Solo In Chicago…Grow Your Practice!

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Although I read a LOT (outside of work-related stuff) I must say that I take a generally dim view of business books. Why? 3 reasons:

First, too many business books are not engagingly written. If the 9/11 Commission Report can be engagingly written and nominated for a National Book Award more business books can be written like a novel too. Second, as a lawyer I find that most “business books” aren’t written for or are not particularly relevant to professional service providers. Finally, most law practice management-type books are unoriginal. I surely haven’t read everything and mean no offense but what’s the last LPM book you’ve read that really made you say, “Wow, that’s something new/different”?

The E-Myth Attorney confounds all of the above, written much like many of the Ken Blanchard books (The One Minute Manager, etc.), E-Myth is a quick and easy read using real world and parable-like examples. Also, the book is written with alternate chapters authored one by primary author Gerber (non-attorney) touching on more general entrepreneurial principals (the “E” in E-Myth is short for Entrepreneur Myth) with the next by two attorney co-authors who discuss the application of Gerber’s principles to their law practices and to lawyers generally.

These were the high points I’ll take away from E-Myth:

1. Your Legal Services Business’ Equity & McDonalds. Equity is the financial value placed on your practice by a prospective buyer of your practice. In non-legal circles it’s every entrepreneur’s dream to get the big buyout but you don’t hear much of that thinking regarding law practices. Yet, I think the majority of states (including Illinois pursuant to Rule 1.17 of Rules of Professional Conduct) allow for the sale of a law practice. The McDonalds reference ain’t about a Happy Meal rather it’s the broader concept of working ON your business more than working IN your business. Akin to McDonalds’ franchises, it’s critical that you build a legal services business that works every time and the value of your equity is the effectiveness of the processes and systems you have put into place (it’s the systems not the people that are critical).
2. Know Your Number. When I first heard “Know Your Number” all I could think about were ING’s television ads regarding retirement planning that seemed to run every 10 minutes during CBS’ golf coverage this past summer. The E-Myth meaning is the specific monetary goal you have for your business and then drilling down so that you have a specific, daily revenue goal…every day you’ve either hit your revenue goal or missed it. So set your annual revenue goal, decide the number of days that your business will be open each year and then do the simple division -  total revenue / business days & there’s your daily revenue number. This single number can become a rallying and focal point for the entire firm.
3. 3 Plans. The E-Myth suggests the use of a planning triangle consisting of…a Business plan, Practice plan, and a Completion plan. The Business plan is your firm’s constitution, outlining in business language your vision and laying out in detail the market and strategy you’ll implement as a business enterprise. The Practice plan addresses the “what we do”  and “how” specific to a legal services provider and the processes/systems necessary to get quality legal work done. Your Completion plan is the operations manual…it is a guide to tell the people responsible for doing that work exactly how to do it.
4. You NEED Systems. Buying into the book’s “systems” focus might be the best take-away from E-Myth. It goes back to the McDonalds example of some hard-copy operations manual that defines how everything gets done so even a place with high employee turnover like a fast food restaurant keeps quality consistent and measurable. And just thinking of my small firm this isn’t that big of a change…I have “systems” in place simply most of them are in my or my assistant’s head. But that’s the idea…first, get your processes (file opening, telephone answering, new meeting scheduling, etc.) on paper/electronic document, second, be consistently reviewing and managing these systems. Now there’s a legal services business beyond yourself!