How to say no

Learning how to politely say no is an important skill of a small business owner. Unfortunately, it’s one most of us have learned after much frustration at others, when in reality, we were frustrated at ourselves. I’m not making much sense now am I? Like all blog posts, keep reading and I promise we will get to the point Im trying to make and start making more sense. Who exactly are we saying no to; family, askholes, anyone who is utilizing your time with no gain? That sounds terrible that I have said that out loud trust me I have been on the other end and shocked at the solution. We are running a small business we need each and every eyeball that we can get and gosh forbid we offend anyone. That actually comes down to your ideal clientele which I’m not going to address today as I already have that blog post ¾ of the way complete. Gain isn’t always of a financial nature; my personal favourite is knowledge. Now hear me out everything said so far seems selfish but when starting out a business you only have so much time, energy, and money. Time is our most valuable asset, it’s what we need to accomplish the tasks but also to have time for yourself too. As a small business owner we put a lot of hours into becoming successful, or at least to try to be. With sometimes limited resources. That means we are doing all the things ourselves. Many times, people only see the hours of operation not the behind the scenes; continued education, sourcing materials, meeting after meeting of people trying to sell you their product or service, website updates, social media, content creation, receiving orders, shipping orders, sourcing new services to offer, renovations, sanitization, marketing, the list continues, that is just the business aspect. With so much to complete in a day sometimes that can be draining on our energy. Energy is defined as the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity. How we spend our energy is ultimately what leads to the feels whether they be happy or sad. We often see multiple articles about guarding your energy. But not always do we view this as translatable to business. Certain situations or even people can drain your energy. Not always do they come in the form of clients. I find, especially in this industry, you attract those who unload. In small doses and certain personality types it’s not always a bad thing. Money is something you can never have enough of. At first you struggle even when you are successful your target amounts will increase it’s the nature of business. However, money is where people start to get silly. The expectations of discounted products, services due to *insert reasoning here*. Sometimes the reasons are creative, sometimes not so much. Then we move into the expectation of free usually that comes with a service-based business. It is assumed it’s just time, but even so that’s my time being taken away from a paying client or time with my family. It’s never just time, it also product, its wear and tear on the tools, and equipment, its rent, it's heat, hydro, water, internet, insurance. Regardless of payment or not its still paying for the different services required to operate. So what maybe free for the receiver, it's never free for the small business. Its good exposure to get your name out there, as a small business exposure isn’t the main concern, but driving the traffic into sales is. Sales to pay our bills, feed our family, put our kids into sports to re-invest into our business to be the best version of ourselves. Here’s the thing it took me a long time to realize. You can say no, and it doesn’t have to be mean when I first attempted this approach. I found myself over explaining my position. Literally you do not need to do this. There’s a few different approaches set out. A specific friends/ family discount. ( 5, 10 , 15% off whatever you are comfortable with ) I’m sorry I can’t offer free services, however my cost for product of that service is X and I would love to work with you at that rate. Or simply invest in a program that does automatic billing. There is still one more option, I myself love working with other small businesses and trading services. At the end of the day no matter which avenue you have chosen you need to be happy, set what your own boundaries are and don't be afraid to enforce them. If people can’t respect that, then are they really your ideal client or somebodies energy that you want to absorb. Definition of an ASKHOLE……client or prospective client that constantly asks for advice or input but always does the opposite.