How the fuck did you manage this?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32370679)

You think Solos do family law because they WANT TO?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32373918)

Try speaking about your practice at events. You'd be surprised, but some events regularly look for speakers. Come up with a talk focused on their needs. However, it has to be valuable to work. It can't seem like you're pandering for work. For example, if you handle workers comp, you can ask local unions if you can give a 20 minute Q&A session to their members about injuries on the job during their next meeting. If they or their friends get hurt, they'll remember to call you. If you do criminal law, try to speak at some community college criminal justice class about some criminal law topic. The next time one of these dudes gets busted selling weed, they'll call you.

Post lots of shit on social media. I know you don't want to be that douchebag talking about his job on facebook, but very often after I mention something about work on there, I have a friend message me with a potential matter or referral.

You'd be shocked, but craigslist works and the ads are free. Post one per day.

Get on the bar referral list, if they have one.

Ask lawyers if you can work as of-counsel on overflow work.

Yelp is SPS. Avvo is okay but you need to be active and answer questions and shit. That said, I had a lawyer friend tell me that he generates massive business from Yelp. It may be hit or miss depending on your practice area or geographic market.

Consider getting inexpensive office space in an office with other lawyers. Referrals happen more often when you're sitting 10 feet away from a lawyer in a different practice area than when it's just some dude you met at a boring bar meeting 4 months prior.

Beyond revenue, I'm insane about overhead. Cut it all out. You don't need a private office (see the previous suggestion). Don't consider support staff until you're consistently working 60+ hours a week. What's your overhead like?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32370898)

re: yelp. in order to get business from there, you have to get high-ish ratings. it may even make sense to buy some fake ratings, if you are that scummy.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32370973)

Law truly is TTT

I think in the old days when the barriers to entry were much higher and there were far fewer lawyers per capita, being a lawyer have you a kind of valuable, esoteric knowledge that could prove you with a consistently solid career

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371080)

The benefit is that I work for myself. Working for others is TTT.

We also live in a bubble. I feel like $150k-$200k is kind of shitty, but it's top 5% income. Of course on XO where everyone makes $600k+ a year and has 7 figure trust funds, it's peasant money.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371115)

Then make a budget that brings your overhead to <$1k monthly. This should include shared office space with lawyers in different practice areas. Don't renew your current lease.

Set a goal of $3k monthly profit. Then bring that goal up slowly.

Putting the plan on paper helps.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32372034)

He kinda did, but he didn't *irreparably* fuck up.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36246230)

I'd eat up half that in malpractice insurance.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36246489)

will anybody hire me? i just need to keep a roof over my head at this point. my lease is up next month on my office.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32370799)

realistically, no one is going to hire you from this bort.

you made a ton of mistakes, the biggest being wasting a lot of money without generating much revenue.

drop the office. get a coworking space/virtual office and rent a room as needed. should cost you well under $100/month.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32370982)

i'm almost out of money. i have $20K left in savings, and a monthly living expenses deficit of $3K. i should say we have $20K left, because i'm married. my wife doesn't know our finances though. she just sees me go to the office every day.

i generated revenue, a little over $40K, but i spent $30K on advertising to get it. i have about $10K in expected billings the next few months, so it's more accurate that i generated $50K on $30K of advertising. that's still a terrible ROI. i stupidly spent money on a lot of dumb shit too, including $6K on a sales training program, $4K on a receptionist service, a lot on reference materials i didn't end up needing. a whole host of dumb shit (obviously). a number of sunk costs, like the printer and file cabinet and shit. i'm just clearly a dumb shit when it comes to this.

virtual offices around here are $250 per month, plus $20 per hour for a conference room. still, a lot cheaper than my $1500 per month office.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371202)

you need to do two things:

1) reduce expenses

2) raise revenues

there are obvious things that you could do to make yourself closer to revenue neutral. the problem is 100% solvable.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371260)

right now op isn't thinking clearly. he's just spinning his wheels. im redirecting his energy to the obvious places.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371461)

it's time to come clean with your wife. she's probably already detected the stress you're under. work together to right the ship. you both have a fair amount of runway before things really go to shit and your problems may be solveable.

