One thing you learn early when consulting, especially when juggling multiple part-time clients, is to never spring into action and deliver immediately. It's a

One thing you learn early when consulting, especially when juggling multiple part-time clients, is to never spring into action and deliver immediately. It's a tough one to learn, since you want to demonstrate how fast you are and usually the thing the client wants is indeed a five minute fix. But the reality is that the client will only appreciate the "quick turnaround" part as a novelty for a little while before it just becomes his expectation that you'll always be sitting at the ready to turn his requests around instantly. It can be really hard to walk that back after the fact. Instead, when he asks for that next quick thing, "have a look at your schedule" and report that you can "probably break off some time early next week". Now, chances are that's complete fiction and you could just as easily break off the entire rest of this week as well as all of next month because this is your only client. But still, get in the habit of saying it if only to avoid this trap. One day, with luck, you really will have trouble breaking off time for clients with less than a month's notice.