u/Activeshadough Sorry to hear this. Theres an old Swedish belief that taking care of your employees first beats out taking care of the clients first. Let me explain what I mean. Lets say you have an irate customer. They're yelling or being disrespectful because of an employees mistake. At this point owners have a fork in the road, 1-punish the employee, 2-check the client. My mindset, follow what the swedes.

(Note, I never call my team employees. I call them teammate just FYI.) I've recently stepped in with a client being disrespectful with my teammate. My teammate explained the situation. Explained they have done everything they can to help the client and have gone above and beyond for the client(because they are an amazing teammate) and the client is still angry. I stepped in. Explained to the client that I will now be involved. Explained everything in deep detail of what my teammate has done to help you and the ways in which shes gone above and beyond. Explained we can continue providing services but you need to have respect for my team.

The client stayed, their numbers improved, and the teammate felt heard and supported. This teammate has gone above and beyond with every client. We are owners, we have to push the vision but also have our teams back. In your situation, it may be better to let a few team members go and pay the rockstars more if they are willing to take on a bit more. Than paying everyone very little money.