I Fired Our Largest Clients. Twice. Here's the Question I'd Ask Before Doing It Again.

An agency owner doesn't need a business school lecture to understand why a big client matters. Payroll comes around every two weeks. Rent, tools, insurance and recruiting don't stop because the agency has decided to stand on principle.

I understood all of that when I made one of my hardest decisions at Anvil: I fired our largest client. Then, in a separate situation, I did it again.

Both clients had crossed a line in how they treated our team. We had an unwritten policy against accepting abusive clients. It was easy to believe in that principle until real revenue was on the line.

I have shared the story publicly because it says more about agency leadership than a dozen mission statements. But I don't think the lesson is "fire difficult clients." That would be terrible advice. The lesson is to decide what kind of company you are prepared to run—and accept the financial responsibility that comes with that decision.

A demanding client is not automatically a bad client

Great clients can be demanding. They hold us accountable, challenge our assumptions and expect value for their money. Frankly, they should. A client who pushes for better outcomes can make an agency better.

Abusive behavior is something else. So is a relationship where employees are repeatedly mistreated and leadership knows it but does nothing because the contract is large.

The distinction matters because owners sometimes hide behind vague labels like "difficult" when the real issue is unclear scope, slow agency delivery or poor communication. Before blaming the client, make sure your own house is in order.

Ask: Is the frustration about results? About expectations nobody documented? About disrespectful conduct? About an agency that promised one thing and delivered another? Those problems call for different responses.

Revenue is visible. The cost of tolerating the wrong behavior is quieter.

A major account appears on a revenue dashboard. The team impact doesn't come with the same neat reporting. You may see avoidable weekend work, an account manager dreading a meeting, high performers looking at other jobs, or managers making exceptions to rules they enforce everywhere else.

Those costs are real even when they don't appear as a line item labeled "client relationship damage."

At Anvil, protecting employees became an important part of how I thought about culture. Ending those two relationships had a financial cost, and I don't want to romanticize it. We were fortunate the team rallied and we could absorb the impact. Another agency might not have the same financial room. An owner has to think through payroll and continuity, not simply make a dramatic gesture.

That is why the choice should be principled and prepared.

The five-part decision I would make today

If a founder came to me with a major account causing trouble, I'd want to understand five things before saying "keep it" or "walk away."

1. What actually happened? Specific incidents, dates, messages and who was affected. Distinguish a tough conversation from a pattern of unacceptable conduct. If you can't explain the problem without adjectives, you may not understand it yet.

2. What does the account truly contribute? Revenue is the beginning, not the answer. Consider delivery labor, senior intervention, scope creep, rework and the opportunity cost of tying up strong people. A client can be financially valuable and still be a poor cultural fit. Or the economics can already be weaker than the headline suggests.

3. Have we made the boundary clear? Where possible, state the issue directly and give the relationship a fair chance to recover. Be explicit about communication, approval channels, working hours or professional conduct. Don't expect a client to read your company's values on a website and infer every operational boundary.

4. What happens if we end the engagement? Run the cash-flow scenario. What can be replaced, what costs unwind, what must be protected, and what transition obligations apply? Have the conversation with the finance and delivery leads before acting.

5. What precedent are we setting if we stay? Imagine your best employee asks why this behavior is acceptable from a large client but not from anyone else. Be ready to answer without squirming.

None of these questions is a magic formula. They force the founder to look at both the spreadsheet and the people behind it.

How to end a relationship without becoming the problem

When a situation can't be repaired, professionalism still matters. Follow the contract. Make ownership of files and work clear. Communicate what will happen next and when. Give your team a transition plan that doesn't dump fresh chaos on them.

Most importantly, resist the temptation to turn the client into a villain in public. My own story doesn't require naming the accounts or litigating old arguments. The principle stands without that.

An agency may also need to reduce its exposure long before this moment arrives. If one account represents an alarming percentage of revenue, that concentration deserves attention even when the relationship is terrific. Diversification won't make difficult choices painless, but it will give you room to make them.

The client you don't take can shape your agency

The work you accept influences the people you can retain, the systems you build and the reputation you earn. That's why I consider client selection a leadership discipline, not merely a sales function.

I'm proud of the decisions we made. I also remember how consequential they were. There's no point pretending values are free. They're supposed to influence what you do when the choice is expensive.

If you're weighing a high-revenue account against your team's health, don't start with "Can we afford to lose the client?" Start with a fuller question: "What happens to the business if we keep doing this?" Then run both scenarios honestly.

If that's a decision on your desk, bring the numbers and the trade-offs to an agency-owner advisory conversation. You don't need to arrive with a perfect answer. That's the point.