Your business goal is growth. However, with this growth comes increased demands for your time, attention and energy. When left unchecked, these demands can derail your schedule and take you away from doing the things that will help your business continue to grow.

Author and consultant Kimanzi Constable says that in order to scale your business beyond your goals, you must teach others to respect your boundaries and your business. In this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, we share Constable’s key points to consider as you take on new clients and continue to grow your business.

Respect starts with you. If you want people to respect your boundaries and business, you must begin by honoring and respecting yourself. Set a goal to become the strongest version of yourself in your mind, body and spirit. Constable says that when you respect yourself, you refuse to put up with anything that doesn’t honor you, your business and your decisions. We all do things we regret. Every entrepreneur has made poor business decisions. That’s part of your experience and that’s okay. Forgive yourself and respect yourself. Let the respect you have for yourself be so strong that others can feel it without you having to say a single word. Constable encourages sales professionals and business owners to wake up every day determined to put in the work that makes them stronger mentally and better at what they do.

Say no and mean it. Do you tend to have some people-pleasing tendencies? Most of us do. We find it hard to say no even though our intuition is screaming at us. The reason our boundaries get violated is because of our unwillingness to say no more often and mean it. However, learning how to say no is a critical part of your growth and success. Constable says that you teach others how to treat your business by what you tolerate. If you allow other people to test your boundaries after you’ve said no, what happens next is on you. You have to mean it. You have to learn when to say no and your no’s have to be clear. Let your actions do the talking. As you say no more often and put those boundaries in place, people will be less likely to test them. This can be casual connections, business connections, fans or followers, and even family members. Teach others to respect your no by meaning it.

Don’t carry other people’s baggage. Baggage can include late payments, missed payments, frequent requests for discounts, low-tier offers to barter, criticism of how you operate your business, people wasting your time and more. Constable urges professionals to remember that they don’t have to work with pain in the you-know-what clients. You don’t have to tolerate disrespect and you don’t have to compromise your price or values.

Have an abundance mindset. When you live in scarcity, you tolerate more than you should because you think that’s what will get the bills paid. It might, but at what cost? There is more than enough income and opportunity for everyone willing to work for it.

Don’t let anyone compromise your values. When you’re intentional with the boundaries you set, you teach people how to treat you and your business.

Source: Kimanzi Constable is the author of four books and writes for 14 publications. He travels to more than 25 countries a year for corporate consulting projects.