

Ask HN: How to handle "barely worth it" project requests? - mobweb

I&#x27;ve been consulting for a while now. During this time I&#x27;ve taken on every kind of project: From small bugfixes that took a couple of hours to launching new projects that took multiple months to finish.<p>Now I&#x27;m at a point where I think I can make enough money by only working on the latter: Projects that I can implement from scratch, and that take at least a couple of weeks to implement.<p>But at the same time I get a lot of requests for smaller projects that take just a couple of days from start to finish.<p>While I like working on these smaller projects as well, I feel that they may harm my productivity in the long run: Always juggling multiple projects (at least one big project and a couple of small ones) means that in my mind I&#x27;m constantly occupied and there&#x27;s always something that should be (and can be) done quickly, as opposed to bigger projects where there aren&#x27;t any immediate deadlines and I can plan my work better, and also take a few days off every now and then without feeling guilty about it.<p>I&#x27;ve been thinking lately if I should perhaps ditch these smaller projects completely, and only take on large projects.<p>But at the same time I think I would feel bad not accepting these smaller projects for various reasons:<p>- It&#x27;s always nice to get to know more people, I might profit from such a relationship later on
- A small project might turn into a big one
- A few small projects still equal a nice profit
- It might hurt my &quot;image&quot; if I have to reject too many requests<p>So I&#x27;ve thought about perhaps adding additional requirements for small projects, e.g.:<p>- Minimum budget size for any kind of project that I take on
- Selling my work in &quot;packages&quot;, where I tell the customer that I can help them, but they will have to buy at least N hours of my time<p>Perhaps somebody else has been at this point before and could share their experience?
======
esw
We've done a lot of work on our house over the last few years, and I've
observed how different contractors deal with scheduling issues:

1\. Some won't return a call at all.

2\. Some will call you back to say that they're in the middle of a project,
and are too busy to take your business.

3\. Some will happily schedule you in for a date in the distant future (like,
three months from now).

I'm unlikely to bother calling the first two again for work, but the third
makes me think, "Man, this guy is so busy that he's booked until _March_? He
must be good."

------
waivej
Every project has a price at which you know it is worthwhile. Sometimes it
feels funny to estimate high...even 3-4x your normal rate. But trust yourself.
Understand the additional costs in your time or energy. Likewise, some
projects or clients are worth working below your normal rate.

------
tagabek
You have a fantastic problem on your hands. The demand is exceeding the
supply.

I would suggest raising your prices for all new clients. You might also
consider bringing on subcontractors to handle the smaller jobs for you.

