By Mark Goh,
Managing Director of VanillaLaw LLC
First Published by techinasia.com
I have been a lawyer for nearly a quarter of a century and have spent most of those years running my own firm. Like any small-to-medium enterprise (SME), I struggled through the very basics of building and operating a business—figuring out and building my firm’s corporate structure, defining my value proposition, identifying my customer segment, and planning my finances. (For these basic lessons, I recommend using Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas.)
I realized pretty early on that I was in a very unique position where I straddled two different worlds:
- The world of a lawyer
- The world of an SME business owner
I have been blessed with many insights over the years, and I wanted to share three of the most important ones.
Founder’s myopia
In Bill Gates’ book, Business @ the Speed of Thought, he references an old business joke that goes, “If railroads had understood they were in the transportation business instead of the steel-rail business, we’d all be flying on Union Pacific Airlines.”
As business owners, we sometimes become too focused or protective of our “babies;” we hang on to that first successful iteration of our business and refuse to innovate, expand, and keep up with market trends. We need to keep our minds open to be able to see the possibilities.
Earlier in my career, I invested in a company that conducted boat rides for wakeboarders (this was when the sport was gaining popularity in the country). The demand was so high from wakeboarding enthusiasts that the owners were not able to cater to other types of customers.
No one ever thought about attempting to capture the waterskiing market even though there was obvious demand. In the end, the wakeboarding craze died down, and the company folded.
Perhaps if the business owners looked beyond wakeboarding and recognized that their business was about supporting various water activities instead, they could have planned and executed a more flexible and sustainable business strategy.
My own product, VanillaLaw Docs, was designed as a legal document assembly software to help SMEs reduce legal costs and streamline the legal process. However, I have come to realize that the software can also be effective in industries outside of the legal industry. One such example is in the field of publishing, where companies that need to quickly assemble and print annual reports or assessment books can possibly use the software to organize and customize their print jobs.
These types of realizations are important because without them, we would continually operate in a limited space, unable to break out of the “trap” we created for ourselves. A simple way to avoid this trap is to always keep updated with the developments in your chosen and related industries and dedicate time (e.g. quarterly/biannual meetings) to review your business processes and strategies with your team.
Reexamining relationships
I used to be quite wary of the notion guanxi (roughly translated as relationships or connections) and have even written about the subject in relation to how SMEs conduct business. In essence, the culture of guanxi leads people to ink deals based on verbal agreements and trust instead of proper legal procedures. I’ve had several clients who’ve come to me with problems as a result of this.
I now believe that it is important we take the time to constantly assess and evaluate the way we interact with our business partners and clients and learn to integrate styles that combine both guanxi and proper legal procedures.
The current business environment demands that we communicate and relate to others in multiple fashions across multiple platforms. Engaging with our customers (and with business partners as well) requires a mix of technology and a distinct “human touch.”
We have to be able to attend networking sessions and genuinely make the effort to connect but also not shy away from platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Instagram, if that is where our target markets congregate. With our clients, we have to be dauntless and learn to be graceful in bringing up the need for proper documentation even if the client might not see the need for it.
Of course, necessary investments should be made to acquire sound multi-channel capabilities. If it means enrolling in a course to learn how to integrate social media platforms with your business, do it; if it means investing in a customer relationship management software to organize all your client information, do it; if it means calling a meeting to get everyone’s input on how you are as a manager, do it.
These are some examples of how we can reexamine ourselves in order to redesign our relationships with our clients, partners, and employees.
Investing in your future and future-proofing your investments
What’s usually discussed on this topic are things like incorporating technology into your business, making strategic financial decisions, and getting the necessary legal protections. While these are fine, something supersedes all of them: talent. Finding the right business partner, employee, or investor who understands and aligns with your vision and mission is a future-proof investment.
The key thing you’d want to look for is the quality of self-awareness. According to an article on Harvard Business Review, self-awareness leads to “more effective leadership, more satisfied employees, and in turn, a more profitable business.” People who are self-aware are more likely to be open-minded, communicative, and willing to learn and improve.
Recently, I have begun to incubate a business team in a sister company. I’m fortunate that those in my team are self-aware enough to seek out answers when they are lost, look for help when they cannot do things on their own, and most importantly, have the courage to share with me their honest opinions. While some will attribute this to their domain experience, I think it is their self-awareness that makes all the difference.
How about you? What lessons have you learned from your business journey? How can these lessons help you improve your business in the coming year?
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