Don't bury your best work in the detail

We all know you can’t have both quality and quantity. Yet so many of us still try.

We chase the perfect balance of doing more, offering more, proving more. We want our work to feel intentional, considered, and high quality. The result? A whole lot of burnout, and a lot less impact.

I’ve always been a perfectionist. I’ve also always been a talker. Put those two things together in a freelance business and what do you get? Excess.

Excess process. Excess slides. Excess explanations. Excess pressure.

When I started out, it didn’t feel excessive. It felt like “value.” I love detail and information and things to read into so doesn’t everyone? In news that shouldn’t have been shocking, they do not.

Take my SEO retainer service, for example. My whole goal with that offer is to simplify SEO for my clients. Helping them understand what the opportunity is, what I’m doing to support them, and how we’ll know it’s working.

In month three of one particular project, I sent over a fully comprehensive SEO performance update. Twenty carefully written, beautifully designed slides. Packed with insights, strategy breakdowns, month-on-month comparisons. I was proud of it.

Their reply?

“Thanks, I’ve scanned it and I think it shows we’re looking good! Is there anything I need to do or anything urgent I should know?”

In that moment, I realised I hadn’t helped them. I’d just added to their to-do list.

They didn’t need the process. They needed the point. They’d hired me to take the weight off their shoulders, not hand it back to them in a 20-slide deck.

It was the first time I’d properly acknowledged that quality and quantity are not best friends. In fact, they’re often at war with one another.

Perhaps born from my corporate background where whole packs were requested for everything, I used to think high-value meant lots of stuff. Strategy packs. Design proposals. How-to videos. Training decks. Post-launch reports. The more I gave, the more it justified the investment. Or so I thought.

But I’ve had to really step back and process this differently. If my clients are drowning in documents, is any of it actually useful? I’ve realised the hard way that there’s a big difference between delivering value and delivering volume.

Most of my clients don’t want to learn why their Google rankings improved. They want to know that they improved, and that they can trust me to keep it going.

Of course, some people do want the breakdown. Some like to be in the details, and that’s totally fine. But those people are the exception, not the rule. So my new approach? Make it shorter, and make it shorter again. Top line updates, with the key bits front and centre.

"Google impressions for [keyword] up 34% month-on-month." Done.

If someone wants the strategy behind it, I’ll gladly talk them through it. Honestly I love nothing more than talking people through my processes. But I won’t assume they want that. Just like IKEA can’t assume everyone will read the manual before they build their shelf. Or how lecturers know often their videos are watched on a 2x speed.

When I made this shift, something else happened too. My work got better. Because instead of pouring time into over-explaining, I poured it into creating. Instead of proofing 20-slide presentations, I used that time to test new ideas. To actually do the work, not just narrate it.

Less quantity. More focus. Higher quality.

There’s a quote I often see knocking about on Instagram that says "being busy is not the same as being productive."

Turns out, being generous with information is not the same as being helpful, either.

So if a client ever wants more? I am always up for a big chat. But mostly I’ll start with the good stuff and stop there. I'm no longer letting myself bury my best work in the detail.

Are you looking for that good stuff? Check out my services to see how I can help you.