Your Law Firm Should Work For You.Not The Other Way Around.
We believe owning a law firm should give you more choices, not fewer. More control over your money. More control over your time. More opportunity to do work that matters.
That's why we don't define success by gross revenue alone. A successful law firm should produce the financial, personal, and professional results you want from owning it.
These Aren't Aspirations. They're Promises.
If you're going to trust us with your time, your money, your business, and ultimately some pretty important parts of your life, you deserve to know what you can expect from us. So we put it in writing.
You will always get at least a 5x ROI on every dollar you invest with us; this may take the form of dollars in your bank account or in other ways that matter to you, for example peace of mind, clarity, risk mitigation, etc.
You will have clarity on your goals: Financial, Personal, and Professional including why these goals really, truly matter enough to you such that you will move into action instead of settling for excuses.
You will have a written plan for how each of The 7 Main Parts of Your Business™ can work together to help you achieve your goals. Your plan will make sense. It will be practical. It will trackable & measurable and will not be based on luck or magic.
You will be held accountable for taking action against your plan. You will have access to real-world proven resources (no theories) including training, tools, templates, answers, and explanations, to help you take action against your plan.
You can count on us to know (and care about) what is going on in your business and how that affects your life; one of the ways we do this is by being sure your file including your business plan, budget and KPI's are complete & up to date.
You will be told the truth, even if you hate us for it.
Especially That Last One.
And sometimes the biggest thing standing between your law firm and the next version of your law firm is you.
- Sometimes you need more leads.
- Sometimes you don't.
- Sometimes you need another lawyer.
- Sometimes you need to stop hiring and get more productivity from the people you already have.
- Sometimes you need more revenue.
- Sometimes you need to stop obsessing about revenue and fix your profit.
- Sometimes you need better systems.
- Sometimes you need better financial controls.
We're not doing you any favors by making you comfortable with the wrong answer. We diagnose first so we can solve the right problems.
Schedule A DiagnosticValues Aren't Something You Put On A Wall.
They should influence how we hire, how we manage, how we make decisions, how we treat our members, and what we're willing, and unwilling, to do.
Pursuit of Truth = Reality
We want to know what's actually happening. Not what we hope is happening. Not what it feels like is happening. And not what makes any of us feel better. Reality gives us something useful to manage.
Stand For Profit
Profit isn't a dirty word. A profitable law firm can invest in better people, better systems, better client service, greater stability, more opportunities, and a better life for its owner.
Live For Full Potential
We don't believe you built your law firm merely to survive it. There's a better version of your business, and probably a better version of you as its owner, waiting to be built.
Be Purposeful
Know what you want. Know why you want it. Then organize the business around accomplishing it.
Take & Give 100% Personal Responsibility
We don't outsource responsibility. We'll take responsibility for our commitments to you. And we'll expect you to take responsibility for yours. Because your results ultimately require action.
Stay Curious
Ask questions. Challenge assumptions. Look at the numbers. Be willing to discover that the problem, or the opportunity, isn't where you thought it was.
Be Imaginative
The law firm you own today doesn't have to be the law firm you own tomorrow. You get to invent something better.
Don't Overcomplicate Things
Business can become complicated enough all by itself. Our job is to help you make the complicated understandable, practical, measurable, and executable.
Always Be Relevant
What matters is what your law firm needs now. The right solution for a $300,000 firm isn't necessarily the right solution for a $3 million firm. And what got you here may not be what gets you where you're going next.
T.A.Y.E. A.S.T.U.Y.A.
“This Sounds Great. But I Don't Have Enough Time.”
We hear this from law firm owners. And we understand why. You're practicing law. Clients need you. Employees need you. There are cases to manage, bills to collect, people to hire, fires to put out, and about seventeen things somebody wants you to decide before lunch.
So where exactly are you supposed to find the time to work on the business?
You're Probably Not Going To "Find" The Time.
And waiting until things calm down is not a business strategy. Because if the law firm is built around you doing everything, things aren't going to magically calm down.
Before joining the Waiting Room, I was working 80–90 hours a week and couldn't imagine doing anything differently. The confidence, systems, and accountability I gained gave me the courage to hire, implement KPIs, forecast cash flow, and finally start leading my firm instead of carrying it.
