My father ran a large software engineering firm.
His best business advice had nothing to do with sales, strategy, or growth hacks.
"Find the indispensable person and fire them."
I keep seeing this on calls. Not because they are bad. Because dependency is dangerous.
The moment you cannot function without someone, or something, you have lost leverage. You have lost choice.
"The moment you can't function without something, you've lost choice."
Enterprise customer relationship manager (CRM)s Use This Against You
Easy to get in. Free trials. Smooth onboarding. Your contacts flow right in.
Then you try to leave.
Suddenly your data is trapped behind "contact support" buttons. 90-day data-request processes. Export formats that somehow lose half your notes. Activity history? Good luck.
I keep seeing this on calls. That is not a bug. That is the business model.
Your data becomes their leverage. Switching costs become their retention strategy. You are not a customer anymore, you are a captive.
The Opposite Approach
That dependency is exactly what we built First Mate to eliminate.
Full export. One click. Everything you built, contacts, notes, activity history, yours to take. Anytime.
We do not do lock-in.
If leaving is easy, staying is a choice. And if staying is a choice, we have to earn it. Every month.
"If leaving is easy, staying is a choice — and we have to earn it every month."
That is how it should work.
Your Next Move
I keep seeing this on calls. Your practice runs on your relationships. Own the data behind them.
For the two-lane test (client work vs practice work), read The Tools You Bought Are for the Job That Was Never Going to Kill You.
See how First Mate keeps your book of business yours: theretern.com/products/first-mate
The work is serious. The life does not have to be.
Now if you will excuse me, I have a tee time to keep.
Kirk Coburn is the founder of The ReTern and category creator of the fractional executive movement. He introduced the term "Fractional CMO" to the market in 2009 when he co-founded Chief Outsiders, which has since served 2,000+ clients. When he is not helping corporate refugees build fractional practices, he is usually on the golf course by 2 PM.
