I'm aiming to build a $1 million law firm within the next year. That's $83,333.33 in revenue per month. Here are the steps that I'm planning to take. Granted, everything is always subject to change. Last month, I had about $10k in fees billed. And that was a part-time effort with zero employees. I've already run into my first major bottleneck: client intake. Step 1: hiring an intake assistant. This step is underway. I’ve interviewed candidates for this role and expect to have someone soon. He or she will likely be an overseas hire. That person will man the phone during business hours. The intake assistant will be the initial filter for calls coming in and will handle follow-up with potential clients. For after hours, I’ll probably still do that myself unless and until I hire someone to work nights and weekends. I’m already spending multiple hours per day on intake much of the time, and that’s with a fairly low marketing budget. Getting a couple hours per day back that could instead be billed for hundreds of dollars an hour is well worth it. And it will up the practice's intake capacity big time. Step 2: hiring an associate. This step is also underway as I’m starting to interview attorneys to join the team. Once the intake bottleneck is solved, the next bottleneck will almost certainly be capacity for client work. If I can hire an associate and pay them, say, $100k in salary for, say, $350k in annual billables (or more!), that would put the firm in a great position to continue bringing on more clients profitably. [for reference, big law typically hires new associates for around $200k in salary for somewhere around $1 million in annual billables]. A solid associate hire will also allow me to work more on the areas I’m most competent in while still giving potential clients the help they need in other areas. Step 3: upgrading marketing. With capacity increased, it’ll be time to turn up the marketing dial. Right now, I’m looking at a 4x to 6x return on marketing spend (just within the first month of client billings). And that’s on less than $100 per day in pay-per-click ads with no retargeting set up. I have a whole suite of video ads to film and a number of other keywords to shoot for. And, so far, I’ve only been advertising in Texas. I’m licensed in Illinois, too, so that’s a practically untapped market for me. With a little help on the intake and legal work sides, I’ll have more time to focus on getting my marketing foundation in a much better place. Step 4: hiring support staff. It will make sense to bring on either a secretary or paralegal (or both!) in the near future. For more routine tasks, like document formatting, filings, forms, opening matters, and invoicing, it will make sense to pass those on to a secretary. Not only will that allow attorneys to focus on their real role (i.e. giving advice to clients), it should help us to control cost overruns on larger matters. Not to mention, an effective secretary or paralegal will allow things to operate more quickly and smoothly for the whole team. Step 5: repeat. As client demands grow, and as capacity grows, it will be a game of expanding supply proportionally with demand. Once intake becomes a bottleneck again, it might be time to hire another assistant. Once client demands become too much to bear, it would be time to bring on another attorney or paralegal. Once time opens up again, it would be time to ramp up the marketing. And so on. Reaching a $1 million annual top line would imply needing at least 2 to 3 full-time attorneys on staff. That’s very achievable within the next year. I’m excited for what’s next and will be sure to share my progress along the way. Onwards!