Many women entrepreneurs struggle with saying no, a challenge that, when addressed properly, can significantly boost your business success. By nature, we are caretakers, eager to help and nurture others. However, in business, an inability to say no can impede both growth and scalability.
Even when you manage to say no, you might feel compelled to offer an explanation, often driven by guilt. I learned a long time ago that ‘No’ is a complete sentence by itself and it needs no explanation. That thought may be tough for some, but it might set others free. You don’t always have to explain your no and you should never feel guilty about it.
The truth is, some people might be upset, judge you, or speak poorly of you for saying no. In fact, saying no could reveal that some people were in your life solely because you always said yes, offering you a vital truth that could transform your relationships. That goes for business, too.
Saying ‘No’ can significantly enhance your business. Here are five strategies to consider.
- Saying ‘No’ to others means saying ‘Yes’ to yourself and how you feel. This means you are saying yes to your wellbeing, your mental health, your time, and your own desires. Even if you want to do nothing with your time but rest and relax, having the strength to do it can have a very profound effect on your business. Additionally, saying yes to ourselves more often is about taking care of ourselves just as much as we take care of others which in the long run, can help us to be better equipped to run our businesses.
- Saying ‘No’ means people have to be responsible for themselves. Sometimes people find themselves continuing to get into certain situations, but they won’t choose to make any changes because you are always there to bail them out. Here’s a thought: why would they change if you are always there to help them? Sometimes, the best help you can offer is stepping back, allowing others to become self-sufficient. This idea can also give your more time and energy to focus on taking care of your business more than taking care of others.
- Saying ‘No’ means you’re taking back your time, your energy, and your emotions for yourself. This can be challenging at the beginning because people that you love will be involved, but starting a business is hard to do and you need all of the time, energy, and emotional strength you have to make it work. Starting out is the hardest part; without proper management of your time, energy, and emotions, you’re likely to feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and stressed. Furthermore, this can cause you to make poor decisions or not make the progress you expect to make in the beginning stages of your business.
- Saying ‘No’ means you can start freeing yourself from guilt. Remember, if this is a challenge for your, you may experience guilt with loved ones. This is part of the process. Prayerfully, your loved ones will understand and support you through the shifts that you need to make. However, you may still find that the guilt is hard to get past and if that’s you, I encourage you to pray about it, have conversations with your loved ones about it, and in the end forgive yourself for feeling that way. Keep in mind that your goal and your journey is about building your business to edify the kingdom and while there may be challenges along the way, you are still heading in the right direction.
- Saying ‘No’ can make you grow. I’m challenging you to challenge yourself in this area. Think about it this way: if you are growing, your business is growing; if you are growing you can do more with your time and your energy. Saying ‘No’ may be the very thing that you need to start doing to get your business growing in the direction that you need it to grow.
If you want to hear this entire podcast, click on the link below.
