the python client... beware.
The Python Client... Beware.
Today I was in a discussion with a very close Revolutionist, Hope Allen. We were tossing ideas back and forth about freelance work (usually the type of work that Revolutionaries love...) and the issue of client management, more specifically, the gap between the "commission" and "output" was where we spent most of our time. This discussion is one that Revolutionaries, Artist have often OR maybe I should say "the conversation is tossed around a lot". By any means, the conversation led us to talking about what I like to call "Python Clients". NOW before I talk about this, I want to make it clear that a Python Client does not become a python all by themselves. It's USUALLY the fault of the Artist, so I thought I should write this blog post to lessen the chances of it happening to you. The Artist.
What is a "Python Client"?
I totally made this up, BUT a Python Client is a client that has a VERY tight budget but a long list of demands. They are usually "friends" OR "family" OR people that we have put at a higher position on the "totem pole" because they are "cool" or "nice", OR perhaps we grew up with them... Point is, they have managed to gain a "soft spot" with you. Because of the unique relationship that you and the Python Client may have, you find yourself extending to them a discount or some grace as it pertains to their budget. AND though you know this is a BIG business "no no" you do it anyway... Well this is where it CAN get crazy. I say CAN because it does NOT always end up this way... BUT it can...
You KNOW the list of demands is far outside of the level of commission that you have charged, yet you still go with it...
More times than not, when you discount your art, you are setting yourself up for a python situation. A BIG part of the problem rest with the list of demands. You KNOW the list of demands is far outside of the level of commission that you have charged, yet you still go with it, and when the commission runs out, and the demands keep coming, you quickly start to feel the squeeze of the python. This "squeezing" takes you from doing art, to just "doing" and it's the "just doing" that eats away at your passion and it's the death of your passion that ultimately starts to kill you.
This is TRAGIC at the least, and dismal at best...
I have had many friends who were amazing Revolutionaries, mind blowing Artist with the capacity to produce amazing works just QUIT because the income they were making was NOT adding up to all of the demands that they were having put on them. This is TRAGIC at the least, and dismal at best... The key is leveraging the commission vs the demands while finding balance in the heightened state of the relationship, and sometimes the solution boils down to saying one word...
No.
My coach and colleague, Coach Charrise McCrorey is a master at saying no. In-fact she had me execute a week of saying "no" 50% more than I said yes to potential projects. If the project did not fit my fee structure, and more importantly, the style of how I executed my art, I had to say "no" to the opportunity. EVEN when my emotions would kick on, and my desire to see my friends go to the next level started to leak in, I had still had to say "no". This may sound selfish at first glance, BUT I am willing to bet you, that if YOU are not executing your artistry on behalf of those who may get a little "shifted" at the idea that you would not discount your art OR break your rules, they are going to find someone who WILL discount and break rules. Saying no 50% more than I said yes (which is something I still do...) bought me to a point where I was...
COMPLETELY LIBERATED.
The second solution is rooted into charging fairly for your art. If your fee is 120.00 an hour, it's not 60.00 an hour, it's not even 75.00 an hour... It's 120.00. Period. By making a deal with your art, that you will not sell it short, and you make it BIBLE that you live up to THAT covenant, that DEAL, then the deals that you make outside of THAT relationship will be healthy.
"The FIRST relationship that you have to be willing to die for, when it comes to your art, is the relationship that you make with your art as it pertains to how you conduct trade with it..."
Closing Thought...
Python Clients can ONLY be pythons when you give them the power to be. Always be willing to look at the list of demands that the client presents and charge fairly. If the client does NOT have the budget to acquire your art, you owe it to your art not to sell it short. You have a relationship with your art that you have to maintain. If you don't... You may find the passion that you are your art shares dwindling away. The first relationship that you have to be willing to die for, as it pertains to your art, is the relationship that you make with your art as it pertains to how you conduct trade with.