does she work? what kind of income is she bringing in?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371239)

she kind of knows. i tried to tell her once more fully, but she said "i don't know what you have to do, but you need to fix it. you need to make money. we're counting on you." (we have kids) another time i was telling her and she said "so what's your plan? do you have a plan? what if you can't make it work? you have to get a job." then i tried to say i don't think i can get a job. no one hires lawyers like me. she said "well then you have to get a job at mcdonald's or something." then i said that wouldn't be enough to cover the bills. then she said she couldn't talk about it anymore. this is making it sound worse than it is, she's been really supportive so far, and none of this was said with a mean or resentful tone, not yet at least.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371284)

don't sound uncertain or fret about not being employable, because there's nothing she can contribute meaningful on this front. she is clearly not the type to offer emotional support.

so tell her straight up expenses need to be cut. not to the bone, but you have to slash spending in both your business and your personal life. slash your own discretionary spending first. no frivolities. let her enjoy some.

this is where the strength of your marriage and the character of your wife will be revealed. if she isn't willing to sacrifice anything, that is a bad sign. even if you do recover, how good can you feel about a wife willing to dump you at your lowest point? you will also have to show some backbone. feeling bad isn't going to solve shit.

either get a job (not impossible) or hustle more. you already have shown the ability to earn some revenue. it's now about cutting costs and optimizing your work.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371369)

she would absolutely stick by me, but shit... i don't know. i agree that i need to not talk to her about this. i've been thinking about going to a shrink.

thanks for the encouragement. it means a lot, honestly. i think it can be solved too, or at least hope it can, but fuck, this is awful.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371413)

1) cancel day care (or cut down on it). you stay at home and watch the kids as much as possible. i doubt you have enough business to keep you occupied a full business day.

2) stop leasing an office. work from home. maintain a virtual office and rent out conference rooms as needed.

use daycare as-needed, such as when you have to appear in court or whatever. schedule meetings on the days where your kids are in daycare.

3) look into a cheaper apartment. there's no law that says you have to live in a 2 br apt that consumes half your take-home income.

4) review bills like cable, internet, insurance, mobile, etc. you can easily slash costs.

if you can pull this off, you've just saved thousands of dollars each month and would very likely be on a self-sustaining path. you have enough cash to implement these (and other) cost saving measures over several months.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371429)

1. daycare: i truly thought about trying to stay home with the kids, but one of them is an infant. you can't work except during naps, which are only 1-2 hours total (and split). you can't let them out of your sight. i've worked from home on a few occasions while watching him and it just doesn't work. he'll start crying while i'm on the phone with a client, or cry because he needs to be picked up or whatever and you're ignoring him. i do already "work" from home one day per week.

daycare doesn't let you drop off as needed. you have to sign up for minimum of 3 days per week. there's no on-demand daycare, and there's really no way for us both to work and not have daycare. we already do part-time, but there's no way to get rid of it entirely.

2. cheaper apartment: you find me a 2 bedroom in the LA area that rents for less than $2400 and isn't a complete crime-infested shithole.

3. office: i think i have to drop the office. i did a virtual office the first couple of months when i first started. thing is, i meet with clients a lot. i do a lot of initial and one time consultations. when i had the virtual office, i was paying $500 to $700 per month for all the extra time i was using the conference room and day use office. also, when my wife had the second kid she was off work and there was no way for me to work at home with all three of them around. still, $500 to $700 per month is cheaper than $1500 per month.

4. other expenses: i've been doing this. i actually have been able to drop my business overhead by $1200 recently. with personal expenses i've been trying to cut things down too. we already don't have cable, and cheap prepaid mobile phone plans. i have to keep looking at it. i think the one area we can save some money is food, we spend $600 to $800 per month, so i'm trying hard to spend less there. i have to keep trying to cut these down though. still, $5900 is fixed cost, and we spend $6500, so even if i find every little thing that's only an extra $600 per month. it's something, but it's not the solution. there's no way to cut our personal expenses enough to live without me earning an income.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371462)

why do you need to live in a 2br apartment? yeah, crime-infested shitholes aren't great and i could understand not compromising on that, but there is no absolute need to have 2brs. you can cut expenses there. right now you don't have many options and will have to make sacrifices.

re: virtual office. if you shop around, you can probably get something reasonable for less money. don't just look at places like regus, but consider wework and its many imitators. there's a coworking bubble and you can definitely find some low-cost offices. try negotiating. a coworking space/office would rather rent out a space for less money than keep it empty.

if you're doing a lot of consultations, figure out why they aren't converting to more profitable business.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371482)

