Read Blog Archives for Some Good Advice from Successful Solos

Second link of the day to Carolyn Elefant of My Shingle, who asks her readers if they ever bother reading blog archives. Quite a coincidence, since just hours earlier I linked to a post of hers that is more than two years old!

Anyway, her question got me thinking about the value of blog archives to solo startups.

I can't say that they helped me, because I did not seek their advice until I was in trouble. Had I looked at them from the outset, they might very well have helped. Indeed, I am implementing certain recommendations right now.

I think that anyone considering a solo practice should look at archives on all of the successful solo blogs (many of which are in the "Solos Doing It Right" blogroll in the right sidebar). They have anecdotal advice you won't find in many "how to" books. Plus, since some solo bloggers started their blogs either when they were planning their practice or early in their solo careers, their early posts are likely to be very relevant to your early solo practice (technology tips aside, perhaps).

Desperation from Day One May Not Be a Bad Idea

Carolyn Elefant, of My Shingle fame, had a post a few years ago that I ran across only recently. She titled it Are You Desperate Enough to Succeed as a Solo? She wrote, in part:

[I]f you want to succeed in starting a law firm, desperation, or more accurately, the willingness to do something absolutely desperate to bail out a case or save your firm can serve you well. I was reminded of the power of desperation when I read this article about a woman who dove into a disgusting fast food dumpster to salvage her thesis. Yes, she should have had a back up copy so the mess was partly her fault anyway. But sometimes in the practice of law, things go wrong despite our best efforts . . . We can allow our desperation to overcome us - or like the dumpster-diving grad student, we can use our desperation to overcome our circumstances. It's been my experience that the solo and small firm lawyers who've got it in them to take the latter path almost always succeed.

Now, desperation is a quality I currently possess in spades. And I am doing my utmost to get it to help me overcome my present circumstances.

But I think one key to success may be to start feeling desperate about the survival of your firm from the day you open your doors. Not so desperate that you project desperation, because that will just scare away prospective clients and referring lawyers. But just desperate enough to drive you harder than you might normally operate would be a good thing.

I spent a lot of time trying to build relationships (at the expense of more advertising or other "direct" marketing), and everything I read said it would take time for those relationships to bear fruit. With a few exceptions, I'm still waiting. Relationship-building is not for the desperate. Desperation calls for more direct approaches, I think.

It will be easier for you to act desperate if you abhor debt and you don't want to see your savings dwindle. Don't think of your savings or a line of credit as a cushion. Think of them as emergency rations to be eaten only after you are stranded, then do everything humanly possible not to get stranded, and if you do get stranded, make it as temporary a situation as possible.

Perhaps the mindset is well illustrated by a different BigLaw colleague of mine, who always lived at the limit of his means. A nicer house, cars, etc. than he could really afford. He said the lack of a cushion spurred him to greater success. That just may be the trick. Pretend you're him.

It was also expressed well in point no. 7 of a 7-point guide to overcoming fear of failure at PickTheBrain, which was linked to by Build a Solo Practice, LLC:

7. Burn the boats - When ancient Greek armies traveled across the sea to do battle, the first thing they would do after landing was to burn the boats, leaving them stranded. With no way to make it home besides victory, the resolve of the soldiers was strengthened. When success and failure are the only options, you have no choice but to follow through.

Except I am recommending only that you to act as if your boats are burned, not to actually do it.

And for a contrary view on burning one's boats, read the first comment at the PickTheBrain post. By the way, I only spent a few minutes over at PickTheBrain's blog, but from what I saw, it looks like an excellent blog to follow for personal motivation and peodctivity tips, both of which will be important when opening your practice.

The Catharsis of Blogging

I've been at this blog less than a week, and I must say that the catharsis it affords me already has me feeling much better about my prospects. Being able to turn my mistakes into lessons for others has been great for my mental health. So things are already looking up.

Here's One Mistake I Haven't Made (and Won't Make)

Solo in Chicago provides a link to a newspaper story about a lawyer who is now behind bars thanks to his practice of continuing to take retainers from clients during the time his license was suspended.

EVERYTHING is Secondary to Getting Clients

When you start to research how to open your practice, you're going to see advice on everything: technology, office space, library, setting your fees, etc. These things are all secondary to the FIRST thing you need to accomplish: getting clients.

If I were doing it all over again, I would rent the smallest, cheapest office I could, preferably on a month-to-month or short-term lease basis, put a phone, computer and printer/scanner copier in it (and locate the nearest Kinko's for those big copy jobs). The rest of my infrastructure could have been put in place as I went along.

I have a lovely office, but with only sporadic work, it's a little like being all dressed up with no place to go.

The Virtual Office

Guest-blogging at Build a Solo Practice, LLC, Stephanie Kimbro has this post about her virtual office set up. She has no physical office. For the tech-minded, this description of her on-line office sounds great:

My vlo [virtual law office] is my entire law office. My client files, client data, billing, invoices, accounts receivable, other accounting and administrative tools, calendars and other data management tools are located in the backend of the office. I have a central point where all of my cases are organized and it shows me the status and priority for better time management.

***

On my client’s side, they have access to their own homepages where they may view all of our online communications, pay me online, download and upload documents, and update client data, among other features. My clients feel like they can communicate with me 24/7 and on weekends which is a convenience to them and helps them feel like they are kept current on the status of the legal services they have asked me to work on.

