cycas Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 I got asked to come and talk to some people about what would be a fairly big prestigious project (I do stuff with websites). It's the kind of thing where I can see their existing supplier is not cutting the mustard, I was able immediately to show them several ways that they could be making more money. It's the kind of thing I'm good at, it would be a fun project (and I suspect their business will go crunch if they can't reach a bigger audience, so there is also an element of helping out an organisation that employs a bunch of people who need their jobs...) Problem is, I already have quite a few people I do this sort of work for. I spent most of this year working into the night trying to get various other biggish projects finished, I haven't had a holiday of more than a long weekend in years, if anything goes wrong then I work through the night, I've no time and I'm shattered. I've worked with subcontractors, but they make more work than they save. I'm not really able to hire someone: the kind of thing I do is complex, my time for training someone to do it is pretty limited too, and that would also push the costs up, as I work from home and don't really have an office... I'm already turning away anyone who phones out of the blue or the Yellow pages. I run no ads. My own website is a serious case of the cobblers children having no shoes. Even then I'm getting enough stuff through from existing clients to feel a tad overwhelmed. For this project I was asked to go and talk to them by someone whose site I developed a few years back: he's in a fairly senior position but I felt that I sort of needed to sound good because he was relying on me, you know? Anyway, I could see this was a big project, so I did my customary shuffle and said I needed more data to quote, hoping they would lose interest. They didn't. They got the data. Then I got a bad cold, so I thought : sod it, I am not making myself really ill for this project so I just ignored it. I thought, surely they will be getting more than one quote on this, the people who really want this work will take advantage of my weakness, all will be well. They just emailled chasing my quote and sounding soooo keen! Aaaaaargh. Mark says: quote high and hope they don't want to spend it. I have a horrible feeling that they WILL want to... Part of me says: take the work, there might not be anything else next year and some of my existing clients may well get credit crunched, so I'll need it. That part also says I could get more work done if I tried harder, and wants to give myself a slap. The other part just wants to go to bed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murtle Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 You are in as daunting a position as someone with too little work. Can you find someone with some of the skill set so they can help out? Maybe someone to help with admin or finances, someone who can help put together presentations or something, not necessarily the whole thing of what *you are* (cause you are special) but someone who can help with bits... This might not be helpful cause I don't know what you do - but I think if you break down into smaller bits what you do, and see what *less significant* bits could be done by someone else. Then see if you can find someone who can do that from their own home!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranirottie Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 good luck whatever you decide x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fee4 Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 as someone who has yet to learn how to post pics (Cloudy where is your idiots guide you promised me?) i know bugger all about IT. However-the economic climate Is tough. Techy stuff is a very competetive market-you are obviously wanted right here, right now-and to turn it down will not bring in repeat work-especially as you know some of your current customers are likely to go under. if it were me i would take the work: id do a clear path analysis of the work (is there anything you can outsource?) which will let you realistically time table the work-so it doesnt feel quite so over whelming. Im about to sound brutal-i know you work hard & do long hours: but thats the price you pay for being at home and avoiding rush hour, shitty colleagues etc & choosing your hours...and being at home with dogs. maybe its worth looking not at the amount of work you do-but how you organise it: without wishing to sound like i have swallowed a management text book: work smarter, not harder. fee IOW id take the work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khanu Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 Me, I'd quote reasonably high given that it will likely put you to the wall so to speak, and take the job when they say yes. We are in a similar position at work at the moment, I've quoted for 20 jobs in the last week, all but 5 have come in, and 6 of those are apparently urgent and need to be complete before Jan. I'll be working over Christmas again to get it done, and I don't even make any money directly from it! Times are tough though and if it means bringing in extra over the next few weeks to be able to see through the leaner times then that is what has to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackmagic Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 My son's firm, who are in IT, are in the same position. They can't risk turning down any work, so are quoting for everything that comes along. He says that if they get them all they don't have the workforce to do them, but the bosses say they will deal with that if/when it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted December 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 Lots to think about, thanks everyone. Murtle, my husband already works one day a week for me as Finance director, doing admin and accounts, and I have a few freelancers to whom I can hand design work and simple development. The problem is that most of the work that falls into those groups I've already farmed out: the reason people want to hire me is because I combine marketing and programming expertise in one fairly cheap person, and not many people do that, or not round here anyway. Which is good for me, but also bad from the hiring people point of view! fee4, it is indeed a privilege to work from home (though I have done my time with the shitty colleagues and commutes!). There does come a point when you aren't enjoying the home because the only thing you spend time doing in it is working. I should have made it clearer: I don't know that my clients will go under: very likely most of them are actually better prospects than this new job would be, I know that the new potential client is financially in trouble already, that's why they are so desperate to increase sales. And if I concentrate on adding value to the existing ones rather than hare off after this new one, it may be that we all stand a better chance of getting through this. It's hard to say.... blackmagic, I've actually failed to get rid of an annoying client for exactly the reason you give! They did a competitive tender for a new site they wanted, I quoted too high (well, they are very annoying!) but the people that won the contract had hugely overcommitted and couldn't do the work in the end, so they came back to me like a bad penny! Kelly khanu, you know what? I've seen a few of your posts, and if there was one thing that would make me think: hang on, is this a good move, it's what you've posted. My father took that attitude to work: he died when he was 45, having spent holidays, evenings and weekends working, because he was going to do it all next year, the year after, when he retired... Not going to make that mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murtle Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 In which case I'd quote high and book something now for the future to take you away from work to relax. I contract, and normally I've had the *excuse* of exams at the end of the year which is closely followed by Christmas to take a break. This year I've had no reason to, and have worked solidly....it's been a tough year - but my next holiday is booked hopefully will coincide with work but will give me the break I need. You'll then need to plan future work around the break, but cause it's paid for it'll be there... Waffling stopping.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthi (borrowadog) Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 Its time to put your prices up. If you are getting too much work, then you are clearly selling yourself too cheap. So quote high - but no so high you would be embarrassed. And not just for them, but for all the jobs that come along. What you want is profitability, not turnover. You want people saying you are expensive but worth it. And what you will find is that the more they pay, the more they appreciate you. Which means you'll be messed around less, they'll do their bit of the job better, and on time, and it will not only be more profitable, but more fun all round. Here endeth the business coach's lecture.... Ruth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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