(An ongoing series of tips for surviving the transition into private practice by Jes Eve Jones, Criminal Defense Attorney)
When I think about my experience of going into private practice, I really am grateful for the idea that you can pretty much just pay for whatever you need.
I’ve never thought of myself as a businesswoman. I’ve never thought of myself as a go-getter and I think when you start your own business, you’ve got to have a lot of gumption to make it happen, and it was really intimidating. But I remind myself that I don’t have to know every in and out of running my own business, I just need to know and have good people on my side that I trust.
At first, I was really concerned about how to do my own taxes, but I realized, I can pay for a CPA and a bookkeeper. I got really nervous where I was like, “Oh my gosh, how am I going to do Quickbooks? That’s just not my mindset. Then I was like, OH. There are experts who do this.”
I figured out how to make my own website, but you don’t have to do that. If that’s not your thing, there are marketing people. You can pay to have someone help design a logo for you or help you with marketing. I didn’t know how to do my taxes, I didn’t understand how to set up an invoice. These are all things that you can pay for and figure out.
There was a good amount of figuring out what was good for me. I also realized - nothing’s set in stone, you can give it a try, you can hire someone and work with them, and if it doesn’t work out you can change it!
I learned you have to be kind to yourself, be patient to yourself and know that you don’t have to do it all, and that made it seem like it was doable to be my own attorney and run my own practice and my own business, and it has been!
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