You've made that decision to move towards a niche in your practice. You know it's the right thing to do. Becoming an expert in the field and specializing allows you to charge more and grow your business. Why not?
The next decision was working with attorneys and law firms. What's the next step? There's plenty of niching choices from horizontal and handling a broad group of law practices to a vertical accounting practice that works with micro-niches. Have you thought "outside the box" and considered a niche that may not be industry-specific?
Horizontal
There is nothing wrong with servicing all attorneys. It is a great way to jump into working with law firms and learning the ins and outs of the industry. Maybe that one style of law will resonate with you. But let's face it, you will have to study, study, study! Similar to being a generalist, you will need to research all types of law practices. Learn their idiosyncrasies.
Micro-Niche
What is a micro-niche? It is when you specialize in the finite. I started working with attorneys and took any attorney who wanted to work with me. I work with immigration attorneys, workers comp attorneys, estate planning attorneys, family law, you name it. But what if you wanted to micro-niche to only work with family law clients? Or maybe criminal lawyers? Can you imagine being the expert not only in working with lawyers but in a specific field? You could target your marketing just to this group and elevate yourself to becoming THE person to call if they need an accountant. You could train your staff in the exactness of the industry and create systems that can be repeated over and over again with each new client you acquire!
Workflows and Data Rebuilds
Law practices are notoriously slow in adapting to change. Many are paper-centric, using redundant systems, and are a natural choice to customize their workflows into the 21st century. My practice has evolved to a place that I am doing significant data rebuilds. I collaborate with another accountant, Sarah Prevost of Mintage Labs, and we are enjoying helping clients that are in antiquated legal desktop programs and converting them into QuickBooks Online Advanced. We rebuild their data file, reconstructing the trust accounting and layering the accounting platform with a fantastic app stack of attorney billing application, LeanLaw, receipt capture with Hubdoc or Receipt Bank, and accounts payable and receivable tools. These changes alone streamline the functionality of the office staff.
In many cases, we can save staff-hours and allow some of the administrative staff to be able to do more meaningful tasks other than just manual data entry. Reducing admin hours is an advisory service we perform. Once we establish a relationship with the partners of these firms, Sarah and I have been successful in converting these clients into a continued partnership with ongoing outsourced bookkeeping. The attorneys see value in outsourcing the accounting to a firm that understands finances. The reporting in the old antiquated accounting platform was poor. With QuickBooks and their app ecosphere, we can design beautiful reports, analyze their data, and provide them with guidance, forecasting, and budgeting. We are helping the client grow their practices smarter and leaner.
The favorite part of my job is the look on the client’s face when they realize that we reduced staff hours and overhead. Nothing is better than to watch their amazement at how the programs work and synchronize together in their newly implemented workflow.
Lynda Artesani
Author Bio: Lynda Artesani is the president of Artesani Bookkeeping where she uses her expertise and organizational skills to help her small business clients grow their firms, thrive and become profitable. Her specialty is working with attorneys, real estate clients and start-ups. Lynda was recognized by Intuit and invited to be a member of the Intuit Advisory Council and the Intuit Trainer Writer Network. Additionally, she is the first Expert Columnist for the QB Community forum. She also co-admins a Facebook group with Matthew Fulton to help other business owners with QuickBooks, marketing, apps, workflow challenges and much more. The group is called QB Community Live!Originally from Rhode Island, Lynda relocated to Estero Florida. She is a registered yoga teacher and teaches two classes per week. Connect with Lynda on Facebook or Twitter @lynda_artesani and subscribe on YouTube at Artesanibookkeeping.