Thursday

Resources for Lawyer Entrepreneurs

Being your own boss can be tough. But there are resources that can help you run your law practice and here are a few, alphabetically listed.

American Marketing Association, www.marketingpower.com. Marketing seminars, advertising tips, and free online resources.

Attorney Fee Survey Data, www.consumerlaw.org/feesurvey. Find out what attorney fee hourly rates are in your area, along with other data, and you can participate in the current fee survey too.

Benefits Link, www.benefitslink.com. Info and resources about the laws and regulations governing employee benefits. Educational seminars too.

Business Plan Center, www.businessplans.org. Sample business plans for all sorts of businesses, as well as software and guidelines for your business.

Club E, www.clubenetwork.com. Podcasts, interviews, and forums. And it's free. Plus, there's info on live local meetings.

Entrepreneur, www.entrepreneur.com. Guides, tips, articles, columns from experts for every type of business.

Entrepreneur Connect, www.econnect.entrepreneur.com. An online community of business owners who post questions, discuss answers, and share business experiences.

Independent Community Bankers of America, www.icba.org. Sometimes a local community bank is easier for an entrepreneur to work with than those large, multistate banks with Wall Street boards to report to. Here, you can find a smaller, local bank near you.

Score, www.score.org. A non profit organization whose members use their decades of experience to help new entrepreneurs (and any business person) with mentoring and counseling on business issues and problems.

Small Business Administration, www.sba.gov. Yes, it's the government. But they've got tons of info, business tools, plus grants and loans, lots of business tips, and links to Small Business Development Centers nationwide. And, since it's the government, it's free too.

Strategy Stew, www.strategystew.com. Practical marketing strategies for small business. Perhaps technically a blog and not a website, it's still got great ideas and lots of fun to read.

There are other resources that you may be able to dig up, but this list covers the basic resources that any lawyer entrepreneur should check out when you are looking for free help with the business side of your law practice.