Pick Two!
Here's the truth: if you want all three — great, cheap, and fast — you're delusional.
Sometimes somebody in this field just needs to tell clients the truth, and the truth is we live in a McDonald's-drive-thru era. Everybody wants it great, wants it cheap, and wants it yesterday. Sometimes that gets you good food, and sometimes you find feathers in your chicken nuggets. But for a creative who's known for quality work, those three things simply cannot live at the same time.
The Request That Makes My Head Explode
You can't come to a creative like me and say, "Hey Gavin, we want an amazing video, we want it super cheap, but we still want you to use all your expensive equipment and all your fancy lighting — and we need it 24 to 48 hours after you wrap filming. Actually, are you free tomorrow? And it's still due in 48 hours." Great, cheap, and fast, all at once. That is literally impossible, and it makes my head want to explode.
You Get to Pick Two
Here's how it actually shakes out:
Great + cheap → it's going to be a slow process, and you can't complain about the wait, because you're not paying for speed.
Cheap + fast → that's iPhone quality. You're not paying much and you want it now, so I'm not spending real time on it.
Great + fast → that's expensive, because you're asking for a lot on a tight turnaround. That means late nights, long hours, and my personal life getting put on hold to hit both your deadline and your budget.
So Pick Two
That's not me being difficult — that's just the math of doing work worth paying for. Tell me which two matter most for your project and I'll deliver those two better than anybody. Whether it's video production or photography, across Wisconsin, Illinois, Hawaii, or wherever the work takes me, the honest conversation up front is what gets you something you're actually proud of.
