A strong client offboarding process ensures you deliver final assets, close billing cleanly, protect your agency legally, and leave the relationship in a position for future work or referrals.
Let's say…
It's 9:44 on a bright Monday morning. An email suddenly lands in your inbox. It's from one of your clients to tell you they're ending their retainer. They also want their files and confirmation that billing has stopped.
You check your project management tool. Their files are in Google Drive. Their feedback is in Slack. Their invoices are in Stripe. Their design requests are in your inbox. Nothing is in one place.
Scrambling, you try to pull together deliverables from three different tools, struggling to remember what you built for them over 6 months, and hoping you didn't forget to cancel their subscription before the next billing cycle.
All the while, the client is watching how you handle this. Whether they work with you again or refer someone to you depends on how well you handle their offboarding.
This is what client offboarding without a process looks like. And it happens at productized agencies every day.
Client offboarding is one of the most overlooked parts of running a productized agency.
Most agency founders spend enormous energy on sales and onboarding. That's good because great onboarding reduces the chance of bad offboarding.
That said, treating agency client offboarding as an afterthought is a mistake.
Why?
Because the way a client relationship ends influences how they remember working with you. A smooth, professional exit creates referrals. A messy one leads to disputes and regret. It destroys the chances of that client working with your agency again.
This guide gives you a practical, step-by-step offboarding process you can start using today.
We'll discuss both planned endings and unexpected exits, the operational details most agencies miss, how to handle difficult client exits without burning the relationship, and how to turn a churned client into a referral source.
Most agencies don’t lose referrals because of bad delivery, they lose them because of messy offboarding.
The client leaves, and a staff is all over the place trying to figure out what to shut down and what to say.
Here are the most common reasons agency offboardings go badly.
In many agencies, offboarding is not assigned to anyone. When a client leaves, the assumption is that someone else will handle the final steps.
The account manager might send a thank-you message. The project manager might close a few tasks. Finance might cancel the subscription. Other team members chip in in whatever way they can.
But no one is responsible for making sure everything is completed.
This creates problems:
A defined client offboarding workflow fixes this by giving the responsibility to a specific role, usually the account manager or project lead.
Project execution is often fast-paced. This means sometimes:
While the project is active, the team knows where everything is. But when the relationship ends and the client often asks for a full set of deliverables, the agency realizes the work history is scattered.
The team starts digging through tools to find files and messages. Important assets might be missing or hard to locate.
This often leads to avoidable disputes.
The client may feel like they didn't receive everything they paid for. The agency may feel frustrated because the work was delivered, but the proof is buried across different systems.
A final deliverables summary (which is part of a proper client offboarding process) can easily handle this.
After the engagement ends, clients may still have access to:
This happens because no one remembers to remove permissions.
This creates several issues…
Security risks
Clients may still see internal conversations or ongoing work for other accounts.
Confusion
A client might assume the relationship is still active if they can log into the project portal.
Bad look on the agency
It makes the agency look disorganized. A clean client offboarding process always includes access removal as a final step.
Billing mistakes often appear at the end of a relationship.
These situations create awkward conversations. Even if the problem is small, it changes the tone of the exit.
Instead of ending the relationship on a positive note, the final interaction becomes about money.
For agencies running recurring services, billing should be one of the most controlled parts of client offboarding.
The client should clearly know:
When a client leaves, some agency owners see it as a sign that something went wrong. Even when the client is satisfied, churn can still leave a bad feeling.
Because of this, agencies often rush through the exit. They want to move on quickly instead of spending time on the closing process.
But the reality is: churn is normal in productized services.
Clients leave for many reasons that have nothing to do with the agency’s performance:
If the agency treats every exit as a failure, they lose the opportunity to end the relationship well.
When a project ends without closure, the client leaves with a vague feeling that things were unfinished.
They might not complain. They might even say they were happy with the work.
But the experience still leaves a lot to be desired.
That matters because many agencies depend on referrals and returning clients.
A past client who had a smooth exit is far more likely to:
At first, these issues seem small. But across dozens of clients each year, the cost adds up:
All because of the absence of a clear client offboarding process.
The good news is a solid client offboarding process isn't complicated, especially with a checklist.
But you have to build it before you need it, not when a client decides to leave.
Client exits aren't the same. Some relationships end in a calm, predictable way. Others stop suddenly with little warning.
