The Blog
3 Ways to Say “No” & Watch Your Business Grow.
 |
Wow, it can be uncomfortable to say “no” sometimes… I’ve been on a “no” roll for the last several months. I’ve had to sit with the discomfort of knowing I’m disappointing someone with my “no”. On the flip side, I’m enjoying the freedom of feeling my schedule open up to laser focus on my business. |
Here are 3 ways to say “no” so you can focus on growing your business:
1) Say “no” to an abundance of networking. Look, I love talking with other entrepreneurs and brainstorming with peers. There are wonderful stages of your business when super-networking is vital and creating wonderful peer-to-peer relationships is key.
There comes a point though, when you’ve got to save most of your time and energy for your business. Especially when you feel a period of expansion and re-invention coming on. You can always resume another fun and wonderful networking spurt later.
What to say when invited for another networking opportunity or to explore how to collaborate together? Feel free to use my following script and tweak it for yourself:
“Thank you so much for thinking of me. While I would love to brainstorm with you about how we can work together, I’m at a point right now where my laser focus must be on a big project I’m working on. Most of my time and attention has to be focused here for now.
I wouldn’t be able to give 100% to collaborating right now. When my schedule frees up, would it be OK if I reach out to you to see if you’re still available to explore possibilies?”
(Just add that last sentence if you really mean it!)
2) Say “no” to opportunities. I know this isn’t easy! It’s important to take 24 hours and really evaluate an opportunity to see if it really can assist you in moving your business forward, or if it’s a distraction right now.
In the beginning of my horse show business, I would take absolutely any gig. There came a point where I was able to look at an opportunity and know if it would help me move my business where I wanted to take it or not. And, I started saying “no” to business. (Nice added benefit, I was able to raise my prices.)
In the beginning of my marketing business, I joined any launch I was invited to participate in and said “yes” to pretty much every interview. Now I can pick and choose and it’s so important so you don’t dilute your brand and overextend yourself and your team. (yes, that is experience talking!)
There’s a repeat speaking gig for a great women’s organization that I said “no” to this upcoming summer. I actually had to say “no” 3 times. It felt super uncomfortable the 3rd time, especially with the concessions they made to try to get a “yes”. The old people-pleaser in me almost kicked in but I stuck to my original “no” and am so glad I did.
3) Say “no” to yourself. I’m an artist. Singer. Painter. Cartoonist. Artist with my horses. One of the big lessons I’ve learned from creating these different kinds of art is:
“even Picasso knew when to drop the paintbrush”
Art will never be finished. It will never be perfect. If you’re a writer, a podcaster, a video blogger, regular blogger, product creator or entrepreneur – you and the value you bring to the world is art.
You are an artist.
You must know when to drop the paintbrush and release your art to the world. That’s the only place it can help people. That’s the only way you’ll shine your light.
For me, giving myself diamond deadlines is one of the ways I’ve trained myself to drop the paintbrush. These are deadlines I announce to people I care about (my list community, peers, family and friends) and then I do whatever it takes to get it done. And however it is when done, I stop tweaking. A great habit to get into is to say “no” to perfectionism and continual tweaking of your art.
Even if you only try one of these ways to say “no”, you’ll gain loads of time and mental white space. So you can focus on bringing your unique value into the world, and get paid for it.
21 Comments
Leave a Comment
Doodle Your
Emotions Series
Insta Happenings!
Recent Posts...
HEARTWORK JOURNALING LESSONS
HEARTWORK JOURNALING LESSONS
Copyright © 2024 Yuyi Communications LLC | Website by Marketing Access Pass
Has this inspired you to say “no” so you laser-focus on your business or a big project? If so, I’d love to hear about it!
This is so timely! Saying “no” is honoring your boundaries. This is something that I learned so well a few years ago, and my life has changed dramatically. I have been able to shape my life instead of having it shaped for me.
The “artist” analogy is perfect. By shaping my future, I am crafting it. It is my craft. I just love this post. Thank you so much! I totally resonate.
Thank you Paul! You are totally an artist in so many ways, my friend! Crafting your business and all the amazing ways you are SO creative within it!
Maritza, this is so wonderful and necessary for success.
I have spend many nights fully awake at 3 O’clock in the morning thinking: why did I say yes?
I know I don’t have the time, I know this is not a good fit for me, I know that I didn’t want to hurt the other person, didn’t want them to feel rejected and at the end of the day, I knew I wasn’t doing them any favors if I can’t do a good job and my heart is not in it and I feel resentful.
Also now I realize that I wasn’t put in this world to solve everyone else’s emergencies.
My time, my energy and my expertise are for the benefit of my business, my clients, my family. Sometimes is clear the answer should be no, and if in doubt I should have a “ready answer” like: I need to think about it and I would let you know in………I am right here making a commitment to the power of NO. Thank you so much. You are always so inspiring.
Oh yes, I’ve awoken in the middle of the night wondering “Why did I say yes?!?!” Yay to your brave future “no’s”!
This is so timely for me. I have been thinking about it for a while and you are giving me the push I need. After reading your post, I am learning to say no and I will stop giving my power away. I don’t have to be everything to everyone and I need to love myself enough to say no without excuses or explanations. Just say No. It is my right and my obligation to myself. Wow, feels really good. Thank you, Maritza. I’ll let you know about my progress. I know how well you follow up with your clients and this will make me feel accountable.
