As a freelancer, optimizing income isn’t just based on capturing profitable opportunities, but also on turning away from less efficient projects. Sometimes, the word “No” is the most powerful tool in your business arsenal.
The following is an overview of key career benefits for freelancers that develop the capacity to say “No” when it is the best response.
William Ury’s The Power of a Positive No is an excellent resource for anyone that struggles with saying “No.” Often, our inhibitions come from a feeling like we are letting someone down or rejecting them if we use this two-letter word. For some, it is simply a lack of confidence or conviction that produces a fear of the other person’s response.
Ury explained that every “No” is really a “Yes” to something else. For a freelancer, your “No” could mean a “Yes” to more enjoyable projects, better schedule flexibility, more money, more freedom, more time with family or more time for personal hobbies.
Schedule control and flexibility are among the key benefits that cause people to choose freelance work. Yet, if you say “Yes” to every client request that comes along, how much control do you truly have?
Freelancers need to prioritize at least as much as workers in a traditional employment setting. Saying “No” to time-consuming projects or tasks that provide little reward leaves you greater control to take on other work or to engage in things that you enjoy. Achieve a better work-life balance.
Saying “Yes” to every project request can cause you to work long hours, and often on activities that you don’t enjoy. Naturally, you won’t have a 100 percent appreciation for every job you take on. However, saying “No” to some projects helps you keep balance, and helps you derive an overall pleasure from your business.
Prioritizing projects is also beneficial if you aim to build a specialization in particular areas. Completing more concentrated jobs increases repetition, experience and expertise.
To optimize your income as a freelancer, you must manage your time effectively. Completing a project that earns you $40 per hour at the expense of an opportunity that would have fetched $80 per hour is an example of inefficiency.
In some cases, you don’t realize that projects or tasks are financially inefficient until after you engage in them. However, over time, as you get familiar with the time required relative to compensation potential, prioritize income efficiency in combination with work that you enjoy.
Saying “No” to everything is an important habit for freelancers to break if you want to make a lot of money while also enjoying the work that you do. The reasons outlined here to say “No” when it is necessary demonstrate the clear value of doing so!
Another way to optimize your income is to utilize a high-quality online payment service like Payoneer’s to ensure on-time, hassle-free receipt of payments from around the world!