If you try to handle both situations with the same approach, things can get really bad. The tone and communication required are very different.
It helps to separate offboardings into two categories: planned and unplanned.
Understanding the difference allows your team to respond correctly and keep the relationship professional, even when things don’t go perfectly.
This is the best-case scenario. Your agency and the client both know the relationship is coming to an end. There's time to wrap up the work properly and prepare the final handoff.
This often happens when:
In these cases, the tone is usually calm and cooperative. No one is rushing. Your agency has time to organize deliverables and close the engagement properly.
For productized agencies running subscriptions or retainers, this type of client offboarding is common.
For example, take a subscription design agency working with a startup for six months. During that time the agency completes dozens of design requests: landing pages, forms, social graphics and product visuals.
At the end of the six months, the startup decides to pause design work to focus on development.
Did something go wrong? No.
The client simply doesn’t need ongoing design at that moment.
A planned offboarding allows the agency to close the engagement cleanly.
The process might look like this:
1. Finish the remaining design requests
2. Upload all final assets to the client portal
3. Prepare a summary of completed work
4. Send the final invoice if needed
5. Notify the client that access will close soon
6. Archive the account
The entire process feels structured. The client knows exactly what they received and where to find it.
This type of offboarding also makes it easy to keep the relationship positive. Your agency can thank the client for the collaboration and leave the door open for future work.
Many clients return later after a pause. Others refer their colleagues because the experience with you was pleasant throughout.
Unplanned offboarding is more difficult. It happens when the relationship ends suddenly or unexpectedly.
This could be because:
In these situations, emotions might be involved. The client might be frustrated. Your team might feel disappointed or relieved. Because of that tension, agencies sometimes rush to end engagement. They close the project quickly and move on.
But skipping the client offboarding process in these moments creates the biggest risks.
Even if the relationship was difficult, the agency still needs to protect itself and finish the engagement professionally.
This means following the same core steps as a planned offboarding:
The tone may be different, but the structure should remain.
For example, take a marketing agency working with a client who constantly requests extra work outside the agreed scope. After several conversations, the agency decides the relationship is no longer sustainable.
The agency sends a professional message explaining that the engagement will end at the close of the current billing cycle.
At this point, the agency still follows a structured offboarding process:
By sticking to the process, the agency avoids arguments about unfinished work or missing files.
More importantly, it protects the agency’s reputation. Even difficult clients can later acknowledge that the agency handled the situation professionally.
The main difference between planned and unplanned offboarding is time and tone.
Planned offboarding usually gives the agency time to prepare everything carefully. Communication is collaborative. Both sides know the relationship is ending.
Unplanned offboarding often happens faster and with more tension. The agency must stay calm and structured while closing the engagement.
But despite these differences, the operational steps should remain consistent.
Every client offboarding should still include:
A clean client offboarding process usually follows four stages:
The easiest way to handle client offboarding is to treat it like a short process with clear steps.
Instead of figuring things out each time a client leaves, your team follows the same structure.
A good offboarding process usually happens in three phases:
You may add a fourth post-offboarding phase.
The first phase is preparation. This usually happens during the final week of the engagement or the last billing cycle.
Review the client’s open work
Look at the request queue or task board. Make sure completed requests are marked as done and unfinished items are clearly labeled.
If work won't be completed before the engagement ends, communicate that early. Clarity is appreciated more than silence.
Gather the final deliverables
This might include:
These assets should be easy for the client to find. If files are scattered across different folders or tools, take time to organize them.
Prepare a work summary
This summary explains what the agency delivered during the engagement. It doesn't need to be long. A short document or message that lists the major outcomes is enough.
For example:
This summary protects both sides. The client clearly sees the value delivered and the agency has a record of the work completed.
Check billing before the engagement ends
Confirm:
At the end of this preparation phase, everything should be ready for a smooth client offboarding.
The second phase is the actual closing moment. This is when the agency formally ends the engagement and delivers the final materials.
Send the final assets
Clients should receive a clear message that includes:
Avoid vague messages like “Let us know if you need anything.” Instead, give the client confidence that everything is organized.
A simple message might look like this:
“We’ve uploaded all final assets and completed requests inside your portal. You’ll also find a summary of the work delivered during the engagement.”
Share the final work summary
Remind the client how much work was completed and close the project on a positive note.
