For the full show notes and access to resources mentioned in this episode visit https://www.easyscaling.com/blog/episode50
This episode is part of our mini-series all about firing clients. Tune in as we get real and raw about parting ways with clients, why it happens, how to avoid it, and what you can do to make it easier when it does happen (because it will).
In this episode, we’re talking with Brittany Dixon, the Business Strategist, Productivity Coach, Podcaster, and Chief Efficiency Officer (CEO) of Brittany & Co. and The Productivity on Purpose Movement. She helps business owners build a business without burnout with her Days By Design Method. She is all about implementing organized time management, task management & client management strategies & systems in a SIMPLE way that allows entrepreneurs to grow their business AND take Fridays off!
Topics discussed:
Connect with Jordan Schanda King:
Connect with this week’s guest:
Love what you heard? Reviews really help us out! As a thank you, you can get my 90-Day Planning Formula ($97 Value) by submitting a screenshot of your 5-star review at easyscaling.com/podcastreview
For the full show notes and access to resources mentioned in this episode visit https://www.easyscaling.com/blog/episode50
This episode is part of our mini-series all about firing clients. Tune in as we get real and raw about parting ways with clients, why it happens, how to avoid it, and what you can do to make it easier when it does happen (because it will).
In this episode, we’re talking with Brittany Dixon, the Business Strategist, Productivity Coach, Podcaster, and Chief Efficiency Officer (CEO) of Brittany & Co. and The Productivity on Purpose Movement. She helps business owners build a business without burnout with her Days By Design Method. She is all about implementing organized time management, task management & client management strategies & systems in a SIMPLE way that allows entrepreneurs to grow their business AND take Fridays off!
Topics discussed:
Connect with Jordan Schanda King:
Connect with this week’s guest:
Love what you heard? Reviews really help us out! As a thank you, you can get my 90-Day Planning Formula ($97 Value) by submitting a screenshot of your 5-star review at easyscaling.com/podcastreview
Ep#49 - Parting ways with clients | with Brittany Dixon
Jordan: Hey, hey. Welcome to our mini-series, all about parting ways with clients, a k a firing clients, whatever you wanna call it. You know, it's all the same things happen, things happen with clients, and so we wanna talk about that in this series. We wanna talk about what happens when you need to fire a client.
What are some situations that you might be in? It's a good idea to part ways with a client. What are some red flags to look out for before you even bring a client on that could potentially say that this is not a good idea and other things that just make this process easier. What to do after it's happened, and then again, how to avoid it.
So I really hope you enjoy this series and thank you to all of my guests for joining me and being so open and honest. And transparent
All righty. In this episode I'm chatting with Britney Dixon. Britney is a business strategist, productivity coach, podcaster and chief efficiency officer of Britney and Co and the productivity on purpose movement. She helps business owners build a business without burnout by implementing time management, task management, and client management strategies and systems, which I love.
You all know that I'm all about these systems and processes. And you can tell as we're talking about, parting ways with clients and firing clients, that she's got her eye on how she can optimize her systems to help her with this, with this issue that we're all gonna come up against. So we really cover the full scope of parting ways with clients from recognizing red flags to.
How you can approach a client that, you know, you may see that there is a potential issue with, or that it's not a good fit. And then how you can kind of fix things on the backend for future to help you avoid having to fire the client at all. So we have a good time and I hope you enjoy this conversation.
Welcome, welcome everyone. Welcome Brittany.
Brittany: Hello. Glad to have you here on the show. Yeah, thanks so much for having
Jordan: me. Yeah. So we're gonna talk about parting ways with clients, which is the nice way of saying firing clients.
We are. And so this is gonna be a lot of fun. I know you've got some stories, you've got some lessons learned, and that's exactly what we wanna dive into. So, Yeah, why don't we just rip the bandaid and go straight into. your experience or, and experience that you've had firing a
Brittany: client? Yeah. So, which one? No,
I, I've had, I've had a few. I've had a few. yeah, so I was actually, I worked with a client probably about two years ago now, and, you know, that like gut feeling that you have, like from the get go, we were like, mm, yep. I don't know if this is a great idea, but like they're willing to pay me so, I feel like I should just do it.
