Latest / The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business / EP149 - The Clients That Cost You the Most (And Why You Keep Saying Yes)

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EP149 - The Clients That Cost You the Most (And Why You Keep Saying Yes) · The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business

• 0:01
  Hi there business owner, and welcome to the Three BS Podcast,
• 0:04
  the place where we go beyond the numbers and dive into the
• 0:07
  strategies to help you build a Better Business one step at a
• 0:10
  time. I'm your host, Stephanie, a
• 0:12
  multi awarding entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in
• 0:15
  the bookkeeping and currency world.
• 0:17
  If you're a business owner looking to streamline, grow and
• 0:19
  get back the time that you deserve, you're in the right
• 0:21
  place tackling real world problems, answering tough
• 0:24
  questions, and digging deep into business building secrets in
• 0:27
  just 15 minutes each week. So Are you ready to build a
• 0:31
  Better Business with confidence and clarity?
• 0:33
  Then let's go. Hello and welcome back to
• 0:37
  another episode of the Three BS Podcast, your go to place for 15
• 0:41
  minutes of CPD certified education, motivation and
• 0:45
  inspiration to help you build a Better Business.
• 0:48
  Here we are episode 149. We are one away from that big
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  150 and I want to thank you all for being a part of this
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  journey. Whether this is your first
• 0:59
  episode or you've been with us since the beginning, it means
• 1:01
  the world to me that you pop me into your ears or watch me on
• 1:04
  your screens for 15 minutes every single Thursday.
• 1:09
  Now on to today. It's February.
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  We made it. We survived January, thank the
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  Lord. January is always full of
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  conversations about growth. New year, new start.
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  Now, if you've listened to previous episode, you will know
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  that I said for bookkeepers and accountants, it's our busiest
• 1:25
  month of the year. And because of that, January is
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  not where my new year starts. So February is almost my new
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  year because once you've got the January tax return stressed out
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  of the way, we can really start to focus on what we want the
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  rest of 2026 to look like. Most of the industry and most of
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  the business world are talking about growth, getting more
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  clients, more sales, more everything.
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  And if you're looking to build a Better Business, which I presume
• 1:50
  you are by watching or listening to this podcast, then you're
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  probably thinking the same. But today I want to talk about
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  the other side of that because it's something I'm going through
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  right now as a business owner and I'm hoping that my
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  experience is going to help you. And that's the clients you
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  probably shouldn't be working with at all and and probably
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  never should have said yes to. Because 1 bad fit client can
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  cost you far more than three good ones ever will.
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  And I don't just mean financially.
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  I see it's constantly. I've experienced this in my own
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  business over the years. Businesses that are busy,
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  stressed, always reacting instead of being proactive and
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  quietly resenting different parts of their work.
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  When we dig into that, the issue isn't the service, it's not even
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  the pricing or the workload. It's usually the wrong clients.
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  Bad fit clients show up in very predictable ways.
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  And as I said, I've seen this time and time again.
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  They drain your time. They can push boundaries, they
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  question everything to the NTH degree, they pay late or need
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  chasing regularly, or they expect far more than they're
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  paying for. And the worst part of all that
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  is they stop you showing up properly for your good clients
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  because they're taking all of your time, draining your energy
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  and you're having to spend time chasing payments or whatever it
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  may be. Most business owners don't take
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  on these clients intentionally. It usually starts with I'll just
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  help this one or it's only for now, or I can't really say no, I
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  need the clients. But overtime those decisions
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  start to stack up and it very rarely is just that I'll help
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  this one. And it quite quickly then grows
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  into more because the clients you work with usually refer you
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  to other clients and the clients that they refer you to are
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  usually very similar to the client you already have.
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  So if you have a bad client, 9 times out of 10 they're going to
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  refer bad clients to you too. And then your diary fills with
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  work that takes more energy than it should.
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  Your confidence drops because you're constantly justifying
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  yourself and feeling like you're doing something wrong or you've
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  not explained something or getting really frustrated and
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  suddenly your business feels heavier than it really needs to
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  be. This is where pricing and
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  boundaries collide. And my word for 2026 is
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  boundaries. And that's professionally,
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  personally, and everything in between.
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  I want better, stronger boundaries that I actually stick
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  to. And if you've got some of these
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  bad clients showing up in your business, then you maybe need to
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  look at your boundaries too. If a client constantly needs
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  reassurance, extra explanations or more support than agreed,
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  that's not always a service issue.
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  It's sometimes it's just a mismatch in expectations.
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  And I'm going to be really honest, it's a bit of an
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  uncomfortable truth here. Raising prices isn't always
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  fixed bad fit clients either. Sometimes it just gives them
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  more entitlement and they feel like they and they feel like
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  they deserve even more because they're paying you more money.
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  The fix for this starts much earlier.
