Consideration Must Be Mutual
Sneakily being pushy out of feigned ignorance is still pushy and consideration is reserved for
those who consider your autonomy, free will, and choice over matters belonging to your jurisdiction. Only neutrality is owed to intruders on any level. My private life is mine to own.
Even pushing unwanted services, connections you don't have time for, or anything is a sign of someone with control issues that you have a right to say no to. Save your explanations for the deserving.
"Friends" do not tell people how to spend *their* limited spare time or hijack their vision/try to push them around.
You do *not* need to spend already budgetted for time and energy to "appease" people who do not value your free will, autonomy, and baseline rights to choose your priorities in life as they're unwinnable and will bleed you dry if you allow them to. You have obligations like anyone else and being responsible isn't stealing from anyone.
Guarding your private time is not an unwillingness to "help" when you have done enough of that with an online brand and a fundraiser, do not ever be used or walked on by leeches who can't be bothered to use Google instead of trying to take from you at your own expense.
I truly do not care what and who I miss out on while I guard my mental recharge time which is critical to my survival so "speculative ROI" doesn't sway me and I understand only manipulators will have a severe problem with it, despite you being the one handling the consequences of losing precious mental energy to pointless nonsense.
They'll twist what you say and they'll try to overcome your objections, you owe no one personal information to appease them cutting into your self-care time as you suffer the consequences and NO is your right.
This can divert your focus from your priorities, consuming mental bandwidth that could be better utilized elsewhere. Context switching, regardless of how long it takes, drains your mental energy and detracts from what you should be focusing on. You don't owe anyone explanations for not being interested in their offerings, especially when they're not aligned with your needs or goals. Protecting your time and attention from these distractions allows you to stay focused on what truly matters for your business's success.
These clingy and emotionally draining (lacking boundaries) kinds of people will take a mile when you give an inch so giving them nothing is the best way forward and I don't believe that there is any safe way to engage with them even if they're not necessarily a safety threat, they are definitely a threat to your stress levels, because engaging with that level of difficulty when they bring nothing to the table except trying to force something on you is not worth it.
Nothing good can come out of you engaging with pointless stress-creators.
Authentic individuals naturally display courtesy and respect towards others' time, without any repetition of clear non-verbal boundaries or needing to be forced to do so.
Safety isn't always physical, it can be psychological and subtle disrespect can snowball so it's best to steer clear and do so peacefully without any hard feelings.