We all have those “Good CLients”
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 service entrepreneurs 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 rarely 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 core beliefs I’ve held since the very beginning — since I first started my business fifteen 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 realise.
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.
Designing the Business You Want to Run
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 fifteen 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 — and advisory work sat 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 six or twelve months before income started flowing. Monthly fees gave me cashflow 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 cost 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. Part of the relationship.
What that meant was that we agreed how we worked upfront. 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 cost 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 better 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 recognising that you are allowed to decide how your business operates, and you’re allowed to change things when they no longer work.
The “Good” Client Who Pays Late
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 sixty 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 cashflow. 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 not sustainable.
Scope Creep and Avoided Conversations
Another place this shows up — often much more quietly — is with scope creep.
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 those conversations might feel generous in the moment, but over time it erodes the relationship — and the business model you’re trying to build.
Fear, Risk, and the Illusion of Safety
Underneath all of this sits fear. Not dramatic fear — practical fear. Fear of losing income. Fear of upsetting someone. 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 cashflow pressure, bad debt, 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 that 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.
And 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.
Closing Thoughts …
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 judgement. 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.
Until next week, keep thriving - but do it by design, not by default.
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