When you own your own business you want to say YES to everything, right?
Yes to a little discount to land a new client. Yes to accepting free stuff because, who doesn’t love free stuff. Yes to unrealistic hours because that’s when clients can train. Yes when your gut says NO.
You know what they say about your gut? It always knows what’s up! So it’s time to listen to it. Below are the 4 things I ALWAYS say NO to, and you should too.
1 - Discounts, Free Classes or Trades: It’s really easy to fall into the Groupon, coupon, discounts, free services trap. You think that if you give potential clients something for free, they’ll see your value and you’ll have convinced them to pay you full price for it moving forward. Instead, everytime you give up your time, services or advice for a discounted rate, you are discounting yourself. Period. Why would anyone pay a full-price for you if they know you’ll always come down?
And, yup! this includes trades. While it seems like a good idea to trade one service for another, you almost never end up breaking even.
2 - Partnerships or free products from companies that don’t align with your purpose: I can’t in good conscious promote or shout-out a brand that I don’t love with my whole heart. It feels fake, my community knows it’s not genuinely Danielle, and the last thing I can afford as a coach + consultant is for people to think my brain and opinions can be bought.
I get that there is nothing more flattering than being approached by a brand because you are ideal and on-point and they’d love for you to represent them. There’s a certain cool-girl feeling I used to get every time a brand approached me. But for me I get far more satisfaction from the authentic connection and value and I give to clients.
That said - if I love something, I will always share it with you guys, paid or not. Sharing = caring ;)
3 - Requests from clients that are unreasonable, unethical, or just plain don’t jive with you: Contrary to popular opinion, your client is NOT always right and it is NOT our job to accommodate their every request. Yup, I said that, and I deeply mean it too. It doesn’t need to be a big deal or a fight, it can simply be a ‘no, thank you.’ We have to create the boundary with our client, whether it’s a simple timing conflict, like they want to schedule a time you don’t intend to work, or a larger issue like a client wants you to do/say something that gives you a pit in your stomach.
I firmly believe we teach people, through our actions, how we want to be treated. Don’t be afraid to stand your ground, whatever that may be.
4 - Following someone else’ formula because it works from them: Oh man, I cannot tell you the number of ‘shoulds’ I have heard in the past years as a business owner. How I should be handling my social media. What I should (or shouldn’t) be charging. How I should be selling. It’s a lot of well-intended noise and if I cared about what I ‘should’ be doing, I wouldn’t have left a prestigious six-figure corporate law job years ago.
There is NO right or wrong path to success. There is NO one formula. Yes, there are proven tools that work, and it’s my job to teach you these tools and put them into action. But it’s also my job to empower you, brainstorm with you, and be your biggest cheerleader as YOU do success on your own terms. That’s what Doing Success Boldly is all about.
To #doingsuccessboldly one NO at a time
Xx, D