Are Solos Honest With Themselves When It Comes To Success?

Recently, Bob Ambrogi reported  on the results of a survey on management and technology challenges faced by solo and small law firms of up to 30 lawyers, conducted by the Thomson Reuters Solo and Small Firm Law Group . Among the various topics covered, the survey asked solo and small firm lawyers how they measure success and whether they consider themselves successful. What’s interesting is that all survey participants, except for solos, ranked overall profits as the greatest indicator of success. By contrast, solos identified client satisfaction rankings as the most significant factor in defining success. At the same time, an overwhelming majority – approximately 85 percent – of both solo and small firm lawyers consider themselves very successful or successful.

These results prompted Now Counsel Network founder, Lisa Solomon to comment:

What struck me in [your post] is this:  “Here again, the measures of success varied by firm size. For solos, the greatest indicator of success is client satisfaction rankings. In every other sized firm, lawyers say overall profits is the greatest indicator of success.”

I wonder if solos’ answers are honest, or whether a substantial percentage really do believe, deep down, that the greatest indicator of success is overall profits, but don’t want to admit that fact to themselves, because their own profits aren’t particularly high.

Lisa goes on to suggest that perhaps solos confuse success with service to clients, and believe that they’re not successful unless they sacrifice everything – including financial stability and time – for clients.

Lisa raises several interesting points – though I’m not sure that I agree.  While certainly it’s true that many solos don’t match the income levels of their big firm counterparts, they’re not necessarily impoverished either.  Bob’s Above the Law piece reports that the survey showed that 66 percent percent of solos have annual revenues of under $200,000, with 28 percent of that group under $100,000.  Of course, these figures don’t mean much without additional information about annual expenses or whether the solo is working part-time or full time. But assuming that expenses account for 20 to 30 percent of annual revenue, a large portion of solos would be taking home between $60,000-$80,000 on the low-end and $140,000-$150,000 on the upper end.  Sure, this income is hardly breath-taking, but it can support a decent standard of living in many parts of the country, and contribute to a solid standard of living if combined with a second family income.  Moreover, studies suggest that $83,000  is the “happiness-tipping point” for income – meaning that, happiness doesn’t improve substantially above that level.

Of course, based on the revenue figures for solos, there will be some who will take home (i.e., net) less than $60,000. My guess is that solos who occupy this lower income category probably haven’t described themselves as successful (and indeed, 8 percent of solos in the survey admitted to being “unsuccessful) unless perhaps they’re just a few years into their career, where even a $35,000 annual income is comparable to many entry-level government or public interest positions.

In short, what I glean from the surveys isn’t that solos are elevating their clients’ well-being over their own financial stability.  Instead, it appears that most of the solos who define themselves as successful have reached the “happiness-tipping point” income – after which they identify client satisfaction as the best indicator of success.

In addition, I’m not sure whether solos really believe that “client satisfaction” ratings are the most important indicator of success – or if that option was viewed as a proxy for “doing work that matters.”  In the dozen years that I’ve been blogging here at MyShingle and speaking on solo issues across the country, I’ve observed that most solos consider themselves successful, or feel the most personal satisfaction when they’re able to make a difference in clients’ lives by simply staying in business and showing up, day after day, week after week, year after year. Showing up for clients and doing work that matters is different from the concept of “client satisfaction” – but it’s also something that Thompson Reuters survey didn’t think to include since it rarely happens at biglaw.

As for me, how do I define solo success?  Heck – you know I’m biased. I’m forever captivated by the lone wolfs and entrepreneurs, the risk-takers and innovators, the passion-driven and the dogged, and most of all the square pegs who don’t fit into the round holes who by choice or necessity hoist themselves up by their bootstraps and build, out of a nothing but vision, hustle and sheer doggedness  an entity that never before existed.  Maybe none but a teeny percentage of those lawyers will grow their firms into an empires and maybe some don’t even want to.  But even if they tap out at $120,000 in revenues a year — well, just taking that leap makes them a far bigger success in my eyes than the biglaw partners earning $3 million a year who never leave the warm comfort of the mother ship.