July 29, 2025 • 9 mins
Ever had a client that made you question your life choices? In this episode of The Aspiring Solopreneur, Carly and Joe dive deep into the art (and science) of firing problem clients without burning bridges—or your sanity.
From subtle red flags to graceful exits, they’ll help you figure out when it’s time to say, “It’s not me, it’s you.” Whether you're drowning in scope creep or stuck with a client who’s just not a fit anymore, this episode is your permission slip to let go and level up.
Being a solopreneur is awesome but it’s not easy. It's hard to get noticed. Most business advice is for bigger companies, and you're all alone...until now. LifeStarr Intro gives you free education, community, and tools to build a thriving one-person business. So, if you are lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, or are having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even just lonely running a company of one, be sure to check out LifeStarr Intro!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carly Ries (00:00):
Some clients pay the bills, and others drain your
(00:03):
soul. In this episode of theAspiring Solopreneur, Joe and I
tackle a topic we don't talkabout enough, knowing when it's
time to fire a client. From redflags to graceful exits, we
unpack real world strategies forletting go of the people who no
longer fit, and we talk abouthow to do it without burning
bridges or losing your mind. Soif you've ever had a client who
(00:24):
made you question your entirebusiness, this one is for you.
You're listening to the AspiringSolopreneur, the podcast for
those just taking the bold stepor even just thinking about
taking that step into the worldof solo entrepreneurship. My
name is Carly Ries, and mycohost, Joe Rando, and I are
your guide to navigating thiscrazy but awesome journey as a
(00:46):
company of one. We take pride inbeing part of LifeStarr, a
digital hub dedicated to allaspects of solopreneurship that
has empowered and educatedcountless solopreneurs looking
to build a business thatresonates with their life's
ambitions. We help people workto live, not live to work. And
if you're looking for a get richquick scheme, this is not the
show for you.
(01:07):
So if you're eager to gainvaluable insights from industry
experts on running a businessthe right way the first time
around or want to learn from themissteps of solopreneurs who
paved the way before you, thenstick around. We've got your
back because flying solo inbusiness doesn't mean you're
alone.
Carly (01:25):
We talk about burnout and over committing and all that
kind of stuff a lot on thisshow. And sometimes it's just
because you have a problemclient. It isn't really
necessarily anything that you'redoing, but those problem clients
do come up. And you, I think,have more experience firing
these types of clients than Ido.
So I kinda wanna pick your braina little bit. I have my 2¢ to
(01:46):
weigh in as well. But just tokick things off, what are some
red flags that it may actuallybe time to get rid of these
people?
Joe Rando (01:53):
Well, I think first, there are two, in my mind, two
different kinds of problemclients. There are problem
clients that are problemsbecause what they need is not
necessarily what you do. A lotof times that comes from when
you start, you're kinda tryingout different things, and you
start doing different things fordifferent people. And then you
(02:14):
focus in on what you're reallygood at or what really works for
you, what works for thebusiness. But you've got this
hanger on client from before whocould be a perfectly nice,
wonderful person, and yet, itjust doesn't work anymore.
And those are the tougher onesbecause they're oftentimes very
nice clients. But there's alsothe ones that are just very
(02:34):
difficult. They tend to demandmore than they should. They
don't, get you what you need intime and then expect you to be
on time. There are all kinds ofdifferent ways that they can be
just completely annoying.
And, in some ways, those clientsare easier to fire because
they're unlikable, but it's alsoharder to do it right for those
people because you're just, youknow, you're not in a frame of
(02:58):
mind to kinda do what you shoulddo, which is, in my book, being
honest with them, but beingtactful. Right? So if somebody's
the biggest jerk in the worldand they're yelling at you about
something that was not yourfault and you turn around and
start yelling at them, sure.It'll get rid of them, probably.
But by the same token, that canburn a bridge.
(03:19):
It can follow you around. Sothere are just reasons not to do
that. So keeping it tactful,keep managing your frame of mind
in this process is reallyimportant. So that's one thing.
Carly (03:30):
What's the other thing?
Joe Rando (03:32):
Well, I mean, offering a transition plan. If
you have let's say that,especially for these clients
that you're working with thatjust don't match your model
anymore. If you can findsomebody else that you think
would be really great for them,for what they need, Offering an
introduction shows that youcare. You know, first,
explaining to them why itdoesn't work anymore, that
you're not really gonna givethem what they need anymore
(03:54):
because of what you're doingwith your business. You're one
person, blah blah blah. thenoffer but Sally over here is
doing exactly what you need, andshe's great. I know her, and you
should have a conversation. Thathelps a lot because now you're
not just cutting them loose.You're saying, hey. Here I've
got your back. Here's somebodyelse. I think that's important.
