I fired a Hawaii marketing agency a couple of months ago. I was not a client. I’d been providing usability and SEO services to their clients since 2007. (Does that mean I quit?) I grew online business for a few of their big-name clients and received decent money for it. Everybody at the agency was polite and skilled. So why did I fire them? Throughout the six-year engagement they paid several hundred invoices, but rarely on time. I fired them because they regularly forced me to act as an accountant and a collections agent.
Glutton For Digital Media Agency Punishment
A few weeks later I was approached by another Hawaii digital marketing outfit. I’m not hungry for work now, but with so much SEO and usability experience in the Hawaii destination and hospitality verticals, part of me wants to put that knowledge to good use. So when this new agency reached out to me, I engaged.
I insist on signing a mutual non-disclosure agreement with all clients. The NDA serves to protect any private information and ostensibly allows us to discuss anything without worry of public eyes and ears. After a month of wasting my time, this new agency today tells me, “We can’t sign this.” I tried to identify and fix the perceived problem, but after receiving a couple more obtuse emails, I eventually jabbed, “I take my clients’ privacy very seriously. If [Agency] doesn’t respect that, we’re obviously not a good match.” I sent a friendly “goodbye” note to his partner.
I assure you I won’t be communicating with them again unless we agree about privacy.
What I’ve learned:
- Fool me once, shame on, um… how does that go, George Bush? Fire clients more quickly if/when they’re late with payments.
- Don’t invest too much speculative time with clients until they agree to protect the privacy of your and their secret digital marketing sauce.
- I’d again like to help a Hawaii company or agency with search engine optimization and user experience.
- I *still* don’t like time-wasters.
Dan Dreifort 
I agree your stance of being willing to dismiss those who show they aren’t willing to work the way you do. My entire client base is company owners/leaders, and I’ve had to learn to cut loose those who want to change the way I work.