I always rolled my eyes at people posting about how saying no to bad clients was the secret to success. Like sure, easy for you to say when you have a full pipeline. Last week a client moved a deadline from Tuesday to Friday morning at 9pm Monday night. I was already 30 hours deep and they wanted a full rewrite. I said no. I actually said no. Then I emailed my other client asking to push their project by 2 days and they said yes. First time I ever tried it and I didn't lose anything. Has anyone else had saying no actually work out better than they expected?
Had a client last month say my samples looked 'too clean' and asked for rougher drafts. Half of me thinks they're right - shows the process. Other half says clients should judge finished work not scraps. What do you all think? Does showing your messy work actually help land gigs?