I mean, do you see anythingthere that doesn't sound right
(04:16):
to you?
Carly (04:17):
No. That sounds definitely right. but even in
terms of identifying when to letgo, I think you just have to do,
like, a gut check. And sometimesthe unfortunate thing is, what
should people do if this clientis bringing in a good paycheck
for them that they rely on?
Joe Rando (04:37):
Well, that's a great point. I mean, it may be deal
with it for now. But thequestion is, what you really
wanna look at is to look at theamount of hours that you're
working and look at the revenueyou're bringing in. Divide the
revenue that they're paying bythe number of hours it's taking
to deliver that and see how thatcompares with your core business
(05:00):
or with your other, goodcustomers. And that'll tell a
story a lot of times.
I mean, if you're making moreper hour with them and they're
not a difficult client, they'renot making you, not sleep at
night. But if they're just a badfit and you're making more per
hour with them than you are withthe other people, you might be
focusing on the wrong business.Right? But, in reality, you're
(05:22):
probably gonna find that you'reputting in a lot more hours to
make, each dollar. And that'swhy it's a good reason to think
it through and think about maybemoving on to something else.
But, sometimes you can't affordto do that right away. And,
sometimes it helps to build upyour pipeline a little bit, get
some people in the pipeline asyou get confident you're gonna
(05:42):
close them, then have thisconversation. But it might mean
a lean month. You know? It mightmean a little bit of a lean
month.
But if you don't align yourclients with your business, gets
very hard. I always told thisstory about we had this customer
come at my last startup, andthey wanted to give us basically
a better part of a milliondollars to do something for
(06:05):
them, but it was a one off. Itwasn't gonna move our products
forward. It wasn't gonna doanything but tie us up doing
things that weren't gonna growthe business, and we walked away
from it because it wasn't worthit. I mean, this was an employee
based company.
There were a lot of people, butit wasn't worth taking
everybody's focus off of theball to do this. And you're in
the same situation as asolopreneur. If you're trying to
(06:26):
build a business that servesyour life that doesn't eat,
eighty hours a week, you've gotto have a product that you offer
that's relatively standardizedto some degree that you can
deliver comfortably, and notspend too many hours doing
something that doesn't helpoverall.
Carly (06:43):
Yeah. Exactly. I also just wanna circle back, because
I think the big thing to avoidsome of the big hiccups is just
to have this all in thecontract. Like when you're
putting the scope of worktogether with this client, make
sure you have in there that youcan back out, which that they
can back out, that you're notcontractually obligated to
anything.
Because at the beginning of aclient relationship, it can be
(07:05):
rainbows and ponies, and thatchanges. So I think also just
making sure that you're notcontractually obligated to stay
with them no matter what.
Joe Rando (07:14):
That's a really great point. I'm embarrassed that I
didn't make it because I'm thecontract guy.
Carly (07:20):
You are the contract guy!
Joe Rando (07:23):
no, I'd say that's a really great point. But, you
should definitely always havethose outs for you it shouldn't
be I can quit on, days notice,but, you know, thirty days
notice, sixty days, whatevermakes sense for that particular
business you're in. And, youalways wanna be able to get out,
and the client's gonna want thattoo. They're gonna wanna be able
to say this isn't working. Mybusiness changed, whatever it
(07:45):
is, and be able to get out. Iknow it's not fun, and if
somebody agrees to a one yearcontract, you know, you gotta
live with it. And they have tolive with it, you have to live
with it. But, if you havesomething where, it's month to
month, then that's a lot easierto get out of. But, yeah, it's
just very good to haveeverything in writing.
Carly (08:06):
Absolutely. Well, that is all I have. Anything else you
want to add?
Joe Rando (08:11):
Just to try really hard to stay gracious. With some
of these people, they'reterrible. They're not spending,
much money, and they're beingvery demanding on your time, and
they expect more than they evershould have expected given your
statement of work. And you couldbe really tempting just to let
(08:32):
them have it, and it usuallyis not worth doing.
Just be the grown up in theroom, Be nice about it. Bite
your tongue and move on and findbetter clients.
Carly (08:43):
Well said. That is a great note to end on. Well,
listeners, thank you so much fortuning in. As always, please
leave that five star review.Subscribe on your favorite
podcast platform includingYouTube.
