"She wanted the sun and the moon and the stars for 400 bucks." — a freelancer on Quora, describing the client every agency owner knows. If that sentence made you think of a name, this system is for you.

Some clients don't pay you — they cost you. The scope-creep kings. The late payers. The ones who rewrote the brief after delivery. You keep them because firing feels financially terrifying. This system replaces the fear with arithmetic.

The Bad-Client Triage & Firing System is an Excel scorecard that computes the truth per client: your EFFECTIVE hourly rate (fee divided by every hour — worked, revised, and chased), a 0–100 pain score, and an automatic verdict: FIRE, FIX, or KEEP. Then it answers the scary question — "can I afford to fire them?" — by comparing the revenue at risk against your replacement pipeline.

No pep talks. No "communicate better." Just the P&L truth, the 4 behavioral firing signals, and the exact words to exit professionally.

What's inside (file by file — v2.0, 13 files)

• Client-Profitability-Scorecard.xlsx — 5-sheet Excel workbook (desktop & web, no macros): Start Here, Register (20 client slots, 5 sample clients), Scorecard (automatic FIRE/FIX/KEEP verdicts), Affordability (pipeline math + exit verdict), Worked Example (live fictional triage: 1 FIRE, 1 FIX, 1 KEEP)

• 00-QUICK-START-GUIDE.md — full onboarding: the 15-minute first run, the math, the FIX conversation, the exit, the 30-day re-score, common mistakes

• WORKED-EXAMPLE.md — complete FICTIONAL triage (Meridian Design Co): score → verdict → affordability → exit, every number shown

• Red-Flag-Inventory.md — the 4 firing signals with behavioral examples and scoring rules, grounded in a cited Oct 2026 dev.to piece

• Fire-Fix-Keep-Decision-Matrix.md — what each verdict means, the FIX conversation checklist (5 items), the 30-day re-score rule, firing priority order

• Exit-Scripts-and-Handover.md — professional termination email, 30-day notice wording, handover checklist, competitor-referral wording, what never to do

• FAQ-AND-LIMITS.md — 12 product-specific FAQs + honest limits

• WHATS-INSIDE.md — file-by-file inventory + version history

• README.md — package overview + version history

• cover.png + previews/ — cover and 3 workbook preview images

Total: 13 files.

What's new in v2.0

Verdict-logic correction: FIRE now triggers when your effective rate falls below your walk-away minimum (v1.0 fired below the target rate, which made the walk-away input dead and fired healthy-but-below-target clients). Plus a live Worked Example sheet, quick-start guide, full worked example, FAQ + limits, and file-by-file inventory. Price unchanged at $29.

Free sample (try before you buy)

Read the free sample — the core math, one scored FICTIONAL client, and the 4 firing signals:
https://github.com/fexo9/bad-client-triage-system/blob/main/FREE-SAMPLE-Bad-Client-Triage.md

FAQ (product-specific)

1. Does it guarantee firing the right clients? No. It is a decision tool, not a guarantee. It calculates from YOUR numbers. Garbage in, garbage out.

2. What is the effective hourly rate? Fee ÷ (hours worked + revision hours + admin/chasing hours). Unpaid labor is real labor — it counts.

3. Why did v2.0 change the FIRE rule? In v1.0, FIRE triggered below the target rate, which made the walk-away minimum dead. v2.0: FIRE below walk-away minimum, FIX below target.

4. What if a client is profitable but painful? The verdict weighs both. Pain ≥ 70 triggers FIRE even at a good rate; pain 45–69 triggers FIX.

5. What if a client is cheap but easy? Low rate with zero flags and low pain lands between walk-away and target → FIX (raise the rate or reduce hours), not FIRE. The scorecard never fires on fee size alone.

6. My pipeline coverage says NOT YET. What now? Build pipeline before firing. FIX the worst client meanwhile and re-score in 30 days. Do not fire into a revenue hole.

7. Can I fire two clients at once? Not unless coverage is above 150%. Pipeline estimates are optimistic. One exit at a time; highest pain first.

8. Does it work for project clients, not just retainers? Yes — enter project fee and project hours. Keep the period consistent across clients.

9. Does it work in Google Sheets? It opens and calculates, but layout was designed and tested for Excel (desktop & web). Standard formulas only — no macros, no add-ins.

10. What if I see "COMPLETE DATA"? A client row has a fee but zero hours — fill the hours. The scorecard refuses to guess a verdict from incomplete data.

11. How honest must I be with red flags? Completely honest, or the system is useless. Count signals from the last 90 days. Do not inflate counts to justify a firing you already decided on.

12. Are the exit scripts legal advice? No. Professional templates, not legal advice. For high-value contracts, have an attorney review termination wording.

Honest limits

• Not a profit guarantee. It calculates from your inputs.

• The pipeline math uses YOUR close-rate estimate — be conservative. It cannot predict the future.

• The exit scripts are professional templates, not legal advice.

• The pain score is a weighted index (40% revision + 30% late-payment + 30% admin), not a psychological measurement.

• The red-flag framework is grounded in one cited practitioner piece (dev.to, Oct 2026) — a framework, not peer-reviewed research.

• Sample and worked-example data are fictional. Fee and pipeline defaults are examples only — enter your real numbers.

• No sales, review, or testimonial claims. No guaranteed-outcome claims.

• Excel-first; Google Sheets "opens and calculates," not pixel-perfect.

• Register capacity: 20 client slots.

Details

• Price: $29 one-time. Commercial license.

• Format: ZIP download (13 files: Excel workbook + Markdown docs + cover + previews). Excel desktop & web; no macros.

• Version: v2.0 (2026-10-17). Changelog: verdict-logic correction, Worked Example sheet, quick-start guide, worked example, FAQ + limits, inventory. Price unchanged.

Demo video

Watch a 72-second walkthrough of the real v2.0 files:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrz3t6W9WEQ

Pay by card or crypto at checkout.