to learn, to grow, and who knows, maybe doing something well for one client can lead to referrals and more clients down the road.

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There’s so much to consider when you’re running your own business and have a reputation, but also as an individual who also wants to do what’s best for yourself and overall happiness.

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Not only if you’re freelancing, but for life in general. You can’t look at everything through a lens of money, because it sours your perspective.

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Life is so much more intricate and complicated with human emotions and fulfillment than to just focus on payment and disregard everything else.