Latest / Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast, Helping you create a profitable, sustainable law firm you love / 232 |How to Stay Calm When ‘January Panic’ Hits

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232 |How to Stay Calm When ‘January Panic’ Hits · Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast, Helping you create a profitable, sustainable law firm you love

• 0:01
  Intro: Welcome to the Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast. What
• 0:05
  Davina: if
• 0:05
  Intro: you could hang out with successful women lawyers, ask them about growing their firms, managing resources like time, team, and systems, mastering money issues, and more. Then take an insight or two to help you build a wealth generating law firm. Each week, your host, Devina Frederick, takes an in-depth look at how to think like a CEO, attract clients who you love to serve, and will pay you on time, and create a profitable, sustainable firm you love. Devina is founder and CEO of Wealthy Woman Lawyer, and her goal is to give you the information you need to scale your law firm business from 6 to 7 figures in gross annual revenue so you can fully fund and still have time to enjoy the lifestyle of your dreams. Now here's Devina.
• 0:51
  Davina: Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast. I'm your host, Davina Frederick. And today's topic was inspired by an awareness of a phenomenon that I've observed over the last few years as I've worked with law firm owners to scale their law firm businesses. I've labeled this phenomenon as January Panic. And today I wanna chat with you about what it is, why it happens, and how you can address it if it happens to you.
• 1:18
  So first, what is January Panic? January panic is when you hit about mid January and you start to freak out a little because it feels like number one, maybe no new work is coming in or number two, not enough work is coming in Or number three, the expenses are outweighing the income. Or four, you're looking around and you're observing that everyone else seems to have more cool things going on in you and you develop FOMO, fear of missing out, and then the urge to spring into nonstrategic action. So you're seeing these things going on and you're thinking, I'm not doing enough. I need to be doing more.
• 1:59
  So if you've experienced that sort of panicky feeling, then know, first of all, that you are not alone. I've been coaching women law firm owners for more than a decade now. And every year in January, I've had conversations with at least a few people who are worried about their financial situation for a variety of reasons. At first, you may not even realize that it's panic. We may think we are perfectly logically making decisions and taking action in the right direction to grow our law firm, But there are underlying clues to help us get clarity on the reason behind our sudden frenzy of action taking.
• 2:40
  Is it really logic or is it coming from an emotional place? So I created this little quiz that I thought might be able to help you determine if you're acting emotionally or logically. And these are sort of some common, actions that people have shared with me that they've taken that I think this will really help you to get clarity. So jot down or just there's only five questions so you can hold hold it in your head or jot it down, your answers to this. Problem number one, you're feeling that there's not enough money coming in the door.
• 3:17
  So you, A, decide to take a course to learn a new practice area so you get business in that practice area and make more money. Or b, double down on your existing well thought out marketing strategy, realizing that you've been out most of the month of December, and that's probably the reason for the slowdown in your business. Problem number two, you have fewer consultations lined up than you usually do by this time of the month. So you, A, buy a new expensive software because you think the software will help you get more clients or turn that work around faster, even though there's no evidence that that is the issue. Or b, you use the same software you currently have, getting more training if you need it, and you reach out to old leads to see if they've hired an attorney yet.
• 4:09
  And if not, you ask how you can help them. Problem number three, you didn't have enough cash on hand to pay yourself this month when you ran payroll. So you, A, fire everyone or b, examine your systems to determine whether people are meeting their billable hours. Money is being timely transferred from your trust account when it's earned and outstanding invoices are being collected instead of being allowed to linger. Alright.
• 4:37
  Problem four, you aren't sure your Google Ads, your SEO, or other marketing strategies are working for you. So you, a, go on social media to ask everyone if Google Ads or SEO or other marketing strategies are working for them or b, examine and understand your metrics to determine how much traffic is flowing to your website and landing page or landing page. Listen into your intake coordinator's calls to understand whether they are doing their jobs well or whether they need more training and tracking your conversion rates. Problem number five, this is the last one. Problem number five, you notice that your competitor or some other person on social media seems to be having a terrific January, and you don't feel like you are.
• 5:26
  So you, a, try to do the exact same thing they are doing or buy what they're selling. Or b, you ask yourself, what is it that they have that you feel you want? And you evaluate that against your stated priorities and your core values to determine if it's actually what you want or if it's something else is more important to you. So is it just fear of missing out or is this really important to you? If you answered A to most of these questions, then it is more likely you're making decisions from an emotional place of scarcity or lack or worry than it is from a strategic mindset.
