When many bankruptcy lawyers, especially new attorneys, start searching for ways to grow a successful practice, they look at what the competition is doing. They try to duplicate the success that others have achieved – copying ads, setting the same fees, grabbing the same clients, and generally doing the same old same old.
Although there’s certainly nothing wrong with using other bankruptcy law practices as a reference point, the success of your practice will ultimately depend on establishing a system that is uniquely your own.
Nobody can give you an out-of-the-box system for creating a profitable bankruptcy practice, because what works for another bankruptcy attorney may not work for you.
Their workflow mirrors their mind – not yours.
Their forms are good to start with, but they don’t use your words.
Their canned speeches reflect their ideals – not yours.
You get the point.
You come to the table with your own experiences, interests, and knowledge. You have your own particular strengths and weaknesses, and these will play a major role in developing your practice.
It’s crazy – and downright hazardous to your bank account – to assume that you can copy someone else’s system. You’ll discover that it’s not a perfect fit, and that your business has suffered because of it.
You may not realize it right now, but your ideal system is already in your mind. All you need to do is dig it out and make it happen.
Education is important, and not the law school kind. You need to know what you’re doing, to nail down the basics. Practice management, marketing, technology and more are on the horizon. But don’t worry. Once you have the fundamentals down, you’ll know exactly how to make it fit for you.
Will you need a coach? Maybe. A stack of books and DVDs? Perhaps. Audio courses and online learning? Probably.
But what you don’t need is to look at someone else’s system and copy it lock, stock and barrel. What works for them will not work for you without tweaking. And without knowing WHAT to tweak, you can’t know HOW to tweak it.
Mapping out your ideal system can be a challenging task (especially if you’ve relied on others to tell you what to do in the past), but it will greatly increase your chances of building a profitable and rewarding practice.
Photo courtesy of A. Belani.
