You Are the Architect of Your Law Firm
Earlier on in my career, when I worked in the IT industry, I was working for a technology company that served schools. I was a salesman and in the few busy months of my first year we made 2 million dollars in sales. That happened without any planning, so imagine what we could have done if we did have a plan. We spent half a day coming up with a plan and the goal ended up being to make 30 million dollars in sales. It was a huge jump, but guess what? We did it. We went from 2 to 30 million and all it took was a little planning.
The only way we were able to achieve that goal was because we made a plan and arranged all the details beforehand.
The following three examples will show you different ways that planning is important:
1. Let's say you want to travel from New York to Miami. You don’t know how to get there, but you know it takes 24 hours. If you just start driving and continue for 24 hours, you may end up on the opposite side of the country, near the west coast. That is why we use a GPS or map. We have to plan our trips so we don’t have to hit any unnecessary roadblocks.
2. Teachers always have lesson plans, but why? Don’t they know the material?
If they don’t follow a lesson plan then it’s very easy to get distracted or stay on a topic too long and end up falling behind in the curriculum.
3. Every architect has a blueprint. It’s non negotiable. If they don’t have one they would never be able to get the workers on the same page. With no plan/direction nothing would get accomplished.
These examples highlight what a plan does for us:
- Prevents errors
Saves time, increases efficiency, and achieves the desired result
- Removes inefficiencies
Avoids unnecessary roadblocks and prevents detours
- Allows for commoditization of efforts
Allows you to input resources where you otherwise wouldn’t be able to. With a plan you can insert different people with different skills into the project and they will know what to do because of the plan.
- Reduces time to destination
If you don’t quit, you’ll be successful at some point, but will that be in ten years or one? If you have a written plan you will become successful much faster.
It’s important to remember a plan is evolving. There will be detours, but that’s okay. Just shift your plan with it. The plan is the starting point and you can always go back and adjust it.
Anatomy of a Plan:
- You need a goal or destination in order to come up with a plan.
“Begin with the end in mind”
- Figure out the easiest and shortest way for you to reach your goal.
- It needs to be on paper. If you don’t write it down you will not achieve that goal and you’ll even forget what it was in the first place. Writing it all out will also help you figure out which parts of the plan don’t work.
- Now you have to add time into your plan. How long will each step take? You need deadlines to keep you moving.
- In the planning stage you had to put the plan on paper. Now the plan is done and you need to clearly document it. Make sure to establish the key metrics, so you can keep track of your progress along the way and whether you’re on target or not.
- Finally it’s time to implement the plan.
It’s all great on paper, but without action it won’t get anywhere. Take the time to establish your goal and create a plan.
Resources
Episode 004 - What Is Your One Thing
https://www.profitwithlaw.com/004
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Author
Moshe Amsel
Author
Moshe Amsel the host of the Profit with Law podcast is not an attorney. As the owner of a successful accounting firm DreamBuilder Financial and Law Firm Growth coaching organization Profit with Law, Moshe has proven that there are better and different ways for a law firm to do business and be successful.
