Every Yes is a No

I’ve lost thousands of dollars in the past year—and I couldn’t be happier about it.

My oldest child wasn’t born when I started it five years ago, so my side business in graphic design didn’t cost me much. An evening now and then for a little extra cash.

But no one told me of the fine line between owning a business and having that business own you. I found out the hard way, saying “yes” to every available project until I was spending nearly every evening and spare weekend a slave to my own business.

Every “yes” I said to work, was a “no” I was saying to my family and to myself.

“No, Daddy can’t play right now.”
“Can you take the kids somewhere so I can work?”
“Let me just finish this and I’ll be right there.”

And for what? A few extra bucks in my pocket? Even though the money was good, it could never buy back what I was missing out on—fun with my children, losing myself in a good book, hanging out with a friend, sleeping peacefully.

So I turned to tables. “No” to business. “Yes” to my soul, my family, my life.

Oh, it hurt when I had to let people down who actually begged me to take on their project. It really hurt when it cost me several thousand dollars for a single job. But it’s a good kinda hurt. Ya can’t have everything in life, so you have to choose which hurts you’re willing to live with.

“Yes” to this is a “no” to something else. Make sure you understand what you’ll be saying “no” to before you say “yes”.