Nothing brings a bigger smile to my face than when we hear someone say, “This should be a low lift.” It’s music to our ears, right up there with nails on a chalkboard.

Here’s the deal: you’ve got a business problem, and you need a solution. That’s why you’re hiring someone in the first place. But here’s where you make us twitch — you start with, “Hey, this should be super simple, just a low lift!”

Really? You sure about that?

“Low Lift,” You Say?

Maybe you think that creating an identity, rebranding your company, or planning a full-scale marketing campaign is like flipping a pancake. If only the creative process worked like your half-baked idea of breakfast.

I mean, do you tell your surgeon, “Hey doc, just a low lift today. Just take out a lung, nothing crazy.” Do you go to a Michelin-starred chef and say, “Whip me up a gourmet dish, but you know, low lift. Maybe just microwave it?”

But no, designers and marketers are magicians, aren’t they? Just wave your little mouse wand and—boom—you’ve got yourself an entire branding strategy that “shouldn’t take too much time.”

The Underworld’s Rule of Thumb

Here’s a little secret for you: if you have no clue how to do something yourself, you probably don’t get to decide how much “lift” is involved. That’s like us telling you how to arrange your business contracts. (We know. You don’t.)

You’re hiring a professional to solve a problem you have no expertise in, but please, continue to pretend you do. It’s hilarious.

Why It’s Not a “Low Lift”

You know what’s not a low lift? Thinking. And that goes into everything we do down here at Hellbeing. The brainstorming, analysis, ideation, data scraping, planning,  execution, and more. The long hours of trial and error that lead to something brilliant. But no, please, tell me how your web redesign should only take “like, an afternoon.”

A “low lift” is grabbing a coffee or throwing some paper in the trash. A “low lift” is hitting “reply all” on an email and pretending you actually contributed. A “low lift” is you saying, “Make it pop more” when asked for feedback. Actual design work? Marketing Strategy? Creative strategy? Crafting a brand that makes your business something people might actually care about? Not a low lift.

What You Really Mean

When you say “low lift,” what you really mean is, “I don’t want to pay you that much for this because I don’t understand the value of your work.” Which, okay, fine. But can we just be honest about it? We’re all adults here.

You’re looking for a shortcut, and who could blame you? We love shortcuts. But shortcuts in the our world usually lead to bad design, failed campaigns, and ideas that fall flatter than your ego. And when it doesn’t work out the way you thought it would, you’ll come crawling back with a fresh budget, wondering why the “low lift” didn’t deliver.

In Conclusion

So next time you’re considering hiring someone to help you with your business, your brand, or your marketing, do us a favor: skip the “low lift” nonsense. Understand that you’re asking for real work—work that requires talent, experience, and a hell of a lot of effort.

And if you don’t? Well, you might find yourself down in hell sooner than you think. But don’t worry—There’s Plenty of space in the eternal fire.