Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
A Business Consultant’s Perspective
What If Your Biggest Tarpon Springs Customer Leaves?
In 1939, disease hit the sponge beds Tarpon Springs had built its economy on, and the crop stayed low for years. One product carried the town, until it could not.
Customer concentration Tarpon Springs owners should worry about starts when one customer is more than a quarter of sales. Lose that customer and it is not a bad month; it could be the end of the business. Dr. Paul, Tarpon Springs business consultant, puts the fix in three steps: grow everyone else, lock in the big one on paper, and know your number before they call. You built the business on great work; Dr. Paul, who has worked through this with 1,000+ owners, helps you handle the business side of spreading the risk.
Not sure what your number is? Call or text (321) 948-9588.
Last Updated: 10/29/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
The Tarpon Springs Lesson
This Town Already Learned What Happens When One Thing Carries Everything
Before it was a tourist stop, Tarpon Springs ran on one product. That story is the best lesson on customer concentration in Tampa Bay.
Source: Florida Historical Marker, Tarpon Springs Sponge Industry.
One product, one buyer market, one bad year. The town survived because it spread out. Today the Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard run on a mix of retail, food, and boat tours, a blend of heritage and hospitality, as the Tampa Bay Times put it. Your business works the same way. One big customer is the sponge bed. The mix is what keeps you open.
Where a Tarpon Springs owner can turn
City of Tarpon Springs. The city requires a local business tax receipt before you do business. New applications are done in person at City Hall through the Building Development Department, 727-942-5617, and renewals are due September 30. Source: City of Tarpon Springs, Business Licenses.
Florida SBDC at Pinellas County. No-cost consulting, listed through Pinellas County Economic Development.
Dr. Paul. The Tampa Bay business consultant page covers all twenty growth and survival questions. This one is number 97.
Ready for Help?
Four Ways to Work With Dr. Paul
01 · Start Here
Business Consulting
Two or three sessions on your sales by customer. You leave with your risk number and a plan to bring it down.
Consulting and prices →02
Business Plan Writing
Need funding to add a second market or a new line? Dr. Paul writes the plan and the financials behind it.
Plan writing and prices →03
Fractional CFO/COO
Track concentration every month with Dr. Paul, part time, so a slow drift toward one customer never sneaks up on you.
Fractional CFO and COO →04
Small Business Education
Free guides on marketing, pricing, and finance for owners who learned the trade first and the business second.
Free guides →Measure Your Risk
How Much of Your Sales Does One Customer Carry?
Divide your biggest customer’s sales by your total sales for the last twelve months. Then find your row. These bands are Dr. Paul’s rule of thumb, not an industry law.
| Top customer share | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10% | Healthy. Losing them would hurt, not sink you. | Keep measuring every quarter. |
| 10% to 25% | Exposed. One bad call could wipe out a season of profit. | Write a plan to add customers. Get the relationship on paper. |
| 25% to 50% | Dependent. They set your prices, your schedule, and your stress level. | Work the risk every month. Build cash reserves. Start the six steps below now. |
| Over 50% | You own a job with one boss, not a business. | Treat it as an emergency. Get help with the numbers this month. |
Run it for your top three, too. If three customers are more than half your sales, you have the same problem in a different shape. Every Florida business consultant page on this site comes back to the same idea: no single thing should carry the whole business. The accounting and finance guides show you how to pull sales by customer from most bookkeeping software.
New Customers Close to Home
One Way to Add Customers: Sell to Pinellas County
If one customer carries too much of your sales, you need more customers, not a better relationship with the same one. In Pinellas, the county itself is a buyer with a program built for small firms.
Pinellas County SBE Program
A sheltered market for small firms
Pinellas County Economic Development describes its Small Business Enterprise program as a sheltered market that lets qualified small businesses bid on county purchases up to $150,000. Firms must be principally located in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, or Manatee County, and certification renews every three years.
Getting the notices
Register first, then watch
Bid alerts need county procurement registration, and the county says vendors must register in its free OpenGov portal to view active solicitations. The Tarpon Springs Chamber of Commerce, at 1 N. Pinellas Ave., is another place to meet local buyers.
Sources: Pinellas County Economic Development, Small Business Enterprise Program and Chambers of Commerce; Pinellas County, How to Do Business with Pinellas County. Checked 10/29/2026.
