Week 67 - How a few "nos" stop you from hundreds of "yeses" 🦄

Author

Yurii Lazaruk
June 21, 2026

Hey my friend, have you ever felt uncomfortable talking to potential clients or selling your services even though you genuinely believed you would help them? 🤓

Today, let's talk about why sales feels bad when we think of it as manipulation, and why it feels natural when we see it as helping people discover something valuable.

Try This Yourself


Every year at Freelance Unlocked, we offer the Super Early Birds ticket with a price that sounds like a bargain compared to the usual tickets.

In previous years, around 300 people took this opportunity and were very happy, so this week I was going to previous participants to ask them whether they already have a ticket.

I messaged around 150 people and had 3 main types of responses:

  • taking it right away,

  • I don’t plan for that long,

  • and „Yurii, please don’t sell” 😜

The first two answers were most common, with a 50-50 split.

The “don’t sell” part I heard from like 2-3 people, but, of course, it screams the loudest.

Funny how that works, right? 100 people can appreciate what you're doing. 3 people can ignore it. But the one negative comment somehow rents an entire apartment in your head 🤷‍♂️

On one side, yes, I’m selling; it’s true. But on the other side, I’m doing it only because I see real value people get from the conference and genuinely believe it’s a great offer for them.

So when I hear “don’t sell,” I feel like I’m doing something bad. But the thing is I’m taking it personally as if I’m trying to trick people into something they don’t need.

Actually, this reminds me of Week 52 (People Are Different, People). No matter how good your intentions are, no matter how valuable your offer is, some people simply won't want what you have.

And that's not a problem to solve.

It's reality.

The main question is whether those voices are the majority. Because if yes, well, I need to adapt and move on.

Otherwise, I tell them it’s a gentle reminder about the great offer I don’t want them to miss, and move on to another person who’ll be happy to take this offer.

I call this the Conviction Principle 🤓

Friendworking is not about convincing everyone. It's about believing strongly enough in your value that rejection doesn't stop you from helping the people who need it.

This also connects nicely to the Alignment Principle: not everyone is your person and not everyone is your customer. And that's okay.

Tiny Friendworking experiment this week 🤓

Think about something you genuinely believe creates value: your service or product, a book you’ve recently read, a great person you know, an amazing community you’re a member of.

Then ask yourself:

"If I truly believe this can help someone, what stops me from recommending it?"

Notice what answer comes up.

tl;dr: Rejection is part of helping. If you genuinely believe in the value you create, don't let a few "nos" stop you from reaching the people who need a "yes".

Expand Your Mindset


Some time ago, I asked my friend how they sell products for thousands of dollars, and they told me: it’s easy, I just truly believe in the value behind the product, and the main question is not whether they buy, but more of what tier.

That answer stayed with me because it completely reframed sales. The best salespeople I've ever met weren't obsessed with closing. They were obsessed with solving problems.

Actually, I’ve been building a community for sales professionals for over 5 years (and even hosted a conference for 700 sales experts in Ukraine), and during that time I’ve read dozens of sales books and spoken with hundreds of sales professionals on podcasts, webinars, and personal conversations.

I learned that sales is not about getting money from people for something you clearly know they don’t need.

True sales is about wholeheartedly believing that your product or services make people's lives better, and exposing this opportunity to those who actually need it.

This reminds me of Week 60 (I Love Sales): one of the biggest mistakes we make is treating sales as something separate from helping. In reality, they're often the same thing.

Because if you discover something that genuinely improves people's lives and never tell them about it, are you really helping? 😏

tl;dr If you think you're bad at sales, ask yourself two questions: Do I genuinely believe in the value? Am I talking to the right people?

Friendworking Principle #5: The Conviction Principle 🤓

When you genuinely believe in the value you create, sharing it isn't manipulation.

It's the best service!

Now I'm curious 🤓

What's something you genuinely believe creates value, but still feel uncomfortable recommending to others? Why?

Hit reply and tell me 😉

💡 What influenced me this week 💡

Thoughts of the week:

  • “There’s a big difference between truly knowing something and just sounding smart talking about it.” - Sahil Bloom’s newsletter

  • “I often describe community as relationships at scale.” - Joshua Zerkel, The Community Code newsletter

  • “When your mind drifts into the darkness of the enormity of the task ahead, change the narrative. Create a new micro-goal. Something to look forward to. A game within a game.” - Sahil Bloom’s newsletter

  • “Originality is earned through long, uncomfortable periods of seemingly unoriginal work.” - Sahil Bloom’s newsletter

  • “Teen girls are an amazing predictor of what is going to eventually rise to mainstream success.” - Lia Haberman, Creator Spotlight newsletter

Song of the week:

Book and quotes of the week:

“To encourage people to attempt something they fear, you must provide rapid positive feedback that builds self-confidence.”

“Take complex tasks and make them simple; long tasks and make them short; vague tasks and make them specific; and high-stakes tasks and make them risk-free.”

“When faced with a setback, we need to learn to say, “Aha! I just discovered what doesn’t work,” and not, “Oh no! Once again I’m an utter failure.” We need to interpret setbacks as guides, and not as brakes.”

Tools that I use with referrals:

  • Descript - for anything around podcasting and video editing

  • Beehiiv - for a newsletter (that’s what you receive 😅)

  • Text Blaze - to access message templates with shortcuts (like “/ty”)

  • Exali - promo “FROMYURII” - indemnity insurance for independent experts in Europe

  • Manus - for building complex systems and projects

Daily actions:

  • tell 1 person what I’m thankful to them for

  • read a self-development book/listen to a professional podcast for 15 minutes

  • make a valuable post/comment on LinkedIn

  • tag 10 people in my connections database

  • connect with 10 interesting people on LinkedIn

Weekly actions:

If you have any thoughts, ideas, or questions, please 👇

And if you’d like to have more 👋 Friendworking in your life 👇

See you next week! 👋