An Open Letter to a Former Associate

Dear Former Associate,

A few weeks ago, you gave us notice that you were leaving our law firm. You agreed to stay on a few weeks to close out some of your open cases. We are very grateful that you provided notice and that you were willing to continue to work for a few weeks. Your actions were very professional; the same level of professionalism you brought to work every day for the past two years. Thank you.

Likewise, it was very professional to inform us that you planned to start your own law firm. Regrettably, we had a conflict of interest. We terminated your employment contract early but believe that we gave you fair pay and severance. To be clear, anyone that practices or plans to practice immigration law is a business competitor. This was not personal; it is the nature of business.

In lieu of using your name, I have addressed this letter towards a friend because we do still consider you our friend. We wish you success with your law firm. We hope that you learned a lot about business while working with us and that you will develop your own unique business strategy and company procedures. This is a large market, and we have no doubt that there are many potential new clients that need your services. You are a great attorney!

Since you are our friend, I want to share some of our experiences in hopes that you will avoid the pain that we lived through. My wife, Zaira Solano, started this business with a laptop, a cell phone, and two months’ rent in her bank account—with exactly $100 to spare. I met her when she was two years into her business. For the past five years, I have been privileged to watch the business grow through its phases. I frequently help with the business on the nights and weekends after I work my normal day job.

When Zaira started Solano Law Firm, she decided that she would be a business owner. Countless attorneys practice law, and many start their own company, but few make the conscious decision to be a business owner. Being an entrepreneur requires a different mindset than being a lawyer. I’m sure you already know that running a new business is extremely difficult. The first few years were challenging for us because Zaira had to do everything, from being the sales team to the marketing specialist, receptionist, accountant, bookkeeper, human resource manager, technology officer, and networking every day, on top of her duties as an attorney. When you joined the team, we had already hired specialists for each of these activities or outsourced them. Our monthly payroll expenses are now approximately $62,000, and we spend an additional $10,000-$20,000 per month outsourcing marketing, bookkeeping, information technology, accounting, and other management tasks. Even the smallest business is a machine with many moving parts.

My recommendation to you is to hire help or outsource business management tasks as soon as possible. We should have hired and outsourced more, and sooner. I can’t begin to count how many hours I spent learning web design, pay-per-click, email marketing, IRS regulations, etc. Or how many hours I spent combing over resumes and interviewing poor job applicants. There are invariably other experts that are better at these skills than we will ever be. Because of the overwhelming workload and variety of tasks, the first few years of our business crushed our souls. It strained our relationship. We had more than one nervous breakdown and a breakup. Now we find happiness when we can focus on the few passion areas that we love—helping clients and developing our team.

I’m sure you already know that running a new business is extremely difficult. The first few years were challenging for us because Zaira had to do everything, from being the sales team to the marketing specialist, receptionist, accountant, bookkeeper, human resource manager, technology officer, and networking every day, on top of her duties as an attorney. When you joined the team, we had already hired specialists for each of these activities or outsourced them. Our monthly payroll expenses are now approximately $62,000, and we spend an additional $10,000-$20,000 per month outsourcing marketing, bookkeeping, information technology, accounting, and other management tasks. Even the smallest business is a machine with many moving parts.

My recommendation to you is to hire help or outsource business management tasks as soon as possible. We should have hired and outsourced more, and sooner. I can’t begin to count how many hours I spent learning web design, pay-per-click, email marketing, IRS regulations, etc. Or how many hours I spent combing over resumes and interviewing poor job applicants. There are invariably other experts that are better at these skills than we will ever be. Because of the overwhelming workload and variety of tasks, the first few years of our business crushed our souls. It strained our relationship. We had more than one nervous breakdown and a breakup. Now we find happiness when we can focus on the few passion areas that we love—helping clients and developing our team.

Entrepreneurship also changed our relationship. Years ago, I believed in work-life balance and enjoyed the idea of being able to leave work in the office to come home and focus on the family. For an entrepreneur and small business owner, there is no such thing as work-life balance. We are always “on.” We cannot have a conversation without talking about the business in some fashion. The business is not the only focus in our lives, but it manages to weave into every aspect of our existence. Most of our vacations are business vacations, most of our friends are business colleagues, most of our books are business books, network events are date nights, and many of our friends raise their children in their businesses. Zaira regularly works 80 hours a week and spends much more time than that talking and thinking about the business. I enjoy working hard, but Zaira is beautifully relentless.

Zaira and I had one particular date night a few years ago. We were trying to figure out how to remotely manage an office in Atlanta while living in Florida. This was a topic that we argued about multiple times. On this date night, Zaira prepared a PowerPoint presentation for me on how we could make the new business model work. Imagine! Friday night in downtown Orlando, sitting at a beautiful cafe next to Lake Eola, most couples were out getting a nice dinner while the babysitter watched their children. Lovebirds walked by, dressed up on their way to go dancing or see a play at the theater, and here Zaira and I are having a glass of wine and reviewing our business plan on an iPad. That’s romantic!

At first, I fought against this. I tried to maintain work-life balance and separate the two worlds. This put a lot of strain on our relationship. My recommendation is that you forget the myth of work-life balance. We were a lot happier when we stopped fighting our natural entrepreneurial spirits.

For entrepreneurs, there is no such thing as work-life balance. There is only life, and life includes the business, our relationships, our family, and friends. They all support each other. Now, we schedule date nights and reading time at the beach the same way we schedule conference calls and performance reviews (quarterly calendar meetings). We regularly talk about business at home at all hours of the day, night, and weekends. The business is an extension of our relationship. We love each other. We love the world. We want to develop a deep and meaningful relationship, and we want to have a meaningful impact on the world. The business is an extension of our love.

Finally, I want to share with you a valuable lesson that we learned about growth. Last year, your salary as an associate was greater than Zaira’s, the CEO. On paper, you may have seen large revenue numbers, but as I already discussed, we have huge overhead costs. Our salary costs are high, the cost of service providers is much higher than you probably expected, rent and other facilities are expensive, and there are numerous other costs associated with operating the business. Year after year, we have grown between 33% to 125% annually. We grow because we continue to invest in the business. Last year, we hired our office administrator. This was an expensive hire. It cost us over $10,000 just to find and recruit her. It cost us almost another $10,000 to train her. These costs and her entire salary came out of Zaira’s pay. For four months, Zaira did not pay herself anything to cover the initial investment in the office administrator. For four months, the work didn’t stop, but the pay sure did.

We reinvest a lot into the firm. Hiring our office administrator is one example. Other examples include the firm retreats, family days, coaching services, and marketing campaigns, to name a few. These investments are required for growth, and growth allows us to help as many clients as possible.

This year, we are in a better position. If Zaira decided to level her growth, she could pay herself over $100,000 this year. But small changes to the business could dramatically impact her salary and benefits. For example, if she decided to hire two new paralegals or if there was a 30% dip in new clients, Zaira’s salary would reduce to near minimum wage. Imagine working 80+ hours a week as an attorney and CEO to make minimum wage!

The truth that few people talk about is that small business growth is cyclic. You will have hard times and good times. You will have some months where you will make more money than you ever dreamed possible, and other months when you will question your life choices as you cry yourself to sleep.