One warning. A public contract can grow fast and become the new giant on your sales list. Run the same customer concentration Tarpon Springs math on it that you ran on the old one, and keep growing the small accounts too.
Show the Math
The Day the Big Customer Leaves
A made-up Tarpon Springs supplier, rounded numbers. This is an illustration, not a real business.
| Total yearly sales | $600,000 |
| Biggest customer, 35 percent of sales | $210,000 |
| What each sales dollar leaves after direct costs (40 percent) | $0.40 |
| Profit lost when that customer leaves: $210,000 x 0.40 | $84,000 |
| Yearly profit before they left | $60,000 |
| Yearly profit after they left, if fixed costs stay the same | a $24,000 loss |
The sales drop 35 percent. The profit does not drop 35 percent. It disappears, because rent, insurance, trucks, and payroll do not shrink the day the customer leaves. That is why concentration is so dangerous: the loss lands on profit first.
Now flip it. If the same owner had grown everyone else enough that the big customer was 15 percent of sales, the same loss would cost a hard year, not the business.
From the Book
Dr. Paul’s Insight: Your Quiet Customers Are Your Safety Net
“Which regulars?”
“The stationer at number four. Frankie’s, for the boxes and the ash. Alton’s, for the metal.” She shrugged. “Shop stuff. Weekly. They don’t call because they don’t have to. They’re the boring ones.”
Doctor Owl, who had been straightening the ash sacks in the truck so that their labels faced the same way, stopped, and looked at her over his spectacles.
“Say the last part again,” he said.
Dr. Paul’s take: The “boring ones” are the cure for concentration risk. Owners chase the big account because it is exciting, and the steady weekly customers get no attention because they never complain. Tarpon Springs owners serving the Sponge Docks crowd, local contractors, or a single big commercial account could all fall into the same trap. Spend a little of the energy you give the big customer on finding ten more of the quiet ones. The small business marketing guide shows you how to find and keep them.
Spread the Risk
Six Steps to Lower Your Customer Concentration
None of these require you to lose the big customer. All of them make losing the big customer survivable.
Know your number every quarter
Top customer share and top three share. Write it down. Watch the trend, not just the number.
Get the big relationship on paper
A written agreement with terms, notice periods, and pricing. Have an attorney review it. A handshake can end with a phone call.
Meet more than one person there
If your only contact leaves, the account may leave with them. Know the buyer, the boss, and whoever pays the invoices.
Chase the quiet customers
Find ten more customers like your steady small ones. The small business marketing guides walk you through it.
Build a cash cushion
Set aside enough to cover the fixed costs the big customer pays for, for a few months. Time to replace them is worth more than anything else.
Plan it with someone outside the business
A business consulting session turns the number into a monthly plan. It is the Plan step of Organize-Plan-Grow™.
Find More of the Right Customers
The Book on Knowing Who You Sell To
Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series · Book 4
Marketing for Small Businesses
Target market, positioning, and the customers who pay the bills without making noise, taught through one Fabled Forest owner per chapter. If your sales lean too hard on one name, the fix starts with knowing who else should be buying from you. Each chapter ends with a worksheet you can use the same day.
Get Book 4 on Amazon →FAQ
Customer Risk Questions Tarpon Springs Owners Ask
What is customer concentration?
How much of my revenue should one customer be?
Should I drop my biggest customer to lower the risk?
Does customer concentration affect what my business is worth?
Can Dr. Paul help a Tarpon Springs business by phone or video?
Know your number before your biggest customer changes theirs.
Keep Going
More for Tarpon Springs and Tampa Bay Owners
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Consultant, Author & Educator | 14+ Years | 1,000+ Clients Served
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA is a business consultant, author, and educator, and the founder of Quality Business Plan. He works with Tarpon Springs and Tampa Bay owners on business planning, financial modeling, fractional CFO services, and the everyday problems of businesses that depend too much on their owners. He is the creator of Dr. Paul’s Organize-Plan-Grow™ Strategy, author of numerous published books on Amazon including Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series, and publisher of over 1,000 business-focused videos on YouTube. He has taught as an adjunct college instructor and teaches in Florida public schools.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, tax, accounting, or other professional advice. The worked example uses an illustrative business with rounded figures. Local and historical facts are cited to their sources. The concentration bands are Dr. Paul’s rule of thumb, not an industry standard. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.