🙅 How to handle a friend who becomes a business liability

What do you do when a trusted friend becomes a liability to your business?

Last year, I faced this exact dilemma with a toxic employee I had considered a friend…

And learned an important business lesson I want to share with you today.

Here’s the backstory…

In 2023, I promoted an employee who was functioning as an ops manager into Head of Tech (my first mistake).

He wasn’t experienced in coding, software, or building anything beyond integrations, but I thought he could handle it.

I tasked him with building a client portal on bubble for the company and assembling the team to do so…

And he got a raise with his promotion, costing 8F over 6-figures a year.

Then, we waited…

And waited…

Until months went by with what seemed like no progress on this portal.

When my COO started addressing his performance issues, he began to crumble…

And would come to me multiple times a month to vent.

He kept saying he “didn’t feel safe”…

Which really meant he got anxious when receiving blunt performance feedback.

He couldn’t perform, and hid behind these words to avoid accountability.

After a while, I got fed up with this.

It was impossible to give him feedback without him crumbling…

And we weren’t making progress.

Because of our past, I had strong emotional ties to him, and began to feel like he was taking advantage of that.

Eventually it became clear we needed to part ways when my COO asked me a simple question:

“Are the arguments you’re having in your head with this person worth the energy you lose daily?”

My answer? NOT worth it.

From there, we began planning for his exit.

My COO and I documented every interaction with this employee over a few months.

We tasked him with very specific goals/KPIs to achieve, and never hit them.

We accumulated these notes to make it clear he was underperforming and missing benchmarks…

And after 2 months of doing this, we had enough data to cut ties.

When it was all said and done, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

I should have let him go six months earlier, but I was too emotionally invested.

This freed up cash flow that we reinvested in new places to grow the business.

The lesson here?

People often struggle to make rational financial decisions.

In this case, it took my trusted COO to help me see that someone I viewed as a great friend wasn’t a great business fit.

If you’re dealing with a toxic work relationship, take this as a sign that it may be time to part ways.

Do You Have A Toxic Employee (Or Issue) Affecting Your Agency’s Success?

If you've ever lost sleep over a difficult team member, you're not alone.

Unfortunately, many agency owners are being sabotaged by a toxic employee or recurring problem that won’t fix itself.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

At 8 Figure Agency, we've cracked the code on building resilient, high-performing teams that work and communicate effectively.

Here's how:

Step 1: Diagnose

We help identify the root causes of toxic behavior in your agency. Is it unclear expectations? Lack of accountability? Or something deeper?

Step 2: Detox

We then help implement systems to:

• Create crystal-clear role definitions

• Establish objective performance metrics

• Foster a culture of accountability

Step 3: Fortify

We work with people like you to build:

• Robust hiring and onboarding processes

• Effective leadership development programs

• Scalable systems that reduce dependence on any one individual

The result? An agency that not only survives but thrives, regardless of personnel changes.

We've helped over 800 agencies transform their teams and skyrocket their growth…

And we’re ready to help you do the same.

👉 Let's chat → Schedule a quick call with our team here.

We'll look into your agency's unique challenges together, and craft a custom plan to get you on the track to greatness.