I've told more than a few solicitors thinking about going solo that they might be better off building their savings first, even if that means driving Uber at night. It's not always what they want to hear.
Over the past couple of years, I've had the same conversation with at least half a dozen solicitors thinking about going solo.
They want to start their own practice. They're confident they can make it work.
Quite often, they've had someone tell them they'll send work their way.
A former employer, another solicitor, a colleague or two.
"You'll be fine. We'll give you work."
Maybe they will. But quite often, that promised work doesn't materialise, or at least not in the volume or timeframe expected.
And that's where the problems can start.
In several of these conversations, my advice has been pretty straightforward.
Take a step back. Build some serious capital reserves before you go solo. And if that means getting a second job, even driving Uber at night for six months, it might not be a bad idea.
Now, telling a solicitor that they might need to drive Uber doesn't always go down particularly well on the ego front. And let me be clear, I'm not in any way diminishing or denigrating the work of an Uber driver.
Sometimes, however, you need to leave your ego at the door.
The reality is that the first six, twelve, eighteen months, and sometimes the first two years of running your own practice, can be challenging.
Work doesn't always arrive when you expect it to.
Clients don't always pay when you'd like them to.
And the costs of running a practice don't stop just because the work isn't coming through the door.
That's why having a cushion of capital in reserve matters so much.
Whether it's capital reserves, another income stream or a combination of both, you need that buffer to deal with the inevitable ups and downs of establishing a practice.
And that second job you thought you'd only need for six months might just turn out to be necessary for quite a bit longer.
Interestingly, a number of the solicitors I've had these conversations with haven't come back for further advisory work.
That's fine.
I don't take everyone on as a client, and I'm quite comfortable telling someone that I don't think they're fully ready to go solo.
I'd rather be upfront about the realities of sole practice than encourage someone into a business that doesn't yet have a reasonable chance of success.
Even with the right preparation, things can still go wrong. There are no guarantees.
However, having sufficient capital reserves or a reliable alternative income stream gives you a much better chance of getting through those difficult early years.
So there's my free bit of advice for solicitors thinking about going solo.
Build your capital reserves before you take the leap.
And if that means driving Uber at night for a while, so be it.
There's no harm in giving yourself the best possible chance of success as a solo lawyer.
