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Rant: fired my biggest account on a Tuesday and now I'm second guessing myself
Two weeks ago I finally cut loose the account that made up about 40% of my income, a juice bar chain here in Sacramento with 6 locations. They missed 3 payments in a row, each one 15 days late, and the owner kept saying his bookkeeper was "on vacation" every time. I sent a nice email ending the contract on the 1st, and he wrote back 4 words: "you'll regret this." Now my books look scary and I'm wondering if I should have just eaten the late fees and kept the check coming in. Part of me knows I did the right thing for my sanity, but part of me is doing math on ramen. Has anyone walked away from a whale and actually come out okay on the other side?
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martinez.paul20d ago
That "you'll regret this" line is exactly why you made the right call. I dropped a 35% account years ago, a print shop that paid late every single month like clockwork. Took me about 4 months to fill the hole but the two smaller shops I picked up after actually paid on time and didn't treat me like dirt. The scary part is real though, I ate a lot of beans those first couple months. Here is the thing that saved me: I called every old lead and past client I had been too busy for and told them I had room for new work. Two of them said yes same week. That whale was blocking your calendar and your bank account both.
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