Should we grow or stay as we are.

[vangogh]

Thanks for letting us know Steve. I can imagine you had a log going through your mind the last few days. If I was going to bet I would have thought you would have taken the opportunity. Good thing I'm not a gambler.

I completely understand your reasons too. I would have done the same thing. Glad we could help too.

[SteveC]

Something else... It's never easy is it... I just turned this down by speaking with the head guy in charge of making the decision and he obviously likes what we have to offer and so he has extended the deadline for us, until the middle of January. Which now means I have a lot more time to consider my options... and given a decent amount of time, now I can plan how we are going to do this... because now I think we will go for it, however we will only move forward on our terms and not theres... so I am perhaps wasting my time... time I guess will tell.

And lifestyle is perhaps the most important thing to me... I love going to work and being happy all day long... and best of all, people pay me for doing this... it's a crazy world at times...

And everyone here has helped tremendously...

[vangogh]

The plot thickens. I think there are some ways you can make this work for you on your terms like you say. It sounds like you do have a good bargaining position since the offer was extended.

I'll be interested to know what you come up with to make this work for you and what eventually happens.

[KristineS]

I was wondering what had happened with this.

I think you're in good shape SteveC. It appears you have a good handle on what your goals are and on what you personally need to be happy. It also sounds like you're only willing to take on this new opportunity if it fits in with your goals and requirements. I'm guessing, whatever you decide, you'll be successful.

Do keep us updated though. I always love to know how these stories turn out.

[huggytree]

i would hire however many employees you will need to cover this customer....i would take the money while its there...if it lasts forever great!....if it lasts 1 year so be it...when the relationship ends i will get rid of the same # of employees...to be conservative about it i would consider those employees temp and just for that customer..customer goes=they go...

ive thought about that when it comes to large home builders for me...i dont want them, but if i get one who overnight triples my business id go for it...id consider it temp and rent the vehicle, keep stock and tools to a bare bones....the day the builder said good bye is the day those employees get laid off and the vehicles get turned in....

that way you make money while the gettings good....and cut your losses before they become much of a loss.

[orion_joel]

While to some extent i agree with you here huggy, it really does depend on just how much the client impacts your business. For example if i was going to have an increase of maybe 50-60% on current workload and had to add 3 more staff for this, i would go for it. But if the business was going to be 200-300% or more increase and had to add 10-15 or more new employees in a short space of time i would tend to step back and think is this what i really want.

Now either situation i mentioned above would be great money wise, i am sure that the second would provide a massive increase to revenue and profit initially, however the amount of work to grow a business that much quickly can cause it to fail not to far down the track if that growth is not properly and successfully managed. This is not to say that i would not go ahead if i could see a way to manage this sort of growth, however i believe that many business owners could not manage to grow their business at a rate of maybe more then 200% per year, without missing something and inevitably failing.