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A freelancer raises his rate on a good week and drops it after three ignored proposals.
He calls it reading the market.
It isn't. He just never had a number.
I read a book last week called The Man of Zero. It's about spirituality, not business, and the author would probably wince at what I did with it. He describes "Zero" as being complete without needing the next thing to feel like enough.
Here's the version that applies to us: your value has to be set before anyone reacts to you.
Not discovered in a sales call. Not adjusted after a slow month. Decided, on a calm day, with nobody in the room.
Because if every interaction gets to reprice you, you don't have a rate. You don't have a brand. You have a mood.
And buyers can feel a mood. A rate that moves the second someone pushes reads as a rate that was never real. People don't value what's visibly negotiable. They value what holds.
This week's BRIGHT Method is about setting your zero. The freelancer version and the company version. Why Gap killed its new logo in six days, and why almost everyone took the wrong lesson from it.
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really interesting thought, thanks for sharing it =)
Amazing article
Thank you!
Amazing!
Happy Monday💕 great minds.
Cool bro
The network for creativity
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Funny how designers will travel the internet to "find inspiration" before they realise they just need to get off their laptop and take a walk
Very true. Or even have a nap and come back to it and see how inspiration flows effortlessly
I opened Contra today and found out that I made it into the top 10% of creatives 🎉🎉🎉
This is honestly insane
𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟖 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝟏,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗠𝗬 𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧:
💎 -1 follower, I’ll find them and make them follow me back hahaha 🤣
💎 Profile quality grew from 54% to 55%
𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜 𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗠𝗬 𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧:
✅ published 4 posts
✅ published 3 new projects in my portfolio
𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀: 95 / 1,000
𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁: 905 followers
Follow along if you’re curious to see whether it’s possible to grow on Contra from zero
🐐 + 💬 = ❤️
Congrats
Personal pet peeves
😬 Clients asking for logo design but requiring everything to be done natively in Figma
😬 Clients who reach out for brand or product design but only based on their AI generated images
😬 Asking for premium design for a premium luxury brand… and then negotiating the budget
What's yours?
Let's use this thread as a safe space.
Every single one of these gave me immediate flashbacks! 😂 Especially the luxury aesthetic on a discount budget.
Add this to the list: When they want 'viral short-form content' but refuse to let anyone talk on camera, show a product, or use trending pacing. What exactly are we working with here? 😭 Great thread!
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