Welcome back to the Small Business Summary: After 3 days of golf in a row, I’m back in the office with coffee, some tunes, and Advil. Damn, it sucks getting old. Let’s get into it.

In this week’s episode:

• 5 Ways to Know it’s Time to Fire a Client

• Sales Room: 30 Day Summer Sales Sprint to Add 10% More Revenue!

• Level Up: Premium or Store Brand Products?

• Tweet of the Week from Bill Gates

• SBOC Conference Update

CLIENT RELATIONSHIP CHECKUP:
5 Ways to Know When It’s Time to Let Go

Let’s talk about something uncomfortable: that one client who makes your stomach drop when their name shows up on your calendar.

You know the one.

It started off great but the relationship has deteriorated to feel like an obligation.
How did you get into a place where your business is serving a client that doesn’t value your work and you don’t enjoy working with them? Have you ever stepped back and looked for the signs?

Here are five warning signs that a client relationship is going the wrong direction and what to do about it.

1. Communication slows down

Great clients communicate clearly and promptly. When they stop responding, slow-walk deliverables, or start offering endless excuses about why they can’t get you what you need, take note. Everyone is busy. But if their lack of response becomes the norm, it’s not just bad luck. It’s a sign they’ve stopped prioritizing the work and maybe you.

2. Boundaries start blurring

If the client begins asking for more than what was agreed upon, it’s a red flag. When the relationship was healthy, expectations were clear. Scope creep is a symptom of dissatisfaction. If they’re reaching for more, it might be because what you’re doing isn’t delivering what they want or at least not in the way they expected. That needs to be addressed, not ignored.

3. Meetings become mysteriously hard to schedule

Isn’t it funny how aliens seem to land when it’s time for your next meeting? Last-minute cancellations, constant “illnesses",” and ghosted calendar invites aren’t always coincidences. If your client becomes difficult to pin down, it’s because the relationship has lost priority. High-trust, high-leverage partnerships don’t get skipped.

4. Fear is making you hold on

Sometimes it’s not the client it’s you. Are you afraid to lose them because your revenue depends on it? That’s not a client problem, that’s a sales problem. No one client should have the power to collapse your business. If losing them would tank your operation, it’s time to double your prospecting efforts and get more proposals in play.

5. You’re starting to resent the work

If their work feels heavy, annoying, or like it always lands at the bottom of your to-do list, check your pricing. Clients who pay well don’t feel like a burden. Clients who nickel and dime you? That’s where the resentment shows up. It’s not personal. It’s just time to either raise your rates.

Take Action Today

Make a list of all your current clients. Score them 1 to 10.

• 1 means: I’d offboard them tomorrow if I could.

• 10 means: I’d clone this client if I could.

Look at your 1s and 2s. What’s not working? Fix it or Fire them. For real.
Look at your 9s and 10s. What makes them such a great fit?

Then ask yourself:
What can I do today to attract more of the 10s?
How quickly can I offboard the 1s?

You don’t run a business. You own it.
You get to choose what work you do and who you do it for.

Let this be your checkup.
Let this be your permission slip.
Let this be your reminder: You didn’t start a business to feel trapped by it.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

BUILD YOUR RECORD YEAR AT #SBOC25
September 16-19, 2025
Brookfield, WI

NEW - June Ticket Bonus
Get your ticket in the month of June and I’ll send you TWO bonuses!

Buy Back Your Time - Dan Martell
To continue growing your small business, you MUST buy back your time so you can deliver the high value, high impact work your best clients crave. This book can be read in an afternoon and you’ll walk away with the step by step method to open up 5, 10, or more hours each week for your business! I have your copy ready to drop in the mail!

Dan Martell’s Keynote at the 2024 SBOC Conference
In addition to mailing the book, I’ll send you the video of Dan’s presentation from last year’s SBOC Conference. The book and video will be the one-two punch you need to take back control of your business.

See the full lineup and get your ticket by June 30 here: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/25conference

The 5th Annual Small Business Owners Community Conference presented by Horicon Bank is leaning into the moment by focusing on what matters: Revenue. This year, we’re addressing all of the inputs that make you money: mindset, rates, sales technique, time, meaning, business development and more. The economy is a little bumpy at the moment and below you’ll see one economist predicting a 90% chances of a recession.

If the economy went south, are you just going to roll over and take it?
Or, are you going to fight for your dream? I thought so.

With that theme in mind, check out our unbelievable faculty this year:

• Jesse Cole - Founder Savannah Bananas - Putting Your Customer First

• Carl Gould - Back by Popular Demand! - BizDev Done Right

• Sahil Bloom - NYT Bestselling Author - Meaning, Purpose and Money

• Pat Miller - (yeah, me!) - Quit Charging Too Little, a Workshop to Raise Rates

• Precious L. Williams - Returning to Host the 2nd Annual SBOC Awards

• And much more…

All of our VIP tickets are gone (we started a waiting list in case a second session opens) and our general tickets are already 50% sold out!

See the full lineup and get your ticket here: https://event.smallbusinesscommunity.com/25conference

A HUGE thank you to our major sponsors: Horicon Bank, Money Masters, Athena Legal Solutions, Magnolia Tax, and Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative

Thanks for reading this week’s Summary newsletter…
I’m grilling smash burgers tonight…you bring the drinks, I’ve got the food 🙂 

Pat