If your goal is to build a business that sustains itself and keeps going regardless of your moment-by-moment involvement, then you need to focus on revenue at the outset. Marketing is the key. An external focus is required.
If your revenue is under $1,000,000 a year, then your focus needs to be on revenue.
Don’t worry about systems, management, or technology. Worry about revenue.
Sure, you’ll have to figure out how to get things done, but just do it—don’t dwell on it. Don’t invest in the internal issues, and don’t let them fill your mind. You need to stay focused like a laser beam on revenue. Grow the business. Fix the business later.
Don’t stress about documenting your processes, hiring your team, or choosing a practice management system. Stress about revenue.
Don’t get distracted by whether you need an associate, a paralegal, or a receptionist. Decide how you’re going to hit the million dollars.
What It Takes to Make $1 Million
At $300 per hour, you’ll hit $1,000,000 at 64 billable hours per week (likely less with fixed fees, contingent fees, or a higher hourly rate). Get there any way you want:
- 32 hours each for two lawyers,
- 21 hours for each of three lawyers,
- one lawyer with a small group of paralegals,
- one lawyer and handful of lawyers in India, or
- two lawyers and one paralegal.
Whatever. It’s $20,000 a week. Just get there.
Get to $1,000,000 before you turn your focus to the internal operation of the law firm. Demonstrate to yourself that you can build a client-generation machine before you start focusing on how to run the machine. It’s all about survival when you’re below $1,000,000.
Once you get your run rate to $1 million, you’ll have the resources you need to figure out the internal issues. You can then hire the advice and assistance you need to get things streamlined and smoothed out.
Before you hit $1 million, you don’t have enough work to require many systems or processes. With two lawyers working hard and billing 32 hours a week (6.5 per day, more or less), you don’t need lots of team members, software, or processes. You just need to work long hours and stay focused.
Sure, below $1,000,000, you’re going to have challenges and encounter difficulties. But it’s imperative that you patch things together and stay focused on revenue. Don’t launch major initiatives focused on the internal. Stay focused on the external: the market, the new clients, the referral sources, and the marketing message and tactics. Drive toward the revenue target. The momentum you achieve driving toward the target will keep you going once you turn part of your focus to the internal issues.
Where to Concentrate Before and After $1 Million
Below $1,000,000, the focus needs to stay on building revenue. You’ll have limited time to focus on the business. You’ll be busy getting the work in and getting it out the door. The limited time you have can’t be spread thin. That’s why you need to devote it to the marketing activity.
Recognize that every second you spend on management, technology, or finance before you get the business off the ground is a distraction from the core activity of generating the new business required to hit the target. Focus your limited resources on a single objective. Don’t spread yourself thin.
When we’re under $1,000,000 in annual revenue, we’re in survival mode. We’re just getting off the ground. We’re still a start-up. Once we’ve got the business going and proven that it’s viable and going to survive, then we can start refining and developing a plan for hitting the next million.
In the early stages of building our practices, far too many of us get distracted by issues that need not concern us. Focusing on generating business, getting the work done to the satisfaction of the client, and getting more business from happy clients and others is the mission-critical activity of the early days.
If you’re building a business that thrives with or without you, then get it solidly off the ground by staying focused on that first million. Get there quickly, and then shift your focus to building infrastructure and getting the internal elements of the business organized, tweaked, and perfected. For now, keep your focus strong. Marketing is the key.
