Enjoy This Guest Post Today

I’m a Bellevue DUI lawyer. I started my law firm about a year and a half ago. When I started it was just me, and it was just fine. I started with no clients, so doing all of the work, including answering the phones and everything else that was necessary was no problem. But as I started getting busier and busier I noticed that more and more of my time was being spent on administrative tasks – and it was taking away from my ability to generate new business and serve the clients I had at the time.

But I was nervous. I didn’t want to commit to staff too soon, make a commitment to someone else, and then not be able to live up to that commitment to them. Basically I was worried that I’d hire someone, not be able to support them, and then have to fire them after a short period of time. I just didn’t know when that right time was.

So I sat down and thought about it a little bit, and I figured out a pretty good way to determine when you should hire staff, whether you are a Bellevue DUI attorney or a San Francisco plumber or a hot dog vendor. Here’s what I came up with. Think about what you can make per hour doing the job that you are supposed to be doing. Then think about the cost to get someone else to do the things that are eating up all of your time. If the difference is enough that the person you hire pays for them self, then you know it’s time to make a hire.

For example, as a DUI lawyer, I can probably make somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 an hour. That means that every hour I spend doing administrative work that I could hire someone to do for $15 an hour I’m essentially losing $285! How could I not hire someone! Of course I don’t make that money 40 hours a week, but it only takes me two hours of my productive work to pay for that person, and they easily save me that working for me for 40 hours a week. Hiring decision made.

If you are spending time doing things someone else should be doing for you and your effective hourly wage has dropped dramatically, pull the trigger and hire someone. It will be the best choice you’ve ever made.

For example, I’m a Seattle DUI attorney. Whenever people call, the first thing they want to know is what the price is. I understand why you’re asking if you can’t afford a certain price and you don’t want to waste anyone’s time, but so often people want to know because they’ve decided they are going to hire the cheapest person out there to help them. Whenever this happens I speak frankly. I let them know that if they pick the cheapest they are going to get what they pay for.

I mean think about it. There are a lot of Seattle DUI attorneys out there working at very different price points. Some are stupid cheap (and probably stupid period) while others are exorbitantly expensive. Why the great difference in range? The difference lies in what you are going to be getting for your money. The cheap guy’s prices not only reflect his urgent need for business but the type of service he expects to provide for you. And he instinctively believes that if you want his price you want his level of service.

The lady in the example above wanted to hire the cheapest DUI lawyer she could find instead of getting a public defender. She didn’t think they could help her like this guy could. And, by the way, he was about 2/3 cheaper than I was, and I am in the middle of the pack when it comes to fees!

Bottom line, find out how you can communicate to your clients why your service is valuable to them. If they don’t see it or get it, then you need to try something else. But don’t forget that some people will never get it.