Tag: legal loans

26 May 2020

Shaking Loose Your Imposter Syndrome 4 years ago

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How Attorneys Like You Easily Justify Their Value with iQualify

Lawyers are just like any other entrepreneur in one key way: they likely suffer from imposter syndrome. Simply defined, imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern in which one doubts one’s accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”. Imposter syndrome reveals itself and plays out in a variety of ways within our professional lives. For lawyers, imposter syndrome often involves the mind obsessing over this “fear sequence”: Did I earn it? Am I worth it? Will my client pay me? 

Imposter syndrome speaks to the sub-conscience mind and, even though we all experience it, there’s a shame in admitting it. Why is that? Because it is a shame! Going over the fear sequence in your mind, feeling like you secretly don’t belong, or don’t add the value needed to a case, is a shameful feeling. 

We recently wrote about nailing your pitch. This goes right alongside defeating your imposter syndrome. Our brains chase what we want (in this case, a certain retainer fee) so it feels good to state that in our pitch, confidently. But as soon as a client points out all the problems with the pitch and starts playing a mental chess game with us, the other part of our brain takes over: What will they pay me? What am I willing to offer them to receive as much money as I can upfront (knowing that might be the only money I get because it’s money I don’t have to chase over time)? 

If you put your client on a payment plan, hopefully, everything goes well…but as soon as it’s off-plan, it’s off-plan. For many lawyers, the jig is up when you aren’t able to collect your fee from your client. Several months and many thousands of dollars later, it’s a hostage negotiation! This happens every day but lawyers forget about it and keep pushing on. You wake up and wipe the slate clean but the toxicity of not being paid is still in your body. Can you blame it on your imposter behavior? Basically, the less confident you feel as an attorney, the less likely you will be to collect most of your fee. How do your clients exploit this? You need to create a sense of authority and any resistance at all, any shame on your part, usually creates a block to that authority. 

This is the value of what Fortify, powered by iQualify, is doing for attorneys. We handle the financing of your cases for you. Once the price is set, you don’t have to justify the value of the work you’ve done. No one is going to admit they don’t think they’re worth what they’re being paid, but that’s the subconscious struggle. Let all of that play out only in your mind, not in front of your client. Start using the Fortify software and you’ll have an easy way to get new clients signed up when they come to you, As the attorney, you get paid upfront with both cash and financing options and get paid over time with an in-house payment option. iQualify attorneys get paid their full retainer on most of their cases without ever having to chase their clients for money or call them for payments.

Give Fortify, powered by iQualify, the power to negotiate on your behalf. You’re already not getting paid! What else do you have to lose? We will get their payment via collections, garnishing, or renegotiating a payment plan. The pressure we can apply —the leverage we have—you don’t have anyone in your law office that can do that. We have a power you don’t and can’t have. You’re too close to it! 

Conquer your imposter syndrome by having a third party that can go to bat for you. Let iQualify protect your pride and relieve your shame, getting you back to the confident attorney you need to be for your clients. Removing yourself from the equation and getting that bank between you and your clients is the fastest way to Fortify your law practice.  Are you ready to get started?

15 May 2020

Insulate yourself from the worst part of being a lawyer! 5 years ago

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Be the expert your clients need. 

We all know that in the professional space, presentation is everything. Unfortunately, for many, the art of presentation does not come naturally. Your “pitch” is your chance to “sell” your potential client on the benefits of hiring you over the rest. But the same psychology that plagues people with fears of public speaking comes into play when it’s time to pitch: fear of rejection. The fear of rejection is at the top of the list of our primal fears. But what if you could calm those fears by letting someone else handle the hard part for you? iQualify is now in the legal lending space, ready to help you attract and make more by stopping you from chasing clients for money. 

