Episodes

“The mindset of so many lawyers in the legal industry is that if I’m having law firm management problems, it must be that I’m just not a good enough lawyer, which of course is nonsense.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers In this episode we are joined by Charlee Spilker, Profit First certified controller at How To Manage A Small Law Firm. She shares wisdom pulled from over 30 years in finance and accounting as well as her horse training experience and applies it to law firm profit...

“These are lawyers who have the potential to have such a huge positive impact on the world, and instead they keep struggling because their law firm isn’t successful enough.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers What do you want from your law firm and your life? Not what you need. Not what you will tolerate. What do you actually want? This episode will challenge you to think bigger as RJon exposes the “doctrine of sacrifice” which is the perverse pride lawyers take in suffering, wor...

”While every law firm owner wants their law firm to be successful,  very few out of the tens of thousands of small law firm owners who I’ve met over the years have been able to articulate an objective definition for what it actually means, at least to them, for a law firm to be worthy of being called a successful business.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Most law firm owners want their firms to be successful, but very few can articulate what that actually means. This fundament...

“Everyone is better off when your law firm is more profitable. No one is better off when your law firm is less profitable.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers If you’ve ever caught yourself saying, “It’ll be faster if I just do it myself,” this episode is for you. That is a trap many lawyers and business professionals fall into without even knowing it. The reality is that every hour spent on tasks beneath your role, whether it’s admin, paralegal work, or chasing invoices, impacts ...

“The first reason so many small law firms struggle to become or remain profitable is a lack of education about the business of how to manage a successful small law firm.” – RJon Robins, author Profit First for Lawyers Working Smarter, Not Harder Have you been spinning on the hamster wheel working countless hours while profitability eludes you? Nequosha Anderson, founder of Anderson Law Firm, knows that feeling intimately. Despite her data science background, she found herself trapped in the cyc...

I know you don’t want to talk about your A/R, but you’ve got to talk about your A/R. – RJon Robins, author Profit First for Lawyers If you’ve ever looked at your accounts receivables (A/R) as simply delayed income, this episode will completely change how you understand what those unpaid invoices are really costing you. In segments pulled from the A/R section of Chapter 13 (pages 120-121) and the A/R section from Chapter 14 (curated from pages 133-138) in the Profit First for Lawyers book, you’ll...

”You don’t have to have a million dollar law firm to do the things that cause people to have million and multimillion dollar law firms.“ – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers When is the right time to start Profit First? In this episode, we hear from Marie Drake who went from struggling solo practitioner to a profitable multi-attorney law firm owner following Profit First Accounting Principles. She reveals the subconscious sabotage that almost derailed her Profit First journey, a ch...

“I remember the owner of a multimillion dollar law firm who had positive cash flow. Yay! Unfortunately, the law firm was slowly going out of business because it was losing $100,000 each month and the owner didn’t even know it.” – RJon Robins If you’ve ever looked at cash coming into your firm and assumed that meant you were profitable, this episode is a wake-up call you can’t afford to miss. In a segment pulled from Chapter 13, page 118 in the Profit First for Lawyers book, you’ll hear about the...

“You know what every single personal injury lawyer can tell you that every single one of their clients all have in common without one single exception? None of them expected to get in a car wreck the morning they woke up, left the house, and got in the car wreck. Life just happens.” – RJon Robins In this episode of the Profit First for Lawyers podcast, we look at what happens to your business and family if you get hit by a bus tomorrow. It sounds dramatic, but this sobering question matters more...

“You don’t have to know hardly anything about bookkeeping or accounting or math to become very effective in your use of these important financial concepts.” – RJon Robins In this episode, hear how law firm owner Xavier Martine has transformed his law mindset around his firm’s finances, from financial fear to full command of the numbers. As a member of How To Manage A Small Law Firm, he didn’t just grow his revenue, he rewired how he thinks about profitability, systems, and what it truly means to...

“Profit cannot be treated as an event. It must be treated as a habit, but that is not how most business owners approach the profitability of their business.” – RJon Robins If you’ve been waiting for your next client or that one big case to swoop in and save your law firm’s profitability, this episode is your wake-up call. RJon drops some serious truth bombs about why chasing the next big thing is actually sabotaging your success. RJon in the Studio To understand why profit cannot be an event, ...

“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.” If your law firm feels like it eats cash faster than you can make it, you’re not wrong. The traditional approach to law firm finances is completely backwards. In this episode we are making the case for why you should stop procrastinating and finally take your profits first. RJon...

This bonus episode of the Profit First For Lawyers podcast was originally featured on The Managing Partners Podcast hosted by Kevin Daisey. This interview with RJon Robins is the second in a two-part series. Part one of the series can be heard on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and watched on YouTube. The Definition of a Successful Law Firm RJon picks up the conversation from last week’s episode by discussing How To MANAGE a Small Law Firm’s definition of a successful law firm – one that serves the ...