Yeah. That's how this started. . Mm-hmm. . so I had met him at a conference and we just kind of chatted and connected and, I didn't even actually really follow up with him cause I didn't know that it was even a good fit at the time. And he like reached out to me on Facebook and was like, Hey, remember me from the conference?
Like I'd love to chat and see. a good fit for us to work together. I really think you could help coach me with systems and productivity. I was like, okay, like, let's have a call. So we had a call and just from the get go, just a lot of things he was saying and the questions he was asking, I was just like, this just feels off.
but I just kept going. Right, because do you remember
Jordan: any of the specific questions? Not to like totally interrupt your flow, but
Brittany: Yeah. he was just asking. But what if I wanna do it this way? And like, what if we do it this way? And I'm like, okay, well you're coming to me for expertise. So this is weird that like from the get-go, you're like already like, yeah, you already have a plan.
I'm like, okay. so it was a little bit of that and then just like pricing and discounts and, but what if we do it this way and. So it was just a lot around like pricing and like how things were done. And I'm like, you're coming to me for my expertise and my process, like, you're already questioning these.
So, but I kind of let it go. I'm like, all right, maybe he's just super, like inquisitive and just wants to know all the things. so we continued having the conversation and he's like, you know what? Let's do this. I, I want you to coach me through this. I want you to help me set up some of these systems. O okay, you're gonna pay me.
Let's go . So we start, right? We went through the process, right? Like at that point I still had, I had a good contract in place. Like I had a lot of pieces and parts. Looking back, obviously I can kind of, you know, improve some of those things and I have improved a lot of those things. But all of that was in place.
We start working together and then like, I think we were like three calls in and he just like starts dropping off the face of the planet. Like every time I would reach out and make sure he's coming to the next one and check in for questions, he like wouldn't respond until like two minutes before and then was like, oh, hey, I'm not coming.
I'm like, okay, I, I get it. Let's, let's reschedule. and that happened probably three times and I was like, okay, this is starting to like become a problem. So I kind of sent that message and was like, Hey. Like, we need to stick to this schedule or we're never gonna get to the end of this and we need to make sure we're doing things to implement.
and it was just really odd and he just, it just kept happening. So I continued reaching out and I was like, Hey, like you've gotta come to these calls. We're not gonna be on schedule. And then he like literally fell off the planet for like a month and did not respond at all, like whatsoever. And I basically kept checking in, you know, doing my due diligence on my end and.
He finally came back and he's like, sorry, I've been traveling and like didn't have time to do this. And I'm like, you know what? I think it's like time. We should just call it quits. Like we're like three months in and have made no progress because you don't come to things. so yeah, very nicely. I was like, it's, it's time to be done.
Jordan: Yeah. That's That's frustrating and I'm sure a lot of people listening to this, have like calls or different things like that as part of their packages. Yeah. And usually that is part of your contract, you know, like you have some type of like notice period or, you know, things like that. so that's interesting that he kind of just like,
Brittany: Kept.
Yeah. And I had a lot of those things in place. Now again, like I have them much more in ironclad now, but when I kind of had those in place, it was like, you have to come to the scheduled calls. Like, I understand life happens, right? Like, I've got kids. Yeah, stuff happens. You've gotta reschedule. I had to reschedule a couple times during our time together, but his was just like, Constant.
And then right when we got on calls, like he wanted to run them and like, I wanna do it this way. And it, it was just all around a bad experience. .
Jordan: Yeah, for sure. And I think it, it's, it's interesting cuz. , you're like, well, yeah, I had it in my contract. But what I think people fall into the trap of, and I don't know if this was part of your situation, but I've definitely fallen into this trap before, is you may say something in your contract, but if you don't hold people to that standard in real life, it's not, it's not going to like impact how they're actually reacting.
So you may say, oh, I don't work on weekends. But then if you. Work on weekends. Sometimes you set the expectation that, that you're gonna work on weekends, you know? And of course there's exceptions to everything. Like you can have a no reschedule policy, but most of us are gonna like, understand if something comes up, person wakes up sick as a dog and they can't come to the call.
Like that could happen to anyone. It could happen to you. Yeah. Like it just, yeah. Those are exceptions to be made. It's when the patterns come in to play that. yes, things can get a. Wonky. absolutely . I have a, another mint thing that you mentioned that I think is really cool because I run my business very much from my gut is this, this like, ding, ding, ding.