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  It starts with being clear on who you actually want to work
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  with, how they communicate, how they value your expertise, and
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  how they make decisions. If you think about all of your
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  client base right now, who are the ones that I like to call
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  them dreamy clients, like the dreamiest client that you have,
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  Who is the dreamiest client that you have or two or three
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  dreamiest clients you have. If you're a product based
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  business, who are the customers and the types of customers you
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  really like working with? It may be those who buy your
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  products and leave you a positive review.
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  It might be those that buy your products, maybe have a negative
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  experience, but rather than shouting it all over social
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  media, they e-mail you and quietly deal with it and allow
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  you time to to rectify the situation before damaging your
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  business. Good fit clients don't just pay
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  on time, they trust you, they respect your process, they don't
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  need convincing every 5 minutes and they're not constantly
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  questioning you, your fees, the way you're doing things, what
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  software you're using or things like that.
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  And when your client base is right, everything else suddenly
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  gets easier. Your delivery improves, your
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  margins improve, and your energy improves.
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  And as we end to February, I think it's a perfect time for
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  you to start to review this properly.
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  As I said, everyone thinks January is a time for you to
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  start doing this. But for many business owners,
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  whether that's bookkeepers and accountants, it's their busiest
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  time of year. Whether it's retailers often
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  experience a drop in sales in January, I think February is the
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  perfect time to start reviewing things and really making firm
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  decisions and sticking to them for 2026 looks like.
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  So how do we do that? Well, look back at last year and
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  ask yourself these questions. Which clients took the most
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  time, whether for good or bad reasons, Which clients genuinely
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  took up most of your capacity? Which ones caused you the most
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  stress? Which ones were the ones that
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  gave you the biggest headache, that you lost sleepover, that
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  you stressed about the most? And which ones would you happily
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  work with again or are really happy to continue working with?
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  Or the ones that make you really happy when you see their name
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  pop in your e-mail inbox? When you see a WhatsApp message
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  from that particular client or customer?
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  Which ones are the ones that light you up and you are excited
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  to have meetings with? The answers from those are
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  usually very clear when you're honest with yourself.
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  And this isn't about judging your clients.
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  And, and sometimes there's exceptional circumstances, like
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  I said, with paying. If they pay late regularly, then
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  there's an issue if they pay late once or twice because you
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  know, there's other things going on in their lives and in their
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  businesses that needs to be taken into consideration too
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  when you're looking at your clients.
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  I'm not telling you to judge your clients.
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  I'm telling you to protect your business.
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  And that change in mindset really does help as a business
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  owner when you have gone through the first however long your
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  business has been going of I'll just take that one.
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  I'll just take help that one out.
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  I'm going to have to charge. They can't afford me.
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  So I'm just going to charge lots less because I need the client
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  in. And their testimonial will
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  hopefully bring in lots more clients.
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  If you take anything from today's episode, please take
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  this in. You are allowed to outgrow
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  people, clients, customers, products and services.
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  You're allowed to change your standards.
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  Maybe you've always let people contact you or all times of day
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  and night, and you've immediately responded as quickly
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  as you humanly can. You're allowed to change that
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  and set boundaries now. And you are absolutely allowed
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  to say no. I cannot stress that enough.
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  No is also a full sentence. I say all the time on the
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  podcast, I know, but I need you to understand no is a complete
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  sentence. You don't need to justify
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  yourself because let's be honest, the goal here isn't just
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  more clients, it's better ones. You need to love coming to work,
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  you need to love working with the people you work with, and
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  you need to enjoy doing what you do.
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  If you want support reviewing your client base, tightening
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  boundaries, or making sure your business is set up to attract
• 8:43
  the right people, you'll find all the links to work with me in
• 8:46
  the show notes. And if this episode is making
• 8:49
  you think of a specific client, you already know what needs to
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  change. And that brings us to the end of
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  another episode of the Three BS Podcast.
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  Thank you so much for listening. If this resonated with you,
• 8:59
  please do like rate and review, subscribe and hit that
• 9:01
  notification bell on YouTube so you know when the next episode
• 9:05
  of the Three BS Podcast goes live.
• 9:07
  If you think of a business owner who may benefit from here in
• 9:10
  this episode, please do share it with them so we can all build
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  better businesses. I'm Stephanie.
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  This is a Three BS Podcast and I will see you next week for
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  episode 150. Bye.
• 9:23
  And that brings us to the end of another episode of The Three B's
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  podcast. I hope you found it useful and
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  that you're walking away with some motivation, inspiration, or
• 9:31
  education to help you build a Better Business.
• 9:34
  Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and of course, connect
• 9:37
  with us on social media for more insights, tips, and behind the
• 9:40
  scenes content. Your next step in building a
• 9:42
  Better Business is just a click away.
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  I can't wait to connect with you and I'll see you on the next
• 9:46
  episode. Bye.