When to Fire a Client
The clients who consume the most capacity rarely produce the most revenue. The math on who stays is straightforward. The conversation is harder.
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Amelia S. Gagne
CEO and co-founder of Kief Studio. Full-stack developer and strategist. Perplexity AI Business Fellow. In tech since 2012.
https://ameliasgagne.com119 articles
Five Website Metrics That Actually Connect to Revenue
After fourteen years of tracking analytics across industries and platforms, the metrics that actually drive decisions have narrowed to five. Everything else is noise until one of these five tells you to look deeper.
The Technology Fragmentation Problem Most Businesses Don't See
Four vendors managing your website, hosting, security, and support sounds reasonable until something breaks and none of them claim responsibility. That gap is structural, not accidental.
GEO: How to Get Your Business Cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI
47% of brands don't have a GEO strategy. AI-referred sessions jumped 527% year-over-year. If AI systems aren't citing you, a growing share of your audience doesn't know you exist.
What I Tell Every CEO Who Asks Me About AI
After three years of the same conversation with executives at every stage, the advice has stabilized. Here's the version I'd give if you bought me a coffee.
Website Accessibility Isn't Just Ethics. It's an SEO Signal.
Accessible websites rank better. Not because Google rewards virtue — because the same technical practices that make a site accessible make it easier for search engines to understand.
Self-Hosted vs. Cloud: The Real Tradeoffs
Cloud hosting isn't inherently better than self-hosted — and self-hosted isn't inherently more secure. The right answer depends on variables most cloud comparisons don't bother to address.
Building Systems Before You Need Them
The businesses that scale cleanly built their systems when they didn't need them yet. By the time you need a system urgently, you're too busy to build it right.
Why Your Current Tech Stack Should Veto Most Recommendations
The average mid-market company runs 187 SaaS applications. Every new tool has to connect to the ones already there — and the most capable platform in a category is often the worst fit for a specific stack.
Client Onboarding Is Where Scope Creep Starts
Scope creep doesn't start in month three. It starts in week one, when the boundaries aren't established clearly enough to notice when they're moving.
If the Recommendation Came Before the Questions, It's Not Advisory
If a specific product is named before there has been a substantive conversation about your current environment, that is a sales motion presented as advisory. The framing may sound consultative. The process isn't.
What to Ask Your Vendors About Security
Your vendor's security posture is part of your security posture. When they have access to your systems, your data, or your clients — their breach is your breach.