Client Horror Stories

In the latest episode of Client Horror Stories, David Bates, an Executive Coach at Paravelle, LLC, shares a harrowing experience from his days as a consultant. David recalls being assigned to check on a major pharmaceutical project in town, a task given to him simply because he was the only team member residing in the area. What seemed like a routine check quickly spiraled into a nightmare.

Upon arriving at the training session, David faced an unexpected crisis. The project sponsor abruptly canceled the training during the first break, declaring the content unnecessary. Determined to salvage the situation, David tried to work things out with a particular team member. However, the situation deteriorated further when the big pharma stakeholders invited him to lunch. What started as a seemingly cordial meeting turned into a coordinated attack, with the stakeholders confronting him about the project's shortcomings and ultimate failure.

David's story is a gripping reminder of the unpredictable challenges consultants can face, even in seemingly straightforward situations.

If you'd like to hear more about how David navigated this complex situation and the lessons he learned, be sure to check out the full episode of Client Horror Stories.

Morgan Friedman

David's Website

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In this episode, we are joined by John C. Morley, Serial Entrepreneur Engineer, Marketing Specialist, Talk Show Host, and First Responder, for our exciting new episode of Client Horror Stories. John doesn’t only talk about a single client horror story, but three! However, we’re here to give you a quick look into the conversation.

We’re going to start with John’s two-decade-long client who decided to let him go after telling him that John was just squeezing him out for money. After so much back and forth, their relationship ended and the lawyer hired a different person. What sucked is that the new hire pretended to be John while calling a firewall manufacturer just to get through.

If you think that’s a nut case, wait until you hear the rest of what John has to say. Today’s episode is not just a recall; it’s an episode filled with new learnings and realizations to give you a new perspective on how things should be handled.

Morgan Friedman

John's Website

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John's Instagram

In today’s episode of Client Horror Stories, we welcome Mark Michael, CEO and co-Founder of DevHub. While Michael has had a lot of ups and downs in the customer side of things, one experience always stands out.

We all know the NFL, and luckily enough, Mark was given an opportunity to work with a high-profile player. The idea was to create a custom CRM built for all NFL players to make their daily lives manageable. All went well until the client refused to provide a card on file to pay for subscriptions and hostings, and it all stretched out until he wouldn’t even pay for anything else despite 50% of the work being finished.

Just like everyone else, Mark reached his tipping point and put the client in his right place. If you want to know what happens next, check out this episode!

Morgan Friedman

Mark's Website

Mark's Company

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Mark's Instragram

Have you ever been yelled at by a client before or threatened to be sued? Today, we are joined by the Founder & CEO of Blue Goat Cyber, Christian Espinosa, to share more about his client horror story with a healthcare facility in Louisiana.

Christian is an expert in ethical hacking and wishes only to expose company vulnerabilities in order to find avenues for improvement, but when they infected most of the hospital with the secret file they planted, the CEO went nuts. It even went as far as a security guard pulling a gun on one of Christian’s employees!

Dive into this episode to learn more about the story and open your mind to new business tactics and strategies.
Morgan Friedman

Christian's Website

Christian's LinkedIn

Christian's Facebook

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Christian's Instagram

Have you ever committed a white lie to save yourself? Well, Jason Roberts’ client horror story revolves around that, but they took lying to a whole new different level.

In today’s episode, we are joined by Jason Roberts, Peak Performance Coach and 9-Figure Entrepreneur, who will be sharing his worst nightmare to date. During his early entrepreneur years, he owned a mortgage company and one day came face to face with a paraplegic client looking to apply for a construction loan. He was a nice guy, and Jason felt there was nothing to worry about, so he went ahead and helped the client to make a difference.

A month after the client moved into his new home, he unfortunately passes and the outstanding loan is left to rot, with no one willing to take responsibility for it. Jason had no idea about this. He thought all was well and good and paid no mind when a family member called to ask if there were options to cancel the loan. To his surprise, a week later the County Sheriff showed up to his office and he got served with a lawsuit for alleged fraud, stating that the borrower was taken advantage of during the whole process as he was mentally incapacitated.

Lies upon lies were put on top of the other just so the family could get millions out of him, but Jason refused to lose. Six months in, he had an epiphany that turned the tables around.

Wanna know what happened? Oh, I’m not at liberty to break the excitement. Watch the whole episode to know how Jason outmaneuvered the real fraudsters and learn a key point or two to avoid these problems in the future!

Morgan Friedman

Jason's Website

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Setbacks are pretty normal, but have you ever experienced losing so much money just because someone didn’t want their work checked? Oops! I didn’t mean to give too much away, but we’re here with another episode of Client Horror Story with our host, Morgan Friedman. 

Today, we’re graced by Gee Ranasinha of KEXINO. KEXINO is a small marketing agency based in Europe, serving startups and small businesses mostly in the USA. A few years ago, they closed a deal with a well-funded organization in the crypto space—this was the time when crypto boomed and everyone wanted to get in on the latest trend.

Anyhow, deal’s closed and the project has been undertaken with Gee insisting on a proper QA before anything was launched. Guess what? Client said no and everything went poof! It turns out, there was a typo in the bitcoin address and they ended up losing a five-digits figure worth of earnings.

Get ready for this rollercoaster of a story as you tune in to our latest episode!

Morgan Friedman

KEXINO's Website

Gee's Linkedin

Have you ever tried waiting for a prospective client to make up their minds? If you're currently doing that and your patience is wearing thin, listen to this unique episode right now.

