Do you remember the Jim Carrey movie where the underpinning idea is that people should say “Yes” to experiences more often? Darn funny movie, but in real life what happens is that people say “Yes” to things that limit their growth and stunt their development far more than saying "No" does.
To look at it another way, in my experience, your business is more defined by what you say "No" to than what you say "Yes" to. When you start off in business and hang your first sign on the door, you grab any client or customer with a pulse, no matter whether they have money to pay for you, or not. You say “Yes” to everyone.
You find that over time some of your clients become your friends, so you start charging “mates rates” or not at all. Pretty soon you have a full diary, and yet you are just eking out a financial existence with bills only just scraping in (if at all).
Clients start to ask you things such as “Look I know that you don’t normally do XYZ, but I am really stuck/ can't afford someone else/ don’t know how to do it. Can you help me?” Being needed and helping people in need is a common core value, so you take a deep breath and say, “Sure, just this once”. All of a sudden, you find yourself doing things way outside your normal scope - fixing computers, sitting on selection panels or simply helping out around the business.
When you stop and look back, you discover you have said "Yes" to particular clients, "Yes" to certain fees (or no fees) and "Yes" to working outside your sphere of expertise. You are suddenly doing and working with people that you would rather not, doing jobs you dislike for money that doesn’t exist.
At this point many business owners start to come unhinged. Their job no longer has the sparkle of promise that it once had. Each day is the same old routine and they have lost sight of why they went into business in the first place.
One of the most important things that any business owner can do is regularly take a day out of the business to stop, breathe and reflect. They need to get clarity around their business before saying “Yes” to one more thing.
So how do you gain clarity? By going back and answering the questions:
Why am I in business?
What difference do I want to make to people?
What do I like doing?
Who do I want to work with?
How much value do I add to people?
What image do my words and marketing create in people’s minds? Am I living my brand or have I muddied my brand?
Some people struggle with answering positive questions, and if you are one of these, then answer the questions (and then flip them to the total opposite to find out what you would prefer).
What do I hate doing?
What sort of people don’t I like working with?
Once you have these answers, then do a client audit. Go through your list of clients to work out which ones you love to work with doing work you enjoy that is financially rewarding. These are your new "A class" clients and you need to cherish them as if they are rare jewels.
The clients for whom your stomach knots when they call, who don’t pay on time (if at all), or who treat you with little or no respect - these are the clients you need to fire. Firing a client can seem confronting, yet by getting them off your books you create space for more "A class" clients to appear.
Firing a client can be challenging and it will bring up every fear you have about financial stability, your values & what sort of person you are. It is likely you will find every excuse under the sun not to have the hard conversation. With hard conversations, the only way through is in the words of Shakespeare, to "screw your courage to the sticking place" and get on with it. Delaying the conversation only prolongs the agony and denies you potentially better clients and more job satisfaction.
Clients who you love, but for whom you have stretched your boundaries, you need to work out what boundaries you now want, and then have the discussion with them about the change. Don’t leave them hanging though. Help them find someone else who can perform those roles for them. And if you are tempted to leap in and rescue them the next time they ask you to do something left field, pop a packet of Lifesavers in your pocket or by your phone to remind you that you are “an off duty lifesaver”. Remember, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Finally, as potential clients appear, take a moment to check in with your gut before you accept them as a client. If you have a niggle of dread, then trust your instinct and politely say "No". If the project they need help with is one you dislike doing, then say "No". If they are in an industry that you don’t like working with, then say "No". And if they want to haggle your fees down then a) you haven’t shown how you will add value to them and b) if you have demonstrated your value and they still want to haggle, then say "No". Your time and skills are too precious to invest with people only interested in price.
So, with apologies to Jim Carrey - it is what you say “No” to that defines you and your business, far more than what you say “Yes” to. Say “No” today!
While we are on the topic of saying no, businesses need to think through their processes of how employees can say no to legitimate requests on ethical or religious grounds.
Many employees struggle with personal ethics or professional codes of conduct which can result in conflict about performing legitimate requests (eg: medical practitioners whose personal ethics preclude birth control).
Codes of conduct need to provide some mechanisms where an employee can talk about their conflict with a manager or someone in authority and find workable solutions.
There also needs to be processes for employees being able to say no on religious grounds. One of my best workers in a previous role was a strict Muslim woman who was not permitted to be alone with a male who was not her husband. As a result we needed to work through simple things like arranging lifts to meetings to ensure she was in a female only car. It was hard for her to raise, and yet we were only too happy to find workable solutions.
People of Seventh Day Adventist faith have similar issues with working on Saturdays. It is easy to forget and inadvertently roster someone to work on their Sabbath.
Part of working in a successful team means understanding the different viewpoints of each employee and finding ways to incorporate their opinions into the mix.
Does your business make it "ok" to say no on religious or ethical grounds? Do you make it easy to talk about?
Humans love to gossip - which may be fine if it is just about the latest goings on of a Hollywood wannabe, but not so fine if it is about your business or one of your managers.
Legal stuff: This newsletter is intended as only a general guideline for Australian businesses. You should seek specific advice for your situation rather than relying only on this newsletter
Earnings disclaimer. Some of the content may include advertorial information, which means I may receive financial compensation for the products I recommend. But - unless I know and trust the product, I will not recommend it.
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Once you have these answers, then do a client audit. Go through your list of clients to work out which ones you love to work with doing work you enjoy that is financially rewarding. These are your new "A class" clients and you need to cherish them as if they are rare jewels.
