Do you know what you really want your career (or law firm) to accomplish for you?

What are your real goals? In other words, why do you get up every morning and expend hours each day into your career? These likely aren't monetary or career orientated as much as they are about creating freedom, options, security and dreams fulfilled for yourself and your family.

Climbing "Mount Success" From the Top Down...

Write down your REAL reasons for practicing law, and then start working towards those goals right from day one.

My guess is that you didn't become a lawyer so that you could work long hours away from your family, get stressed out or live out of a suitcase for months on end - just for the sake of a larger number of digits in your bank account...

No, I'm willing to bet that you became a self-employed lawyer so that you could get yourself a slice of "the good life" by way of an ethical, upstanding, professional and truly sophisticated form of business - the practice of law.

And "the good life", as stated above, could mean any number of different things. Whether it means having the freedom to travel whenever you want, enough money to support your family for generations to come, the ability to help others around you or to have the resources to make a positive difference in your world - it's simply what you want out of life on an individual level.

And if you're not aiming at THAT SPECIFIC GOAL (what you really want) right from day one - then you'll likely never attain it. Instead, like most others, you'll get caught trying to pursue massive financial results from your law practice before acting on what you actually want to do - thinking that you need tons of money before you can start "living". (That's a dangerous lie, and it can cause even the best of us to become discouraged).

In fact, once you begin to specify your actual goals - you'll see that they're not actually too far off from where you're at right now. Some will even be well within your reach as of right now.

Now, success is a combination of creative thinking, goal setting (and goal realization), and implementation of your thoughts in the real world. So thinking about these things alone will not bring them to fruition, you must be able to transform your thoughts into consistent actions.

Consider the following points to gain a clear understanding of the start to end process of your objectives...

Point #1: Define what you want and how to get it.

As mentioned above, you can't get what you want out of your law firm - or out of life in general - until you know what you want, specifically.

So first, you need to define your aspirations. These are your "root" goals - such as freedom, flexibility, security, time with family, specific accomplishments, etc.

Then, determine what kind of resources are required in order to achieve your root goals. So for example, let's say that your root goals require an annual income of $250,000 or greater for a minimum of ten years. This means that your law practice would have to generate a certain amount of business in order to cover office, staffing and overhead expenses - as well as your target income. Let's say that this number is $1,000,000 in gross revenue.

From this point, it's simply a matter of doing the math. How many hours does your firm need to bill in order to generate $1,000,000 per year? Or, if you're bringing in money on a contingency basis, how many projects (based on your current average income per project) does your law firm need to complete successfully in order to reach that target?

This shows you - realistically - exactly what needs to happen in order for you to reach your goals.

It's brutally simple, yes - but considering that the only things in our economy that flourish are based on simplicity, it makes sense. Again, it's all about being able to quantify your desired results and working towards them realistically, instead of mindlessly just trying to "work harder" in order to somehow make things better than they are currently.

Point #2: Are you simply "working" - or are you building a practice that will be worth buying when it's time for you to retire or move on?

Always remember that as an attorney with your own practice, you're not just making money as you carry out the business of law - you're building an asset that can be used as leverage. In most cases, this equates to being able to sell your practice to a qualified legal professional looking to invest in a turnkey law firm business.

Considering the sweat, blood, tears and TIME that gets spent building up a consistent influx of clients (as well as efficient systems to manage the acquired business) - it's no wonder that several attorneys who venture out on their own will often consider taking over someone else's practice, instead of starting at "square one" with their own.

For the right lawyer, purchasing an existing practice can be a very smart move. It bypasses the initial momentum-building struggle, and they'll be stepping into a position with an existing reputation within its community. This is practically priceless for the right person, and it could be sold for a very respectable price as well.

For this reason, it's important to put yourself in the eyes of a prospective buyer (someone who might take over your law firm) right from day one - even if you're YEARS away from considering the thought of retiring or moving on.

Why?

Because you want to build up a practice that's worth buying. It needs to be profitable, your marketing efforts need to be quantifiable, effective and eventually sustainable (viral, word-of-mouth), and your law firm needs to basically run itself.

Nobody wants to invest in a big mess that will require a bunch of work to "get going" or take over. They want to step in, take the wheel and reap the benefits of a smooth-oiled, profitable law practice. Yes, you'll likely have a bit of a "transition period", where you'll remain an active member of the firm for a few months while things switch over to the new management, but either way, it still needs to be worth the investment.

So start building THAT right from day one...

Point #3: What are you waiting for?

In most cases, too many people "wait" for the optimum conditions before they venture out and do what they've been working for all along. When in reality, most of these things don't require substantial resources to carry out - if any at all.

Things like spending more time with your family, or going on vacations and so on - these don't have to be sacrificed for "later on", once you've reached some sort of intrinsic "level" of success.

Because the sad truth is that, a lot of people climb that mountain, only to realize that the self-created summit simply keeps on getting higher and higher the further they climb. Weave your REAL dreams, aspirations and goals into where you're at right now as well as down the road.

It's not hard to do both.

So go and be successful today, while simultaneously building a law firm that will spell out long-term success for you in every way that matters.

- LawyerBillingTips.com

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