In this video, Ed Weeks Jr., founder of HV Social Media, recounts a recent incident where an outsourced partner who managed Facebook and Instagram ads was terminated. The partner reacted by emailing the agency’s clients with disparaging remarks, exposing the risks of operating without a written agreement. Weeks emphasizes the necessity of ironclad contracts—including nondisparagement clauses—and legal counsel for both employees and contractors. He advises agency owners and small business leaders to proactively reach out to affected clients, explain the situation, and reinforce the value of the agency relationship. He also shares that he has secured a new outsourced partner who expands his service offerings across Facebook, Instagram, Google, and LinkedIn, turning the negative experience into an opportunity for growth. The video concludes with a call for viewers to share similar experiences or questions.
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Hey everybody, it's Ed Weeks Jr. I'm the founder of HV Social Media. I'm dropping this video today for 2 people, 2 people: digital agency owners, digital marketers, people that are out here doing similar things that I'm doing, and small business owners, people that are in hiring employees. You want to listen to this video. Here's why. Recent scenario, just last week, had to get rid of One of my outsourced partners, a person who worked on a few of my accounts, worked with a few of my clients to do simply Facebook and Instagram ads. So let that person go. That person did not take that well and decided to email each of those clients she worked with attacking me personally. It happens, right? Something you want to be very well aware of. Here's the downside. The downside is I did not have an agreement in place. This was verbal agreement. This was agreement between people who knew each other. I didn't keep business and personal separate. So to avoid this problem as an agency owner, make sure you have an ironclad contract that holds somebody accountable for taking an emotional reaction to being let go. After all, we are all at the mercy of clients delivering real results. When those results start to go down, people move on and move to better, more high— more highly qualified sources. And that's the reality of the game that we work in. If you don't understand that, you probably shouldn't be in digital marketing. But why is this also for small business owners? This is an example of how quickly something can go against you in the digital realm. Uh, there was an invoice that was not paid for this outsourcer, uh, because of the lack of payment from a client, but that was resolved on Monday. This person was paid on Tuesday, just the other day, and decided to send a second email trying to undercut the pricing that she knows happens with my clients. So it's just to make you understand again how quickly someone can change their colors and go against you. So if you're hiring people, make sure you have ironclad employment agreement where they cannot disparage, make disparaging comments, attack business owners personally, do the things that people that run on emotion and people that are really immature to the business world do. Make sure you have an agreement in place that limits those things from happening. That's one. 2 is And how do you respond when that happens? This could happen to anyone out here, any restaurant, any business, anyone that has any digital presence. And if you don't have a digital presence, someone who wants to get you will make your digital presence. So how do you respond? I didn't react any other way than setting up appointments with each and every client that was affected by this person. And explaining to them exactly what transpired and why this person, A, was being replaced, and B, would send such an email. So you have to make sure that you take the time to get to know your clients, be a valued, uh, representation of what they want to do in their business, and be a valued partner. Because without that, Someone can attack you like this and quickly destroy a business you've been building over the past 4 years. That's what this video is about today. Just be sure in who you work with and make sure you have ironclad agreements because it's all good when it's good. But as soon as it turns against certain people, they react in a certain way and you have to protect yourself from that. The best way to do that, have a good lawyer, have a good contract. and put that investment into solid agreements for both employees and contractors. So that's it for today, letting you in on the fun times I've had here in the last week. But it's all good because relationships are getting better, and I found a really amazing outsourced partner for me in my agency that expands my offerings. It allows me to go Facebook and Instagram. It allows me to go the entire Google platform. It also allows me now to do the entire LinkedIn platform from a paid digital perspective. So I'm really excited about kind of the Pandora's box that was opened and these great things that are happening as a result. That's what I have for you. Hope it helps you. Leave me a comment below if you've experienced anything kind of similar, or if you have further questions, drop me a comment. We'll connect. Peace.
