Reasonable clients who hire you to deliver a project three months from now don't expect you to work 24/7 for 90 days non-stop. They expect you to deliver what was agreed in three months. They happily pay for those three months because someone calculated it will save/make them more money. They don't care what happens in between as long as you keep them regularly updated, don't disappear on them, and respond to emails and calls in a timely fashion.
Ask yourself if you want the type of clients that obsessively check your online status on Slack. Most clients don't have time for that because they have other things to worry about.
If you're deploying something, it's prudent to sit tight for a while and monitor things. You can shop for celebratory champagne later.
If they absolutely expect you to pick up the phone the minute they call, hire someone to answer the calls for you. Now they have a dedicated account manager. Charge them appropriately.
If you want to read more, the OP of this comment chain, tptacek, wrote here a lot about charging daily/weekly vs hourly (and other nuggets of wisdom about consulting). Query `site:ycombinator.com tptacek hourly` in your favorite search engine. Here's an example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4103417
Reasonable clients who hire you to deliver a project three months from now don't expect you to work 24/7 for 90 days non-stop. They expect you to deliver what was agreed in three months. They happily pay for those three months because someone calculated it will save/make them more money. They don't care what happens in between as long as you keep them regularly updated, don't disappear on them, and respond to emails and calls in a timely fashion.
Ask yourself if you want the type of clients that obsessively check your online status on Slack. Most clients don't have time for that because they have other things to worry about.
If you're deploying something, it's prudent to sit tight for a while and monitor things. You can shop for celebratory champagne later.
If they absolutely expect you to pick up the phone the minute they call, hire someone to answer the calls for you. Now they have a dedicated account manager. Charge them appropriately.
If you want to read more, the OP of this comment chain, tptacek, wrote here a lot about charging daily/weekly vs hourly (and other nuggets of wisdom about consulting). Query `site:ycombinator.com tptacek hourly` in your favorite search engine. Here's an example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4103417