As a solo practice attorney, you must always remember you are running a business. Don’t worry about how that sounds: being a good business owner doesn’t mean you aren’t ethical, hardworking, or that you don’t put your clients first.
But being a good business owner does mean you should relentlessly be finding new ways to become more profitable.
Generally, there are a few basic ways you can turn a better better profit in your law practice, namely:
1. You could personally serve more clients, albeit this will take up more of your valuable time.
2. Even better, you can serve more clients by delegating client tasks to affordable contractors at a profit – a common practice in civil litigation law firms – but this still requires your time, management, and oversight.
3. The best way to make more money with your law firm, from the perspective of money earned for the time spent, is through referrals. Lawyers are among the few types of professionals who can legally earn a referral fee – often a sizable one – simply by forwarding a valuable lead to a colleague.
But no matter which method you use to bring in more cash to your firm (I make money doing all of the above), each requires the same basic ingredient: you need to have an audience who wants you to solve their problems. What’s more, you need to cultivate, grow, and refine your audience.
Good news is, if you like writing, or can at least tolerate it (even writers hate writing), you can always be building and growing the size of your audience and network through the power of a simple blog and email list.
Words build all things. Words build relationships, art, and even the physical things you see around you were built based on the words found in instruction manuals, documented procedures, and the conversations shared between creative collaborators.
In your profession, your words make you money. At home, your words shape your environment and the cadence between you and those you love. So it empowers us to pay attention to the overwhelming value of the words we use, and their potential for harm or for good. It behooves you to become a master of your words.
Admittedly, the blogging game isn’t something just anybody should play. It takes a little time, effort, and trial and error – just like everything else in life that’s worth learning.
But there is a surprisingly small amount of effort required to make you stand out amongst your peers. If you commit to the process, your blog will lead you to a gold mine of leads, expand your platform, connect you with valuable colleagues, and – god forbid – you may have a little fun while doing it.
Cool thing is, I can teach you the skills needed to get there, either through my coaching, or you can learn a little each month “for free” when you sign up for a website with my company Attorney Sites Now.
Our monthly fee is so low, compared with the value you’ll receive over time, that if you’re looking to improve your blogging game you’d be silly not to take advantage of it. You can learn more here.