Confirm billing
If a final invoice is required, send it. If the client was on a subscription, confirm that the billing cycle is ending.
Clients should never wonder whether they will be charged again.
Inform the client that access to project tools or the client portal will close soon
Give them a short window to download files or review the work history. This makes the exit transparent and not sudden.
At this point, the official client offboarding is complete.
Many agencies skip this step. Don't. It's important for protecting your agency’s operations.
Remove access
This includes access to:
Leaving access open creates security risks and confusion about whether the engagement is still active.
Archive the project internally
Your agency should store a record of the engagement that includes:
This archive makes it easy to answer questions if the client returns months later asking for files or clarification.
Add internal notes about the relationship
For example, your team might record:
These notes will help your agency improve its service and better understand client churn.
Most agencies go silent after a client leaves. Don't do this. It's a missed opportunity. The 30-day follow-up is one of the highest-leverage touchpoints in your whole client journey.
Schedule a follow-up check-in. This usually happens about 30 days after the offboarding.
The message should be simple and friendly. It's not a sales pitch. It's simply a reminder that the agency is still available if the client needs help again.
Something like:
“Just checking in to see how things are going since we concluded the project. If you ever need support again, we’d be happy to help.”
This small message often leads to referrals or future work. So set a reminder the day you close the engagement.
More on this in the referral section below.
Most agencies focus on the communication side of client offboarding. They deliver the final work (with a thank-you message) and move on.
But the operational side is just as important.
When a client relationship ends, several systems inside the agency must be updated. Access must be removed and files must be stored properly. Billing must be closed.
If these steps are skipped, problems often appear later.
A client might still have access to internal tools. Someone on the team might accidentally continue working on requests. Billing might renew when it should have stopped.
A strong client offboarding process includes a short operational checklist that your team should follow every time a client leaves.
Below are the four most important areas to handle.
Remove client access to tools used during the project. During an active engagement, clients often interact with several systems. These include:
If access isn't removed, the client may still be able to view information that should no longer be visible.
For example, they might see:
Even if this never becomes a serious problem, it still creates unnecessary risk.
A clean client offboarding process should include a simple access review. Your agency should check every system the client used and remove their permissions.
It’s also helpful to give the client a short notice before access is removed. For instance, your agency might say that portal access will remain available for a few days so the client can download files if needed.
Once the engagement ends, your agency should archive the project internally. Don't delete the files. Store them in a place where they can be accessed later if needed.
Don't underestimate how often former clients return with questions months later, asking for:
And if you can't find the information quickly?
A proper archive should include:
If your agency uses a client portal like ManyRequests', this is straightforward: all requests, files, approvals and communication are in one place, searchable and exportable. But if your work is scattered across Google Drive and email, this step takes hours instead of minutes.
Many agencies run recurring subscriptions or monthly retainers. If the billing system isn't updated correctly, the client may be charged again after the engagement ends.
This creates an awkward situation that could easily have been avoided.
During client offboarding, you should confirm these:
When the final billing cycle ends
If the client is on a subscription, make it clear which month or week is the final service period.
Whether a final invoice will be issued
If there are outstanding charges, they should be communicated clearly before the relationship closes.
That the subscription or recurring billing has been cancelled
Clients should never wonder whether they'll be billed again. A short confirmation message is often enough. Something simple like:
“Your subscription has been cancelled and there will be no further charges after this billing period.”
Never cancel billing the moment a client asks. Confirm the end date and reconcile any outstanding balance prior.
A chargeback on a recurring payment after you've already closed the work is one of the most frustrating things a departing client can do. Let your paper trail be your defense.
During active projects, teams rarely stop to summarize what they've delivered, as new requests keep coming in.
But when the relationship ends, a simple summary becomes very valuable.
This documentation usually includes:
This will give the client a clear record of the work they received.
It helps in two ways…
When agencies skip this step, clients sometimes feel unsure about what they received, even if the work itself was excellent.
Not every client relationship ends smoothly.
Sometimes communication becomes tense. Scope creep gets out of control. Invoices are delayed. Expectations stop matching the service the agency can realistically provide.
In these situations, you may need to end the engagement.
This may feel uncomfortable. No founder enjoys telling or being told by a client that the relationship should stop. There is often a fear that the client will react badly or damage your agency’s reputation.
