What scenario provides the greatest potential – a unit based business or a business based on hourly compensation? When it comes to potential the answer is a unit based business. The more units you can efficiently and effectively process the more revenue you can potentially generate. The problem with an hourly based business is that there are only so many hours in the day. This means your income potential is limited to your hourly wage. So as an attorney you have to be very diligent on how you spend your time. When working for a client you can of course charge for your time, but for those hours of the day when you are not working for a client, what are you doing? Are you investing your down time in activities that will result in billable time? Or are you watching time (revenue) slip away on things like administrative work, interruptions, technology issues, staffing issues, etc.
An idea would be to create a list of things you can do during your down time that will help you increase your productivity/revenue in the long run. Things on your list might include, sending out Linkedin invitations, asking attorneys within your firm if they need assistance on a matter, writing personal notes or letters to your loyal clients, visiting clients, participate in community organizations, write for the firms newsletter, etc. Use your down time as time to invest in your practice and soon you’ll be as busy as you want to be.