Why I will never be rich (or powerful)

Sometimes, I’m just not the best person for the job. And unfortunately, I'm not afraid to say so.

As a vendor, I have no trouble pointing out to my clients when they are about to pay me for something that could be done much more efficiently in-house. Sometimes they explain that, for whatever reason, it really makes more sense for me to do it, and I comply. Other times, they hear the logic in what I am saying and I lose work (of the revenue-generating kind).

In my corporate days, the equivalent experience looked like this: If it made more sense for someone else to take on a project – if s/he could do it more efficiently than I – I’d let that person take it (often along with the credit and high profile that went with the work).

I don't feel smart when I turn away work; but I don't feel good when I get paid to do something that the person paying me could have done just as easily for him- or herself.