Always a good example here, Brendon. Many web designers and other web business folk seem to get their own skills so firmly in mind that they forget that client's businesses are what makes the world go 'round. I remember, too, a year or two back you mentioned several clients that were in the beach sort operations business. Doesn't sound as exciting as Ruby on rails or the latest MySQL version ... but a well-run resort can pay alot of bills, including a web development bill.

A real secret in getting business initially and then getting more is to focus on what the client is doing to build a business and let the web skills come along for a ride ... no one (at least not any sort of smart businessman that is) should ever set out to hire a web designer, per se. But a web designer who knows their business niche and can help build their own business ... ah, no that's a guy/gal worth employing.

There's another reason to get "into the client's head" ... taking one of those huge trucks for a test drive is a lot more fun that running yet another pass of an HTML validator ;-)