Not saying 'no'

I'm sitting in Prague airport after yesterday's 1-dayer for a new client.  It will the last of 47 flights in 2011.

The job, a sort of six hour pitch to a pan-European mix of marketing and medical people, went well enough.  It was one of those situations where whilst the people who need to approve the project weren't in the room, there were plenty there who could kill it.  That gave me a very clear and not especially ambitious goal: to not have anyone say 'no'.

I had my usual mid-morning moment when it occurred to me that this may the last job I ever do; at the very least with this client and possibly ever.  This is my subconscience telling to relax, stop worrying about the next job and to simply concentrate on the people in front me.

By the time we decamped to the bar for too much Czech beer there was sufficient agreement that the project should go forward.  The clarity of a business model where you only attempt to be as good as your last job can be very liberating at times.