When Fine Is Plenty
(I didn’t actually take this photo of Einstein. It came from pvera’s flickr stream.)
Now I’m pissed. (I also really have to pee and I would like a charming Mexican lady to come to my house with guacamole and a mop, but that is completely irrelevant.)
I was catching up on Freelance Switch and came across a post by Lea Woodward, who I love. Lea writes for Location Independent Living, which rules. Her post, titled “Why Being An ‘Average’ Freelancer Might Just Be Enough” was totally awesome and should be required reading for everyone above the age of 15, freelancers or otherwise. The premise that she makes, and she references everyone from scientists to success coaches to Tony Robbins, is that the quest for excellence is often a shitload more trouble than it’s worth. (Those weren’t the words she used, but space is at a premium here.)
Good. Lovely. Fantastic. And then we get to the comments:
”You’ll look around and see how average you are and you’ll be completely content with that and never aspire to improve. I’m sorry but that’s not anyone idea of success, and in the long run it won’t help you you feel better about yourself either.”
Perhaps this commentator would like to take himself a smidgen more seriously. This was responded to with this from Mia, who I would love to link to but she didn’t leave a URL:
”Wow. Contentment is not anyones idea of success? Or is it not YOUR idea of success, Benek? Personally, defining what makes me happy and motivated has meant that a lot of traditional ideas of success have dropped away and become redundant. I think in this case, ‘average’ is not about mediocrity - it’s a word that helps you to jolt yourself into realising that being a rock star designer/ copywriter/ animater etc is not necessarily the route to fulfillment.”
Then we have this, which was a little nicer:
“Well written post. Unfortunately, I couldn’t disagree more. If Einstein, Adam Smith, Leonardo Di Vinci thought along those lines, we would probably be living in a different world today. “
This is a true statement. Unfortunately, this statement is only really relevant to people who are aspiring to be Einstein, Smith, or DaVinci. I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but…
There is one Einstein, people, and it ain’t you.
You’ll notice that our pal Al wasn’t working out the theory of relativity for a freelancing client at 35 bucks an hour. He was doing it in his spare time for himself. Had he submitted this work to a freelancing client they would have quibbled over his invoice and taken credit for the ol’ E equals MC squared themselves. Excellence in freelancing or home business gets you nothing but scope creep.
Excellence is highly overrated. The vast majority of clients do not want excellent or amazing or The Best Ever or Jesus Himself Couldn’t Have Written It This Good. They can’t afford Jesus. They can afford Better Than They Could Do Themselves. This means they can afford you.
Other than making enough money to keep yourself in guacamole, there is only one goal when it comes to selling your services.
Keep the client happy.
If your client wants you to take a nice picture of an apple, you take a nice picture of an apple. You don’t have to be Linda McCartney. You just have to take a picture of an apple. If that picture gets you fifty bucks, you can take a picture of an orange and a pear while you’re at it and be done for the day. It’s just not that big of a deal.
Probably my favorite comment on this thread was from Jacob of the blank website, who said it perfectly:
“Not everyone needs masterpieces.”
I have a feeling Jacob is going to be feeding his family far better than the keeners out there, striving to be the next Adam Smith.
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I read that article too and have to agree with it. I draw for a living and I recently admitted on my blog that I don’t ‘love’ to draw. It makes me money and that’s it. Am I good at what I do? Yup. But there’s tons of people better than me. The true keeners who live and breathe it. I don’t.
I may never work at Pixar but I’ve been steadily self-employed for over 10 years and don’t even have an official portfolio. I do have banker boxes full of my work though. I’ve rarely had to actively look for work…it all came from word of mouth. Because I please the client. My work is solid and delivered on time without any bull. And that’s all they want.
So I’m no rock star, but I’m steadily employed…so isn’t that success?
@ Karen - Well said. I’m guessing a pretty high percentage of people who work for corporations don’t “love” what they do, but nobody’s calling them sellouts. (Okay, maybe some people are.)
