You have had it with the corporate law firm! You are sick of billable hours, kissing ass, and being treated as a disposable product. You have decided that the time is right for you to go out on your own. Now that you’ve made the decision, what do you do next?
Successfully transitioning from a steady paycheck to a sole or small firm practice requires planning. It’s more than just hanging your shingle and waiting for the phone to ring. To be successful, it is imperative that you set goals for yourself and your office so that you know you are headed in the right direction. As a sole practitioner for over 20 years, and a business coach for lawyers for the past year, I have learned that the most effective way to do this is to get SMART about goal setting. SMART goals are those that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Risky and Time-Limited.
SPECIFIC
First, when setting your goal, be specific. It’s not enough to say “I want to be successful.” That tells us nothing, and is an impossible goal to quantify. Be more specific than that. For example you may break that down to “I want to know more about running a sole practice.” Even that is pretty vague, though. You can then winnow that down to “I want to talk to successful sole practitioners.”
MEASURABLE
Next, you need to make the goal measurable. Make the goal a specific number. “I want to talk to 10 successful sole practitioners.”
ACHIEVABLE
One thing to remember is that you are entering an ongoing process. By implementing the SMART goal method, you will be looking at various areas of your life and practice and setting goals to improve each. If you start out with “I want to talk to 100 successful sole practitioners” when that number is not achievable, you will become disillusioned with the process and give up. So make your goals achievable.
RISKY
At the same time, don’t make the goals so easy that you accomplish nothing. To Move Forward, you have to put some risk in your goals. “Aim for the stars, and you’ll be happy when you hit the moon.” So push yourself. If you think it would be easy to talk to 10 other attorneys, shoot for 15.
TIME-LIMITED
By limiting your goals to a certain time period, you will know if you were able to successfully achieve your goal. A five year plan is eternal. A 30 day plan has a definite ending.
Here is the SMART goal we just developed “I want to talk to 15 successful sole practitioners within the next month.”
Before quitting your job, set up three to seven SMART goals that you believe will aid in your successful transition.
Contact me for complimentary 30 minute session to start developing your own SMART goals!
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