How to say NO without feeling guilty

If you’re anything like me, you’re figuring out the entrepreneur life as you go, trying things to see what works and what doesn’t.

As an employee I was expected to say YES to pretty much everything, I certainly didn’t want to disappoint or offend anyone. The last thing I want is someone thinking I’m not willing to do the very job I’m there for if I said no to something!

Which makes it really hard to say NO in your own business, especially when you NEED to. This is where so many business owners get bogged down.

My favourite way of saying NO without feeling guilty is to know for sure that its a “HELL NO!”

Everything you do in your business should be a HELL YES or a HELL NO. And I mean that in capital letters, this is a BIG DEAL.

HELL YES things are exciting, fun, they give you energy and light up your day.

HELL NO things are meh, they waste your time and suck the life out of you.

If you make a list of everything you do, how many things can you say a big HELL YES to? What can you say HELL NO to?

It doesn’t just apply to business either. Sometimes there are things you feel obliged to do in your personal life that you really don’t want to. If you were able to say HELL NO I ain’t doing that anymore, how much time would you free up for the things on your HELL YES list?

One of my HELL NO things is business networking. I don’t care if its in person or online, its not for me. That might seem a little bit weird considering my top money archetype is the Connector, the relationship builder lol! I’m a lot happier when I’m connecting the dots between people and information, short cutting your learning curve by sharing what I know.

One of my HELL YES things is being creative with words. I love expressing myself through words. That can be writing like this, talking on a podcast or being in front of a camera on video. I lose track of time when I’m in my creative flow. Again, connecting the dots for people to short cut your learning curve by sharing what I know.

When you’re clear on this stuff it makes the actual NO super easy because you can be completely honest.

As an example, someone recently sent a DM on LinkedIn and invited me to a virtual ‘coffee chat’ to get to know each other. She said its her favourite way to get to know people. I responded with “I appreciate that you love coffee chats but I’m just not into them. How about we don’t and just say we did, deal?” She thought it was hilarious and thanked me for my honesty. We ended up having a relaxed and fun chat back and forth via DMs.

So you see, you don’t have to say yes to everything that other people want or expect, ESPECIALLY if you don’t enjoy it and it doesn’t grow your business or income.

❌ Say no.

❌ Delegate the ‘must do’ things you hate.

❌ Stop doing pointless things that don’t make a difference in your business.

✅ You can have more time and energy for the things you WANT to say yes to.

✅ You can have peace of mind knowing someone else is taking care of the ‘must dos’.

✅ You can have a simple and clear business strategy that feels exciting and fun again.

YOU GET TO CHOOSE.