• 6:07
  In other words, you may be acting in a reactive manner instead of a proactive manner. If you're feeling a little pinched in January though, I want you to know it is not all in your head. Okay? So I'm not trying to say that you have an emotional state that's based on nothing. There are some very legitimate reasons that many people feel January is tougher than other months.
• 6:29
  So for example, you or maybe your team took some time off through the holidays, so you had fewer consultations, than you usually do. Get fewer new clients being signed up and or fewer hours are being billed. Remember, what you do today will show up in your business thirty, sixty, ninety days from now. So what were you doing or not doing from Halloween through New Year's Day? It's likely to be showing up in your business now if you weren't taking that strategic consistent action to grow your business.
• 7:04
  Number two, the reason that January is, can be leave people feeling pinched is annual expenses often pop up in January, making it a more expensive month. So expenses like auto insurance and life insurance renew, post holiday credit card bills may be coming in, Dues and subscriptions often renew in January. And you might have tax preparation fees in January, for example. So there are a lot of additional expenses that may be coming in in January to make it feel like a more expensive month and really suck up your cash. Right?
• 7:38
  Affect your cash flow. Number three is your mind has been on vacation for at least a few weeks and suddenly you're thrust back into work mode and you realize that everything that was on your to do list in December is still there. Plus now there are more tasks that have been added in the new year. Whether factually true or not, emotionally, we may feel like there are more things to do than there are hours in the day in January. Alright.
• 8:04
  Number four, days are shorter, meaning it gets dark earlier. So you may feel like there's never enough time to get everything done. Plus for some shorter, darker days can sort of make you feel a little blue or down or depressed and add to those sort of negative feelings that we have in January that causes to panic. Number five, prospective clients did not seek you out for services in December, November, December, because they didn't wanna take legal action during the holidays. So this is very common in an area like for instance, family law.
• 8:38
  People don't wanna get divorced over the holidays, or maybe people don't wanna deal with estate planning over the holidays. And they're still not taking action because they may feel broke for the same reasons that you may feel that way right now. They may have holiday bills. They may have higher expenses in January, so they're not taking action. I tell you all this to let you know it's not in your head if you feel like January is kind of not your favorite month.
• 9:06
  For the future, some ways to avoid January panic are number one, develop and implement a marketing strategy for ninety days prior to when you wanna see that influx of new clients coming in. So ninety days prior to when you wanna see new clients coming in, develop and implement a marketing strategy to get those clients coming in. Number two, make arrangements for new client consultations that work to continue while you and other team members are out of the office. In other words, you may rotate your schedules so everyone's not out of the office at once. If your whole firm shuts down for a week, just make sure that you've met your monthly quota before taking time off.
• 9:49
  And I'll give you an example of a colleague of mine has an employee who's taking off maternity leave, but that employee wanted to get a bonus. So she made sure that she put in all of her time plus her bonus time, time to create a bonus before she went out on maternity leave. So it's really thinking ahead of who's going to be out, how we're going to be closed and saying, okay, how do we prepare for that so we're not leaving a gap there in our money revenue coming in? Number three, set aside a cushion to cover additional expenses that you know are gonna be popping up in January. Right?
• 10:29
  So for now, I know some of you are thinking, well, you know, it's a little late now because I can't go back in the past and redo or undo. And you're absolutely right. You this is, advice for the future for any season, any season that you're wanting to make sure you don't have that famine cycle. But for now, whether you've done any of those things or not, it's time to make a strategic plan today based on facts, not feelings. And here's what that could look like.
• 10:56
  First, you wanna diagnose the actual problem instead of jumping right to the potential solution. We really need to stay in the question for a little bit. How can you solve a problem when you don't even know for sure what the problem is? You may be very quickly jumping to a conclusion about what the problem is and jumping to a solution instead of really examining your whole process and your whole system and looking for that weak link in the chain that needs to be repaired. Instead, you may be just throwing out the whole chain and buying a new one, trying to buy a new one, but you're buying the wrong thing.
• 11:34
  For example, if your team has been lax about contemporaneous billing, you really wanna address that with them and set clear expectations and set up frequent check ins until that problem is resolved. And you're sure that they all understand what is expected of them and they are performing on that. If you're not timely transferring money from the trust account after work is completed, then you need to develop a better system for this process so it can be consistent. If you charge flat fees, ensure that you're getting the work done on time instead of procrastinating long after that money is spent. It's a very common issue with people who charge flat fees.
