𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 😔

Why you should take business relationships and breakups seriously:

I want to say one thing before you reach the end of the story.

This isn't going to be me bashing a former client.

At least, not by name.

For one, that isn't professional and isn't a good look.

Secondly, you won't learn anything from that.

When I took on the client I knew in my gut it was just a matter of time.

They were not going to be one of those life long accounts that I work to grow and send them a bottle of bourbon on the holidays, despite what we said to each other.

I knew from the beginning they were not going to implement any of my consulting work to optimize their business and get better results.

Really I knew they thought of me like a vending machine.

Push some buttons, get our products.

I'll tell you feeling dirty didn't come immediately.

I thought for a while 'oh it'll just be tough, I need to bring them some serious results and then they'll trust me advice'.

I wish I could say I was deluding myself for something other than money.

But money is what it was. It was at an early stage of this agency and I was ready to take on new clients full of potential and have their growth explode.

And there was a lot of potential there, but I knew inside it was never going to reach it.

Right there I should have stopped the work.

I've done it since then. When I know we have either reached the limits of what we can do for a client or they aren't going to make use of our efforts?

I professionally, but definitively, drop the client or refer them to someone I know that I truly believe can better suit their needs.

It doesn't happen often, but I've done it and I never sign the client back after they've left.

I can't only blame this client. My intuition told me not to take them.

Not because they weren't going to make me a lot of money.

Not because they were a pain to work with.

I've grown profitable accounts from shoestring budget and downright mean owners.

I can take that heat.

What I won't do is sign a client if I cannot help them.

That doesn't just mean help them get their products.

It means helping them become the type of company that has great brand products.

That type of company is adaptable and embraces what makes them unique.

The only client I am ashamed of is the one I know I can't truly help, but I still take their money.

It's only happened once and I swore it would never happen again.

Since then I've only taken clients on I know that we'll build beautiful things together and I'll make the best damn products their customers can handle.

And its all because I'll never forget the one client I was ashamed of.

You may not have had a client like this, but do you have anything from your past work that you use to remind yourself of the right way to run your business?

If you do, drop it in the comments below and share the wisdom.

Until then,

Stephen