Fortify, powered by iQualify, insulates you from the fears of rejection. When you present our Fortify software to your clients to handle their legal retainer financing, you are simplifying the “pitch” process and making it about our system…it’s not personal. Fortify is a convenient,  modern way to get new clients signed up when they come to you. As the attorney, you get paid upfront with both cash and financing options and get paid over a period of time with an in-house payment option. iQualify attorneys get paid their full retainer on most of their cases without ever having to chase their clients for money or call them for payments.

iQualify takes the pressure out of your pitch and helps you tell your potential clients a compelling story. At the end of the day, a simple, compelling story, especially one told by an expert, is the key behind all marketing–including your presentation as a lawyer. Everyone is looking for an affordable way to hire an expert to help them with their case. With the pressures of payment options and chasing money gone, you can get back to being the expert your client needs and wants to put their trust in. 

Think about an orthodontist. When they present you with a case for your daughter’s braces they don’t just say, “you need this and it costs $5,000”? No. You’re told that your daughter’s smile can be improved and that she’s going to have a greater and happier life because of it for only $150/month for a few years. Sold! You can take your potential clients down the same path by helping them understand their own story. Ask them, 

“What specific outcome would be the best-case scenario for you in this case? Why that outcome specifically? What is the specific time frame in which this needs to happen? Is that outcome going to be cheap or expensive? What happens if we don’t get that outcome? If you want the best solution, it will be expensive… but can I present you with an affordable way to get there?”

You are the expert guiding your potential client through this confusing, scary world. They want to trust you and you want to be your confident best and help them win their case. Adding a third-party lender insulates you from the pain and headache of playing stern parent or exasperated loan collector. Fortify by iQualify is ready to take on that role so you can get back to concentrating on being the expert your clients need. 

28 Apr 2020

What Attorneys Have Learned During COVID-19: 4 Steps to Strengthen Your Law Practice 5 years ago

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iQualify Lending
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Legal Retainer Financing For Attorneys


The pandemic has shown us the shakiness of life as business owners

The COVID-19 pandemic is currently bearing down hard on lawyers and firms. If we’ve learned anything it’s that were not nearly as cash fluid as we should be or thought we were. For many of us, our businesses are walking the knife’s edge of sustainability, and a several-months-sustained hit to our income is hard to manage. 

Think of your practice as a boat. It has a few holes in it, but nothing too major, no big problem. Now, a monsoon has struck, and your boat is filling with water. The holes are only helping things along. One of the first things to go overboard when costs weigh you down is your staff. Once that happens, you are the one left doing all the work again, back where you started as an attorney, and it’s the worst.

So, what have we learned? Patch the holes before the flood! When things return to “normal”, you need to be sure you’re taking these 4 Steps to Strengthen Your Law Practice: 

  1. Shore up defenses
  2. Strengthen cash reserves
  3. Collect more money from the cases you’re signing
  4. Have a way to allow any client who wants to hire you to say yes!

That fourth one is super-important and that’s where we come in. Fortify, powered by iQualify Lending, offers your clients payment options they can easily say ‘yes’ to. Start using the Fortify software and you’ll have an easy, modern way to get new clients signed up when they come to you, As the attorney, you get paid upfront with both cash and financing options and get paid over a period of time with an in-house payment option. iQualify attorneys get paid their full retainer on most of their cases without ever having to chase their clients for money or call them for payments. 

Here’s a real-world example. One of our clients, a large criminal defense firm in Vegas, hired a new case manager who signed up for our services again on accident. When we called to discuss the mistake, we spoke at length about Fortify, our new retainer-financing platform. They came to realize we can manage their payment plans and, all of a sudden, the whole conversation changed. The owners popped onto the call from various states and said “Wait a minute…you can do this? That’s the biggest problem we have!” We let them know we can do it all for them and take these worries away. 

Our Vegas friends, like so many attorneys, were exhausting staff by tasking them with tracking down money, dealing with a frustratingly high turnover rate, having to train new employees all the time…the things that puncture your boat with those little holes. We let them know iQualify clients aren’t having these issues! If you’ve learned anything during this pandemic, it should be that there are options for you to help simplify and improve your practice going forward. 

There’s more to iQualify that just financing. We’ll handle your legal lending and take the burden off of you and your staff, positioning you all for success when the economy comes back. Ready to see how it works? Let’s get started now!