But ending the wrong client relationship is sometimes the right decision.
A structured approach makes this much easier…
Before starting the offboarding process, be clear about why the relationship is ending.
Some warning signs include:
When these problems appear repeatedly, the partnership stops being productive for either side. Ending the relationship early can protect the team and allow the agency to focus on clients that are a better fit.
Once the decision is made, the next step is starting the client offboarding conversation in a calm and professional way.
The most important rule when offboarding a difficult client is simple: don't make the conversation personal.
Avoid blaming the client or criticizing their behavior directly. That approach almost always creates more conflict.
Instead, keep the focus on fit.
For example, you might say:
“After reviewing the engagement, we believe it would be best to conclude the partnership at the end of the current service cycle.
A calm tone like this makes the entire client offboarding process easier.
Most agency contracts include terms that allow either side to end the relationship with notice.
Referring to those terms keeps the conversation grounded in the agreement rather than emotions.
For example:
“As outlined in our agreement, either party may end the engagement with 30 days’ notice. We’ll continue supporting the project during this period and ensure a smooth transition.”
This approach reassures the client that the agency is acting within the agreed terms. It also protects the agency if the situation becomes more complicated later.
Even if the relationship has become difficult, your agency should still complete any work already committed during the current service period.
This is one of the most important parts of professional client offboarding.
If your agency stops work abruptly, the client may feel abandoned. That can lead to disputes about unfinished tasks or refunds.
Instead, you should:
At the end of the engagement, provide a clear summary of what was delivered.
This may include:
A documented summary protects the agency and helps prevent future disputes about what work was completed.
It also signals professionalism, even if the relationship itself was difficult.
Make sure the client knows when:
Communicate these details clearly.
For example:
“Your portal access will remain active for the next seven days so you can download any files you need. After that, access will be closed as part of the project wrap-up.”
This may feel counterintuitive, but it's usually better to end the engagement without burning the bridge.
Even difficult clients talk to other people in the industry. The way your agency handles the exit can affect how those conversations happen later.
A short closing message can make a big difference.
Something like:
“We appreciate the opportunity to work together and wish your team the best with the project moving forward.”
In many cases, the client may later recognize that the partnership simply wasn’t the right fit. Ending things professionally protects your agency’s reputation.
The most common legal disputes in agency client offboarding involve these things:
Here's how to protect yourself on each:
These three things close almost any billing dispute before it starts.
If you don't have a contract that covers these points, that's the first thing to fix. A well-written service agreement is your primary protection tool. Offboarding documentation is your secondary one.
Dear [Name],
I'm writing to confirm that our engagement is concluding on [Date], as discussed.
Attached is a summary of everything we delivered during our time working together. Your final invoice is [attached / settled as of X date].
As of [Date], your portal access will be closed and all project files will be archived on our end.
We appreciate the opportunity to work with [Company Name]. If you have any questions about the final deliverables or billing, please reply to this email before [Date].
Wishing you well,
[Your Name]
When a client leaves, many agencies immediately move on. The project ends. Access is closed as the team focuses on new work.
From an operational point of view, that makes sense. But from a business point of view, it can be a missed opportunity.
A client leaving doesn't always mean they were unhappy. Like we discussed above, in many cases, the relationship ends because the client’s needs or priorities changed.
A well-handled client offboarding process can turn these former clients into a valuable source of referrals and future work.
So treat the end of the relationship as a transition, not a final goodbye.
Before thinking about referrals, you need to close the engagement properly. If the offboarding process was difficult, clients would be unlikely to recommend your agency to others.
Make sure clients leave the relationship with:
That positive final experience is what creates the foundation for referrals.
Another reason referrals fail to happen is because clients forget how much work was actually delivered.
During a long engagement, work happens gradually. Requests are completed week after week. Designs and campaigns (as well as updates) develop over time.
When the relationship ends, clients often remember only the most recent work. This is why a final work summary is so powerful.
When clients see everything listed in one place, it reminds them of the value your agency delivered. And they'll be more open to recommending your agency.
Many agencies skip this step but one of the simplest ways to generate referrals is a short follow-up message after the project ends.
A quick check-in can reopen the conversation. A good time for this message is about 30 days after the client offboarding process.
The message should be simple and friendly, and not feel like a sales pitch.
