Congrats! After two decades as a salaried engineer, my brain was convinced that customers would give me money just for being a superior human being. People who were brought up right might not have this problem when they start a new thing, but I think that all too often this thinking creeps in with success. In my case, the world beat it out of me as I tried to make and sell things for profit, because I started rotten and had to get better, but as a decent human being, you should stay exposed to the rigors of serving your customers.
We are in the black, and I'm investing time in people to help carry weight. It's at least as hard as the core business. Offering a slice of potential big profits to intelligent people who can't get their shit together does nothing to help them get their shit together. It does the opposite; they fall apart and descend into playing mind games with me. Paying them a reasonable amount the instant they finish an assignment actually works.
