Episode 23: The power of saying ‘No!’

Show Notes for This Episode:

[1:00] This week we’re talking about the power of saying ‘No’
[2:00] Lisa struggles with saying ‘No’ but knows she needs to learn how to do it
[2:40] Sometimes the circumstances force you to say ‘No’, even if you wish you could do the work
[3:20] Saying ‘No’ can also be beneficial as it allows you to focus on things that are important for your career
[4:00] As a graphic designer, Lisa said ‘Yes’ to everything and found that the work load took over her life
[4:50] You must explain your long-standing clients, that you have to say ‘No’ to the small stuff so you can be fresh for the big jobs
[5:40] Making everyone happy can end up making you miserable
[6:15] Lisa was almost killing herself so she won’t let her clients down
[7:10] Taking on too much work will not only effect you but it will also affect your partners and your close family members
[8:10] Stop and ask yourself: “is this the way I want to live?” and if not, then it’s time for something to change
[9:40] Work is a big part of your life so think how you want to feel every single day
[10:15] The negativity surrounding your work load can affect your love of design
[11:00] At the beginning you might feel pressured to say ‘Yes’ as you want to improve your skills and your earnings
[12:40] Stretching into too many directions might not be as beneficial as you think
[13:30] Ian found the balance of working on multiple projects and still delivering good work
[14:15] ‘You can do everything that you want, you just can’t do them all at once’ – Dustin Lee
[15:40] Organise your work in batches and assign a time frame for each project
[17:15] There are nice ways of saying ‘No’ to your clients and not feeling bad about it
[18:30] If you are unable to do the work, recommend other designers that can do it
[19:15] Saying ‘No’ to one person could mean letting them down, but saying ‘Yes’ to a lot of clients might end up in letting everyone down
[20:00] Dustin said ‘No’ to clients work and ‘Yes’ to retro stuff, which made a great difference to his life
[20:30] Every ‘No’ let’s a ‘Yes’ happen
[21:15] It might be hard to say ‘No’ to work, but choice is ultimately a good thing
[22:10] It can be overwhelming to have so many choices, when looking back at the humble beginnings
[23:15] Don’t feel pressured to say ‘Yes’ to work just because you think this is the type of work a designer should do
[24:40] Having choices changes your thinking and lets you learn more about yourself
[25:30] Confidence is a great effect of choice
[26:20] Set-up your goals and see how saying ‘Yes’ to different projects fits into achieving this goal
[27:00] Tom is a big believer in delegation and knows he must delegate the work that keeps on getting pushed to the next day
[28:00] Use the 80/20 rule in your decision making
[29:40] Tom gives an example of a project and explains how much he is involved in and how much work he delegates to someone else
[30:30] Lisa delegates other things in her life to help with her work load, like the house cleaning
[31:30] You should always be able to delegate some of your work, no matter how specific your skills are
[32:50] The person you delegate work to might end up delegating work to someone else as well
[33:00] Ask yourself which is the work that brings revenue and delegate the stuff that are taking time away from it
[34:30] You don’t necessarily have to hire someone full time, you can delegate small tasks to someone working remotely
[36:00] Advertise when you’re busy so that when you’re quiet you’ve already built the momentum to bring in more work
[37:00] Ian realised he’s invested 80% of his time in his Social Media strategy but it’s not bringing the revenue that the other 20% could
[37:50] Social media might not bring immediate revenue but it creates opportunities
[38:30] A blog can support the business, but it’s not business in its own, you need the money-making work alongside it
[39:40] There is a risk of drowning into the attention that you’ve built for yourself
[40:15] It’s hard finding the balance between work and social media promotion
[41:20] Ian is thinking of reducing his social media posting to make more time for other work
[42:15] A big social media following doesn’t always translate into sales
[43:20] Allocate specific days for specific tasks and alternate work with social media promotion
[45:00] Find a partner to help with parts of your work that you’re not that good at
[46:00] Focus on the things you’re known for and that people love about you
[47:00] Everyone is struggling and you need to find what works well for you
[48:00] Saying ‘No” to things is something you’ll do for the rest of your life
[48:50] What goes up must come down
[50:50] Living in the constant terror that it will might come crumbling down
[52:00] Audit your work and go for something small that you can say ‘No” to