Finally got the nerve to fire a bad client last week

Had to choose between keeping a client who paid $800 a month but complained every week or dropping them for peace of mind. I picked peace of mind. Took 3 days to actually send the email. Lost the income but gained about 10 hours of my week back. Found a better client within 2 weeks who pays the same and doesn't nitpick. Has anyone else had to dump a steady paycheck just to save your sanity?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray18919d ago

Jumped into that boat myself about 6 months ago (it was terrifying). Had a client who paid $1200 a month but wanted revisions on everything like 3 times over. I felt sick every time their name popped up in my inbox. Finally cut them loose and yeah, that first month was nerve-wracking money-wise. But my stress levels dropped so much and I actually started looking forward to work again. Sometimes you gotta trust that letting go of the bad stuff makes room for the good stuff to show up (and it usually does).

piper91217d ago

I used to be the type who thought you just had to grit your teeth and deal with the difficult clients because money's money, you know? But @ray189 your experience really hit home for me. I had a similar situation with a client who paid good money but would rewrite entire email campaigns after they were approved, and I'd have to redo everything from scratch. My stomach would knot up every time I saw their email come through. Then I finally let them go and within a month I landed two smaller clients who were way easier to work with and actually paid on time. It's wild how the universe works when you finally stop holding onto the thing that's dragging you down.

susana6618d ago

It's like that old saying, sometimes you have to empty your hands before you can grab something better.