Seriously. In the current economy you need to have connections, or be really, really good, like Merlyn, Abigail, et al.

First, thanks for the compliment.

Now for the bad news. Even being "really good" isn't enough. I lost money three quarters out of four for the past two years. My credit cards hit their maximum point in December, and in January I had to pull out $15K from my retirement account (penalties ouch ouch) just to cover current bills.

And even in the midst of that down cycle, I still knew it was important to continue to advertise and devote time to being visible in places like monks and usenet. That's why I ran that big party at OSCON last year, borrowing some of the last money I had available. Because, early this year, we landed an in-call client (them calling us out of the blue) that has given us about $100K in revenue so far, and continues to book classes until well into September at the moment. Had I not continued to make Stonehenge visible, I doubt I would have gotten that call. It only takes finding one good client like that to pay for a year's worth of advertising and trade shows.

Being in business is tough. I know a lot more than I did a few years ago, and I can say that holds true for any given three year window. But I still face challenges up ahead that I'm gritting my teeth about, so it's not all rosy yet.