Since starting out on my own in 2018, I have fired over 20 clients, including one worth over £110k per year to me. I’m now left with 10 clients that I actually enjoy working with, am able to help in a big way and have been with me for an average of 2.5 years at the time of writing.

1. Happiness is more important than the money.

Throughout the past 5 years, I’ve been sacking clients. I still remember the first really scary one. It was a property landlord who would email me twice a day for the same question, and then when I told him that reading his emails was just wasting his money as I wasn’t getting time to do the actual work he just carried on. I’m not in the business of wasting my time or other people’s money, and it was affecting me mentally and the service I was able to provide to my other clients, so he had to go. Only problem was he was paying the most money of all my clients at the time. I ummed and ahhed about it for about 3 weeks before finally pulling the trigger. It was a huge weight off, and I vowed then to never sacrifice my happiness for money again. The most recent one was very similar, and although they were worth £110k + per year to me, I’m happy to be working with some amazing clients who listen, who I work well with, and who are moving forward every day. Those clients make me love what I do, every day, and I wake up happier, every day! I had people at the time, while I was in a position of not wanting to wake up in the morning, not sleeping and falling into a state of what I think was depression, saying “but it’s worth it for the money, right?!”. Maybe to some, but to me, no amount of money is worth sacrificing your happiness.

2. I know who my perfect client is now.

I went through a period of just accepting any kind of work or client to get the money in. This was a mistake. I started the business because I enjoyed and was good at helping six and seven figure businesses get the next level profitably. That was the point. I ended up taking on bookkeeping work at low value fees, working with business owners who didn’t listen or take the advice, wouldn’t communicate with me before making massive decisions that would affect the business negatively, and then wondered why the relationship didn’t work. The clients I have now do do these things, we work together closely and have a brilliant working relationship which benefits both parties greatly. I know what I’m really good at now, and who benefits the most from what I do. I’ve learnt that I will never sacrifice on the type of work I want to do and who I want to work with again.

3. I’ve raised my prices.

I was sat with one of my favourite clients and after we were done with the conversation we were having, I asked him what he thought of my new pricing structure. Immediately he told me it was too cheap and told me to double it. This is a client who has been with me since early 2021 and has never quibbled on price. He’s always communicated with me, even just when he needs to have a sounding board or a rant about something after a tough day, he listens to my advice, and appreciates the value I can provide, even to the point of making me an official director of the business and giving me equity. On the other hand, I’ve had clients that have been hugely undercharged and they haven’t valued the relationship like this client does. Often, when you charge more, the relationship is nurtured better by both parties, because it’s in everyone’s interest to make sure it works correctly. I’ve learnt that charging what you’re actually worth makes the engagement work so much better on either side, and every time I’ve undercharged, I’ve regretted it.

4. Having less, but more high value and compatible, clients enables me to provide better service and relationships.

I went through a period of wanting this huge business, with loads of clients, loads of staff and almost this incredible empire. However, when my mum died it made me realise that this wasn’t working for me, and I actually only had a handful of high value, highly compatible clients that I really enjoyed working with. I realised I wanted more of those. But I still lost my way with the client mentioned in point 1, and after that engagement it just solidified this point for me. I learnt to never sacrifice on the service levels I was providing or relationships with these amazing clients for more money elsewhere. Now, I’m very clear on who I want to work with and who gets the most value from what I can do, and I will never sacrifice on this again.

If any of these points resonate with you I’d love to see your comments below, or if you want to find out more, click the link below.