My gut is telling me this is a bad thing and then you do it anyway. Usually for the sake of money, like almost a hundred percent of the time when we ignore our guts, it's because of money. Yeah. . And so tell me more about how you recognize that if there's particular red flags that, that your gut is aware of.
If it's more of a feeling, how does that work for you?
Brittany: Yeah, I mean, I think it's just, I think it is just this feeling of like, Something is just off. like I said, he was asking for like discounts and special rates and like how I did things and, he seemed not very open to change. So a lot of those things, it's gonna make my job harder because yeah, like they're just not open to it.
So I think a lot of it's just that really like gut feeling. A lot of times too, like if we're on calls and the communication is just like wonky and we keep talking over top of each other and like interjecting, like I feel like that's always. A bad sign that you're not really gonna mesh well together because if it's happening from day one, like most likely that's gonna happen over and over.
And it's just, I don't know. I just had this feeling and I've had it before. Yeah. And again, I ignored it because of money. Right. , my, my gut's like, stop, don't do this. And my brain's like, shut up. We need this. and I have listened to my brain way too many times and have definitely, dealt with consequences of that.
But yeah, it's just this feeling, I, I don't know how to explain it. It's just this really weird where I'm just. Something's not right. .
Jordan: Yeah. Yeah. I, and I, I totally really, and understand what you're talking about with this feeling, and I don't, if you're, are you into human design at.
Brittany: yeah, I mean a little bit.
I'm into some of the Woo. I'm a projector. What's,
Jordan: you're a projector. Okay. So I'm a, a manifesting generator. Okay. My strategy is to respond and like, you know, the sac gut response is like the key thing for me. Yeah. So, I totally get what you're saying. Like for me, it's a very, like, obvious physical gut reaction and I can tell, like, and, and it, it, it comes down to vibes.
And I run, like I said, I run my business for the most part. From gut and vibes. Yeah. How I hire, how I make decisions like clients, all the things. Even like this podcast, like I never know what I'm gonna say, . I just kind of like go where my gut tells me to go and ask the questions I wanna ask. Right? So, I totally get it and I do think that there are like obvious tried and true.
Behaviors in potential clients that are red flags. So, like you said, asking a bunch, bunch of questions, wanting to do things that goes against your process. that I think probably apply like across the board. Yeah. Or should apply across the board for like most people, if not all people listening to this.
Like, we could probably all make a, a list and, and find five to 10 things in common. That should just be rules. Maybe we'll do a post about that. . Because like if they're asking you to use a different platform than you would normally use, like those are things that. Most businesses, the size of our businesses can't really accommodate that type of flexibility.
Yeah, yeah. and wanting to like change your, your process or your structure or your schedule what, or whatever. But then I think the, the gut piece, like the vibe piece is like a different, Thing. And it's very much, it's more intangible. It's not something that you can to always put your finger on or that it comes down to a question, but I think communication is a big, is a big part of it.
Brittany: Yeah. Yeah. And I think if I would've put some better like expectations in place from the get-go, like actually verbalized now. Mm-hmm. , obviously I've learned my lesson numerous times. Right. Like now. When I get on a call with a new project to kick it off, like we literally talk about that and like, what do you expect this project to look like?
What is your expectation of when we're finished with this, what you're gonna get? Like the communication, all of it. Because I think if you don't have that upfront, there is so many different things that could go wrong that. , they probably will, right? Yes. And I think that if you have this like really clear onboarding process in place and like how you're gonna communicate and when you're gonna communicate, and I'm not gonna do it on the weekends, and like you said, actually sticking to that, one of the biggest things I do is I, I don't typically work on the weekends, but sometimes I answer emails and I will make sure that I schedule it.
For Monday at 8:00 AM because I do not want them, assuming that I'm working on the weekends and that they can connect with me anytime. But that is very much talked about at the beginning of the process. Like, Hey, I'm Monday through Friday, nine to four, this is what this looks like. If you don't get communication back, it's gonna be the next day kind of thing.
and I think a lot of people put that in place. We'd. Solve a lot of these problems, but I also think, especially newest, newer business owners, they will try to conform to what that person wants and change the process and change. Mm-hmm. the platform. And I think that's where we run into a lot of issues.
