A selection of articles related to navigating the unique struggles and rewards of starting and running your solo law firm.

Tag Archive for: Solo Law Firms

One Action That Can Free Your Firm From a Plateau

Are you the kind of executive that wants to “do it all”?

Me too.

As CEO of Back Office Betties, I have to keep a lot of balls in the air. In truth, one person can only do so many things effectively. So, when you spread yourself too thin as a leader, your team and your business growth will suffer. You don’t want that.

That’s why I’m sharing how I navigated Back of Betties past a plateau, and the hard lessons I learned along the way.

Every good leader should do this when their growth stalls

Let’s talk about plateaus for a minute.

Every business has them. It could be that you’re not bringing in enough clients or the clients you have aren’t returning enough revenue. Whatever it is, we’ve all had a time where we’ve felt stuck as a business and unsure how to move forward.

It took a hard look at myself as a leader and the business as it was versus where I wanted to be to realize I needed to make some changes. I needed to learn how to outsource work efficiently and effectively.

I’ll be honest, I had the same concerns as a lot of leaders about investing in outsourcing, such as:

  • Would the ROI be worth the spend?
  • Will the work get done well?
  • Can I trust outside help with my business?
  • Will this create more work for me instead of less?

These are valid concerns, but I also knew that something had to give if we were going to break through a plateau. Here’s the approach I took to affordably grow our team and gain access to expertise outside of my own through outsourcing.

5 Essential steps to take before outsourcing tasks

Every firm is different, but I hope that my experience can help other executives strengthen their organization and structure. At Back Office Betties, we used an approach based on EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System® to improve how we outsource.

First, I created an accountability chart that imagined a box for every role at the company and listed out the core responsibilities. I quickly realized a few key things that changed the way I look at my business and how I wanted to move forward.

Here’s what I noticed right away:

  • I was sitting in several of the boxes and holding a lot of responsibilities.
  • I had more than one person filling multiple boxes, making things sloppy.
  • I had vendors/outsourced help filling some of the roles, but I didn’t have a process for holding them accountable.
  • I needed a plan to make sure that I was leading effectively and filling any gaps.

Based on what I learned, this is the advice I would give any firm executive who is starting to scale their services by outsourcing work with vendors, freelancers, and fractional employees:

  1. Identify where you are stretched too thin across roles and responsibilities.
  2. Identify where you can consolidate responsibilities under one person to streamline processes.
  3. Develop onboarding materials so that your vendors have all of the necessary information to get started.
  4. Create a system for accountability to keep freelancers and fractional employees on track.
  5. Set up regular check-in meetings with outsourced workers to stay on top of changes, blockers, and tasks.

Break through your growth ceiling

Don’t let your responsibilities control you—control them instead. We all hit a wall sometimes, but your company’s growth doesn’t have to suffer! Free yourself from a plateau by learning how to outsource work to affordably grow your team and gain access to outside expertise.

Expert Marketing Tips for Solo Attorney Success

 

This Solo de Facto guest is an expert communicator and PR guru. Brad Swezey is the president of Just Small Biz Marketing and vice president of PR4Lawyers. Brad shared his wealth of knowledge about marketing as a solo practitioner, from common challenges to basic steps to start building a winning marketing process for your business.

Why Small Law Firms Need Marketing

We asked Brad to tell us one thing that he wished attorneys knew about running a successful law firm. His answer: that marketing is a key to success.

 

Unfortunately, your skill as an attorney doesn’t mean you’ll automatically get clients. This can be a tough pill to swallow for attorneys just starting out, as well as seasoned practitioners! As Brad points out, attorneys aren’t taught how to market themselves in law school. So when you set out to start a small or solo firm, many times you don’t have the basic skills to stand out in a sea of other qualified attorneys. It’s even harder when you are competing against bigger law firms with established reputations and a dedicated marketing budget.

 

Without the right marketing skills, a solo attorney is going to struggle to get the right clientele. When they struggle to get clientele, they won’t know how to pay the bills.

 

The marketing knowledge gap was made even more apparent by COVID. When attorneys could no longer rely on face-to-face networking, they began to realize that relying on one channel to get business comes with risks. As more attorneys delve into marketing for their practices, they’re faced with a big learning curve.

Common Marketing Challenges for Attorneys

Brad has pinpointed a few common challenges that attorneys run into when they start marketing. Which of these challenges resonate with your small firm?

 

Face-to-face network opportunities are more limited. When attorneys can’t go out and talk to people in person, they need new strategies to get people to come to them. Attorneys don’t always know what opportunities are out there for them, or how to get started.

