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Running a business shouldn’t mean running yourself into the ground. The Thrive by Design podcast is here to help service entrepreneurs like you create more balance, build sustainable growth, and design a business that actually supports the lifestyle you want.
Introduction Music
Have you ever found yourself describing someone as a good client while at the same time
feeling a knot in your stomach when you think about the next invoice, the next request or
the next conversation you know you should probably have with them?
I want to start today with that question because I think it's one a lot of servicepreneurs
quietly avoid.
And that question is this.
Are they actually a good client or are you avoiding a hard decision?
I see this come up all the time.
Clients who pay late, not once.
but consistently.
Clients who agree to the terms but don't really respect them.
Clients who keep pushing just a little bit past what was agreed.
And because they're good clients, we let it slide.
We tell ourselves we don't want to rock the boat, that it's not worth the conversation,
that we might lose them if we say something.
And on the surface, that feels like the safer option.
But what I've learned, both in my own business and through working with clients,
is that avoidance often feels safe in the moment while quietly becoming one of the most
expensive choices we make.
Because when these things aren't addressed early, the cost compounds.
It shows up as stress, cashflow pressure, resentment, and that constant mental load of
knowing something isn't right, but not quite dealing with it.
And that's what I want to talk about today.
Because the truth is, the things draining you in your business
are really accidents.
More often than not, they're decisions you're tolerating.
Things you've learned to live with.
Situations you've convinced yourself are just part of running a business.
One of the cool beliefs I've held since the very beginning, since I first started my
business 15 years ago, is that it's your business and you get to choose how it works.
You don't have to do things a certain way just because that's how they've always been
done.
You don't have to keep working with people who don't respect the way you work.
And you don't have to design a business that slowly drains you just to keep everyone else
comfortable.
But, and this is the part people don't always like, that level of choice requires courage.
Not big dramatic burn it all down courage, but quiet practical courage.
The courage to have conversations earlier than feels comfortable.
the courage to redesign things that no longer work, and the courage to admit that
something you're tolerating might actually be costing you far more than you realize.
So if you're listening to this and there's already a client, a situation, or a decision
popping into your head, stick with me.
When I talk about choice in business, this isn't something I arrived at later on, after
burnout or frustration.
It was there from the very beginning.
When I set up my business 15 years ago, I made a very conscious decision to do things
differently from what was considered standard practice at the time.
Back then, most firms billed after the work was done.
Often at the end of the financial year, an advisory work set off to the side as something
extra, something that felt expensive or out of reach for many clients.
That model never really sat comfortably with me.
Part of it was practical.
I was walking away from the certainty of a salary and I didn't want to build a business
where I had to wait 6 or 12 months before income started flowing in.
Monthly fees gave me cash flow stability, yes, but more than that they gave me peace of
mind.
I wasn't constantly worrying about billing cycles, chasing payments or justifying work
that had already been done, but it also went deeper than that.
I wanted clients to feel comfortable picking up the phone and asking questions.
I didn't want money to be the thing that stopped them from getting advice early because
I've seen too many situations where that hesitation leads to far bigger problems later on.
When fear around costs gets in the way, people avoid conversations and that's usually when
the worst decisions get made.
So we built a model where compliance and advisory sit together.
The things clients had to get done were wrapped in with the insight, forecasting and
conversations that
actually helped them run better businesses.
It made those services more affordable, yes, but it also made them feel reasonable,
expected, and part of the relationship.
What that meant was that we agreed how we worked up front.
Everyone knew what was included, what wasn't, and how things would run.
There was no awkwardness around billing, no hesitation about having a conversation, and no
underlying tension about time or costs sitting in the background.
And that wasn't about being rigid.
It was about creating clarity.
Over time, as the business has grown and evolved, I've had to revisit how we do things and
tighten the structure around it.
Not because I wanted more control, but because I wanted less friction, less stress, fewer
things draining energy that could be spent actually helping clients.
People often get stuck on language here.
Rules, standards, principles, ways of working.
None of those quite fit for me either.
