In order to do your job, you need to be able to talk to decision-makers and need to know that your opinion, including the value of the given solution, will be given serious consideration. If that is not on the cards, if the client is used to being the only thinking head in the room and would find the notion of treating anyone they pay as their equal laughable, the job is a trap.
There is no shame in falling into a trap or being forced into one, that happens to the best of us.
Stepping into one of our own free wills, maybe because we feel we should, is another matter.
But there is also gleeful delight from expertly dodging a trap.
I hope you all know the general thrill that you feel as a direct consequence of saying “no” to a bad-fit job, client, or deadline. Even if it thins out your immediate budget, proof that you take your professional pride seriously enough to decline cash is a joyful power trip.
David C. Baker says that the only bargaining power experts truly have is the option of taking our expertise away. I would add, that it only works if the client knows enough about their own situation to realize how damaging for them could that be.
Sometimes, you can teach them. Other times, you know that won’t work. When that happens, do yourself a favor and say “no”. Prove to yourself and other potential clients that you are both willing and able to dodge traps.
Not today.