I think, as creative professionals, one of the things we do to achieve business success is continue to improve our craft. We work day in and out to gain new skills and experience. As we do that, the one thing that continues to improve is our standards. It is primarily our standards that separate us. We believe that the key to creative success as well as business success is the distance between our professional standards and our clients’ expectations.
When I go to produce a video for a brand or non-profit or for a wedding, what I’m aiming for is perfection. I don’t mean that I want it to be great or even acceptable. I want it to be perfect! Obviously that’s impossible, but I will fall over myself to ensure that we get as close to perfect as humanly possible. What that means for our clients is that as long as I maintain my standards, I will almost always surpass my client’s expectations. The reason we go so far overboard in our pursuit of perfection is not always to please the client, most of the time it’s in an attempt to please ourselves. That is a fantastic side effect, but I’m always trying to please that part of me that wants it to be perfect.
So what does this mean? It means that what you should be asking yourself when you hire a creative business is how high are their standards for success. A creative business can’t always be measured by what they are, but sometimes they are measured by what they aspire to be.