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Being a solo practitioner does not have to mean going it alone.
More powerful than any new management system, or technique I can teach you, is this underlying truth that you are not simply running a law firm, but a business. Done correctly, it becomes your key to unlocking the door to a truly better life.
In my first book, Be the CEO: Gain Control, Turn a Profit, and Re-claim Your Life, I focused on how to think and act like a CEO and the different roles a lawyer takes on in order to build a successful business.
In this, my second book, Six-Figure Solo: Transform Your Practice from Surviving to Thriving, I take what it means to be the CEO of Your Law Firm to a higher level with a focus on what it means to truly be in control of your law firm, your finances, and your life.
Each of us might be at different points in our practices, yet this book provides actionable advice for attorneys of all levels and in different fields of practice. At the heart of the book is the goal to make you a better business owner; to show you that you are not simply running a law practice, you are building a sustainable business.
- "Step 1: Getting Paid" offers revolutionary ways to ensure that you are paid what you are worth. It explores the flat-fee model, different client payment options, ways to stay top of mind with current and past clients, ways to perform pro bono purposefully, how to follow up on leads, and it covers the advantages of paying yourself a salary.
- "Step 2: Taking Your Law Firm's Brand to the Next Level" takes a hard look at your brand to figure out whether your messaging is working (i.e., low cost/high volume vs. high end/low volume) and whether the model you've chosen is by choice or by necessity. It co-vers how to use your writing and advocacy skills to position yourself as an expert to gain media coverage. It explains the importance of building a following on social media and offers ways of building an email list. Last but not least, Step 2 provides guidance on protecting your brand and responding to bad reviews.
- "Step 3: Conquering Sales with Confidence and Authenticity" shows you how to incorporate sales and value-based price quoting into your consultations; how to overcome objections; and how to use creative upselling to offer current clients additional, yet relevant, services.
- "Step 4: It's All About the Client" takes a deep dive into the prob-lems that plague lawyer/client communication and how to recog-nize, fix, and avoid those problems. It places emphasis on the speed at which a lawyer should contact a client with bad news or after a misunderstanding. And it focuses on the importance of customer service and ongoing nurturing of the lawyer/client relationship.
- "Step 5: Streamlining Your Law Firm" gets into the nitty-gritty of hiring and firing, assessing your firm's needs to avoid over-hiring, maximizing your current employees, choosing the right clients, and minimizing your dependence on paper.
- "Step 6: Achieving Success in Work and Life: Accepting Accounta-bility & Responsibility" jumps head first into spotting reasons why your firm might not be performing as well as it should be and why you may be under-earning; how you can decrease the deficiencies and increase the efficiencies in your law firm to maximize your time and your profits; and how to systematize your law firm and gain more time to perform the activities that are important to you.