Build to Enough | All Money Isn't Good Money

Keila discusses why business owners should be selective about which clients they take on, warning against accepting money from anyone willing to pay without considering whether they are a good fit. She advises setting boundaries and expectations upfront to avoid problematic relationships down the line, arguing that while some compromise may occasionally be necessary, integrity and team wellbeing should be prioritized over chasing every dollar.Keila encourages entrepreneurs to assess fit, watch for red flags, and feel empowered saying no when needed to create space for ideal clients aligned with their vision and values.

Connect with Keila!
LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/keilahilltrawick
Website - www.krht.co

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Creators & Guests

Host

Keila Hill-Trawick, CPA, MBA

Helping entrepreneurs create and maintain the business they want | Building to Enough | LinkedIn Top Voice | Intuit Partner Council | Accounting Firm Owner

What is Build to Enough ?

Little Fish Accounting presents Build To Enough. The pursuit of endless growth and scaling can leave entrepreneurs feeling burned out and unfulfilled. This podcast explores how to build sustainable, purpose-driven businesses that align with your lifestyle and values, rather than defined by rapid expansion alone. On this show, we’ll reframe definitions of success, provide strategies for structuring companies around desired lifestyles, and share stories of entrepreneurs finding deeper fulfillment by focusing on “enough.” Join us as we discuss moving off the hamster wheel and building businesses with balance and meaning.

Warning: This is a machine-generated transcript. As such, there may be spelling, grammar, and accuracy errors throughout. Thank you for your understanding!

Keila Hill-Trawick: Hello. You're listening to Build to Enough, a podcast for entrepreneurs who want to scale at their own pace. I'm your host, Keyla Hill Traywick, and I'll be your chief storyteller and cheerleader in a world that glorifies endless expansion, we're tuning out the noise and discussing the beauty of enough. Each episode will dive into inspiring stories, practical insights, and strategies to cultivate sustainable success on your [00:00:30] own terms. So whether you're a solopreneur, small business owner, or aspiring entrepreneur, get ready for a refreshing take on the entrepreneurial journey. This is build to enough.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Hello and welcome back! So you can tell by the title that today I want to talk about how all money ain't good money. You've heard that before, right? Like everybody that can pay you, or every dollar that could come into your business is not necessarily a dollar that you want. And [00:01:00] at first glance, it seems contradictory, right? Like a dollar that somebody is willing to pay you is a dollar that you wouldn't have had otherwise. So of course we want this money. No, we do not. And we are going to talk about today. Why? What ways that you can make sure that the money that you are receiving is money that you actually want to get and the pitfalls of not making those decisions. So let's dig in. So here's the thing. When you're a small business, fear drives a lot of your decisions. Our decisions. I don't know why I'm making myself seem like I [00:01:30] am not in this same bucket.

Keila Hill-Trawick: A lot of our decisions can be driven by fear and scarcity, and that impacts a lot about the decisions that we make about clients and projects that we take on. It is so easy for somebody to offer you money, offer to pay you for your services, and for you to say, yes, absolutely, they're willing to pay me. Why would I not? And behind that is the fear of like, because if I say no to you, what if nobody else pays me? What if not [00:02:00] another client signs up for a while? What if I have to wait for somebody to be willing to give this to me again? And as a result, we might say yes too fast. Now, a lot of times it can feel like more clients is always better. And counterintuitively, that's not necessarily true. You can make more, spend less time, be really good with fewer clients. Now that is not the answer for everyone. But when you decide [00:02:30] that you will grow by any means, you have an impact to your team. You potentially have an impact to your profit, right? Because you may have more expenses in order to cover these bigger projects, and you might just have less time. The more that you do, the more clients that need you, the less time you have available to give them that individual attention.

