I have been an attorney for more than 20 years. I guide businesses every day on legal and business issues. I am good at what I do and I make a tangible difference for my clients. But I, too, am a small business owner.

I don’t have big budgets but I know from experience the value of professional consulting. Outside experts help me focus on a particular challenge and find a solution. They bring expertise and experience to the table, shortening my learning curve and helping me to strategize for my own business.

Professional consultants also allow me to delegate tasks that can free me up to do executive work for my business. You’ve heard it before: to be successful, you have to work on your business not in your business.

I am the last person I ever thought would need a business coach. Hey, I coach other people. I am the teacher, not the student, or so I thought. A respected colleague encouraged me to meet his business coach. I worked with Tom Chapple and learned how to run my business instead of it running me. I still have goals and challenges, but I look at my business in an entirely different way.

I have worked with Nancy Roberts of Income 180 to learn more about how to convey the advantages I provide my clients and to not be afraid to charge what my services are worth instead of being underpaid for my expertise.

As a lawyer, marketing is my least favorite part of my job. I feel grossly undereducated in the area of marketing. I read one or two books every month to gain insight and improve my skills in this key function of my executive role as owner. I participate in TAB (The Alternative Board) to give me my own “Board of Directors” to evaluate business challenges and formulate strategy for implementation. I have taken courses from Daryl Urbanski and used services from Practice Alchemy and Automate My Business. The experts have helped me to implement a marketing program and develop systems and procedures to increase customer satisfaction and reduce redundant tasks that tend to be time dumps.

I delegate and outsource certain tasks to consultants. I confer with attorney specialists to advise on legal issues outside my core expertise. I work with Young & Company to do my taxes and oversee the work of my bookkeeper. I use consultants to help with website and social media issues.

I routinely have to write checks to pay for all of these services, but when I evaluate the ROI, it is a good investment. If you find good consultants, it will become the one check you actually don’t mind writing because the value far exceeds the costs. If you are considering working with a consultant, I encourage you to give it a try. Just be sure to select your consultant or coach wisely, preferably by personal referral. If you need a good legal consultant, I know where you can find one.