Growing by turning down work

07. Jan, 2010 4 Comments

It seems a bit counter-intuitive, that you can grow by turning down work. Let me explain.

I’ve recently been approached to do some work on a small startup ecommerce website. Basic type work like making things line up, but also there is a need for a marketing plan as well. So we scope out the work a little. A year ago I would’ve loved to take this job. But now, I look at my pipeline, see 4 other leads in there for much bigger jobs. I look at my list of projects, and I see a bunch of much bigger jobs on. I realise that if I want to keep growing, I have to turn this work down.

It can be hard to turn work down when you want the money, but here are some great reasons why I think it’s absolutely necessary.

  • Work you do for larger companies is leveraged better, so they can afford to pay for it to be done well. The cost is also insignificant to the amount they are turning over. Instead of spending time working on small jobs, it’s worth it to spend the time marketing to bigger companies instead.
  • It’s better to focus on giving good service to your existing customers. I’m not afraid to take on lots of jobs, work long hours and outsource lots of work, as long as I can maintain quality service and it’s moving me in the right direction.
  • Selling to bigger companies takes skills that you don’t need selling to smaller companies. Those skills require work and learning.
  • The value isn’t as good for the client. The client would be paying me extra for skills and experience I have that just don’t have any benefit for her, or that can’t be leveraged enough. For example, what’s the benefit of me knowing how to do conversion rate testing when  her store is so small that it would take a year to get statistically significant results? None, so the client might as well pay someone less.

Your turn

What experience do you have turning down work? Have you found it helped you in the long run?

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4 Responses to “Growing by turning down work”

  1. webdesigners in atlanta 19. Oct, 2010 at 6:36 am

    Your post touches my heart so much. I also experienced turning down my regular work even though I really enjoyed working with the company. The reason why is because I need my salary to increase in order to provide a quality living for my children. Even though, I do not have regrets for doing that because I found another one which offers me great opportunity but deep in my heart I felt really sad that I’ve lost the good working relationship with boss and officemates.

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