Law Firm Finances Simplified
Do your taxes pile up to impossible numbers? Are you not taking home the amount of money you should be?
Why is that?
There are a lot of things that contribute to this, for example:
- Your top line number
- Revenue v.s. Profit
- Taxes
- Bank balance
- Cash Flow
- Accounts receivable
- Contingency cases
- Bookkeeping software v.s. Spreadsheet
Your Top line Number
Everyone has a top line number they want their firm to achieve. You’ll aim for that number, but that number on its own is irrelevant. You have all your expenses you need to take into consideration.
Revenue v.s. Profit
The difference between these two is that
Revenue = the amount of money you make before any expenses
Profit = the money you take home after all expenses are paid
So, the revenue number (like your top line number) is irrelevant. All it means is that you’re getting clients. If you’re expenses are twice the amount of your revenue, then that’s a problem.
What you need to be looking at is your...
Marketing Basics - Where Do I Start?
It’s important to understand marketing before you start marketing or getting someone else to market for your firm.
We’re going to get into the very basics and work our way through the different concepts of marketing.
What is marketing?
Marketing is the progression of a prospect on the journey from unaware to a promoter.
These are the steps the prospect will take on their journey:
- Aware - when they first discover you/your firm and that there is a solution to their problem
- Engage - they can engage by going to your website, calling you, etc.
- Subscribe - subscribe to your email list or a different offer you have out there
- Convert - they become a customer by exchanging value. That could be paying for the initial consultation or it could be they give you their contact information in exchange for knowledge (like a workshop)
- Excite - get them excited about the promise you’re giving them
- Ascend - once their happy with you and what you can provide them they...
Marketing Strategy That Gets Law Firms More Clients with Christopher Small
Are you working tirelessly for hours on end?
Well guess what? You don’t have to.
We interviewed Chris Small, a SUCCESSFUL law firm owner who ONLY works 25 hours a week for his firm.
That can be you because we are going to share his marketing strategy with you right now.
Chris Using SEO
Christopher Small used to use SEO, but that doesn’t work anymore. Now he uses what he calls “Longtail SEO”. Which means he creates a lot of content to put out there. He does a Facebook live video every day and then turns it into a video, podcast, blog post, and transcript.
Also, when creating the content he tries to do it in answer to a question someone might be typing into Google. This way, he can provide excellent service to people.
Moshe has a similar strategy as well. When someone reaches out concerns to you, think about what their first question would be. Now handle that question in a blog post and create it to be an ad. People are more likely to click on an...
Thatโs Not Ethical
Who said that, that wasn’t ethical?
I’ve found that many law firm owners shy away from certain business practices, claiming that they are unethical. Now, there may be some nuances that aren’t allowed, but most of the time that is untrue. Most of these business practices are perfectly fine to do.
Ethics are definitely not something to mess with, but there are many things that people think are unethical that are simply just not true. Here are four examples of common misunderstandings when it comes to ethics:
(It could be that some states have laws against these practices or certain aspects of them, so make sure to double check the ethical guidelines, but don’t assume that they’re not allowed)
- Contacting past clients to either sell them another service or to get referrals. There is nothing wrong with trying to provide you services to other people that may need them
- Asking for information on your website in exchange for information or a free...
When to Say Yes - The Ultimate Decision Matrix
When you are being marketed to, it can be quite convincing to get that product/solution. How do you know if it’s something that is worth your time and money? You can’t say yes to it all, so how do you make sure you are saying yes to the right things, the things that will improve your business while costing less money and being less time-consuming?
First, you have to understand the different types of marketing and how they affect you. There are two types of marketing:
-
Response Marketing is when you are looking for a certain product or solution to a problem you know you have. So, you give over your information and in return you are now marketed to. You look for response marketing and are happy when you are given materials and offers on what you were looking for.
2. Interruption Based Marketing is when you are unaware of a problem matrix or that this particular solution existed and you are interrupted and made aware of a problem you have or given a solution you...