• 12:13
  We charge a flat fee. We probably don't charge enough for the flat fee because we underestimate how long it takes to do the work. And then oftentimes we get that flat fee. We put it in our operating account and it is long gone and we procrastinate on doing the actual work. And so then we're sitting there with a bunch of work that's gotta be done and no time to meet with new clients or get new work in.
• 12:34
  If your phone is ring if your firm's law law firm's phone is not ringing, then consider why and address that issue instead of buying a new program to learn a new practice area or buy new software thinking that's going to make a difference in your result. Really think about why is the phone not ringing. It's not because there's not enough business in your practice area. There are thousands of attorneys out there who are making a very good living in your practice area without diversifying and adding a whole different practice area. Right?
• 13:08
  So first you need to fix that problem before you go out and try to diversify. Fix the problem that you already have instead of creating a new one. All right, second, you want to take strategic action to resolve issues instead of taking emotional actions. So how can you determine if you're being rational or emotional in the action that you're taking? Start with considering how you're feeling right this moment about the problems in your law firm business.
• 13:35
  Identify and label that feeling before moving into action. So if you're feeling nervous, if you're feeling worried, if you're feeling a sense of lack, then refrain from taking action until you shift out of these emotional states. Also, ask for help from an outside source who's not emotionally wrapped up in your business, who also has the strategic skills and abilities that you require to help you. If you'd like my help, you can just click on the link in the show notes to schedule an appointment with me to discuss what's going on in your law firm business and how I may be able to help you, how we could possibly work together to resolve those issues. Also ask yourself, what is the problem I'm trying to solve?
• 14:17
  And here's a hint for you. You may need to dig into your metrics to know exactly what your problem is. You can't just go by a gut feeling. I think this is the problem. Go look at the data, look at your processes, and see for sure if that's the problem.
• 14:33
  So if, to give you an example, if you're running ads or you're doing SEO, you've developed some other marketing strategy and consultations are not being booked. Well, there's a lot of steps between running ads and consultations being booked. For instance, you have to make sure you've got enough traffic, you've got to get the right kind of traffic, it has to be going to the right place. When they get to the place that they need to be, are you making it easy for them to take action to schedule a consult with you or talk with the firm, contact the firm? And then when they're coming through your intake people, what is happening there?
• 15:19
  Are the intake people actually doing what they're supposed to be doing? Are they getting those consultations to sign up? What is going on there? And then when you get the consultation, how good are you at closing them? Are you getting a 90% close rate, an 85 close rate?
• 15:35
  If not, there may be an issue with you closing. So you see there's a lot of steps between my Google Ads aren't working or my SEO is not working or my social media is not working or whatever it is, right? To actual consultations that you need to really understand those every different point in the chain. Then and only then after you've looked at your data, should you make a list of potential solutions to the actual problem that you're facing, not the one you think you're facing. Ask your team for input on potential solutions.
• 16:07
  And after you've clearly identified the problem and created a list of potential solutions, then and only then should you evaluate the potential solutions and decide which are ones which one or ones should be implemented. Alright. Lastly is set clear expectations for yourself and for your team to implement your decisions and develop a routine reporting system to ensure your team is following through on your instructions and meeting your set expectations. So those were just three, just to recap, those were three, sort of steps to take if you wanna be more strategic instead of being kind of knee jerk. Diagnose the actual problem, take strategic action to resolve the issues instead of, coming from an emotional place and then set clear expectations for yourself and your team to implement your decisions and develop a routine reporting system to ensure your team is following through on your instructions and meeting your set expectations.
• 17:07
  Alright. I know I've shared quite a bit with you today. I've thrown a lot at you, like probably being sprayed with a fire hose. I do hope you find it helpful. If so, please visit Apple Podcast and leave us a review there and let us know how we're doing.
• 17:20
  If you'd like to schedule a practice growth assessment with me to discuss how we may be able to help you work together to scale your law firm business, then just click the link in the show notes and fill out our practice growth assessment form to schedule an appointment. As always, I do appreciate you listening in on this podcast and making us the number one podcast for women in law in The US. And I'll see you back here next week with great content to help you grow your profitable, sustainable, wealth generating law firm business. Thanks again.
• 17:51
  Intro: If you're ready to create more of what you truly desire in your business and your life, then you'll want to visit us wealthywomanlawyer.com to learn more about how we help our clients create wealth generating law firms with ease.