the new list of nevers.
1. never severely undercharge for a project that demands an overabundance of time, energy and creative preparation to complete satisfactorily, if not brilliantly.
2. never accept a pro bono effort unless its unpaid time can be offset by a factor of two the paid time stemming from other projects. and never accept pro bono work when your favourite comfort food is Ramen.
3. never say never. unless you really mean never.
4. never take on new assignments during a bout of really bad clinical depression.
5. never forget what number five was for.
6. never start a project for a new client unless a basic, written contract is arranged and agreed to first.
7. never think that doing the right thing for civil rights will garner you respect in an employment background check. take it from joe mccarthy.
8. never believe naïvely that you could be the 21st century twenty-something feminist retake on the Peter Jennings story, getting to be adept, respected, valued and successful in your profession without a university degree behind you.
9. never be too rebellious when the check-and-balance system of this civilised society has a special lifetime, inescapable purgatory for the black of the black sheep.
10. never consistently put on a brave face when being called courageous simply garners unrequested sympathy, pity, awe and acknowledgement of gutsiness in truly character suicide-inducing circumstances.
11. never be afraid of charging what your skills and services are actually worth.
12. never underestimate a clinically sociopathic Yale alumnus who feigns geographical heritage, mispronounces everything as if it were a nervous tick and use that distraction to mastermind everything he hoped that no one in the adversary camp would notice until it was irreparably too, too late.
13. never stick your neck out when the guillotine is already halfway dropped.