What I Failed to Do and What You Can Learn From It

• Author: David V. Lorenzo
• Pages: 87-88

What I Failed to Do and What You Can Learn From It §44.

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§44.

WHAT I FAILED TO DO AND WHAT YOU CAN LEARN

FROM IT

Have you ever felt bad for a client because he said he couldn’t pay you?

Ever discounted your fee because the client told you a sob story?

Let me tell you about a time I did that and tell you what I learned from it.

I had been working with Charlie the tax attorney for about two years. He is a great lawyer—

maybe one of the best lawyers in his field in Miami. At the outset of our work, Charlie was the

only attorney in his firm and he had a part time administrative assistant who worked with him on

Tuesdays and Thursdays. He was billing about $200,000 per year back then. He shared an office

with a criminal attorney who was a friend from law school.

When we first started working together we would meet in weekly one-on-one sessions. Each

week I would cover a topic with him, give him some action items, and he would religiously imple-

ment the things we talked about.

About six months into our work together Charlie and I were reviewing his financial statement

and we realized that his billing had doubled. He was giving his part time assistant full time hours

and he hired a paralegal to help him with his workload. When we reviewed his financial information,

he pointed to the time when we started working together and he said: “This was the turning point in

my career as a lawyer.”

Things continued to go well for Charlie. Over time he hired another paralegal and an associ-

ate attorney. His client flow was increasing as was his billing. But something strange began to

happen in our relationship. Charlie stopped wanting to see me every week. He became very slow

to implement the adjustments I recommended. And when I recommended something he could not

implement immediately, he would question the value of my advice.

This finally came to a head one summer day when he said he was “choking on my monthly fee.”

He pointed out how expensive I was and how what he really needed was help with implementation

because he “had enough good ideas.” And at that point he asked me to reduce my fee.

I wanted to keep Charlie as a client so I agreed to do it.

And for three more months, things were fine. Charlie’s firm had grown to over $800,000 in

annual revenue and he had five staff members. He moved into a bigger (more expensive) office.

He leased a fancy car. He was buying custom tailored suits. And then it finally happened.