The Profit First for Lawyers podcast is the companion show to the book, Profit First for Lawyers by RJon Robins. The goal of the book and podcast are to empower lawyers with practical and actionable information to help them improve their lives by putting their family, their firm, and their Profits First.
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“I’ve seen thousands and thousands of still struggling solo and small law firm owners allow these mindset challenges around Profit First to stand between themselves and the life they could be enjoying. The life of a far more successful law firm owner.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers More Than Money What if the biggest benefit of Profit First wasn’t the money? As we wrap up the third season of the Profit First for Lawyers podcast, RJon reminds us that Profit First is about far more than increasing profit. It’s about overcoming the mindset challenges that keep law firm owners
“My banker didn’t understand. My accountant didn’t understand. My bookkeeper didn’t understand. Everyone was fighting me on it, and they were all wrong, and I was right.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Why do so many accountants push back on Profit First? In this episode, Danny Ferro, Senior Controller at How To Manage a Small Law Firm, returns to discuss one of the biggest misconceptions about Profit First. As a CPA, Danny originally believed the Profit First system’s separate bank accounts made accounting more complicated. But after working with RJon and seeing Profit Firs
“Don’t stop doing Profit First. Keep doing Profit First. Hold the line.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers What happens when your law firm needs the money you’ve already allocated to profit? Making Profit Non-Negotiable In this episode, RJon explains why taking your profit first must remain a non-negotiable part of running a law firm. Through two teaching clips, he addresses one of the most common concerns law firm owners face: what to do when operating expenses or payroll create pressure to dip into your Profit account. Rather than abandoning the system, RJon shares a practica
“The business of a law firm is quite simply to sell and deliver legal services… You have to market, you have to sell, you have to produce, you have to deliver, you have to get paid.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers If your law firm is already profitable, is Profit First for you? In this episode, we hear from law firm owner and attorney Leah Mayersohn about how she discovered that even a successful law firm can benefit from implementing Profit First. After more than two decades running a profitable law firm, Leah initially dismissed Profit First as unnecessary. It wasn’t until
“Do not let perfectionism be the enemy of profitability. Profitability and perfect rarely go together. Imperfect and profitable? They get along great.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Progress Beats Perfection Perfection keeps too many law firm owners from taking the very actions that make their firms more profitable. Let’s face it: how many opportunities have you missed because you were waiting for the perfect time, the perfect plan, or the perfect solution? In this milestone 100th episode of the Profit First for Lawyers podcast, Karli revisits one of RJon’s most enduring le
“If you’ve got no profit, then you can’t do great marketing that gives you the option to say, ‘No thank you,’ to a bad client or even the wrong client with the wrong case.” – RJon Robins on Love Thy Lawyer podcast In this special bonus episode, we’re sharing RJon’s appearance on the Love Thy Lawyer podcast, hosted by Louis Goodman. The conversation goes beyond the principles in Profit First for Lawyers to explore what shaped RJon’s philosophy on law firm management. He reflects on the lessons he learned as a young law firm owner, the guidance that changed the course of his career, and why help
“Let’s keep in mind, rapid growth consumes cash. You burn cash to grow your firm.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Growing your law firm requires more than wishful thinking. It requires a deliberate plan. This episode pulls from RJon’s original 2021 livestream, where he spoke through the material that would eventually become Profit First for Lawyers. The core message is simple, yet one that is often misunderstood: temporarily sacrificing higher profit margins can be a smart investment when it’s part of a long-term strategy for building a stronger, more profitable firm that se
“There is no place on the balance sheet for the freedom of getting to live life on your terms.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Profit means something different to law firm owner John Cannon today than it did when he opened his law firm in 2019. In this episode, John shares how his understanding of profit has evolved since reading Profit First for Lawyers and implementing Profit First in his practice. John shares a powerful clip from Chapter 9 of the Profit First for Lawyers audiobook. It explores the idea that true profitability extends beyond dollars and cents to include fr
“If you’re not paying attention to core working capital, it’s like waking up one day and all of a sudden you’re in the middle of a shit storm. And you’re like, “How did this happen?!” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers In the final episode of our seven-part Financial Literacy Series, RJon introduces one of the most important concepts for long-term business stability: core working capital. Drawing from both the Profit First for Lawyers audiobook and the 2019 live workshop, he explains why maintaining adequate working capital isn’t about fear. It’s about creating the financial cus
“If your law school experience was anything like mine, chances are they taught you nothing in law school about the business of how to manage a law firm.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Sometimes the right book arrives at the right moment. For estate planning attorney Colleen Robinson, Profit First for Lawyers arrived in the mail just as she was in the midst of looking for solutions. She didn’t know what was missing, only that there must be a better way to run a law firm that would give her the clarity, control, and future she wanted. In this episode, Colleen shares how one u
“The law firm that cannot function without its owner or owners being there every single day doesn’t really have a business. They have a job.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Do you dream of a day when you can step away from the daily production work inside your law firm? You’re not alone. Many law firm owners find themselves so immersed in the practice of law that they have little time to build a business that can operate without them. So, where do you begin? In part six of our seven-part financial literacy series, RJon explains why getting out of production is not an overnig
“Entrepreneurially immature people won’t deal with unpleasant emotions, which is why they just end up trapped in this cycle of mediocrity their whole life.” – RJon Robins, from The Exponential Entrepreneur podcast This week we’re doing something a little different. Instead of our regular Profit First for Lawyers format, we are sharing a special episode from The Exponential Entrepreneur podcast hosted by Erika Ferenczi. The clip in this episode was originally recorded as part of the Practical Profitable Mindset program while RJon was recording the Profit First for Lawyers audiobook. This lesson
