If people don’t respect their own time, how do you think they’ll handle yours?
I was on a Zoom call this morning with a guy who used to be the city manager of one of the faster growing cities in my area. He retired, moved into development consulting, and said something that stuck with me.
He joked that he has to “pick and choose” who he works with now — not because he’s trying to be fancy, but because there are more people wanting his time than he has hours to give.
That hit home for me, because I’ve lived the same thing in real estate.
I’ve written about this before: most people are terrified to fire a bad client. They think if they walk away from someone who drains them, they’ll never replace the lost business.
It feels risky. It feels like turning down money.
But here’s the odd thing about business — and it took me a while to learn this:
The minute you stop saying yes to everyone, the right people start showing up.
Not in a mystical way. Just cause and effect.
When you’re overloaded, dealing with unreasonable demands, endless hand-holding, price-shoppers, or high-maintenance/low-commitment personalities… you don’t have the bandwidth to serve the people you should be serving.
You aren’t as sharp. You aren’t as available. You don’t follow your instincts. You don’t market as well.
You rush. You put things off. You tolerate behavior you shouldn’t. You start operating from pressure instead of intention.
Every minute with a bad client is a minute you can’t spend with a good one. And good clients usually demand less time while giving you more back, it’s worse than just a one to one trade.
There’s a standard. There has to be.
And here’s the part most people don’t believe until they live it:
Good clients notice when you raise your standards.
Bad clients notice too — and disappear.
It’s like the air changes. Smart, reasonable people are drawn to someone who values their own time and expertise.
They respect it. They even expect it. And the ones who don’t? They self-select out.
I’ve had deals in the past where everything in my gut said, “This isn’t a fit.” The minute I trusted that — not rudely, just clearly — I made more room for the right ones. And the right ones showed up faster than I would’ve predicted.
Not because I’m special.
Because that’s how the world works.
People who operate at a high level want to work with other people who operate at a high level. The Sherman guy on the call? Same story.
He’s not being conceited. He just knows that if he says yes to the wrong project, it keeps him from doing the projects that actually matter.
Most professionals never make that leap. They cling to every lead, every maybe, every person who says “I’m thinking about it.” They treat scarcity like a strategy. And they wonder why they’re exhausted.
The truth is simple:
You don’t starve by turning down bad work.
You starve by letting bad work crowd out the good.
Set the standard. Hold it.
The quality of your clients will rise to meet you.
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PS- The flip side of me having the right clients is that if you’re one of the “good ones” then you should only work with top professionals.
You’re probably not ready to sell now. You know that the time to start preparing for a big event like that is before you’re actually ready.
But you also know how it is with real estate agents. You reach out and ask for some info, then regret it because the agent won’t stop pestering you about needed to sell now.
But if you work with someone who already attracts top clients, they don’t have time to pester people who aren’t ready.
(Hello).
Is it ever a bad idea to start talking to someone who knows the business, respects your time, and acts with integrity?
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