I talk a lot about building and scaling a seven figure law firm.
A lot of people have come to me over the last couple of years when I’ve spoken about this, saying things like, “I don’t understand why a seven figure law firm is so great,” or “I wouldn’t want a seven figure law firm.”
When I’ve asked them more about this, I’ve learned that lawyers don’t want a seven figure law firm because they feel like they have a six figure firm, and that’s generating a decent income for them.
They already hustle so hard to earn that income, they can’t imagine having to work even harder to grow their firm to seven figures.
But the thing is, what you do to grow a six figure law firm, is not what will get you to seven figures.
It’s not about hustling harder.
It’s more about making the right strategic moves so you can get to seven figures, and have a business that gives you a lot more freedom, money and impact.
I’m gonna tell you a bit more about that today.
One thing I heard in a podcast recently, which I thought explains it really well – the guest on the podcast was asked about her seven figure business and why she loved it.
She said, “The air is just better up here.”
That really resonated with me. When you get to seven figures, it means you’ve really got the processes and systems and people and technology in place that allow you to step back a bit from your business.
You can breathe a sigh of relief.
When you do, the air does just feel cleaner compared to when you’re in the grind of running a six figure law firm, and you’re having to deal with all the things, all the time.
I want to talk about the amazing things that you can create for yourself when you grow to seven figures.
In terms of the things that you have to do to grow to seven figures, I talk about this a lot on my YouTube channel.
But today I really want to hone in on why having a seven figure firm is better than having a six figure firm.
#1: You have more impact
To get to seven figures, you have to get certain things well established.
You need to get a good team in place.
You need to get good systems and processes in place.
You need to have the right technology in place.
When you do that, you can step back a bit from the day-to-day running of your firm.
You actually get time and freedom to ask better quality questions, and find better quality solutions.
Some of those things you’ll begin to think about relate to the people you help; your ideal clients.
You will start to think, how can I add more value to our ideal clients today? How can I help more people? How can I help the most people?
These are all things you’ll begin to ask yourself, and you’ll be able to come up with solutions to enable you to do it.
Those solutions will help you to grow even more, from seven figures to multiple seven figures, because you’ll begin to see ways to serve even more people, which is just so important.
#2: You get to build a world-class team
Something the owners of six figure law firms often don’t realise is that you’ll be spending a lot of time working in the trenches.
You’re doing a lot of the day-to-day running of your firm, instead of being a true leader.
But once you get to being a seven figure firm, you can step up as the law firm owner, and work as a CEO, or whatever you want to call yourself.
No longer are you doing the work that needs to be done for marketing, or serving clients – you have people who do it for you.
Your role becomes about building your team, so your team can build the business.
So your job is to lead them towards your vision and mentor them around the challenges and opportunities they have.
If an issue arises, it’s not your job to jump in there and sort it out.
It’s your job to leave your team members to it and mentor them so that they can learn to deal with those things themselves.
It’s really important to remember that, because as you step into your role as the leader of the business, because you’ve got more time, you’ll be able to spot issues easier.
You’ll have more time to think strategically, so you can identify things you’ll want to do something about.
Perhaps there’s a marketing issue, or perhaps you’re not bringing in as many client leads as you’d like.
Naturally, you might want to jump in there and sort that out because that’s what you’ve always done.
But remember, what gets you here will not get you there.
You jumping in and sorting out that problem is not gonna help anybody.
That’s called meddling. I know, I’ve done it many times.
In fact, I caught myself meddling into one of my team members’ areas of the business earlier this week.
I had to give myself a hand slap because my job as the leader is to mentor that person so they can spot that issue and sort it out themselves.
That’s the way you build a world-class team, and it’s a great thing that you’re more able to do with a seven figure law firm.
#3: You get to invest in yourself
When you’ve got a six figure firm, you might be making OK money, but you’re really in the grind of things that need to be done.
Your mind is so focused on putting out the next fire or dealing with the next task that it’s hard to invest in yourself.
Not only do you not really have the time to do it, but getting your mindset to do it is difficult too.
You just don’t have time to even think about it.
But when you’ve got your seven figure firm, and you have that time to sit back, you’re able to use that and your increased income to invest in yourself in so many different ways.
You can invest in yourself as a leader or a speaker.
You can invest in your health and your wellness.
You can invest in educating yourself or learning about things that you’ve always been interested in, like how to invest your money and things like that.
You can invest in things like stylists to help you present yourself to the world in a better way.
There are just so many ways that you can invest in yourself.
Therapy’s another really good one.
All these things you can do, you have more time and energy and money for when you’re running a seven figure law firm.
#4: You can pursue other projects
Another result of being able to have a team that works really well, is that you can put that extra time and energy you have into other projects.
You could look at starting another business.
You could put time and energy into something charitable.
You can put time and energy into your family.
You can take up a new hobby.
Whatever it is that you feel like you want to do, you’ll suddenly have time for it.
And it’s important you do, because I mentioned before about meddling.
What happens is, because you move into this new role when you become a seven figure law firm owner, unless you have other projects to direct your time and energy into, you will start meddling.
You’ll start picking parts of your business apart at the seams, because you’ll want to feel like you’re still useful.
That’s natural.
Every seven figure business owner I’ve spoken to goes through this mini identity crisis.
The way you deal with it is to redirect time and energy into other projects.
There may be parts of your business you can direct energy into.
Perhaps you’d like to build a new product or service, or you might want to think about ways you can help more clients.
As long as you’ve got some projects you can direct time and energy into.
It’s a wonderful thing, because when you’re a six figure business owner, often opportunities will come your way that you have to decline.
You’ll be asked to be part of things, and you just have to say no, cause ain’t nobody got time for that when you’re in the trenches.
As a seven figure law firm owner, being able to do those things if you want to is just such a privilege.
#5: You choose how to spend every day
One thing I remember about being a six figure law firm owner is feeling like I just had no autonomy around my time or my life.
I just felt like I had so much responsibility, even taking a day off was a major.
But when you become a seven figure law firm owner, you really can design every day.
You might have to turn up to a meeting here and there, but other than that, you can pretty much design your day and spend it how you want.
That’s the ultimate freedom, right?
You don’t have to be anywhere for anybody – you get to choose.
That’s another amazing benefit of having a seven figure law firm.
Thanks for reading all the way to the end. For more tips and ideas on growing and scaling a modern, successful, seven figure law firm, sign up to my Savvy Lawyers Facebook group.