Because you're trying to do everything, and like you said, the size of our business, you just can't, like, it's just not feasible.
Jordan: No, and usually like for me, it's more of like a. Those types of adjustments are, are more indicators than anything else of other boundaries that they're gonna end up crossing with you.
Yes. , it's like, it's less about, okay, they wanna communicate with you in Voxer instead of Slack. It's, it's not about that. It's about, it's about you caving to them wanting to do things differently and from the get go and. Yep. . It's a bad, it's just a bad dynamic in, it's like I'm all for like being flexible and accommodating people as it's appropriate and understanding, you know, when things don't go perfectly.
But, as a rule, like. Big. Yeah, big accommodations like that don't,
Brittany: don't work. You're the expert, right? Like they're coming to you, you're the expert, you're the one that has figured out the process, the flow, the way that you take them through the methods, the frameworks, like you're the one that has mastered those and they're coming to you and paying you for that.
So the fact that they're trying to change that, like you said, it's literally like a domino effect and it just kind of starts a bad
Jordan: situation. Yeah, and I mean, it's, even, I, I think. From my own experience, when I make accommodations like that, it can kind of eat away at your self-confidence a little bit, even if you don't even know it, because it just changes again, like it changes the dynamic, the the power dynamic, I guess.
Yeah. Between you and the client, and if, if you are supposed to show up as the expert and the authority, even if it, it's, it's a decision that. again, like something like Slack or Voxer. Yeah, just that type of decision of kind of caving to them and being like, okay, well I'm gonna inconvenience myself even though like this isn't really gonna work on how we do things at a larger scale with all of our clients.
Can just kind of undermine, I think your, your confidence in your authority to be able to show up with your clients. Yeah.
Brittany: I've actually lead the situation I've had that happened before as a systems person. I've obviously tried to learn lots of different systems. I've finally found the tools and the tech that work for me.
The ones I love, the ones I can teach really well, and more towards the beginning I would, I would be like all in on a sauna and somebody's like, well, I use click up, or I use this, and I'm like, okay, it's fine. It's the same. It's not the same thing. , no, 0%, no. They do the same thing, but there's so many nuances and differences that I would go into click up or Trello or monday.com and I didn't know what I was doing, so I look dumb.
And then like you said, it's like eating at my confidence, even though I know what I'm doing. I'm not a master at that specific platform. So it made it harder for me to show that expertise because I'm like, Well, this works like this in Asana and this is what we wanna accomplish, but I don't know how to do it over here.
So, yeah, I think you're right. And, but I think so many small business owners do that and they're like, no, it's fine. I'll just learn how to use this one. Or I'll just learn how to do this. And. it, it eats away at the confidence and then it's just the spiral effect from there. Yeah.
Jordan: Yep, for sure. So we, we've kind of touched on some of these things, but what are some like really tangible takeaways, or changes, not necessarily just based off of this one client, but based on, based on any experiences that you've had, you've had.
parting ways with clients? Like what are some tangible ways that you've changed your process, your, your decision making, anything?
Brittany: Yeah, so it's, as soon as I get that gut feeling, I spend the conversation to basically give them a referral and send them to someone. So, I don't ignore it anymore cause I ignore, ignored it too many times and had a bad outcome every single time.
So the first. Like inkling of that and like, you know what, actually I have this person. I think it would be a better fit for you. so that's definitely like from the get go, the biggest piece. I think too, just the contract, like I had a really great contract in place, but kind of beefing up those.
Reschedule and cancellation policies and, giving myself and the person the ability to get out of the contract at any point with written notice. And, just like the legal aspect of it, really beefing those pieces up to make sure it's pro protecting both of us. and then really just my onboarding process, like I touched on earlier, like making sure from day one, the kickoff call, like this is what it looks like.
This is the schedule, this is how we're gonna communicate. And that's all on a recorded call. So that, again, we're protecting both of us. And I can look back at the end of that and say, this is what you said, this is what we delivered. Here we go. Right. So I think just from all aspects, like the actual legal piece of it, the communication piece of it, how you feel about the relationship, those different pieces, like by putting some of these things in place, it's just helped tremend.
