When to Walk Away

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

So today was a rough day for me.  One of the things that I do here online is freelance writing.  Today I took four hours out of my day to create this what I thought was an awesome tutorial on using WordPress as a Content Management System.  (If that is over your head, don’t worry about it.)  Notice I said, “what I thought”, for the client to come back and tell me that it was too basic for the audience.  So asked them to specify and they told me that their programming clientele would “bristle” at the simplicity of it.

I emailed back and forth with them for a couple of times and something funny happened.  My training being an entrepreneur kicked in, I actually started hearing the song the Gambler in my head.  The line, “You got to know when to hold, know when to fold, know when to walk away, and know when to run.”  I decide to give the client his walking papers and let him take his business elsewhere.

I felt a release.  It still took a few minutes for the frustration of writing a 2400 word tutorial in under 4 hours to go away, but hey now I have a resource all my own to give to others that my need that information.  So it was not a waste of my time.  I have something of value to give someone or many someones.

Anyway, the point of the whole story now that I digress is to get you to thinking about your business.  I know I have discussed even if briefly tat we are not salesmen, we are business owners with all the same headaches and needs as any good business owner.  And as such we need to think like business owners.

Business owners do not go out and offer to buy gas for there customers to come and shop at their store.  Business owners do not sit and plead with their buddies and people they meet on the street to please come to a meeting.  No they do not.  They offer the services and products that they have, they use their skills and create more value for their companies.  They take and no and go on, they do not beg for someone to come their website and check out the opportunity they have.

So if you get a rejection do not look at it as a sign that you are doing it wrong.  Look at as the fact that this is not a good fit.  That client and I today were not a good fit.  That rejection you just got because Monday nights are her best friends meatloaf night, means it was not a good fit for you.  So get up, get out there and keep searching for the next no.  Nos are good, they help us get to those that want to work with us faster.

PS Go ahead and share today’s walk away from it story.  You already know mine.  =D