Take, for example, this follow-up message we looked at earlier:
“Hi Sarah, I just wanted to check in and see how things have been going since we concluded the project. If you ever need design support again, we’d be happy to help.”
This message does two important things:
Clients often respond with something like:
“Actually, a friend of mine is looking for a design agency. Would it be okay if I introduced you?”
Many clients eventually return.
A startup that paused marketing might restart campaigns eight months later. A company which hired an internal designer might still need outside help during busy periods.
The client already knows how the agency works. They trust the team and the previous experience was positive.
So even if the client never returns personally, they may still refer others in their network.
Here's how this plays out in practice…
Our case study: a subscription design agency that works with a tech company for nine months.
During the engagement, the agency completed dozens of requests:
Eventually the tech company decides to pause design work to focus on development.
The agency runs a smooth client offboarding process. They send a summary of completed work. All final assets are organized in the client portal. Billing stops at the end of the cycle. Access is closed after a short notice period.
The client leaves feeling that the experience was handled professionally.
About thirty days later, a member of the account team sends a simple follow-up message to check in:
Subject: Checking in, hope the launch went well
Hi [Name],
It's been about a month since we wrapped up the project. I wanted to check in and see how the product launch went. We were rooting for you.
If there's anything we can help you with, we'd be glad to do so.
Take care,
[Name]
A few days later, the former client replies: their Head of Marketing just left to start her own consultancy and she's going to need a design partner. And they're willing to make an introduction.
That referral leads to a new retainer client.
Did the agency do anything complicated? No. They simply ended the relationship well and stayed in touch.
The follow-up doesn't need to be manual. Set a reminder on the day you close the engagement: 30 days from now, send a check-in. Put the client's name and what you worked on together (including one personal detail from the relationship) in a note to help you write a more effective email.
For agencies on a client portal, this is even easier. You have the full engagement history in one place:
Writing a genuine check-in takes five minutes.
Many agencies struggle with client offboarding because their work lives in too many places.
During a typical project, information spreads across different tools:
While the project is active, the team might manage to keep track of everything.But when the client leaves, the agency suddenly needs to gather the full project history. That’s when chaos appears.
Someone searches for the latest design files as another person tries to locate the final invoice. All the while, the account manager is digging through old messages to find approvals.
Instead of a clean exit, the team spends hours collecting information that should already be organized.
This is why agencies which use a client portal have a much easier time with client offboarding.
When requests, approvals, files and communication live in one place, the entire engagement is already documented.
Offboarding becomes simple.
In agencies where tools are scattered, offboarding often becomes a manual process.
A marketing agency, for example, finishing a six-month retainer with a client.
To close the project, the team has to do several things:
Each step requires switching tools and gathering information.
Even worse, the agency may miss something.
A file might still be sitting in a Slack thread and a design might be stored in a private folder. The conversations explaining key decisions? Buried deep in a pile of emails.
This creates stress for the team and confusion for the client.
The entire point of client offboarding is to end the relationship cleanly and smoothly. When information is scattered, that becomes much harder.
A client portal changes the structure of the entire engagement.
Instead of spreading work across many systems, your agency and client interact in one central space.
Inside a portal, clients can usually see:
Because everything happens in the same place, the project automatically builds a clear record over time.
By the time the relationship ends, most of the work needed for client offboarding is already done.
The agency doesn’t need to hunt for files or reconstruct conversations.
The entire engagement is already organized.
Here's what a clean offboarding might look like when a portal is used…
The agency finishes any remaining requests
The final tasks are completed and marked as done inside the portal. The client can see the full history of work delivered during the engagement.
The agency uploads the final assets
Design files, documents, reports or other assets are added to the same place where the client already submitted requests and reviewed work. This makes everything easy to fin3.3
A summary document
Then the agency sends a final message inside the portal summarizing the engagement.
The message might include:
Because the entire project history is visible, the client can easily review everything the agency delivered.
Billing is then closed
If the agency runs a subscription service, the billing cycle ends and the client is notified that the account will no longer be charged.
The agency schedules the closure of portal access
Clients usually receive a short notice explaining that access will remain open for a few days so they can download files or review requests.
Once that period ends, access is removed.
At that point, the client offboarding process is complete.
The entire engagement remains archived inside the system, so the agency can still reference it internally if needed.
It’s easier to understand client offboarding when you see what it looks like in a real situation.
