When I worked at a large publishing company, we endured a sort of feast or famine syndrome. We either had more work than anyone could handle or very little. During times of famine (or times of expected famine), people were laid off. A big business can do that–cut the losses (salaries) so that the quarterly profits are high enough to keep the board happy.

But it’s that way too with your own business. It seems impossible to maintain a perfect balance between enough work and enough pay. Many people I know alternate from various extremes–no work, no money, or tons of work, tons of money. Neither lasts too long.

Rob Siegel does an admirable job of describing this phenomenon in his article, Balancing Too-Much, Not-Enough Work. An excerpt is below:

Three weeks into my push to replace the budget-crunch loss, I had replaced my lost work. But five weeks later, I was still accepting work from prospects who were slow to move. Eight weeks after my prospecting binge, my original client called and announced that her freelance budget had been restored and she was ready to send along a series of article assignments. Still stinging from the fear of not having enough work, I said, “Great.” She asked whether I had the time, and I replied, “Certainly.”

Even as the words left my mouth, I knew I was committing to months without a good night’s sleep. It was back to the wake-at-three-in-the-morning grind. But how can you say no when the work you’re getting is making your dreams of self-employment come true? After all, in another ten weeks it could all dry up and blow away.