Why I Fire Clients

As brutal as it sounds, in some cases, the circumstances justify the action.

In a society of hierarchies, we subject ourselves to the labeling occurring at every moment of our lives. Students, waiters, managers, clients, judges, receptionists... Our brain, in a fraction of a second, creates an image of a person performing certain actions and responding to someone's commands.

While in the western civilisation we get more used to overstepping our boundaries, it's not the same for other parts of the world. For example, in Japan where I lived for three months, I experienced the societal gravitation towards the enforced hierarchy wherever I went (and an earthquake, but I'm clearly fine). In the land of the rising sun, it's almost unheard of to argue with a person "above" you e.g. a cashier telling off a customer. I'm not convinced though, so I remain on the rebellious side.

If there's one thing that running an agency has taught me is that I can almost work with anyone. Being a born introvert, I have an innate ability to level with a speaker and understand their point of view. I rarely fail to negotiate a way forward even if both parties are on the opposite sides of the spectrum. I firmly believe that intellectual differences have an exceptional influence on the outcome of a conversation. Had we all agreed with each other, we'd have no criticism to detect flaws and inspire progress.

But it's not the focal point of this article. With your permission, I'd like to aim the below lines of text at those exceptions that don't make it to the shortlist of people I want to work with.

If you haven't heard it before, let me put it forward: business is about people. No matter the industry, you will need someone to help you one way or another. Perhaps more often than you wished. Correspondingly, as long as people are involved, so are emotions, which lead to more or less expected situations in professional life.

For this reason, it's important that we treat each other with the uttermost respect and listen with great care. Otherwise, you might never understand where the other person is coming from. This mindset is not only a foundation of any negotiation tactic but also a starting point for a business partnership if we hope for it to last the test of time.

I work with clients, not for clients. It's a subtle difference, but changes everything.

You might already be getting an idea where I draw a line, but apart from the mutual respect and understanding, I offer an additional point of view.

As in any relationship, you need to be getting something out of it, i.e. the value. Not in a monetary sense, but rather an emotional sense. It needs to work towards the fulfillment of your desires and wishes. If you strip a business relationship from the feelings revolving around it, you fall back onto the "who said what" and the cost of services. That's an unpleasant territory to explore and sadly a difficult one to get out of. It indicates how little both parties trust each other.

Finally, there is a third reason why I fire clients. That is my team and my care for their well-being. We are a boutique agency, so naturally, the quality of relationships with our clients impacts the quality of our life at Nerd Cow. Should one of the clients start acting unprofessionally, abusively, or continue being dishonest, I must thank them for our time together.

// Tomasz