Change Is Hard, But Necessary

You’ve invested years of your life and tens (hundreds) of thousands of dollars in your education.  You are smarter than most people.  And it simply doesn’t make sense that you should be working so hard and keeping such little money at the end of the day.

And yet for the vast majority of lawyers in private practice, that’s the case.

Lots of work and not a lot to show for it at the end of the day, whether that day is the end of the month, the end of the year, or the end of a career.

This email series will lay out how you can experience something different.

Before I get into it, there’s something I want you to know.  I will always be straight up honest with you.  That’s how I live my life and that’s how I run my businesses – straightforward, direct, no B.S.

I always tell you like it really is.

Everything you are doing to run  your business right now probably feels hard, really hard.

But, it’s comfortable.

The things I am going to suggest you do as part of this email series are pretty easy things to do once you know what they are.

But, they are likely to create short-term discomfort for you.

Change is hard.  For everyone.  And especially for lawyers.  It triggers our control issues.

But, you have to change or you’re going to stay stuck.

Here are some of the things that are keeping you in the rut:

1.  Continued focus on how bad the economy is and using that as an excuse to keep you from moving forward.

Pay attention to how often you talk about the economy or how hard things are right now.

2.  Taking every case that walks through the door.

It’s nearly impossible to build a streamlined business that allows you to work a reasonable schedule unless you strategically focus on serving a narrower group of people than you likely are right now.

Now, I’m not saying to stop taking the work that is keeping food on your table, at least not yet.  Over time though you will need to narrow your focus, master serving one group of people with excellence and then, if you want, you can expand to additional groups.

3.  Invest resources in building your business before the revenue is there.

This can be the most difficult one for lawyers.  We want to build our practices out of revenue without investing in the business.  I wish it could work this way, but for the most part it can’t.  Building a business almost always requires an out of pocket financial investment.

Here’s the great news … you don’t have to buy a franchise or invest in someone else’s business, you are your very best investment when you’ve got the right tools and resources and the commitment to making it work.

One of my clients invested in one of those quickie massage places you see springing up everywhere – at $50-$75 a pop, she’s got to work hard to get enough business to make it work.  And, she’s doing it!

Your transaction fees are far higher than that, so the next time you feel frustrated, think about that poor massage parlor owner and know that if she can do it, so can you.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing specifics on how you can get out of this rut and into the kind of action that will really make a difference for you.  In the meantime, watch your mind for the self-sabotaging thoughts that are keeping you stuck right where you are.

Related posts:

1. Knowing this basic information will change everything … really