.bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; }
.bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: ‘Helvetica’,Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; }
.bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; }
.bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:’Trebuchet MS’,’Lucida Grande’,Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; }
Hi there, Solopreneur!
Happy Wednesday, and welcome to issue #26 of Solopreneur Doorway, a weekly newsletter that helps you turn your skills into solutions people buy. I’m glad you’re here. Was this email forwarded to you? Get yours here.
This week’s issue is a 4-minute read.
⌚️ Adopt 1 Powerful Word and Turn Your Discovery Calls from a Waste of Time to an In-Box of Consistent New Business
When you make the move to launch and operate a solo biz you have energy, enthusiasm, and optimism. You spend the majority of your time crafting a strategy, brand, products, and solutions so prospects say, “Yes.”
The irony is that “Yes” is not the most powerful word in the solopreneur space.
The most powerful word is “No.”
When I left Wall Street to start my finance practice, I was thrilled with the challenge of entering the solopreneur market, building a business, and helping clients solve complex finance issues.
I wanted to set my own schedule and run the business on my terms. It’s a fantastic model, right?
In the first three to six months post-launch, you strive to find new clients and solve their challenges (actually, this always occurs). Your business pipeline starts to fill and you tell yourself, ‘business is rolling!’
Fast-forward, and you start to feel dizzy from ‘the client rollercoaster.’
🔄 You fall into this perpetual cycle.
Attract ideal prospects
Convert prospects to clients
Collaborate with clients to solve their challenge
Stop looking for new business
Panic about having no new clients
Spend time looking for new clients
And the cycle repeats.
In a solo biz that survives on active collaboration with clients, it’s natural to feel busy for a few weeks or months as you meet deadlines.
Then one morning you awake to a celebration and fear.
You’re ecstatic about the revenue you created by completing the client projects.
You’re terrified that your new business pipeline is bone dry, and you panic about finding new revenue opportunities.
I empathize. In my first few months after the launch of my finance practice, I worked with every type of client and spent every weekend at the office.
A colleague told me that the “reward for doing good work is more work.”
I was determined in the first year to hit new client goals and generate significant revenue. As such, I said “yes” to every prospect, even though my gut told me working with certain clients was not a good business decision.
I made the common error and worked with everyone. I could not afford to turn away business.
🙏 The Awakening
When I hit the end of my first year, I took stock of my revenues, schedule, and life balance. It was awful.
I realized that by saying “yes” to everyone, I was inadvertently stifling my own growth and missing out on opportunities to connect with my ideal client audience.
Each time I agreed to spend valuable time solving finance problems for the wrong clients (less than ideal), I was preventing the A & B clients from joining the practice.
And to compound the challenges, the referrals I received from the wrong clients (while nice to get) were more wrong clients. I had to break the cycle of working with every client who said, ‘Yes.’
I had to adopt and implement an uncomfortable and vital solopreneur skill.
🔑 Learn to say, “No, thank you.”
💥 Empower Yourself: Embrace the “No”
Learning to say “No, thank you” to the wrong prospects and clients is a powerful act of self-preservation and a shrewd business choice.
Say, “No, thank you,” and you create more room for the positive. You gain free time to focus on finding and collaborating with A-clients.
This constant improvement in your client selection opens doors to fulfilling projects, financial stability, and a flourishing brand.
And the referrals you receive from A clients aren’t more ‘wrong’ clients. They are more A clients.
It’s uncanny how clients refer you to similar types of prospects. If you strive to work with A clients, they will soon see you as their ‘go-to solution.’ Suddenly, you start to receive inbound requests from more A prospects.
In my second year, I promised myself to only work with type A clients.
In the first few months, I sweated and did not sleep much. I feared that the new business pipeline would never fill and that I’d immediately have to go back and work with any client I could find.
Slowly, my email inbox started to fill with requests from B+ and A prospects. I worked long hours to execute amazing work for those clients.
By the end of the second year, my inbox was a strong source of A prospects. I was over the crest and no longer had to waste time on discovery calls with the ‘wrong’ clients.
⛰ Take the Leap: Your Ideal ‘A’ Clients Await
As a solopreneur, one of your toughest struggles is to balance the need for short-term revenue with the goal of building a long-term business. When you accept every client, your brand suffers, your work quality declines, and your enthusiasm drops.
Break free from the short-term sales cycle.
Your ideal clients are out there, waiting for your expertise, and it’s time to make room for them with one powerful word. “No.” (and always add the “thank you.”)
⚡️ Go Deeper
I empathize that it’s hard to say, “No, thank you,” to a prospect who wants to work with you.
You feel awful about turning down business and disappointing someone who relies on your expertise.
As you gain comfort saying “No” to the wrong clients, it’s imperative that you give them alternatives.
I suggest building a short list of solopreneurs in your space who might assist prospects who are not yet in your zone.
When you offer a prospect an alternative solution, they appreciate the gesture.
When those prospects in turn become A clients, they’ll remember your willingness to offer them an alternative rather than turn them down without options.
Many of them will come back to you for guidance and then become clients.
In 2024, feel better about passing on business that’s not in your best interest. Say “No” more often and free up time to work with more A prospects.
Stay curious and keep opening doors.
-Erik

Erik, Chief Strategy Fixer
🧠 P.S. Do you feel like you’re taking all the right steps to expand your solo biz and you know there’s a missing piece?
When you’re ready, reward yourself with a dedicated strategy session.
Together, we’ll walk through every aspect of your solo biz.
I’ll deliver to you a strategy solution that can simplify your approach and streamline your offer.
Your FEEDBACK is helpful! Click on your choice below