FM Walsh & Associates Inc.

Growing Pains

I was having a glass of wine with my good friend and brilliant life coach, Willie Carter, the other day and we were talking about how as a business grows, many business owners find themselves struggling with the kind of clients that a year ago, they would have loved working with. It Is all part of growing your business; Willie kindly sent this article along to share with my readers.

My Clients are driving Me Crazy!!!!

You’ve been in business for a while now. And you’re noticing that some or a lot of your clients are driving you crazy. They cancel at the last minute; they don’t pay on time; there’s a lot of talk and no action. You wonder: maybe you made a mistake. Maybe this isn’t the business for you after all. You’re losing your patience and compassion. You’re actually relieved when certain people cancel. What should you do? You’ve already invested so much time and money into this business. What will people say?

Sound familiar? What was really going on? What was the real message here? After having many of my clients go through this crazy-making period, it became obvious to me that this was a huge clue that they and their business were ready to move to the next level.

This new level required that they re-define their ideal client profile. These “problem” clients offered a contrast that could help the business manager clarify who they really wanted to work with.

These “problem” clients were a huge gift in disguise. Once the new profile was established, then it was important to let go of the clients that did not meet the criteria of this profile.

As your business grows, you grow and vice versa. As you change your client profile will change. It has to, or you will be driven crazy by clients that don’t match you or your business.

Scary to do? Yes. But, oh! You will feel so relieved. And you’ll have energy and vision again. And your business will grow quicker than you anticipated. I’ve seen this happen over and over again. Try it. You’ll see.

So, WHAT’S YOUR NEXT STEP?

• Make a list of qualities of the people you love working with
• Make a list of the traits of people who are driving you crazy
• Create your ideal client profile from the first list
• Refer out or let go of those clients that don’t fit
• Get ready for your increased business

Willie Carter, BA, BSc, Graduate Coach University
THE NEXT STEP
604-601-2105
thenextstep1@shaw.ca