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Does anyone know what’s happening? 😰

Waiting for BBBY to blow its top again 🚀
Additional Posts in Small Law / Solos
Do solos get to write off pro bono work at all?
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I wanted flexibility in how I worked. I never wanted to feel like one person could fire me and I would lose everything. I moved from nyc to Flordia, I live on a beach, make 4x as much money set my own rules and my own sechudle.
To be honest it didn’t go as planned. Within 6 months I had two F500 clients. My expected income went above 500k for the year and the client base rapidly expanded. It still is I am landing about 1 large client a month.
Where in FL? I’ll fly down there and be your associate!
I don’t anyone ever makes real money working for someone else.
Mentor
I had about 14 years of experience and the prior 7 years I had managed a department handling everything from substantive supervision to hiring and firing.
A promised partnership had fizzled out and I realized I didn’t want to devote seven more years promoting someone else’s business only to realize it wasn’t the right fit for me.
If I was going to put that much time and effort into a brand, then I wanted it to be my brand.
The firm and I parted ways somewhat amicably and I started my own firm until I could “find something else,” but also to see if I could do it on my own. If it didn’t work out then I would know that I need to swim with the current somewhere else for someone else.
Within the first two months I had two big flat fee clients, which paid the firm bills for several months.
I had already established myself in the community. So, an announcement on LinkedIn that I had started my own firm brought professional referrals over, which brought clients over.
The business was pretty self-sustaining from the beginning. I’m two years in and not making much net money, but I am going slow and steady so I can spend time with my kid, who I ignored working for the first five years of life.
The business is showing good growth while I invest back into it and my husband and I are committed to seeing a long haul profit rather than a first two year profit. We’ve lived poor before and that doesn’t bother us too much as long as we are happy. We live an incredibly modest life, which leaves us better flexibility to roll with the punches.
All in all, it’s been good. But, it can be pretty lonely. It’s good to have some groups to be involved with so you don’t feel so out there on your own.
Mentor
A4: elder law and estate planning - but mostly elder law.
Main reason was I couldn’t find a law firm in town doing what I wanted to do so decided to build it myself. I always knew I wanted a niche and would rather start now than 10 years from now. I also love incentives and my last firm didn’t have a clear incentive policy nor did they follow through with bonuses on cases I originated that were promised. The risk is high but then so is the upside!
Been out on my own for six months and have already netted more than I made in three years at my last firm. Will obviously pour the majority of that back into the firm so I can do it again (I represent plaintiffs’ on contingency, so it’s not a steady flow of cash) but still feels good to prove my old boss wrong (who told me it would take 7 years to land my first client and that the cases I brought in before only came in once every 5 to 10 years lol)
Sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and sexual harassment
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