I received notice that a customer is parting ways with us sometime early next year (maybe).

You fight so hard in business to win a customer, and then something changes that's completely out of your control and you lose them. When this happens It's easy to feel like you're moving one step forward then two steps backwards.

In business we call this attrition: customers and employees all eventually leave. Or in astrophysics entropy: the general trend of the universe towards death and disorder.

Birth and death, the only two constants in life. On the surface it's depressing, but only if you allow it to be.

I remember when a CEO coach told me that when she hired someone she only expected them to be with her for two years. Her goal was to maximize the value they brought to the company during that time and to compensate them properly for their contribution. Her real point was on the compensation and equity vesting schedule. 

But for some reason my mind finally accepted the constant (attrition - everyone eventually leaves) and I was finally free from the fear.

The point of life isn’t to dwell on the future. The end eventually comes, there’s no avoiding it. The trick is to live in the present as much as possible. To enjoy each and every moment to the fullest. To put yourself in a position where you won’t have regrets when you think back to the past.

I’m still figuring this out, and I hope to help you learn much earlier than I did.

P.S. This customer has been with me for 20ish years. In those two decades they've grown, contracted, and repeated 2-3 times. We’ll end on good terms, and I won’t be surprised if they come back.

P.P.S I originally wrote this Aug 22, 2024. It’s July 29, 2025 and they’re still with us. I’m grateful for that extra year of billings we’ve made.