Taking Risks vs. Doing Hard Work
Most of us want big results with our practices. We want to be sought after in our industry and have a line of prospects waiting to become clients. We want fees that reflect our value and not our time. The question is: What are we doing to make that happen—taking risks or doing the hard work? In this article, Rob Burkert discusses the consequences of each choice.
Most of us want big results with our practices. We want to be sought after in our industry and have a line of prospects waiting to become clients. We want fees that reflect our value and not our time.
The question is: What are we doing to make that happen—taking risks or doing the hard work?
The Theory
Taking risks is an intellectual exercise. We weigh the pros and cons and assess probabilities. But even risks with high chances of success have a possibility of failure. And because of the inherent uncertainty, taking risks requires us to admit that our influence over the outcome is limited. The strategy is to do what we can, then let go and accept the result.
Doing the hard work comes down to grind-it-out endurance. We either do something or we don’t. It’s a contest of willpower. And whether we follow through or not mostly depends on how badly we want it. But unlike the outcome of taking risks, the outcome of doing the hard work is within our grasp. The strategy is to push through until the desired result is achieved.
The Practice
Most of the subjects I write about are concerned with doing the hard work. That’s because I’ve learned that building successful practices, however we define that for ourselves, is less about taking risks and more about doing the hard work.
The message here is to be intentional—and honest—about how/where we spend our time and effort doing the hard work and matching it to the practice building goals we say we have.
So What?
If we don’t love what we do, we won’t do the hard work. And if we don’t do the hard work, we’ll only do whatever it takes to get by.
And if we only do whatever it takes to get by, we’ll get crushed by the people who love what they do because they’ll do whatever it takes to be successful.
Everyone has a different idea of what a successful practice is. The practice you want is personal because it is based on what “successful” means to you. I help practitioners focus on the strategies, tactics, tools, and tech to build/grow/scale their versions of successful practices. If you want some help with that, e-mail me at rod@rodburkert.com.
