Don’t take the client’s last dollar, and Rabbi Hillel

I read this phrase in Charlie Munger's 'Poor Charlie's Almanac', an expensive book, but one worth reading: especially when you realise that Charlie is Warren Buffett's business partner.

Charlie had a law practice, which did work for Warren; in his training, he was told the importance of relationships: it is possible to charge very top dollar once, but pricing for repeat business and referrals is different.

Particularly so, I feel, in a market such as Manchester, a typical regional city. According to the play, Six degrees of separation – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, we are all inter-connected: I would say that outside the very largest centres, the degree of separation is 2 or at most 3; and for service providers like me, you guard your reputation at your peril. Repeat business and a thriving practice come from doing right by clients. Pricing is one element of that, but 'doing to others as you would have done to yourself' is the principal point.

I am not Jewish, but I try to run my practice by a famous quote by Rabbi Hillel. As it was told to me, in answering the question of whether he could explain the whole Torah whilst standing on one leg, he replied: A Quote by Rabbi Hillel | The Gaiam Blog What is hateful to yourself, do not do unto others.

Rabbi Hillel would have been a good business partner in my eyes.

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