It’s early here in Cairo. There’s a sharp banging sound coming from the street. It’s metal on metal. It happens about this time every morning.

Yes, BANGING.

And it happens EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. EARLY!

What’s the Point of All that Racket?

This morning, I rushed out onto the balcony to see what it’s all about.

There’s the guy doing the banging. He’s pushing his bicycle up the street with two liquid propane tanks hanging off the back, and he’s using a metal rod to bang on the tanks, making this sharp, clanking sound.

He’s the gas man.

In these old buildings in downtown Cairo, the cooking is done on gas stoves. You haul a tank up to your apartment and hook it up to your stove.

When the tank runs out, you wait to hear the banging, and you swap tanks with the gas man.

All you’ve got to do is wait for the banging, and you’re ready to heat your stove back up.

The Relationship Between the Banging, the Gas Man, and the Practice of Law

I was up anyway after the banging started, so I thought about how the gas man’s banging might apply to lawyers and their practices.

“What’s more important?” I asked myself. The gas or the banging?

I concluded that they both matter a great deal.

• First, the gas. If the gas didn’t heat up the stove, then I’d want my money back and I’d find a new gas man.
• But what about the banging? If the banging didn’t sound, then I wouldn’t know when to run down the stairs and buy a new tank.

I need the gas, and I need the banging. They’re both critical.

Is the banging annoying on mornings when I don’t need gas? It certainly was for the first few days. After that, I tuned it out. I barely notice it now. It’s kind of like lawyer ads on TV.

But when the gas tank is empty, the banging is a welcome sound. At that moment, I’m listening hard for his marketing cacophony.

For things to work out, and for some cooking to get done, we need the gas plus the banging. One without the other doesn’t work.

The Takeaway for Lawyers

So what’s more important for your practice? The legal work or the marketing?

You’d think the answer to that question—ranking one above the other—really matters given the debates I’ve witnessed on the Web.

I contend that they both matter. They’re both essential. One doesn’t work without the other. You need both in order to survive.

You need to be great at practicing law—that’s essential. And you need to be really good at banging as well. One without the other leaves you without a thriving practice.