Launching your dream without an instruction manual: A Business Fable

Chapter 3 - The Cost of Operating Without a Plan

Welcome back to our series exploring the "Fable Framework", a journey through the hidden pitfalls of growing a professional services firm. We are using the story of Bob, a seasoned lawyer, and his wife, Carol, to illustrate the hard truths that many owners face but few talk about openly. Whether you lead a law firm, an accounting practice, or a consultancy, this series is designed to help you recognize the "warning signs" in your own business before they become permanent scars. Catch up and find the first two posts here Beyond "I Can't Take It Anymore" and here The Cost of a Shortcut.

Bob had been working crazy hours doing tons of his bread and butter insurance defense work. Because of the great relationships he’d developed over the years with his clients (the insurance companies), it’d been a cake walk to develop new business and take share from Williams | Oliphant | Roberts | Kincaid (WORK). In the practice area in which he’d developed expertise, it wasn’t really so much about excellence (though the clients wanted to be sure that they were getting “good enough” work) as much as a focus on the bottom line: Bob knew that offering his insurance company contacts a rate that was as little as $10/hour less than the rate the guys at WORK charged would generate as much work as he wanted.

Carol looked at Bob thoughtfully; the past few months had been bittersweet: 

• Bob had been making really good money. 

• Tuitions were paid for the kids.

• They were actually paying more than the minimums on his  student debt, and 

• Bob seemed to have a degree of agency that he’d never had. It was good to see.

But what WASN’T being seen was Bob.

Between grinding the work out, being available for drinks with Pablo (and any other adjuster from the different insurance companies), Bob was rarely around and (when he was around, he wasn’t really mentally present).

Carol thought back to when Steve (the jerk - that was how they always referred to him) had been in the picture. She had been so encouraged that she and Bob had agreed that what they needed was a plan - what happened???

What had happened was that Bob’s instincts had kicked in - “...there’s no time for any friggin’ ‘planning’ when what he needed to do was work…”, get his name out there, and bring in the bucks. He could rest and be “strategic” when it was time to take his dirt nap.

Yeah, Carol hadn’t been super excited to hear that. 

Which led to their Saturday meeting at the Club (they’d since joined a Club - which was nice - because they had the money AND Bob found it a good venue to pour booze down the throats of the Pablos in his life).

“Okay, hon, what are we doing here? It’s Saturday and I should be in the office billing or playing golf with people who can send us more work.”

“Easy tiger - I love the difference between WORK and now but I think we can do even better. Remember when Steve, that jerk, left? We agreed that we needed a plan. What happened with that?”

“Carol, we don’t need no stinkin’ plan - we need for Bob (that’s me) to work his ass off, as I have been doing, to get us out of the ditch. Look at what this money coming in has done for us! Why do we need a plan? Or, at least, why do we need a plan now?”

Carol stared off into the distance at the fairway outside of the window - it was tempting to let him work his fingers to the bone, but that’s not what they were about. They were partners and the whole idea of his going off on his own was to not only make more but to get out from under the thumb of the partners. True, Bob was the owner now but he was still under the thumb - his thumb.

“Okay, so I’ve been doing my research into planning and (of course) have lots of interesting tidbits to share with you - for example, have you heard the saying ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’? What do you think of them apples??”

“Look, realistically speaking, I need to focus and produce. I feel like I am FINALLY doing my thing and making progress. Why are you so darn focused on this planning thing? Why do we need it?”

“Wellllll, I’ve got some more nuggets to share with you - chew on these:

• How long do you want to do this for?

• Do you ever want to bring ANY other folks on board with you or did the experience with Steve (the jerk) snakebite you?

• If you DO want to bring more people on, what kinds of folks? Attorneys? Paralegals? 

• Do you ever contemplate sharing ownership with anyone again?

• You’d really liked the idea of other practice areas under the same roof - have you given up on that idea?

• Bob Jr. is starting high school next year and he’s always wanted to explore the law - would you some day want to have him join you and, potentially, transition the firm to him?

• What about us? Coming to Club has been a nice change of venue but we haven’t taken any REAL vacation time off where you can unplug and really rest both physically and mentally.

Want me to keep going?”

They both laughed and he rubbed his neck. It felt like he’d been going non-stop for years now and a break in the action  did sound tempting. The truth of the matter was that he was more than a little nervous and even scared - the nightmare of a grinding job, growing debt, and a dead end career was still very recent and he was keen on putting as much distance between it and his current reality. Maybe Carol was right - the questions she’d pinged him with (and he could tell she was just getting warmed up!) had been thought provoking and relevant.

“Okay, let me stop you - you DO raise some good points!”

She smiled triumphantly; she did love a good fight and especially loved winning. She was about to continue when he stopped her and continued…

“...however, realistically, when could we do this? I already have more than a full time job AND we are in our busy season. You know how we get in Q4 when everyone and their mother wants to settle matters, collect fees, and start to wind down for the year. How much time would this take? Do you really think you could pull this off?”

She wasn’t quite prepared for this - she thought she was going to have to spend a lot more time and effort to convince him and had plenty of ammo for that fight - the questions he was asking were a different animal.

“Hmmm, well, I think we could do some rudimentary elements of it in-house. I’ve been reading a lot (when the kids are asleep and I’m alone waiting for you to stop working and come to bed!) and have some ideas. We could maybe combine it with a long weekend and kill a couple of birds with one stone. I’ll take that as an action item and propose some options.”

They both felt pretty good with where the conversation had gone. Carol had her marching orders, Bob had stopped long enough to get out of his grinder mentality, and there were the first green shoots of a real business being contemplated. The feeling only deepened when Bob’s phone lit up a moment later with an email from a major regional carrier he’d been courting for months, asking if he had the capacity to take on a massive new portfolio. 

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.