When I was a paralegal prior to law school, I worked with a really fun, young attorney who seemed stifled by his work life in the “Big Law” firm that employed us. He complained. He wanted to do something different. But what made this guy different was that he actually did something about it.
While still working for the firm, he identified a market pain, which gave rise to a business plan. The kind of plan that many an associate had probably considered but lacked the initiative or risk tolerance to act upon. By the time he quit the firm, he had created a fairly functional web infrastructure that would support operations. The business launched almost immediately. This was accomplished with what I always understood to be a relatively modest amount of start-up capital (there was no venture capital or bank loan, to my knowledge).
His competitors were established players who had gotten a little too comfortable and weren’t giving much thought to innovation. By restructuring certain aspects of the economic relationship between his venture and customers and making good use of technology and social media, this guy disrupted the “industry” and experienced almost instantaneous success. Three years later, his venture is still doing well notwithstanding the economic downturn that has knocked out certain of his competitors.
It has been extraordinary to watch his personal transformation. There has been a lot of growth since the day that he explained his grand plan in a hushed voice in his associate’s office at the firm, but the most fundamental change has been in his apparent happiness and fulfillment. There is something special (fulfilling? satisfying?) about entrepreneurial success and I am so thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to watch him move his concept from mind to market.
Read the full article: Entrepreneurial Spirit: It’s for Lawyers Too