The Importance of Having a Team Behind You in Business
Successful people don’t succeed on their own. They rely on a team of people who have helped them on their road to success. In some cases, the team has been informally assembled by asking friends for referrals for problems as they come up. In the cases of the mega rich they have “family offices,” a team of professionals (lawyers, accountants, wealth managers, etc…) who work specifically for that wealthy person and his family.
The benefit of the family office approach is that the various professionals are like minded in philosophy and they work together in the best interest of the client. For the rest of us, having a family office with professionals who just work for us would be prohibitively expensive. However, what we can do is develop a network of professionals who have a similar philosophy and can communicate with one another in service of us- along with their other clients.
Common Philosophy
Having a network of professionals with a common philosophy promotes consistency in your planning. Imagine if your attorney, accountant and financial planner are all giving you conflicting advice. They could all be technically right pursuant to their own philosophy, but being sent in different ways will leave you feeling confused and overwhelmed. Having your accountant tell you he doesn’t agree with the approach of your attorney isn’t very productive or re-assuring. Steering in different directions at the same time is not an ideal path to success
When I analyze a client’s business and either clean up their existing structure, or create it from scratch- one of the first conversations we have is about their needs for tax planning. When I make a referral to an accountant, I know that the accountant understands how to maximize the tax benefits of the business structure we elected, and we can work together collaboratively for anything the client needs moving forward. The same goes for insurance brokers, I evaluate a business’s risks and make them known to the insurance broker to make sure that the client is properly insured.
Familiarity and Collaboration
When I place a client in the hands of another professional, the relationship is ongoing. If the accountant or financial advisor needs a copy of a document that was prepared, I can easily provide that so we can work together to achieve the aims of the client. The familiarity and team mentality promotes trust and allows seamless communication between the members of your team.
In certain cases it might also be necessary to get all members of the team on a call together to address an issue. This level of collaboration allows us all to understand how something I do as an attorney, may impact someone else’s scope of work and we can plan to make everything work.
Conclusion
I have a realtor that I love. Any time I need a contractor referral, cleaning person, or anything else having to do with homes or real estate I contact him. I know him and I trust him. Moreover, he knows me and has a general understanding of what I am looking for. He has been an invaluable resource in allowing me to find help when I need it in the real estate space.
One of the biggest benefits of having a go-to person in any field is access to their networks. If you have a great attorney, nine times out of ten he is not going to place you in the hands of someone else who is not at least just as good in their own field. The more developed your network, the more you are mimicking the moves of the most successful people in business.
