Early in my career, when I started to get busy, I wasn’t yet making a lot of money, but I decided to hire some people. It was one of the smartest things I ever did.
I freed up time to do more billable work, more marketing, and to (finally) enjoy some time off.
Yes, I had to invest time to find them, train them, and supervise them, but basic math told me I was way ahead.
In today’s dollars, the math might look like this:
$40 an hour administrator vs. $400 an hour billable.
$10 an hour virtual assistant vs. $400 an hour billable.
Besides the math, think about all the things you do in your practice you don’t enjoy. Wouldn’t you like to have someone else do them for you?
“I can do it better,“ you say. “And faster.“
Probably so. But as long as the people you hire are “good enough,” you still come out ahead. And, if your experience is anything like mine, you’ll find that many people are better at some things than you are.
“They might screw up and cost me. I’ve been burned before.“
That’s why you supervise them. And maintain insurance.
“I don’t want to let go.”
I didn’t want to let go either. But I didn’t want to stay where I was, doing things I didn’t like and missing out on opportunities to grow.
“Good people are expensive.”
True. But not as expensive as you. Yeah, we’re back to math again.
“If I hire another attorney, they might leave and compete with me.”
Yes, they might. But they might not.
“I have people working for me now. I don’t want any more.”
Does that mean you don’t want more business? Bigger cases? More income?
Or more free time?
You don’t?
Is that your final answer?
Fair enough. You might have everything you need and want, just the way you like it.
One more question and I’ll let you go.
If someone really good came along and offered to work for you for free, would you be able to find something for them to do?
What’s that? They would have to pay you to work for you?
Your math skills are Jedi level. I’ll stop talking now.