I had three difficult conversations yesterday. With each, I knew what I was getting into, so I had a little time to prepare. Before the fight gets too heated, or as quickly as possible can once the heat is on, I orient myself on understanding the worst that can happen. 

But not doom-and-gloom outcomes that aren’t probable. One way to avoid catastrophic thinking is to reframe it: What is the least acceptable outcome - to you - that can come from this?

Looked at from this perspective, the range of possible outcomes quickly narrows. Most often, the least acceptable outcome is a severing of the relationship. For me, losing a client - and the revenues they bring in - is the least acceptable outcome. But it is still acceptable.

Sometimes the difficult conversation isn’t with a client, but with the people we work with on the podcast. Maybe our cohost. Maybe a producer. Or maybe someone else who works behind the scenes. Once again, you need to know the least acceptable outcome before you do anything. 

As before, it might mean a severing of the relationship. And maybe that means you’re the one who leaves. That’s OK, as long as you have it as your least acceptable outcome. Clearly, if you own (or think you own) the show or a portion of it, then it’s a lot tougher for you to see leaving as the least acceptable, but still acceptable, outcome.

But it’s not always easy to walk away or show someone the door. One of the biggest challenges is entanglement. Before you unleash your least acceptable outcome, you need to think about the pain and suffering you’ll go through just getting them out of your system and processes.

If you’ve done some really dumb things like tied all clients together in a single hosting account, getting an ex-client’s show out of there is going to take effort and probably continued conversations with someone you don’t like working with! 

Similarly, if you need to fire someone from the team, how much havoc can they do until you get them unplugged? Do you have a plan for rescinding access - all access - in a moment’s notice? If not, you should.

For either situation, what sorts of written agreements exist, and what do they say about terminating the relationship? Is there a time-dependency that requires 30-days notice, for example? What about payments - future or past - owed or un-invoiced? And who owns what? Gaming this out now will save you a lot of headaches in the future. 

Not everyone has the luxury of kicking out a pain-in-the-ass client. When a client is responsible for 50% or 90% or 100% of your revenues, it may seem impossible to show them the door. 

Fortunately for me, my client roster is broad enough that I can survive the loss of a problem client. I’ve worked hard to eliminate every scrap of unnecessary entanglement precisely because of this reality. That allows me to quickly cut ties. Not every working podcaster is in a similar position of privilege, I understand. 

Some conversations are worth fighting over. Some aren’t. Keeping your focus on the end of the fight - your least acceptable outcome - can lighten your load when you’re in the thick of it.

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