This might be the year you take your practice to a much higher level. But not in the usual way. Not by doing more, but by doing less.
What do I mean?
I mean that instead of increasing your billable hours, getting more cases or clients, ramping up your ad spend or expanding into new markets, you cut back on what you’ve been doing or planned to do this year.
You don’t hire more employees or open another office. You don’t force yourself to create more content or do more networking. Growth doesn’t always require “addition”. It can also occur through “subtraction”.
Doing less but better.
It might mean putting fewer hours into marketing but getting better clients or bigger cases, or more income and greater profits.
How does that happen?
When you do less or spend less on something, you have more time and energy and cash (and enthusiasm) for doing something else produces better results. Or allow you to accomplish more with less effort.
When we simplify our marketing and management workflow, we get better at what we do. When we spend less on one strategy or in one market, we have more to spend on others.
It’s called leverage. The 80/20 principle. Working smarter. And it’s a beautiful thing.
Start by taking inventory of what you did last year—all of your time, all of your expenses, all the people and processes you managed.
Then, review the list and consider what you could cut or change.
Maybe this is the year to downsize some personnel. Maybe you can do just fine with a smaller office. Maybe one ad or one marketing technique is producing the lion’s share of your income and the rest aren’t contributing much.
Of course, you might also see things that are worth expanding, and others you’ll simply decide to continue.
It’s all good.
Sometimes you subtract, sometimes you add, and sometimes, you appreciate your blessings and look forward to the coming year.
