The Dreams of a Solo

C-SPAN2: Book TV -- My New Favorite Program

On New Year's Day this year I found myself in a hotel room overnight awaiting a business meeting that I had scheduled for the following day.  Now I am not a typical business traveler for a number of reasons.  The main reason is because I just do not have many reasons or opportunities to travel for business.  I do like the occasional night on the road, but I am not a big fan of eating alone and I cannot spend too much time by myself in a hotel room.  The point of this post is not to dissect my mental state or to bore you to death with a description of how I spend my free time.  Instead I thought it would be fun to share a program that I spent the better part of my night on the road watching.  I never know how exactly I arrive at the C-Span channel or better yet how I remain there after clicking the channel on the remote, but for some reason I am drawn to it.  That may not be saying much because I also watch Wisconsin Public Television or PBS from time to time.  I guess I am just a sucker for toned down TV programming.  Whatever the case may be I spent three hours or so watching Book TV on C-SPAN2 on Tuesday night.  I had not read any of the books that were discussed, nor had I heard of 75% of the authors.  That probably makes it more difficult to follow exactly what the author is talking about and it definitely makes the question and answer period more interesting.  Even with my lack of background in the subject matter discussed I was completely locked into the programming.  That is saying something because there was at least one major College Football bowl game that evening and I am certainly prone to watching sports on TV. 

I would highly recommend giving the program a test run if you find yourself bored with the writer's strike in Hollywood, unexciting sporting events (i.e. the NBA), or plump full of reruns.  If nothing else listening to an author talk about his or her book late at night might enable you to fall asleep a bit more quickly.  My guess is that you will learn a thing or two and it might give you a new title to add to your library in the process.  I have my DVR set to record the first-runs, so you can bet that I'll be tuning in from time to time.

My Lessons from The 4-Hour Work Week

There are a couple of reasons for my lengthy absence from this blog during the middle of November that I have not shared with all of you.  One is that I have been very busy actually practicing law.  Second, me and the in laws took a family vacation over the Thanksgiving holiday.  The vacation covered three important events.  The first event was a birthday celebration for my brother-in-laws girlfriend, Courtney.  The second event was my birthday (29 in case you cared).  The third was Thanksgiving.  The reason I mention this is because I received Timothy Ferriss' book The 4-Hour Workweek from my mother-in-law for my birthday.   I have to give you a strong word of warning to those of you happy and content with your current job or business:  DO NOT READ THIS BOOK UNLESS YOU WANT TO QUIT YOUR CURRENT JOB.   I do not believe that I am saying anything that Mr. Ferriss would object to.  After all he basically says the same thing in his disclaimer on the back of the book.  In any event, I read the book.  Actually I read the book faster than any book I have ever read before.  I have not been as interested in the subject matter of a book in my entire life.  Much of the book will drive you crazy as Mr. Ferriss discusses how he created a business and lifestyle that affords him extraordinary luxuries all around the world while working very few hours in a day or week.  I for one applaud his effort.  As my father-in-law would say "Good for him." 

The point of this post is not only to draw attention to this book, but to take Mr. Ferriss' thoughts and apply them to my real-world law practice.  It became evident to me today at around lunch time that I needed to take the next step or two in the growth of my law practice.  There is no doubt in my mind that what I am about to say may not be received with unanimous approval.  But that does not mean it should not be said.  I have reached a point, actually I reached this point a few weeks ago, where I need to make a couple of decisions about the direction of my firm.  I need to bring on someone to help me with the administrative and business/accounting/tax related tasks that a business needs to complete so I can focus almost exclusively on billable work.  The overwhelming theme bouncing around my head is the idea of
outsourcing and I trace that back to my recent read of Mr. Ferris' book.  There comes a time in the business cycle of any growing business where the principal needs to take his or her hands out of every project and delegate.  Otherwise I am looking at the prospect of performing additional work without being able to bill and collect revenue for it.  Many solo bloggers that I frequently read have decided to remain what I call a "true solo", meaning they do not have any employees.  That may work for some, but it does not work for me.  I know, I know, I'm just creating the same type of machine with the same type of overhead as the other more traditional law firms.  Maybe.  I see it as being more involved than that.  I need someone else to assist me with the growing volume of my practice.  I also need someone to help me with the payroll and bookkeeping that will come with an additional employee and additional income.  It is a good problem to have this early into solo practice.  Now it just a matter of running financial projections and to decide on a course of action.  By the beginning of 2008 I will have a part-time assistant and I will have retained a CPA firm to assist me with the bookkeeping and accounting matters.  I anticipate that this will free up almost 10 hours a week of my time.  I cannot argue with those opportunity cost projections.