And share this episode with afriend. We so, so, so appreciate
it. And we will see you nexttime on the Aspiring
Solopreneur. You may be goingsolo in business, but that
(09:05):
doesn't mean you're alone. Infact, millions of people are in
your shoes, running a one personbusiness and figuring it out as
they go.
So why not connect with them andlearn from each other's
successes and failures? AtLifeStarr, we're creating a one
person business community whereyou can go to meet and get
advice from other solopreneurs.Be sure to join in on the
conversations atcommunity.lifestarr.com.
Some clients pay the bills, and others drain your
(00:03):
soul. In this episode of theAspiring Solopreneur, Joe and I
tackle a topic we don't talkabout enough, knowing when it's
time to fire a client. From redflags to graceful exits, we
unpack real world strategies forletting go of the people who no
longer fit, and we talk abouthow to do it without burning
bridges or losing your mind. Soif you've ever had a client who
(00:24):
made you question your entirebusiness, this one is for you.
You're listening to the AspiringSolopreneur, the podcast for
those just taking the bold stepor even just thinking about
taking that step into the worldof solo entrepreneurship. My
name is Carly Ries, and mycohost, Joe Rando, and I are
your guide to navigating thiscrazy but awesome journey as a
(00:46):
company of one. We take pride inbeing part of LifeStarr, a
digital hub dedicated to allaspects of solopreneurship that
has empowered and educatedcountless solopreneurs looking
to build a business thatresonates with their life's
ambitions. We help people workto live, not live to work. And
if you're looking for a get richquick scheme, this is not the
show for you.
(01:07):
So if you're eager to gainvaluable insights from industry
experts on running a businessthe right way the first time
around or want to learn from themissteps of solopreneurs who
paved the way before you, thenstick around. We've got your
back because flying solo inbusiness doesn't mean you're
alone.
Carly (01:25):
We talk about burnout and over committing and all that
kind of stuff a lot on thisshow. And sometimes it's just
because you have a problemclient. It isn't really
necessarily anything that you'redoing, but those problem clients
do come up. And you, I think,have more experience firing
these types of clients than Ido.
So I kinda wanna pick your braina little bit. I have my 2¢ to
(01:46):
weigh in as well. But just tokick things off, what are some
red flags that it may actuallybe time to get rid of these
people?
Joe Rando (01:53):
Well, I think first, there are two, in my mind, two
different kinds of problemclients. There are problem
clients that are problemsbecause what they need is not
necessarily what you do. A lotof times that comes from when
you start, you're kinda tryingout different things, and you
start doing different things fordifferent people. And then you
(02:14):
focus in on what you're reallygood at or what really works for
you, what works for thebusiness. But you've got this
hanger on client from before whocould be a perfectly nice,
wonderful person, and yet, itjust doesn't work anymore.
And those are the tougher onesbecause they're oftentimes very
nice clients. But there's alsothe ones that are just very
(02:34):
difficult. They tend to demandmore than they should. They
don't, get you what you need intime and then expect you to be
on time. There are all kinds ofdifferent ways that they can be
just completely annoying.
And, in some ways, those clientsare easier to fire because
they're unlikable, but it's alsoharder to do it right for those
people because you're just, youknow, you're not in a frame of
(02:58):
mind to kinda do what you shoulddo, which is, in my book, being
honest with them, but beingtactful. Right? So if somebody's
the biggest jerk in the worldand they're yelling at you about
something that was not yourfault and you turn around and
start yelling at them, sure.It'll get rid of them, probably.
But by the same token, that canburn a bridge.
(03:19):
It can follow you around. Sothere are just reasons not to do
that. So keeping it tactful,keep managing your frame of mind
in this process is reallyimportant. So that's one thing.
Carly (03:30):
What's the other thing?
Joe Rando (03:32):
Well, I mean, offering a transition plan. If
you have let's say that,especially for these clients
that you're working with thatjust don't match your model
anymore. If you can findsomebody else that you think
would be really great for them,for what they need, Offering an
introduction shows that youcare. You know, first,
explaining to them why itdoesn't work anymore, that
you're not really gonna givethem what they need anymore
(03:54):
because of what you're doingwith your business. You're one
person, blah blah blah. thenoffer but Sally over here is
doing exactly what you need, andshe's great. I know her, and you
should have a conversation. Thathelps a lot because now you're
not just cutting them loose.You're saying, hey. Here I've
got your back. Here's somebodyelse. I think that's important.
I mean, do you see anythingthere that doesn't sound right
(04:16):
to you?
Carly (04:17):
No. That sounds definitely right. but even in
terms of identifying when to letgo, I think you just have to do,
like, a gut check. And sometimesthe unfortunate thing is, what
should people do if this clientis bringing in a good paycheck
for them that they rely on?
