Effectivity is More Important Than Creativity
Obviously enough, freelancers do work for clients. What is less obvious for many of us is that we have objectives to accomplish.
In a recent article, Butch Dalisay highlights the reality of the writing industry:
It’s for this reason that I designed, and have occasionally taught, a “Special Topics” course called CW 198: Professional Writing, which teaches CW majors and anyone else interested some basic skills and attitudes they’ll need to fend for themselves in a world “hostile to romance,” as James Joyce put it, demanding not ballads but brochures, not sonnets but speeches, and not aubades but AVP scripts. I also teach these undergraduates basic editing skills—rewriting, proofreading, press production processes—that should serve them in good stead whether they’re working by themselves or in an organization.
A successful writer like Mr. Dalisay (you can read about his various accolades here) knows that the surefire formula to success is not being creative per se, but creatively fulfilling the requirements of a project.
When I was an intern at a local ad agency, I was initially overwhelmed by the list of requirements an ad project usually involves. Somewhere along the way however, I realized that limits are actually the secret to creativity. When you need to fit your output to a certain criteria, you’re forced to explore new possibilities and approaches to fulfill them, especially if the requirements are seemingly unreasonable at first.
Of course, there are certain limitations to accommodating limits. Ironically, your client’s demands may go against what’s needed to make their project effective. In these situations, you may have to hold your ground and insist on certain workarounds. But that’s the point: aside from focusing on creativity, you must also keep in mind the effectivity of your project. Yes, what you product may be art, but if it doesn’t do anything useful, it’s still a waste. You’ll waste both your client’s on your own time, creating useless output.
In short, don’t focus solely on being creative, but on being effective. Along the way, you will be creative.
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POSTED IN: Freelance Writing, Living as a Freelancer, Ways to Work Faster
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