
Is it a ‘Hard Yes’ or a ‘Hard No’? | Part 2
Is it a ‘Hard Yes’ or a ‘Hard No’?
It’s taken me a while to get to this second part, the ‘Hard No’, so my apologies!
As we spoke of in the first post that focused on what makes us hear that strong and resounding “Yes!”, a ‘Hard Yes’ from the depths of our gut, our instinct, rings just as true for the other side of the the coin; the ‘Hard No’.
In fact, I feel like this has been a better indicator more than other I’ve had along the way.
In that epoch of time when you feel like you are still finding your feet in the creative field you’re in, still figuring out what direction, what aesthetic feels most aligned with who you are and represents how you see the world, it can be difficult to decipher whether the gut instincts that you receive that are not of the positive and affirmative kind are coming from a place of self-doubt (* NEWS FLASH: IT’S ALWAYS GOING TO BE THERE!) or whether it’s your instincts telling you this a brief for someone else, and not one for you.
It’s not just the self-doubt that plays a part, it’s all the every day demands of life that inject your financial requirements into the decision-making mix for consideration. It can feel like a miniature battle of sorts between your envisioned path of your creative career and putting food on your fork.
There is also the ‘Joker’, the wild card in the deck of project outcomes that seduces with the prospect of industry exposure within your field and the expansion of your reach in terms of future clients.
Our ego.
It’s great for propelling us forward, giving us the confidence to validate and fortify the confidence in our own abilities. But it can also tempt us down the alleyway of work and clients that simply are not a fit for ourselves as individuals and for how we want to show up as a creative in our field du jour.
Take it from me. I learnt the hard way.
I did not listen to my gut when the client consistently referred to me as ’Stephanie’ even though everyone calls me Steph, my branding is only ever Steph (I mean McGlenchy is a long surname, I’m not going to make my logo longer) and it’s ‘Steph McGlenchy’ on ALLL of my social media platforms.
Yet this client consistently referred to me as ‘Stephanie’. Which I now recognise as an aggressive power move and a sign of disrespect, beauty of hindsight, right?
Long story short, the job turned out to be a bonafide shit-show.
Meanwhile, you might be wondering, the soundtrack in my head was “Absolutely. Not. Cancel this, explain that someone else would be a good fit for their shoot.”
Did I listen?
Nup! Absolutely not. I was feeling the pressure (self-inflicted) to really get my business off the ground and I really needed the money.
Instead I kept going and that resulted in a client conversation that eliminated any confidence I had in myself, and haunted me…. FOR YEARS.
So if you’re wondering what the moral of the story is…. A HARD NO TO OTHERS, IS ACTUALLY A HARD YES FOR YOURSELF.
I get it. It’s damn hard in this weird world we live in to make sure that our work, our creative stories are seen and heard, in your chosen target market.
But that doesn’t mean that EACH ONE that comes into your orbit is worth the energy of ignoring your gut screaming a ‘Hard No.’
It is MORE THAN OKAY to say NO.
Let that one sink in a little bit. Actually let that one sink in A LOT.
If you found this helpful and would like to read more about this part of creative life, let me know 🙂
Much Love
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