Burn Your Portfolio: Stuff they don’t teach you in design school, but should

91. “Etcetera” Has No Business in Your Business

Dictionary.com tells us that the word “etcetera” is used to stand for a number of unspecified things or persons. It can also refer to extras or sundries. In other words, you can use it to avoid being specific. Not a great idea for your business.

Any lawyer reading this will likely think, “Of course. You should never put “etc.” in your business documentation.” Unfortunately, most of us don’t have lawyers. My agency completed over 1,500 projects in our first ten years. I just conducted some research on past proposals and found the word “etc.” appeared in 80 percent of the proposals we had sent in our first five years! (We have since abandoned this bad habit.) Fortunately, we’ve never been stung by ...