We Are In A Recession Or We Are Not. Either Way The Question Is Are You Ready?

CNN is reporting that 57% of the American people believe that we are in a recession, compared with 42% who believe we are not.  This is according to a new  CNN/Opinion Research poll  just released.  In my opinion the "I"s have it, but whether or not you believe that we are, might be, are headed that direction or not, the question is are you ready for leaner times?

Can you prosper even when prices are rising, salaries need to increase, rents want to escalate, and it costing you a small fortune to commute to work?

The answer is yes if you will just take the initiative and move your office home.  The Third Wave, after all, awaits you.

Ask yourself this question (take out a piece of paper and add it all up), how much business could you do without if you got rid of almost all of your overhead.  I mean office rent, staff, phones, T1 lines, office utilities, the cost of commuting to work (including parking expenses for many).  Gone!  Just you, some cheap phone services, a blog and a broadband.

For me, in 1998 and 1999 it was 90% of my business.  All I had to try and do was keep the prime 10% that I wanted, that I liked, and that brought in most of what I was actually taking home.  I went from over a thousand cases a year to under a 100.  My total firm income fell by a million dollars a year.  But, I got to keep the amount I was taking home anyway, only now I had more time, I could concentrate on what I was doing, and I was more at peace.  I did not have the size and kind of risk that kept me stressed out and sleepless all of the time.  I did not have to worry if I could pick my kids up from daycare by 6 o'clock.  I did not have to worry any longer about traffic conditions getting to and from work.

There are a lot of things that can motivate us as lawyers to make these big decisions and to take the leap.  The thought of a recession is as good as any.  You are stretched to the limit and you want to know how you are going to manage bigger grocery bills, higher office rent, and much higher costs related to commuting.  You will have to work harder, but you wonder where you will find the time.  The solution is a drastic change.  A monumental change.  A new direction.  And, that direction is home.

Dig down and find the way to reduce the amount of time you spend in the course of your work, while at the same time keeping more of what you make, and being able to attend to what you like to do.  The solution might very well be in that spare room or space you have in your home.  (Do not think you do, just move some stuff around).

Can you be a spare room tycoon?  Are you ready to downshift?  Can you handle the one minute carpet commute every morning and evening?  How much will you give to just eat lunch in peace in front of your own TV for 30 minutes or an hour most days?

Join me in this quest.  Will you?

Comments

[PerGynt]

If we were not in a recession of one kind or another I would probably be building homes instead of in law school. Don't get me wrong, I have wanted to go to law school for years, and it truly is what I want to do. But the reason I got out of the construction biz is actually because I/we saw the housing slump coming from about two years away.
Ask the Homebuilders Association if they think we are in a recession.