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How would you handle a conflict between a 20 year old client and a completely new client with significant potential, each needing their projects delivered at approximately the same time and each project requiring full-time attention?
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VW:
I think this is really easy.
By way of background, I was a one-man consulting firm twice for a total of seven years. Like the baker making bread, I was selling my time. When I “sold” my time, I was overjoyed. When I had time that went “unsold”, I would put it on the “day old bread shelf”. When it was that time, and I still hadn’t sold it, I unhappily “consumed” it myself. I would down the “most valuable use of my time list” (i.e., deliver value [earns money now], sell value [earns money in the future], develop my value proposition [make selling easier], see where there was future value [anticipate what will be valuable in the future], develop skills [get something to sell]).
You are presenting the opposite problem. An oversold condition. You’d really like to do both, but know you only have a limited number of loaves of bread … err … hours in the day. Like the airline who sells 110 tickets for 100 seats, you are going to have a lot of unhappy people. AND, you may damage your reputation.
Unfortunately, you have the “sultan’s bride” problem. On any individual offer you receive, you have to ask is this particular “maiden and dowry combination” the best I’m going to see. My “policy” was “bird in the hand is dinner, rent, and happiness”. I would accept the first firm offer that met my minimal acceptable conditions. If another came along, even if it was better, I was already “out of stock”. The only choice you have is to raise your rate. And, that’s fine tuning.
If I had a block of time sold and a better offer came along, I’d try to help find an alternative (… … and get a finder’s fee from both sides of the transaction) for the person. But, the first acceptance was binding. And, it was binding on both sides.
Reinke Faces Life 