And, while I don’t have a clue about your rates, you’re much more likely to be the person I’d call if I wanted illustration work done. Why? Because you don’t think it’s the Most Important Thing Ever. The live and breathers are usually major divas who turn out to be a colossal pain in the ass.
@ Naomi - So true. I’ve seen tons of students fresh out of school (and some veterans) thinking they’re ‘all that’…while they flake out, break contracts and burn bridges in a very tight industry (animation).
I used to teach (storyboarding) and told them my definition of professionalism: Show up, do the work, don’t be an ass.
It’s pretty much as simple as that. : )
I agree, Naomi. That post stood out for me too. I think what the commenters were missing is that being “average” and content with it doesn’t mean that you don’t try to improve yourself. It just means that you don’t set goals that are likely both unrealistic and unfulfilling.
If everyone aims for “greatness”, on average the results will be, well, average.
I don’t try to be the world’s best at what I do. I just try to always be a little better than I need to be to get the job done. That way I’m always stretching myself a little, but not so much that it does more harm than good.
I think sometimes that the “rockstars” are not necessarily better than everyone else out there, either. There is a good chance that someone reading this post is actually better than the people who are supposedly “the best”.
But, as you know, it isn’t what you know sometimes, but who you know. Where I work (day job), I’d say 3/4 of the “management rockstars” are actually not that bright, compared with the brightest people at my company. They actually tend to be self-serving, slimy assholes that I wouldn’t trust around my children…
You could look at it this way, in terms of real “rockstars” - does anybody reading this really think that the people on American Idol (or Canadian Idol, for the Canadians reading this) are “the best musicians”?
I sure don’t. Well, I guess I’m entitled to my opinion.
Anyway, where am I going with this - we are all exceptional at something. We probably all work hard at what we do, some harder than others - and some are more fortunate than others to meet the right people, at the right time.
I’m not saying it all comes down to luck - but I’d rather be lucky than good any day.
If everyone aims for greatness, it just ups the standards of acceptability. Slowly, slowly the bar rises, it gets tougher to be taken seriously… And the average person no longer has a hope in hell.
Now, I’m not for mediocre work, but I’m all for doing a good, strong, solid job and being recognized for that. I don’t expect anyone to frame my content and hang it on the wall, nor do I want people to.
What’s wrong with that?
@ Karen - Your definition of professionalism is the best thing I’ve ever read.
@ Joshua - “If everyone aims for “greatness”, on average the results will be, well, average.” That’s classic! So true, though. If you set a goal of being better than you were yesterday, you have the chance to succeed every day. If you set the goal of being the best in the world, you have the chance to feel so overwhelmed you’ll jump in front of the nearest ice cream truck.
@ Brett - Absolutely. And if the winners of American Idol are the best musicians out there, we’re all fucked.
@ James - You’re not for mediocre work? Shit. Please ignore my email without reading.
@ Naomi - Fake it, baby.
@ Brett - We used to laugh way back when, because the big shots would have all these plans and protocols and goals to increase productivity with new machines, new shifts, new procedures… but the workers on the floor knew damned well it wasn’t going to happen.
The office jerks (I don’t count myself in that) spent thousands of dollars and waste tons of time to have it all backfire. The machinery from German was never used, the procedures never happened and the management raged upstairs over who was to blame.
One guy on the floor suggested an extra 15 minute break in the morning to help people get through a six-hour shift. That’s all it took.
@ James - it sounds like the place where I work is still stuck in the same mode of operation as the place you used to work was - this is why I am working towards self-employment.
The crew of operators I used to supervise “get it” - they know it is all bullshit. Management continues to send a steady stream of fresh, cocky engineers down to try and get these guys to change, armed with an arsenal of procedures that cannot work. And it never does work. The operators know how to get the job done safely and efficiently. I understood that from day one (I’ve worked in a shop, too, so I know), which is why I did well there. My replacement does not get it, and the place is going to hell quickly… :)
A new crew of high level executives is coming in, with grandiose plans for change. Yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
(Come on, Brett, save yourself from this hell, get on with your plans!)
