Client conflict became a catalyst for clearer boundaries, better processes, and a more scalable virtual practice.

The Disruptors

With Liz Farr

When Nayo Carter-Gray, founder of 1st Step Accounting, received a one-star Google review from a challenging client, she realized the crucial value of the boundaries she had established for clients. An email issue on the client’s end made the client think the firm was ignoring him when the reality was that he simply wasn’t receiving the firm’s correspondence.  

A happy ending came when the client took that one-star review down after Carter-Gray laid out “a timeline of events of how he didn't follow the process from start to finish,” she recalls. “It just led to us realizing that we put these boundaries in place for a reason, and now I’m looking at the entire process that we have to make sure that our existing clients know these boundaries and why they’re important.” 

Carter-Gray’s firm uses a framework of three core elements to establish boundaries with clients.