Thankfully those are not words that I have heard recently however after many months of dealing with a client from Hell, I wrote the letter last night telling this client that I was letting them go. I must admit sending that email felt really good, I felt liberated and greatly relieved.
See, early this year I took on a client with a faith based emphasis, initially I was excited to work with this client thinking I would be able to help them grow and stabilize. Problem was that the powers to be, wanted quick solutions to long term problems and at the end of the day, I am simply a human, not a miracle worker.
However when you are self employed, the idea of letting go of a client is something you rarely want to do, but the client decided over the holiday weekend to annoy me one too many times. Yeah, I know the deadline and I don’t ever miss deadlines but when I tell you I am resting and relaxing with my family, don’t fuck with me. Especially when you were unable to pay the full amount for my services which resulted in a reduction of 50% in my fees during these rough economic times. Truth is the only reason this client wasn’t booted last month was that I needed to make the holidays happen for the kids, that said I had gone from mildly annoyed with this client’s hi-jinks to down right pissed off.
I won’t lie it will hurt a bit to lose that revenue stream but thankfully I do have my job, but more importantly I have my dignity. See, I am a former people pleaser who used to hate to say no to others but as I get older, my desire to please others is waning. Nah, I am not a cold-hearted bitch but at the same time, I am convinced if we don’t treat ourselves well and let others talke advantage of us, we set ourselves up for heartache.
So I get ready to end this year feeling content that my days of allowing folks to step on me either professionally or personally are far behind me and it feels good. So for a woman who doesn’t do New Years resolutions but rather looks to just make changes in her life, it feels great to finally overcome that obstacle of not always standing up for myself.
As for the client…who knows what will happen since I have not had a response, on the other hand their response is irrelevant to me. I got my last check yesterday for the year and turned in the last batch of work so its all good.
Blackgirlinmaine's Weblog 
I’m glad you let that client go. Wasn’t worth it in the least. Letting foolishness go makes room for stuff that’s actually worthwhile.
And as a former people pleaser myself I have to say I’m so proud of you for not allowing yourself to be used and abused. Money is great. Your dignity, though, that’s priceless.
Hi there – I am a new visitor and learned about you from Lisa over at Black Women, Blow The Trumpet. It sounds like a smart move on your part to let the client go. One of my frustrations w/an old company of mine, was that we held on to abusive clients because of the $$$. I’ve learned the hard way that it kills you slowly.
Good for you! Yes putting myself first is always hard. Like you its one of those changes I’ve been working on and like you with age being selfish sometimes feels ok, as opposed to when I was younger it seemed so negative.
You really do have to look out for number one!
Have a great New Year!
-OG