What matters far more than the label is recognizing that you are allowed to decide how
your business operates and you're allowed to change things when they no longer work.
This is where I want to bring this into something very real because I see this situation
come up over and over again.
I'm working with a client at the moment who has very clear payment terms in place.
Their clients agree to those terms upfront.
There's no ambiguity and yet one particular client consistently pays more than 60 days
late.
Not once, every invoice.
And despite that, my client keeps doing new work for them.
They keep billing.
They keep telling themselves they're a good client.
But when you step back and really look at it, you have to ask the question, are they?
Because while they might be pleasant to deal with or give you interesting work,
or even generate good revenue on paper.
They're also putting significant pressure on your cash flow.
They're asking you to carry the financial risk for their business, and they're doing it in
a way that goes directly against what was agreed.
This is where avoidance creeps in.
We don't want to have the conversation because we're worried about losing the client.
We tell ourselves it will sort itself out, or that it's just how they operate, or that
things will improve next time.
So we keep going.
and in doing so, we make it harder and harder to pull things back.
The longer this behaviour continues, the more normal it becomes.
And before you know it, you're not just dealing with a late payment, you're carrying real
bad debt risk.
And when you're a servicepreneur, that can hurt far more than people expect.
Early intervention changes the outcome completely.
Having the conversation sooner
Reinforcing what was agreed or even pausing work until payments are brought up to date
feels uncomfortable in the moment.
But it protects your business, your energy and ultimately the relationship.
Continuing to work with someone who doesn't respect your terms isn't being generous.
It's not kind and it's definitely not sustainable.
Another place this shows up, often much more quietly, is with Scope Creek.
It usually starts small.
A quick question, one extra task, something that feels easier to say yes to than to
explain why it's outside the original agreement.
And because you want to be helpful, you let it go.
But those small yeses add up.
Over time, the original agreement slowly becomes irrelevant and resentment creeps in,
often without anyone noticing when it began.
We tell ourselves it's not worth the conversation.
or that this is just part of being client focused.
But when expectations aren't clear, frustration is almost inevitable.
This is where upfront agreements make such a difference.
When something shifts, the conversation becomes simple.
This sits outside what we originally agreed.
Here's what it looks like, here's the cost, and you get to decide how to proceed.
That kind of clarity builds trust.
It removes awkwardness and it allows
both sides to make informed decisions instead of quietly carrying frustration.
Avoiding these conversations might feel generous in the moment, but over time it erodes
the relationship and the business model you're trying to build.
Now underneath all of this sits fear.
Not dramatic fear, practical fear.
That means fear of losing income, fear of upsetting someone, or fear of making the wrong
call.
Avoidance feels safer.
Doing nothing feels less risky than having the conversation.
But avoidance is often the highest risk strategy in your business.
When issues aren't addressed early, risk isn't removed, it's deferred.
And while it's deferred, it grows.
It becomes cash flow pressure, bad debts, resentment, and constant mental load.
Clarity, on the other hand, is far safer than people realise.
Clear expectations and clear conversations don't damage good relationships, they protect
them.
And when a relationship can't withstand the level of clarity, that's information you need
sooner rather than later.
This is why I see the way I've designed my business as a form of risk management for me
and for my clients.
It removes fear from the equation.
Clients aren't afraid to ask questions and I'm not hesitant about billing, but it also
frees up energy.
So many servicepreneurs underestimate the cost of what they're tolerating, emotionally and
mentally.
That constant pressure takes away from clarity, creativity and leadership.
When that energy is freed up, better decisions follow.
As we wrap up, I want to bring this back to something simple.
If there's one thing I hope you take from this episode, it's that the things draining you
in your business aren't usually happening to you.
More often than not, they're things you're tolerating.
And I say that without judgment.
Running a service business is demanding and it's easy to fall into patterns that feel
manageable in the short term, even when they're quietly costing you in the long run.
As you think about your business this week, notice where you're avoiding a decision.
Not because you don't know what to do, but because it feels uncomfortable to do it.
If something in your business is draining you, it's worth asking why it's still there.
You get to decide how your business works, even when that decision feels uncomfortable.