Word.

In my experience this is the single most important thing to remind yourself when doing practically anything related to your business, particularly if you’re alone or a micro-team.

You get the new client phone call, they sketch out the requirements and Mr/Ms Gut tells you “This feels like a £10k job”. Fine, that’s your benchmark. Tell them. Do they run away screaming? No? OK great, their expectations are managed and you’re less likely to get into the situation where you put a bunch of time in to find out you’re way out of their ballpark.

Gut: “This client is going to be a nightmare”.

Step.

Gut: “This client *is* a nightmare”.

Fire them as soon as you can.

Gut: “We’re going to struggle to meet this deadline”.

Tell your client immediately. You may have an awkward conversation but they’ll probably respect you for it longer-term and if not, maybe they are not the right fit for you.

Gut: “Something we’re doing isn’t working”

Try and figure out what it is and make the change, your gut is the early warning alarm here, don’t ignore it.

Gut: “Business opportunity x over here feels really promising, but it’s a departure from what we normally do”

Do some due diligence, but dip your toe in.

Of course your gut may sometimes be wrong, so don’t trust it blindly. Reflect and where appropriate ask other people’s opinions but if on balance it’s a coin toss, go with your gut every time.