How to avoid billing too little (or too much)

For most firms, January 1 means the billable hour counter resets to zero.

And if you struggled to hit your hours last year, you might welcome an opportunity to have a clean slate.

But for most, it’s a dreaded moment in law firm life.

If you worked your tush off last year and you’re already feeling exhausted, having to start back over at zero can feel like a devastating blow.

To avoid this annual existential crisis, it’s important to take control of your billable hours.

Look, there are many reasons why I hate the billable hour.

It’s a terrible business model.

It rewards inefficiencies.

It undermines value and service.

But as long as it’s the focus of law firm models (and I don’t see that changing any time soon), you need to get in front of your billables.

Either you’ll manage them or they’ll manage you…

Assuming you prefer the former, today’s podcast episode is for you.

I break down how to determine your annual billable goal (it’s not as obvious as you might think) and how to plan ahead to stay on track.

I share my step-by-step formula so you can make sure you hit your target (and not go over – because overbilling is just as bad as underbilling…).

You can listen to the episode here.

We have enough to stress over.

Billable hours shouldn’t be one of them.

Here’s to hitting your billable target with ease in 2018!

Best,

Heather

P.S. If you have a friend or colleague who’s always struggling to stay on top of their billable hours (either because they’re way under or over), be sure to share this episode with them so they can finally tame the billable beast.

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