WhizzO doesn't turn down many clients.

Since we aren't the ACLU, we of course refuse to work with hate groups like the KKK, JDL, or Centro Sin Fronteras. Since we'd expect their checks to bounce, this isn't just moral conviction; it's also good business.

But in a few cases, we have turned down business because a prospective client -- or even a current client -- insisted on a path that we believed may backfire, or was just plain a waste of money.

We'll cajole, plead, propose, instruct, whine and cuss, but sometimes our best efforts fail, and sometimes we'll say no, or the prospect will tell us to get lost and not let the door slap us on the back on our way out.

If possible, we'll recommend another agency. This rarely matters, as the owners or business managers of companies we just declined to represent oftentimes don't think much of us.

There haven't been many such occasions over the years, but WhizzO's prediction of disaster or wasted money has always been right. On a couple occasions a prospective client has later thanked us for having the guts to disagree, and we've subsequently done business together. Other times, it's just plain goodbye.

Let's emphasize that not many projects fall into these categories and even then, not many result in rejected business. A good friend and former business partner, Scott Champion, likes to emphasize that without an established relationship, there's no reason for a prospective client to believe our counsel, especially if it's highly negative. Rather, says Scott, take the assignment, then work with the client to amend the project and get it rolling down the right track.

Sound advice, and most of the time, it works. On occasion, it doesn't. Sears on Tour failed, for example, because a cautious client was faced with too many new variables. Some businesses are built on the word "no." It's a safer, and reasonably trouble-free, life. It's also dull and diminishing, but there you go. Could we have done a better job of selling? Maybe. But if better salesmanship was the key, then why hasn't a better salesman appeared to make this great idea a reality? 'Fraid this one's forever in the "coulda but didn'ta" file.

Another good friend -- whom we won't identify or link to, because their work is exemplary and shouldn't be tainted by this example -- took on a major assignment from a huge firm. From the start, it was plain the plan was a complete and utter disaster. It would be impossible to burn money faster than this plan spent it and, frankly, burning it would have been a better plan than what transpired.

Their work was beautiful and even engaging, but it was ultimately like handing Stevie Wonder a colorized version of your home photo album: what's the point? The client managed so poorly that our friends didn't prosper, despite the huge sums involved. Other prospects saw them as 'damaged goods ' -- guilt by association. As Marge Simpson might caution:, "Let's never speak of it again."

The client, by the way, was Iridium. Bankrupt Iridium.

This goes right to the heart of a WhizzO Axiom: While it's necessary to spend money to make money, be sure you make more than you spend.