One of the main reasons I see my clients question the entrepreneur lifestyle is because they’re worried about how much they have to spend on their business. But like with oh-so many things in life, it’s all about perspective!
As an employee, you weren’t responsible for your employer’s business expenses but you were paying for gas, lunch, work clothes and so much more!
When you set up your virtual practice, you’ve already cut out the cost of running a physical brick and mortar so here’s how you can take it a step further and make real strides towards keeping your overhead low.
Systems
The online world isn’t like it was in the 1990s. You now have a plethora of resources at your disposal to not only make your life easier but to also keep your overhead low!
By utilizing systems that help you automate things in your client journey or your day-to-day operations, you can stop spending your day on time sucking tasks that ultimately cost you money AND save even more money by choosing a system that may include your accounting, scheduling, e-signatures for contracts, and document storage all in one (just to name a few!). This is especially important if you’re currently paying for many different systems/services to run your business.
CRM (client relationship management) is a great system to consider as it can keep track of your leads, make sure that your clients have a seamless experience as they work with you but also do the work of accounting, contract signing and many other things. There are several CRMs geared specifically to law firms like Clio, MyCase, and Smokeball.
Outsourcing
If you’re concerned about the costs and implications of hiring a full time employee to help you maintain the efficacy of your business, consider outsourcing general tasks to a virtual assistant (VA) who is typically your Jack or Jane of all trades!
You may also be able to hire a VA on a contract basis for a few hours per week or to provide certain services like copywriting or social media marketing on a flat-rate retainer fee.
Check out other tasks you can outsource here.
Free Resources
If you’re not quite ready to look into conserving costs by getting a know-it-all system, then consider tapping into what’s already available to you for free!
- Excel for balancing your finances
- Asana for managing your client projects/tasks
- Slack for client communication
- HelloSign for document signature
There are many apps/programs out there with free versions of their software or trial basis that you can use to keep overhead low. Just keep in mind that you may only have it for so long OR that there will most definitely come a time when your firm can no longer operate on free services.
And that’s not a problem! It’s a reason to celebrate.
In general, being a business owner is all about making smart choices and that’s what keeping your overhead low comes down to as well. Where are your funds being spent right now? What can you cut out? How can you simplify and automate certain operations? How can you bank more of that hard earned money?
Don’t be afraid to think outside the box!
