I usually pride myself on updating Consultant Journal regularly. In fact, I often have a stash of posts written well in advance – I just most more spontaneous ones as they occur to me. Well, that all ground to a halt recently.

You see, I decided to sell my home. That meant getting ready to stage the property, clearing things out, redecorating for broad appeal, getting stuff into storage, keeping the place immaculate for showings, negotiating with buyers and more. Then I ran into a few hiccoughs as I tried to buy a new home. I’ll keep the details off the web. And then, after buying, I ran into another emergency – and I got really, really sick. And now I’m renovating…while starting a new contract with a new business client.

So things at Consultant Journal have been on hiatus. And that’s been very challenging, because I love writing articles here. Funny enough, many of my favourite posts have been about work-life balance.

Well, work-life balance is far from a perfect thing. I’ve spent the past to months in a 95-percent life, 5 percent work balance. But thing are steadily swinging the other way and I think I’ll be back to “normal” pretty soon. Whatever normal mean.

I’m pretty thankful to run a business. With the patience of my clients, I’ve been able to make it through this unpredictably challenging time. My business is flexible and a good portion of it can run without me.

But I love writing for Consultant Journal and look forward to posting more frequent articles. I’m glad you waited.

The past two months have been a blur. Between selling my home, taking on a new client, taking care of sick kids, managing volunteer commitments, buying a home and just the regular routine of parenting and having a life, I’ve felt stretched in all directions.  And I’ve never felt more fortunate to work for myself.

Because I work for myself, I can move things around. Home needs to be staged? Okay, I’ll run out to the store, buy accessories in the latest colours, and stage my home myself, allowing it to sell in just days. I’ll just work in the evening instead. Kids sick? No problem. I’ll move some meetings, work while they nap on the sofa, make them honey-lemon drinks while I make administrative calls, and mop their brows in between emails. Volunteer organization needs some help? Okay, I’ve got a few minutes to provide over-the-phone consulting while waiting for my computer to install updates — and I’ll write them a fundraising letter while waiting for my laundry to finish, before heading out to lecture at the university a few minutes from here. Need to do a home inspection? Okay…I’ll just answer emails while following the inspector around and chatting about roof lives, concrete spalling and planter boxes.

Sometimes, it all feels a bit frantic. There’s a lot to juggle. But I’m the kind of person who has a lot on the go. I get by with my Google calendar and smartphone (and sometimes my tablet) when I’m not in the office. If I worked a regular job, I’d have a lot on the go, too. I always have. But I swear it’s all a lot more relaxed because I’m self employed.

You see, I don’t have to worry about getting fired. I don’t have to beg a boss to let me work from home, let me run to appointments or wait around for a repair person. In fact, most days, I work from home – not because I can’t afford an office, but because I can’t afford to give up the time involved in managing yet another place in my life. Right now, as I’m typing this, I have tea boiling on the stove, a turkey breast roasting in the oven, laundry going, and texts from my realtor and mortgage broker coming in. I just hung up with the property appraisal folks. This morning, I took my kids to school late (they’d needed a little more sleep) and I got to do a minute or two of jazz dance with the class before heading off. I didn’t have to ask anyone for permission. I just had to make sure it all jived with my deadlines and my appointments.

Now, the price I pay for this lifestyle is that sometimes I do work odd hours. I will sometimes send out emails at midnight. I’ll work on a  Saturday. But that’s all a choice and it’s almost certainly because I’ve made a trade off somewhere else. I check my email (sometimes infrequently) when I go on vacation, but I also take a lot of vacations – not the two or three weeks that most people do. In fact, my kids were off sick for four days this week and we’re about to enjoy two weeks of Spring Break together. That’s more time off than most people have all year.

After 16 years of working for myself, I can’t imagine life any other way.

Is a business plan necessary? Maybe if you’re looking for investors or lenders or hoping to reassure a spouse or yourself. But creating a plan opens doors.

If you want to charge higher fees, you can’t be a run of the mill consultant. When people really value what you have to offer, it’s because of scarcity.

Now, economists talk about scarcity all the time. You’re heard of the supply and demand curve. And prices emerge where the two lines cross. Where there’s a supply of services and a corresponding demand. If there is a scarcity of supply and demand is strong, then prices will be higher.

Related:

How to become a consultant

Write Your Business Plan Now

If you haven’t raised your consulting rate in a while, you’re probably losing money. And if you’re still charging by the hour, you might want to look at other options.

The clock is winding down on 2012, but there are a few days left still. I’m maxing and relaxing on a stay-cation – a vacation at home. But my mind occasionally does turn to my business dreams for the year ahead, even if many of them are rooted in how I want my personal life to look.

Sometimes, life gets in the way and I end up hitting the pause button with work projects. But, at the same time, my self employment as a consultant affords me work-life balance that would be hard to get anywhere else.

Clients will often try to lowball your fees, sometimes comparing your rate to a salary. Here’s how to manage.