Thank you to Not Your Average Law Job™'s friend and supporter Gimbal – Lean Practice Management Advisors for supplying this article. If you’re an entrepreneurial lawyer frustrated when things take longer or seem more difficult than they should be, the legal professionals at Gimbal can help you improve your practice’s operational efficiency.
Running your own firm can be lonely. Often, you’re the only one worrying about cashflow and wondering how you can bring more clients in the door, streamline your practice, and keep up with the work that pays the bills. It’s stressful and exhausting.
We get it! It was like that for us at Gimbal, too. Although there were two of us, we were both too close to the business to really see it. Our solution: we got a “second set of eyes” on the business in coaching and accountability groups. We talked through our dilemmas with people who could see the things we couldn’t.
Having other people get to know our business, challenge us from their perspectives, advise us based on their specific skills, and hold us accountable every week has given us focus. It’s provided a sounding board and an outsider’s perspective. Most importantly, it’s allowed us to share the burden of business ownership and decision-making…and that’s reduced our stress.
There are lots of great reasons to get a “second set of eyes” on your business. Here are three of the best:
- Leverage the experience of others: If you’re in a group for coaching or accountability, you’ll be with people facing the same challenges as you. Their successes, failures, and solutions will spark ideas for solving issues in your own practice. And if you’re working with a coach one-on-one, you’ll benefit from their insight and experience, honest feedback, and expertise to overcome obstacles to your success.
- Access more ideas and solutions: Two minds are better than one, and a group allows you to leverage multiple minds. Crowdsource solutions to common problems. Benefit from different kinds of thinkers who collaborate and build on each other’s ideas. Plus, knowing you have back-up from your coach or your group will alleviate the uncertainty and loneliness that comes tackling your problems alone.
- Get and give external support and validation: As lawyers, we’re expected to have all the answers for our clients. It can be hard to admit that we don’t always have all the answers for our own businesses. In your group, you don’t have to have all the answers. You’ll get insight from others, encouragement for your best ideas, and honest feedback when you’re getting off track. The relief of sharing that burden—of having someone else suggest ideas and answers—is huge. Plus, you’ll quickly realize you have knowledge and experience that will help others as well, and that’s great for your confidence and self-esteem.
Do you have a second set of eyes for your business? If not, what kind of support would suit you best? It could be a coaching program, a business or life coach, an accountability group, or even an honest friend who knows you and understands your business.
Who you choose doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have someone who can look at your practice from the outside and give you the feedback and support you need.
You’ll reduce your stress and achieve results faster, so you can deliver even more value to your clients.
Karen (Co-founder and CEO at Gimbal)
