Side Hustle: Your Hobbies Can Help You Market Your Practice

I’m fond of telling lawyers that if they’re not making enough money out of their practices to generate a viable living, then they have a hobby, not a business. 

 

But, I don’t mean to denigrate hobbies.  Hobbies are great.  And, many lawyers are far too focused on being lawyers to develop one – but, they should!  Lawyers are people, too, and need an outlet. 

 

Sure, it’s good to be a well-rounded person; but, having a hobby can also help you to drive business. 

 


Look, everybody’s got specific things they’re interested in – and, some of them are weird, frankly.  But, the crazy thing about it is that there is a community out there for everyone.  Like basketball?  You can find others who do.  Maybe scrimshaw’s your thing?  Somebody else likes it, too.  Collect state spoons?  Somebody’s grandma does, and you two can hang. 

 

The point is that attorneys can lean into their hobbies, to meet like-minded individuals.  And, those like-minded individuals can become referrals sources.  Just making yourself visible within a group, without even selling anything directly, can lead to the generation of new clients and referrals.  Everybody asks you what you do, at some point.  There’s your in.  And, this is also a great way to meet non-lawyers, which attorneys generally don’t make enough of an effort to do. 

 

Now, joining a group is one thing; and, there are plenty around.  But, what’s even better is if you can start your own group.  Organizing a rec basketball league for your lawyer friends, setting up a scrimshaw group in your neighborhood, or even hosting a weekly meeting to address current issues in state spoon collecting – that makes you look like a boss, and as the leader of the group, you’ll get the most referrals.  People who believe you’re competent in one area of your life (like running a group), will assume your competency in another area, like practicing a specific type of law. 

 

. . . 

 

Want to become a group leader?  We can help! 

Through a unique partnership between the bar association and Jared Correia's Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, National Creditors' Bar Association members now have access to experienced law practice management consultants at a special discount rate. To get started, visit Red Cave's NCBA landing page, and start running your law practice like a business.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top Shelf: How to Maximize Lawyer Staff in a Modern Law Firm

Image
Broadly speaking, lawyers take on too much.  You know: at work, emotionally.  They’re probably also trying to carry too many grocery bags into the house at one time.  You know how it is.     This, of course, leads to a whole host of problems, including that attorneys have higher incidences of alcohol and drug dependence, as well as depression, than does the general population .  Maybe you already knew that.  But, the fact is that this also has a direct effect on how much a lawyer can make. Hear me out: Because lawyers try to do everything, and to do everything perfectly, they’re also more prone than the general population to take on more work than they need to.  For example, they’re unwilling to delegate, including to paralegal and administrative staff, but also to other attorneys.  That means that lawyers end up being chief cook and bottlewasher, rather than focusing on the high-end work (strategy , client engagement), that they get paid the most for.     That’s why developing proces
Read more

Hiring Percentage: What is the Law Firm Hit Rate for Bringing on Staff?

Image
Some lawyer s get burned hiring staff, whether it’s legal assistant s , paralegals or other attorneys .  But, just because you miss out once, in trying to hire somebody, doesn’t mean you should give up forever .  There are distinct advantages to bring ing on employees, including increased control over work product + improved revenue generation models.   In my experience, I’ve found that law firms connect on a successful hire (across all employee categories) about 40% of the time .  That may seem like a low number , but it represents about a 50% hit rate, meaning that every other hire should yield a viable staffperson , who’ll stay on between 3-5 years – which is not too bad, in the modern economy.     Putting that into baseball terms, which folks often do when trying to rationalize failure : your hiring batting average as a law firm, is about equivalent to Ted Williams’ 1941 season , when he was the last baseball player to hit .400 over a full seasons . . . over 80 years ago.
Read more

New or Noob: How Law Firms Tend to Hire

Image
Every lawyer I’ve ever met wants to do everything on their own.  In other words, every lawyer secretly desires to be a solo attorney.  Of course, there comes a time when your business grow s  to the point that you need some real help; and, since you can’t clone yourself, it’s necessary to hire.   Many attorneys who start to hire want to do so as cheaply as possible; and, that often means, in addition to  probably not offering substantial benefits (or, maybe opting for a contractor), that lawyer will hire another attorney or paralegal or legal assistant with little to no experience.  The low salary is appealing, as is the presumed clean slate being offered: you can train someone up now, exactly the way you want to.   But, that line of thinking can be replete with holes.  In the first instance, this notion of law firm training is more theory than practice -- as this purported intensive training for attorneys and paralegals and legal assistants doesn’t really ever materialize
Read more