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James Altucher: Why Startup Founders Should Say No To Almost Everything

This article is more than 9 years old.

I recently caught up with James Altucher, who is the new voice of the self-help genre. His latest book, that he co-authored with his wife Claudia Azula Altucher, is called The Power of No: Because One Little Word Can Bring Health, Abundance, and Happiness. James is the author of several other books, including the bestseller Choose Yourself. His blog, The Altucher Confidential, has attracted more than 15 million readers since its launch in 2010. He has started and run more than 20 companies, and sold several of those businesses for large exits. He has also run venture capital funds, hedge funds, angel funds, and currently sits on the boards of several companies. In addition, James hosts the extremely popular weekly podcast series "The James Altucher Show", where he's interviewed everyone from Tim Ferriss to Adam Carolla about a variety of topics, ranging from health to entrepreneurship.

In the following interview, James talks about why entrepreneurs should say no to almost everything, why saying no is important in all phases of your career, the proper way of saying no so you don't burn bridges and more.

Dan Schawbel: Can you give an example of a time when you were running a business that you said "no" and the impact it had on the growth of your company?

James Altucher: I was once running a hedge fund that had $60 million in it. This is not a lot and we were offered another $30 million but the group wanted to pay almost no fees. We said "No" for several reasons:

A) We felt it unfair to our current investors to reduce fees for a special group.

B) They would've been too much of our fund so if they were ever a problem it would've been hard to get their money back without negatively effecting our other investors.

C) We didn't like them.

"C" is very important. I don't want to say "life is short" since that's sort of cliche. But, let's put it another way: "today is short". Why spend today with people you don't like. Why spend today with people who are chained to you by money.

I don't know if "no" made me more or less money here but it certainly made me happier and less stressed.

Schawbel: Time management is a major concern of business founders. How can they use the power of no to free up time, remain sane and be more productive?

Altucher: Startup founders should say "no" to almost everything:

  • Meetings (most meetings don't result in anything. Unless the meeting is thoroughly pre-qualified, it's a no)
  • Hiring (founders in most cases should be doing almost every job and only hire extensively at a later stage)
  • Traveling (San Francisco or New York or any big city are big enough cities to support almost any business. No need to travel)
  • Web surfing, news reading, twitter (almost nothing you read will make you actually more "informed" in a way that helps your business. You might convince yourself otherwise but then you'd be lying to yourself.)
  • Networking. Your main focus should be building product and selling with contacts you already have. Further networking is almost always a waste of time.
  • Say "NO" to staying up all night. There are many scientifically proven reasons for this but getting 8 hours of sleep a night guarantees the highest productivity in the long run.
  • Dinner. Nobody in the US has ever starved by not eating dinner. Throw in no alcohol and now you have a super productive business. This is the Olympics. Not an extension of college.

That all said, these are all suggestions. They should also say "no" to whichever of these seems ridiculous since every business is different. The important thing is to remain physically healthy (if you are sick you can't run your business), be around people who love and respect you, be creative every day (your "idea" is never finished), and be grateful every day for the amazing opportunity you have. Don't squander it.

Schawbel: Do you believe it's smart to say "yes" earlier in your career and "no"  later in your career when you are more established? Why or why not?

Altucher: No. "No" is always smart. Everytime you say "yes" you inherit the problems of the person you say "yes" to. A simple example is picking up someone at the airport. When you say "yes" to them, suddenly it becomes your problem to find a car, meet them at the right spot, check on their flight, etc. And that's a SIMPLE example. The more yesses you say, the more problems you have.

Early in your career you want LESS problems, not MORE.

Schawbel: How do you avoid bad business partners and employees?

By being healthy as described at the end of question #2 you build great intuition in a short amount of time. But here's what I do. When I meet someone I ask three questions:

  • Is this person a friend or foe?
  • Will this person be draining on me?
  • Can I trust this person?

I just ask. I don't try to answer. The unconscious mind is 99% of your brain. It will answer and your body will tell you. This always works.

Schawbel: What if it's hard for you to say no to something even when you know you should? A lot of people want to save face and not burn bridges.

Altucher: ABC: Always be Constructive. If I saw "no" to someone, I start with a compliment (there's always something good to say) and then I am honest about where the "No" is coming from. This makes the "No" a compassionate No. One that is for the benefit of both parties. If they take it the wrong way then they would never have been good to say "yes" to anyway. It might take practice to do a good compassionate "no" but this type of No is the sort of No that great business relationships are built from.

Some of my best partnerships now began with a sincere No and then over time we learned to work together. In fact, I would say most of the money I have made started out of a compassionate and constructive No.

Dan Schawbel is a speaker and best-selling author. Subscribe to his newsletter.