Today I want to tell you why I reckon online legal solutions kick every other option’s ass!
7 ways to generate revenue
Coaching, speaking, teaching, advertisers / brand sponsors, legal products, legal work and online legal solutions. It’s an impressive list (and you can read more about them all in this blog) but for most lawyers, only the last two – legal work and online legal solutions – have the earning potential required for a successful law firm.
What is an online legal solution?
Online legal solutions bridge the gap between legal products and legal services. They leverage a lawyer’s IP to create a comprehensive, step-by-step framework for solving a problem or pain point (often broader than a simple legal matter) for clients.
Most of the legal work involved in online legal solutions is automated by software. Marketing, sales and delivery processes are standardised and often automated.
5 ways online legal solutions are superior
- Pricing
- Resource requirements
- Growth potential
- Professional satisfaction
- Freedom and flexibility
Pricing
With traditional legal work, revenue is generated by trading hours for dollars. Even the best lawyers tend to charge their clients based on the number of hours they work, not the awesome results they get.
But with online legal solutions you can adopt a value-based pricing system. A solution that delivers transformative change to a client by solving a problem in their life or business can be marketed and sold with a premium price tag.
Resource requirements
Because fees are tied to the number of hours worked, traditional legal work requires a 1 to 1 input of time per dollar generated. Where automation and technology are used to reduce manual work, the savings are passed on to the client because less billable hours are completed. A lawyer must put in the same time and effort every time, to earn the same revenue.
Designing and creating an online legal solution does require an upfront investment of time and resources. However, lawyers tend to develop their online legal solutions around existing IP, which means they don’t have to start from scratch and spend lots of time and energy reinventing the wheel.
The real benefit of basing your revenue model around an online legal solution is how much time and energy the automation and systemisation of sales and delivery processes saves. Many online legal solutions almost literally sell themselves and once the tech is in place, delivery can be as simple as the click of a mouse!
Growth potential
When revenue is tied to billable hours, growth can only occur when more hours are worked – either by increasing the workload of individual lawyers (and let’s face it, most lawyers are already working too many hours!) or hiring more lawyers (which also brings more costs and often more stress). This means growth from selling traditional legal services can only ever be slow and incremental.
Systemisation, automation and scalable web-based marketing, sales and delivery systems mean a law firm built around an online legal solution has an almost infinite potential for rapid, exponential growth.
Professional satisfaction
Lawyers generally gravitate to areas they are passionate about since professional satisfaction is a big motivator. However, the limited reach of traditional legal work (being able to help a finite number of clients throughout their career) may dilute the sense of achievement and satisfaction for many. The largely manual nature of legal work means lots of lawyers can grow tired of repetitively completing mundane tasks for multiple clients.
Like a traditional lawyer working in an area they love, building an online legal solution around something you’re passionate about will give you high levels of professional satisfaction. This will be amplified as the numbers of clients helped grows exponentially. Also, your automated sales and delivery systems free up time that you can then focus on other aspects of the law and life that bring joy and happiness.
Freedom and Flexibility
Traditional legal work happens most often inside traditional legal firms where long hours, routine and hierarchy are the norm. Lawyers lucky enough to work in more modern-facing firms (perhaps with the option of working remotely or completing work outside normal business hours) will still be tied to needing to complete a standard number of weekly hours.
As clients in traditional firms feel they are “buying” a lawyer’s time (thanks to that pesky billable hour again!), they are more likely to get in contact spontaneously – which can be disruptive and stressful for the lawyer.
Building your firm around an online legal solution provides opportunities for a great deal of freedom and flexibility. You will have more time and money to spend doing the things, inside and outside of work, that they love. As the business is based online, most tasks can be completed remotely from anywhere in the world.
Get more
Building your law firm around an online legal solution (instead of traditional legal work) will see you earn more while spending less time and energy. There is vast potential to create a scalable business that will continue to see your revenue increase exponentially. You’ll gain more professional satisfaction from your work and also have the freedom and flexibility to spend time doing the things you love, in and out of the office.
If you’re keen to know more about the best way of earning money from your legal expertise by creating an online legal solution then click here and schedule for a Scale Session today.
