By Jordan Turk
The beginning of a new year signals a clean slate and the equally reviled yet cherished New Year’s Resolutions. It’s natural to want to put our best foot forward at the onset of 2021. We want to be more serious about our health. We endeavor to spend more quality time with our family. We set goals to be better friends. We put so much emphasis on our personal resolutions, but professional resolutions can be just as important. Goal-setting for your law office is crucial to its continued success.
The problem is, setting resolutions concerning law firm management is less than desirable. Generally, no lawyer sits down and writes for their goals: (1) streamline my billing procedures; (2) optimize my law firm website; (3) draft a security policy for the office. It’s not thrilling. It’s not fun. However, these goals can make a huge impact to your firm’s bottom line (and your pocketbook). What’s more, it only takes a few minor changes to make a tangible difference to your cash flow.
So, I’m an attorney and want to make some goals for the new year. What do I need to do? First, recognize that no firm is perfect, and there will always be room for improvement. Second, be open to change. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that adaptation is the name of the game. Once you’ve embraced this, start looking for areas of improvement. Are you collecting 100% of your receivables? Do you have aged accounts receivable on your books? Is your website getting the traffic it should? Are you staying compliant with your state bar? Some common areas that we will cover below include (1) billing and collections; (2) marketing; and (3) security and compliance.
No lawyer dreams about billing or chasing down unpaid invoices. However, if you don’t bill, you don’t get paid. And if you don’t collect on those bills, you’ve essentially performed work for free. Also the last thing you want to do after a full week of court and mediations is sit down and figure out how to optimize your website. The thought of doing this for many attorneys is enough to give up entirely. I don’t know what search engine optimization is. I don’t know how to build a website. This is completely outside of my wheelhouse. That’s okay. You don’t need to be a computer expert to gain a passing understanding of basic marketing techniques and you are more than capable of making improvements to your processes. The same could be said for security and compliance. Things like PCI compliance might seem overwhelming at first, but can easily be broken down into manageable, digestible pieces.
The bottom line is, you can make a few, simple adjustments to your practice and increase your cash flow.
The e-book, Strategic Law Firm Management: Easy-to-Implement Tips to Drive Cash Flow, provides you with a step-by-step outline of what you need to do to optimize your billing practices, improve your marketing strategy, and maintain compliance and stay secure.
So what should happen when a client hasn’t paid their invoice? How do I maintain PCI compliance? What is an Acceptable Use Policy? How do I claim my Google My Business Page? How can I increase my cash flow? This e-book will take you through all of this.
Start the new year off right, and don’t be intimidated! Every lawyer has to start somewhere, and the best lawyers are ones who never stop learning and improving. So, go forth and learn something new (and put more money in your pocket in 2021!).
Download the e-book for free by clicking here.
Please let me know your thoughts!
Jordan Turk Attorney at Law; Legal Content & Compliance Manager at LawPay jturk@lawpay.com