Just as in life, in business there are 2 things you’ll never have enough of – time and money.

When deciding on the next move I always consider at the top of the list – will it make, save or cost me time or money? And, if so, what are the figures on each?

I was recently working on an event project – we were producing a Google Hangout (under the old AmazeWall umbrella) – when I got a frantic call from the client.
The problem was 2 fold – they had been let down by friends/ volunteers and didn’t have the time to fix the issues because they were also working on other projects at the same time.

Another recent scenario was when we were asked to supply our branded VR Headsets to another event, but the deal came with various strings attached. This I didn’t like and, although it could have brought in a fair amount in sales, I wasn’t convinced that we could deliver on the ‘strings’ to a high enough quality level due to the gut feeling of us ‘doing them a favour’ rather than us all pulling together to make the event special for everyone.

Both of these scenarios revolved around investing a good amount of time or money and one sure fire way to lose on both is to not know when to say no.

The lessons learned in the first required the organiser to start saying no and, also, stop trying to do things on the cheap.
We discussed options and the main route was to prioritise the upcoming tasks and delegate where needed also to not be afraid to reject future opportunities that they felt they could not 100% deliver on.

In the second case, I felt uncomfortable in taking on the gig – all the pluses pointed in their direction – and this convinced me that saying no was in fact the best deal.

So, here are a few take-aways from these situations I regularly find people in:
1, Always weigh up the options and costs involved.
Is this the best use of your time and/ or money?

2, Never be afraid to say no.
Take on a project that you’re not ‘feeling’ and you’ll soon start to regret it.
Not only will you let yourself down but you’ll also run the risk of letting others down as well.

3, Never feel pressured into doing something.
You’re the boss of you and if you’re not happy, walk away.
You can always come back, stronger, to fight another day.

4, Options. There are always options.
Say no … but offer up a solution: “I’m afraid I can’t do that for you, but I know someone who can.”
This way you’re closing the door gently on them, instead of slamming it in their face – you never know, they might come back with a better offer one day.

5, Outsource – You cannot do everything, you are only human and, believe it or not, there are others than can do something better than you, so, stop micro-managing and delegate or outsource but, only to the right people.

 
FURTHER READING