When people ask me what comes first when designing a project, I tell them it is as often about putting the budget first as putting the idea first.
I’ve been able to survive for so long by being as obsessive about staying under budget as I am about crafting a stunning concept. With every project, you have a certain budget, and your job is to find a concept you can do AMAZINGLY for that budget.
For instance, if you’re trying to get into a new medium, and you have no idea how it will go, then I am almost ALWAYS budget first.
Equally, if I’m trying to create a book I can sell for a certain price, my job is to figure out how to create an INCREDIBLE experience that fits within a certain budget.
Other times, I have a signature product where I want maximum impact, that’s in a core product field which I’ve had proven success on, and then I’m willing to invest a lot more into that idea, and allow myself to make something with a more ambitious scope and budget.
I’m almost always juggling projects on both ends of the spectrum at the same time.
Honestly, a big, maybe the biggest, part of being a professional is being able to say “Oh, you have X budget, then here’s something we can do that’s really cool for that price,” and then deliver on it.
That’s not just for clients, either. You have to be able to turn that back around on yourself as well. I’ve seen way too many people go broke because they punched outside their budget and it blew up in their face. I’m more cautious because I’m MOST concerned with living to fight another day. If you live to fight another day, you stay in the game and avoid being knocked out.
The life of a creative is littered with people who swung big and struck out hard.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t take your shots. Sometimes, you have a huge budget, and that’s great. I love those projects where I can spend big on advertising and marketing. But other times you have a tiny one, but your JOB is to figure out what you can deliver that is STUNNING for whatever budget you have to work with. For me, I like to have 2-3 big hitter projects at any one time, and a gaggle of smaller ones that I’m working on in the shadows for a modest budget.
But every project is designed to be an amazing experience at whatever budget level I’m working with. Too often, people try to fit their big idea into a small budget and end up with a jank project that doesn’t work. On the flip side, I’ve seen people spend millions on garbage. My job is the make every dollar I spend work for me, finding deals where I can, and spending when I can’t in order to produce the kind of experience that makes people go “wow” every single time.
My goal is to get a 10x ROI for every dollar spent. That might not mean I make $10 for every dollar. It might be to get respect, or acclaim, or something else which is equally as valuable in the long haul. When I have a small project, that means hoarding every nickel and dime, waiting until I find the right angle to strike. Usually, a project will sit for YEARS before I find a way to make it or have a way in that makes sense budgetarily.
It’s a lot easier to make a small project profitable if you think of it from a budget first standpoint. You might only make a few thousand dollars on a project, but if you can make it for a few hundred dollars, then it might make sense. I just did a Kickstarter which raised $3,400 from 170 backers, my lowest total since 2016, but I brought that project in for under $1,000, so I made a decent profit on it, whereas if it cost me $2,000+, then it wouldn’t have made sense at all.
I waited FIVE YEARS before I found a way to make that project work, but it was worth it in the end. Meanwhile, I’m willing to spend $10,000+ on our flagship project because it’s bringing in five figures every launch.
You can make something incredible with a tiny, or no budget, even. You can make something that feels like a million dollars with a pittance, but you have to know how to nip and tuck to hide the corners you cut.
And that is one of the biggest secrets of doing professional work. Not every project will work in every budget, but there is an amazing project to be made at every budget level.
Oh, and time is also part of any budget, too. I always factor the time it will take me to deliver when I’m thinking about the budget for any project. The last thing you want is a time-intensive project that sucks up all hours of your day but delivers no results.
It’s a boring answer, but it’s also the right one.
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