“To enjoy life, you don’t need fancy nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize that most things just aren’t as serious as you make them out to be.”
Tim Ferris (1977) American author of “The 4 Hour Work Week”, entrepreneur, and public speaker.
If you were to describe Gregory M. Owens to an aspiring law school graduate, they will start getting excited.
Mr. Owens was a partner at a global law firm White & Case. He graduated university and immediately started earning a fat paycheck.
Yet, on New Year’s Even 2013, at the age of 55, he filed for bankruptcy.
According to his petition he had $400 in his checking account and $400 in savings. His clothes are worth an estimated $900 and his watch is worthless because it is broken.
How could a man getting anywhere between $350k-$500k per year be in a situation like this?
The answer may not surprise you, however the lesson it holds for other attorneys, like you, will.
What happened to Mr. Owens has a direct correlation to a secret that will make you incredibly rich one day, while working less.
Perhaps the path you are going down right now is a good fit for you.
Or perhaps you are like the vast majority of attorneys out there who realize they need some kind of change.
“The unhappiest job in America is an associate attorney”.
Those are the words I read on the ABA’s websitepost a few years back. After extensive job satisfaction surveys, attorneys came at the bottom of the list.
I was slightly perplexed. I understand the job can be stressful, but I had no idea there was a lower job satisfaction than that of a cold calling salesperson.
“And to top off my confusion, why would two thirds of parents want their kids to become attorneys, if it apparently means a lifetime of unhappiness?”
People who clean toilets are supposedly walking around with bigger smiles than lawyers.
Just ask Mr. Owens.
Yet, law schools are overfilled. There are too many kids wanting to become attorneys and it is going to crush the market in the coming years.
However, it gets even more confusing.
All of these parents who say they want their kids to be attorneys, actually really dislike attorneys.
Look at the chart above. I read this research back in 2013 and kept the image to this day.
Even banking executives are preferred to attorneys. People somehow believe that attorneys ‘do not contribute to society’.
And it was all summed nicely by Alison Monahan, a prominent attorney who has looked into these issues a lot. She said that “attorneys are destined to be either miserable, or broke.”
Most attorneys believe their happiness lies in making more money, having more free time, and a pot of cash for security.
And that may be the reason why you decided to click on this article and are reading the very words on this page.
After all, there is a very detailed and clear blueprint on what you need to do to become a super attorney on this blog.
However, so far, the articles on this blog has not promised you happiness.
Yes, you’ll get more clients who are happier with your services.
Yes, you’ll get a glowing reputation with five-star reviews elevating you in everyone’s minds.
Yes, you’ll get more cash up front.
Yes, Yes, Yes, YES!
I have seen them happen. Time and time again. And that may be enough for you.
However, some of it is still hard work. Of course, you could outsource everything to a firm like mine. We’ll take care of it and you won’t have to worry.
But there is still work to do.
You still have to be patient. You still have to see clients. You still need to implement what we’ve talked about in previous articles.
If you do it right, you can do it with ease.
Your life as an attorney will become much easier and you’ll relieve some of the stress you may be feeling.
Yet, for some that is not enough.
Some attorneys want growth without working more.
Mr. Owens, who went bankrupt at the age of 55, while pulling in half a million per year, can attest to the following statement:
“Working harder doesn’t mean you gain wealth”
True wealth is being on the golf course and still making money.
True wealth is when you have assets working hard to secure your future.
And that is what Mr. Owens did.
He was the asset, but he was someone else’s asset.
What if I told you, that you could grow your law firm into a self-running firm? Something that makes cash, year-in-year-out? An asset that you can sell at any time for a large pot of cash?
Have you thought about what you are going to do for retirement?
Have you thought about, perhaps, retiring early?
All of this is well within the realm of the possible.
Because here are the facts:
1. You know how to use financing to get more clients and more cash.
2. You know how to get a glowing reputation.
3. You know how to use follow up systems.
4. You know how to get your staff to answer the phone to get more clients who are happier.
5. You know how to advertise to fill the pipeline with eager new faces who hand over cash for legal services.
6. You know how to get to the top of Google searches to snatch local leads away from your competition.
Now imagine having all that working for you in a firm that takes on clients, churns out high-quality cases, all while you are sipping a glass of wine with whoever you want, in the middle of the day.
