Saying no is an essential part of your strategy

Do you find it hard to say no? You’re not alone. We are conditioned to say yes to things. We find ourselves bounced into socials, meetups, one-on-ones and the like all the time. Many of those time-sinks we had no desire to say yes to, but social and peer pressures won the day.

Professionally, there’s a similar challenge. We find it difficult to say no to new opportunities. Here the pressure does not come from others, but from ourselves. More opportunities mean more money and more accomplishments.

Or do they?

Jason Feifer of Entrepreneur magazine recently shared the story of Brian Lee, cofounder of LegalZoom. Brian set up LegalZoom to help consumers create legal documents, and it was an instant hit. But the company noticed something weird in its early days—the same customer was repeatedly creating divorce documents. Huh, they thought—who gets divorced that many times?

You can guess what was going on. A divorce attorney was using LegalZoom to make documents for his clients. This was quite a surprise to the team, as they had set the platform up specifically for ordinary folks needing quick and affordable legal help. They had no idea that lawyers would also be interested in the easy document generation.

Brian’s team saw an unexpected opportunity: they could simultaneously become a B2B (business-to-business) service provider. So they quickly set up an adjacent business, ProxyLaw, designed specifically for lawyers. They could draw from two separate wells using the same document-generation technology. All good, right?

Nope. ProxyLaw never took off; and LegalZoom suddenly became unprofitable. They actually teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. Why so? Because ProxyLaw sucked up the time of the company’s best designers, engineers, and marketers; and because selling to lawyers is a completely different proposition, one they just weren’t built for.

As Jason Feifer points out, the company drew resources from the thing that worked, to the thing that didn’t work. LegalZoom nearly got killed, and the only way to save it was to kill ProxyLaw. It ended well; after the culling, LegalZoom went on to be very successful.

Saying no in business, it turns out, is just as important as saying yes. You say yes to your ambition, your insight, your determination, your work ethic; but you have to be able to say no to anything that distracts you from your core mission.

Here’s a simpler example. Suppose you own a food joint that’s getting popular for one thing—let’s say its amazing local food, served with a new spin. The crowds are growing, the buzz is building. And then you think: why stop at this cuisine? Let’s cater for different diners. Burgers are always popular, and so is pizza. Let’s give people options. Let’s extend the menu. More is better. A few months down the road, the place is now half-empty. What happened? The food that made the place famous is no longer exceptional, because your chef’s attention and resources were diverted to making an endless menu. And you had no capacity to make standout burgers and pizzas in any case. Instead of doubling down on what you were known for, and what made you special, you tried to be everything to everyone. That never ends well.

I am not suggesting that a varied menu can never work. It depends on the clientele. What doesn’t work is to mess with something that’s already succeeding by undermining it—because of some ill-judged escapade into untested waters. Don’t ever move from the distinctive to the mediocre, and hope to do well.

I have been beating that drum in Kenya for decades. If you have the beginnings of a great business, don’t get distracted! Go deep first, and build something really worthwhile. Any extensions, and rewards, will come later. Don’t invest your precious capital in that speculative venture your drinking buddies are playing with. Don’t give your precious time away to speak on every panel at every conference. Don’t buy the BMW now. Wait. 

First, have something worth having. Devote nearly all your time and nearly all your capital to that thing. When you someday have plenty of money and time to spare, you can start saying yes to peripheral temptations.

The broader lesson here is to cultivate discernment. Some things are worth your time, and some are really not. Anything that stretches your core capabilities and sucks up your scarce resources, without a quick and obvious return? Hey, think again about that one.

Every yes you utter comes with an opportunity cost attached. It’s not just what you take on, it’s what you give up. Time, energy, and focus are finite. Every time you say yes to a distracting initiative, a poorly thought-out partnership, or a random social obligation, you are saying no to your highest priorities.

The ability to say no is a superpower in a world that is constantly clamouring for your attention. Great businesses, and great lives, are built on a foundation of clear, focused choices. So the next time you’re tempted to say yes, pause and ask yourself: does this take me closer to where I want to go—or further away?

(Sunday Nation, 24 November 2024)

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