26 Mar 2020

Why Other Attorneys are Outpacing You 5 years ago

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iQualify Lending
Posted by iQualify Lending
Legal Retainer Financing For Attorneys

The story of two attorneys, 18 months, the different paths they took, and where it led them.

Matt and James are criminal defense attorneys. They’re both successful and have made names for themselves with their practices. Both of these men were recently referred to iQualify by other attorneys who have been using our client-financing system. They both showed up and we discussed their options. Then they took two very different paths.

First of all, you should know: iQualify Lending’s goal is to help attorneys make more money from the potential clients they attract. To put it simply, iQualify helps finance legal cases – specifically client retainer fees. We have helped many attorneys enjoy the most profit their practice has ever seen. Matt and James both wanted to sign up.

Matt got directly to the point. “What’s this going to cost me?”

We encouraged him to consider the costs of not offering legal-retainer financing. We spent time explaining the costs of offering in-house payments and collecting 60% of your case fee. We explained the cost of his $240,000 debt load and the further cost of losing clients over financing.

When it was all said and done, we showed him that if our client-retainer financing just approves 1 in 5 clients for a loan, he could be debt-free within 24 months. He could afford a paralegal, which he desperately needed. He could free up money for marketing – all from the profits we helped him create.

But in the end, Matt decided not to move forward due to cost.

James was quite the opposite. He was direct but open. His first question was, “How can iQualify Lending’s legal-retainer financing help me, specifically?”

We went through a similar discussion about debt, losing clients to cost, chasing money clients owed him, and dropping more cases than he closed. James immediately saw an opportunity to fix these problems with retainer loans and said “yes”.

Last week, Matt reached back out. We hadn’t heard from him in over 18 months. The first words out of his mouth were, “Ok, how do I get signed up?”

It turns out, Matt ran into James last week at the courthouse. He is having the best year of his life. He has hired more staff. He just hired another attorney. He took a vacation this year to Aruba.  Matt says, “He told me it all started with offering iQualify’s legal lending.”

Matt signed up and by his 3rd month, he had made an additional $38,000.  If he had signed up 18 months ago he could have potentially made $240,000.

If you can relate to this story and would like to grow your law practice,  let us show you how legal fee financing can help turn your existing clients into immediate cash flow with no risk.

27 Feb 2020

Why are Young Attorneys Getting the Good Reputations? 5 years ago

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Legal Retainer Financing Makes it Easier for Lawyers to Get the Work Done.

Everyone knows it’s true: with age comes wisdom. You expect that, as you mature through adulthood, you’ll just keep getting smarter, earning more, and increasing your levels of confidence and not giving a f**k. 

So why are young attorneys outworking and outpacing the older ones? In a job that values experience and intelligence, how are the new kids picking up so much momentum? Young attorneys are outworking old attorneys by using technology like Fortify to get paid by all their clients and doing all the work. This leads to great results, referrals, and a good reputation. These attorneys can take most of their cases to completion because they use Fortify, enabling them to sign more cases than others because of the flexible payment options. 

Why Can’t the Old Guys Keep Up?

iQualify’s revolutionary style of legal retainer financing, Fortify, presents a whole new way of thinking about legal lending. Fortify was only recently given the seal of approval by the ABA, making it a time for early adopters to jump on board. 

Older law firms are struggling to keep up because they’re not adapting to these new systems and ways of thinking about practicing law. Older lawyers have maybe even tried adapting to other new systems in the past but, left to their own devices and without help, they had a bad experience. It made them feel small. Meanwhile, young attorneys are currently in their hopeful, entrepreneurial phase of life. They are looking for systems to make life and work easier and make the money they want. They want to feel large. They’re ready for a system like Fortify.

Fortify, powered by iQualify Lending, offers your clients payment options that work for them and that they can easily understand. As the attorney, you get paid upfront with both cash and financing options and get paid over a period of time with an in-house payment option that can generate recurring revenue that you don’t have to chase. iQualify attorneys get paid their full retainer on most of their cases without ever having to chase their clients for money or call them for payments. 