“When you’ve taken your profit off the top, like we talk about in Profit First for Lawyers, and you’ve only got what you’ve only got to cover expenses, it forces you to be more honest with yourself. It forces you to grow up as a business owner and make better decisions.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers What if the way you’ve been taught to think about profit is actually keeping your law firm stuck? This eye-opening episode will answer that question clearly. In part five of our seven-part financial literacy series, RJon breaks down the fundamental difference between traditiona
“Someone in your office is stealing from you. They may not be stealing money and putting it into their own pocket, but they’re stealing time. They’re giving away work for free.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Many law firm owners focus on generating new business, increasing billable hours, and growing revenue. But bringing business into the firm is only part of what makes a law firm profitable. Have the Hard Conversations In this episode, Jose Luis Perdomo, Fractional CFO at How To Manage a Small Law Firm, discusses one of the most common threats to profitability: unpaid inv
“One of the big problems that we see in your profit and loss statement is when your business is not paying you an appropriate normalized salary.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Many law firm owners know what they pay themselves, but few have stopped to ask an important question: What should the business be paying them? In part four of our seven-part financial literacy series, RJon takes a deeper look at normalized salary. This is one of the key components of Total Owner Benefit discussed in the previous episode, Calculating Your Total Owner Benefits. Drawing from a 2019 Prof
“Happiness is not accounted for in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Neither is peace of mind, propensity for burnout, or the quality of your life.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Before you can build a roadmap for the future, you need to know where you are today. Evelyn Aucoin, Financial Literacy & Strategy Expert from How To Manage a Small Law Firm, joins us to discuss understanding your starting point. Whether your goal is greater profitability, more time with family, or long-term financial security, meaningful progress begins with an honest assessment of your cur
“There are three ways you’re going to get compensated from your business. One is W-2 Salary. Two is K-1 distributions. Three is other benefits.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers How profitable is your law firm? The answer might be more complicated than what shows up on your P&L statement. In this third part of our seven-part financial literacy series, we revisit a topic from season one: Total Owner Benefits. A topic of such importance that it has an entire chapter devoted to it. Listen in as RJon takes a law firm owner through an exercise to calculate the true value they are r
“Accounts receivables are so much worse for a law firm than most lawyers understand or appreciate. So much worse.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers In this episode, How To Manage a Small Law Firm CFO and CEO advisor, Etienne Hardre expands upon RJon’s clip from Chapter 14 about the devastating mathematics behind accounts receivable. The Devastating Mathematics Here is what really happens when Client A doesn’t pay their bill. You’ve already spent the money on marketing, sales, production, and overhead to serve them. When their bill goes unpaid, they’re not just skipping the 33%
“If we can develop good habits for you when your business is still in the first stage of growth, you’re going to bring those good habits with you into business maturity.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers A growing business requires a growing owner. During a Q&A session in part two of our seven-part series, RJon explains why financial literacy does not carry the same weight at every stage of growth. In the earliest stages, the owner’s job is to “hustle, market, and sell.” New benchmarks require the owner to develop new skills, learn to hire, delegate, and build team productivit
“We are going to break away from the dictionary’s limited definition of profit and profitable, which only account for financial profits.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers For many law firm owners, profitability is measured by one thing: money. But what if profit gives you something even more valuable? Time. In this episode, Michigan estate planning attorney Rose Coonen shares how implementing Profit First accounting principles transformed not only her firm’s finances, but also how she spends her time, serves her clients, and shows up for her family. Redefining Profit RJon chal
“I want to expose you to a really cool world of financial literacy to empower you to be better, more confident business owners.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers If financial reports, spreadsheets, or business metrics have ever made you want to tune out, this episode is for you. In part one of a seven-part series on financial controls, RJon explains why financial literacy is not about becoming an accountant or learning advanced math. It’s about learning to recognize the story your numbers are already telling you about your business. Featuring clips of RJon from a 2019 financia
“Your law firm is a business. Your business is supposed to work for you.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers For many law firm owners, profitability seems uncertain. Maybe there will be money left over at the end of the year. Maybe there won’t be. For years, that was exactly how Matt Loker approached business ownership. That changed when he implemented Profit First accounting principles. By building stronger systems, he replaced guessing with structure, clarity, and intentional growth. In this episode, Matt shares how shifting from reactive decision-making to measurable systems
“The biggest challenge we have in helping someone go from zero to seven figures… is that they don’t believe it’s possible.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers Why do brilliant lawyers struggle to build profitable businesses? That’s a question you’ll find the answer to in this episode where RJon explains the fundamental mindset shift that separates struggling attorneys from successful business owners. He does this by illustrating just how simple a business is to run with the 7 Main Parts of Every Successful Law Firm: Marketing Sales Production People Physical Plant Financial Cont
“I want you to feel empowered by the knowledge that GAAP is not the only way to manage a small law firm to profitability.” – RJon Robins, author of Profit First for Lawyers In this episode, Pietro Canestrelli shares how following Profit First accounting principles helped transform not just his law firm’s profitability, but the way he thinks about ownership, decision-making, hiring, and growth. Drawing from his experience as both a longtime tax attorney and as the owner of a rapidly growing law firm, Pietro explains why GAAP accounting was never designed to help small law firms maximize profita
“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 rethink their relationship with their firms. Using a colorful analogy comparing a law firm to both a bab
