The F Word: What I Learned From Firing a Client
For the first time in my working career, I fired a client. Normally, I prospect clients on my own and a lot of time and thought goes into it. Things I check for is marketability, does the brand have a story to tell, is the product or service of quality and who is the founder/owner of this business. These are all things I research just from their website and social media posts. I try to research as much as I can online about the founder. My goal is to work with like-minded people (predominantly women) who can explain their business model inside and out and love what they do. This particular client came through a former client, with whom I still have a good relationship with and continue to support her small, growing business. I feel absolutely flattered and blessed that my former client would recommend me, although I wish she gave me a heads up. I have a strong rule of not giving out emails or other info unless I’ve asked permission to do so. That sounds fair, right?
An email comes into my inbox from this small business owner, she explains her purpose for reaching out and that I was recommended by so and so. Before replying back to her I do my due diligence; checking out her website, socials, which all seemed okay, but not great in my book (website could’ve used some updating). Would I have prospected her brand? No, I think your website explains everything about your brand and if that doesn’t get me excited, I stop there. The timing was terrible for me, I had some extra financial expenses that year, and at that point I was prospecting for new business, but nothing panned out the way I wanted it to. So when this email came in, I had to consider if maybe this was a blessing in disguise? How bad can this potential client be if it came from another past client. After some video calls later, I reluctantly signed her, because I needed that extra money.
Money is always the name of the whore.
A few months in, this new client was consistently late on payments and some other inconsistencies that I kept being lenient about since she owned a small business. And then radio silence in regards to very much overdue payments owed to me. I run a pretty tight small ship, especially when it comes to invoicing. Freelancers need to be stern, but of course compassionate, which I have been with other clients (a case by case basis). I am big on communication, if you’re going to delay a payment, tell me and for how long, I count honesty as an important currency.
The radio silence was very high school in my opinion, there was no room for inconvenient tactics. Even though I was desperately seeking an answer and of course money, I remained professional and open to an explanation.