Joe Rando (04:37):
Well, that's a great point. I mean, it may be deal
with it for now. But thequestion is, what you really
wanna look at is to look at theamount of hours that you're
working and look at the revenueyou're bringing in. Divide the
revenue that they're paying bythe number of hours it's taking
to deliver that and see how thatcompares with your core business
(05:00):
or with your other, goodcustomers. And that'll tell a
story a lot of times.
I mean, if you're making moreper hour with them and they're
not a difficult client, they'renot making you, not sleep at
night. But if they're just a badfit and you're making more per
hour with them than you are withthe other people, you might be
focusing on the wrong business.Right? But, in reality, you're
(05:22):
probably gonna find that you'reputting in a lot more hours to
make, each dollar. And that'swhy it's a good reason to think
it through and think about maybemoving on to something else.
But, sometimes you can't affordto do that right away. And,
sometimes it helps to build upyour pipeline a little bit, get
some people in the pipeline asyou get confident you're gonna
(05:42):
close them, then have thisconversation. But it might mean
a lean month. You know? It mightmean a little bit of a lean
month.
But if you don't align yourclients with your business, gets
very hard. I always told thisstory about we had this customer
come at my last startup, andthey wanted to give us basically
a better part of a milliondollars to do something for
(06:05):
them, but it was a one off. Itwasn't gonna move our products
forward. It wasn't gonna doanything but tie us up doing
things that weren't gonna growthe business, and we walked away
from it because it wasn't worthit. I mean, this was an employee
based company.
There were a lot of people, butit wasn't worth taking
everybody's focus off of theball to do this. And you're in
the same situation as asolopreneur. If you're trying to
(06:26):
build a business that servesyour life that doesn't eat,
eighty hours a week, you've gotto have a product that you offer
that's relatively standardizedto some degree that you can
deliver comfortably, and notspend too many hours doing
something that doesn't helpoverall.
Carly (06:43):
Yeah. Exactly. I also just wanna circle back, because
I think the big thing to avoidsome of the big hiccups is just
to have this all in thecontract. Like when you're
putting the scope of worktogether with this client, make
sure you have in there that youcan back out, which that they
can back out, that you're notcontractually obligated to
anything.
Because at the beginning of aclient relationship, it can be
(07:05):
rainbows and ponies, and thatchanges. So I think also just
making sure that you're notcontractually obligated to stay
with them no matter what.
Joe Rando (07:14):
That's a really great point. I'm embarrassed that I
didn't make it because I'm thecontract guy.
Carly (07:20):
You are the contract guy!
Joe Rando (07:23):
no, I'd say that's a really great point. But, you
should definitely always havethose outs for you it shouldn't
be I can quit on, days notice,but, you know, thirty days
notice, sixty days, whatevermakes sense for that particular
business you're in. And, youalways wanna be able to get out,
and the client's gonna want thattoo. They're gonna wanna be able
to say this isn't working. Mybusiness changed, whatever it
(07:45):
is, and be able to get out. Iknow it's not fun, and if
somebody agrees to a one yearcontract, you know, you gotta
live with it. And they have tolive with it, you have to live
with it. But, if you havesomething where, it's month to
month, then that's a lot easierto get out of. But, yeah, it's
just very good to haveeverything in writing.
Carly (08:06):
Absolutely. Well, that is all I have. Anything else you
want to add?
Joe Rando (08:11):
Just to try really hard to stay gracious. With some
of these people, they'reterrible. They're not spending,
much money, and they're beingvery demanding on your time, and
they expect more than they evershould have expected given your
statement of work. And you couldbe really tempting just to let
(08:32):
them have it, and it usuallyis not worth doing.
Just be the grown up in theroom, Be nice about it. Bite
your tongue and move on and findbetter clients.
Carly (08:43):
Well said. That is a great note to end on. Well,
listeners, thank you so much fortuning in. As always, please
leave that five star review.Subscribe on your favorite
podcast platform includingYouTube.
And share this episode with afriend. We so, so, so appreciate
it. And we will see you nexttime on the Aspiring
Solopreneur. You may be goingsolo in business, but that
(09:05):
doesn't mean you're alone. Infact, millions of people are in
your shoes, running a one personbusiness and figuring it out as
they go.
So why not connect with them andlearn from each other's
successes and failures? AtLifeStarr, we're creating a one
person business community whereyou can go to meet and get
advice from other solopreneurs.Be sure to join in on the
conversations atcommunity.lifestarr.com.
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