Setting out and starting your own private practice is an exhilarating and terrifying thing. But, while there will always be bumps in the road, there are ways to make the process much less painful.

Spend Your Money Wisely

All lawyers starting out on their own are no strangers to expenses: furniture, office space, legal research, malpractice insurance, and on and on. When you’re already bleeding money for the things you need it can be all to easy to keep on bleeding for the things you don’t.

Take a moment before any big purchase, ask yourself how important it really is. Is it something you need in order to present a professional appearance to clients? Is it going to make it significantly easier to serve your clients and save you time, like a virtual legal assistant or a web collaboration tool?

If it doesn’t improve the quality of your services or save you time or money down the line, it’s probably not necessary. Does that mean you won’t ever decide to spend the funds on it? No, not at all. It’s just much wiser to wait until you’ve built up a solid client base.

Communication With Clients Is Key

Communicating with your client is nothing but beneficial, especially in the early stages of building a practice. Granted, when you encounter the type of client that emails or calls multiple times in a day, it can be difficult to remember how important communication is. But reassuring every client that your are there for them will go a long way toward establish a sold and loyal client base.

This is where that virtual legal assistant you so wisely decided to include in your monthly expenses comes in to play. While you spend your valuable time focusing on working for your clients, your virtual legal assistant will be taking your calls and following up on appointments, along with tackling the myriad other administrative tasks vital to your growing practice.

Never forget, regular communication with your client will assure you loyal clients and a flood of referrals for many years.

Don’t Be Afraid to Innovate

One of the best, if not THE best, reasons to start your own practice is the freedom to be flexible.  You are free to integrate new technology and processes to meet the demands of your clients, and adapt your business to the way you like to do business.

Innovation is the fun part of running your own business and ultimately what will set you apart from the herd.  Embrace it and you will succeed.

Don’t Give Up

Pretty much every lawyer has at least entertained the thought of opening up their own practice.  But it’s not the right move for everyone. Striking out on your own comes with its own stresses and difficulties, but it does provide a level of freedom that you simply can’t get working for someone else. If you follow these tips that is.

For more information on how a Virtual Legal Assistant can increase your profitability and client satisfaction, contact us. Or, sign up for a 14 day free trial and experience it for yourself!