2018 Year-End UpdateIt took me a bit, but I just wanted to come here and provide a year-end update to my first year of practice. In doing so, I scrolled through this thread and saw my post from early October:
Year End Goals:
#1 - Have $50,000 in receipts by the end of the year (would mean I was on pace to average a $75,000 profit in year one)
#2 - Settle my employment law claim, which will go a long way in helping out the above
#3 - Continue building networks for referrals
#4 - Continue making myself available for court appointments and appearance work. This is easy money.
I'm happy to say I accomplished every one of these goals and more.
2018 Yearly Totals2018 Solo Income: $65,940 (first invoices sent 06/01/2018, so basically seven months)
2018 Solo Expenses: $9,100 (most of it being startup expenses)
2018 Solo Profit: $56,840
2018 Source of RevenuesHearing Coverage: $10,389.76
Settlements (Employment Law): $28,533.33
Criminal Defense Court Appointments: $1,633 (just got started in October)
Other Civil Litigation Work: $24,933.91
Again, all of this was done over about seven months.
Client NotesWhen I sent out my first invoices on 06/01/2018, I sent 9 invoices.
For my January 2019 spreadsheet, I have 42 clients to bill, and I seem to be adding more and more every week.
2019 Goals/ThoughtsIncome: My goal for this year is to make $150,000. I am getting the second half of an employment law settlement ($20,833) by the end of this month, and I also expect to bill a good paying client $9,000 this month. Those plus the referral relationship below, plus my normal course of work, leads me to believe I'm on a good track for 2019.
Office Space: With more and more work coming in, my office is feeling smaller and smaller. I find myself going more and more to Panera or Dunkin Donuts to feel like I'm not in too small of a space.
I'm not sure if this is a long term solution, but for now, I can't pass up only paying $400 per month here.
That said, I have discussed opening an office much closer to my house with a couple people, and that would involve paying similar rent.
Referral Relationship: In addition to the referral relationship I've already established, I have actually established one more, and this one looks to be great.
Basically, I beat another attorney in an arbitration, and it was the first case he lost in 20 years. He recommended me to an attorney who has had a solo practice for 45 years, and this guy has an absolutely impeccable reputation. We had lunch yesterday and he needs me to help on 5-10 litigation matters a year while he winds down. He said I can expect $5,000-$10,000 in billings per case, easy. This is going to be great.
Staff Help (Would Love to Hear Your Thoughts): Whether I move or stay here, I am getting pretty close to hiring someone to provide about 9 hours of help per week. I now find myself putting off billable work to organize, calendar, double check everything, print dockets, draft form letters that I can't bill for, etc.
My rough calculations are: 9 hours per week (x) $15/hour (probably higher than market rate around here) (x) 50 weeks = $6,750. In speaking to another lawyer, we can "value bill" public defender work, and I think a staff would probably pay for him or herself in doing all the standard criminal motions that must be filed.
This seems well worth it to me, but I'm not sure when the right time to do this might be. Any thoughts?
Family First: Most importantly, my wife and I have a little boy on the way in March. We're crazy excited. I'm hauling ass in January and February so I can take March a little easy and see how things go from there. I'm glad that my practice gives me the flexibility to take a step back if necessary. I've also revamped the home office so I can be home and available more. Hopefully this goes smoothly.
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I'm bludgeoning a dead horse at this point, but thanks all for the advice and support. Cheers to 2019.