I FAILED A CLIENT, HERE’S HOW.

Nice article. Not clear where the problem was if he was actually making sales, not just getting leads, and that ROI is good. Curious if he had other processes that weren't in place or working well. Hiring and training good people is key and challenging. It's hard for outsiders to understand the nuances of certain businesses. Wordpress also balances the line between "you can do it yourself" and "oh sh*t." It looks easy enough to jump in and make changes, but advanced enough that it can be confusing to understand someone else's work that had more competence. 10x that if you've built integrated systems, tying together adwords, mailchimp, etc. Maybe a good time for you to save the day?! Hope it works out. Sounds like his product was a good one. That's key!

I see so many clients struggle to identify the core items critical to their success. Often when they do, the road to recovery scares them because it’s usually a hard climb out of longstanding, underperforming or even nonexistent processes. This is based on fear and discomfort of disrupting an ineffective norm because their workforce “has a hard time with change.” That’s the only thing that makes sense to me in turning away from traceable, value add marketing from your example. The first step to improvement is identifying where the hiccups are. Usually, the hardest step is convincing my clients to embrace and act upon that knowledge because it means inviting in various degrees of discomfort in departing from the good ol’ status quo. I love the focus on working ON vs IN the business. This is one of my favorite coaching avenues for clients that consistently fail to do their part between our meetings. They are always too busy to work on the core, the culture of their business. They are basically “too busy” for their highest potential, too busy for real success, when they are caught in the minutiae instead of higher value tasks.

Hi Jason, great article! It is always important to train and set expectations when you put a team of independent freelancers or contractors in place. However the integral part is the project manager (you), who is the glue keeping everyone on track and accountable. This is a great lesson and case study in the making.

Hi Jason ?I read your article - it would make an interesting case study. Here's my take... "What you acquire too cheaply - you esteem too lightly." Thomas Paine When people get something for nothing (or next to nothing), they have no skin in the game. You were trying to help your friend - but he didn't listen to your advice. That's because he didn't have a vision for the future. Nor did he fully understand the problem and he didn't see the value in the solution. He wasn't experiencing enough pain of the problem or feel the impact of what would happen if he didn't make a change. I agree he's working in his business, not on his business. My take is that he also sees a need to command and control. Perhaps trying to micro-manage others???? There are 4 phases business owners go through. 1. the Dream 2. The Nightmare 3. the Breakthrough 4. The Growth and Scale phase Sounds as if he is still in the nightmare phase of the business but doesn't recognize it. In conclusion, (given I am only working off what I read and don't have the full background), I also see this as a sales and marketing problem, the website is just the conduit. He thought the website was the problem. He has a cash flow problem.? The fact that he needed stimulus money to fix what he thinks is his problem tells me he has a cash flow problem.? There are only two ways to fix a cash flow problem (other than injecting more working capital) - that's to generate more revenue. If he can't get leads at the top of his sales funnel - he has a marketing problem (website included). If he can't convert leads into paying customers he has a sales problem. Sounds to me the website was a symptom of other issues within his business. Happy to chat further if you need further clarification. Remember, I only have a snippet of what went wrong.

I enjoyed the read it is very relevant. If you want something done well do it yourself is the old saying and it is very true. When testing to build a team under you the three most important factors are ( in my opinion) Recruitment Training Development When you find an A player you have to reward them accordingly. Remember wrt to employees their main motivators are Rank Recognition Prizes Money