 

Attorneys are not familiar with the concept of a marketing funnel—i.e. attracting leads and nurturing them through stages of awareness, consideration, and decision-making. Many people view lawyers like they do auto repair shops. You don’t think about finding one until you need it. Clever solo practitioners can use marketing to establish themselves as the obvious choice before their audience even needs them.

 

Solo firms feel like they’re competing with big firms. This can lead attorneys to use generic messaging that mimics what the big firms are doing when instead they should be leaning into being solo practitioners. Instead of looking at being a solo firm as a disadvantage in a crowded market, use it as a tool for unique positioning.

 

Practitioners don’t view marketing as a long-term investment. An investment in marketing isn’t too different from an investment in law school, according to Brad. If you trust in the process and don’t expect magic results, it will eventually pay off…just like spending money on law school is an investment in a well-paying career. On average, most businesses should devote about 10% of target revenue to marketing.

How to Start the Marketing Process as a Small Firm

It’s not uncommon to be intimidated by the marketing process, especially if you’re running a solo firm. Brad recommends a few foundational places where busy practitioners can start to build out their marketing without spending a ton.

 

  1. Connect with referral sources. Making connections is free! Establish relationships with other attorneys who fill in gaps of expertise. If you get a lead or have a current client who could use their help, send them along. You will surely get referrals in turn!
  2. Partner with organizations and associations to present webinars and seminars. For example, an estate planning lawyer can set up a free seminar in partnership with a funeral home to educate their clients and bring in new leads.
  3. Network on social media. Use popular channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to reach audiences and network with other attorneys. One note of caution: don’t feel like you need to use all social networks at once. It’s okay to stick to one channel that works for your business!
  4. Reach out to local reporters. Offer to be a source or subject matter expert for relevant articles and TV spots. This gives you an opportunity for free publicity and to make connections within your community.
  5. Create content that educates your ideal customer. This might be podcasts, blog posts, or videos that provide valuable information to people who are seeking services like yours.
  6. Niche down! You can’t do everything or serve everyone. It might be tempting to offer a large spectrum of services to increase your chances of bringing on more clients, but this can result in bad marketing and burnout. Narrow down to your clearest, most direct messaging to find your perfect audience.

Attract the Right Clients

As a solo practitioner, you’re already doing your own thing. You might as well focus on finding the types of clients who will pay you for what you bring to the table. It’s time to use your marketing efforts to attract the right clients at the right price point to build a successful solo firm.

 

To hear more from Brad in his episode of Solo de Facto, listen here.

 

The Importance of Being Yourself in a Solo Practice

Elisabeth Pickle is the founder of The Mindful Counsel, a boutique estate and trademark law firm based in Scottsdale, Arizona. After starting her career in medicine, Elisabeth realized that her true passion was in advocating for people. When her family lost her beloved grandfather’s farm due to a divorce, Elisabeth found her niche—making sure other families would not have to go through what hers went through.

Recently, Elisabeth realized that she wanted to stop being someone she wasn’t in her professional life. Since then, she has mastered the art of showing up authentically and attracting the right clients with her marketing.

Standing Out From Big Box Firms

Why is it important to show up as your authentic self as an attorney?

For some, this might be scary. Elisabeth realized that once the results started coming in, it was the best business decision she could have made. That’s because it allowed her to show potential clients that she is a lawyer they can confide in.

Like many solo law practitioners during 2020, Elisabeth struggled trying to figure out how to pivot at the beginning of the pandemic. However, during this time, The Mindful Counsel homed in on its mission and its target audience. This growth edge allowed Elisabeth to explore new ways to connect with her ideal client.

Authenticity Leads to Creativity

Elisabeth has managed to go where not many attorneys have gone before: TikTok. Elisabeth will be the first to admit that her TikTok presence was “never supposed to be a thing.” At first, Elisabeth used TikTok to watch other professionals—lawyers, doctors, dentists, and financial advisors—connect with their audiences.

Then she had an epiphany: TikTok could be an amazing channel for marketing her practice.

 

  • Connect with potential clients using engaging content. TikTok is a great place to provide information that gets potential clients thinking about estate planning on an engaging platform.
  • Create and share content inexpensively. A great thing about TikTok is that you can reach a lot of people with just a little bit of time invested.
  • Generate demand for your services. Get the wheels spinning! Estate planning isn’t top-of-mind for everyone, but creating TikTok videos has helped Elisabeth plant the seed in the minds of her followers.
  • Make “boring” topics interesting. Estate planning can be very It can be challenging to get people excited about following an estate planning practice. However, Elisabeth has gotten great positive feedback from the public.
  • Show your audience that their attorney is a human being. Create authentic marketing that goes beyond perfectly-polished websites and ads content.

