Why "I'm just like you!" is a mistake.

There’s a temptation for creatives to try really hard to fit in with their clients. It makes sense. Of course we want to fit in because we:

A. need some work and will do anything to bring it home

B. are nervous that if we look and act like our usual selves, we’ll be seen as unprofessional

Those are valid reasons. Everyone wants to fit in somehow (if you say you don’t, you’re either lying, a religious deity, or Alec Baldwin). It can make the work go smoother and it gives other people confidence, i.e.; “This girl is just like me. She’s okay. I like her work.”

It only becomes a problem when we assume what the other person wants us to be, and when we pretend to be something we’re not to meet that assumption.

I’ve seen this play out lots of times, and I’ve… yes… done it myself. I learned a few hard lessons here. Let me tell you a little story.

A Little Story

I used to work for one of the top litigation consulting firms in the U.S. I worked with attorneys to develop presentations for the courtroom. Shocker, right?

I know; it’s at least a galaxy away from the Sparky Firepants, Wacky Graphics Dude you’re used to. But that’s what I did. It was actually pretty interesting, because as an animator and designer, I got an amazing education in science, technology, real estate, employment issues, and intellectual property. One day I’m animating the intricate molecular structure of industrial plastics, the next I’m illustrating an overhead view of a property easement. Boring it was not.

The majority of design work was accomplished through phone calls and e-mails. Most of the time we had a designated consultant who would meet with the law firm about their needs.

No matter who went into a firm, it was a matter of course that we would dress like attorneys. Most of the time we wore suits, at the very least it was button-down shirt and J.C. Penney office-type pants. The idea was that since we were working with lawyers and working on Very Important Matters, we should look and act like our clients. It will make them think we’re as smart and capable as they are.

My bosses said this is the Right Thing. My experience says, “This is crazy, Dude.”

Over the past couple years of being an independent artist, one thing I’ve learned is that clients respond better to the person they hope they’re hiring. In my case, it’s Wacky Graphics Dude. It’s something that I sort of suspected when I was working with attorneys, but it’s very clear now. Let me give you a few examples.

Are you sure you’re not the accounting guy?

Once, as a designer, I met with an attorney to create his graphics. I went in with shirt/tie/shiny shoes and using that excellent bearing I picked up in the military, as directed by my boss. I said, “Hi, I’m the Graphic Designer.” He said, after squinting doubtfully past the reflection from my fancy shoes, “Really? Huh.”

The whole time I was at the firm, I felt itchy and weird. I think he picked up on it and never really trusted my work. Or, it sucked. For the purposes of this post, I’m going with the former.

Damn. I should have worn the muumuu.

We once had a client who was preparing a presentation to a Senatorial committee on… something. Whatever. It was very, very important. They needed our creative help, taking their boring Word document and formatting it to be more visually more effective in the designated venue. Translation: better chance of having a bored committee read it and think it was awesome.

As Director of Operations at the time, I brought with me our Director of Business Development and our Senior Graphic Designer (the best designer in the company). We all wore our best suits and pretended to be the People We Thought They Expected and Would Award the Job to. In other words, we tried to be just like them. And we were successful. We were just like them. Buttoned down, game-faced, serious about the very important task at hand. We arrived 10 minutes early, armed with our firm (but not too firm) handshakes, and prepared with our calculated, polite, businesslike, lawyer-approved speech.

As we sat in the conference room sipping water and diet Cokes, they told us we were just waiting for another consultant they had hired who was helping them with their copy and basic strategy. She was 15 minutes late.

This woman breezed in the door, plopped down in a chair, and heaved a sigh. She touched the lead partner’s arm. “Oh, Mark, you wouldn’t believe the morning I had…” She was about 50, was wearing one of those flowing muumuu things and had crazy orange hair. She was floppy. She had a binder stuffed with… stuff. She said whatever came into her head. My associates and I looked at each other, thinking the same thing: who is this crazy woman and how long before she gets thrown out?

The attorneys? They hung on her every word. They jotted down every suggestion she made. When she asked for a plate of fruit, an intern jumped up to find her one (Fruit! Stat!). They laughed at her odd statements about her pet bird and made small talk with her. They clearly thought she was going to save them.

When it was our turn to give suggestions and talk about our approach, they nodded gravely. Mmm-hmmm. Yes. Okay. Then, the kicker.

They turned to Muumu Woman and asked her what she thought about all that. Woa. What just happened? They’re asking Crazy Muumuu Lady about what we said?

Turns out she had to leave early (a bird thing). After she left, the lead partner said, “She’s kind of odd, but she knows what she’s talking about. We couldn’t do this without her.”

He didn’t think that about us. He thought we did an okay job, but we were easily replaced.

As if I needed another lesson in this…

We had a Graphic Designer working out of one of our law firms. I was responsible for making sure production went smoothly on site, so I checked in with her frequently. She was a great designer and I really liked her as a person.

However, when I saw some of the e-mails that went between her and the lead associate on the case, I shuddered. They were a little too casual, I thought. Sometimes they even had an argumentative tone when she didn’t agree with a suggestion. I panicked.

I called the firm and spoke to the associate, “Just checking in.” I tried to sound casual when I asked, “So… how is Sally [not her real name] working out?”

“Are you kidding? She’s amazing. We love her. Please don’t ever replace her, she’s so helpful. She really knows what she’s talking about.”

After that I shut up  and let Sally do her thing. When I look back, I can’t believe that I was even concerned.

Does this mean I can be late, a slob, argue with people and still get work? Awesome!

That’s not where I was going with this, but in some circles, I think that actually might be possible, yes.

You need to understand that your client is looking to hire someone at least slightly different from themselves to help them out.

If you look at the stories I gave as examples, you can see this clearly. The attorneys didn’t want to hire other attorney-like people to make their graphics better. They already had that. What they wanted was a bunch of “Designey People” to take on their presentation and make it look cool. That’s why Muumuu Lady was so awesome to the team. They wanted someone wildly creative and by god, they got her.

Does this constitute a stereotype? Sure, some people look down on artists as “Flaky,” or not as educated as they are. Do you care? You shouldn’t, because you can do something they can’t, and some people will pay big money to get it.

This sounds so basic, yet I know so many creatives who try to win jobs by becoming their client. You don’t have to be a hippie woo-woo personal life coach to create a web site for one. In fact, it’s probably even better if you’re not, because you’ll be able to advise your client in areas he couldn’t understand without you being who you are.

When you are who you are and you find a good client match, you don’t have to be anything else but you. They’ll expect it and if they don’t get it, they’ll be confused and sometimes even irritated.

You’re going to lose some clients. You get used to that after a while. And, it feels okay when it happens. I recently turned down a sizable project because I just didn’t feel like I was the right person to work with this client. I could have made an effort to appear like the right person and I probably could have faked my way in, but I knew that it was going to frustrate us both later on. I let it go. She was also grateful that I was honest with her and we went our separate ways on good terms (I also offered to help her find someone better suited to the project, which helped). At the time I really could have used the money to meet my quarterly revenue goal, but I met it anyway with a different project (Kreative Karma?).

Creative doesn’t necessarily mean wacky

So my examples are all about being the Wacky Graphics Dude. Fine. It’s not always the case. In fact, I’ve worked with another designer who isn’t wacky at all. She’s very businesslike and buttoned down. She calls on me to create wacky illustrations sometimes. You know what? Her clients think she’s awesome. She’s exactly the thing they want. I’m exactly the thing that scares them. So she works with the client and I’m the invisible wacky graphics dude. It works out for everyone and everyone gets to be who they are.

Do you get that?

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