Well, design a system for your operations. Develop a financial system that has reserves for your investments and expenditures that will enhance your company/website business quality. You can hire a developer to make a better website, with more tools to manage your work load, analyze it and develop quality strategies for it.
You can also hire a Business development manager, whose sole responsibility is to market your website, find clients, and ensures them for the quality work.
You can work on the quality of your orders that you receive. So you don't have to worry everywhere, and can focus soley on the quality. My personal experience says, even if you have a blank page but you give a quality services, your clients will give you business. Because quality is all required.
You can hire more people in your team and can also dedicate one person who has good knowledge and experience as a quality assurance manager. Whose responsibility is to just have the quality check of each order and run for plagiarism.
Now, here you go, these simple steps will improve your business. And there might be a chance that your friend ask you to join back :D
Let me know if it helps