 

How to Attract Your Ideal Clients with Authentic Marketing

Despite finding success on TikTok and identifying her authentic voice for The Mindful Counsel, Elisabeth admits she couldn’t have planned it any better on a piece of paper. However, she does have advice for attorneys seeking authentic ways to reach their audience:

 

  • Start small! You don’t need to become a TikTok star to show your “real” side. Create an unscripted YouTube video that tells viewers who you are, who you serve, and how you can help them.
  • Make sure you’re reaching your audience in the right places. Elisabeth’s TikTok marketing works because she is trying to reach young and midlife professionals interested in planning ahead for their families. The message might be the same, but changing up the medium will help you reach new audiences.
  • Take more risks. Even though lawyers are risk-averse by nature, when you’re running your own practice you have to take risks. It’s okay to try a new way to connect with your audience because it just might work out.

Discover Your Authentic Message

If Elisabeth’s story teaches us anything, it’s that you don’t have to be perfect to sell yourself as knowledgeable legal counsel. Whether through TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, or another marketing channel, consider taking a chance to show your human side to attract your ideal client.

 

Listen to Elisabeth’s episode on Solo de Facto here!

 

How Busy Attorneys Take Vacations Without Working The Whole Time

“But I can’t leave my firm! I’ll have to work the whole time,” you say.

Not quite.

You’re a busy attorney and you deserve to take a break. Not only that, but it’s possible for you to get this break without working from the beach. You just might not know it yet.

A little work to set up some key components to running your law firm now could save you a whole lotta stress and time in the long run. I’m talking maybe even two work-free vacations this year ????

Busy Attorneys Enjoy Work-Free Vacations Through:

  • Automation
  • Systems & Processes
  • Phone Coverage
  • Communication With Clients

How Automation Can Help You Enjoy Your Vacay

We’ve talked about it before and surely this won’t be the last time: Automation is one of the greatest tools to have in your belt.

Automation doesn’t have to be computerized – it can simply be a task triggered to someone (preferably someone who is not you) after another task or trigger is completed.

Things you can automate to help you step away from your law firm:

  • New Client Intakes
  • Client Follow-up
  • Payment Agreements
  • Accepting Payments
  • Client Scheduling

Replicate Yourself With Systems & Processes

You like things done a specific way so you tend to try and do most of it yourself. Or you outsource a task but find yourself frustrated that they didn’t do it the way you do. Sound about right?

If so, you could benefit from documenting your systems and processes so that anyone who takes on the tasks you’ve been doing will do them exactly as you like them done.

Not only will this help you take a vacation without sacrificing your law firm’s productivity, but it will also save you tons of time and stress in your day-to-day!

Some systems & processes you can document and replicate in your law firm:

  • Standard client communication practices
  • Documentation processes
  • Court filings
  • Client intake questions
  • Case research
  • Communication with the courts
  • Email organization
  • & so much more

Communicate With Your Clients & Return Stress-Free

Even if you’ve put all of the above steps into place, there’s still a chance that your clients will demand your attention. Especially if they have no clue as to why you are seemingly dodging their calls.

The best way to get ahead of this is to communicate prior to silencing your phone. Let your clients (at least, the ones most likely to notice your absence) know that you will be out of the office and give them guidance on how to get in contact with someone else who can help them in the meantime.

You can do this through email, by setting an Out Of Office reply message, and also by updating your phone’s voicemail to provide details of whom to contact for assistance in case their call goes unanswered.

Phone Coverage Is A Vacation-Saver

If there’s only one thing you can do to cover yourself for a vacation, it should be getting your phones covered. Nothing can cramp your vacation style quite like your phone ringing off the hook while you’re trying to relax by the pool.

By ensuring your phones are answered while you’re away, you can ensure your client questions are still handled, lead information is still captured, and appointments can still be booked. Things don’t have to go completely on hold just because you’re not working that week. In fact, it’s best that they don’t so that your workload stays steady once you’re back.

If you don’t already have a dedicated receptionist, the easiest way to do this is to hire an answering service. They can keep the status quo with your callers and ensure that all questions are answered and appointments get booked for after you come back.

 

If you’ve been searching for a way to take a much-needed vacation this year, give us a call at (800) 958-8591 and discover how Back Office Betties can help you get away, stress-free.

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