Can It Fart?!

Can It Fart?!

 

“Can it fart?!” was the response to a question asked by my 11-year-old daughter in response to a segment about Alexa by Amazon on NPR from a few months ago.“Can it fart?” When those words rolled out of her mouth, at first it seemed out of left field!

As I searched to find an appropriate answer to “if a gadget can fart or not”, I realized that the answer wasn’t the point. And a simple I don’t know could have settled the whole thing. She was getting to the point of it all. What’s it for? And why do I need to know about it? That’s my take away from our short conversation that day.

She was simply getting to the point. Those types of questions may seem outta left field when trying to find creative solutions for bigger problems, but perhaps this type of thinking may be what’s needed when we find ourselves stuck.

Doing Vs Thinking

Doing Vs Thinking

 

Yesterday, I almost fell back into my freelance mind. I almost allowed a client’s response to a second round of logos push me into a corner instead of insisting (to both him and myself) that he hired me for a specific reason. I felt myself slipping into “the client must be right, and I’m just here to make them happy” mode. I even considered not invoicing for the work I’d submitted, as though it was that work that was not good enough to get paid for.

And it was really good work. A few deep breaths and a “big fuuuck that shit” later, I was back! I remembered why I’d started this in the first place. My business is to help them in theirs. Not just to push pixels around on a screen to their satisfaction.

They hired me to work with them to help them think through bigger problems. Not to be their personal Photoshop monkey. They hired me because my skills go beyond the actual work of being a designer. It’s because of how I think about design and how those thoughts inform the choices you make for your business. That’s why they hire me, and not the other way ’round.

It’s pretty normal to squirrel about and second-guess ourselves at times. But the faster you get back to realizing why you’re the person who is capable to provide the type of service you do for your clients, the more productive and valuable you will be for them.