99 ⎸ Balancing loyalty to clients with loyalty to self

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Loyalty is a good character trait, but it can be detrimental to the health of your business

Balancing loyalty to clients with prioritizing yourself and your business can be a challenging task, but it is an essential part of running a successful business

So in this episode, I’m jamming on ways to manage this and things to think about

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Join the Bookkeeping Business Accelerator for support with this and other areas of your business >>

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Transcript

0:00

A value I see held by so many of you bookkeepers and accountants is loyalty. And it's such an honorable quality, but it can actually become detrimental to the health of your business. And maybe even yourself, sometimes we value loyalty so much that we think we must persevere for the sake of loyalty and maybe money too. So in today's episode, I'm going to jam on this topic, which was inspired by one of my alumni of the Bookkeeping Business Accelerator. So, as I said, at the top of the episode, First of all welcome back. We are on episode 99, which is just incredible. I can't believe where we've almost made it. We've almost made it to 100. So next week, we're actually going to have a special episode, but before we get there, at the top of the episode, I talked about loyalty being an amazing quality that so many of you have, and, this being inspired by one of my alumni of the Bookkeeping Business Accelerator, which is in fact open for enrollment As you're listening to this. If you're listening, when the episode drops. And, it's always actually open for enrollment, but right now we're running a special price and some special payment plan options to make things a lot more accessible to people. But anyway, one of my alumni, a while back had submitted a comment or a question.

