Well Yeah, Focusing Will Seem Unproductive When You're Desperate: When Founders Cut Corners.
- Writer for DDI on Medium

- Jan 26, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 27, 2025

Desperation, like all things, has characteristics: It's impatient, lacks depth, and often leaves its host at the mercy of bad decisions.
The moment ‘needing to make money now’ becomes the impetus behind how you want people to perceive your services, the conversation stops being about the needs of your ideal client and starts being about your needs only. Don't be fooled, see the self-centeredness in all its gore.
It's common when you’re in the ‘it’s all about me’ frame of mind, to create a ‘fig-leaf’ for your conscience because you know you’re choosing to fill your pockets over being of service to someone who decided to trust you. So it's only natural to tell yourself things like, "The move is necessary for the longevity of my business," when in reality, it’s necessary for your desperation.
Well, guess what, when you cut corners in any shape or form of your branding, it becomes the measuring stick for others to judge how deep the care you claim to have for your clients goes. Remember, branding is also an experience. That’s why questions like “what do you stand for?” exist. But many local founders, despite claiming to care about their clients, drop the ball on the experience they curate for them on account of being more focused on taking their money.
If we met for the first time and all I did was talk about myself without considering enquiring about your needs, wouldn’t you determine I’m pretty self-centered?
That’s precisely how a founder cutting corners appears when they ...
Another thing that shows you’re cutting corners is …
USING ULGY AND/ OR POORLY SHAPED IMAGES
When you’ve done the legwork to help people expect a certain level of visual quality from your work, it’s your job to deliver on that promise all the time.
When I first started using social media to market my services, I didn’t know about the standard sizes for images. Thankfully, I learned quickly, and it’s now one of many things I always consider before creating content for any platform I’m using.
What about you?
Are your images yours? Is it a priority that your images be sized according to the appropriate platform’s guidelines? Do you consider the lighting, composition, atmosphere, and posting sequence of your shots? What about the specific messages your images punctuate? Do you have a message? How about the specific fonts and colors your visual brand typically uses? Are your thoughts in either of these places, or did you make yourself believe no one cares about those things?
I am a visual brand strategist and owner of The BrandTUB **Put the service you provide online with The One-Page Project™ **Do the research on your own with The One-Page Workbook™ **Sign up to receive these weekly articles in your inbox if you’re not quite ready to work with me yet.



