GPS Podcast
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My father died on April 1, 2007. He was a lawyer and ran his one-man law firm in the town of Gambrills, MD for forty some-odd years. We spoke many times of his wish to retire, travel some, and relax with his wife.
In going through his papers soon after his death, I ran across an engagement letter dated March 1, 2007. It seemed that my father signed up a new client exactly one month before he died, and some six months after having been diagnosed with leukemia. He had requested and received a retainer of $750.
Other than the very fact of my father’s passing, nothing made me sadder than that one piece of paper. He was dying. And all those who weren’t in the most active of active denial knew it. I’m certain he did, even if he didn’t want to acknowledge it. But there he was, still making the sale one month before he died.
I don’t want to do that. My wife doesn’t want me to do that.
And I know a lot of business owners who don’t want to do that either.
The question – which my father struggled to answer literally to his dying day – is “How can I avoid that fate?”
I think the answer lies in the advice given to trial lawyers.
When I started out as a trial lawyer, I was taught by some of the masters in the field to write my closing argument first. Decide what I wanted to be able to tell the jury at the end of the case, and then work backwards to ensure that the facts and law I presented would support the story I wanted to tell at the end.
The same goes with avoiding my father’s fate. My father wished to retire, but he never made it a priority.
Now, I sit down with clients every day and start writing their closing argument. When do they want to retire? Do they envision selling their companies to a third party, to their employees, or just winding it down? Will they stay involved or leave to run a flip flop shack on the beach? How much money will they need?
Then, we work backwards. For example, in my business, if I figure that I have to build the law firm to a $5MM enterprise in 5 years, I’ll need 20 lawyers to do it. That means adding the infrastructure (administrative staff, office space, equipment and the like) to support them. And I better get moving.
For a long time, I was content to watch for opportunities and even grab one or two as they came along. Now, I know what I need to achieve and I’ve come to grips with the fact that I not only have to look actively, but I also have to broadcast my goals to other people … in the hope that they’ll help me find the missing pieces. More importantly, I have to get specific as to what pieces I need to add, as opposed to hoping that what catches my eye happens to be a missing piece.
In other words I have to plan.
For too many enterprises, a business plan is something they prepare for a bank or because they think they should have it. Once finished, it is marveled over for a week or two and then shoved in a drawer – never to see the light of day against.
The right business plan, however, is a GPS system. Constantly on. Constantly with you. Reminding you when to turn and how far you have to go.
Next year will mark my firm’s 10th year in business and my 25th year engaged in the practice of law. I’m not close to my father’s 40, but I have something he never developed…I have a GPS.
