Speaker:
Hey there, and welcome back to another episode of Sam's Sidebar, where I tackle your
Speaker:
essential legal questions about online business in ten minutes or less.
Speaker:
This week, you'll get a hot legal tip about what to do if a client quits or you want to
Speaker:
fire them.
Speaker:
this week's question came from our listener, Angie.
Speaker:
Angie said, "I had my first coaching client quit just over halfway through my program.
Speaker:
She did not do the work.
Speaker:
However, I did.
Speaker:
A lot of it. She was one of my more needy clients.
Speaker:
So much of our interactions were conversations and encouragement through texts.
Speaker:
My question is this, since she quit or had I fired her, I think she knew it was coming
Speaker:
because she broke up with me first, do I reimburse her for the latter half of the program?
Speaker:
Or if she refuses to make her last few payments - she's on a payment plan - what can I
Speaker:
do?"
Speaker:
I wish I could give you a big hug because I just really want to normalize this.
Speaker:
And every time I talk about clients not paying people or people not paying your invoices,
Speaker:
I always want you to know how common this is.
Speaker:
I don't mean it's happening all the time, but it at least happens once to everyone.
Speaker:
It happens at some point to everybody in business, me included.
Speaker:
So, not all client relationships go smoothly.
Speaker:
And every single coach, every friend that I've had, has had someone "quit".
Speaker:
I also wanted to normalize this idea that, like, halfway through your coaching program,
Speaker:
this person was like, "Thanks.
Speaker:
I don't need you anymore." That is so painful when it happens and it's so normal.
Speaker:
So, I just want you to know both of those things.
Speaker:
think that it's important for us to talk about this more because I don't ever want
Speaker:
somebody taking it personally.
Speaker:
Instead, I want you to kind of shift into what can I do about this.
Speaker:
I mean, first of all, knowing what your rights are, which is what we'll talk about today,
Speaker:
but also like what can you put in place in the future so that hopefully this doesn't
Speaker:
happen again.
Speaker:
here's the good part, I guess.
Speaker:
The good part about being your own boss is that you get to decide how to handle stuff like
Speaker:
this. So, of course, there are certain legal rights and obligations that you have.
Speaker:
But when it comes to refunds, for example, if it feels better for you to release this
Speaker:
person and move on, that's okay.
Speaker:
That is totally okay.
Speaker:
I'm a lawyer. Yes, I write refund policies and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker:
Yes, I do go after people who don't pay sometimes and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:
But I've also chosen not to, and I've also encouraged friends or colleagues not to as well
Speaker:
sometimes.
Speaker:
totally fine, too - as long as you have the right contract with that language in it -
Speaker:
which all of my contract templates do - you also have the right to refund that remaining
Speaker:
time.
Speaker:
time would 100 percent be the right thing to do and the legal requirement.
Speaker:
So, if you're three months into a six month coaching package with a client and you cancel
Speaker:
on them, you're going to have to give them the remaining money back.
Speaker:
You're not going to get to keep that.
Speaker:
since she quit, the client quit in this case, you can decide whether or not you'd like to
Speaker:
enforce that contract language or not.
Speaker:
So, if she doesn't pay her remaining payments and then you've tried collecting them from
Speaker:
her yourself, you could explore collections if you wanted to, either through an attorney
Speaker:
- not me - or a private collections company.
Speaker:
There are even online companies for this now.
Speaker:
When you submit somebody's failure to pay you or pay you on time to collections, you'll
Speaker:
need a legitimate contract to prove that the person agreed to pay that amount on that
Speaker:
date. So, if you use PayPal or something similar to process people's payments, I have
Speaker:
seen complaining clients be successful these days against coaches in issuing chargeback
Speaker:
threats. That's where they complain to PayPal that they want a refund even though they
Speaker:
know they signed a contract saying no.
Speaker:
Typically, if the service hasn't been offered yet, then PayPal will actually give them the
Speaker:
refund.
Speaker:
Like, "How dare you suggest to send good people to collections?" Or like, "You have us
Speaker:
have refund policies but then say it's okay not to enforce them?
Speaker:
What a joke." Honestly, the deal is I find my role here, in general, to give you the
Speaker:
buffet of options and then you can decide what to do.
Speaker:
It's not about me telling you what to do.
Speaker:
And the truth is that there's not a right or wrong answer.
Speaker:
answer in life is not always to go to somebody's throat.
Speaker:
You know, that's not always the answer.
Speaker:
And sometimes it is.
Speaker:
Sometimes you are justified to do that too - well, I shouldn't even say that.
Speaker:
You are justified to do whatever you want to do.
Speaker:
But sometimes one of those options makes more sense for you than the other.
Speaker:
point is to make decisions that are for you and not based on what you think you should
Speaker:
do or make a decision because you don't think you're allowed to do it.
Speaker:
So, that's where I really just see my role here is educating you for what the options are,
Speaker:
and then you can decide.
Speaker:
And that just starts with knowing what your rights are.
Speaker:
I think it's really empowering to walk away too.
Speaker:
me, the best approach in general is prevention.
Speaker:
So, having legally legit contracts that are in place early on will chase away, try it
Speaker:
before they buy it clients.
Speaker:
And that same contract will be what you'll use later to either try to collect the payment
Speaker:
yourself or submit it to collections because you're going to need it, like I said.
Speaker:
right. So, I hope that my answer to Angie's question was helpful.
Speaker:
If you need to grab a last minute legal template, like a contract or a website policy
Speaker:
that you can write off - it's a write off if anybody watches Schitt's Creek before Q4 -
Speaker:
you can visit my legal template shop on my website, samvanderwielen.com/shop.
Speaker:
And keep in mind that when you decide to upgrade to the Ultimate Bundle, I credit the
Speaker:
cost of any template that you've purchased from me that's already included in the
Speaker:
Ultimate Bundle. So, you have that fun thing coming for you.
Speaker:
right. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of Sam's Sidebar.
Speaker:
Check out the show notes below for related blog posts, resources, and my full episodes of
Speaker:
On Your Terms, which are every single Monday.
Speaker:
as always, if you have a question for me that you want answered on a future episode, you
Speaker:
can submit it using the link for Sam's Sidebar Q&A below.
Speaker:
Thank you so much. I'll chat with you next week.
Speaker:
so much for listening to the On Your Terms podcast.
Speaker:
Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to
Speaker:
podcasts. You can also check out all of our podcast episodes, show notes, links, and more
Speaker:
at samvanderwielen.com/podcast.
Speaker:
can learn more about legally protecting your business and take my free legal workshop,
Speaker:
Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business, at samvanderwielen.com.
Speaker:
And to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram, @samvanderwielen, and send
Speaker:
me a DM to say
Speaker:
hi.
Speaker:
remember that although I am a attorney, I am not your attorney and I am not offering you
Speaker:
legal advice in today's episode.
Speaker:
This episode and all of my episodes are informational and educational only.
Speaker:
It is not a substitute for seeking out your own advice from your own lawyer.
Speaker:
And please keep in mind that I can't offer you legal advice.
Speaker:
I don't ever offer any legal services.