It's Never Too Late To Become A Law Firm Owner with Neil Tyra
Both Neil and Moshe have had multiple careers and they manage to balance work, family, and other activities they enjoy. How do they do it? Where do they manage to get the time? Continue reading to find out the different ways you can create more time for yourself. (All resource links are located at the bottom)
Mindset
Your mind has a lot of control over whether you’re successful or not. When you are positive and you put your mind to something you can be successful in anything you set out to do.
“Even if you fail, you’re going to fail forward. If you don’t do it, you’re going to fail by not doing it” - Moshe
Saying No
You don’t have to say “yes” to everything. Save your “yes”s for the things you actually want to do. Saying “no” doesn’t mean you’re losing out. On the contrary, you’ll be creating new opportunities for yourself, to do the things you truly want to do.
...
This Lever Swings BIG Doors
Your law firm is like a baby going through the different stages it has to go through in order to be an adult.
At each stage the child needs to learn specific lessons to mature through each stage through adulthood.
When you first start your law firm you have to take those baby steps (the basic necessities) first, otherwise it’s like you are a newborn trying to be an adult. At each stage there is a different lever you can use to complete that stage and move on to the next one.
Startup Stage
- Need to learn how to sell. You don’t need anything fancy. You just have to figure out how to get someone who needs an attorney
- How to price your services
- How to deliver on the service you promised
These decisions can change. You just need to start with something.
In this stage you’ll access the lever of time. Make the most of your time and learn to use it well. All these things take time and now is when you need to master it.
Profitable Stage
Consistency Is The Key To Marketing with Tyson Mutrux
How do you hire that first employee when you just start? First make sure you’re not starting your own law firm right out of law school. So far all you’ve done is read books. You need to actually practice law before you open your own firm. Start off working for someone and by a year or two you’ll have enough experience and you’ll have built up a good client base. This way you already start off with clients. Once you start your law firm you should hire someone (as long as you can afford it), so that the customer service level is maintained at what your clients are used to.
Although lawyers see hiring employees as an expense, it’s really a necessary investment. You should really hire your first employee as soon as possible because it’s just not feasible to get everything done when you are doing everything on your own.
It’s not even like you have to lay out a lot of money right then and there. You’re paying your employee in bite size...
Have A Team That Works Hard For You with Molly McGrath
I am a firm believer that people shouldn’t hire based on skill, rather they should hire based on personality, motivation, and passion. Skills can be taught, but it’s the personality and character that’s almost impossible to teach.
First and foremost when you hire it should be for the emotional intelligence and core values. It’s so expensive and painful to hire and train someone who ends up not showing up or quitting after a short time. When you hire from the human side of things, you will see a world of a difference in the employees you hire.
Money motivates to a certain point, but when you have a goal, a mission statement that someone is passionate about then that will be a greater motivator to them. They won’t mind being paid less at first.
- Be upfront with money. Find out how much they need to survive, to put food on the table…
- If they are somewhere in the range of what you can afford, even if it’s a little more, see...
You Are the Architect of Your Law Firm
Earlier on in my career, when I worked in the IT industry, I was working for a technology company that served schools. I was a salesman and in the few busy months of my first year we made 2 million dollars in sales. That happened without any planning, so imagine what we could have done if we did have a plan. We spent half a day coming up with a plan and the goal ended up being to make 30 million dollars in sales. It was a huge jump, but guess what? We did it. We went from 2 to 30 million and all it took was a little planning.
The only way we were able to achieve that goal was because we made a plan and arranged all the details beforehand.
The following three examples will show you different ways that planning is important:
1. Let's say you want to travel from New York to Miami. You don’t know how to get there, but you know it takes 24 hours. If you just start driving and continue for 24 hours, you may end up on the opposite side of the country, near the west coast....
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Author
Moshe Amsel
Author
Moshe Amsel the host of the Profit with Law podcast is not an attorney. As the owner of a successful accounting firm DreamBuilder Financial and Law Firm Growth coaching organization Profit with Law, Moshe has proven that there are better and different ways for a law firm to do business and be successful.
