Solo In Chicago…Grow Your Practice!

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Due to my recent foray to the UP as I wrote about and a subsequent death in my family that’s going to pull me out of town for another near week in a few days here I thought this was a good time to discuss the above. Plus I saw some colleagues discussing this on a list serve and some of the opinions expressed were mind-boggling.

Let me start by saying something I think is not controversial (but I saw several people essentially say that they don’t take vacations) which is simply, some time of vacation or refreshment is necessary and very beneficial compared to not taking any time off for mental/physical/spiritual health reasons and refreshment. I’m no doctor but I think if you’re saying no to vacations you’re likely saying yes to a future heat attack at your desk at age 50.

So, how does one balance the need for vacation with managing a small legal services business without a huge firm and large staff behind you??

This was the best advice I saw listed:

I go on vacation to vacation, not to work.  When solo I had a full time secretary.  She knew where I was going to be and had discretion to bother me if she deemed it important enough.  I also had arranged with a 7 member firm to pinch hit if need be.  Clients that were likely to call – usually business clients – I called and talked to in advance.  The longest vacation was 3 weeks in the middle east.  I found I was not indispensable and that all clients were willing to wait.  Didn’t lose a client or a case.  Yes, the work piles up; but that happens anyway.  You do need, and are entitled to, a vacation.

Personally I think you really just need to do a couple things. If it’s a vacation that’s been set well in advance you should be able to clear your calendar for 1-2 weeks without a problem. Then you contact your 2-4 attorney friends to see if they can cover for you in an emergency. I’ve never actually had to contact one of these people in such a situation but you need to know that there’s a person or two available if you need them. Lastly, if you have a fully staffed office they just handle things as if you were there or perhaps you have a part time assistant just check messages once a day and return calls if necessary or at the worst you check email/voicemail once a day and return only urgent matters.

Someone said this and I think he was serious (don’t let it be you)…

Vacation?  What’s that?

You work no matter where you are and no matter what others are doing.  You work when you should sleep.  You work on the weekend.  You work on vacation.  You work at the airport and on the airplane and you work often even at times when family matters should come first.