How able are you to live up to your commitments?  Do you “forget” important meetings?  Are you “in a meeting” when customers call with questions?

Everyone, from time to time, bites off more than they can chew.  We commit to unreasonable deadlines or take on massive team projects solo.  Whatever the motivation, though, it is important to our brand to stick to our guns.  If you say you’ll do something, either do it, or ‘fess up early enough to get the help you need to complete it.

If you fail to live up to the expectations you set for yourself, horrible things happen to your brand.  In fact, a failure to deliver on key objectives could kill your brand altogether.  Missing a deadline forces coworkers, employers, and clients to constantly thing “will he really get done on time?” whenever you claim a completion date.  Having your customers doubt the quality of your work is a career ender — particularly in freelance consulting.

The majority of my clients at Jumping Duck Media are referral-based.  I depend on my good reputation in the market for work, so if I run into a project I think I might not finish, I absolutely have to let the client know so I can work out an alternative.  Failing to do so costs me at least a recommendation.  At the worst, it seeds negative opinion of my work in the market.

How much does your business (or job) depend on your reputation?  How much does your ability to fulfill your obligations affect your reputation?