Years ago, while advising colleges on their design and web-development programs, I noticed something missing from the curriculum.

Students were learning how to design and build websites, but who was teaching them how to build a career?

I raised the concern that fewer creatives would spend 20 or 30 years working for the same company. Many would eventually freelance, change employers, launch studios or move between independent work and traditional employment.

They would need to know how to find work, not just produce it. That meant learning how to market themselves, build their personal brands, develop professional relationships and sell their services.

The educators immediately recognized the gap.

THE CAREER LADDER IS STARTING TO LOOK MORE LIKE A JUNGLE GYM

Creative careers rarely follow a straight path anymore. Employment, freelancing, consulting and running a studio can all become chapters in the same career.

Squarespace’s 2026 survey of more than 1,000 web professionals found that finding new clients was their biggest challenge, cited by 47% of respondents. Nearly a third also identified insufficient brand awareness as one of the main barriers to getting new work.

These are people working in an industry built around design, development, content and digital strategy. Yet finding enough opportunities to keep the business going remains a major challenge.

I put a related question to several experienced creatives:

Has being good at the work stopped being enough? What separates creatives who keep getting hired, referred and remembered from those whose work may be just as good?

Their answers went well beyond marketing.

FIRST, PEOPLE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND WHY YOU MATTER

Jack Baxter, Founder and Creative Director of Work in Practice, doesn’t think the work was ever enough on its own.

“Going beyond the work has always been crucial to excelling in the creative industry.”

He points to networking, self-promotion, education, passion and personality as factors that can carry considerable weight over a career.

But one of his strongest points is about how creatives communicate their abilities:

“It’s not just about how good the work is, or what skills and experience you have, but importantly, how you show it.”

A lot of talented people struggle with that.

They show everything. They lead with the project they’re proudest of rather than the project most relevant to the person looking at it. They assume a portfolio will somehow explain what role they played, what problem they solved, why the work succeeded and what they’d bring to the next engagement.

Jack’s advice is simple:

“Be strategic. Tailor the communication of your work.”

That isn’t empty personal-brand theatre. It’s relevance.

The client looking for a complex digital identity doesn’t need to admire every poster you’ve ever designed. The agency looking for a content partner shouldn’t have to reverse-engineer your capabilities from an eclectic portfolio.

People have limited time and attention. Making it easier for the right people to recognize your value is a professional skill in itself.

Jack also raises an interesting point as AI makes impressive one-off creative output easier to produce:

“In the age of AI anyone can get lucky, but time will reveal real talent applied consistently.”

A single beautiful piece may attract attention, but a body of strong work, applied intelligently over time, builds a reputation. And reputation has a considerably longer shelf life than the latest impressive portfolio piece.

THEN PEOPLE HAVE TO WANT TO WORK WITH YOU AGAIN

Iva Kezic, Graphic and Web Designer, takes the conversation in another direction.

“Being good at the work is the baseline. It gets you in the door, but it’s rarely what gets you remembered.”

Her focus is the client experience.

Iva puts considerable thought into onboarding: explaining how the project will unfold, what happens at each stage, where files and feedback live, and what the client needs to do next.

Many clients don’t work with designers every day. Some are commissioning a website, identity or campaign for the first time. They may not understand the process, the terminology or what’s expected of them.

Without clear communication, even a well-run project can feel unnecessarily complicated.

“When they know what’s coming next and everything is organized, they feel confident instead of confused.”

That confidence becomes part of the experience, even though it never appears in the portfolio. And when the project is over, clients remember more than the logo, website or campaign.

“It’s not only that the final product looked great; it’s that working with you was easy.”

Creative professionals spend enormous amounts of time improving what they deliver. Considerably fewer apply the same care to how the engagement feels while they’re delivering it.

Yet referrals are largely built on memories of the experience.

Did this person understand us? Did they make difficult decisions easier? Did they communicate clearly? Would I trust them again? Did I enjoy having them in the room?

A technically excellent project wrapped in a frustrating experience can become a weak referral story. Strong work paired with an excellent experience gives the client more reasons to bring your name up when the next opportunity arises.

THE BEST CREATIVES KNOW WHEN TO QUESTION THE BRIEF

Frauke Seewald, UX Strategist at Design for Outcome, questions something more fundamental: what do we actually mean by being good at the work?

A client may ask for a specific deliverable, but the deliverable isn’t necessarily the problem.

Frauke uses the example of someone asking for a painting for their living room. You could simply produce an excellent painting.

But what if the person’s actual goal is to create a particular atmosphere or communicate status?

Once you understand that underlying desire, the right answer might not be a painting at all.

“Looking beyond the task, asking big picture questions and really trying to find and understand the underlying desire, that creates value.”

Executing the brief proves you can perform the task. Questioning whether the task is the right one demonstrates something more valuable: an understanding of the outcome.

This becomes particularly interesting as AI makes creative production faster and more accessible.

Clients can already generate layouts, concepts, copy, images and prototypes that look remarkably close to finished solutions. But arriving with something that looks like an answer doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve identified the right problem.

A capable professional can recognize where the original assumptions are weak, what’s missing from the brief, or why a different approach might produce a better result.

The greater your contribution to those decisions, the less your value depends on producing a particular deliverable.

THERE ARE REALLY THREE DIFFERENT JOBS HERE

Looking across the three responses, I see three dimensions of professional value that often get lumped together under “being good.”

The work: Can you consistently deliver excellent results?

The positioning: Can the right people recognize your value and understand why they should hire you?

The experience and insight: Can you make the process easier, challenge assumptions and improve the outcome beyond what was originally requested?

That last dimension is particularly interesting because much of its value is invisible to anyone who wasn’t involved.

Nobody puts “removed uncertainty from every meeting” in a design portfolio. The polished case study rarely shows the email that reassured an anxious client or the conversation where a strategist identified the real problem and changed the direction of the entire project.

Yet those moments can have an enormous influence on who gets rehired and referred.

MAYBE THE MISSING SUBJECT WAS NEVER MARKETING

Looking back at those curriculum discussions, I’m not sure the missing subject was really marketing.

It was something broader: how to turn creative ability into a sustainable professional practice.

Marketing is certainly part of that, but so are judgment, communication, positioning, relationships, client experience and understanding how value is created beyond the deliverable.

The realities of freelancing make this particularly relevant. Fast Company and AIGA surveyed 1,273 freelance designers in 2026 and found that many had built experience and client contacts inside companies or agencies before striking out independently. Once freelancing, 64% said they weren’t looking for a salaried job.

The research also highlights challenges around finding clients, pricing and managing the business behind the creative work.

For many creatives, business development isn’t a temporary inconvenience until another employer comes along. It’s part of the career they’ve chosen.

Whether someone works independently or within an agency, the ability to communicate their value, build trust and understand what clients truly need can make the difference between simply completing projects and building a sustainable career.

SO, HAS BEING GOOD AT THE WORK STOPPED BEING ENOUGH?

The more I consider the question, the more I wonder whether being good was ever enough.

Exceptional work still matters enormously. But the ability to communicate its value, build trust, understand what clients really need and make the experience memorable can be just as influential in building a successful career.

The work gets you considered. The rest determines whether people choose you, remember you and recommend you.

Rick Sloboda is the founder of Webcopy+, helping businesses and agencies communicate their value through strategic website content.

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