I Refunded and Fired a Big Client This Week.

There’s a key lesson inside of it that I believe is very important to recognize, which I’ll break down at the end of this email.

In hindsight, the failure of this deal was 100% my fault and shouldn’t have been taken on in the first place.

I ignored 3 separate MAJOR red flags because I saw a big paycheck and got greedy.

In addition to that, I was making decisions from a place of scarcity (which is never a good move).

So let’s break these down:

Red Flag #1:

Unrealistic Expectations:

I had taken a consulting call with this guy earlier this year which was essentially focused on “How we can get to $1M/mo revenue and how he can get email revenue to $100K/mo by this fall.”

He was jumping the gun a LITTLE BIT given that he was at $150K/mo in total revenue.

When I asked him how much came from email he said $30K.

I asked to see the Hyros account to see which emails produced the most revenue…but he said he didn’t have one.

I asked him how he was tracking email revenue and then he conceded that this $30K number was “a ballpark.”

Unrealistic expectations with zero plan combined with lying about numbers is a MAJOR red flag.

Not to be overly dramatic, but I would consider blatant lies about numbers to be a borderline sociopath type of behavioral condition.

Red Flag #2 - Prior History

This client essentially hunted me down after firing his 2nd copywriter of 2023 and offered me a blank check.

Before taking him on as a client, I briefly spoke with both his first and second copywriters of the year and they gave me a clear warning:

“This guy is a MASSIVE pain in the ass.”

I knew in that moment that I should have turned the deal away.

But I got greedy.

I’m getting married in December and have a very large wedding bill to pay for.

I just hired a full-time employee and have payroll to fund.

I’m spending a few thousand per month running ads for my virtual reality newsletter.

I’m also launching another email newsletter company in the personal finance space which will likely require a lot of upfront costs.

I’m under a pretty high amount of financial pressure at the moment and it seemed dumb to turn away a high paying client because I simply didn’t want to deal with the guy.

HUGE mistake.

From the very first moment I brought him on, it was a battle.

Questioning everything I do…

Refusing to do what I told him to do…

Requesting calls day of…

Yet he was willing to pay and I was willing to put up with it.

…which brings me to my third red flag:

Red Flag #3: Ghosting

After our first month of working together, I shot him the invoice.

He didn’t pay it.

He also didn’t answer his messages.

Instead he ghosted me for a few months and then came back later saying he wanted to restart.

No apologies.

No explanations.

Nothing.

(not cool - especially given the fact that it was also a breach of contract).

Boundaries are very important in any relationship, especially client relationships.

If a client treats you as a highly disposable person who he can just pause whenever he feels like it…

Then you’ve got some work to do on boundary setting.

Why Am I Telling You This?

This email isn’t to vent or to talk shit (everyone has dealt with a nightmare client or two and I think it’s pretty unprofessional to go and whine about it online).

I think there’s a very important lesson tied into this:

I personally believe that the primary problem with bad clients isn’t necessarily the risk for getting screwed money-wise…

It’s also not the increased time requirements…

The main problem is the mental real estate that these people occupy inside your head.

They piss you off and eat away at you ALL OF THE TIME.

You lay awake at night fantasizing about telling them off…

One annoying message from them ruins your entire day…

If you think that isn’t losing you money…then you’re wrong.

(especially if you're a copywriter, a CMO, or some other position that depends heavily on creativity).

So big takeaway:

Don’t take shitty clients regardless of how much they’re willing to pay you.

Not worth it in the end.

That’s all I’ve got for you today!

Feel free to drop me a DM on Facebook, I’d love to hear from you.

Enjoy your Sunday!

- Damon

P.S. I’m planning to relaunch my YouTube channel very soon so I’m super excited for that.

Have a specific topic you’d like for me to cover? Or have a topic you’d like to talk about and have me interview you on? Lemme know