How We End Up on the Fast Track

Why do we grow our practices?

For many of us, it’s because our clients are driving us crazy. We’re miserable.

They’re calling all the time, they’re saying things we don’t like, and they’re making us want to throw ourselves in front of a fast-moving truck (or at least run away to an island paradise).

Our solution?

We hire attorneys and staff. We figure that we can put a layer of people between ourselves and whatever it is that is making us nuts.

We hire associate number one. She’s great:

• She talks to the clients on the phone so we don’t have to.
• She runs to the courthouse and deals with quick hearings so we don’t have to.
• She drafts annoying little letters and emails so we don’t have to.

It’s fantastic.

In fact, it’s so good that we:

• Hire another associate.
• Then we add a staff person or two.
• Then we hire a third associate.

We’re on the fast track now. Life is good.

Is Life in the Fast Lane All It’s Cracked Up to Be?

Then, out of the blue, we’re miserable again.

We start thinking about the fast-moving truck again (or maybe the island paradise?).

How can this be? We don’t have to talk to the clients. How can we be back to miserable?

Ah, suddenly, we have an epiphany. A light bulb goes off, and we understand.

Now it’s not the clients driving us crazy. It’s something new.

It’s the attorneys and staff. They’re driving us batty.

They don’t call all the time, but they do a host of other things that push us to the edge:

• They ask more questions than we have time to answer.
• They make mistakes.
• They fight with one another about trivial matters.
• They drop the ball and upset the clients.
• They ask for more money.

The list of things they do is endless.

Now we have a much bigger practice, but we’re not any happier than we were when we were small.

The clients were driving us crazy. Now the employees are doing the same thing.

How Do We Solve This Quandary?

What to do?

Get small? Shrink back to where we were when this all started? Get better at managing the clients?

Or stay big? Get better at managing the team?

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Unfortunately, there is no answer. These are difficult questions.

If you’re small, you should appreciate where you are and understand the issues you’re avoiding.

If you’re big, you should appreciate where you are and understand the issues you’re avoiding.

There is no magic bullet. There is no nirvana.

Appreciate what you’ve got. Don’t assume change equals better.

Big is big.

Small is small.

There are issues for us, one and all.