Kind of take down that, I haven't had to fire a client for probably about a year and a half now. and even then we ended on good terms. Like everything was fine. It just wasn't a good fit any longer. So. But when I was in the beginning, I think I fired like four . Yeah. And then you start questioning yourself, right?
Then you're like, Ugh, is it actually me, ? Yeah. Or is it the client? So by putting these things in place, you can really tell like it's probably not you, right? You've put these things in place and it's still not working. So it's probably just not a great fit.
Jordan: Yeah, well, it may be, it may be you in a sense that like you decided to work with someone you shouldn't have decided to work with.
That's been all the situations that, I mean, there are always gonna be situations where you need to part ways with someone. yeah, I, I think it's just un an unavoidable part of owning a business. the why behind partying ways with the clients can definitely vary. For me, it's almost, I think every single time been.
Because I didn't set a boundary or I ignored my gut, and that's fine. Like, I'm not, like, I'm not mad at myself about it. Like I, yeah, I think I've, I think I've finally gotten to the point where I've learned my lesson. we'll see. Yeah. .
Brittany: But, I know we say that and then we're like, wait, here comes another one.
I know, but at least we're going into it with kind of a different perspective of like, okay, these were the kind of red flags, the things that continue to happen. Like, let's, let's reevaluate. Yes.
Jordan: Yes. And I do think it, it's. I don't know, maybe sound kind of morbid, but like I do think it's important to get really clear on what those like very concrete things that people can do, like asking you to change your contract, asking you to, you know, accommodate some other kind of change or just generally I have a big beef with people being not very communicative, like being slow to respond to me.
Like I get everyone is busy. but when it comes to. , do you wanna work with us or not? Like I just don't have a lot of patience for people taking too long. If they've already said, yeah, I want to do it, but then they never respond for like two weeks from after I've sent them the proposal. It's like, sorry, just not gonna work.
Like, come back when you're ready. Like, I'm not mad at you. I just like, I can't hold space for that, for that long and often. , it ends up being more of a pattern and just how they communicate. So, just from what I've found. So let's, let's talk a little bit about, how you actually fire your clients, if that has changed.
or if they're, like, are there things that you would not recommend doing that maybe you used to do anything like that?
Brittany: Yeah. so I think like from the first day that you have that feeling, you've gotta at least initiate the conversation with them that, hey, like something is not working and that it might not end up in firing them or parting ways, right?
But from the time that you've got that first feeling, you have got to initiate the conversation because if you don't, it's just gonna be this thing that just builds and builds, and then you're gonna start resenting them. Every single thing that they do. And then it's gonna just like be the snowball and get to a point that it's gonna turn bad.
so I think starting that conversation, I think that it probably needs to be in writing first, which is something that I don't think I really did at, at, at the beginning. Like I just initiated the conversation and then, Didn't have any kind of proof, right? Because we wanna make sure we're keeping everything from a legal standpoint, right?
Like contracts and communication and recorded calls. In case this does turn bad. I've had a couple of those as well. Different story for a different day, but making sure that you've got that stuff in place and making sure that you've held up your end of the contract, you're completing the work that needs to be completed.
But I think the biggest thing is just like the open communication and just being really professional throughout the entire process. Even if they're not, because you can't kind of control their reaction to this, right? If you come to them and you're like, Hey, this isn't working anymore, like something's just not right.
I think we should part ways. They might not take that well, right? Like they've paid you, they want you to complete the work. You've just gotta be professional the entire time and really just make sure that you are. Documenting everything in case, you know, it goes to the worst case scenario. and a lot of this I didn't do just because I had never done it before, right?
So the first time that this happened, I'm like, flying blind and I'm like, what's happening ? I'm like, no, let me just fix this. and I, the more and more you learn and the more lessons you have, obviously you put those, those boundaries and things in place, but I think it's just that open communication's the biggest piece from the beginning at the end, whenever it's there.
because if you don't have. , it's gonna just get bad.
Jordan: Yeah. I, I love, I love this and not just because like, I'm just generally a fan of like being really transparent. but I think it, it, it's gonna be if you are openly communicating at the very start of there being any kind of issues. , that's the best way to ensure that it will go as well as it possibly can go.
Yeah. I I do think that usually it doesn't go great. Like I, I don't
Brittany: think it has to be a big go. It's not a fun situation in any complexity. Yeah. Yeah. But usually
Jordan: people are gonna be a little upset, like they're not gonna be thrilled that they're being fired. And almost no one wants to take the responsibility.