The next step is to take all of that growth potential and make it a reality without you needing to work harder.
And it is easier than you think. The blueprint is there. Many attorneys have done it and now it is your turn.
So how do you do it?
Step #1: Become independent from your law firm while it still makes you money.
Ally Kennedy, the founder of the Association of Mother Immigration Attorneys puts it this way:
“Become systems dependent and not people dependent.”
Each system that you add to your law firm becomes an asset that pays you over and over again.
The reason why is simple. A system runs itself. A system can be taught by anyone to anyone.
Although we all like to think we are special in our jobs. Most of our work can be broken down into a series of linear steps.
Some of those steps require a bit more expertise, but there is always someone that can do them.
For example.
There is a company in Silicon Valley that has a special piece of software. It observes all of the tasks of middle management.
It then fires all of the middle management and outsources their tasks to people in cheaper countries with less skill.
Then, the software observes those outsourced work for 2 years. It proceeds to fire them and then takes over all of the tasks itself.
Just like that, incredibly complicated tasks have been broken down and can now be done by a system that has been put in place.
Don’t worry, you won’t have to hire a super intelligent AI machine to fire everyone. Not even close.
This is simply an extreme example of how powerful simple processes are.
Here’s an example a little closer to home.
What makes a good legal assistant?
Let’s say you hire a new assistant called Doug and he does the following:
1. Creates a questionnaire to gather the exact info you need when a client comes on board.
2. Prepares all the papers so that the client simply has to sign the dotted line when they come in.
3. He scans all of your mail, sends it to your email so that you can quickly look at what’s important without needing to go through physical papers.
4. Keeps a detailed call log with who called, what they needed, and how it was resolved.
5. And manages to bring you tea and coffee when you want it.
You’d think, “Wow what a great hire”.
Lucky breaks like that, hardly ever happen. Yet, if you have a system in place that details each one of those tasks, then your staff will automatically be Doug, the perfect employee.
Right now you may be thinking, “Yeah, that’s greeeaaat, but how does that make me rich and spend more time with my family on vacation?”
Good question.
Here’s how.
Once you have systems in place, hiring staff is easy. It even becomes a doodle to hire another attorney. Because guess what? You even have a system in place for hiring and firing staff.
None of it has to be done by you.
Step 2: Dominate one area of law at a time
So, you are the superman at marketing your law firm now. You can easily dominate a single area of law.
You may be tempted to run off and promote every area of law you do. Don’t.
Relax, and make sure you have the one area you are focusing on right now down to a tee.
Let’s say one of the areas of law you specialize in is criminal law.
Break that down into sub-sections. For example, DUI.
Get a steady stream of DUI clients through the door and have a streamlined system in place to deal with them.
This will massively increase your profitability. Not only will you get more per client because of the strategies outlined on this website, but you will cut the costs of helping the client with processes.
Now your income has gone up and your costs have gone down. All because you focused on one area of law and streamlined it.
Then, and only then should you start on the other areas of law you have capabilities in.
Step 2a: Dominate other locations
You now have two choices. Expand on the areas of law or expand your locations. Both have their benefits and drawbacks.
So, I’ll cover both.
Once you have an area of law streamlined, you may be well served to dominate another location.
I call this the “Skinny Move” because it costs so little to do and gets you paid before making any big investments.
For example, if you have an office in Scottsdale AZ, you may want to have an office in Happy Valley too.
You will simply implement the same principles that have made your law office successful in the new location. After all, everything has been systemized (more on that in a minute).
Hire temporary office space from Regus or something similar.
Hire an attorney to see clients in that newly rented office.
You can still route phone calls to your main office. You don’t have to duplicate phone answering to multiple offices. That is a recipe for waste.
Once you have clients coming in, you’ll find enough money to set up a fully functioning office. Remember, you have systems for everything, so the move can be done by your office manager.
That’s why it is called a skinny move.