Keila Hill-Trawick: And so we want to make sure that you're not just taking on anyone that will pay you, but are actually being intentional about who you're willing to work with and why. So [00:03:00] first thing, identify the right fit. I feel like this has come up again because they did about hiring for your team, but you also want to think about this for your clients when you're trying to determine who gets to work with you. Because again, you do good work, you are offering a service that people need at a price point that makes sense for the value that you offer. It's a privilege for you all to work together, and when you're making a decision about who gets to work with you, you want to be really clear about who would be ideal for you. Now, a lot of times [00:03:30] in marketing, we will hear about a client avatar. This idea of like, we set up a profile of a person that we would want to work with and list out the attributes of what would be common amongst them that would make us want to work together. Maybe that's an exercise that you want to do. Start thinking about what types of clients do you want to work with, not just their niche, so not just their industry or their revenue targets, but like what kind of services do they need? How do you want to work with them? How do you want to talk to them? Do you want to meet them in person? [00:04:00] Do you want to have calls with them? Do you want to only talk via email? What types of things do you need to set up so that when a person comes to you, applies to work with you, or fills out your inquiry form, you can give an absolutely yes to them.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yes, I want to work with you. Everything that you've said aligns with what I want to do and not a, um, I mean, I could do it. You never want to bring on clients with a I could do it. You really want this to feel special? Because every hour, every [00:04:30] project completion, every deliverable that you give, you want to feel good about giving that with a client that really aligns with your energy and the things that you actually want to be able to provide for them. You should like your clients and they should like you. It's easy to take money because we can, and I have experienced and heard stories of people who have taken on clients who were not good fits, who weren't responsive, who didn't share [00:05:00] your values or vision, who weren't really aligned with the way. It. You work and you put yourself out to go above and beyond and potentially burn out, trying to take care of them when actually that energy would have been better served to super serve the clients that you actually do want to work with.

Keila Hill-Trawick: I once heard a friend of mine say, I love all my clients and I remember thinking, I don't love all my clients, I like them. Um, but I started thinking, but what [00:05:30] would it mean to love all of my clients? To love what they do, to have a passion around what they are excited about. To really be looking forward to giving them information because I know it's going to grow their business and not just the rote transactional. I will check this box for you. I will get these things done for you. So what would that look like for you? What is your ideal client in terms of not just what they will look like working in your systems, but also what it means to have conversations with them, [00:06:00] how it would feel to see them on the street and stop and have, um, a meeting, a quick check in, how would that feel? And really thinking about the clients that you would not want to run into by accident, do they really still need to be clients of yours? That's a perfect segue into my next point, which is the dangers of taking on the wrong clients. I, like some of you, have taken on some clients who were. Let's [00:06:30] call them demanding. They needed a lot more for me than I was either willing or able to give, and honestly, it was out of the scope of service that I told them that they would get from the beginning.

Keila Hill-Trawick: It's that much harder to serve those clients when they are unkind, disrespectful. Ungrateful. When you know that you are doing good work, when you know that you are providing a service that is valuable [00:07:00] for the growth of their business. It is difficult to take the BS that comes with somebody treating you badly, and no matter how much they're paying you, it ultimately isn't worth it. At Little fish. We do not let people be jerks to us, and that is at every level of the company. I will not continue to keep a client who treats my team like trash. I will cancel their service. [00:07:30] I will even potentially refund their money. But we don't keep people just for cash. Does that make it hard? Sometimes? Absolutely. Have I ever thought back, like, uh, if I had kept them, we would have had this much in revenue? Sure. But for me, it is more important that we have integrity, that we have pride, and that my team feels safe and secure. And all of that means it can't just be about the dollars that we have to feel protected. And that means emotionally [00:08:00] and energetically, all of that stuff has to be covered. In addition to you paying us money, it also means that we have to not have a scarcity mindset. I have to know that when I let this client who is not good for us, go, there are more on the way.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Who will respect us, who will treat us well, who we can really do good work for. And as long as I know that I can feel that much better when I have to leave some revenue quote on the table. Now, the flip side of that is that there is a lot of benefit to [00:08:30] being really selective about who we work with. A couple of years ago, Little Fish decided that we would no longer do ad hoc kind of potluck services, so we won't do standalone services. If we're going to take on taxes for you, we're going to take on all of the things that are related to that estimates, tax planning, having conversations that are related to reasonable comp and accountable plans for your S Corp. We want to make sure that if we're going to take this, we're going to take as much as we can in a holistic sense for you. And that has led [00:09:00] to increased revenue for us, but also increased satisfaction for our clients. We have resource libraries for them to be able to look at things that may be out of scope for their service. We can have a quicker turnaround for them 24 hours instead of three days, because we're taking limited number of people that have very similar issues and the right team to be able to support them.

