The Gentle Art of Saying "No"

I run my own business and one of the curses of being self employed is the fear that you will run out of work, that the clients will stop calling you. For this reason, I have always struggled to say "no" to pieces of work that I know will not end well.

I'm currently working for a client where I have had a challenging three weeks. At the start of the project I knew that the omens were not looking good but I ignored my gut instinct and ploughed forward. Today, I did a handover to a senior client representative. The feedback that I have had has all been very positive - he was delighted with what I had done. However, the political machinations of the last twenty one days have not put me in a good place so I decided to be honest, for once, and tell him both what I felt and what I wanted. I explained that I didn't want to work on this particular project any more as I didn't feel that I could add value in the current climate and that it didn't fit with either my values or the way that I like to work. The result? Ten seconds of surprise from the client, then acceptance, a genuine expression that he understood and respected my position, followed by the offer of further work on other projects

The lesson I've learnt is simple - you can't please everyone, especially if it feels "wrong wrong wrong", and, if you tell the truth as you see it, you get respect.