You can do this all over the state. Before you know it, you can have a dozen or more profitable law offices that work on one area of law, while you simply manage them (if you want to). You can even hire a CEO to do that.
Trust me when I say, other attorneys will look at you with extreme admiration mixed with jealousy.
And it doesn’t have to stop there. You can even move beyond your state. You simply need to hire attorneys who are bar qualified there.
Step 2b: Dominate other areas of law
This step is slightly harder than the previous step. By sticking to one area of law you can duplicate the processes. Your staff become very specialized and can easily implement it in another location.
However, if you want to become one of the rickets attorneys in the country, you can start this step after the specialization of a specific area of law is complete.
Naturally, getting four areas of law working for you is roughly four times the profit. However, things get more complicated and your staffing costs rise. It is easier to mix things up and make a mistake. Therefore, having systems in place becomes more important than ever.
You might even want to have different departments to handle each area so that you can individually streamline each area of law.
1. Hire an attorney who is qualified in that area of law.
2. Set up the marketing and advertising systems you are outsourcing.
3. Get clients and implement all the systems for client management.
Simply rinse and repeat for each area of law you want to cover.
Step 3: Limit your work and free up your time.
The less work you do, the more staff you have, the less profitable you are. This is what stops most attorneys from delegating to staff.
However, that thinking literally dooms most attorneys to a life of misery. Ironically, at the same time they end up making less money by trying to save.
Firstly, by streamlining how your practice is run, the staff you have right now can do more with the time they have. Everyone becomes more efficient.
This effectively gives you another member of staff without needing to hire anyone.
Secondly, you need to be more selfish with your time. If you are billing $200 per hour for your time, every single hour you can free up is saving you money.
For example, by getting your assistant, who gets $15-$20 per hour, to prepare a lot of the paperwork, you have cut costs by 90%.
It cost your firm $20 instead of $200. Remember, your time matters just as much as your staff. You have to account for it.
Thirdly, by being able to remove yourself from tasks means you can focus on growing your law firm.
Knowing how to run a law firm without you needing to be present is the golden goose.
Getting other attorneys to do your legal work for you is a great step in that direction. Yes, you do give away profits, however you make up for it in volume.
For example.
If your law firm makes a profit of $200,000 per year, bringing on another attorney would cost you about half that.
So now, your income has been cut by $100,000. That sounds awful, doesn’t it?
Yet, since you reduced your costs with systems, you can offset the vast majority of that.
Also, you can handle double the number of clients. Now, all of the sudden, with the same amount of effort you can reach a profitability of $400,000-$600,000 per year.
But that includes you working your butt off like you used to.
Removing yourself and having 3-4 offices will give you more money, for less work.
Having 10-12 offices will put you far into the millions, without you needing to be present. All of it well worth it if you ask me.
Don’t be afraid to get top-notch attorneys, who are expensive, to work for you. Remember, technically you aren’t paying them, the client is. Financing will make it easy for clients to afford your new high-performing attorney.
In the next article we’re going to look at some of the systems. We’ve looked over checklists in a previous article, but this time we’ll specifically look at them as assets who will help you to streamline and offload work.
If all you did was use a system to streamline your law firm to save thousands every year even if you didn’t grow, would it be worth it?
If all you did was use a system to make your life easier, would it be worth it?
If all you did was use a system to double your income, would it be worth it?
My point is, you don’t need to become a huge statewide law firm with millions in your bank account. You can simply use this stuff to be more profitable with what you’ve already got.
However, it is an astonishing way to grow and gain financial freedom.
Step 4: Take this shortcut
You could skip a lot of the hard work and simply hire us to do it for you.
Not convinced yet, by all of the articles and information we’ve handed out?
Good. Then read what Greg H. had to say about us:
“Everyone at BMM has been great to work with. Very professional. They have a wonderful understanding of marketing and are willing to help their clients grow and learn. Would recommend to anyone looking to grow their business.”
Still not convinced?
No problem
Greg is not the only one. You can read dozens of reviews from attorneys here.
So, when you are finally ready to outsource the growth of your law firm, book a 1-1 appointment with us here.
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