How I Fired a Client--and Changed My Life

Early on in my career, I had to fire one of my most lucrative clients. I had worked with him for 10 years and his work accounted for nearly 35% of my profits. But he wanted to control my schedule; it even bothered him when I would take a week’s vacation. In fact, I once had to cut a vacation short to work on a case for him; he told me if I didn’t, I’d lose his business.

I gave him two months’ notice before my next vacation but he still sent a case, also with an unreasonable deadline that would mean I would have to give up precious vacation time with my family.

At that point, I had to ask myself what this client was actually costing me. It was a challenging prospect to let go of such a huge account but keeping him, dealing with the stress and losing time with my family was just not worth it. So I sent all of his cases back, ended the relationship and got on with my vacation. It was the best decision I ever made.

Of course,...