In five years you will arrive, the question is where? What do you want your practice to look like? What kind of clients do you want to serve? What kinds of services are the most rewarding for you and your clients? Are there clients you no longer wish to serve? Are there services you no longer wish to deliver? If you are a practitioner that envisions higher value work with fewer clients, you have come to the right place.
Whether you are a sole practitioner or your firm has multiple partners, your size has little to do with the competitive advantage you have in today's marketplace. Technology has leveled the playing field for even the smallest of firms to compete with their larger counterparts. You have access to the same software programs, internet portals, work flow tools, secure document servers and the list goes on.
You have one additional advantage that larger firms don't. . . YOUR SIZE! That's right, your size is a distinct advantage especially when it comes down to initiating and managing change in your firm. Your size makes you more nimble; able to adjust your course without months or years of debate amongst the partner group. That's the good news.
However, the difficulty you face when charting a new course for your firm is having enough resources around you to design and develop new service offerings for you clients. It's very expensive to start from scratch both from a development standpoint and a lost opportunity cost.
Bottom line, you don't have time to start from scratch on anything. Time is your most valuable asset. Unlike larger firms that thrive based on how effectively they leverage their people. Your leverage model is less about adding people and more about expanding your skills to make every interaction you have with a client a high value service.