Like if somebody fired me and like made it because of something I did, like I, I of course am also gonna be defensive. Like we're all gonna be defensive, right? and so I think just kind of expecting that, going into it and being like, okay, how can I just like make this as smooth and PO as possible? And I do think the open communication early on, because that was one thing.
With like s suck, I have also fired, I don't know, maybe like five clients or something, . and I think that at least half of them, it has probably seemed like a little bit out of the blue because I didn't, I just was like, ugh. Like I was just feeling it behind the scenes. Yep. And. eating it and dealing with it and pushing it down until it got to the point where it was like, well, I can't deal with this shit anymore, so you got to go
Bye
Brittany: and, and then real, but not resentment though, right? Like then you're doing this in the background. They have no idea how you're feeling. You're resentful. They send you this one email and you're just like, Go off and they're like, where did this come from? ? You're like, oh yeah, I've been feeling that for months, but not communicating that is a huge problem.
Jordan: Yeah. Yeah. It's that's definitely not the ideal way. Yeah. to do it. and
Brittany: I think one thing I ran into too that would be helpful is like, you've gotta stick to your guns at that point. Like if you've made that decision and you said like, we're parting ways we're done. I actually had a client that I was trying to let go and.
But I, I still wanna pay you. And I was like, but I don't want you to . And she tried to get me to stay and she's like, I really just want you to keep doing this. What can I change? And I just basically told her like, it's not a great fit. But I can see, especially as service providers, especially in the beginning, if they're like, I'll pay you more, or I'll do this, that you would maybe cave in and you've just, it, it's not gonna end well.
Like you have got to stick to your guns once you've made that decision. And like, do not let them talk you back into working with. Mm. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . And that sounds harsh, but if it's not a good fit, it's not a good fit. It's not gonna work for anybody. Yeah.
Jordan: Yeah, for sure. A and I think that, again, this is why it's, it's so nuanced, but I think this is why it's important to like, just be aware and to have these open conversations because we obviously have, we have a big team, we have a lot of contractors.
You know, we have, I don't know, 20 people on our team. Five or six are employees, the rest are contractors. And so like there's a lot of like people interaction and like people problems that are gonna come up when you have a team that size. And that doesn't even count the like outside third party vendors that we use for different things for client work and for our own stuff.
Yeah. And just because something's not going perfectly doesn't necessarily mean you need, like I'm looking at it as a client now, so it's a little bit flipped, but. just because something's not going great or there's like a breakdown in communication or there's an issue or whatever. That doesn't mean you have to fire someone, but this is like where that open communication comes in.
Yep. And you can know pretty quickly, like if you bring up a problem with someone about, Hey, this isn't like, this isn't really working. We need to like figure this out. how that initial conversation goes usually is like the determining factor, like it's gonna work or not. Because you can either adjust like on either side, like usually both parties need to adjust.
Yeah. And move through it and then like have a better working relationship. Or that's when you get in those situations where you're like, okay, it's actually just not a good fit. I'm gonna have to fire. Client or this contract or this
Brittany: or whatever. I, I, I was open to pivoting with some of these different clients too.
And, and I think again, it just comes back to that feeling right of like, do you feel like this is a good fit? Do you enjoy working with them? Do you enjoy doing this project? Is it outside the scope? Like there are just so many questions that you have to answer that it's hard to have like just black and white.
Like this is what it looks like when you need to hire them and this is what it doesn't. but I just think that you'll know when you know. But. Got to get over the hump of like they're paying me and I'm scared if I let go of that, I won't have that money coming in because almost every single time that I fired one, two more came in its place that were absolute perfect clients that did not give me the headaches, right?
It's like that meme, that meme that's out on the internet, that's like the $500 client that asks all the questions and emails 5,000 times and like does all of this, and then you have the $5,000 client that's like, here, you're the expert, take my money and do. Like that's it is, and it's, it's a mindset shift.
