On the surface, Daniel was a successful attorney. He had a wonderful family, nice car, lived in a beautiful house in a great neighborhood, he was very bright and outgoing. But inside, Daniel was worn out and stressed.
Torn between his law practice and his family responsibilities, he worked ridiculously long hours, rarely took a vacation, and went through 3 different assistants in the last year. His kids barely recognized him. His clients were frustrated, because he wasn’t finishing their work on time. He hadn’t sent out an invoice in 3 months, and his cash flow stunk. He felt as if he never had time to focus on his client’s work, as he was always fielding phone calls and meeting with clients. His wife barely spoke to him. Business struggles were beginning to impact his work and his life.
Daniel kept a list of what had to be done, but found that it often went out the window as soon as he walked into the office each day. Instead of tackling his to do list, he got caught up in interruptions and accomplished little by the end of his very long days.
This all came to a head last winter, when in an attempt to finish an irate client’s work that was way overdue, he lost track of time and forgot that it was his wife’s birthday.
When Daniel called me, he was at his wits end. He knew that he had to do something, but didn’t know where to start.
We talked about what wasn’t working and analyzed why. We worked on his schedule, and blocked out specific times to get client work done, uninterrupted. We developed a solid job description for the type of assistant he really needed, then selected the right person and trained them. We finally started using the time tracking program he had spent all that money on the year before, so invoicing was easy and got done each month.
Nine months later, Daniel is a changed man. He’s in control of his schedule. He still works late, but comes home several times a week in time to eat dinner with his 6 year old twins. He’s hired a new assistant, his invoices are going out on time, and cash flow has improved substantially. He has a new system for keeping track of his caseload, and now his assistant schedules appointments with clients only during certain hours, so that he has large blocks of time to complete client work. He recently returned from his first a 2 week vacation in years, and was able to really relax.
There’s still more to do, but Daniel has made great progress in overcoming his business struggles.
If running your business or professional practice has become a struggle, apply for a Business Sanity Strategy Session.
Susan Martin, Business Coach NYC.
