Here’s how it works when you own your own business:

Flip flop the day you have planned so you can get together for a last minute lunch with a friend who’s going out of town.

Load clean dog who (just had a bath yesterday and smells so nice) into clean truck (which also finally just had a bath a couple days earlier) and head out to Pioneer Park for a great morning hike.

Let dog off leash since he’s obedience trained and you know he’ll come and sit on command if you run into others on trail.

Snap a couple of photos of beautiful, loving canine frolicking ahead of you on that beautful September sunlit trail.

Watch in wonder as dog romps off to chase … a bunny? No, actually watch as he flops onto his back and begins to roll around in delight on top of (must step closer to see what it is) the smelly carcas of a dead coyote.

Load smelly dog back into clean, but now smelly truck.

Rush smelly dog back home and give him another bath.

Call friend to ask if a casual lunch spot will work since there’s no time to change.

Look over the rest of the day’s work plans in dismay realizing that all that rearranging means you’ll be working over the weekend.

And so it sometimes goes when you rearrange your entire schedule for that new client that just popped up onto the horizon. They sound interesting, challenging and fun and you just know you want to tackle their project. You start blocking out time in your calendar for them, only to find they are always missing the delivery deadlines you had agreed to, and your schedule is in a shambles.

With a little more careful scrutiny of the trail ahead I might have noticed the “fragrance” of that dead coyote before letting my dog off his leash to run. And, with more careful screening procedures and tuning into one’s instincts, we might also be able to pass up that client that doesn’t, in fact, turn turn out to be a smooth ride, either.