Don’t be jealous of how the young generation is finding their success! Join them and start instituting better business practices like iQualify and Fortify today. Develop a reputation as a cutting-edge, modern lawyer willing to embrace change and tackle new systems. Learn more and start living like you’re young today. 

12 Feb 2020

Become the Attorney who Actually Does the Work with iQualify Lending Payment Options 5 years ago

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Stop letting money walk out of your office door. 

We’re going to share a number with you….63%.

That’s the number of potential clients that have a consultation with a lawyer and leave feeling unsure about the cost and/or payment options. Think about that number. 6 out of 10 clients you speak with will leave a meeting feeling unsure about how to hire you, and what the next steps are to move forward.

In most cases when that happens, guess what happens next? The potential client reaches out to another attorney. 

Another attorney who signs them simply because they take the time to offer them better payment options. 

And I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, I know this happens sometimes, but the numbers can’t be that high. 

Here’s another number…87% of those people who leave feeling unsure, do hire an attorney, just not you. 

If you’ve spent your ad revenue on getting people in the door, why let that many walk right out? 

With Fortify, powered by iQualify Lending, you can offer a cash option(get paid upfront), a financing option (get paid upfront) and an in-house payment option (get paid over time) that can generate recurring revenue that you don’t have to chase.

Imagine getting paid your full retainer, on most of your cases, without ever having to chase the client for money or call them for payments. 

Too many attorneys get into the habit of taking half down and then dropping cases when their clients don’t end up paying them. Wouldn’t it be a radical idea if you took more clients AND worked on each case, with the certainty of your recurring income each month? 

Fortify does all of the work for you, with none of the hassle. And with our system, attorneys are signing, helping and most importantly, getting paid by more clients than ever before. 

Stop letting other attorneys poach your clients. Offer more payment options and keep potential clients saying yes more often. Work with iQualify Lending and, before you know it, you’ll develop that reputation as the lawyer that actually does the work.

29 Jan 2020

Build a structure of financial stability into your law practice. 5 years ago

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iQualify Lending
Posted by iQualify Lending
Legal Retainer Financing For Attorneys

You’ve heard the adage about “teaching a man to fish”, or the one about helping plant the corn, or the fruit-bearing tree — well, you can insert your favorite food/work metaphor here. We’d like to challenge you, our attorney friend, to really think about the fruit your tree is bearing. Is there enough to sustain your practice? Does it bear enough to feed your family? Your community? 

Taking care of yourself first is not a selfish way to live. It is only through being the planter, someone who recognizes the important stages and cycles of preparation, growth, and harvest, that you can reap enough bounty to take care of your loved ones and community. The same is true with your business today, and especially law. Your relationship with clients, especially the explanation of payment, needs to be taken in steps in order to operate successfully. iQualify’s payment management software takes the most important steps for you. Start using it and get back time and money you might not have realized you were losing. Within 30 days, you’ll be saying “yes” to more clients and start seeing the benefits of your well-laid plans with iQualify. 

What are you talking about and how does it relate to my law practice?

Just as there are no instant-harvests, there are no get-rich-quick schemes. Did you know it takes an average child until 12 to have an intermediate mastery of the English language? Just like having the alphabet down in middle school doesn’t make you Shakespeare, simply being a lawyer doesn’t make you rich. Everything has to grow and be nurtured, including your law practice and your relationships with your clients. iQualify, powered by Fortify, does exactly that. Our client payment management system builds a structure of financial stability into your practice. It doesn’t happen overnight, but rather the changes iQualify brings to your business frees up time and is the key to unlocking the next stage in your law practice. 

 

Doing things in stages helps deliver clarity. Think about a dinner party: you have to set the table, cook the food, get the house ready, plate the food…all in stages. You don’t just throw the scallops down on the table before they’re ready. Achieving financial stability for your law practice with iQualify is also a process in stages: 

    • Stage 1: you sign up and get the Fortify software
    • Stage 2: getting clients signed up, stress melts away
  • Stage 3: financial stability feeds the office, your family, and community

How do we invest in the community and ourselves after that? Planning to support a future we didn’t know we were going to have is difficult. But once you’ve taken the steps to simplify and streamline the collection and payment side of your practice, you’ll find so many more opportunities opening up. You could give your newfound free time to Big Brothers or Sisters, or volunteer at a food bank or homeless shelter. You can make larger donations to your favorite nonprofit or a charity close to your heart. Find some way you’d love to help your community, and, once financially solvent yourself, give back! 

