Working for Yourself

In a small business you get pretty busy.  In the past I have become so busy that there were things I couldn't get done.  I could work full-time on my customers computers.  I could work evenings and weekends whenever I wished to.  I was so busy I didn't have time to do any marketing (there wasn't any more time to sell anyway).  I didn't have time to research and learn about the latest and greatest. 

The truth of the matter as I now realize it is that I wasn't working for myself.  I really was working for my customers.  Ok... so that's a good thing.  However it is pretty short sighted.  You see when you are busy at your customers office and spending all your time working on the task-at-hand you really don't have any way to see what's coming. 

What was coming in my case was a major slow down.  There are many reasons for this and some have to do with the overall economy and some have to do with terrorist attacks but in reality I wasn't paying attention.  I wasn't working for myself.  I was stuck.  All the sudden I had time for research and I had time for marketing, I was now working full-time for myself.  That's not such a good thing because I don't pay that well. 

See it wasn't all the economy.  Before the slow down I had a great customer with lots of money to spend.  I had worked with them for many years and we had a great relationship.  They were a major source of my income and --They were growing.  I couldn't keep up.  I didn't have any way to expand my operation.  At least I didn't think I had any way to expand.  I considered hiring but there were a lot of difficulties with that. 

To cut to the point... things are rebuilding.  That's good but I don't want to rebuild the way I did the first time.  I would like to think I've learned something.  I am about to install a network using other people without hiring.  I'll probably write more on this soon-- the specific project as well as the shift in thinking.  I'm trying to be creative, make lots of money but still keep my eye on the future.  I'm hoping that this time I will actually get to work for myself.