Hello all,
[TL;DR] My husband-to-be is a smart lawyer who also has a B.S. in chemistry. How can he find clients who will pay him a good rate (or commission) to make use of his unusual combination of skills?
Background -
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm marrying one this Saturday in a very low-cost, fairly Mustachian wedding. We will have six people in our living room with a non-religious officiant. I'm wearing a dress I already have (not a wedding dress obviously). We've both been married before, so I didn't want to make a big fuss. The only reason we're not just having a guy sign the certificate is that DH2B (DH to be) and my parents all wanted to have some kind of ceremony. I rolled my eyes and complied.
I'll do my own hair and makeup. We'll all go out to dinner at a pretty decent restaurant. We got a pretty cake from the supermarket and a $15 cake topper. I'll go get some supermarket flowers, cut them and tie with ribbon, with one held out for my sweetie's lapel. I wrote (mostly plagiarized) a nice ceremony from some Offbeat Bride blog posts and a little poem searching.
The issue-
Now, about after the wedding... DH2B, while a frugal guy, and a very smart lawyer, has not prioritized his own financial security or freedom. He doesn't seem to care about money. He doesn't ask me for any, but he doesn't make any extra for himself either. He falls squarely in the sub-$40k per year range. He made around $36k last year. I'm working part-time on my way to RE. I'm already FI for my own expenses, and am currently working part-time because my employer made me an offer I couldn't resist. My FI is kind of bare-bones. Working part-time for another year or so will be a very comfortable way to get more of a travel budget, if the market holds out. So together, we're all hunky-dory. Looking forward to the rest of our lives.
DH2B is very good about representing his clients, but as far as being the slightest bit aggressive in making money, he's not. He does a combination of 1) 1099 work for a small law firm, 2) representing some small business owners under his own practice, and 3) providing the lowest cost uncontested divorces in Virginia. So his schedule is pretty flexible, since he only goes to the law firm one or two days a week, and is in charge of his own time otherwise. He has court a few times a month. With my part-time schedule, we both love our relative freedom.
The uncontested divorce paperwork is partially automated using software that I wrote for him, and he does everything via E-file, and almost never meets those clients in person. So he makes a little money at that, but not much, because each case has its own overhead in spite of him not spending too much time generating the papers. His clients that he represents himself tend to be small time. His 1099 work he was doing at $50/hr (!), which has been going on since before I met him two and a half years ago. Last year, he had some lumpy expenses, and actually had a negative cash flow year. Normally that doesn't happen, but he failed to plan and save for things he should have seen coming (his daughter's wedding, my engagement ring).
It worries me a little. I have plenty to provide for both of us, but he's a lawyer! He has skills and expertise. I like and admire how he spends a lot of time working with people who are deserving but don't have much money, and I want to support that. But I also would like him to get a few more lucrative cases here and there so he doesn't end up being short.
He and I have an agreement about what each one of us is going to provide over the next year or two, after which hopefully, my stash will grow to the point where it will support more of our vacations and take that part off him without me having to work more. I had a focused talk with him a few days ago about how, in order to fulfill his end of our deal, he will need to start doing a lot more to make more money with the same amount of effort he's been putting forth. Neither of us wants him to take a full-time job at a law firm. We both like the way it is, where we both have the freedom to take a walk in the middle of the day if the weather is nice. Happily, we're both on the same page about him stepping up the dollars per hour, and he's working on a few things toward that.
In particular, I think he should be able to make more because in addition to being a litigator, he has a degree in chemistry and worked as a chemist for many years. Personally, I think he should find a way to target clients for whom this combination of skills would be valuable. He, on the other hand, doesn't seem to grab on to the idea. I think it's only because he doesn't know how to, as I put it, find the sweet spot. He's just not an optimizer in that way. He's used to the kinds of clients he has, and isn't used to figuring out how to get other types. I'm wondering if any of the smart, resourceful folks here might have some ideas for how he could find and cultivate those clients. I think he may want to, if he's presented with good ideas by me. We live near Williamsburg, Virginia, so it's not a big city area.
I have read ReadySetMillionaire's thread
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/job-opportunity-(lawyer)-triple-my-salary-but-long-commute-and-more-hours/ . The chart showing that just as many lawyers make $40k as make $165k was quite illuminating. I also saw how FireAt45 chimed in with his success story. I think DH2B has the potential to make at least $80k a year without any more effort than he's putting in now, if he focuses on getting just a few clients who will be more lucrative.