How to Say No to Requests for Your Time

Crash Courses in Communication with Alex Perry

How to say no to requests for your time. Today’s question comes from my client and mentee Kiley. Kiley’s an entrepreneur and she runs a sales consulting business. She gets slammed with requests for her time to “meet up for coffee”, “catch up with each other” or “I just wanna chat and pick your brain”. These requests can from anyone, peers, colleagues, friends, co-workers, the random LinkedIn connection, someone she met at a networking event, etc.

The problems come, when she turns up at these meetings and she finds out that a.) the other person just wants to chat in the middle of a workday (ugh) b.) the other person wants free advice (double ugh) or c.) the other person could’ve asked for what they needed from her directly and both people could’ve saved time and energy. Kiley doesn’t want to be rude and she’s also has limited time and energy. Can you relate?

I love this question because it’s super applicable and relatable to professionals, not just entrepreneurs. There’s a good chance that you’ve been on the receiving end of random requests to connect. And it’s hard. You’re a good person who genuinely wants to help and you don’t want to make someone else feel bad by saying no. I get it; I’ve been there and it’s still hard for me too. Before we can talk about how to say no, we’ve got to understand why saying no is so hard sometimes.

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This episode was edited and produced by Jenn Edds, the head broad in charge at The Brassy Broadcasting Company.