“I’m a lawyer. So I have to spend most of my time practicing law.”

This line of thinking is both common and dangerous for solo lawyers. It’s not true.

Not only do you not HAVE to spend most of your time practicing law, but once you’ve created a successful practice, you SHOULDN’T spend most of your time practicing law if you want to build a million dollar business.

What you need to do is replace yourself. You need to hire an experienced attorney, give him/her the title of Senior Associate, and turn the legal work over to them.

Then, you can spend your time building your business – working ON your business instead of IN your business. You can work on your marketing. You can perfect sales systems. You can brainstorm. You can innovate. You can take a vacation!

What you can accomplish with this free time will easily pay for the additional salary – not to mention that your new associate should bring in work as well.

It’s really a no-brainer. So why is this concept so tough for most solo lawyers to grasp?

It’s the trap of “False Economy.” At first glance it makes sense to avoid adding money to your payroll when you’re perfectly capable of doing the work yourself. But that calculation doesn’t account for the opportunity cost of your time.

To illustrate, let’s assume that you pay your associate $80,000 annually.

In exchange, you are now free to spend the majority of your time marketing, innovating, and looking for growth opportunities. Let’s conservatively project that these efforts enable you to generate one new case per week, and that your average case is worth $5000. You’ve just generated $260,000 in new revenue for your firm.

Would you rather save $80,000 by doing the work yourself, or generate $260,000 by replacing yourself? That’s the choice you’re making, and I hope that you can see it’s an easy one.

If you’re serious about creating a million-dollar law firm, you need to replace yourself. Stop looking for excuses and take the plunge. You won’t look back!