ARE YOU READY TO TAKE A CHANCE? DO YOU WANT TO BETTER CONTROL YOUR TIME? DO YOU WANT TO PRACTICE LAW THE WAY YOU WANT TO?
THEN YOUR BEST ANSWER IS TO “GO SOLO”
I went Solo starting on April 15, 1987 because I thought that if the Federal Government could get rich on that day, so could I. I spent about 20 years proving that I could make a very nice living having a very large solo practice and I didn’t have to threaten anyone with garnishment or jail to do it!
Give this some thought. A lot of lawyers are facing unhappy years ahead because the job market is still doing flip flops. The lucrative areas of law for BIG LAW are just not that appealing to many lawyers. Also the BIG LAW culture doesn’t fit with many attorneys values and need to live a more balanced life.
I have been told that the lawyer who wants to Go Solo needs to be an entrepreneur. In coaching attorneys for the past 8 years I have found that this is not totally true. It is true, however, that the Solo practice has to be run as a business. Much of this can be learned by simply following good business and marketing practices.
Where it becomes tricky for a solo is to find the sweet spot between practicing the type of law selected and listening to the market. This becomes paramount to being successful.
The other traits vital to an attorney entering solo practice are:
- Patience, Patience, Patience
- Energy to work very hard in the beginning.
- Ability to use good time management.
- Ability to prioritize
- Be open to doing tasks, like selling themselves, which may not be within their innate temperament ie., they hate it.
- Gather a good support system around them.
- Ask for help. This may be solo but its not successful until there are mentors and coaches who can short circuit the time element and cut out errors in judgement.
- To be focused on developing the business slowly. Starting out small while learning the skills needed and learning how to expand appropriately. Resisting all kinds of expense and time wasting that goes on when the attorney is confused.
- Have a solid business plan.
- Have a solid continually changing market plan
- Have solid goals to work towards at all stages as the firm develops.
ARE YOU INTRIGUED? IF YOU SAID “YES, I CAN DO ALL OF THAT”, AND ARE DECIDING ABOUT GOING SOLO, GIVE ME A RING. I will let you in on all the mistakes I made and help you avoid the mind fields as you grow your business.