I’m the best I’ve ever seen at being me.. not a tremendous amount of demand for that, unfortunately. For everything else, I settle for competent, caring, and reliable. As that’s a hell of lot more than many offer, I do all right.
I hate to do this, but I have to disagree with you here Naomi. What about striving for excellence in contentment, or being serious about being casual?
You don’t have to be Einstein to strive for excellence. We’re freelancers, so we _might_ be the person who helps the next Einstein do his thing. Every client doesn’t need a masterpiece, but we might be thwarting the world next great whatever by taking shitty pictures of apples.
On an aside, I won’t be commenting as ‘Michael’ any longer. You already have one of those and I can guarantee my last name is way cooler than his.
Hi Naomi - that is so true. And some of the geniuses who did strive for excellence died penniless. As nice as it sounds, being famous after you’ve died, I’d much rather be able to afford to live while I was alive.
Hee, if everybody was Einstein, then being Einstein would _be_ average.
However, the world can not run on the efforts of fine physicists alone, and we’d all be in a relative trouble.
Thank you for your timing! That’s what I needed to hear _right now_.
“They can afford Better Than They Could Do Themselves. This means they can afford you.”
My (former) boss is a much much better groomer than I am. As I wait for the new house to be finished so I’ll have a place to start my at-home business, instead of just reading the net in the same room with my 95 year old father, I worry that all my potential clients will go away dissatisfied looking for better groomers, even though I know from the groomers’ mailing list that it’s not so. I’m going to post Better Than They Could Do Themselves on the wall somewhere.
What a great post, Naomi. I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for pointing out Lea’s post, too. Yet another blog to add to my reader!!
I’ve been torn by this subject many, many times. I feel relatively content with my life right now, but I also feel like I could do more. I just don’t know if the fact that i”m not doing more is because I’m truly content or just a lazy ass. Perhaps contentment is an excuse to give up.
For the record, I had to do a Wikipedia search on Adam Smith. Turns out, he’s kind of a big deal.
Naomi - I think you can count yourself above “average” :-) Thanks for loving me, my article and my blog!
I have to say that when I read a couple of the comments on the post over at FSw I laughed - it’s funny how some people (mis)read things and I think it shows a lot about the frame of mind of the person at the time of reading/commenting. Sometimes I wonder if people deliberately get the *wrong* impression so they can be belligerent in the comments ;-)
I wrote the post as a counter to some of the more “here’s how you can be a rockstar/high profile blah blah blah” - I don’t think that everyone wants to be that and to assume otherwise is to ignore the contributions of those who do things more quietly and yet just as effectively as the high profilers.
I dunno, I’m divided on it. On one hand, I think it’s pointless to be eternally beating yourself up for not being someone you’ll never be, but on the other hand, I think life is boring if you don’t keep pushing yourself to be better. I guess it’s just a personal preference. I like trying to push my limits, but if you’re content just being good enough, that’s cool too.
I think the trick to continually trying to make yourself better is making sure to take time to recognize and appreciate what you’ve accomplished already and being realistic about your expectations of yourself. If you don’t do that, you’ll always feel unsatisfied.
I dunno… being better than average ain’t all that hard, really.
BUT… when people talk about better, they’re usually talking about talent or skill. That’s not what wins. What wins is guts and reliability.
Talented + flaky = no work.
Average talent + rock solid reliability + guts to go for the business = work aplenty.
Talented + rock solid reliability + guts to go for the business = rockstar.
@ Mr. Polite - (Love the new name, by the way) You’re right. Shitty pictures of apples are shitty pictures of apples. Nice pictures are nice pictures. Taking three hours to perfect what should be a half hour job is a one-way ticket to both bankruptcy and insanity. I agree about the shitty pictures, though. No-one is likely to be very content when the only thing they’re consistent at is getting fired.
