In this week’s edition of Things I Wish I Knew, Joleena Louis gives us a play-by-play of exactly what she plans to do for her solo practice to prepare for the change of seasons.
Summer is officially coming to an end!
We enjoyed it, we complained about it, and now we are sad to see it go.
Now that Summer is coming to a close, I have been thinking about how to prepare my solo practice for Winter.
Last year I was still figuring things out with building my solo practice, but now that I know what to expect I know I can better prepare for the upcoming cold weather season.
Here’s how I plan to get things going!
Get Back To Networking
During the Summer everyone is vacationing so networking events were few and far between.
Since Labor Day, my inbox has been flooded with invitations to networking events; I’ve also been invited to join legal organizations and do coffee or lunch with referral sources.
Now is the time to get these events on my calendar before it gets filled with meetings and court appearances.
Touch Base With Clients
Many of my clients have been MIA throughout the Summer.
Now that vacations are over and the children are back in school, I’m reaching out to clients to get updates. Proactively reaching out to them will make handling any potential issues easier than if I had to react to each client reaching out to me.
The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving are usually super busy for me since most judges try to hear as many cases as possible before the holidays. Reaching out to clients now will ensure that I have plenty of time to deal with any foreseeable issues and prepare for upcoming court appearances in adequate time.
It’s never a bad thing to be too prepared, especially when it comes to client matters.
Prepare My Holiday Cards
Last year I wanted to send holiday cards but I didn’t think about it until November, which was too late.
The process is much more complicated than I thought; having the cards designed and printed, preparing a mailing list and actually mailing out the cards takes a few weeks.
This year I’ll start early so I can get it done.
Prepare My Winter Wardrobe
I plan to spend the upcoming weekend going through my winter work wardrobe and figuring out what I need to get rid of, what to repair and what to buy.
The biggest challenge will be finding my everyday boots- appropriate for court, but comfortable enough for commuting.
Prepare for the Holiday Season Slow Down
For matrimonial lawyers, November and December are the slowest months for new clients.
Most people don’t want to start a divorce during the holidays, and work from my current clients slows down considerably. Last year I wasn’t fully prepared for this, so from a financial perspective, those months were particularly stressful for me. Now that I am expecting the slowdown, I know to have money set aside for those months.
January and February are the months when I get the most new clients because many people use the New Year as an opportunity to change their lives. Last year I didn’t do enough advanced planning to fully capitalize on this, however, this Fall I will prepare a marketing plan to capitalize on attracting these types of clients.
The shifts in the seasons also creates a shift in mindset. Lessons learned last Fall can help make this Fall so much better.
Are you doing anything to prepare your practice for the fall/winter season? Comment below and give us your thoughts!
