This is all I post about these days...
We're almost 3 months in to actually opening up our own law firm.
We're coming p on the 1-year anniversary of the day that we decided to actually go through with this idea, and not just talk about it.
And this year is starting off great.
It was one thing, when planning to start our own business, to look at the date we expected to be licensed, see that it was during the holidays when work is generally slow, and say "we probably won't make any money for a month or two and we'll have to live off of our savings." It was another thing entirely to actually live through those months. There was a lot of doubt as to whether or not we'd made a good decision, whether we actually vocalized it or not. We spent about $8,000 or so on start-up costs and overhead in 2009, and only brought in about $1,000 in fees - it wasn't even enough to pay our bills, much less pay ourselves. We knew we'd lose money the first year, but like I said, it's one thing to know that intellectually, it's another thing to live through it.
Three weeks ago this Sunday, Leigh and I had a long discussion of where we were going from there. We had been licensed about 2 months, and we only had a handful of clients - mostly legal aid referrals, where we get paid AFTER all the work is completed. We had been doing quite a bit of work in December and were keeping busy, but we hadn't actually been paid for any of it yet. And although we had some meetings with potential private clients set up the next week, we weren't exactly sure what would come of those meetings and if we'd even make enough to cover our overhead costs for the next month, or if we'd have to dip into our personal savings. Again. It was a gut check, to be sure.
And then something happened that Monday. I don't know what switch flipped, but our phone literally started ringing off the hook. Since then, we've been swamped, and not just with legal aid referrals. Referrals started coming in from a myriad of sources, friends, family, the internet, LRS, etc. We went from almost nothing on our calendar, to consultations, client meetings, and court dates every day for the entire rest of the month. And it's not slowing down.
It's a good feeling, being busy (and actually getting paid). And being good at what we're doing isn't too shabby either. We've represented our clients in court in four different central Texas counties so far; and we've "won" every hearing that we've had in front of a lot of different courts. We've even won at the appellate level as of this past Friday (well, kinda - we weren't the appellate counsel, but we helped them with the facts for the brief and that got us a favorable outcome). I know that our record is going to change at some point (I've been told that if you aren't losing sometimes, you aren't in court enough), but right now our record is still perfect.
And worrying about if we were going to be able to pay all of our bills with revenue from our work? Not a problem right now. We covered all of our bills for January and paid ourselves a modest sum, and have already paid all of the bills for February. We aren't making the same amount as a first year associate at a big law firm, but we're no longer eating into our savings and we're making enough money to support ourselves.
We are in a great place business-wise right now, but we're not taking anything for granted. We have to keep working hard, keep doing well by our clients, and keep building relationships, but I know that success will follow. I've certainly made a few mistakes, and there are a few things that I would have done differently, but I'm happy being where I am after being in business for 3 months, and I know that the sky is the limit.
We're coming p on the 1-year anniversary of the day that we decided to actually go through with this idea, and not just talk about it.
And this year is starting off great.
It was one thing, when planning to start our own business, to look at the date we expected to be licensed, see that it was during the holidays when work is generally slow, and say "we probably won't make any money for a month or two and we'll have to live off of our savings." It was another thing entirely to actually live through those months. There was a lot of doubt as to whether or not we'd made a good decision, whether we actually vocalized it or not. We spent about $8,000 or so on start-up costs and overhead in 2009, and only brought in about $1,000 in fees - it wasn't even enough to pay our bills, much less pay ourselves. We knew we'd lose money the first year, but like I said, it's one thing to know that intellectually, it's another thing to live through it.
Three weeks ago this Sunday, Leigh and I had a long discussion of where we were going from there. We had been licensed about 2 months, and we only had a handful of clients - mostly legal aid referrals, where we get paid AFTER all the work is completed. We had been doing quite a bit of work in December and were keeping busy, but we hadn't actually been paid for any of it yet. And although we had some meetings with potential private clients set up the next week, we weren't exactly sure what would come of those meetings and if we'd even make enough to cover our overhead costs for the next month, or if we'd have to dip into our personal savings. Again. It was a gut check, to be sure.
And then something happened that Monday. I don't know what switch flipped, but our phone literally started ringing off the hook. Since then, we've been swamped, and not just with legal aid referrals. Referrals started coming in from a myriad of sources, friends, family, the internet, LRS, etc. We went from almost nothing on our calendar, to consultations, client meetings, and court dates every day for the entire rest of the month. And it's not slowing down.
It's a good feeling, being busy (and actually getting paid). And being good at what we're doing isn't too shabby either. We've represented our clients in court in four different central Texas counties so far; and we've "won" every hearing that we've had in front of a lot of different courts. We've even won at the appellate level as of this past Friday (well, kinda - we weren't the appellate counsel, but we helped them with the facts for the brief and that got us a favorable outcome). I know that our record is going to change at some point (I've been told that if you aren't losing sometimes, you aren't in court enough), but right now our record is still perfect.
And worrying about if we were going to be able to pay all of our bills with revenue from our work? Not a problem right now. We covered all of our bills for January and paid ourselves a modest sum, and have already paid all of the bills for February. We aren't making the same amount as a first year associate at a big law firm, but we're no longer eating into our savings and we're making enough money to support ourselves.
We are in a great place business-wise right now, but we're not taking anything for granted. We have to keep working hard, keep doing well by our clients, and keep building relationships, but I know that success will follow. I've certainly made a few mistakes, and there are a few things that I would have done differently, but I'm happy being where I am after being in business for 3 months, and I know that the sky is the limit.