What’s your biggest fear? What’s keeping you up at night?
Those are the questions I ask new Divorce Discourse e-mail subscribers. I get a bunch of fascinating responses each week.
This is a response I got earlier today:
“Money. My biggest fear is not being able to maintain my very new solo practice and still pay my rent, etc. I’m afraid I won’t have enough clients, enough work, paying clients, etc. to keep going, and I’ll have to give up my dream of my own office and have to take a more secure job that I hate.”
How to Make Your Dream Come True
There’s no reason to suffer from that fear. Your dream will not die if the following statements are true:
- You’re in a market area with plenty of people (3,000 is the bare minimum for the common practice areas).
- You’re building your network by meeting new people every single day.
- You’re working 60 hours a week or more.
- You’re fully committed to making it work. You’re not even thinking about alternatives.
- You have a personality that doesn’t suck (if you have three friends you’ve kept for three years, you’re golden).
That’s it. If those five statements are true, then you can build a successful practice. You’ll note that I didn’t mention the population of other lawyers, nor did I mention your legal ability. Those factors aren’t outcome-determinative. You can succeed even when there are many other lawyers and even if you aren’t an amazing lawyer.
You will not succeed if only four of the five statements are true. You need all five, and you especially need to be out building your network. It’s the lack of new relationships that trips lawyers up. You must be out and about and building relationships.
Don’t be afraid. Just do what needs doing. Make those five statements true, and you’ll never have to give up your dream and take a more secure job that you hate.
