Are Recessions Always This Busy?

Piggybacking on the “Busy is Good” post, I have continued to remain incredibly busy since the beginning of the year. I would have to say that I am not personally experiencing the downside of this recession yet and I hope that continues to hold true. I’m not one to “knock on wood” but I am also keenly aware that everything could melt-down tomorrow. But I have to say that I almost feel guilty when people ask “how’s business?” with a trepidatious tone and a hanky ready to wipe up the puddle of tears that is surely ready to pour forth as I confess all the horrors of dried-up business and clients gone belly-up and all I can say is, “I’ve never been busier.”

Now busy-ness is one of those blessings and curses kind of things. But even with the curses, its always one of those “good-to-have” kind of problems that you’d rather have than the lack thereof. One of the problems is outlined in the aforementioned “Busy is Good” post in that I just have not been able to make even quick posts to this blog. Some others are a disorganized desk and office evidenced in picture above (to be totally honest, I had to “straighten” piles before taking the shot ), playing catch-up with business issues like invoicing, bill-paying, collecting and so-on. Another frustration is not being able to work on your own marketing and self-promotion but the biggest frustration by far is, being too busy to spend quality time with my family. Being able to spend more time with my family is one of the reasons I am self-employed in the first place, so it goes without saying that when you are glued to a computer so much that your kids forget what the front of your face looks like, that you are frustrating your family even more than if you were working in an office or on the road all the time. At least that way they may be frustrated, but I daresay its a bit easier to deal with it, but when you’re there so close physically, but so far away mentally, that’s just provoking frustration. I have to say that I have a great family and they are very patient and very appreciative of the fact that my busy-ness will pay the bills (eventually), but I have greatly enjoyed this past week of breathing a little easier and while I’ve continued to neglect things like updating this blog and invoicing in a more timely manner, I’ve been able to relax and recharge with my family over a beautiful spring weekend at home and spend some quality and quantitative time with my girls (we even watched BBC’s Wives and Daughters together—now if that isn’t love…).

This week, begins a fresh round of deadlines and renewed busy-ness, but I am hoping and making plans to keep it from becoming as much of a trial as it was the past couple of months. I will be training my daughter in basic web-design and the ways of WordPress in order to take care of “two birds with one stone” so to speak as well as I will also be looking at sub-contracting out more work if the busy-ness persists through the next couple of quarters. In addition, I will probably look at bringing my daughter on full-time as her skills get up to speed and I am looking forward to that.

So, at least, I have a new post up, even if it is only about the tired excuse of being too busy to post—at least I have that excuse and for that I’m thankful.