Keila Hill-Trawick: That only works when we are very clear and again, intentional about who we allow ourselves to work with, [00:09:30] the people that we choose to work with, it's an honor for us to we really like them. We like what they do. We want to be able to take care of them, and we can see a path for how we can support them best. Being selective about who comes in means that we can have that for every single client, and not just the ones that pay us the most. That's super important too. I want to make sure that no matter what tier of service that you're in, you're getting that same attention. Are you getting the same work? No. There's a reason that some clients pay [00:10:00] more than others based on what they need at different levels of service, but you shouldn't feel like you're getting less, you know what I mean? You shouldn't feel like they're not paying as much attention to me because I'm not spending as much. And your clients shouldn't either. When they come to you, you want them to get the best version of what you are offering to them the very best, and they should feel great when they're leaving you, whether they are at level one or level 13. And that is really hard to do when you're taking so many people in. So being [00:10:30] selective is really going to help you to make for a better client experience for everybody that you work with and a better team experience for everybody that's working for you.

Keila Hill-Trawick: When you're selective, you can also have a lot more best practices since that little fish. A lot of our clients are really similar professional service providers. With one owner and very small teams. We were able to build that resource library that I referenced without having to reinvent the wheel. Every time somebody asks a question. We've got best practices to be able to answer questions that we know you're going [00:11:00] to ask because everybody asks similar ones. So think about what does that look like in your business? What types of things do you see constantly coming up that you can reference or add resources for in order to provide value? How can you make sure that your target person is getting the best version of you, without you having to create new work for yourself every time something comes up? Finally, focusing on quality over quantity again, which I will say all the time because I think it's the key to building [00:11:30] to enough, really has made it so that we can hire better, we can have better clients. And it's actually been kind of fun because what it's made is space for our team to be innovative about how we work, instead of having to focus all the time on, um, very specific things, we're able to really look at the experience as a whole.

Keila Hill-Trawick: What does it look like to work with us? Is this the best system based on what we want to give off? What things can we build for ourselves internally so that we can respond faster [00:12:00] and really give unexpected delight? And the book that I read, Unreasonable Hospitality, how can we make sure that that is infused in everything that we do? For me, that really comes from being intentional about who you work with because you know your people. So intimately that you're really able to provide them with an experience that you can be super proud of. So how do you do that? I always want to make sure that you leave with action items that you can actually do in order to make sure that when we say all [00:12:30] money ain't good money, you can be really clear on what good money is and how to get it. The first thing that I'll say is set boundaries again, the same way that it feels like more clients or more work is always going to be better. It can often feel like the more available you are and the more touch points you offer, the better, but that's not necessarily the case. You want to streamline to figure out a way that it works for you, so that you can be most valuable to your clients. For example, we don't take calls that are not scheduled. [00:13:00] In addition to me having a little bit of phone anxiety, it also interrupts our work if we were getting calls all day long.

