Yep, You Certainly Can Fire A Client

(www.thegoldenpencil.com)
I came close to firing a client yesterday. It’s been a rocky relationship from the beginning, which was back in the beginning of February.

I’ve been ghostwriting for a number of years, and I have a rough process I’ve found usually works. It goes more or less like this:

1. First we do a Visioning which I do on an individual basis for ghostwriting clients.
2. Next I help the client create a 10 Word Purpose for their book.
3. We follow this with a Working Table of contents.

Once these three elements are in place, the ghostwriting usually goes fairly well. I should have stopped when the client couldn’t come up with a working table of contents, or even a simple list of topics to be covered. I didn’t. The client asked for more time to work this out. Eventually we went to weekly phone calls where I acted, come to think of it, as sort of a counselor, and the client in turn tried to counsel me.

Yesterday, in a not very pretty conversation, I laid down the law. The client has a week to decide if they want to work with me; if they do we need to lay out a specific plan that will result in progress. In this case, I define progress as words on paper. If they want to fire me, I’ll support them finding the right writer for their book.

I’m now wondering if I should let this ride even another week. Ah, it won’t hurt, and who knows, maybe a miracle will happen. I’ll let you know. But I promise you, if, next week, I’m not totally convinced I can get the info I need to write the book the client will be happy with, I’m on to the next client.

Write well and often,

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Image from http://www.sxc.hu