Business is Booming

...and it scares me to death sometimes.
Who knew? I certainly didn't when I started all this over a year ago. I just knew I wanted out of the corporate cubicle and that academia didn't move fast enough for me. I crossed my fingers that Write Technology would last a year. I had several really slow months in 2004 - January, May, and October come to mind. Then November came along and everything kicked into overdrive in the blink of an eye. Now I have ANOTHER client, which will start Jan 3. This is in addition to the laid-back client I really enjoy. Actually, this "new" client is an old client, and I enjoy working for them too. Since I wrote their original documentation, I couldn't turn them away when they came to me with more work.
Now, the needy client (remember them?) has cut me loose until January. When they come back online, I'll have to set some really strict guidelines for them.  Limiting the number of hours I work and the parts of the project I work on.  I refuse to be sucked in on a Death March project again. I will build the eLearning piece they'll need, but I'll build it quickly (but quality work). I don't want to alienate them because they suggested they may need me for future projects come spring. I figure as long as its a different project and I set very specific boundaries in the future, I can work for them again. (We'll call this last project a lesson learned for me on client management and expectations.)
This is all fantastic - it means that I'm succeeding. I am a successful small business.  However, at times I am incredibly overwhelmed. I can handle two clients at a time if they are both reasonable, laid-back types that don't micro-manage. (I hate micro-managing.) My current, happy client is like that, as is this client that starts Jan 3.
Let's see - if you recall, last week I had a huge presentation with a potentially huge client up north.  I don't think that went well. Er ... I think my presentation went well (I tend to be a kick-ass presenter when given the opportunity, just because I'm a ham) but I got the impression they had already decided on another vendor before I got there. If they call, at this point I would have to turn them down, which is disappointing.  I truly don't think they'll call to hire me, but you never know. Yesterday, a member of their team called to ask my advice on industry-standard software. Whether I get the initial project or not, I'm "in" now, so to speak. But there's no way I could take the January project at this point. Plus, the client I love so much? That project runs through May 3 and needs to be my primary project. 
I hate having to decline work. In fact, I don't really know how. If another one of my steady clients calls me, how do I decline them? "I'm sorry, I'm not free until February? Find someone else so you'll never have the need to call me again." What a great problem to have (no complaints really), but what in the world do I do about it? Declining new clients is much easier than having to tell a repeat customer they can't repeat.  Hmmm ...

For future blogging reference, let's call them this way:
A: Primary, laidback client
B: Cool, repeat client
N: Needy client
L: Steady, repeat client that I really hope won't suddenly need me before February