« MindJet Mapping Applied to Patent Drafting | Main | Complacency and the Reasonable Standard »
November 23, 2005
My Favorite Clients and Thanksgiving
The other day, a friend pointed out that over the last few weeks, I have referred to several different clients as “My Favorite Client”. Truth is, I feel very fortunate to have so many excellent clients. Each one in their own way has some truly unique characteristics that I enjoy. One may be very insightful, another may be incredibly diligent, while another may be just fun to hang around. The old joke is that my favorite client is one who pays on time. I am thankful for all of them, even the ones who pay slowly.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. One of the best things about the holiday is that it is focused on appreciating the blessings we sometimes take for granted. My ancestors came to Plymouth colony a year or two after the first trip of the Mayflower. Other relatives came to the US at the turn of the century, fleeing Czechoslovakia and heading to the steel mills in northern Ohio. In either case, my family has had plenty for which to be thankful. And I am no exception.
One of the most rewarding things about my practice, and the thing for which I am most thankful, is the fascinating clients I am able to help. Each one has an incredible talent or ability, and by some bizarre circumstance, our paths are able to cross. I get much more out of my practice than money: I get to know a facet of my inventors as real people and I get to make a small difference in their business, careers, and life.
There are many worries that accompany a solo practice, particularly being able to develop the right amount of business and manage the caseload that already exists. These kinds of things can keep me up at night. I am very thankful for the times that I have an abundance of work, but I am equally thankful for the down times when I can pursue some hobbies, travel, and kick back a little. After a year and a half of solo practice, somehow the right work has shown up at the right time from the right people. For that, I am truly thankful.
Posted by krajec at November 23, 2005 07:21 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.krajec.com/mt/mt-tb.pl/198
Comments
From blogger Ron Franscell @ http://underthenews.blogspot.com ...
It has been a tradition in my family -- maybe in many families -- to go around the Thanksgiving table and ask everybody: What are you thankful for?
One Thanksgiving when my children were very young, we began with me. I was thankful for my family, for being together, for the time we had, and other patriarchal oratory. My wife was thankful for similar things. My daughter, maybe 8 at the time, added her lengthy list of friends and possessions.
Then we came to Matt, only 4. He was still thinking, but soon it dawned on him, this thing he was most thankful for in his so-far short life.
"Handles," he said.
I gotta hand it to him: It never occurred to me to be thankful for handles, even though I am regularly thankful for handles. And knobs, rails, hinges, shelves, screw caps, cup-holders, envelopes, sandwich bags, can openers, lids, screwdrivers, soap dishes, buttons, rubber bands, remote controls, cardboard boxes, paper clips ... all kinds of stuff I typically don't take time to appreciate. But I guarantee there's usually a string of choice words when they're missing!
So ... don't forget to be thankful for the little things.
And have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted by: Ron Franscell at November 23, 2005 07:59 AM