If you want to see REAL growth in your law firm in 2021 and beyond there is one thing that you will need to learn to do that is really hard for us lawyers: you need to let go of your ego.
How Your Ego Creates Barriers in Law Firm Growth
Many lawyers fall into the trap of believing that the major responsibilities of their law firm can only be handled by them. This stems from ego and the state of believing that we are the best at what we do. This belief isn’t bad, in fact we need to hold on to this belief to some degree if we are to be successful at lawyering and taking care of our clients.
The problem comes when we believe we are necessary for everything in our law firm: the lawyering, the paralegals, the legal secretary, the ordering of supplies, the maintenance of infrastructure, and all the other components of a well-run law firm. When we believe that we are putting an ultimate cap on the growth of our firm because there are only so many hours in a day and only so many things we can accomplish in a day.
While many of us understand this concept in a broad sense and we hire paralegals and legal secretaries and have other people order office supplies, we still hold onto the conception of what our business can become and that it must be us.
Let Go of the Idea You Have to be the Only Lawyer
If you want to be able to select the cases you want to work and still grow a multi-million dollar law firm, then you need to let go of the idea that you have to be the only one servicing your clients. Otherwise you have to bill too many hours, charge a thousand dollars or more for your service, and need to guarantee that you can collect 100% of what you bill.
Instead, understanding that there are other lawyers who are just as qualified, diligent and capable as you are who can also serve your clients will help you to serve more clients, bill more hours, and ultimately create a firm that can not only generate revenue but also provide you the freedom you want while still receiving an income.
One of the main objections that are brought up when I discuss this concept with my Facebook groups and on my Facebook lives is that in the law, you are your reputation and your clients are looking to hire you, not your law firm.
How You Structure Your Firm Determines Growth
And to a certain extent, you are right. It is your name on the door and on the letterhead, and your reputation can be the reason why some people come to your firm. However, part of this also stems from the way you structure and market your firm.
When you believe the only reason why your clients come to your firm is to hire you then you structure your business around this belief. You communicate about your law firm a certain way, shape your marketing message a certain way and do your hiring all based on this belief.
And people want what they want and if a person comes to your firm and says they want to hire you you want to affirm their belief that this is the right decision, but you can also show them that there is something better for them to want. This is what I do in my firm. I tell people they are absolutely right to entrust their case to me, then I give them a little reframe that what they want isn’t me.
The Myths that Prevent Law Firm Growth
If you want to learn more about how you can help potential clients understand why what they want isn’t you and how to conquer the other myths that prevent law firm growth, you can listen to the latest episode of my podcast “Crushing Chaos with Law Firm Mentor.” In this episode I discuss how your marketing message can be shifted, how you can hire additional attorneys to enhance your law firm’s skill set, and how to let go of the fear of having another person do some of the work. You can listen to the full episode here.