Entrepreneurship is all about the hustle. When you first start your journey as a solopreneur, you are desperate to make money. You quit your job to pursue the opportunity of building your own business but the risk of failure creates an immense amount of pressure for you to operate under. Your thinking is likely that you have to make money and make money quickly. When you have this mindset, you are willing to accept almost any dollar amount since it is money to feed you and to go towards your living expenses.
No one ever said that entrepreneurship would be easy — especially not when you are first starting out. You will have to hustle for every dollar you earn and the amount you earn can be meager at times. Although it may be mandatory for you to accept a small amount of money in the very beginning of building your business, you do not want to make this a habit.
If you get too comfortable with accepting a low remuneration, you will find it hard for you to make enough money to not only support yourself but also the growth of your business. You cannot hire employees when you make a meager amount of profit. It is just not realistic. This will have you remaining as a solopreneur barely making ends meet every month.
You will need to become picky about the type of work that you accept if your goal is to build an actual business that generates six figures or more in revenue.
It might seem crazy but it is acceptable to turn down work if it is not in the budget range that you have set for yourself. The following 6 reasons outline why you should turn down money, instead of chasing every dollar that comes your way.
1) The price offered is below your rates
Too many entrepreneurs are chasing the money and trading their time for dollars. This means that you are in the rat-race but are working 10x harder to make the money just to survive. The reason why most entrepreneurs are chasing the money is that their prices are set way too low. They are essentially basing their business pricing on quantity rather than quality. This pricing structure will have you doing the work for 10 clients in order to earn the similar amount that could have been generated with two good-paying clients.
You must set your prices and not vary widely from them no matter how much a customer insists on you doing so. Having to complete a job where you are being paid less than the value you have set for yourself makes you feel bad, and this will show in the quality of your work.
You could also have to deal with a client who is paying you a low price but tends to nitpick on your services. It can be very frustrating having to deal with expectations as such. This is why you should only work with high-quality clients from the get-go who understand the significance of paying for value.
2) When you do not have the time to allocate
It is tempting to go after every dollar that comes your way — especially when it is a high paying gig. The problem that can occur is that you do not have enough time available to do this new job in addition to the jobs you are currently committed to doing. You start to weigh the options of not doing one job or completing past the deadline. Doing this could seriously damage your reputation with that client and cost you to lose their business.
Even if the money is attractive, do not put more on your plate than you can handle. You will only be stressing yourself out by doing this and high levels of stress could affect your quality of work. It is okay to turn the prospective client down because you have prior commitments that must be satisfied first. If they really want your services, they may be willing to wait for you to complete your prior jobs. If they cannot wait, they may come back to you when another opportunity becomes available.
3) When you are being rushed to finish
A potential client may send an inquiry to your inbox saying they need you to create a strategy for them but it must be done within 24 hours. This is a very short amount of time for you to complete something that can typically take a week or more to complete. They may be offering a lot of money for you to do the job on such a short notice but you know that they expect for you to provide quality work no matter how short the notice may be. This puts a lot of pressure on you to perform a job in a time-frame that is almost impossible.
It makes absolutely no sense to put yourself in the position of being rushed when you know that this will only cause you to produce lackluster work as a result. You are graded based on the results you produce and you want to make sure every client can confidently say that you provided them with the absolute best work possible. This is why you must educate the client about the process of your work. They must know how long it takes to do the work, why this timeframe is necessary, and that they should be realistic about their expectations. If they are not willing to change their position, you need to let them know you are not the provider for them because you pride yourself on providing quality work.
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4) When it is outside of your niche
A lot of entrepreneurs struggle with this category because they are being offered great money to do something outside of their expertise. While this is tempting, it is not something you should do — especially when you know that you are going to butcher the job.
Focus on doing things you are best at — the activities you could practically do in your sleep. Although it is good to be diverse, this only applies when you possess the adequate skills to perform the required job.
If you are a business consultant that focuses on HR, it makes absolutely no sense for you to attempt sales. You do not know anything about being effective at selling. If someone attempts to pull you out of your area of expertise, remind them that you focus on providing a particular skill. Focus on what you do best.
5) When you are not interested
When you are just starting out, you will have to take jobs that are not exciting but they put money in your pockets. It is necessary for you to do these things if you are going to survive and gain the experience that is needed to attract higher paying clients.
Once you have established yourself though, you can start to forgo those jobs that do not make you excited. It might seem like a bad thing to say no to work being offered to you but you can provide those people you turn down with other options. Refer them to other providers whom you know would have no problem completing the work that they need to be done.
Related article: 5 ways passion will translate to a successful business
6) When you get an uneasy feeling
Occasionally you will get a client who makes you feel uncomfortable working with them. They are offering you money though, so you go ahead and take the job.
This is when the problems start to occur. You do the work, send the invoice, and never hear from the client again. This is very frustrating because that is the time that could have been spent on securing another client. When you are uneasy about a client, move on and save yourself the impending trouble.
The 6 reasons provided will help you avoid taking on jobs that are just not worth your time. Work hard but work smart.
Focus on building an effective business strategy. Leave the rest to us.
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