So I have been getting enquiries almost daily. I get repeat business and referrals from existing customers. I have a full schedule and enough money in the bank to pay myself a salary I am happy with. But I am working way too many hours and too much of what I am doing is selling time rather than generating a steady income. I am also finding I can't turn jobs round as quickly as I would like or that my customers would like. So all in all, 12 months in I could be in a lot worse place, but I have to do some really serious thinking and take some significant actions to get where I want to be.
One thing I have realised is that having lots of customers is a mixed blessing, and that some customers are a lot more trouble than they are worth. I think the 80:20 rule applies here in spades. Eighty percent of the trouble comes from twenty percent of the customer base. The answer is obvious and unavoidable. I need to sack the trouble makers.
This is one of those things that is easy to say and much less easy to do. Just because they are troublesome doesn't make them bad people. In fact the reverse is the case. My biggest problem customer is charming. affable and totally unaware that he is a net drain on my resources. Letting him go will be like drowning a kitten. So should I go for the honest approach and explain why I won't be taking any more work on for him? Or should I simply claim to be too busy and put him on to someone else who can help him?
I don't know what the answer is. I think taking the easy way out is expedient, and of course it leaves open the possibility of re-establishing contact later when I am better able to cope with it. But the first forces me to confront the situation as it is. I will probably learn a lot more by doing it that way. As is often the case, taking the comfortable option is also the least profitable option in the long run.
photo credit: Amydeanne via photopin cc
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