Why saying NO! feels impossible, and what you can do about it.

Why is it so hard for entrepreneurs to say "no"? As we debated on the latest episode of Empowering Entrepreneurs, it turns out that staying focused is often tougher than finding opportunities!

Entrepreneurs are naturally solution-seekers and optimists, always believing they can solve “just one more problem.” But as hosts Julie Smith and Glenn Harper discussed, knowing when—and why—to say “no” is essential for sustainable growth and maintaining your sanity.

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Here are key takeaways from our conversation:

• The Yes Syndrome: Julie opens up about her lifelong struggle with saying yes to every opportunity and the internal questions she faces: “Why can’t I say no?” and “What does another yes actually change?”
• Opportunity Everywhere: Glenn discusses how entrepreneurs are “programmed” to see solutions everywhere—and the challenge of balancing self-belief with actual bandwidth. He compares the entrepreneurial mindset to NFL players trying to play every position—it just isn’t sustainable in the long run!
• Delegation and Teamwork: Both Glenn and Julie explore the idea of leveraging teams and partnerships to avoid overcommitting. Building a support system isn’t just smart—it’s essential if you want to make a real impact without burning out.
• Defining Your ‘Why’: Before jumping into something new, Glenn challenges listeners to ask, “Just because I can, should I?” Are you saying yes for money, ego, the thrill of a challenge, or simply to stay busy? Getting clear on your motivation helps you focus on what truly matters.
• Relaxation Remains Elusive: Julie and Glenn humorously discuss what it means to actually relax—a concept that seems almost mythical for most entrepreneurs. Apparently, some people do sit on boats or drink iced tea all day!
• Solving vs. Scaling: The conversation circles back to the risks of “solopreneur” syndrome versus building teams and systems. It’s about knowing your limits, setting boundaries, and ensuring that you’re not just solving endless problems but making intentional progress.

Entrepreneurship isn’t simply about chasing every opportunity. The real magic comes from knowing when to say no, understanding your ‘why,’ and creating systems that let you make an impact without sacrificing your health or the quality of your work.

Stay empowered.

00:00 Delegation Enables Sustainable Productivity

03:49 "Why Do Anything?"

06:19 "Solving Drives Success"

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Without a business partner who holds you accountable, it’s easy to be so busy ‘doing’ business that you don’t have the right strategy to grow your business.

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Glenn Harper, CPA, is the Owner and Managing Partner of Harper & Company CPAs Plus, a top 10 Managing Partner in the country (Accounting Today's 2022 MP Elite). His firm won the 2021 Luca Award for Firm of the Year. 

An entrepreneur and speaker, Glenn transformed his firm into an advisory-focused practice, doubling revenue and profit in two years. He teaches entrepreneurs to build financial and operational excellence, speaks nationwide to CPA firm owners about running their businesses like entrepreneurs, and consults with firms across the country. Glenn enjoys golfing, fishing, hiking, cooking, and spending time with his family.

Julie Smith, MBA, is a serial entrepreneur in the public accounting space. She is the Founder of EmpowerCPA™, Founder of PureTax, LLC, COO for Harper & Company CPAs Plus, and Co-host of the Empowering Entrepreneurs podcast. 

Named CPA.com's 2021 Innovative Practitioner of Year, Julie led Harper & Company's transition to an advisory-focused firm, doubling revenue and profit in two years. She now empowers other CPA firm owners nationwide through consulting and speaking, teaching them how to run their businesses like entrepreneurs. Julie lives in Columbus, OH with her family and enjoys travel, coaching basketball, sporting events, and the occasional shopping spree.

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Copyright 2026 Glenn Harper

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm Glenn Harper.

Julie Smith.

How we doing today?

Well, you know, it's the same day, and we just finished another episode, and immediately after we were done, we got into this rabbit hole about the why. Why do some entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs as a whole? And again, I'm going to put my vulnerability myself out there. It was like, why do I always say yes? Why can't I say no? Why do I need to say yes to what? Another opportunity? Why, like, what does it change? Or what am I attempting to do with another one? This is conversation we probably have daily, weekly. And. And so we thought it would probably resonate with our listeners as we were bickering back here or having a great conversation about why.

Why? And this is probably one of the biggest things that happen to entrepreneurs is because typical entrepreneur looks at opportunity everywhere, right? And they just believe in themselves so much that they can. They can bring a solution, and probably the solution will solve somebody's problem, and they're probably going to make some money on that, or they just might do it because they want to solve the problem. They don't even want the money. They just want to solve a problem. But that's just how most entrepreneurs are programmed. And the question is, if you're already working at peak capacity from time, effort, emotional content, the space, like you just like you're at the wit's end, what's that over there? I could do that. And the question is, well, why? And then the other question then becomes, why not? Right? So. So there's the challenge, the peek behind.