Great stuff. I really like that you point out how, in the beginning stages of a project, sometimes you need to stay a lot of “yes”es to gain the experience and wisdom you need for your new endeavor. But then there is that tipping point where you’ve learned what you can as a generalist, and you have to start focusing on those opportunities that provide the best ROI on your time, both financially, but also emotionally and psychologically.
Very nice post! Thanks for sharing!
Exactly, oh I love the way you’ve put it, there’s definitely a “yes” “no” tipping point as you grow in business (or even in life)…Thanks for your great comment, Justin!
Maritza – pure gold! These are such amazing tips, and I found myself nodding my head to a disturbing degree throughout – you’re so right!! I especially like your advice on #2 about waiting 24 hours to really think about the opportunity in front of you and to ask yourself whether or not it’s going to bring you closer to your goals. When you do this, it makes it VERY clear whether or not you should be accepting the offer, and oftentimes, the answer is NO.
I think a lot of people have trouble with this because they feel bad saying no to people. But they don’t really stop to think about how many times people have said no to them – and that’s not a bad thing. People say no to me all the time, and I’m not broken because of it; I completely understand and respect when someone responds and tells me they’re head down working on something important, and I’m more than happy to get back to them at a better time. If someone can’t respect your time, then they probably aren’t worth meeting / partnering with in the first place.
Thank you so much for this – I really enjoyed reading this post!
Kate, Thanks for adding the perspective of being on the receiving end of “no” – GREAT point! It’s so interesting to see the different ways it’s received and cultivating the grace of hearing a “no” and continuing to move forward with appreciation.
It is SO tough for me to say “no”! I feel guilty. It isn’t just in business, but in my personal life as well.
I like that you have a little script to decline opportunities. It is simple and you don’t have to think much about it to send it out. It also doesn’t shut the door on other opportunities.
Thank you for the reminder and the tools to put it into place!
Sandy, I hear ya, sister! As a “recovering people-pleaser” and sometime “slider-backer” 😉 Cool, I’ll be sure to add more scripts in future posts, I thought that might be helpful!
Love this post Maritza! As a woman, who is also a pleaser, I have a very difficult time telling others and myself, “NO!” I am really starting to understand as I am growing my business that those NOs are crucial to make sure that I am truly focusing on me and my business to help propel my success.
Thank you for the gentle reminder!!
“No” will be a super-important word for you very soon, Celest. Because I know your business is taking off, poised to make you great income WHILE providing an really invaluable resource and help to families and young adults everywhere.
Every success either in business or in our own life is the out come of our own INTRA – COMMUNICATION i.e. our own thought process – the successful implementations comes out from the tough fight of our own thought process – our NATURE’S NATURE in DUAL in Nature i.e. YES/NO, YES/NO …..in serious series – when this sensible fight adopts sensible ” NO s ” and accepts the sensible ” YES s” – success is of / to SKY LIMIT – other wise – EARTH LIMIT
” SO TO SAY SUBTLE SENSIBLE ” NO s ” IS THE KEY FOUNDATION OF SUCCESS. “
Great post Maritza! I like to think of the tips you give as opportunity cost. On one hand you are saying ‘no’ but that frees time, energy and commitment to saying yes to something else. The trick is to keep a solid priority system so you don’t feel guilty or bad about saying no, because it matches your priority system. We are saying ‘YES’ to our most important business or family priorities and we feel good about that!
Thanks for sharing this with us and reminding us what is important. It also helps us understand the perspective if WE are turned down, in a very polite way, that the other person has to follow their priorities.
Love the idea of being allowed to nicely say NO (thank you). Reminds me of Bob Burg’s talk about this.
His reply I still use to this day…”Thank you for your kind offer. While it’s not something I choose to pursue, please know how honored I am to be asked.” 😀
AND STICK TO IT!! Don’t let people change your mind if you know this doesn’t align with where you are headed.
SOURCE: http://www.burg.com/2009/10/saying-%E2%80%9Cno%E2%80%9D-graciously-part-one/
I love when an email appears in my inbox with the exact message I need to hear!
Coming from a long career in corporate America where I was constantly saying no with no anxiousness gave me a false sense of security that saying “no” came with ease for me. Oh how wrong I was.
The factor I had not accounted for was the “hunger” that came with my own venture. It’s a LOT harder to say no when your so completely invested and entirely committed to something of your very own and seeing that it becomes a success. I’ve found this alone tends to skew my clarity on when to say yes and when to say no. For me, it’s a matter of taking a day or so to think things through and being hyper real on the actual benefits to myself and my current goals.
No more can we afford too say yes out of kindness or obligation. We all need to realize (I know I need a frequent reminder) that saying yes is ACTUALLY much more detrimental to all parties involved then being humble and declining.
Thanks again for your brilliance and ease in saying what most of us need to hear, or at least be reminded of!
-Dre
[…] a bit how the last few months have felt to me. If you read my last blog post about saying “no” you know what I think about the importance of created space for your business to grow and evolve. […]
[…] For those moments, here’s another a great quote as you practice saying “no”. […]
[…] For those moments, here’s another a great quote as you practice saying “no”. […]