You may have heard of this rule of thumb in business: “Good, Fast, Cheap. Pick Two.” It is as relevant for freelancers as it is for any other business.

As a freelancer, you can only be two of these things:

• Good and fast, but not cheap.
• Good and cheap, but not fast.
• Fast and cheap, but not good.

[Side Note: If you offer one, you're going to be out of business very shortly. If you offer three, you're going to be out of business very shortly. You offer two or you work for someone else. Those are the cold, hard facts].

As a freelancer, you are going to be two of those three factors. Here’s why this is great news:

Business plan: If you don’t have a business plan yet, sit down and pick the two favorite choices of those three factors. Congratulations, you’ve just created a business plan. The inclusion of two and the exclusion of one factor have made your work as a freelancer considerably easier.

Competitive advantage: Not only does this rule of thumb give you a basic business plan to build from, it also helps you to sort your competition. If you’ve been a freelancer longer than a month, you can probably name a handful of competitors who fall into each of those categories. For example, I get emails frequently from people who ask me to write something for them for less than I want to be paid. Since “cheap” isn’t one of my two factors (I’m good and I’m fast), I don’t feel bad about sending them somewhere else.

Marketing clarity: Once you have figured out what kind of good/fast/cheap combination you offer, marketing becomes so much easier: You can identify who your clients are and what kind of needs they have. A bootstrapped budget start-up from someone who has never started a business before and doesn’t want to quit their day-job is likely going to need the services of a completely different freelancer than someone who is a multi-millionaire serial entrepreneur who has made a career out of starting smart ecommerce websites. Knowing your good/fast/cheap combo helps you to know who to market to, where they will be looking for help, and what kinds of marketing messages they will respond to.

Effectiveness: I’ve also found that whatever you decide you want to be, you can remain competitive and get even more business when you work on being MORE of those two things. Cheap freelancers will always face pressure to be cheaper and should therefore find ways to lower their production costs. Fast freelancers will always face pressure to be faster and should therefore find ways to increase their speed. Good freelancers will always face pressure to be more skilled or knowledgeable in their field of study and therefore should commit to further study and skill enhancement.

“Good, Fast, Cheap. Pick two” is a clever, pithy saying. But it’s more than just a throwaway line. It can actually help freelancers to become more successful when they apply it to their business.