I was on a Zoom with another estate planning practitioner who sought information about The Freedom Practice. She is a true solo –she has no one to support her. No secretary. No paralegal. No associate attorney. She is contemplating merging with another solo who also has no support.
Sounds like a tough road but I admire her determination.
When I asked what position she hoped to hire first, her answer was “a marketing firm. I need revenue so I can hire some help.”
The classic chicken and egg.
In my view – this isn’t a tough choice – and marketing isn’t where I’d spend my money.
I said that she needs to build her backstage before she builds her front stage. She told me that she has a steady, although light, stream of clients – mostly first responders, police, and fire fighters. She just needs to get in front of them more often.
What she really needs is more hands that free up her time so she can bring in those clients. Someone to answer the phone, type letters, documents and send out invoices.
Conventional wisdom would increase overhead on revenue enhancing expenditures. That would presumably include marketing. Consider what happens if a marketing firm immediately hits a home run drawing new clients in (don’t hold your breath on that one!) I ask – how will she serve those clients?
They need a support staff that can free them up to produce revenue. In The Freedom Practice you learn insight into Front Stage and Back Stage, and how to maximize each in today’s commoditized, highly competitive marketplace.
I hear some of you asking, “How does she pay for her new help?” That’s certainly an issue. But it’s not insurmountable. Outsourcing, borrowing (from banks, friends or relatives) or many other options may exist. If you pay someone $40,000 annually you don’t need that much money in the bank to start. You just need a few thousand dollars to pay for the first several paychecks.
Team building, marketing, systems and processes, and use of free and low-cost technology to increase transparency and efficiency are what The Freedom Practice is all about. We have all sizes of law firms, many like mine. My team began with me and one legal assistant. We now boast a team of 20 generating millions in annual revenue, including 850 families in our Client Care Program.
Everything we bring to our Freedom Practice member firms we test in our firm to see if the strategy, program or system works. We share our victories and our mistakes – so you can adapt what will work best for your firm.
