I can relate to Charlie's situation. I've had people complain about not being able to reach me easily. Sometimes people get the wrong idea and think that the business they are trying to reach is not willing to help or neglecting their duties. In my situation it is just a result of being busy sometimes with very time sensitve projects and being short the man power we need to help everyone as quickly as we'd like to.
I think Charlie is a one man operation still, I at least do have 1.5 employees, and working on getting another very soon. My situation is different though b/c we are an actual shop with 2 full service bays, a partial fab/machine shop, a dedicated work space for wiring harness assembly, electronic systems bench testing, engine assembly work space that is divided from the workshop to keep it free of debris. On a typical day the phones are ringing a lot and it can be tough to keep up sometimes.
We've been in business over 7 years now and at one time had 4 other people working with me (but this was mostly b/c we were involved in the DARPA program then).
Charlie, I know all about the flights, the hotel living, the damn rental car companies that close when your flight arrives late and you have to take a taxi to the hotel and get your car in the AM when they open and you lost that extra 30 min of sleep you so wish you could have back only so that you can be at the dyno shop or track to work all day in the hot sun and tell yourself you'll get that nap on the next plane after a couple beers. Oh and how about the airport security that thinks your diagnostic equipment is a bomb
I think I lost a few sets of basic tools b/c they thought I was going to highjack the plane with terminal extractors and wire strippers.
I've been doing this for a while and love it still.
So anyway, sorry for the long post and back to the topic...I'm glad we have another satisfied customer out there.
Kris