Should you ever turn away business?

You market diligently to get new business - should you take all that comes your way?

I don't think so. But maybe that's because I turned down what might have been an extensive and lucrative copywriting project just recently. The clients wanted me to write a letter promoting someone I think is a monster. I thought long and hard about it and then said no.

Now that kind of thing doesn't happen all the time. There aren't that many monsters who have support systems like that. But a writer can be asked to promote a product that is inferior or even harmful.

A building contractor can be asked to cut corners to make a spec house cost less, a garage owner can be asked to rewind an odometer - and a real estate agent can be asked to list a home under circumstances that just aren't right.

For instance, some owners ask their Realtors to withhold information about a property that would cause buyers to turn away. It could be the presence of a sex offender next door, or the fact that the roof leaks - but it is something that buyers clearly should know.

But there's another reason to turn down business. That is your own happiness. My belief is that you should not deliberately do business with a person who makes you uncomfortable and unhappy every time you see them or hear their voice on the phone - and there are people like that. They're arrogant or just difficult at every turn.

I say, if you see them coming, run the other way. The time, energy, and stress you'll expend on them could be much better spent working with people who are pleasant and cooperative. Plus, often the transactions you try to put together with those people fall apart at the last minute - leaving you nothing but a headache for your effort.

We all need to work - but we can choose to work at a job we love with people we appreciate.