Firing clients
Back at SHiFT I had an interesting discussion with Stowe Boyd about firing client. He told me it happened to him a while ago (story here), he basically cut ties with a client who was not coherent with the direction he wanted them to take, and on which they had previously agreed on.
More than a stunt, I feel like this is representative of a profound evolution in the client/independent consultant relationship that new technologies – at least in part – have brought. Why is it happening now?
• reputation is your the one asset, and a very volatile one in a transparent world. A client not doing what an expert teaches them is a recipe for disaster in the new technology market. And disasters know no borders. Fuck ups won’t necessarily stop at the door of the client and can spread across the web in a few hours. Anticipating this is more critical than ever.
• most of the independent consultants have very light infrastructure – the magic of wifi and laptops – and therefore very low cost. They can live on a shoestring, and this buys them time. And time is freedom.
• most consultants are looking for projects where they can make money, but also learn and drive their value up. Unlike the big four firms – who can’t care less about the progression of their staffers – independent consultants have to constantly care about getting better, and learning is a big part of it. The current assignment should always allow to bill more on the next one. Not much more. Just more, to reflect a valuable experience.
• last but not least, let’s be honest: all this also happens because the IT sector is doing pretty good these days, and all the competent people get more propositions that they can handle.
