<\/p>\n

As all passionate jewellery designers know, most job requests come with the tantalising possibility of stretching your artistic and technical talents to create cherished and beautiful items that are highly personal and significant. It can be tricky to discern when a commission is not a great fit if you\u2019re excited by the idea of the work itself, as well as if you simply enjoy the creative process.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But it pays to be discriminating and selective with clients that you get a bad feeling about, or who raise red flags. Developing intuition is crucial, which is less about \u2018going with your gut\u2019 and more about pattern recognition. Some of this only comes with years of experience, but understanding your own personal preferences and motivators is the foundation of a satisfying career and work\/life balance.<\/p>\n

\nWhy we don’t say no often enough
\n<\/strong>Saying ‘no’ is difficult. Perhaps you\u2019re feeling financial pressure and in a post-lockdown reality where cash flow is king, the thought of turning away work might seem incomprehensible. Creatives also tend to suffer from a feeling of failure if the calendar isn\u2019t jam packed, as if not keeping the wheels of production constantly in motion reflects badly on our abilities. Also, since jewellery is so often about celebration, it can be difficult not to get swept up in the sentiment. There also may be an over-emphasis on customer satisfaction, with little thought given to your own feelings of fulfilment. This habit gets reinforced when clients that you reluctantly accept jobs from end up resulting in work that you’re proud of. But it can easily go the other way, and start influencing your body of work. Keeping clients happy at any cost often leads to hybrid, Frankenstein designs that you wouldn\u2019t want to be known for, and could lead to more of the same referral jobs. It’s not always an easy task, but connecting with our clients and inspiring them to choose the design that works best is a form of saying ‘no’ that should be implemented more often. Instilling a sense of trust that you\u2019ll guide them to a pleasing result is part of your responsibility as a professional.<\/p>\n

\nWhen could you say no?
\n<\/strong>Every individual’s experience will be unique, but there are a few general red flags to look out for:<\/p>\n

\n
• Personality clashes: when you just can\u2019t seem to relate to the client, or something about them rubs you the wrong way<\/li>\n
• They have unreasonable expectations (price, design, demands on your time\u2026)<\/li>\n
• Communication is strained and wires keep getting crossed<\/li>\n
• Total lack of connection: it\u2019s difficult to please someone you can\u2019t empathise with, even if you like them as a person<\/li>\n
• They want a style of jewellery made that\u2019s not just out of your comfort zone, but requires you to put in long hours of research and possibly costly trial and error to complete<\/li>\n
• There’s more than one decision-maker when it comes to the brief and approval of the final piece: design by committee can be infuriating!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  It\u2019s absolutely possible to accept a commission that involves one of the above scenarios, but if you’re picking up several of these warning signs, you’re likely staring down a headache that ultimately doesn’t\u00a0 serve you or the client. If a client raises any one of these red flags that you find particularly frustrating then it\u2019s best for both parties to hand off the job to another jewellery from the get-go. It\u2019s way harder to bow out of a job gracefully once a project has begun.<\/p>\n

  
  \nHow to say no upfront when you know the client is not a good fit:
  \n<\/strong>It\u2019s helpful to create a script (or several scripts for each scenario) that you can draw on. A good script will let the client down tactfully and also strategically frame you as a professional through and through. This is easiest to do via email or text but there will be times when you\u2019re dealing with the person face to face and then it\u2019s easy to fall back onto two excuses in particular that can be damaging to your profession:<\/p>\n

  Scheduling conflicts: <\/strong>it sounds impressive to be busy, and all independent professionals wear a large workload like a badge of honour. But beware of using this reasoning if the client\u2019s timeframe is too urgent to begin with. Creating the impression that it could be done that quickly under normal circumstances results in unreasonable expectations and devalues your craft. Rather advise them that they need to either completely simplify the intricacy of the item they want or forget marking this particular occasion with a custom piece. Try and find them a ready-made piece from your range or refer them to a colleague whose work you know will suit their taste, and perhaps score a referral commission, or at least some goodwill and future reciprocal referrals from that jewellery.<\/p>\n

  Budget: <\/strong>Be careful that you don\u2019t only cite metal and production costs as a reason you can\u2019t meet their budget. Your skill and creativity is valuable and should be framed as such. As in the point above, take care not to inadvertently cheapen or damage the impression of your industry as a whole when talking about value.<\/p>\n

  Remember that your tone is as important as the words you use. Be firm and deliver your \u2018no\u2019 with confidence and kindness, whether it\u2019s verbally or via email. Reinforcing your expertise may also result in the client coming around to your way of working and perhaps coach them into someone you can work with, or might lead them to refer friends or family of theirs that you can connect with. And as always, understanding your ideal client profile is of utmost importance. It’s one of the key aspects in successfully finding the balance between the joy of making jewellery and the imperative of making a living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  As all passionate jewellery designers know, most job requests come with the tantalising possibility of stretching your artistic and technical talents to create cherished and beautiful items that are highly personal and significant. It can be tricky to discern when a commission is not a great fit if you\u2019re excited by the idea of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5641"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5645,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641\/revisions\/5645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}