Episodes

“The firm is supposed to serve you. You are not supposed to live in service to the firm.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Is your law firm improving your life, or consuming it? This episode explores one of the most important mindset shifts a law firm owner can make: your business is supposed to support your life, not the other way around. In clips from a 2021 Profit First for Lawyers livestream and the October 2023 Live Quarterly Meeting, RJon challenges law firm owners to r...

“Implementing Profit First in your law firm is a meaningful first step that you can take that will help you correct this costly and stressful misalignment between yourself and the clients of your law firm.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers For many law firm owners, profit feels uncomfortable. Maybe even selfish. But what if profit isn’t the problem? In this episode, immigration attorney Jennifer Walker Gates shares how implementing Profit First transformed not just her law fi...

“To want your law firm to be anything less than all it can be, that’s abnormal. Especially when you consider that at least part of a law firm’s success is dependent upon the law firm helping more people.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Every law firm owner wants their business to be successful. So why do so many stay stuck in patterns that keep them from reaching their full potential? In this episode, we explore a counterintuitive truth: most people are more afraid of success...

“To be called a financially successful business, a law firm must generate enough total owner benefit for you to live the way you want to live. Not just what you’re willing to settle for.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers If your law firm is covering the bills, is that enough? For many law firm owners, the goal quietly becomes survival. Making payroll, paying expenses, and getting through month to month is considered success, but is it? Not according to RJon Robins. That’s not s...

“We want to build a business that is sustainable and we want to build a business that can operate independently of you and your brilliance.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Why Your Law Firm Needs a Plan (and the Math to Back It Up) If you wouldn’t take a case to trial without a plan, then why would you run your law firm without one? In this episode, we explore one of the most overlooked (and uncomfortable) topics for law firm owners: your written business plan. Featuring an ...

In a well-run law firm, there is really no reason to ever have any accounts receivables at all. Not if you are using the IOLTA Client Property Trust Account the way it was actually invented and meant to be used.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers The Hidden Profit Killer In this episode, Ed Gegan reveals how he stopped the profit-eating cycle that was destroying his cash flow and peace of mind. By adopting profit first accounting principles and taking action on the lessons lear...

“The problem is most people don’t take the time to think about their definition of success. Which is kind of ironic considering that as lawyers, we are trained that the first thing you do when you’re drafting a contract or making a settlement agreement is you have to define the terms.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Welcome to the latest season of the Profit First for Lawyers podcast. In this season premiere, we tackle the foundation that makes everything else possible: defin...

“If you implement what has been explained throughout this book, your law firm will definitely become more profitable. You will feel more confidence, and you will begin to experience the unique satisfaction that comes from being able to reliably put more of the revenue collected by your law firm into your own personal bank account.” – RJon Robins In this season finale, we come full circle with RJon’s bold promise from the conclusion of Profit First for Lawyers: no hedge words then, no hedge words...

“So there’s a mindset problem going on here. How the owners of law firms think about what they think about, the excuses they make, the excuses they accept, the unexamined stories that they accept as gospel.” – RJon Robins In this episode, we are joined by Erika Ferenczi, Director of Brand Promise at How To Manage Enterprises, to tackle the elephant in every law firm: the mindset blocks that keep lawyers from being profitable. With nearly two decades helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses, E...

“There are too many great lawyers with loads of potential, but not enough profits to invest in more consistent marketing and more professional sales systems. Too many of these great lawyers are frustrated and cannot live up to their full potential.” – RJon Robins In this episode we revisit the seven main parts of every successful law firm and explore what happens when one of these critical components falls out of alignment. RJon walks through five all-too-common nightmare scenarios that plague l...

”Those of us who embrace Profit First as a way of life, we force ourselves to get creative with the money we have left over in the account for operating expenses.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers In this episode, Joam Alisme shares why implementing Profit First was the right choice for his firm and why it’s time for fence-sitting law firm owners to take the leap. As RJon explains in the featured clip from the Profit First Summary chapter in the book (page 165), “We believe it’s...

“ So people who believe in the doctrine of sacrifice encourage sacrifice and take pride in sacrifice for its own sake. I believe that profit is good. That profit comes from the exchange of something of a lower value to gain something else that is of a higher value.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers The legal industry has a problem with glorifying suffering. In this final episode of our three-part series on escaping the doctrine of sacrifice, we flip the script on what sacrifice ...

