Good, Fast, Cheap…Pick 2
This adage dates back quite a while, and is actually rooted in a more complex management formula too dizzying to cite here verbatim. After all, I’m simply maintaining a self-serving and (dare I say) witty & entertaining blog, not crafting an outline for a management strategies handbook. Nevertheless, there’s something about this maxim that has always resonated with me. It was adopted and employed heavily @ Get-Kinetic, the Philly-based production company that I called home for several years. And it’s stuck with me since journeying into the treacherous freelance terrain nearly a year ago.
Regardless of how solid and stable a relationship one might adopt with a client (or potential client), there’s no denying that vendors and employing firms/individuals will always find themselves at odds over this belief; with the later party nearly always pushing to secure all three of these things to their own selfish benefit. Holding the line when it comes to this set of conditions falls squarely on the shoulders of the bidding party, and the delicacy with which it must be maneuvered is an art form in and of itself.
Being a relative ‘newbie’ with regards to the established world of self-employment (I kinda feel like a full fiscal year in the books is necessary to live down this title), I’m still trying to figure out how to get client-folk to swallow this typically bitter pill. I have, however, been lucky enough to develop a number of solid professional relationships over the course of my first year as a freelancer…and I suppose that if 12 or so months down the road I’m still trudging along with my head above water (and still maintaining this witty & entertaining blog), perhaps I’ll have amassed a bit more worthwhile advice on the matter!
