Ed Gandia shares how to handle high-pressure client projects without the stress. He walks through the mental approach that keeps you calm when decisions matter and money is on the line.
Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia.
Hey there. Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast. I am your host, Ed Gandia, and this is the podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to earn more and less time doing work they love or better. Client this episode is a little different.
And much shorter than usual rather than.
My typical 45 minute format. Today I'm sharing a quick tip with you and this is part of the regular audio insights that I publish for my private coaching clients. I just thought you'd find it helpful.
So here we go.
I hope you enjoy it.
Every once in a while you get an opportunity that's just too good to pass up. It's a ton of work, great money, good people. Might be even an excellent opportunity to do something you've wanted to do for a while and get that big sample of something you don't currently have. The point here is that everything about it checks out. You want it. You know it's the right thing to do. There's only one little problem. The timeline is super tight. So much so that you won't be able to take on any other work or very limited work from other clients for say, the next 90 days. If, and even then it's going to still be crazy. You're going to have to work a little longer than usual every week and there's going to be very little room for error. What should you do? Are you making a mistake putting yourself in that kind of position? Obviously, every situation is different and every person has a different set of circumstances, so there's no point in giving you a yes or no answer here. There's no cookie cutter solution, but I'd like to at least explain how I approach these decisions. First, I start by saying yes to myself internally, meaning that I use yes as a default answer rather than teeter somewhere in the middle or the no side of the fence, which is what I found most people do in these situations, and I know I did myself for years now. To be clear, I don't say yes to the client. I don't say yes. I'm going to take this on. Great. Let's get started. This is only an internal decision that I make as a thought exercise only once I've mentally accepted the job, I then work from that position. I found that mentally accepting and then working through the problem that way by asking myself how I would handle X or Y or Z is much more effective. Why Because I've found that a big part of the stress in these situations comes from actually making the decision, not from how to deal with it once you've made it. So I just remove that stress by making a decision again, just internally saying yes to it. Okay, I'm going to take it on and then chipping away at the problem without that monkey on my back at that point, and only at that point do I then ask myself questions such as, okay, what will I do with my other clients? How will I handle recurring projects? What will I do when I'm presented with new opportunities? What are we going to do about child care? What if I get sick somewhere in the middle of the project? I'm out two, three days. What are the payment terms? How would I want them changed so I can make this work financially for me? So you get the idea. At this point, it just becomes a brainstorming and problem solving session. It's an objective internal discussion rather than a stressful oh my gosh, what should I do? Kind of drama, which in most cases enables me to come up with better, smarter solutions. Anyway, I know it might sound like an odd approach, but I urge you to give it a try. And if you use it, regardless of what you decide to do, I'd love to know how it worked out for you.
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