We don’t usually relate law with entrepreneurship. But as competition in the legal industry becomes more fierce, having an “entrepreneurial attorney mindset” becomes essential in growing a law firm and ensuring your business success. Why is this concept of an entrepreneurial attorney not talked about before? Why should an attorney running his solo law firm think like a good entrepreneur?
Below I share with you the “3Ds” as to why you should become an entrepreneur-lawyer: Dilemma, Driving Force, and Development. If you want to hear success stories on how other small businesses became successful businesses with this mindset, consider getting in touch with a business mentor or law firm advisor.
Dilemma: The Lawyer-Entrepreneur Tension
Lawyers running their legal business and entrepreneurs managing their startups are seen as two distinct breeds. While the product of successful entrepreneurship is often gauged by its profitability from selling tangible products or providing customers with daily necessities, a good law practice involves being a trusted source of legal advice or legal education for clients who have problems with the law.
Though the target market and entrepreneurial activity used to achieve business growth appear different between the two, both are passionate about solving consumer problems. The spirit of entrepreneurship is present in the blueprint of a lawyer who is also a business owner.
The most successful start-up entrepreneurs and business owners of law firms differ in their mindset. After spending years in law school, you may feel that you learned important legal strategies, how to practice law, and build your credentials. But you were not taught how to start your own business, grow your business, face competitions, and become profitable.
This is where mentorship from a law firm business coach provides the most value. If you’re putting your time and hard work into your law practice without seeing any business improvement even with accelerators such as technology or digital marketing, then it may be time to think as a “small business owner” and receive business advice from a legal systems expert.
Driving Force: The Businessman-Lawyer’s Mind
The secret of growing a business as an attorney is not in putting in more money, spending more time, or generating an innovative business idea. The truth is, these may just lead to lawyer burnout.
The secret in transforming your law firm into the best business it can be is not in online marketing tactics, branding, financial projections, human-resources, large customer base, legal seminars or business-school enrolment. Although these strategies will help you grow as a “business lawyer”, everything will hinge on your mindset.
In short, how you view yourself as a legal practice, what motivates you to continue your small business are the main drivers behind a thriving practice. With an entrepreneurial attorney’s mindset, you are forced to break the lawyer versus business and entrepreneurship dichotomy. Instead of thinking that lawyers only do the legal stuff and the rest is up to other employees, the successful entrepreneurial lawyer running his own practice embraces the importance of understanding the integration of business systems such as sales, operations, leadership, financials, and marketing.
If you need more convincing about the importance of developing this mindset today, consider the current financial and economic situation in light of the global health crisis. To ensure that you survive such trying times, consider finding a legal coach to guide you on how to self-manage your law firm and evaluate your business needs.
Development: The Aspiring Entrepreneurial Attorney’s Mindset
While some small law firms opt to invest in technological advances such as cloud computing, social media marketing, digital advertising, and business outsourcing, there is another thing you should consider: using systems to run your law practice. Systems are a set of interconnected processes or principles which dictate how things should be done. When applied to your law firm, having systems means choosing an organized scheme for doing business.
But how would thinking as an entrepreneur help? By developing this mindset, you get to see where to place systems because you understand how your business functions optimally.
Moreover, an entrepreneurial mindset helps you focus on what your clients need and how you can put up a system that would address their issues. As lawyers-turned-entrepreneurs, your mind should be set on growing your law firm business.
If you want a law firm advisor to guide you on how you can be an entrepreneur attorney, schedule a coaching session by video with Richard James, the legal systems expert who has been taking small law firms from chaotic into thriving businesses.
Think like an entrepreneur and start making money. Be a business-minded lawyer. Our law firm consultant will develop your entrepreneurial spirit to help you build a business that is thriving.