“In addition to the typical financial statements… there are other key performance indicators and metrics that you’re going to want to keep track of on your dashboard so that you can look at a glance to see if everything’s working properly under the hood.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyer Inspect what you expect. That’s the mindset behind this episode. Law firm owner Josephia Rouse shares how transforming her approach to financial management helped her move from reactive to intent...

“Lawyers who are broke are not in a position to do much good… Not for their clients, their family, their community, least of all themselves.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers In Part 2 of our series on Escaping the Doctrine of Sacrifice, we dive deep into the belief system itself. RJon further explores the idea that suffering somehow makes us good, working ourselves into the ground is noble, and that profit is something to be ashamed of. He references the philosophy from the How...

“It depends on what you mean by profit. This answer will set you free, and as a result, this way of thinking will make your law firm far more profitable.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Defining Profit What does profit really mean to you? For estate planning attorney Ali Goff, the answer goes far beyond “revenue minus expenses.” In this episode, Ali shares how understanding total owner benefits (time freedom, lifestyle choices, and peace of mind) completely transformed how s...

“It is a sign of extreme entrepreneurial immaturity to discount or dismiss or ignore, or not even be aware that there’s some luck involved in your success.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Welcome to our three-part series on The Doctrine of Sacrifice. This is RJon’s personal crusade to free entrepreneurs, especially lawyers from the long-held belief that sacrifice is noble and that focusing on profit is somehow morally wrong. In this first episode we explore how understanding ...

“When we implement Profit First Accounting Principles in your law firm, we begin by deciding ahead of time what percentage of every dollar of revenue we’re going to scoop off the top and protect for you and your family.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers In this episode, Profit First certified controller, Veronica Zambrano joins us to break down exactly how to implement Profit First in your law firm (even if you’re in a cash crunch). Using her ‘financial gym’ approach, Veronica s...

“While you may be a bold, independent thinker when it comes to the practice of law and in other areas of your life, there’s a very good chance that you’ve been thinking a lot like a lemming when it comes to the profitability of your law firm.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers In this episode we revisit a crucial topic from season one that deserves a fresh look, especially if your accountant or bookkeeper has been pushing back against Profit First. For deeper insights, take a loo...

“Everywhere you go, people are going to begin celebrating their gross revenue. And I don’t want you to let that mess with your head right? Because you need to understand total owner benefits.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers In this episode, Michigan appellate attorney Liisa Speaker shared her seven-year journey with Profit First. Liisa reveals how she started at just 1% profit allocation in 2018 and then paid off law firm debt, tackled law school loans, funded major home impr...

“So I may wind up sacrificing some precious time with my family to solve that potential new client’s problem and still have no financial profit to show for it. This simple misalignment explains more problems in the legal industry than I can address in this small book.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers In this episode, we dive into Chapter 6 of the Profit First for Lawyers book and explore a deceptively simple yet powerful concept: the definition of profit. RJon explains what a p...

“So you’re meeting with your prospective new client… And they’re about to sign the engagement agreement, and you say, ‘Hold on a second. I need to share some information with you.‘ ‘Oh, what’s that?‘ ‘Well, you need to know that my law firm is not very profitable.’ “ – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers This is part two of our series that challenges the belief that focusing on profit is selfish. If you’ve missed part one, “Why Profit Shouldn’t Be Optional”, pause here and listen to ...

“It’s a practical impossibility to practice law well in an unprofitable law firm. Why? Because you need money to pay for things.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers This is the first of a two-part series that challenges the belief among law firm owners, that focusing on profit is somehow selfish or unethical. If you’ve ever felt guilty about prioritizing your firm’s profitability, this episode will go a long way toward shifting your perspective on profit. RJon tackles the uncomfor...

“A much healthier approach. A much more rational approach is to begin by deciding what you want out of your business first… After all the business is supposed to be there to give you a better life too, isn’t it?” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers In this episode we hear about a common challenge among law firm owners: feast or famine finances. If this feels all too familiar then this episode is exactly what you need to hear because it is never too late to begin your Profit First j...

“Remember, your bookkeeper is a bookkeeper, not a mindreader, and it is the height of entrepreneurial immaturity for a law firm owner to criticize a bookkeeper for not knowing what is nearly impossible for a bookkeeper to know without speaking to the owner of the business.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers When law firm owners make these two critical choices, they wind up sabotaging their profitability: Nitpicking irrelevant bookkeeping details. Avoiding their bookkeeper altog...