Shoutout to the guy who taught me to stop chasing every single job lead

When I first started my plumbing business, I would jump at every call, even the ones that sounded like a total mess from the first sentence. I drove 45 minutes to a house in Everett last year because a guy said he had a 'small leak' under his sink. It was a full pipe burst in a crawlspace full of, let's just say, not dirt. I spent my whole Saturday there for almost no profit. The change happened about six months ago when a seasoned contractor I work with told me, 'Luna, your time is your inventory. You can't sell it twice.' Now, I ask three specific questions on the phone before I even agree to look at a job. If the answers are vague or the budget sounds unrealistic, I politely pass and recommend someone else. It felt weird at first, like I was turning down money, but my actual income went up because I stopped wasting entire days on lost causes. Has anyone else made a switch like this in how they pick their projects?

3 comments

3 Comments

derekhenderson1mo ago

Sounds a bit dramatic, no offense. Not every bad job is a life lesson. @joseph_black, you really buy into that freelancer forum stuff?

joseph_black1mo ago

Yeah, that line about time being your inventory really hits home. I read something similar in a forum for freelancers, about how saying no to bad jobs is the only way to say yes to the good ones. It feels backwards at first, like you said. I mean, turning down any work when you're starting out seems crazy, but you just end up running yourself into the ground for nothing.

miabennett4d ago

You ever notice how people treat "saying no" like it's some secret code you gotta crack, when it's really just common sense? There's a difference between turning down work that pays crap and turning down a client who's a nightmare. Most newbies lump them together because they're scared to lose any cash. But a bad job isn't always a bad client, and a low paying job can still be worth it if it builds your rep or teaches you something useful. The trick is figuring out which is which, not just blanket refusing everything that isn't perfect.