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2d โข General discussion
๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฝ (๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐น๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐)
Let's talk about the thing nobody puts in the proposal.
It's Friday afternoon. An email lands from a client you've had for two years.
"We've decided to go in a different direction. Please send over all of our logins by Monday."
You read it twice. Then the questions show up.
Whose name is the domain actually in?
Who's the primary owner on their Google Business Profile?
Is that ad account theirs, or is it sitting inside mine?
Did we ever write down who owns the website?
Welcome to the breakup. You're about to divide the assets, and nobody signed a prenup.
Here's the reality nobody admits: every client leaves eventually. They sell the business. They retire. They hire a nephew. They fire you. No agency keeps every client forever.
Read that again.
The ending is guaranteed. The only open question is whether it takes one email or a month of ugly ones.
Most agency owners never planned for it, and that's not a character flaw. Nobody hands you a breakup system when you sign your first client.
So let's build one.
๐ญ. ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ ๐จ๐ฝ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐
The client needed a domain on a Tuesday. You had a registrar account and a card on file. Ten minutes, done.
Here's the problem.
ICANN, the group that coordinates the domain name system, says the registrant is the person or entity that holds the rights to a domain name. It also warns business owners that a developer may be listed as the official registrant "even if you have paid them to register and manage the domain name."
That developer is you.
A domain that costs less than lunch is now the most valuable thing your client has online, and on paper it belongs to you. Same story with the hosting on your card and the ad account you built inside your own login.
It felt like good service. It was a custody problem on a two-year fuse.
Stop putting client assets in your name because it's faster.
๐ฎ. ๐ฌ๐ผ๐'๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ด๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐ป
You know this agency. Every local business owner has a story about them.
The one that "can't find the login" the week you cancel. The one that tries to sell a plumber back his own Google profile.
Nobody starts out planning to be that agency. It happens by drift. You hold the keys, the client can't leave easily, and that quietly starts to feel like stability.
It's not.
Google already picked a side. Its Business Profile third-party policy says end customers "must retain ownership or co-ownership of their Business Profile at all times." When a client gives notice, you have 7 business days to hand back exclusive control. Google Ads requires a separate account for every advertiser you manage, and you have to give the client their customer ID when they ask for it.
A client who can't leave isn't a retained client. That's a hostage, and hostages write reviews.
Stop confusing custody with retention.
๐ฏ. ๐ก๐ผ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ ๐ช๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ป ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ "๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐" ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐
This one's going to sting a little, because it cuts both ways.
Your client thinks paying the invoice means they own the website. Under U.S. copyright law, that's not automatic. Work you create as a contractor only counts as "work made for hire" in nine narrow categories, and only when both sides sign a written agreement that says so. Outside of that, ownership moves when a signed document says it moves.
So the client believes they own it. You believe you own it until the last invoice clears. And the contract says nothing.
That's not a legal position. That's two people guessing.
Stop letting a handshake decide who owns the work.
๐ฐ. ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ช๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฝ
You can't fix this the day the breakup email arrives. You fix it at onboarding, when everybody still likes each other.
Run the Custody Rule: The client owns it. You manage it. The domain lives in their registrar account, with access shared to you. The Business Profile has them as owner and you as manager or secondary owner, which is exactly how Google tells agencies to set it up. The ad account is theirs, linked to your manager account.
Build the Asset Ledger: One page per client. Every asset, whose name it's in, whose card pays for it, and what happens to it when you part ways. Fill it out during onboarding and send them a copy.
Put the Exit in the Agreement: Write the ending while it's still friendly. Something like:
"On final payment, you own the website content and design we created for you. Our templates, tools, and licensed software stay ours. When our work together ends, you get every login within 7 business days."
Run your version past a lawyer. I'm a marketer, and so are you.
Sell the Clean Exit: Say it on the sales call. "Everything we build goes in your name from day one. If you ever fire us, you keep all of it." The prospect across the table has been burned by the other kind of agency, or knows somebody who has. That sentence answers the fear they weren't going to say out loud.
Some of you are thinking: "So I hand over everything and they can just stiff me?"
No. Read the first three words of that clause again. On final payment.
Your protection belongs in the payment terms, in writing, where the client agreed to it. It doesn't belong in a password you're sitting on.
And if you want the math, count the hours your last messy offboarding ate. Multiply by your rate. That's what the fast way cost you.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ
A prenup isn't a bet that the marriage fails. It's what lets both people stay because they want to.
Same with clients. When they could walk out tomorrow with everything they own and they renew anyway, that's retention you can trust.
So go look at your client list. Somewhere on it is a domain, a profile, or an ad account sitting in your name.
Drop a comment below: which client asset is in your name right now that shouldn't be? No judgment. We've all done it the fast way.
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๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฝ (๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐น๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐)
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