Focus on Your Core Business

The temptation to add products or services to your core business can be great. It can come from your own expectations about what a business such as yours “should” be like; or it can come from your clients, who may be pushing you to fill their every need.

When I first started my law practice, and even today, there was great pressure to be all things to all people. The main reason is that I am one of the few attorneys in our area who is fluent in Spanish. I soon realized that as a solo practitioner I could not help everyone, no matter how meritorious the case.

I knew that I would be doing a disservice to my clients and to myself if I took on every case that comes through my door. I cannot possibly be proficient in every area of the law, so my clients would suffer by not having the best attorney for their case. By the same token, I cannot take every case and keep my sanity.

I how do you choose? You probably came into the business with a strong idea about what your main products or services would be. And this is the case because you are probably quite passionate about those products or services. It doesn’t mean that you should keep your eyes and ears closed to new opportunities. But I am sure that you will come to the same conclusion that I did. The type of case that is most enjoyable, and the one that is the most profitable, should be the focus of the business. No, I am not a genius for having come up with this nugget, but sometimes we get overwhelmed and forget to be practical.