If you need to hear it, it’s perfectly acceptable to say ‘No’.

No is a complete sentence. To activate my own ‘No’ muscle, I had to write it on a post it note and pin it on my monitor, cause I always naturally wanted to help. This would result in crazy unhealthy situations, like staying up till 1 am at night fixing client work, which they never appreciated or valued. (Sounds familiar?)

Boundaries are important. And a silly little trick like a bossy post it note, can help when you get caught off guard, and accidentally fall back into your old habit of saying yes to everything.

Here are 9 ways to say you are currently not accepting new clients:

  1. “I am not currently accepting new clients.”
  2. “My client list is full.”
  3. “We are at capacity and unable to take on new clients.”
  4. “We have reached our client limit for now.”
  5. “I am not taking any new clients at the moment.”
  6. “Due to high demand, we are not accepting new clients right now.”
  7. “I am fully booked and unable to take on additional clients.”
  8. “Our practice is currently not onboarding new clients.”
  9. “We are not taking new clients at this stage.”

To kindly complement this, you could:

  1. Offer to put them on a waitlist (maybe also indicate the turnaround time of the waitlist).
  2. Offer them a list of alternative professional service providers who may be able to support them.

Additionally, you could evaluate if dynamic or surge pricing suits your modus operandi.

https://intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au/business-and-finance/how-dynamic-pricing-works