And I just think that you've got to, like, once you have that feeling and it's just not working and you're not enjoying it, it, I've, every time I fired a client, two more have come. So
Jordan: yeah, it's, it, that, that is for me very much just. Alignment and the energetics of it, because I 100% agree that every time I've gotten rid of a client that wasn't a good fit.
opens, opens up opportunities left and right for like ideal clients every single time. And even if it didn't, just even though it always does, but even if it didn't. Right. ? The weight,
Brittany: the stress release. Yes. Oh my gosh. So yes. The
Jordan: stress, the mental energy. It's not even just like a time thing. It it like time.
It definitely is a factor. Yes. Because usually they are taking up too much of your time, whether it's like you've bending over backwards to do things or like fixing problems that you shouldn't have to fix or like whatever it is. That's like the thing that's taking up extra time because of this client.
It's not just that, it's also just the mental load and the emotional load of like dreading going to the calls and like that type of stuff, like impacts you in so many ways that you don't even realize until they're gone and then you're like, holy shit. I'm like excited to like go to this call. Like, this is great.
I haven't felt like this in forever. You know? Yeah. And that I think is partly what opens up that space is because you're actually excited. Bring on clients again, . Oh, for
Brittany: sure. For sure. That like, we're in this because we love what we do. Right. And if you get client after client that makes you hate what you do , like that's not a good thing.
Yeah. and it's just, it's toxic for everyone around because it's not working well for them because you're not showing up as your best self either. So it's just. Bad on both sides. So, and I know, I know it's hard, like especially in the beginning as service providers and if you haven't hit that a hundred K and you're not making consistent income, it's so hard to be like, no, I'm not taking this money.
yep. But you've got to it. It's not all about the money. You've gotta enjoy what you do. And you have to not have this like stress and anxiety on you 24 7 because it's just gonna take you into scarcity mode.
Jordan: Yeah, I, I'm glad you mentioned that in like the financial milestone there because I think all but one of the clients that we fired, we took on pre hitting probably before we hit six figures, or maybe just like right after that.
and those were all clients that I kind of like took on in a frenzy to be like, we're gonna make it. We're gonna like, we're growing. This is great . And then being like, oh my gosh, what have I done? This is a terrible mistake. And like, is this gonna blow up the entire business? But. , we had even more growth after we fired those clients at the beginning.
Yeah. You know? Yep. So, and now it's like you just don't take 'em on at all. Like you just Yeah. Like, you eventually learn that you just don't have time for that. Like you don't have time.
Brittany: Yeah. You do and it, it, it's all like the process, right? Like enjoy the process. I mean, it, it is not fun. It has not been fun firing people.
I've had a couple legal situations on their end. Yeah. Like refunds. Oh, refunds, charge bags, all of the things. Yeah. I mean all these stories were different days, right? But like, it's not fun, but it is part of the process and it does help you do better and it helps you have better communication and increase your clauses in your contract to make sure you're protected, like.
Everything that happened when I was firing a client, there was always good that came out of it too. ? Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . Yep. But it is just one of those things, I mean, you're a business owner. You have to deal with not fun situations. And this is one of those
Jordan: Yeah, that's actually like. Pretty much your entire job is dealing with the shitty, difficult situations as a business owner.
I'm sorry to break that news to everyone.
Brittany: Yeah. It's not for the faint of heart. Everyone's like, oh, this so, so fun and you're gonna work from home and have freedom. And I'm like, yeah. And you also have to be 17 people and deal with the issues and the taxes and hiring and firing and like, yeah. It's not all sunshine, rainbows,
Jordan: No, it is. Oh my gosh. I love it. All right, on that note, I think that's a good note to wrap up on. Anything else you wanna leave us with? We'll, of course have your info in the show notes, all the things, but anything else you wanna mention about parting ways or firing clients?
Brittany: Yeah, I mean, I think just kind of the whole thing coming full circle, like listen to your gut.
I, I've talked to so many people that it's not just me. Like every time I had the gut, It was a client that didn't end well. And I've talked to numerous business owners that it's the same. So even if you're not like woo woo and all into that, I do think that there is something that just says like, this is not a good fit.
This is not going to work out. And I think if you just start listening to that more and being a little bit more aware, you might not have to end up firing clients. because you won't have them that you need to fire.
Jordan: So love it. Yes. Yes. Yay. Totally agree. All right, well, this was fantastic. I appreciate you being here.
It's a lot of fun.
Brittany: Thank you so much for having me. Yeah.