You Don't Need Better "Time Management."
You Need Different Priorities.
We Call It Time Bending.
You only have 24 hours in a day. We're not going to magically give you 27. But we can help you change what your 24 hours produce.
- At the beginning, an hour might produce an hour of your legal work.
- Then you use an hour to train somebody else. That person starts producing work without requiring that hour from you.
- Then you build a system. The system allows multiple people to produce consistently.
- Then you build managers who manage the people and systems.
Eventually, the same hour of your time can influence dozens, or hundreds, of hours of productive work throughout the organization.
And Yes, That Means Learning To Use Your Team.
If you're doing the work of the receptionist, secretary, paralegal, associate, rainmaker, administrator, CFO, and owner, you shouldn't be surprised that you don't have enough time.
Every one of those jobs still exists in your law firm. The question is who should be doing them?
We'll help you learn how to delegate. How to manage. How to create accountability. How to build systems. How to get the right people into the right seats. And perhaps most importantly, how to let those people actually do their jobs.
Before You Join Us
You Will Have To Change.
Your law firm cannot become a substantially different business while you remain exactly the same owner.
That can be uncomfortable. Growth usually is. We're not promising to make everything easy. We're promising to help you build something better.
You Won't Be Doing This Alone.
This is the other part of the "I don't have enough time" objection that matters. We're not handing you another giant pile of homework and wishing you luck.
The goal is to build a law firm where everybody is doing the right job. Including you.
Imagine What Happens When Your Time Changes.
- • You stop being interrupted by every problem.
- • Your team learns to make decisions.
- • Your systems answer questions before someone has to ask you.
- • Your financial reports tell you what's happening instead of requiring you to guess.
- • Your managers manage.
- • Your lawyers practice law.
And gradually something very important happens: Your law firm starts giving time back to you.
Now, I've been able to offload 85% of my production work, so I can focus on the things I need to do to grow my business while my team takes care of everything else.
I joined How to Manage when I was 13 weeks pregnant with one singular goal: to take a maternity leave. But thanks to the systems and procedures we put in place, I was able to take a completely uninterrupted four-month maternity leave.
You’ll Have A Rhythm Of Support.
Working with How To Manage A Small Law Firm doesn’t mean getting a plan and then being left alone to figure out how to execute it.
Depending on your level of service, you’ll meet one-on-one with your advisor, or advisors, weekly or monthly by video. These meetings give you dedicated time to review what’s happening in your law firm, work through challenges, look at your numbers, adjust priorities, and stay accountable to the plan.
But you don’t have to wait until your next scheduled meeting every time you need help.
You’ll Have More Ways To Get The Help You Need.
You’ll also have access to office hours, classes, training programs, and other opportunities to learn and get support throughout the month.
Some you’ll want to attend yourself.
Others you can send your team to.
Because one of the ways you get more time back is by stopping yourself from being the only person in the law firm who knows what to do.
Your staff can learn.
Your managers can grow.
Your team can develop new capabilities.
And instead of every problem eventually finding its way back to your desk, you begin building a business full of people who are increasingly capable of solving problems without you.
The Goal Is Not To Give You More To Do.
The goal is to help you build a law firm capable of doing more without everything requiring more from you.
You’ll have your one-on-one advisor meetings.
You’ll have office hours when you need additional help.
You’ll have classes and programs you can choose to attend.
You’ll have resources your staff can participate in.
And you’ll have a management system designed to help you decide what deserves your attention, and what should belong to somebody else.
Over time, your priorities change.
Your team changes.
Your role changes.
And the way you use your time changes.
That’s How The Business Starts Giving Time Back To You.
You Don't Need To Have Time Before You Start.
You Need To Decide That Building A Better Business Is Worth Your Time.
If you're already overwhelmed, that's not necessarily a reason to wait. It may be evidence that something in the business needs to change. You don't need to know exactly what. That's why we start with The Diagnostic.
Schedule A DiagnosticDiagnose first. Solve what matters.
One Conversation. The Right Questions. Complete Clarity.
Schedule a Diagnostic Call Now