7 Growth Struggles of Women Law Firm Owners (Based on Conversations with 100s)

In today’s episode, I’ll be discussing the 7 struggles that keep women law firm owners from successfully growing their law firm businesses. I was able to pinpoint these 7 based on conversations I’ve had over the last decade with 100s of you.

Davina Frederick: Hi, everyone.
Its Divina Frederick, welcome

back to wealthy woman lawyer, I
am so glad that you are here.

And today I want to talk about
the seven struggles of women law

firm owners. This topic came
about because I've had so many

conversations with you a lot of
you lately, and obviously I've

had conversations with hundreds
of women law firm owners over

the last 10 years as I've been
coaching women law firm owners

to scale their businesses to and
through a million dollars. And

lately, so many people are
worried about inflation and the

recession. And they're really
stuck in negative thinking

around their law firm business.
So I wanted to help you get

clear on exactly what it is that
you may be struggling with.

Because I think sometimes
there's not a lot of clarity, we

can't really dial into what it
is that we're doing wrong. When

we can't grow our law firm
business, it feels like we're

stuck. And so I want to share
with you some of the things that

I want you to to raise your hand
to yourself silently make a

check list or whatever. If there
is something on this list that

jumps out at you. And you go oh,
yes, that I do that, or why have

that fear. So I really want to
help you get clarity on what

you're struggling with. Because
the things that I'm going to

share with you are things that
we help women law firm owners

with in the wealthy woman,
lawyer League, and in our one on

one coaching programs. So let's
jump in and get started. Ski

struggle. Number one is that
many law firm owners that I with

whom I have conversations, do
not have a basic understanding

of where they're starting. And
based on where they're starting,

how long it will take them to
get where they want to go. So

let's say you're, you know, I
had a conversation yesterday

with someone, and I asked her
what her gross annual revenue

was, and she could not tell me,
she had to check with her

bookkeeper. And that right there
told me that she does not know

her numbers, she doesn't know
where she's starting in her

business. So if you don't know
where you're starting, if you're

trying to drive from, you know,
Orlando, Florida, where I am to

Denver, Colorado, and you don't
know where you're starting, you

don't know you're starting in
Orlando, or Sanford or Lake

Mary, or maybe Miami or wherever
it is right? Then you can

accurately calculate a roadmap
to where you want to go. It's

the same thing if you're making
$100,000 in your business, but

you're not really sure. What
stage of growth you're in, am I

in stage one, stage two? Or
stage three? And what are the

factors of each of those stages,
then you're not gonna be able to

clearly identify where you are
and the kind of help you should

ask for right. So that is the
first thing that I see a lot of

women law firm owners struggle
with, they don't even know what

they don't know, they don't know
where they're starting. They

don't have a realistic
expectation for how long it

takes to get to $3 million based
on their starting point. And

they don't know exactly what's
needed to get there. So number

two of the growth struggles that
I hear women law firm owners

tell me about is fear of math.
So this goes a lot in hand in

hand with what I said, number
one fear math. But beyond fear

math, it's so you know, we're
all we all know that it's the

joke among lawyers is that I
hate math, which is why I became

a lawyer, right? But if you
decided to open your own law

firm business, you've heard me
say this over and over again,

you've got to get over that fear
of math, you have to understand

business math, right. And you
can't let embarrassment about

what you don't know stop you
from seeking out that knowledge

and understanding and trying to
understand what you need to

know, such as the key
performance indicators, you need

to be tracking in your business,
how to track them. And how to

read your financial reports what
that information means what it

means. We were talking about
gross annual revenue, what it

means we're talking about
profit, what it means we're

talking about cash flow, right?
So many women, law firm owners,

they could tell you their
expenses, but they're focused on

that negative. They're focused
on that expense, and they can't

tell you how they make their
money. Where does this money

come from? Oh, referrals? Well,
what referrals who, right? So

there's a lot of tracking and
fear of math and fear of metrics

and fear of understanding how to
how to actually measure your

growth, right? Number three is
still trying to do all the

things this is just so common
among IOTV women, and even those

women who are say that they're
delegating often really are not

delegating as much as they
should be delegating because

they don't know the proper way
to delegate. So they struggle

with delegating. They'll say I
have a team But I still don't

delegate as much as I should, I
still think it's faster and

easier to do it myself. And it's
because they don't have a system

for delegating, that helps them
delegate in a way that is easy

for them, right? Number four of
the seven growth strategies is

not prioritizing your time. So
you think you have a time

management problem. And you do
not have a time management

problem, what you have is a
priorities problem, you still

have too much on your plate,
because you haven't gotten your

priorities straight, you don't
know what's the most important

thing you should be doing in
your business, you think it's

servicing the clients. But that
may not be the case, there's if

you are a business owner, there
are other things that are

equally important, or maybe even
more important than that, right?

So you think you have a time
management issue, but really,

you don't understand how to
prioritize your time. Number

five is not willing to invest
financially energetically

emotionally in your business to
the degree that is required.