@ CatherineL - I’m with you on the not-starving as a life goal. Famous is fantastic, and definitely on my list of to-dos. But some tasty bean soup is handy to have in the meantime.
@ Lynoure - Relative! I love it! And welcome to IttyBiz — it’s great to have you.
@ Mary Anne - If I had a dog, and God help the dog I’d have, the fact that you even WOULD groom it would be better than I could do myself. When I was looking for a new babysitter lately (and we’re talking very casual here) my main criteria was that they had to be upright. Speaking English was frankly optional. She doesn’t need to teach him Latin, for heaven’s sake. She just needs to be present and alert.
@ Rachelle - Thanks! Yes, Lea’s stuff is definitely worth a read. Definitely not the scary comments you’ll see at FSW.
@ Dave - I had to look him up too. I wasn’t even sure I had the right dude. I turned to Jamie, “Do you know who Adam Smith is?” “The economist?” he asks, without missing a beat. I’m like, uh… I guess?
@ Lea - Thanks, sweetie! It’s funny at FSW - I was reading one of Skellie’s posts and people were going nutso. I don’t get it. Even if I think the writer is a stark, raving lunatic, I just have better things to do with my time than talk shit about them in the comments section. I’d rather talk shit here and get page views for my efforts. :-)
@ some other Naomi - You raise a good point with the boredom thing - I know I certainly experience that, too. I think in some capacities, even if you run your own business, it’s just a job. When I’m working on my novel (she says, with no novel actually being worked on) I want to bust ass. But if I’m writing somebody’s About Me page for them, I’m just not going to put my own blood into it, you know? For me, anyway, I just don’t have the energy to pour everything I have into writing a keyword article. A lot of people would say I should be spending the time on the novel, and they’re probably right, but right now I’m content to be lazy. :-)
@ Michael Martine - Yes. Exactly. Let’s just pretend I said that, shall we?
Haha, thanks Naomi for the link - My website was blank as I was changing my hosts at that time and was working a few kinks out but http://justcreativedesign.com is now online again :)
And it is true, not everyone needs masterpieces.
Here’s something interesting:
Have you ever looked down at the bottom of http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/ittybiz.com and expanded the list of your rank in other countries?
It seems that IttyBiz is extremely popular in Eritrea (yeah, I had to look it up too), having a traffic rank of 402.
You don’t do so well in Moldova (41,684) and apparently the Belgium’s don’t care for you much.. that’s OK, France doesn’t care much for my site; you have to take the good with the bad: I do VERY well in Moldova :-)
Don’t you think you should do something special for the Eritreans?
[...] services as a 5. After all, why would someone pay for a freaking 5 when they can get a 10? Well, as Naomi Dunford so eloquently pointed out, there’s a huge-a$$ market in the 0 to 4 range. Excellence is [...]
Well done article! I came over here at the suggestion of Christine O’Kelly who made a mention of this article in one of her comments at Self Made Chick.
I smile, laughed and giggled through this article because it was totally revelant and on target. Some of us are striving to be the next Jesus when really we’ll be just fine being ourselves. I think what you wanted to say but didn’t was: be authentic. Just be yourself man. That’s what you were trying to say, right?
For instance, I know I’m not Winston Churchill orator nor do I want to sound like former President Clinton (who I have been told is an excellent speaker). All I need to know is that being genuine and transparent is enough to win over just about any audience I speak to. Even hard core blue collar workers in some of my audiences have ‘woken up’ and responded to me because of my willingness to be authentic.
Right on - I loved your article!! Isn’t that something - all these success articles, speeches, books are telling us that we have to be the next Jesus or something thereof in order to be deemed “successful.” What a hoot!
[...] will never be perfect. They will never be complete. But they are good enough. The time is now. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers [...]
[...] When Fine Is Plenty Naomi Dunford rips the cult of “excellence” to shreds, and explains why sometimes being “fine” or “average” is good enough. [...]