One syllable, Two letters: For all intents and purposes the word “No” should not be that hard to say…so why is it?

Are you afraid of letting someone down? Worried about sounding mean? When you are running your own business, you might be concerned with losing money, or getting a bad review.

Learning how to politely say “no” has been the best thing for my business and my personal life.

For example, my weekends are crazy. Weddings on Saturday often leave me feeling like a train ran over me on Sunday. I knew that it wasn’t healthy for me to keep agreeing to work on Sunday’s after a wedding. I wanted a day to recover, and a day to spend with Brian before he went back into a week of school.

I started by telling people that I didn’t work on Sunday’s, and they didn’t understand. I think many saw it as me just being stubborn, so they mirrored my stubbornness with lack of flexibility in their schedules.

Quickly, I realized simply saying “no” wasn’t in my best interest, so I started explaining myself.

“Because I shoot weddings on Saturday’s, I am too tired to give clients booked on a Sunday 100% of my creativity. I don’t feel right about taking on clients, knowing I won’t be able to give them the best images that I am capable of.”

By explaining that, I am still saying, “No, I don’t shoot on Sunday’s”, but in a polite way that lets clients know that I have their best interest at heart.

It’s all about explaining and educating. I could give a hundred stories similar to my I-don’t-shoot-on-Sunday’s story that turned out wonderfully, but I’ll spare you.

I think a lot of times we expect others to expect the worst in us, and we use that as an excuse to say yes to everything. Setting boundaries is okay! Having a day to yourself is okay! Making a decision that is in the best interest of the involved parties is okay…even if it means saying “no”.