That’s a crazy question to ask in this economy. Turn away work? Truth is, as hard as it to say no to the almighty dollar–the lifeblood that keeps your business running–there are times when it’s the best thing you can do for your company.

A few weeks ago marked the first time that I seriously considered turning away a new project on the verge of commencement. This is not to say that we don’t internally veto prospective clients very early on in the process, but typically once we get well invested into project discovery and negotiation, withdrawing our bid is rarely considered. In this case, there were a few factors at play, such as the fact that we unexpectedly went from having a single point of contact to an entire committee of investors introducing themselves and weighing in on our value as a service provider. Naturally no one was really on the same page but everyone expected us to get them on the same page and re-pitch everything we’d already gone over before. (more…)