Tips

Are You All About That Solo Life?
By: Angela N. Nicewonder

Some attorneys dream of hanging up their own shingle as soon as bar results come out, while others fall into the life, either out of convenience, the job market, or any number of other reasons. Unless you have a mentor that runs his or her own practice or a family member that does the same, the knowledge behind running the business itself is where fear of the unknown often comes into play. The most valuable tips to give a starting solo are those that save money and help maintain a work-life balance. Here are a few of my personal favorites:

Start with a virtual office or no office. Affording a full-time office may be out of the question for a lot of new solo practitioners. Fortunately, companies that rent out office space have caught on to this and have come up with the solution of virtual offices. With virtual offices you normally pay a monthly fee that allows you to reserve office space on an hourly basis.  There may or may not be an additional hourly fee for the use of the space, so make sure you check before signing up. There are typically different monthly price plans you can sign up for, with the more expensive plans including access to larger conference rooms for a set number of hours per month, telephone answering services, and other perks.

If the virtual office route is out of price range as well, you can opt for no office. You can often meet the client in their area of town at a local coffee shop or bookstore café. Potential clients often appreciate it when you are willing to meet them close to where they are if you just “happen” to be on their side of town for another meeting that day. If the client is too far away for that to work then suggest a halfway point, as it is appreciated just as much.

Use a no-charge or low-cost phone service for your business line. This is one of the best practices I have found to help with work-life balance. The downside to a client having your personal number is that they feel you are easily accessible at 9 p.m. for a random question that popped into their head about something that could have waited until 9 a.m. the next day. To combat this you should look into VoIP or internet calling services. The companies that provide these services may offer different features, but some of the best to look out for are voicemail to email conversion, texting capabilities, and the most important: a different, local phone number. The best part of these services is that many options are free to use.

Most of these services work on your current phone by downloading the company’s application. With a few changes to the app’s settings, it can allow you to choose to use your company or personal number before dialing (avoiding the inconvenience of revealing your personal number to a client). But perhaps the best work-life balance feature is that of the disable button. This function allows you to disable incoming calls, which sends the caller straight to voicemail. This is ideal for those who want to shut down after 5 p.m. or whenever you want some freedom in your evening or weekend. When you are ready to get started the next day simply turn off the disable feature.

Find cost-effective advertising methods. Billboards and commercials may be the long-term goal for your law firm, but they are often way out of price range when you are just getting started. Some of the best low-cost advertising methods are found on social media. Whether you are more comfortable with Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, or Twitter, each platform usually has the ability to create a business page where you can pay to get your name in the public’s newsfeed or sidebar. Some often let you advertise for as little as $5 and increase from there. Of course the more you pay, the more people will be able to see your ad. But there is no shame in starting small and working your way toward funding more advertising as your practice grows.

Another resource is creating your own website through a company that provides website building services, which are often only a nominal monthly fee. After you have finished designing your website and publish it for viewing, you can use website promoting services to have your website appear as one of the first two or three sites listed when someone runs a search for your area of law or asks a certain question in the search bar. Run an internet search to see what companies have the best options as far as visibility for the amount you are able to pay. Just like social media, the more you pay, the more people will see your site, so it is another great option for starting small and working toward higher visibility later.

Customize these tips to fit your firm and preference and do research to find more tips. The more you know and implement, the more your practice can grow.

Angela N. Nicewonder is the owner of her general practice law firm Nicewonder Law Group, PLLC. The firm focuses on family law and provides services in many other areas of law as well. You can contact her at angela@nicewonderlawgroup.com.