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After practicing law for over thirty years, my friend Claudia* is officially opening her solo law practice today. Some time today, my friend Paul* will be stopping by his old business to continue cleaning it out,and hopefully meeting with prospective buyers of various pieces of equipment. After 25 years as an entrepreneur he is now a former business owner and a brand new employee.
Claudia, Paul,and I all went to college together. Paul is a natural born entrepreneur. Claudia doesn't have an entrepreneurial inclination in her body. And so it goes.
Claudia and I learned about Paul's business because she was in Minneapolis where I was teaching her about social media and how she could use it to help build her law practice. Although she has received LinkedIn invitations for years, as an equity partner in a major law firm, she didn't see the need for LinkedIn,and so she deleted all those invitations. She now sees the need.
We had called Paul because Claudia needs business cards, stationary, and labels and Paul owned a printing business. I knew he would take care of her. We were three weeks too late. Paul is now working for a competitor and dealing with unpacking a 25-year-old business, and all the emotional unpacking that comes with going from the boss man to an employee.
When Claudia got her lay off notice in February, she decided to take advantage of the outplacement services her firm provided.She made her decision to start her own practice after just one session at the out placement office.
"I looked at all those databases that I could use to search for a job, and I realized I could either spend the next two years making a job out of looking for a job,or I could start my own practice and hopefully continue practicing law immediately," said Claudia.
Claudia is part of the growing number of transactional attorneys who are being laid off from high price law firms.The prospects of finding another job in a law firm are quite dismal.
In the past two weeks Claudia has:found an office,met with bankers, insurance agents, IT consultants, bought furniture and equipment,signed on to LinkedIn for the first time in her entire life, and landed her first client which she promptly underestimated her fees by at least 50%.
She was distraught over that mistake and wanted to go back to the client and see if she could renegotiate her fees.
She asked my advice. "Eat it. This may be the first time but I promise you, it won't be the last that you underestimate the cost of something."
Initially, she fought my advice because she wanted to get paid for the time she put into the project.Don't we all.
She has lived in a world of billable hours for the past thirty years. Trying to get her head around a different way to think about her services and money is going to be a huge adjustment.
For about an hour we went round and round over whether she should as for more money. She painted all the ways she would approach him...hoping that something she said would win my approval.
I didn't tell her what she wanted to hear. "The money is not the important issue here, your reputation (think brand) is what is at stake," I explained. "If this client thinks you deliberately low-balled the project and then demanded more money, you are going to do thousands of dollars worth of damage to your reputation. This is your first client. You can't afford to ask for more money," I concluded.
Claudia did agree but she's not happy about the situation. She is keeping track of her time and as of today, she has put in twice as much time time as she estimated.
Working with Claudia is bringing out some unattractive traits that I need to keep in check.I'm noticing a tinge of hubris peaking through. I have to watch that. Being an entrepreneur for 30 odd years has created a mindset that is dramatically different from someone who has spent the past 30 years in a law firm.
Instead of simply being friends, I am now teacher and guide. Claudia may still be an attorney,but now she's an entrepreneur.What may be obvious to me and any one else who has run a business, is completely shocking to her.
As her adviser and friend I need to monitor the "been there, done that attitude," and spend more time listening. This is her journey and it will be different from the one I have taken. My goal is to only offer advice