Our dinner conversations daily.

Yes. And it's not so much that it's a why or why not question is, the question is, is in your current realm, have you set things up where you can step away a little bit so you can find that extra bandwidth, or do you have a team you can drop in to solve that over there, where you're just giving some advice, but you're not all in on it. You can have somebody else help you do that, because if not, you can't. Do you always look like in the NFL you see somebody playing both ways or playing receiver and offensive back, right? By the time they get to third quarter, they just can't. It's hard for them to run anymore. You can't do it. All right? That's why they have different people in different positions doing what they do, because you got to be good at that. One thing.

If you're running one business and you're doing it well, and you take half your time now and go put it to another company and this wasn't set up right. Well, this one's going to suffer just the way it is and this one is never going to be as good as it could because you didn't put all your time to it. So trying to understand where do you put your time at and what those opportunities are. That's why we have great, great colleagues, you, great, great relationships where you might want to partner with somebody, let them maybe do more of the thing which you have this other piece that you do. So you can still be involved to make an impact, but you don't have to take away too much from here.

Yeah, I guess that's how I see our partnership. I'm the yes. And in general, you're the no.

Well, no, I get there. But we, we have to. You as a general, you don't plan and prepare for what you're trying to accomplish. It's. There's going to be a really big cliff. It's, it's really hard, not impossible, but it's very improbable. If you don't do the homework and set it and do the things right way, you're not going to get the results you want. But that goes to the whole point.

Sometimes you just believe so well that it's going to work and no matter what all the pitfalls are at the end is going to be the bright spot. You got to do it anyway. And they're in layers where most entrepreneurs end up. Like, I just know it's going to work. Let's just do it.

So what advice would you give for people who, you know, when you ask me why, what should those people on the other side of that be thinking about?

The. The. That's the hardest question, is just because I can, should I. That's the question. What is. What am I going to get out of that other than another checkbox that did something cool? Am I doing it for the money? Am I doing it for the ego as I'm doing because it's a challenge? Am I doing because I want to stay busy? Like, why am I going to go do that other thing? And that other thing. There's nothing wrong with it. Like all those things are valid excuses or reasons or rationales to go do it.

But the question is why? Because if you can't define your why, then you're just being busy to be busy. And nobody wants to be busy just to be busy because, you know, we're not supposed to be busy all the Time. We're supposed to relax a little bit, I think. Right.

What does relax look like?

It's very elusive, but apparently, get this, people sit around and do nothing all day. It's very bizarre. I.

They're busy, they're on a boat ride.

Maybe drink some iced tea, I don't know. But people do this thing. I've heard rumors. I don't know what that's like.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's important as you go through your journey, like, as I can admit, like, I can solve it and I just want to solve it. And it's really hard to think, like, why would I not do that? Right.

Well, remember, I mean, I understand unlimited. There's unlimited problems. You only have so much bandwidth. And this is everything I have, and there's no doubt. And again, it's like if you're president, like, there's a billion things you can try to solve, but you can only do so much. So if you. But if you're going to do something, try to do it to the best of your ability. Close the loop on it, or get it close where somebody else then can take that over and run with it.

And then you put your effort to the next one, bring your team in and do it. But it's really hard to do, solve everybody's problems because now you didn't have intentions.

And I think that goes back to another episode we did of solopreneur versus entrepreneur. Right. Like, if you're going to be a solopreneur, the shiny object syndrome, there's going to be a cliff. You've got to be able to build teams and systems and processes and obviously have enough awareness to know your own boundaries, limits. What does it look like if you're putting in, what are you taking away from?

Well, remember, and this is a key takeaway from this, generally, people that see opportunities, it's not the money that's driving them. The money will come if something is successful. It's the challenge of solving something. It's the challenge of bringing a solution. It's the challenge of creating an opportunity for either your client or your team to go do something. That's the allure. It's, it's. It's solving a complex algorithm that you can just see.

I click, click, click, and it's solved. And, and other people can't see that. That's the fun part. If you solve things, the money will come. If you go into something because you want to make the money at it, you're probably not going to be as successful at as if you're looking at to try to solve a problem or a need that somebody might have.

I agree. What a great life lesson today.

There it is. Well, another great episode of the Empowering Entre podcast. I'm Glenn Harper.

Julie Smith.