Client Loss

So yesterday I lost a client from my web design and hosting ... and I am trying to figure out how I feel about it ...

He has been my customer since 2000 ... 9 years ... it is a long time ... I am upset about it but not as much as I thought I should be ... I lost him because I chose family over work ... which I know is always the way to go ...

He wanted a new site design which I was happy about because that would be a nice check for us and would totally help out during my maternity leave ... but he asked about it at the beginning of March ... I thought I could put it together for him faster than I was able ... I thought the new design would be finished before the new baby arrived ... it wasn't ...

March was crazy ... work was very very busy ... and I was very very pregnant and exhausted ... most nights when I got home I spent time with Schuyler and then spent time with sleep ... it was all I felt capable of doing ... on late nights I was usually still doing office work to try and get ready for my absence ...

With the construction going on and the house a total disarray I just wasn't myself ... I really figured I would have plenty of time to work on it once I was on maternity leave ... but I was wrong ...

Maternity leave with the second child is way different than with the first child ... with Skye when she slept I had plenty of time to work on things ... clean up the house ... nap ... do office work ... it was easy ... she also loved her swing ... so she was right beside me while I did the things I needed to do ...

With Linc it is totally different ... he doesn't like the swing or the bouncy seat ... and it has taken me several weeks to realize that when I am not holding him he does well in his crib ... I hate that he is away from the rest of us during the time he is asleep but it is how it is ... each child lets you know what they like and don't like ...

But when he is laying down I want to spend time with Skye ... it is a gift that I get these few precious weeks home with her ... that I get to see her more than an hour in the morning and 2 or 3 hours in the evening ... I want to soak up every available moment with her ...

So why does it feel so wrong that I didn't just put all that aside to get a customer's site done ... I took on the task I should have done it ... but his big beef was that I couldn't talk on the phone when he wanted me to ... that I wanted to communicate through e-mail and then talk after reading it ... when it was good for me ... when I didn't have screaming kids and guests and what not ... because the few times we spoke on the phone all that was going on and 5 minutes after hanging up I forgot everything he asked for ... but he is not an email person and this didn't work for him ...

I think I am a bit upset at how I found out ... he sent an email asking me to transfer his domain to GoDaddy.com ... that was it ... nothing else ...

He is a customer of ours at work ... and I know that most people find him to be a PITA ... advertisers have fired him forgoing the money because it isn't worth it ... but I on the other hand am sad to lose the money ... and a customer ...

Sad thing is in about a month I am back at work ... and he called me at work all the time because he knew when I was there and that I answer the phone ... so 9 years down the tubes because I was putting my family and their needs first ... I am proud of myself for doing ... but it doesn't make it all any easier ...