Welcome to another Client Horror Story with Brandon Kirkpatrick, CEO of Catalyst Consultant Group. This autonomous drone startup has just had a welcome to the world and had a chance encounter with a potential client during a motorcycle ride. Bizarre, right? Well, they got to talking and realized the potential client needed the exact services they offer.

Hands were shaken and prototypes had already been built, but it was only until 2 years in and $5 million later that they got blindsided in the deal. It turns out there were things they didn’t know about. Of course, we’re not going to spill the whole story here, but one thing’s for sure – the story is about to take a turn for the worst.

Tune in to learn more about Brandon’s client horror story!

Morgan Friedman

Brandon's Website

Brandon's Linkedin

Imagine going to Los Angeles to follow your dreams of becoming an actress – all these setbacks and challenges seemingly going on forever, and just when you thought you’re about to have a big break, it all comes crashing down. In this episode, we’re speaking with Suzy Hardy, a certified stress management and anxiety coach, and discuss her client horror story from a decade ago.

We’d want to say that since events of the past occurred years back, it would give us a wider berth or bigger perspective to think things through, but no – in this case, it was just an absolute shock to the system. When Suzy transferred to Los Angeles and graduated from massage school, while pursuing her acting career, she was introduced to a Russian agency backer who, after learning of her massage services, scheduled an appointment with her. During the course of the treatment, her Russian customer started giving some signals. If you thought a man putting his hands behind his head was sexy in books, in real life it’s definitely a red flag, especially during these professional services.

There’s more to the story, but you’ll have to tune in first. Watch the episode to learn more about how Suzy got out of this unbelievably scary situation and what she learned thereafter! 

psychopath on the street? In today’s episode, Robert Indries, owner of a group of 8 companies generating 7-figures yearly, shares his biggest mistake of hiring a high-functioning psychopath in his portfolio.

High growth comes with high responsibility, and eventually, Robert decided to take the networking reins to further expand his ever-growing company. To make sure he can concentrate on this task, he hired several executives who could, in theory, take over what he usually does. As a result of Robert’s additional networking efforts, his portfolio has managed to take in more clients and earn more money, but Robert noticed various issues on the service delivery side. Why?

He dug deeper and talked to multiple individuals and was eventually led to a single personality – one of those “leaders” he hired to allow him to focus on networking. This guy derailed the company in every possible way, whilst making Robert think twice about his own leadership… How?

He was being ingeniously spoken to with the goal of further confusing him. What’s worse is that not only were his clients being wronged by this person – they were also stealing Robert’s prospects and current employees!

Crazy? More like psycho! Press the play button and listen to the rest of the story. Uncover more of Robert’s challenges, and learn how he retook control and turned his portfolio back around.

Morgan Friedman

Suzy's Website

Do you ever wonder whether you’ve accidentally crossed paths with a psychopath on the street? In today’s episode, Robert Indries, owner of a group of 8 companies generating 7-figures yearly, shares his biggest mistake of hiring a high-functioning psychopath in his portfolio.

High growth comes with high responsibility, and eventually, Robert decided to take the networking reins to further expand his ever-growing company. To make sure he can concentrate on this task, he hired several executives who could, in theory, take over what he usually does. As a result of Robert’s additional networking efforts, his portfolio has managed to take in more clients and earn more money, but Robert noticed various issues on the service delivery side. Why?

He dug deeper and talked to multiple individuals and was eventually led to a single personality – one of those “leaders” he hired to allow him to focus on networking. This guy derailed the company in every possible way, whilst making Robert think twice about his own leadership… How?

He was being ingeniously spoken to with the goal of further confusing him. What’s worse is that not only were his clients being wronged by this person – they were also stealing Robert’s prospects and current employees!

Crazy? More like psycho! Press the play button and listen to the rest of the story. Uncover more of Robert’s challenges, and learn how he retook control and turned his portfolio back around.

Morgan Friedman

Robert's Website

Robert's Linkedin

Robert's Facebook

Robert's Twitter

Robert's Instagram

Dive into the engaging and insightful world of Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell, Esq., now an Intuitive Business Coach at Leading Through Living Community LLC. Lynita, once a champion of publishing, navigated the exciting realm of helping authors share their stories with the world.

Here's a fun twist: a close friend of Lynita's needed help publishing a book. With a generous spirit and a knack for problem-solving, Lynita eagerly stepped up to the challenge. She shares a humorous and all-too-real insight in the podcast: "Lawyers make the worst clients." It turns out, she humorously overlooked switching from friend mode to client mode, skipping the formalities of a contract.

The story takes a quirky turn when Lynita, expecting a manuscript, receives a PowerPoint presentation instead—her friend had composed the entire story on a phone! Unperturbed, Lynita adapts like a pro, transferring the content to a laptop for better accessibility. But there's a catch: the text is a labyrinth of incomplete sentences.

Pushed to her limits but still maintaining her poise, Lynita's tale unfolds with a blend of laughter and learning. The full story, rich with more twists and sage advice about maintaining professional boundaries with friends and family, awaits. Get ready for an enjoyable and enlightening experience that blends professionalism with a touch of fun—this is a client horror story you wouldn’t want to miss!

Morgan Friedman

Lynita's Website

Lynita's Linkedin

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Lynita's Twitter

Lynita's Instagram