Starting a Law Firm | The Attributes of a Successful Entrepreneur

I don't do this very often, so I don't feel bad about doing it today. I'm going to talk a little bit about a post I read on another blog, send you to that post, and then call it a day. It's a good enough post that it speaks for itself, and I've got other stuff to do today - for the most part, starting a law firm has nothing to do with this blog!

The article comes from a blog called "Both Sides of the Table." It's written by a guy who used to be an entrepreneur but who now owns a venture capital business (though I guess technically he's still an entrepreneur). He wrote a post entitled "Entrepreneur DNA" (the link takes you to the post where he listed out 12 qualities that make an entrepreneur. I wanted to just talk about a couple of them.

1. Tenacity

Right after listing this word, the author says:

The most important aspect of an entrepreneur is never being willing to give up.

Couldn't have said it better myself. There will be times when you will be challenged here. There will be times when it will be easy to give it up and go do something else. But if you really want to start a law firm you'll push through that.

2. Perspiration

At the end of the day, what's going to make your business a resounding success or a dismal flop is the amount of work you put into it. People don't just wake up one day with a million dollar practice. They bust their butt every day to build it. And you are going to have to do the same thing. If you want something easy, go work for a law firm, they'd love to have you. If you aren't willing to see a challenge in front of you, accept that challenge, and get to work on it, then starting a law firm probably isn't right for you.

3. Willingness to Accept Risk

This is probably the most important and the hardest one for lawyers to get over. From the first day of law school until we retire, we spend every waking day of our lives dealing with and trying to fix or defend the problems other people have created. We see time and time again how one minor error can result in utter destruction. And that scares us.

But if you want to be an entrepreneur, if you want to start a successful law firm, you've got to be willing to accept risk. This is how the author of the article puts it:

I'm not talking about crazy risks, but entrepreneurs are people who are willing to start a business on a leap of faith. They don't wait on the sidelines forever doing "side projects" until the day when they are ready to start a company. If you aren't willing to take a shot by going full time on your startup it tells investors you aren't confident enough in the idea or in yourself.

Scary, right? "Leap of faith" is a term lawyers don't often throw around. It's probably followed closely by "litigation." But if you want to start your law firm, you're going to have to step off that ledge and just go for it.

Go read the rest of the article. It's worth it. And tell me what you think the attributes are of someone that can successful start a law firm.