You Get What you Pay For

We all know the saying, and we all know the truth behind it. Yet we’re always looking for the cheapest price and the greatest sale! Well sometimes that comes at a price. A big one.

A few weeks ago, one of my clients reached out to me. This is her story:

She started her company two years ago. She had a volunteer offer to design her original logo. He did it completely free of a charge as a favor to her and the awesome work she does for the community. She told him which two colors she liked, and he did the rest!

A few weeks ago, she learned that her logo was trademarked…. by another company…. on the other side of the country…. in the exact same industry.

*Facepalm.*

She was given one week to get a new logo designed, approved, and implemented into her business to avoid legal action. Luckily, she was able to to get an extension of three weeks because she had been an unknowing party in the logo theft.

She had to drop everything and do a complete rebrand. This means new logo, new business cards, update the website, update all print documents (like letterheads, postcards, and flyers). She had to update her social media pages, change the graphics, and so on. Imagine for a moment she had a brick and mortar location with company vehicles. The signage on the vehicles would need to be updated, she would have had to redo her outdoor and indoor signage. The list could go on and on!

Now put yourself in her position. Business is booming and moving right along and then BAM! First of all, do you have the time to do all of this? Secondly, just think for a second about the astronomical COST involved in all of this!

If something is cheap, ask why. Maybe it’s the sale of the century. Maybe you just found a steal! And that’s totally okay! But maybe you just agreed to let someone else plagiarize your logo design from another company. Maybe the person you’re hiring isn’t actually qualified to do the job.

Let this be a cautionary tale to us all. We truly do get what we pay for.