Many lawyers are skittish about putting confidential information on-line, but Kimbro notes that communication via a secure internet connection is safer than transmitting information via e-mail.

Some lawyers have been using Basecamp or Backpack as lighter version of the vlo, but Kimbro and her husband have developed a complete "virtual law office" software package. To see how Kimbro has implemented it, go to her post for a link to her website.

If your practice or anticipated practice is amenable to this sort of set-up, it sounds like a great way to reduce overhead -- not to mention the tax break you'll get for working out of your house.

Don't Get Over Your Head in Overhead

If you're reading up on how to open your own law office, you will see advice to keep your overhead to a minimum. Take that advice seriously.

When I rented my office space, I spent about $600 more per month than I ideally wanted to. But the space was so nice, you see. It looked so professional. And it had a separate conference room. So in addition to the higher rent, I also spent around $2000 on a conference table and chairs.

All of this would have been fine if I had been able to generate more traffic into the office. As it is, I figure that conference room furniture cost about $100 per client or client prospect that has actually sat in the conference room, and right now I really wish my bank account had the extra $18,000 I've paid in rent these last 30 months.

And I don't think the "professionalism" of my office helped me sign a single client.

By all means, start with shared space or a sublease if at all possible. Home office, even better.

Don't Overcomplicate Your Marketing

One of the eerie things about reading self-help or advice materials is that in describing the "problem" they seek to address, their description of the person with the problem sounds exactly like me. It's as if the author had been following me around, watching my every move for the last six months.

It happened most recently when I read this post at Business Development, in which the author writes about how lawyers tend to complicate their marketing efforts by planning and analyzing them to death rather than just getting out there and doing it. Geez, that was almost painful to read.

But "getting out there and doing it," thank God, is something I have already willed myself to do. Fortunately, I had recognized this over-planning problem months ago and have already started correcting it. It's a problem related more generally to the problem of perfectionism, which makes one plan something to death before trying it. I'll have lots more to say about perfectionism in posts to come, I'm sure, for it has dogged me for quite a while.

But boy, did this over-planning ever screw me up for the first 18 months or so of my practice. As a result, I am way behind where I should be in results from marketing.

Here's what the post's author writes to help you overcome fears of giving a speech:

Fine, you probably won't win any prizes for style. Your speech may stink. Your conversations may be awkward. You may feel like an idiot. But you will learn more from actually trying and seeing what happens than you will from a hundred hours spent crafting The Perfect Newsletter. And you know what else? It will be far, far more effective than you suspect.

There's an old adage in sales that applies here. If you're a salesperson, and you meet a hundred prospects -- that is, stand in front of them, and talk to them, you will sell one-third of them, no matter how bad you are. They need what you have, and that's that. Another third will not buy what you are selling, no matter how great you are at communicating. They don't need it, and that's that. The third third, the swing vote, are the ones you can sway with skill. But if you see enough people, even if you have Tourette's Syndrome, you will make plenty of sales.

Ironically, speaking is the one thing of which I am pretty much fearless. That is, I have no generic fear of speaking in front of people. I don't have to use tricks like imagining them all in their underwear to make them less intimidating.

At any rate, my advice is the same: whatever marketing method you select first, just get out there and do it starting on day one. Make a simple plan, then execute it.

Why I am Anonymous on this Blog

Think about it. If you were writing about your mistakes in starting your practice and getting clients, would you want people -- and possibly prospective clients -- to know it was you?

An attorney has to project trust, experience and confidence. I work very hard at projecting these things in my interpersonal communications. None of them would be easy to convey if prospects knew how little business I have right now, even if that is not in itself indicative of my skills.

The Wall Street Journal recently had an article about an attorney at some large law firm who was suffering from stress and burnout and started a website about it to help other lawyers. He is not anonymous. But I think he has less reason to be. He is a highly successful lawyer for a powerful firm serving powerful clients, apparently quite well in spite of the stress and burnout. In other words, he is writing about the downsides of success.

I, on the other hand, am not writing about success of any sort. Unless, of course, my efforts to turn around my practice work out.

I suppose there is a possibility I'll go public once day, but I'll have to be so wildly successful at that point that I will have no concern about words from this blog coming back to haunt me. But until that time, I'll probably have to be deliberately vague about certain things: my location, schooling, legal experience, my practice areas, etc. will probably only be described in general terms in order to preserve anonymity. I'll probably even have to be vague about my turnaround efforts, even though they are one of the main subjects of this blog.

I'll do what I can to make this blog useful while remaining anonymous.

About this Blog

Don't be deceived by the title of this blog, which might sound a little flip, tongue in cheek, maybe even satirical. This blog is not intended as a spoof of any of the fine solo practice blogs out there (many of which are in the blogroll to the right). Nor is this a legal humor blog like Above the Law, Lowering the Bar, Legal Antics, etc.

This blog is deadly serious.

I started my solo practice about two and a half years ago. It is horribly embarrassing to admit, but I still have negative cash flow most months. I have struggled like hell, mostly ineffectively, to get clients.

I can hold out for a few more months. But I have to turn things around quickly.

This blog will chronicle both my past failures and my current efforts. I'm hopeful I can get in the black soon. I have to. Wish me luck.