A cotingent financial question that you somewhat allude to is: Can you afford to keep clients that don't pay enough to live on?
This is a basic business determination that you'll need to make. If your (very little) income is exceeded by your outgoing expense, then you are running a charity and I hope that you're independently wealthy enough to provide such a free donor service. Please do my work for free too and take both the liability and cost of doing so.
Seriously, the best way to be in business is to expand your client base. It can be hard to know when you need to "pound the pavement" for more clients, but you should look to doing so soon, if your income is running short. Advertise free, write blogs, stay connected on various forums, offer more records filings and research, send out some letters to local law firms, spend time helping people at the county offices, pass out business cards to your local building and planning agencies, and make sure that you website is up to date. Jump on professional and social network sites, joint Twitter, and stay connected.
An important principle of business to keep in mind is that a business does not make money by saving money, but at the same time, savings can keep you afloat during bad times. So, consider dumping unnecessary pay services: check your cell plan and mobile modem (can you combine them?), dump your home phone for the cell, use library resouce connections for pay services like Ancestry.com, plan your research trips more efficiently, get online subscriptions that are free instead of paying for paper magazines by mail, use a digital camera to save clients money by photographing document images instead of paying xerox costs, and keep your home expenses low by getting rid of cable and satellite while learning to use free video services like Hulu and over-air television.
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