I had just picked up a gig doing video work for an ill-fated TV show. I remember I asked for $25/hour and was amazed that I had got it!  I remember the producer pulled out a calculator multiplied 25×40, held it up and said “We’ll pay you this a week.” Wow $1000 a week!

But even though this was a great gig. It definitely had an expiration date, so like a good freelancer I kept on prospecting and using my “Stacking” method I dug up some more work.
Flash forward one e-mail and two phone calls later….

Their office was on Wall Street. Which was weird because design shops aren’t normally on Wall Street. They had Freedom chairs and 23” Sony monitors. This was in 2003 when 23” Sony monitors cost around $2000. Freedom chairs cost around $3000. Not chump change.

Two gents opened the door. We quickly sit down and start chatting about the company and what they have going on, nothing too specific. We are talking and one of the “partners” is talking about flash sequencing and programming and he starts smoking a joint.

Now I’m no square. But I remember being amazed at what was going on. It was a harbinger for things to come, however I was not yet experienced enough to understand what was unfolding in front of me. However it was there, in plain sight.

I immediately started working, diving into a project. It was a weird project. It had no beginning, had no end. The art direction was all over the place. I was working more than 14 hours a day. I had to be at the TV studio at 8:00am and I would head over to the other office by 6 and work until midnight. It was hard work. It was hard because it was boring. For myself nothing is more crushing to my spirit than boring work. Can you sympathize?

For weeks I would constantly smell weed and liquor. Their stupid alienware laptops with the glowing eyes would stare at me during long hours.

“Make it cooler”, “Make it slicker”, “Make it more…" insert flailing arms around.

The art direction made no sense. The project was stalling. There was no talk of feedback from the client. They talked endlessly about themselves. How important their company was going to be. The clients they would have. It was as inspirational as it was egotistical.

The Clients.

The clients are what finally put it together for me. During my time there one of the “partners” talked a lot about how he flew back and forth to California as a freelancer. Out of curiosity I looked into it and it turned out to be his parents company…all of their clients were their parents company. Looking back I feel for these guys because they really did have a dream…

…but it was too late.

I came in one day and there was no more money to pay me. But they did pay me what I was owed.

And to their defense I wasn’t the greatest designer back then.
Not the greatest now. I had an ego, still do.

As I have grown as a creative I have looked back on this time quite often. It was my ascension period. Like a space shuttle taking off I was burning eighty percent of my fuel, just to get by. But I did get by. And I learned a valuable lesson…

I could waste your time and tell you all the benefits of being authentic. But I won’t. I will tell you that being unauthentic is useless. Everyone sees through it. Everyone at one time or another falls prey to it. Look at my old card :

I really wanted to be successful. I really wanted to be taking seriously. I really wanted to make a lot of money. I really wanted, wanted and wanted. I was desperate.

Finally I abandoned it. It was liberating. For so long I had been trying to prove myself, and when I realized I didn’t have to, the proof was there. It’s allowed me to grow, to become better, and also more importantly it has allowed me to set myself apart from the crowd.

Me : “After looking at your needs I made a timeline and looking at the hours times my rate you are looking at a projected cost of … insert very fair price here.?”

Client : “Actually I am prepared to offer you stock in my company, is that something you would be interested in?”

Me : “I apologize but that is not something I am interested in.”

We spoke back and for a few minutes on why it would not be feasible. I explained to him that my main motivation for working is monetary gain, and that I prefer to keep my investments separate from my billable hours. I have made this arguments to a few other clients, their responses…

Client : “You are missing a great opportunity”
“This can make you millions”
“You’re stupid”

I have heard every single one of these as a rebuttal. Literally someone once called me stupid. Well let’s divorce ourselves from emotion and actually look at this objectively.

Client : “I am prepared to offer you stock in my company, is that something you would be interested in?”

Me : “I apologize but that is not something I am interested in.”
Of course in my head it was more “Absolutely NOT!”

Please allow me to be clear. I am not saying that stock or equity are not viable options for payment. They are, but they should not be substitutions for payment. When I am offered “stock” but no cash as payment big red flags go up. I have taken this bait on more than one occasion. It has always led down a dark terrible road.

…but I digress. So a client offers you stock in their soon to be company. Let us ask “What does it take to legally offer a company as stock?”

Let’s take a peek & rebuttal as we go through this:

So let’s use some common sense and street smarts.

So a client wants to pay a lawyer to get you to work for stock? The company is willing to offer you 10% of their profits year after year? Say you have your own freelance company that makes a profit of 100k a year, are you willing to part with 10k every single year to have 1 website made?

I have been incorporated for 3 years I have had 3 websites so far.
Flip the scenario, is your client willing to give you rights as a stock holder? Will they open the books for you? Will they let you vote at a stock holder’s meeting?
C’mon. It just doesn’t make sense.
I’m not a business expert. But I know that very small businesses can make 100k a year. When a client comes up and starts talking about making 3-5 million a year, there is some serious change they are going to part with to get a website made. Because of the incongruity of the situation, this would lead me to believe either this person is a very bad at business, or they’re snakes in the grass.

It is our responsibility to ourselves, our creativity and our craft to see past such temporary & greedy gains. The solution that I have found that works for me, and allows me to pay my bills, invest in my retirement, pay my health insurance is to be paid with money.

Plain and simple.

Now again this doesn’t mean I am inflexible, or that I am not willing to help someone out. To be frank I am in this career because I love it, not for money. If that was the case I’d be on Wall Street.

Keep stackin your paper!