Anyone else relate? If so, how do you handle it?
Right now I have an amazing job that I am excited about it. The job keeps growing, and is a big company with a large audience.
The creative part of the job is building smoothly. I have loads of ideas and have executed them well.
I'm deadline-oriented, and when a deadline isn't set in stone, I am good about giving myself deadlines in a professional environment. However, I have a big weakness in character about wishy-washy deadlines and clients, particularly if I have no idea what they want (and especially if I don't know if I'm getting paid in a timely manner). I've been working hard to eliminate this weakness, and a big part of that was saying, "No," to anything that isn't a good fit so I can dedicate my time and focus to jobs that I won't feel clunky or insecure about.
With illustrating a lot of people tell me the theme and content they hope for, and I get to run with it and hand in whatever I want at the deadline. (Usually, I had in a few choices a few days before deadline, then finesse their choice.) This is logo work. This is work that will be the face of a big company for many years.
I am not an art director. It is not my job to make final decisions about the visuals for companies without input and direction from someone representing the company. I can bring typefaces and colors to the table with my design ideas, but someone on the client's end has to give direction, or at least be a firm "yes and no" person. Someone needs to tell me which ideas I should develop (and how!), which I should nix, decide on colors, fonts, and make decisions. I'm not receiving leadership. A month in, I'm still handing in concepts, almost all of which are given a thumb's up.
It's pretty wishy-washy.... and I'm starting to slack off and spend my time elsewhere. :/ Bad sign. I'm the type to spend hours deeply focused on my work.
I don't know how to stay focused when my clients are like this. It is something I deeply dislike about myself. I miss my best client - a total Type A that told me, "Yes, NO, DEADLINE." and handed me money.
Just wondering if others who work freelance and on commission have this struggle, too.
EDIT:
After reading another thread, I think most of my problem with having no deadline and no input into the work from the client stems from the idea that the project is shifting from being about them, to about me. I can finish it quickly if it is about them. If it is about me, I keep going back and fixing it, and fixing it and working on it slowly. Bleh. I ended up losing a bit of money a few months ago because a client/friend gave me something to do "whatever / whenever". I ended up setting his birthday as my deadline, and gave it to him as a gift. Ultimately, this turned into a big, paid job, so it balances out, and he pays me for work often, so it was no big deal.