Right. So what

what business owners don't
understand what law firm owners

don't understand until maybe
they've been in business for a

while, is that you have to take
risks, you have to take

calculated risks, if you want to
get the returns, any investment

you make, let's say you invest
in the stock market, the average

50 year, rate of return in the
stock market is 10%. Right?

There's a certain amount of
risk, the more you risk, the

more opportunity for higher
returns. And people understand

that, but they don't understand
that in business, it's the same

thing, your business is an
investment in your future, you

must take risk for that to get
good returns for you, you can't

play small, when you play small,
you're not taking any risks,

you're not going to get the kind
of wealth that you say you

desire. So you have to take
risks, that risks could involve

investing in hiring a coach to
help you the people who grow

fastest and most successfully
have invested in coach. And the

reason they do that is because
they, they don't need to make

the same mistakes and don't want
to make the same mistakes that

other people who've already been
there and done that have made.

So they hire people to help them
create a shortcut. So again,

going back to kind of talking
about getting from point A to

point B, if if from point A to
point B, your plan is to get in

the car and drive from Orlando
to Denver, and I say, you know,

Hey, you don't need to do that,
you can get an airplane ticket,

and you can be there a lot
faster. And you might not know

that you might think oh, I have
to drive because I've been told

to to, you know, I have a
roadmap, right? So but really

what the purpose of a coach is
to help you with those

shortcuts, secrets, those things
that you don't know, if you're

going to drive, that coach might
tell you, you know, if you take

this route, then this route this
route, you're gonna cut two

hours off of your trip. That's
what you're that's what coaching

will do for you is to help you
realize that they're the you

don't have to make the same
mistakes other people may and

also to get out of your own head
because we are our own worst

enemy to our progress self our
self doubt is the thing that is

holding us back above anything
else and doing more harm and and

a good coach will help you get
out of your own head and and

stop doubting yourself enough
that you can actually step out

and take some action instead of
being paralyzed by analysis

paralysis, okay? I'm not I'm not
making the you're making the

wrong decisions. Number six is
making the wrong decisions.

Because you don't have the right
plan. So you're making the wrong

decisions, you're on the road,
you're on a path, but you don't

have the right roadmap. You
don't have the right plan, you

don't know what it takes to get
from A to B. And instead of

asking, instead of hiring
someone to help you figure that

out, you're sitting there trying
to figure out on your own and

then you're caught in this web
of confusion. Because you don't

you're afraid to make a mistake,
right? So you get a plan. That

is the right plan for you. You
need to work with somebody to

help you figure that out if that
is the thing that is keeping you

stuck, okay. And also learning
to make your plan the right plan

once you have made decisions
learning how to make decisions

quickly and move forward and
make your plan the right plan no

matter what is a is a real key
factor in successful

entrepreneurship and building a
business. And number seven last

on my list for today. Bro
struggles of women law firm

owners is you're still taking
advice from well meaning loved

ones who are broke to you're
taking advice from people who

are where you are now, not where
you want to go. So you're

surrounding yourself with those
people who are broke and they're

they're telling you don't do
this do this because they are

placing their fears in your head
and you are blocking out access

to people who are where you want
to go or are further ahead in

the journey than where you are,
because you, you are scared of

reaching out and forming those
relationships and making those

investments. And so you listen
to people who are not where you

want to go, but who may want to
go where you want to go, but

they're not there yet, and they
don't know what they're doing.

And they're well, they're
usually well meaning loved ones

are usually family, close
friends that have that are

scared for you. And so, you
know, they, they tell you to be

cautious at times when you
probably should be taking a risk

and, and making something
happen, right. So those are the

seven growth struggles of women,
law firm owners, these are the

kinds of things that I hear all
the time from women, law firm

owners who are struggling to
grow their law firm business,

and really holding back and
playing small for year after

year after year after year,
instead of stepping forward,

stepping out on faith, taking
risks, investing in their

business, surrounding themselves
with people who are, are where

they want to go, or are ahead of
them in the journey. And just

not taking not not investing in
learning how to fill that

knowledge gap, right. So I hope
that this you have found this

helpful, I hope that you have
had a chance to sit and think

about this and write down kind
of where you think you may be

stuck. If you want to reach out
to me and have a conversation

about whether or not you think
wealthy woman lawyer is somebody

who can help you, we can have a
call, you can hop on a call with

me if you go to wealthy woman
lawyer.com to private coaching,

you can hit the Apply button, or
you can go to wealthy woman

lawyer.ly. And you can see what
it's like to enroll in our group

coaching program. But schedule
an appointment with me, reach

out to me check out our
resources, we have a lot of

resources available, no matter
where you are in your growth

journey. If you're at stage one,
stage two or stage three, on

your way to a million dollars.
We have a lot of resources for

you. So I encourage you to reach
out. If this is your struggle.

If 2022 has not lived up to your
expectations, and you want 2023

to be better, then you can do
it. I want to tell you that you

can do it. You have to get out
of your own way though. All

right. So this has been another
episode of the wealthy woman

lawyer podcast. I appreciate you
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7 Growth Struggles of Women Law Firm Owners (Based on Conversations with 100s)
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