On Knowing When to Say No

I had an inquiry recently from an SEO company. I work with several SEO companies already and know the drill, and I felt very confident with this one. The client seemed excited about me and thrilled to get me to handle the full volume of the writing work they needed--until I sent them my rates. Then the excitement evaporated.

The client was hoping to pay about a quarter of the amount I quoted. His business was a "volume game," he said--and it was his aim to get as much client work done as possible for as affordable an amount as possible. The per-hour rate he wanted might have been reasonable for a full-time employee with benefits and vacation days, but for me--paying double the Social Security taxes and buying my own healthcare, not to mention managing all the expenses of a small business--it was well below what I needed to make per hour. I told the client that regrettably our business models didn't match up, and wished him well.

Earlier in my career, I would have taken this job--I never said no. I didn't know where my next paycheck was coming from, and felt I had to grab whatever came by. But a day or two after I said no to this job, I was inundated with work--and now I'm booked well into next month with projects that pay me an hourly rate that works for me.

A year into my career, I never would have thought about how much I needed to make per hour to make a project worth my time--or that saying no to a low-paying job would leave more room and opportunity for the better projects. But they do. And those projects do come around. The other day when I gave a definitive, well-thought-out "no" to a project that didn't fit my business model, I realized how far I've come.

When was that moment for you?