Too Busy Yet Too Poor

Last year was fantastic in the development of my company. I was pulled into a new market that held promise - that was IPD Modeling (IPD stands for Integrated Project Delivery and it is an emerging construction coordination process). Frankly, IPD carried us or most of 2011 while the architectural design/drafting market was dragging itself back to the surface.
The good old design/drafting market is coming back, and is welcome as IPD is taking a break. But the challenge I'm seeing is in the devaluation of my services as an architect. Part of it is the client type; we're seeing more and more developers come through the door, and they want us to tighten up the numbers.
So I'm seeing myself busy, but poor. It's a bit frustrating.
What's more frustrating is that there is other work that has a better client type, but it's all going to the older, better established firms in town. And yet to add to this, I feel that I have more value to offer. A lot of these other architects in practice can't even use the software, but instead hand it down to a draftsperson or "CAD Operator".
I am the owner of my firm and personally develop my plans. Just gonna let this post trail off with that rant...

Spring Joy

The spring rush is here and in my third year of running a business (though it's really running me), I finally see it for what it is. If I could cram a week into a day there still wouldn't be enough time - for me. That's because I'm giving it all to my clients and, you know what, that's what I'm here for. I don't sneeze at work, I take it as it comes.
Thursday, I can count five projects that needed my attention while the fifth one that I got to was the one that needed the most attention. That fifth project was supposed to get its full attention Friday but between all of the phone calls, errands, bills, and meetings, it got a phone call to the client and that's it; the client, a builder, was trying to get out of town so the phone call was a short one.
I'm also trying to get out of town. Next week is the Colorado Chapter International  Building Code Convention in Denver: this is where I get the bulk of my continuing ed credits for my license. My intention was to leave today, ride the snowboard in Breckenridge tomorrow with my friend  Jeff, and arrive at the Denver Tech Center on Monday at 8 am ready to learn. Instead, Jeff is stuck going to Breck Solo because that "fifth" project never got any attention - if there's anything I might be a little bummed about it's that, but still, Front Range skiing can be a hassle anyway. I'm taking my road bike, so I can sneak out for some base miles after class. I also have a
Fiver-Pass to Corepower Yoga so I'm covered there.
But really,  have no idea what will actually transpire. The spring rush is upon me and, like the weather, the workload is a bit volatile.