When people ask me to deliver a campaign or some other piece of work fast but complain at the fee, it always reminds me of this anecdotal story about Picasso.
Once a man of considerable means wanted a portrait of himself, so he approached Picasso. The master agreed and said it will cost a million dollars and asked the gentleman to come by his studio on a certain date. The wealthy gentleman went to the studio on the appointed day, took his seat and posed.
Picasso took his brush, took a look at the model, and after a few swift, deft strokes on the canvas, handed over the portrait in minutes.
Indignant and perplexed, the wealthy man said ‘You took a million dollars for this? You barely took five minutes!”
To which Picasso said calmly, “I know how much I charged. It’s not for the five minutes I took, it’s for the 25 years it took me to learn how to do it in five minutes.”
Which perfectly illustrates my point: speed comes with experience, experience comes with time, and that costs money. Which is why seasoned professionals tend to charge higher. It goes with the territory. Because they can deliver quality work in a much shorter time, which otherwise would take not only more time but more money as well. If you want to save time and money, you know who to hire.