4 people in a 1 br apartment is very, very difficult. we might have to do it but above when you said my wife might not bend, i feel like this is one thing that could really jeopardize things with her. everything else, no cable, cheap old phones, no eating out, no going to the movies, no shopping, no new cars, all of that she can do, without complaint. telling her we have to move into a 1 br apartment would be extremely difficult though.

the solution is to fix the income problem. in large part that means cutting the business expenses. the personal expenses are already pretty low compared to where they can go. i only need to be making $2.5K per month take home for us to break even. that's nothing. that should be easily doable.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371490)

btw, i would not absolutely cut out eating out, going to the movies, etc. in order to function well, you have to stay sane and at least somewhat happy. once a week is reasonable.

yes, $2.5k/month is very doable. sit down and think hard about how to optimize your advertising spend. if something isn't yielding results, cut it fast. word of mouth is overrated as a source of revenue, especially if you don't have time. the only advertising spend should be on things that will yield more business very quickly.

you should also think about how you're pricing your services. the cheapest lawyer does not win or take more business than a higher priced lawyer.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32371499)

Wait, how are you meeting with clients that much and not making money?

You should be able to find a cheaper virtual office option and/or charge (more) for consultations.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36246252)

Highly credited. I'm 5+ years in as a solo and still don't need full-time office space.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36246220)

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-americans-with-disabilities-act-lawsuits-anderson-cooper/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#32385247)

you need a STRATEGY. that includes radio and whatever media you can afford. BILLBOARDS are only when you have money to burn. They draw only the same people every day on commute to work.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36236617)

A buddy of mine paid for a bunch of billboards and took them down after 3 months. They weren't generating. People just drive past them and don't notice; it's like white noise

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36236683)

first, reading this was painful. god i sound like a pathetic idiot. it turns out this was right before i turned a corner.

i should hit a little over $400K in revenue this year. i've hired staff. revenue has been on a consistently upward trajectory, and the phone keeps ringing.

i'm still an idiot when comes to overhead. i'm shit when it comes to controlling costs. but despite my poor judgment and profligate business spending, i'm making money. i think it will be OK guys.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36245613)

after trying a lot of different advertising methods, i found something that worked and was sustainable. i cut everything else. also, as clients started coming in, i could cut my advertising as i was less reliant on it for new clients. now only about 25% of my new clients come from advertising (when i made this thread, it was 100%). in a year or two, i probably won't need to spend a dime on advertising.

i stopped spending as much on training and coaching as i got more experience. i was able to cut some software subscriptions as i figured out what i actually needed and what wasn't needed. a lot of expenses in that first year were one time expenses too: computers, printers, scanners, furniture, software, etc.

i'm still an idiot and did it the hard way, but really it just took time for my efforts to pay off. the guy above who said starting a business is a lot of trial and error had it right.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36245776)

family law primarily. see above, worked for a family law firm previously, but not for very long so that first year i still had a learning curve to come up, especially because i was in a new state.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36245835)

i'm not earning $400K. those are gross revenues. i'll probably take home $150K this year.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36245989)

learned over time, also live in the area.

adwords rewards you the longer you run ads, if your ads perform well. your CPC can actually go down over time, or at least you get better results with the same spend.

my campaigns now are better and more efficient than they were a year ago, through data gathering, tracking and adjusting based on results.

i track phone call conversions too and that informs the data. i don't think they use this software, but like this:

https://www.wordstream.com/adwords-call-tracking

more important for me was paying someone else to do this. i am capable, but it has been absolutely worth the fee to pay an outside firm to manage the campaigns, at least for me.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36246274)

7450

7100

9762

12535

12530

14185

13599

13999

11148

29518

24132

18139

23042

20995

27356

32874

36570

this month i think i'll crack 40K.

edit: total revenues for 2016 were 52,842. 2017 was 174,103.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36245905)

https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/family-law/divorce/divorce-in-california.html

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36246074)

it's better to have 5 clients paying $300 per hour than 10 clients paying $150 per hour. half the work, same revenue.

it's common sense, but when you need the money, it's not as easy to see.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36246304)

Really curious about solo stuff since I'll never do it

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36246211)

Damn. Had no idea family law could be so lucrative

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36246335)

most of my overhead at this point is payroll, advertising, and office space, in that order.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3490998&forum_id=2#36246336)