and it goes like this: 1:54

I am right now going through making the decision whether or not to transition a client to another service provider. So essentially getting rid of a client. I made the decision to go forward as I think that's what's best for me and the future of my company, but the doubt and questioning yourself are so real. I think the old days of serving a client long-term and prioritizing them was the focus of businesses. And now I think it's prioritizing yourself in the client relationship. I think I'm somewhere in the middle right now, and it's a hard call. I want to be loyal and also not stay in a situation that doesn't seem like it's working. Not sure if this makes sense, but I hear a lot about just walking away from clients and I really struggle with the loyalty part. I know a lot of others do too. Loyalty is a good character trait. So how do we balance that in our businesses? So this was so awesome to be able to provide kind of some insight around this, and I'm not going to claim to have this perfectly down, because I think we all struggle with this to some extent of knowing when to. Draw the line and walk away in business and personal of like, balancing persevering, and just like sticking with your commitments, versus what is actually best for my business and me as a human. So as a bookkeeper, it's really not uncommon to be attached to your clients. A lot of us build really strong relationships with our clients over time, which can make it difficult to know when it's time to let go. Especially if you had. You know, certain clients, when you first started your business, you feel like they've grown with you and they've been around forever, but, just the same as with team, like. The clients that you had initially may not be the right clients for you now in your business journey, you may have outgrown them. And that's the same thing with team. the team that were with you at the very beginning of your business may not be the ones that, are a good fit as you grow. Not always, but you've always got to kind of make that evaluation. However, It is important to remember that running a bookkeeping business is not all just about relationships, it's also about making decisions that will ensure the long-term success of your company. Balancing loyalty to clients with prioritizing yourself and your business can be a really challenging task, but it is essential to running a successful and sustainable business. One of the most important things to keep in mind when you're trying to balance loyalty and prioritizing yourself is that you are running a business. This means that your top priority is the success of your company. And while it's important to build strong relationships with your clients, you also need to make sure that you're not sacrificing the long-term successes. Of your business for the sake of a client relationship. So for example, Keeping a client that maybe is in an industry that's more complex than the rest of your clients. Making it harder to outsource the work to a team member and maybe keeping you on the hook for delivering. To that client really isn't fair to you or the client. When you start to look at things this way, that it isn't just unfair to you, but also to the client, you can see that you're actually maintaining a sense of loyalty to that client and making sure that they are served well. you can be loyal to somebody and not have to be the one. Fulfilling what they need, right. You're maintaining that loyalty by realizing that you're not quite the best fit for their needs. And that's making sure that they're served well. And if you can't serve them well, because you, as the owner, don't have time to be working on that particular client, because you're doing. all the things that need to be done to run the business, you're mentoring your team. You're you're, you know, talking to those. Other clients and maintaining all these relationships. And if they truly, aren't a good fit, you're doing them a disservice and ultimately you're out of integrity. Now, what about like that soul sucking client? If a client is causing more stress than they're worth. It's probably times I'll let them go. And I think we've all dealt with the client that expects the world and pays the least causing us to resent them, to dread answering them. And when you don't treat them. At the same level as the rest of your clients. And with the same care, you're likely already damaging your reputation with them and giving them a bad experience. So that's not really loyalty either. Another factor to consider is the longterm implications of keeping a client that's. Who's no longer, a good fit while it may be hard let go of a long-term client it's really important to consider the impact that keeping them on board could have on your business. If you're spending all of your time on that one client, you may be missing out on other opportunities to grow your business or work with other clients who are a better fit. I can't tell you how many times that this has happened for me and other students in my program. Once they finally rip off the bandaid and get rid of that soul-sucking client almost immediately, they either have a new lead or maybe someone even signs a proposal and they've not only replaced that client. But they've replaced that client with a better fit client and most likely a client that pays more and maybe will be easier work, right? Maybe not, but it could be. If it's a better fit client, it likely is inherently easier work. It's essential to evaluate each client relationship with a critical eye and determine whether it really is worth the time and energy that you're putting into that relationship. So much of this can be avoided when you get real about who you actually want to serve and build in processes in your business to weed out potentially bad clients, which is something that I cover in the Bookkeeping Business Accelerator, which by the way, shameless plug here. It is on sale right now. If you're listening, when this episode first airs, we're running a promotion from May 22nd to May 26th and offering. Different payment plan options as well to make things much more accessible. But it's also really important to be honest with yourself and your clients. If you are feeling burnt out overworked or frustrated with a client, it's very essential to take a step back and evaluate the situation. In last week's episode, I talked about maintaining communication with current clients first and foremost. This is no exception, right? If you're feeling burnt out overworked or frustrated with a client, you have to communicate that as hard as it is. It's really important to have open and honest conversations with your clients about your concerns, to just see if there's a way that you can make things work. And if not, it's probably time to part ways. It may be difficult to have these conversations. They can be crucial though, in maintaining the longterm health of your business. You'll stress out, leading up to it, but something I always try to remind myself of is. It sounds really cliche. I don't even know like how this popped into my head, but short-term pain for long-term gain. This crappy feeling will only last if I never have that hard conversation. I'm gonna say that again. The crappy feeling you have about this will only last if you never have that conversation. if you decide to have the conversation, you will be able to move through. crappy feeling that you're having about the situation. And it is not your responsibility to worry about managing. Someone else's reaction or their feelings about it. And this is just business. If they are also entrepreneurs, which most likely they are because you're helping other business owners. Eventually they will understand. They might have bad reaction. Or feel betrayed or whatever. But eventually they will move on from it and probably forget about it and realize it's just business. They have to make hard decisions in their businesses too. Now I want to address the part where. We doubt ourselves, even after we've either made the decision to disengage with the client or even after we've actually disengaged. Remember what I said about short-term pain. There's always going to be a sacrifice of some sort. So you can either sacrifice a little bit right now by having the hard conversation and know that that hard conversation will eventually be over and done with, and you can move on. Or you can sacrifice much, much more of your wellbeing and over the longterm by keeping the status quo. And you may have to continue to remind yourself of this from, for a time period after and continue to reassure yourself that you made the right choice. Having a community around you for this is also beneficial. Or a biz bestie to hold you accountable to this, PS, we have an amazing community inside of the bookkeeping business accelerator. And I will add it is pretty small compared to lots of other programs out there. So you won't get lost in the shuffle of those larger groups or programs. And. You will find somebody that if you don't have a biz bestie yet, I'm sure you will find someone in that community. And even if you don't, it's a pretty tight knit community and everyone is super supportive and encouraging when stuff like this comes up. So when it comes to balancing loyalty with prioritizing yourself there is, as always, no one size fits all answer. It is also a delicate dance that requires you to evaluate each individual client relationship on a case by case basis. You can't really apply things blanketly, because everybody's a little bit different. Each of your clients are a little bit different. Their personalities are different. However, by keeping your priorities in mind and being honest with yourself and with your clients, and considering the longterm implications of either path, you can make the right decision for your business. I have faith in you. And remember, it's not just about being loyal to your clients. It's about being loyal to yourself too. And your business. So, thank you so much for tuning in this week. And if you haven't already, please, please, please rate and subscribe or follow whatever they call it now to the podcast so that you don't miss a beat with us. And next week will be a very special episode. As I mentioned earlier. We are airing our hundredth episode, which I can't even believe I recorded a hundred. Actually I've recorded more than a hundred episodes. Cause we have some bonuses scattered in there. But I am bringing on my bookkeeper and resident designer, Tia, to help me answer questions, submitting by our amazing listeners and students and I can't wait for you to tune in and listen in to that conversation. It's going to be a really good one. So we'll talk to you guys next week. Bye.