Cutting Ties

What do you do when you need to fire a client? What happens to push you to that point? Have had clients come and go for various reasons since I opened my doors. They only had short term projects, lack of need, life or business changes but most of my current clients have been with me for years. This week for the first time in my near 8 years in business I had to fire a client.

This is never an easy decision to make as a small business owner. As a free lance personal assistant I carry a fairly high level of stress due to the responsibility that clients entrust me with. The client -assistant relationship is entirely dependent on trust. So what happens when a client says they trust you but clearly has concerns regarding your commitment and ability to do the task they hired you for?

In all my research prior to opening in 2009 the one piece of business advice that has always stuck with me is this: “Don’t keep the clients that you don’t enjoy working for”. That makes perfect sense and one would think would be easy to follow but when you are a new fledgling company it is hard to turn down work. However in this particular case it goes beyond just likeability. This goes to trust and mutual respect both things required to have a successful working business relationship.

So what happens when you need to cut the ties? How far does a client push the boundaries before you make that decision? Or do you just keep them and hope for the best? I made the choice to cut the ties as considerately as possible and hope that if I am fortunate enough to be doing business for another 8 years I won’t have to do it again. Another lesson learned when you own your own business.