- Sarah -
I've had my shingle out for a week and a half now, and it’s been very busy. Not that I’m constantly meeting with potential clients, but there is a lot to do in these beginning days just to make sure my firm can survive. I’m marketing like a mad woman, attending some CLE’s to get practical knowledge, and doing enough contract work to bring in some funds to keep things going.
I think I have my first client! I’ll have a better idea next week after we meet in the office and I tell him that I do actually charge for my fantastic services. If he doesn’t run out when I turn my back, then I will have my first paying client!
I’ve been trying multiple marketing techniques, from the standard to the bordering on pathetic and desperate. Marketing as a beginning solo feels a lot like job searching, but instead of trying to convince a firm they should hire you to give legal advice to the clients they already have, you’re trying to convince your friends, family, neighbors, other lawyers, and anyone stuck in an elevator with you for more than 30 seconds that you’re a fantastic lawyer who they should tell everyone they know about. (Here, take a business card.)
This idea scares the bejesus out of most new lawyers – trying to find new clients when you have nothing to start with. And I think if one were to sit on one’s hands and stare at their shiny new business phone, and assume the clients will be beating down their door in no time, they will be playing a lot of computer solitaire. I am prepared to have new clients trickle in for the first few months. My plan is to continue the contract I do now in order to keep my doors open while waiting for that trickle to turn into a steady stream.
I think something you absolutely need to start your own firm is faith – faith that your marketing efforts will eventually turn into clients, and that the business will grow as you’ve hoped over time.
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