Ben Delphia @BenDelphia: Is it worth having a big client if you know they might be a pain to work with?
ANSWER:
No. Fire that client. I don’t care how much money they pay you. There’s a saying, “God doesn’t close one window without opening another.” Take out the word “God” if you don’t like it. “One window doesn’t close without another one opening”. Surrender to that quote. It ALWAYS works. It might not seem like it when one window closes, particularly if it closes on your hands. Particularly when it hurts and you scream out loud. And cry. But it works.
I had a client once who never paid on time, who always asked for bribes, who called me at three in the morning begging for advice, who lied constantly about what the size and scope of every deal was. Who would literally yell at me if I wasn’t his friend. I would go to psychiatrists and even astrologers (and sometimes psychiatrist/astrologers) to figure out how I can be true to myself if I was constantly faking being friends with this client. I hated myself, hated him, hated going to work at my own business.
Until I finally dropped him. And I started focusing on the good clients. And they started feeding my business more work. And they paid on time. And they treated me with respect. And I didn’t have to pretend to be something I wasn’t. And I could sincerely say what I thought and not be afraid of being cursed at or lose the business or made fun of or not paid on time. I stopped living in fear. And my business got bigger.
And then I sold the business as fast as I could. Because life is too short.