Keila Hill-Trawick: But we want to make sure that there is an easy way for clients to get us information. Everything from a client portal to the rule in our company is if it's related to your accounting, send it to us. If it's ours, we'll take care of it. If it's not, we'll at least point you in the right direction. So no more really quick calls that end up being three hour conversations about things that aren't necessarily ours. But we also [00:13:30] want the things that you're doing for yourself to be done with support. So how can we make that easier for you? The first thing is to set a boundary setting templates, resources, systems that really support our ability to be on when we're on and support you in different ways when we're not. This also means empowering your team to set those same boundaries, everything from the ways that we set up discovery and kickoff calls so that we have specified times that those are taking place, but also allowing [00:14:00] your team to have a voice for when someone is pushing a boundary to be able to push back. It's your company at the end of the day. But when you're hiring a team of excellence, you're also hiring them to know that they want what's best for your company and that they should be able to say, nope, this is a clear boundary that we set, and I am not going to overstep that for you.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Now, the next thing about a boundary and expectations is contracts. This is not legal advice. I am an accountant. I am not a lawyer. But [00:14:30] a contract at its base is setting expectations for how you'll work with a client so that everybody on both sides knows exactly what to expect. Now, you can't cover every single thing there, but it should be very clear about how you work together, what deliverables they should expect, and when you'll be available to them. That's going to be really important, because it also gives another opportunity for the client to be able to review and sign off to say, I understand, and I agree, when you're thinking [00:15:00] about taking on the right clients, those that have a lot of questions or push back on that, maybe a trigger or a flag for you to really reconsider whether or not this is the right person to work with. There's no black and white in this area. I don't want to make it seem like they ask a question and you cut them off, but you know, you have a gut check. You have a reasonable expectation of what it might look like to work together. And you are the boss. You make the final decision about whether or not this is even a good fit. And so if anything starts to, [00:15:30] uh, make you think twice, lean into that.

Keila Hill-Trawick: I have never regretted letting people go. That felt like the wrong fit. I have regretted on multiple occasions seeing the flags, ignoring them, bringing them on anyway, and then going through a convoluted and potentially, um, uncomfortable process of offboarding them. Once I understood what I understood from the beginning. This means that even after those steps, when clients are [00:16:00] making unrealistic expectations of you, or constantly crossing boundaries, that within your contract and within you empowering your team, you always have the opportunity to get out. You shouldn't be stuck with anybody just because of money, and you don't want to lock yourself or your client into a relationship that's not working for them. Now, those terms are going to be different for everybody. Some people are going to require longer notice or payment structures, timelines. All of that stuff makes complete sense. [00:16:30] But think about that on the front end so that you can be that much more clear about who you allow to work with you and who you send to somebody that might be a better fit for them. So when we talk about all money and good money, this means that you have to be really discerning about who you work with. It can't just be about the dollars. And again, I know that at the beginning that can be hard to say. And sometimes you do have to take projects because you're getting paid.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Like, let's be real, we're not always in a position where we can say no to [00:17:00] everything, but the things that you can say no to, that you think you should say no to think about that. Maybe this is the difference between taking them on for a short time retainer versus a longer time project. Maybe this means that they are at a lower. Year of service or a higher tier of service, and you charge them accordingly because you know this is what is going to look like. You can't always opt out as much as we wish that we could, but make it easier for yourself so that when you do make decisions [00:17:30] about who gets to work with you, you're very clear about the impact to your team, to your well-being, to your financials, and really to the work that you're able to do. Remember, every client that you take on takes a slot. They take energy, time, effort, and that is all good. But it means it's taking from a person who could value you and pay you too. And so don't feel like you have to take on people who treat you badly, or who go beyond your boundaries. There is space for [00:18:00] you to be able to work with only people that you love. And even if you can't do that now, it can be a target or a goal that you get to as you're growing your business.

Keila Hill-Trawick: At the end of the day, no relationship is forever, and so take the time to reassess, even after their clients, to make sure that they're right. Build a metric or a rubric to really check in and say, should I keep working with them? Should I renew their contract with me? Should I keep doing this retainer? Sometimes for a variety of reasons, the answer is yes, but [00:18:30] still, take that time to assess whether or not this is a good fit for you. When we say that enough is enough, that means in all ways. And in order for you to show up as the best business owner that you want to be, you need to make sure that all of those other things are in order, and that at least you can see a light for when you don't have to take on clients just for cash. We want you to get paid and like what you're doing so that you can do both. Thank you so much for listening today. We will talk to you next week. Thank [00:19:00] you for tuning in to another episode of Build to Enough. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate and share the love with your fellow entrepreneur friends, and make sure to sign up for the Build to Enough newsletter. The link is in the show notes. Stay tuned for more episodes as we continue to redefine success one intentional step at a time.