This is a guest post by Jess Birken, owner of Minneapolis-based Birken Law Office and Hack Your Practice.
Lawyers tend to glorify being busy. I mean, donât lie. You hear these things ALL the time:
âIâve been in back to back meetings since 9:00 am. I didnât even have time to stop for lunch!â
âIâm on my fifth cup of coffee. I was at the office until 1:00 am last night.â
âI hope I can make it home before my kidâs bedtime tonight.â
And, even worse, we say these things with a weird kind of pride. Why are we proud to work ourselves so hard that we neglect our health and our families? Weâve swallowed this myth that the best way to work is to burn the candle at both ends. But how does that leave you at the end of the day? Youâre exhausted, and your to-do list is still a mile long.
Itâs time that we work smarter, not harder. Itâs time we embrace delegation.
And I donât mean hiring a bunch of staff to take everything off your plate. For a bunch of reasons, that just isnât a good option for a lot of people. But that doesnât mean you shouldnât delegate.
Here are five things you can do to lighten your workload without hiring staff.
Iâm guessing that keeping up with the books is NOT a favorite part about your practice. Be honest with yourself â is it worth it for you to continue doing the bookkeeping? Did you go to school for accounting? If not, then why are you trying to play accountant? âBut Iâm only spending an hour on it each month.â Well, then you arenât doing a very good job, is my guess. Or if youâre spending several hours every month (and probably doing it a little bit wrong), then consider what youâre not getting. Youâre giving up those billable hours â or your childâs soccer game. Time is finite; youâre giving up something to be your own bookkeeper for no good reason. It might be time to outsource your bookkeeping.
Iâd suggest Juris Bookkeeping â they focus on bookkeeping for law firms, I use them at my firm and theyâre amazing.
Yes! Youâve finally found time to sit down and work on the Carter file that is way overdueâŠand your phone rings. Womp, womp. You donât want to miss a call from a potential client, but this two-hour chunk is the ONLY time you have to crank out some work. Have you ever had this dilemma? You know you have.
But you donât need to hire a receptionist or an assistant to answer the phones â thereâs Smith.ai! With their virtual receptionists, your phone calls will always be answered professionally, even when you need to go into blackout mode. (Thinking about this one? Take $50 off your first month with promo code JESSB50.)
The back-and-forth of âNo, Tuesdayâs no good here, what about Wednesday?â makes my brain HURT. I hate it, and itâs a massive time suck. Instead, I use Acuity Online Scheduling to streamline scheduling appointments, and itâs a lifesaver. I use it for a ton of things: booking client meetings and phone calls, networking, even scheduling and taking payment for consultations. If youâre interested, you can see a video tour of all the ways I use Acuity to delegate the drudgery of scheduling here. (Bonus points: Share your public Acuity scheduling link(s) with your newly minted Smith.ai receptionists and have them schedule appointments and call-backs on your behalf.)
Do you have a project that you just donât want to do? Â Maybe something youâve been avoiding because itâs a pain? Or worse, something you know you should be doing, but just havenât been able to find the time for? Great. You can pay someone else to do it. No employees required.
On freelancer.com, or (Upwork or Fiverr) you can just type up a description of your project and find someone to get it done. I mean anything from the smallest project (filtering data in a spreadsheet, reorganizing your digital files) to more advanced stuff like building a website. You can work with someone on this one project with no long-term commitment. Itâs SO worth it for the random projects that need doing, but take up too much of your time and energy.
If youâre not ready to hire your own employee, but would like to start some serious delegating, consider hiring a virtual assistant or paralegal. What can they do for you? Try having them sort through your inbox, handling all emails except the ones that require your lawyer-mind. Or have them work as a go-between for you and your clients. Or have them complete conflict checks and lengthy intake that are beyond the scope of work Smith.aiâs receptionists typically handle. The possibilities are endless. Trust me: Itâs so worth having someone to help out. Try Belay â all their virtual assistants are U.S.-based and college educated.
These are just five tips â tips of the iceberg, really. There are SO many more ways to start delegating. Working yourself to death isnât good for you, and it isnât good for business. You are your law practice, so donât be afraid to take a few things off your plate. Remember you only get one life on this earth, so use your time in ways that help you enjoy your life and your law practice a little bit more. Â
Sit down, right now (yes, right now) and list three small and concrete tasks you donât want to do or shouldnât do that you can delegate in the next two weeks. I promise, once you start, youâll never look back.
Did I miss a way you delegate in your practice that you absolutely canât live without? Iâd love to hear about it. Find me on Twitter or at www.hackyourpractice.lawyer.
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