I’d like to make this a regular post here on Solo In Minneapolis: “Advice From My Dad”. As this is the first one, we will just have to wait and see.
I’ve talked to my dad quite a bit about starting a law firm. He is interested, but I can tell he is worried about me making it. He started his own consulting business when I was younger (I’m thinking this was like twenty years ago). It didn’t last. He said he made good money for a couple of years, but he ran out of clients. So, I worry about getting and keeping clients too.
He also told me that he may have made it but that he had more important things on his mind: his kids. Now, I should say that my dad and mom were divorced and, at the time, my dad was raising my two brothers and I. The point is that my dad started a business and it didn’t work out for him for many reasons – a big one being that he had three little boys to raise. As I just posted, I’m worrying about starting a law firm and raising a little boy.
So, there is one lesson from dad. Here is a second lesson: my dad and I had a long talk a couple months ago about life. Ok, it wasn’t a long talk, it was mostly fishing and baseball with some fatherly advice sprinkled in. Is it me, or is that how everybody talks to their dad about important things?
Anyway, during this conversation he said to me that when he was younger he used to think he had to have “all his ducks in a row” – or something like that. He also said that, now, he doesn’t care as much about the little things – life is too short. I am paraphrasing but you get the idea.
What he was trying to say to me is that I worry too much about everything and that I try to hard to make things perfect. Things aren’t going to be perfect – that is life. I think about that a lot when I think about starting a law firm and practicing law full time. I’m not going to be able to make everything perfect. I might even fail.
But, that kind of advice from my dad keeps things in perspective for me. It has given me a peace of mind. I can’t do everything and I can’t make everything perfect. I know it is cliche, but, hey, it’s from my dad. When I think about starting a law firm, being a good lawyer, being a good dad, and all the other things I need to do, I try to remember that advice.
That is the whole deal there: “you never have all your ducks in a row.” Thanks dad.