Lesson Learned!

Research.   Research.   Research.

It's a simple and obvious concept but before you commit to something - especially a design or project with a firm deadline, RESEARCH.

This past weekend I took a simple job and made it a two day affair.  I knew the size and scope of the job that I committed to, this wasn't the oversight, it was the fact I missed my window of opportunity to make it "quick and easy" by accepting it past the hours of operation of the business I had to take it to without any backup plan.  The old adage of "putting all my eggs in one omelette" comes to mind, but that never really made much sense until now.  (I do know its actually basket, not omelette).

Here's a quick timeline outlining my "activites"  -

So after all the running around, the setup and design took less than an hour - with the manual bindery etc that was required to finish the job -  approximately 2 hours.  A two hour project from start to finish took closer to 11 hours of my time between Saturday and Sunday.

That's a good chunk of my "free time" because I didn't do my research or have a backup plan once my original idea was out the window.  Despite that, it's always important to look to the positives in any case, which is if I undertake this or a project similar again, to get the info/documents/files etc I need beforehand to make it a one hour project or if required take into account that extra hour or two to complete any additional manual processes without sweating the deadline.  I also now know what print shops do what and what limitations they have, and knowing that can save me some time in the future.

All things considered, this project was not worth my time in monetary terms but as a freelance lesson in doing my research, it was a goldmine - IF - I do not let this would-be "history" lesson repeat itself.

I do fancy myself a reasonably smart individual - to some extent - and would hope this lesson isn't lost on me, although there are also other things to consider here.  Mainly, the attitude of being a "Yes" man and the tendency to take on all projects no questions asked and just find a way to complete the job, whatever it takes.  With the resources I now have, which are considerably less now after not having an XGS site at my disposal, the second part of this lesson is to understand my strengths, weaknesses, and most importantly my limitations in terms of product delivery.  A key component when required to deliver  a physical product like posters, cards, cds or dvds - which may require an outside company or process that is out of my control and subject to workflow restrictions and business hours.  This is unlike simply creating a digital file which relies solely only on software and software knowledge as is the case with most of the jobs I have done.

For future jobs if I can have a solid confirmation of the resources I will need to access (maybe a backup plan or three if physical product delivery is required) and combine that with an honest assessment of what I am capable of delivering - I should be able to avoid a future opportunity of "easy" employment going awry, which may from time to time require me to turn down some jobs.  In such cases it's important to not look at this not as a failure, just as this past weekend was important in realizing the value of planning, but see it as a win - freeing up time and not taking on needless stress when a particular job may be too much to take on - as well as the opportunity to learn something useful when challenges do arise as they undoubtedly will.