Launching your dream without an instruction manual: A Business Fable

Beyond "I Can't Take It Anymore"

I have content from my head that I want to share with you. Content that has accumulated over the decades I have been working in CSR and even before that.

I have read (sometimes against my will) the books, articles, and blog content  that others have written and many times I have ended up using it as an insomnia remedy.

That isn’t my goal here - I’d like to impart some wisdom and do it in an engaging way via storytelling.  Humans are made to respond to stories, whether it is gathering around the bonfire, or attending storytime at the library, we are wired to listen to others spin narratives that engage, entertain, and teach.

Here is my installment in that series. Over the next several months I’ll share with you the tales and travails of Bob and his wife Carol (a hard-working, burnt out attorney who, with his wife, navigate some of the key struggles many business owners navigate as they start and grow their businesses) to highlight some of the many similar challenges our small business clients have faced over the years.

What’s my Why?

Bob owned a small and growing law firm. He started it after jumping from his prior firm muttering “I just can’t take it anymore.” His time at Williams | Oliphant | Roberts | Kincaid (WORK) had left him deeply scarred and needing to do something different. Late night conversations with his wife (while his eyes were wide open staring at the ceiling in the dark) gradually revealed the fact that good and perfect shouldn’t be enemies: that is, coming up with the perfect, well-planned out scenario before gracefully leaving wasn’t going to be possible here. And that was okay.

Bob and Carol approached this problem like many of the ones they’d encountered over the years they’d been together - she, an engineer, was an expert at breaking down the situation and then helping create actionable scenarios to address the problems. Holding down home base, she’d walked away from Corporate America so she could run her own operation - though the little people (aka their children) didn’t exactly behave like employees (though, unfortunately, sometimes they DID). Nevertheless, partnering with Bob was a welcome avenue for her to exercise her brain and scratch that adult itch that being home with their kids couldn’t. It seemed to her that a key hurdle to address before leaving WORK was to determine how the new situation would be different: 

• Is he staying in the field of law?

• If not, what would he do?

• If staying in the field of law, is Bob going out on his own?

• Is he going to another firm?

• What type of law does he want to practice?

• How much do they need to make, at a minimum, to make it as a family?

She felt comfortable that getting answers to these questions would enable them to make some good decisions.

Coming home from work, Bob was dead after another draining day working at WORK. He made a beeline to the liquor cabinet, dodging children who wanted his attention. As he reached for a bottle so he could unplug, there was Carol blocking his path - she had a notebook full of writing in one hand and she dangled his favorite bottle of bourbon in the other.

“Heard of delayed gratification? You can have the bourbon AFTER you go through these questions with me!”

Sitting down at the dining room table, they pored over the questions. Carol was brisk and efficient (which Bob loved); she knew that she would be able to keep his focused attention on this kind of a discussion for a limited period of time (Bob had taken a cool assessment a while back called The 6 Types of Working Geniuses - she had learned a lot about what Bob liked and was good at doing as well as the opposite. THIS was not the kind of stuff he liked!).

“Okay, I’ll answer your questions, but let’s get to it,” Bob told Carol impatiently.

“No problem! So, what do you want to do? How was work today?” replied Carol, trying to get Bob to decompress a bit before diving in.

“Work was lousy - it’s called ‘work’ for a reason! Our conversations have really gotten me excited to leave WORK - I feel like a horse that knows it's on its way back to the barn after a long, hard day! When can I quit?”

“Hold your horses, buddy ! We need to sort through some basic questions and then use this as a foundation for what your ‘next’ looks like. Let’s start with the most basic and obvious - do you even want to stay in the field of law?”

Bob closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose; like most attorneys, he’d started wearing glasses during law school and the end of the day always left him not only physically tired but also with his eyes burning and worn out - whew, he needed to do something different…

“...and then you can even start bringing over other of your colleagues at the office that also hate what they do - hey, are you even listening to me?!” Carol had continued on the stream of their conversation and he’d zoned out - fortunately, or unfortunately, he was experienced at being able to keep an ear trained on what was in play while daydreaming.

“Huh? Of course I was listening to you! I’d love escaping the field of law, but what would I do? Those student loans aren’t going to pay for themselves!”

The bain of their existence: debt. Between the omnipresent student loans for both undergrad as well as law school, they had the equivalent of a nice juicy mortgage payment - but with no home to show for it and no real hope of getting the loans paid off before retirement age! Past conversations usually ended here - he’d need to just buckle down, put his nose to the grindstone, and produce.

“Then what we have to do is figure out a way to get out of this debt hole - and the best way to get out of a hole is to stop digging,” she said resolutely. Carol looked him straight in the eyes and firmly stated, “We can do this.”

Bob woke up the next day - he felt different. Nothing had materially changed but it seemed that the very act of making a decision (heck, ANY decision) was in itself energizing. Thinking over the torture (okay, that’s what it felt like to him) from the night before, the following hard truths had materialized:

• They (Bob, Carol, and the kids) were not air ferns - as such, it was important to make enough to live in a decent place, eat, etc.

• Bob was a well-trained lawyer. He had gone to a great (and expensive) law school because he had had a dream (looooonnnnggg ago - he’d need to really think about that soon) about helping others. He’d been mentored in law school, clerked, and had great bosses along the way.

• He was stuck. Now a “Senior Associate”, it felt like the dream of becoming a partner (and, thus, being able to make more) was out of reach.

• He had excellent relationships both at WORK, with other firms, clients, etc. No one DIDN’T like Bob!

• The fastest way, as Carol had mentioned, of getting out of their situation was to stop digging the hole deeper. This didn’t necessarily apply to overspending (they were good stewards of what he earned) as much as behaviors. Bob and Carol needed to finalize what their step out of the rut was going to be and then take it.

“What I need is a partner and I know just the person that I need to call…”, he announced.

About Author

Alex Muñoz, Principal & Co-owner at CSR, is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in driving strategic growth. Known for challenging norms and fostering significant ROI, Alex's diverse background spans from manufacturing to non-profits.