“Sorry, I’m Just Not That Into You”

When it’s okay to walk away from a job or client.

Not every working relationship is going to work out. Whether it’s a traditional job setup or you’re working freelance, there are times when you and the people you’re working with discover that things aren’t working out.

That one or both sides are unhappy with the arrangement.

What do you do?

You could try to tough it out. But how long will that last? And what opportunities for a better situation are you missing by doing so?

Sometimes — most times — it’s okay to call it a day and make a clean break of it.

Here’s how to recognize the time has come to say goodbye.

The work doesn’t bring joy

I’m not suggesting you need to look forward to going to your job each day or even look forward to logging in to your email at home to see what’s on your plate for that day. But I am suggesting that if you are dreading the work ahead of you, maybe something is wrong.

I know people who have literally woken up crying because they couldn’t bear facing their job another day. That’s simply not sustainable. At best, two things are going to end up happening. Either your work will suffer to the point that you end up getting fired, or you decide enough is enough, and you turn in your keys and walk out the door yourself.

Both can be a bit frightening, but each time I’ve seen this happen to someone who truly hated their job, they always ended up in a better place. Some went freelance. Some went on to other jobs with better work environments or duties.

Freelance workers experience things similarly. Some clients are just nightmares to work for. They might be micromanagers, or always moving deadlines and project scopes, or just unpleasant personally.

Is the money worth it? Probably not.

It’s okay to walk away. There will be other clients.

The work doesn’t bring the bling

You deserve to be paid what you’re worth.

I understand that the economy has been tough lately. We are often tempted to take on a low paying job or gig in hopes that things will get better. More often than not, though, things don’t get that much better — if at all.

I’ve been guilty of this. In the early days of my freelancing career, I’ve taken on jobs that paid terribly. I put in a lot of time for little financial return, and all I really got out of the experience was a lot of resentment.

What’s worse is I was so busy chasing that small amount of money that I didn’t have enough time to go after better-paying clients. Now that I think about it, the experience isn’t too different from when I worked a straight job. I’d be slaving away fifty hours a week for a buck or two more than minimum wage and was too tired or strung out to try for a better paying job elsewhere.

Here’s a tip. There is almost always someone out there willing to pay you what you’re worth. Take a chance on yourself and allow yourself to find them.

You too popular (right now)

This is about being overbooked. If you’re working a traditional job, it could also apply in the sense of being overworked. That leads to burn-out followed by poor performance and resentment. That can go on for only so long before there’s no choice but to change the situation by either getting the work down to a manageable level or just getting out of Dodge before you get fired.

In the freelance world, it’s possible to take on too much work as well. I know newer, hungrier freelancers balk at the idea of turning down any job that comes their way. I’ve been there. But there also comes a time when you’ve taken on so much work that deadlines get missed, work suffers, and bad feelings start to develop — just as in a traditional work setup.

At that point, you just have to pick and choose which clients you want to keep working with and which ones you would be better off letting go — before they let you go.

Don’t worry about where future work will come from. The more experience you get as a freelancer, the easier it will be to find new assignments when the time comes. Don’t sacrifice your reputation by taking on more work than you can handle.

You have a ghost problem

This is a problem faced most often by freelancers, although I’ve seen it happen in traditional work settings as well.

You work on a project, send it in for feedback or payment, then never hear back. Or you’ve sent in a proposal that was explicitly requested — a proposal you spent days putting together — and again… crickets.

Sometimes it’s worse when they do get back to you weeks or months later. How are you supposed to trust them? How can you schedule your time if you don’t know when or if you’re ever going to hear from your client again?

Short answer: You can’t. Cut them loose. They’ll probably accuse you of being unprofessional. People who ghost you tend not to see that they’re the problem. You don’t need that in your life.

And this can happen in a traditional work environment. Ever have a boss who was nowhere to be found when there was work to be done? Or only showed up to yell about something?

Life is too short. Cut them loose.

You just don’t click

Sometimes a working relationship fails, and it’s really no one’s fault. There might be some personal differences or political ones, or you just simply don’t care for one another. It happens. So long as there’s no racist or sexist element at play, it’s hard to feel too bad about it.

You accept and move on. You take some comfort knowing that the working relationship was going to fail eventually, and it’s better over with sooner than later.

You’re better off without them

Times are tough. We all want to make sure the income is rolling in. That said, there are moments when a particular client or job is more trouble than it’s worth.

This is more than just about self-care. This is about self-preservation. If a situation isn’t working out, you’re not doing yourself any favors staying with it any longer than you absolutely have to.

There will be other opportunities. Just you wait.

Thank you for reading. I’d love to share more with you via my Bi-Weekly Word Roundup newsletter sent to subscribers every other Sunday. It will feature news, productivity tips, life hacks, and links to top stories making the rounds on the Internet. You can unsubscribe at any time.