The Power of No: How Strategic Filters Protect Your Business

If you’ve worked with me or been in one of my networking groups over the last few months you’ve heard me talk about the importance of making intentional, strategic decisions instead of being reactionary in your decision making. We’ve all been tempted to make decisions on the fly. In business, that habit is dangerous. In life, I’ve lived it myself (as you likely have, too).

We’ve all had interviews, jobs we wanted, roles we couldn’t seem to land. I was looking for my next opportunity a little over 10 years ago, and I had a decision between two job offers.

One job sounded exciting but came with red flags: grueling hours, a CEO who’d email at midnight, low salary, and a brutal commute. The other wasn’t my dream role, but it paid better, the commute was easier, and the people seemed solid.

Now, the decision I made isn’t the important part here. The fact that I had a decision is. Imagine either of these offers in isolation. If you desperately need that job, if you have one offer … you take it. I’d been working at a startup for the prior year that hadn’t paid me much before it petered out into nothing. I needed an income and I would have taken the first thing that came along. I was in a reactionary state by necessity.

Neither of these were perfect opportunities obviously. But I had a choice. I said No to one, and Yes to the other based on what was best for me at the time. I made an intentional decision, and as you can see … intentional doesn’t always mean unicorns and rainbows (easy or glamorous).

Translating this into your business, or my business, we return to the concepts I talked about over the last three weeks. Now that you are more focused in who you serve, what problems you solve, and how you solve them, you have a choice.

Necessity for you may dictate that you have to say Yes to work you know you should say No to. But you now have that clarity. You know the tradeoff you’re making. You’re being intentional now, you’re not reacting.

These specifics we developed can be thought of as strategic filters. They’re a short set of questions you use before you commit to anything. They’re there to protect your focus, your positioning, and your fulfillment … not to mention your bottom line.

Does this client fit my ideal client profile? Does this opportunity reinforce my positioning? Does it align with my core offers? Will it make my business more profitable and sustainable?

Do I actually want to do it?

A Not-So-Fictional Example

Last week’s fictional fitness coach used a philosophy someone actually shared with me a few months back. She told me that when opportunities presented themselves she said “Yes” and figured out how to deliver after the fact.

She had entered into the conversation offering X and Y, the potential client had asked for A, B, and C, and she’d said yes.

For the sake of conversation, let’s assume she was fully capable of delivering quality work on A, B, and C.

Do you think that work would have been fulfilling?

Would it have been easy, and streamlined or challenging and time-consuming? How do you think that affected the profitability?

If this new client referred her to people, what would they say? What kind of work would those referrals come looking for?

When she was with other potential clients and they asked her for examples of the projects she’s doing lately, what would she tell them? What kind of impression would that leave?

If she’s got employees, what’s their experience going to be like working this way?

The Takeaway

The last three weeks gave you all of the filters you need. When opportunities present themselves, or someone is vulnerable with you and shares what their needs are … silently consider whether your criteria have been met. Saying No when it’s not a good fit will feel straight-up liberating.

Saying no to money is hard. But you didn’t want that money anyway. Taking it in the past is what led you here.

You’ve done the hard work of identifying what’s best for you, don’t throw it all away the moment someone new walks through the door. Necessity may drive some of your decisions, and that’s to be expected. Making those decisions intentionally though is the key.

This month we narrowed in on who you serve, why you’re the right choice, what you offer, and how you decide. With those filters in place, every Yes and every No can now be intentional.

Strategy is as much about saying No as it is about saying Yes. The more comfortable you get with the No, the stronger every Yes becomes.