This bonus episode of the Profit First For Lawyers podcast was originally featured on The Managing Partners Podcast hosted by Kevin Daisey. This interview with RJon Robins is the first in a two-part series. Redefining Success RJon shares his transformative journey from financial adversity to profitability. This episode focuses on the critical mindset shift law firm owners should embrace as entrepreneurial professionals who sell legal services. RJon’s insights into ethical profitability and str...

The curtain closes on a sensational season for the Profit First For Lawyers podcast. We thank you for joining us each week for episodes filled with actionable insights. This podcast was launched in advance of the Profit First For Lawyers book publish date. All while RJon was in Paris. The surprise reveal about the podcast to RJon at the July Live Quarterly Meeting (LQM) made for some fun moments on stage. RJon in Paris In a never before seen video from Paris, RJon filmed his experience at a c...

Mike Michalowicz, author of Profit First and co-founder of Profit First Professionals talks all things Profit First. Mike shares the story behind Profit First, which he developed after nearly losing everything when his business collapsed. This experience prompted him to study what makes companies profitable. His revelation? Apply the same personal finance “pay yourself first” principle to business finances. Thus, Profit First was born. Now over 800,000 companies use Mike’s approach of taking a...

As we approach the end of the season, we look back on RJon’s promise to readers of his book Profit First For Lawyers. “If you implement what I’m going to be sharing with you in this book, your law firm will definitely become more profitable.” RJon Robins, Profit First For Lawyers, Chapter 1 Personal Impact and Professional Benefits In this episode, Karli speaks with law firm owners who share personal and professional results after implementing Profit First. We hear from lawyers new to Profit F...

This episode packed with Profit First insights features Ron Saharyan, co-founder of the Profit First Professionals. Ron shares practical insights about Profit First fundamentals. He gives actionable tips for law firm owners who want to build a healthy, sustainable, and profitable business by following the Profit First methodology. We also hear about how Ron’s childhood friendship with Profit First author, Mike Michalowicz turned into the Profit First Professionals which is approaching a 10-year...

In this episode, we have a candid conversation with Marie Drake who shares the story behind why she became a lawyer, her family law practice, and her “No B.S. Divorce” model. She also talks about how a colleague’s drastic transformation led Marie to attend a Live Quarterly Meeting and join How To MANAGE a Small Law Firm four years ago. Marie has embraced Profit First and found RJon’s win-win model works well within her law firm. She advises young lawyers to explore several specialties before sel...

In this revealing episode, RJon flips the script and calls out lawyers who may be sucky clients to their bookkeepers. RJon in the Studio In Chapter 16 of the Profit First for Lawyers book, RJon compares the attributes of disengaged legal clients to how some lawyers treat their bookkeepers. From showing up late (or not at all) to meetings and expecting their lawyers to read their minds to shirking responsibility or not participating meaningfully in their case. These clients can be the most cha...

This candid episode tackles a difficult topic – many law firm owners are using their household income to subsidize their law firm’s business at the expense of their household finances. RJon in the Studio During a recording session, Karli asked RJon for clarity about why some law firm owners use household money meant for children’s education or other family expenses to fund their business. RJon calls this practice of paying for business expenses with household money a form of embezzlement. This...

Alejandra Leibovich, Co-Founder of How To MANAGE a Small Law Firm, explains how law firm owners can get off the ground and take flight to escape the “doctrine of sacrifice” mentality. She also recounts the early days of How To MANAGE and the origin of TAYE ASTUYA. Stuck on the Ground Running a profitable law firm requires a strategic bird’s eye view. Ale shares how struggling law firm owners stay bogged down in day-to-day tasks such as answering phones or cleaning toilets. This “ground level” ...

In this episode of Profit First For Lawyers, RJon explains the revolutionary concept of categorizing overhead expenses as either “static” or “dynamic” to better control costs and increase opportunity for growth. RJon in the Studio RJon goes into detail about the differences between Static Overhead and Dynamic Overhead. He explains Static Overhead as fixed costs like rent, utilities, and subscriptions. Dynamic Overhead expenses include marketing, staff training, and financial planning. While St...

Fear and self-doubt can prevent us from achieving our biggest dreams and reaching our fullest potential. In this special Halloween episode of the Profit First For Lawyers podcast, Karli and Raul discuss how to face fears, unmask ego, and breakthrough limiting beliefs. Key Insights from RJon Their conversation revolves around a clip from a Facebook Live in 2021 of RJon talking through an early draft of the Profit First For Lawyers book. In the clip, RJon challenges the assumption that running a...