Remember the example we discussed above when we talked about follow-up and referral? How would that productized design agency offboard their tech company client using a client portal?
Let's see how a structured client offboarding process helps an agency close the relationship cleanly.
The first step is to check the client’s request queue.
Because this is a subscription service, the client may still have a few active requests. The agency reviews them and decides what can realistically be completed before the end of the current billing cycle.
In this case, there are four open tasks:
The team finishes these requests during the final week of the subscription.
Once completed, each request is marked as done in the portal. This creates a clear record of what was delivered before the engagement ended.
Next, the agency prepares the final files.
During the project, design assets were uploaded inside the client portal. But before closing the engagement, the team double-checks that everything important is easy for the client to access.
They organize the final assets, including:
This makes it easy for the client to download anything they may need later. Because the agency uses a portal, most of this work is already organized. The team simply confirms that the files are complete and clearly labeled.
After the final requests are delivered, the agency sends a short summary of the engagement.
This summary reminds the client what was accomplished during the six-month period.
The message might include points like:
Without this recap, clients sometimes forget how much was actually completed during a long engagement.
Because the client was on a monthly retainer, the agency checks that the current billing cycle will be the final one.
The client receives a simple confirmation message explaining that:
This removes any uncertainty about future payments.
The agency then informs the client that portal access will remain available for a short time.
For example, the message might say that access will stay open for seven days so the client can download files or review past requests if needed.
After that period, access will be removed as part of the offboarding process.
This approach gives the client time to review the project history while also protecting the agency’s internal systems.
Once the deadline passes, the agency closes the client’s portal access and archives the account.
The final step happens after the engagement ends.
About 30 days later, the agency sends a short follow-up message, a simple friendly check-in like the one we discussed above.
This likely leads to new opportunities.
In this example, the tech company replies a few days later, offering to introduce the agency to another business.
The original client may have paused their retainer, but the relationship still creates value.
Productized agencies often handle dozens of clients at the same time. Each client may submit many requests every month.
Without a central system, keeping track of work becomes difficult.
When one client leaves, the team must search across multiple tools to gather everything related to that engagement.
With a portal, that complexity disappears.
All requests, feedback, files and conversations already belong to a single workspace for that client.
This means client offboarding becomes a predictable workflow instead of chaotic rat-chasing.
The agency simply:
Everything else is already documented.
ManyRequests is designed specifically for productized agencies which run request-based services.
Because requests, files, conversations and billing live inside the same client portal, the entire project history stays organized automatically.
When it’s time for client offboarding, your agency doesn't need to gather information from multiple tools.
You simply:
1. Complete or close remaining requests
2. Upload or confirm final deliverables
3. End the subscription billing
4. Revoke the client’s portal access
The account is then archived with a full record of the engagement.
Clients may not think about the tools an agency uses during a project. But they notice how the relationship ends.
When offboarding is handled through scattered systems, the final experience is often disorganized. When a client portal is used, the experience is structured.
And that final impression often determines whether the client remembers your agency as worth recommending to others. ManyRequests makes this easy.
The Complete Client Offboarding Checklist
Client offboarding is the structured process of ending a work relationship with a client, including final deliverables, billing closure, access removal, and follow-up.
It protects your reputation and leaves the door open for future work or referrals.
Final deliverables, documentation, account access handover, final invoice and a clear closing message.
Be clear and polite. Thank the client, confirm the end date, deliver all pending work and explain next steps.
Usually 1–2 weeks (depending on the project size and any pending work) with a follow-up message after thirty days.
Give notice based on the contract, complete the current billing cycle, deliver all agreed work and ensure a smooth transition before ending the relationship.
ManyRequests keeps all your work in one place: requests, files, communication, and billing. When a client offboards, everything you need is already organized. No scrambling. No loose ends. Start offboarding clients with ManyRequests for free today.
1. See how ManyRequests works in real life. Start a free trial and experience how productized agencies centralize requests, reduce chaos, and streamline delivery, without changing their entire workflow.
2. Read our Implementation Guide to launch smoothly with your team and clients.
3. Follow us on LinkedIn and YouTube for practical agency growth strategies
4. Check out The Productize Blueprint to learn how to turn your services into a scalable, productized offer.
William Nzewi is a data scientist and a writer. He likes to read and learn new things, especially about tech, business and life.
