Take Two

I am writing tonight from Erie, Pennsylvania.  If you read regularly, you know that this has been a very busy travel week for me.  I am meeting with a client tomorrow as well as some providers up here.  I am now spending 20-30 percent of my month on the road.  Fortunately, there are times (like now) when my family gets to come along.  That certainly makes travel more enjoyable.

I have thought long and hard about this post from Fred Wilson.  I have, in some respects, a similar story to his.  When we started NCA in February, we made a conscious decision to have a national practice, versus a local or regional one.  We likely could have been busy, reconnected with a number of clients from our past, and candidly, made a pretty good living sticking with Ohio and the surrounding states.  However, we explicitly decided to have a national practice and work with super-regional and national banks, trust companies, and investment banks.  Additionally, we decided to expand our litigation consulting to more than just regional work and tap into some of our partners’ national networks.  It has been wildly successful but not without a cost.  As I mentioned, I spend a significant amount of time on the road and, of my partners, I am probably 3rd of 5 when it comes to travel time.  It is a cost/benefit that has been carefully weighed and, in the end, this is the best way to build the practice we want to have and build the firm we want to have.

Having said that, I am appalled at how awful particularly air travel has become.  I travel in and out of New York City a lot and I can’t remember the last time I had an on time arrival or departure.  The planes are packed and more often than not they’re full.  Also, the nickle and diming must stop.  I get that high fuel costs have cause my $150 ticket to become a $500 ticket but to pay for the first bag, snacks, bottled water (!!), and pillows and blankets seems to add insult to injury.  Don’t know what the solution is but I hope there’s one soon.  Especially given the number of trips currently on my calendar.  I have gotten into an exercise and better eating regimen which seems to have helped (down about 25 pounds as I write) but the travel makes that kind of sporatic.  I will confess though that I still like the occasional hamburger.

This post is not to gripe about my life or work.  I am as happy now as I have been in years while attempting to establish some sort of work/church/life balance.  How do you maintain balance?  What do you wish you could do better?  Points to ponder.