In a galaxy far far away in a distant time before blogging, most websites spoke in the third person. This was a time before web standards and common sense where rotating gifs ruled the ways helped along by hit counters. Then something strange happened and the web became personalised. More and more people began to drop the royal we and opt for the personal touch.
In this personal web time we appear to be firmly in the middle of, there are many ways you can be yourself and even someone else. That is part of it all. What I want to consider is also about the whether of is it wrong to just admit you are a solitary designer rather than making up some fake portfolio company? Why when freelancers are known about as single entities and infact lots are credited for exactly that, is there still a need to royal we everything and hide behind the illusion? Why in these personal web times is it wrong to just be yourself with regards to your work when you can be honest to the point of boredom about what you ate for lunch on your blog?
My own belief is made firm by a recent advert I noticed on UK TV this christmas. It basically was for a technology company promoting business solutions for freelancers and single employee business. It had a man pretending to be everything from receptionist through to director for the poor client. I can’t help thinking that this is what you are doing if you pretend you are more than one. After all unless you have a range of hats, wigs and prostetics surely the client is kind of going to notice? That is unless you possibly have a nice line in cloning machines and a time machine along with being able to convince the client the company is run by a large family of look-alike siblings.
When it comes down to it we all make preconceptions online about the bloggers, designers and everyone else we meet, there is also a lot of people you interact with that probably you will never meet. Maybe just being true to yourself is key here? Being true to yourself is also being true to the clients and just admitting you are a lone wolf. Surely that is better for everyone and I can’t believe that you would loose a worthwhile contract just for admitting you work alone – I know I never have (maybe I am just lucky but don’t think so).
I have in fact lost a client before when I used to use the pretenses of a larger firm. In that situation I handled the business and a lot of the work, but enlisted the help of other freelancers to finalize projects. After losing that client I’ve gone the true route of just being honest as to being a solo worker. Haven’t done it long enough to notice whether it’s better or worse though.
Ultimately it is about being true to yourself. I think the case you stated illustrates that often clients are a little more savy than you can think. Time will of course tell whether it is better.