Library/Leak 18

The disproportionate client or account

A client whose share of your personal hours far exceeds its share of revenue or strategic value. Usually tolerated for historical reasons: they were the first big customer, they are a friend, they were loyal during a hard year.

ExitEliminateManual workB–C · weeks to a quarterContainer

How you know you have it

“Which client or account takes the most out of you relative to what it returns?”

What kind of leak it is

Both a time leak and a touch leak

Does it need your judgment?

Usually yes — this is a decision, not a chore.

A touch that needs judgment is a delegation candidate: someone has to decide, and it does not have to be you.

How to measure it

your hours a week on the account × 52, against the account's share of revenue

Annualized the same way everywhere: duration × frequency × people × 52.

Typical range — illustrative

often the single largest line in the whole inventory; a concentrated account can exceed the entire Automate tier combined

An order of magnitude to prime your eye, not a statistic and not a claim about anyone's result. The only number that matters is the one you measure.

The move — Eliminate

Three real options, not one: resign the account, re-price it so the hours are paid for, or hand it to someone who is not you. The comparison decides, not the hours alone.

Where it lands in a Time P&L

Manual work

How long a fix takes

B–C · weeks to a quarter

What to do about it

Tools that fix this

No tool names this category on its own yet. The two below apply to all twenty.

And across everything

On paper

This category and the other nineteen on one page, to tick off against a normal week: The 20 Time Leaks.

Download blank worksheet View completed example

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