She’s turning work away because she’s “too busy.” She can’t handle another case.

She’s a lawyer who insists on doing everything herself. By “everything,” I mean EVERYTHING.

• She drafts her own documents.
• She schedules her own meetings.
• She makes her own copies.
• She writes the checks.
• She makes the calls.
• She meets with the clients.
• She screens inbound potential client calls.
• She reconciles the trust account.
• She buys the office supplies.
• She takes the deposits to the bank.
• And she does the rest of it as well.

She’s a control freak. Of course, that’s not what she calls it. She has a million rationalizations for why it’s better for her to do it. Mostly she believes that things get done faster and better if she does them rather than if she asks for help.

The Choice Is Speed or Productivity

There’s an old African proverb that goes like this: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

She goes fast. She runs like crazy all of the time. She’s right: things get done, and they’re done correctly. However, she’s not earning what she could earn. She could do better—much better—if she would let go just a little.

I’m not suggesting she go crazy with adding help. She doesn’t need to grow much. She can grow with quality rather than quantity. She can free up some of her time from doing lower-value tasks to focus on delivering her highest value.

If you want to go far, go together. It won’t be as fast, especially not when you’re bringing in new people. It’ll take time and energy to bring the newcomers up to speed. But, once they’re trained, you’ll go far.