Give iQualify a look now and sign up so you can start reaping/harvesting/feeding your law practice sufficiently in 2020. Insert your own food/work metaphor here. 

31 Dec 2019

How to Wrangle Control of Your Practice 5 years ago

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iQualify Lending
Posted by iQualify Lending
Legal Retainer Financing For Attorneys

If you’re going to make one change this year…Wrangle Control of Your Law Practice!

Sometimes it’s not about chasing money from clients. It’s about having the money you need to control the growth of your business.  

You probably want to take on as many clients as you can. Let’s face it: this is a business and you need to make money. But how many times have you taken on a client only to then realize they were a bad fit as they showed up late, were hard to communicate with, made you chase their payment down, or were, in general, a hassle? 

Brian Tannebaum from Above the Law believes in “the philosophy that sometimes the best client is the one you turn down.” The idea is “Client Control” and it basically means that controlling clients is controlling your business and you have to set those attorney/client relationships up correctly at the beginning of the relationship, laying the parameters and taking charge. 

How iQualify Lets You Take Charge

iQualify’s unique software puts you in control of how you get paid. Solving the “problem” of when you’ll get money from your clients  gives you control of your practice in several ways: 

Investing in long-term goals – with more money going into your law firm’s bank account at a dependable rate, you’ll be freed up to invest more wisely, pay off debt, and make sound financial decisions.

Bounce back faster from setbacks – bad things happen all the time, and attorneys are certainly not immune to financial or health disasters. If you’re financially sound, you’ll be much more in charge of how you come back from adversity, how long it takes, and how much damage it actually does to your law practice.

Take care of your family and community! – as we’ve mentioned before, one of the most satisfying (no, the most satisfying) parts of making and keeping more money is being able to provide for your family and give back to your community. Happiness doesn’t come from money, but it sure helps, as it provides the agency to give and help others. 

Control is a destination and we can give you the tools to get you there.  

iQualify’s software is only for attorneys who understand the value of being able to say yes to more clients…the right clients.  

Wrestle your law practice and life back away from overbearing clients that are the wrong fit! Let iQualify, powered by Fortify, make this the year you fully take control.

 

8 Dec 2019

Be the Better Gold Miner 5 years ago

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iQualify Lending
Posted by iQualify Lending
Legal Retainer Financing For Attorneys

How effective is iQualify Lending at wrangling control of your legal practice? 

It’s like mining for gold. It’s all about mechanization. 

Say you’re sloshing through a creek with a magnifying glass, looking for gold…that’s kind of what every day feels like as an attorney, right? You’re hoping to find gold in the creek with each new client/strike of the pickaxe. With iQualify Lending, you take all the legal clients in your area, stick them in a sifter and let us find all the gold in your creek by using mechanization.

Technology has changed the way the best lawyers make their money, grow their practice, and manage their business over the last 15 years. This new chapter in mechanization has improved efficiency and profitability for most industries and it’s finally made its way into finance via the software attorneys use. Legal retainer financing, available through iQualify and powered by Fortify, is the best thing to happen to the industry so far. Using iQualify is like being given access to a treasure map with a giant “X” marking the spot where the gold can be found….all you have to do is dig. Think of each shovelful as one application of Fortify, iQualify’s software. 

iQualify Lending helps you start building the structure of financial stability. It’s great if you have an 80% collection rate, but at what cost? Are you still doing all the work? Mechanization/technology frees up time and is the key to unlocking the next stage in your law practice! 

If I told you I had a treasure map and endless gold nuggets to find, when would you stop digging? The answer is probably never! 

Every dig through this soil has the opportunity to strike gold. Technology makes it even easier. And, just like in life, nothing feels better than striking gold…or getting paid upfront. If you’re ready to start being a better gold miner, learn more today and let’s get started.