The other day, I was out to dinner with a couple of friends. Like me, they’re doing their best to build their careers. We were joking around about meeting up with new clients, and how we always try so hard to please them.

“It’s like, ‘Sure, I know how to do that thing! I’m totally not going to Google that when I get home!’” one friend joked.

I get the impulse to want to seem like you have it all together. If a potential customer asks if you know what something is, you want to say yes so that you don’t look stupid.

But I think there’s something to be said for being honest with your clients — and yourself — about what you’re capable of.

Jack of all trades, master of none …

There’s a reason I market myself as a “Writer, editor, and social media manager,” and not a “Writer, editor, social media manager, and whatever else you want me to do.”

Because I know how to do a lot of things that aren’t listed on my site. I’ve been known to make media lists (and pitch stories to those media outlets), create calendars, do some event management, and more.

But when it comes to what I’m really skilled at and passionate about, I was able to narrow it down to those three things.

Out of everything I do, these are my strengths as a freelancer. These are the things I can do with the most certainty on my own, while the other things I do I perform much better when I’m with a team. It doesn’t mean that I’m never going to do them for a client — it just means that I’m being honest about where I excel.

But oftentimes better than a master of one.

Did you know that there was a second part to that saying? I didn’t.

But I think it teaches an important lesson: that it’s fine to know your strengths, but that doesn’t mean that you can stick your head in the sand and refuse to learn anything else.

As a freelancer, I have to do a lot of things for myself. I can’t look at the billing process and say, “Not my department.” And even though I consider my niche to be business and brand marketing, I would never look at a fashion blog and say, “I won’t do that.” It’s my job to know a little bit of everything.

I also do my best to pick up skills that are useful. For example, I have a working knowledge of HTML and CSS. Also, I do my best to stay up to date on my client’s trends.

And when I don’t know how to do something, I either learn or figure out a way to get around it. A good example is graphic design. You’ll notice that all of my blogs have images with the titles formatted on them. On my own, I’d never be able to get them looking this nice. But I found a free site (Adobe Spark) that helps me make them look professional.

I may not be a jack (or a Jill?) of all trades. But that doesn’t mean I’m content with being a master of one, either. As a freelancer, it’s best to find a happy medium.