table of funtents

1. 👋🏼 it’s me, hi

2. 🚷 3 clients I declined this year

3. 🚪 parting words

👋🏼 it’s me, hi

HAPPY WEDNESDAY, MISFITS ✌🏼

First things first, it’s celebration time: tomorrow marks 2 years since I launched keshty to the world AND started to build her in public!!!

Exclusive honesty for the subscribers in the room: I had no idea what I’d gotten myself into when I started - and 2 years later, I still come across the new and uncertain (often).

But it’s impossible to deny with time and consistency comes growth. One I’m most proud of is my litmus test for deciding who to work with - which has definitely improved in boatloads (heh, see what I did there?) since 2023.

Today, I want to share those learnings with you so you can get there in half the time.

Without further ado, let’s dive in 🌊 

 🚷 3 clients I declined this year

I don’t know about y’all, but year 1 me felt low on cash and didn’t have the credible reputation to be picky.

Sure, I could’ve been ruthless in choosing the right client from the start - but mentally, I needed the journey to get there. 

Once I took my place in the market, year 2 me got tight on which clients were a f*ck yes, a soft yes and a no (ps: if it’s not a f*ck yes, it’s a no).

I can safely say every client I’ve worked with in 2 years had 1 thing in common: minimal time between proposal and starting work.

While it may have taken time to organically build the relationship, once we were at the “I want to work with you” stage, we quickly (and collaboratively) toppled any barriers that got in the way of starting.

I appreciate this looks different depending on the customer you serve. Some industries and company stages will have longer sales cycles and logistical barriers.

But I work directly with founders who are also the primary decision maker. Once they’re ready in theory, they should be ready in practice.

So, how did year 2 me clean year 1’s baggage?

See below for the 3 clients I said no to this year (+ let me know if you would’ve done the same 👀).

1. the penny pincher

Penny pincher clients look like:

• aware of your fees, yet question why things cost what they do

• super keen (even pushy) to work with you - until price is brought up

• can afford you in discussions, then suddenly can’t after the proposal

The specific example:

This year, I was approached for an ideal project by a former colleague. They’ve since moved onto a new employer and their CEO was “super keen” to work with me.

In context, they were super keen and confirmed all good with our prices.

They’d already raised $1m and wanted more. So my first task for them was to create a post-raise org structure and join an investor call as the “fCOO we’ll work with should we get this cash.”

The CEO emailed, WhatsApp’d and wanted to hop on a call multiple times a day. My only flag at this point was, “I need to set boundaries so this guy communicates with me sustainably.”

So surely, y’all are wondering - how when we considered a longer-term, Fractional COO arrangement post-raise as planned - the CEO:

• questioned why I charged to audit the org (which we’d already discussed)

• asked, in detail, why I cost what I do (“this would make you more expensive than a senior partner at Bird & Bird” were their exact words)

• hit me with the “I definitely want to work together, but we can’t afford you”

In the end, we did the audit (paid, obvs) - but with increased uncertainty and indecision from the CEO, I decided not to proceed with a longer-term engagement.

2. the time-waster

Time-waster clients:

• struggle to manage their time effectively

• arrive late or unprepared to meetings (if they arrive at all)

• again, super keen (even pushy) to work with you - until it’s time to show up

The specific example:

A founder I’ve known for 2 years got in touch ready to talk scale.

After initial scoping, we agreed they’d be most successful with a mix of growth and scale advisory. I enlisted the help of my trusted growth companion, Gav, to tag-team this project with me.

The founder booked in Scoping Convo 2, but come call time, they were a no show.

We got an email hours later saying they were stuck in the sky and didn’t have signal to let us know. I question why anyone books calls fresh off a flight, but put this down to a “me thing” and gave them a pass. They rescheduled the call.

Attempt 2, we got this email bang on start time:

Year 1 me would’ve “totally understood!” and booked the third call.

Year 2 me is savage though, so this is how we replied (ps: feel free to use this template - if it helps YOU do the same, I ain’t mad):

It won’t surprise you to hear we received no response (let alone an apology!) since.

Which, thankfully, gave both me and Gav time back to focus on clients who are serious about working with us.

3. the terrible two

Terrible two clients:

• don’t see eye to eye, but want you to please both of them

• hope that you’ll somehow fix their relationship by fixing the business

• use your time as therapy, then wonder why things haven’t moved faster

The specific example:

Working with co-founders can be GREAT when they’re constructive and aligned.

But for every incredible co-founder relationship, there are 10 fractured, tense and misaligned ones waiting to collapse.

Last year, I started working with a CEO who’d just promoted their COO and wanted me to advise both of them.

Trouble was the CEO and COO worked at completely different paces; to get them aligned on anything, I had to either move too slow for the CEO or too fast for the COO.

Ultimately, it wasn’t my favourite project. It didn’t give me fulfilment or pride because I didn’t feel we achieved any meaningful outcomes.

This year, I had another co-founder duo approach me for advisory. I could see the signs from our first call: they weren’t on the same page - personally or professionally. While I could surely help them in some ways, I couldn’t help them where it really mattered.

And it’s not our place to.

Proud to say year 2 me sat this one out with zero regrets.

so, what does ideal looks like?

Last Wednesday, I met a founder I HUGELY admire for lunch. We’ve been building a relationship for over a year, the basis of which has been mutual peer support.

A few months prior, I’d also referred one of my best ex-colleagues who has now joined their founding team, and is - unsurprisingly - a massive asset.

Our lunch (unexpectedly for me) turned into “how can we work together?”

I wrote her a proposal that afternoon. We nailed scope and terms over a few emails.

As of this week, we’re working together.

The best part: this is my ideal founder type, ideal stage, ideal project.

Minimal barriers. Mutual intention. Finding ways to just make it happen.

This is what ideal looks like to me. Decide what ideal looks like to you and laser-focus your energy to secure them, time and time again.

🚪 parting words

And that’s a wrap on today’s episode, misfits 🫶🏼

As always, I’m only a message away for thoughts, questions and topic ideas. I read and sincerely appreciate every single poll / email response! Please keep them coming.

Before you go, could you let a girl know what you thought of this issue with the pulse check below? Good intent feedback is always welcome ⬇️

xo, Neds