As you consider the question of whether it makes sense for you to make a change and to launch your own law firm, what I want to talk to you about is the fact that this isn’t five years ago, right? There has been a legal revolution, a cultural revolution, you know, in the world, in the United States over the last five years or so, that really requires you to cast off the vestiges of so much of what you may have learned. Because I’m here to tell you that it is, it’s absolutely possible for somebody who works for somebody else, for somebody that works, you know, at a big law firm, whether you’re an associate or whether you are a comparatively junior partner like me, it is absolutely possible for you to launch successfully and successfully run your own law firm. But you’ve got to get over all of the hangups. You know, all of these vestiges, all of these ideas that you’re probably saddled with from a world that no longer exists as you consider the should I do it? You know, how risky is it? And, you know, how would I go about running a firm like this if I make a decision to, to, to pull a court and, and to jump out on my own? We are in a new era in the last couple of years that brings possibilities that you couldn’t have imagined. And if you’re anything like me, not so long ago, you know, five, six years ago, I was still, you know, living in a, a world that was less digital than it really is. You know, I was living in a three ring binder world, you know, you know, of paper. I was living in a world that is similar to the world that existed when I first started to practice law around 2002. And when I was able to kind of get over all that stuff, and I was able to kind of flush away everything that I thought about business development and technology and all of these things that I was saddled with from, well-intended people who, you know, gave me advice over the years, you know, mentors that thrived in an era that doesn’t exist anymore. When I was able to cast off the bests of everything that I thought that I knew to be true, because I was practicing law with, you know, a few hundred partners and a few hundred associates that were working in a little bit of a different model than I think is the one where you want to be, you know, in this day and age, you know, I, I found that so much more is possible. I mean, you know, could you have imagined some of the things that we are reading about now in the industry? I mean, you know, there’s non-lawyer ownership of law firms that is being discussed in more and more states as one of these solutions to the access to justice problem, right? There’s so many more people out there who need lawyers, who need a legal advice, who can afford it. Most potential clients out there, th they’re in a do it yourself world. They’re in a pro bono world. So to solve, you know, the access to justice gap, some of the more forward-thinking states out there are talking about, you know, non-lawyers providing some legal services. You know, a couple of years ago, the Utah Bar Bar created a pilot program that permitted non-lawyer owned entities to get a license to offer certain kinds of legal services. And the Illinois Bar created a new licensing requirement for alternative business structures that are, you know, entities that are partially owned by non-lawyers, you know, that are able to provide non-legal services. You know, I, I don’t know where this is going to go, right? Those states may pull back from the precipice. They may say, this is a crazy idea, you know, more states might join, you know, in on this idea. But I believe that, you know, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona, Minnesota, and, and perhaps a few other states, you know, are, you know, out there and in really contemplating the idea of allowing non-lawyers to provide some legal services, in some cases, even court appearances by paralegals. You know, who would’ve imagined that, right? I mean, pre covid, you know, five years ago, 10 years ago, tho that idea would be insane. The idea that non-lawyers would be able to offer legal services or that non-lawyers would be able to own, you know, law firms, you know, this is, these ideas were crazy, right? And so I not that long ago was saddled with the idea that we were living in a different world than we’re really living. And I mean, think about the work from Home Revolution, you know, over the last couple years. You know, I like an office environment, you know, with the lawyers and employees who work for me, they tend to sit in person around here with me. But, you know, I’m very flexible on the idea of allowing people to work from home quite a bit, you know, as is necessary to create a great culture for myself. And I think that, you know, if your experience in big law is anything like what I understand to be the common experience these days in big law, you know, work from home’s a reality, you know, two, three days a week, who would’ve thought five years ago that a law firm would allow, you know, its partners and associates and paralegals to not be physically present, you know, at the office with them. And, and there’s incredible technology, you know, that I’m going to talk about in, in some of the, you know, upcoming episodes about, about how, oh, we’re not in a world anymore where you need to have a big, a room full of computer servers and a dedicated air conditioning unit to cool these servers down, you know, with all this on-premises technology, and you know, all of the things that you’re used to to run your law firm to, you know, seamlessly keep your time, you know, and to, to very simply generate your proformas and your bills and to look at realization rates and you know, all of the metrics that you’re used to seeing, you know, on a monthly basis as you run your practice, as you think about billing, as you think about your business models, all that tech that the big firms provide to you, let me assure you that there is a replacement for all of that that is totally affordable and web-based for you. That technology that I am running in my law firm, I buy it on a month to month license, license basis, there’s no long-term commitments, and it is as powerful. No, it is more powerful than the technology that I was using at the big law firm who would’ve thought that we would ever reach an a time when you didn’t need that room full of servers and that all that on-premises technology. Who would’ve thought that you would live in a world where all the technology that you could possibly need to run your law practice very much like you are right now while you’re at the big firm, would be available to you? That’s the reality of where we’re at right now. This isn’t five years ago. There’s been an economic revolution, a cultural revolution, and it’s absolutely changed the way that law firms can run themselves. You know, the question is whether you’re going to be able to shake off all of that stuff that doesn’t exist anymore. Forget about the way that you wrote up your business plans. Forget about the way that you thought about hunting for business. Forget about the way that you thought about producing the technical legal work. Are you going to shake all that off, realize we’re in a different era, and then tell yourself that it’s time, it’s time to go, you know, to give yourself permission to go to hit the gas pedal and make a change for yourself. You know, I think one of the smartest people out there is Seth Godin, and he makes this great point in his book linchpin that there are no longer any great jobs where somebody else tells you precisely what to do. If you are sitting there thinking that I don’t want to make a change. It’s too risky. You know, I believe all these things that aren’t true anymore. You know, and I, I’ll just wait until, you know, I see the wave cresting, and then I’ll surf right into it. You know, I’ll, I’ll ride the wave to all this happiness. You know, when somebody else kind of accuse me and tells me, you know, precisely what to do, forget about it. You know, there are no longer any great jobs where somebody else tells you precisely what to do. So whether you stay where you’re at, you know, at your current firm, or whether you take another job working for somebody else, or whether you make an entrepreneurial move like I did, nobody is going to tell you it’s go time. You have to tell yourself it’s go time. In the next next step in the series, I’m going to talk about the risk of getting stuck in the planning phase forever. As you, you know, think about the possibility of launching your own law firm. You know, if you only remember one thing from this video, I want you to remember that we’re living in a very different world than we were in five years ago. And if you are stuck believing, okay, that law firms need to be run and managed in the way that they were five years ago with the technology that was available five years ago, and if you believe that the way to get the attention of new clients is the same way that it was five years ago, I want you to remember that. I think that that is incorrect. And if you’re thinking about an action item, if there’s one thing you know that you may wish to consider, you know, after you think about what I’m saying here is, you know, is part is, is part of the reason why you feel stuck, because you can’t shed all this baggage that you’re carrying with you from a world that doesn’t exist. And if that is true, then I want you to consider the possibilities that lay ahead for you in terms of a more satisfying career, you know, and a more satisfying life. If you can just shed that baggage and open your eyes to the world as it exists today.