This past year has been very challenging due to family illness. Despite this it has been a successful year on the business front from my point of view. I have worked less due to the non-business commitments, but have still found time to enjoy the fresh air on my walks, and with my wife.
How was this possible? Well, it has helped that the economy is improving. I have a lot of consultancy, and while I always bill this on the basis of value to the clients in what I do for them, my services have increased in value and people are prepared to pay for that value having less perceived constraints on cash-flow.
I should mention that my regular clients, although they value what they get, have not seen a big price hike They provide a regular basic income into my business.
So with the higher value work I can afford more free time and can pick and choose clients even more than I did. I also gain extra time by outsourcing the low value services with which I am less comfortable and which are, frankly, boring.
None of this is earth-shattering magic, but having a higher income but with more free time cannot be bad, can it? Do you value yourself enough?