11 Clients You Should Fire, 2 Years Later
I can hardly believe it's been just over 2 years since I wrote 11 Clients You Need To Fire Right Now; it seems like it was just a few weeks ago. That is, without a doubt, my most popular article. It even was published by Software Development Magazine back before SDMag was acquired by Dr. Dobbs. Clearly I struck a chord amongst folks who have problems with ill-behaved clients.
Here we are two year later, and I'm wondering if anyone actually took it to heart and fired their problematic clients. I can happily report that I have dropped several clients off the roster here at Cogeian Systems over the past 2 years, and I think that business is better for it. Sure, total revenue is a bit less than it would be if I had kept those clients, but the quality of the business we're doing over here is much higher. It's absolutely been worth it. All dollars are not created equal; I'm much more interested in accepting the projects that will actually result in good work and a good experience for all. It's better to take 75% of the work and feel 100% good about it than the reverse, I think.
If anyone has a good story to share about how they've improved their business by firing a client, feel free to email me, I'd love to hear it.
