Thread by @patio11

I feel like I’m closer to the businessman end of the spectrum then the creative end of the spectrum, but since I talk to a lot of folks who are in business but have a self-conception of being artists:

My consultancy was really good, and closed one pitch out of four.

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by @veschwab view original on Twitter

I sympathize with the deep seated desire to avoid having one’s ego on the line with every deal. The way to avoid this is not closing 100% of deals. That will not happen; you would not want it to happen anyway.

When you’re in business — and if your job includes pitching people then you’re in business — you’re running a portfolio strategy. Some conversations, some pitches, some signed contracts will not turn into work that is delivered and paid.

Price this in, literally and figuratively

You don’t have to love being told no, but you should probably calibrate your expectations such that you learn to love exploratory coffees / Skype calls even when they don’t lead to pitches, and learn to love pitches, and love contract negotiations.

These are part of the job.

If you love creating and don’t love selling your output, become an employee. You will be partially insulated from market pressures that way. There’s nothing wrong with being an employee.

But if you put out a shingle, eyes open on the consequences of that.

“Why do I want to get rejected?” Bah, artist talk. It’s not a rejection; it’s a close rate below 100%. You target a close rate substantially below 100% because you only want to do the best possible work for the best possible clients on the best possible terms at the best prices.

Tradeoffs abound:

You could always pitch clients in the same segment, at the same level of sophistication, asking for the usual engagement. If you do that, you're trading off certainty for constraining opportunities to grow practice / rate / etc.