SwCA Episode 190: How Did You Open Your Own Law Firm At Age 26?

SITE:  http://www.courtneyanderson.com/swca-episode-190-courtney-i-am-curious-series-how-did-you-open-your-own-law-firm-at-age-26.html   SHOW NOTES: This episode is, “How Did You Open Your Own Law Firm At Age 26?" I opened my law firm when I was 26 years old. My office was in a lower income part of town next to railroad tracks. My office rent was less than $300 a month. I had no financial help from anyone. It was one of the best decisions of my life (economically, emotionally, professionally, etc.)!    1) Why? Why not? - I made a fantastic income and I was in control of my destiny! Solo Practitioners annual income  in Texas $97,142 (2009 data) ( https://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Archives&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11241) - I am not alone. “The number of recent law graduates going solo increased from 3.5 percent in 2008 to 5.5 percent in 2009, the biggest one year jump since 1982, the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) reports. That percentage increased to 5.7 percent of all private practice jobs for the class of 2010, the highest it’s been since 1997.” (http://www.nbcnews.com/id/43442917/ns/business-careers/t/law-grads-going-solo-loving-it/#.U_T1-bxdVmg) "As of 2005, some 62 percent of attorneys in private practice work as solo or small-firm practitioners, according to the most recent data avail­able from the American Bar Association. " (http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/so_you_want_to_go_solo_you_sure/) "Solo practice: ~271,000, or 35% of US lawyers (this takes the ABF estimate of the share of lawyers in solo practice and multiplies it by the total number of lawyers in law offices reported by the BLS) (id.)"; (http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/plp/pages/statistics.php) 2) Was age an obstacle? No. We are what age we are. I was aware of it and we discuss in the show that younger people (or those who appear younger) do have to deal with stereotypes in the workplace. That is not a deterrent to opening a business. Yet, awareness of the very small percentage of business owners that are in their twenties is important. We discuss in this show that when you are "the boss" and 26, there are going to be some stereotypes and skepticism that you will encounter.   “ONE-IN-THREE OF ALL OWNERS OF RESPONDENT FIRMS ARE OVER 55 YEARS OF AGE In 2002, 31 percent of the owners of respondent firms were over the age of 55, with 20 percent of these owners between the ages of 55 to 64, and 11 percent are 65 and over. Twenty-nine percent of all owners of respondent firms were between 45 and 54 years old; 24 percent were between 35 and 44 years old; 12 percent were between 25 and 34 years old; and only 2 percent were under 25 years old.” (https://www.census.gov/econ/sbo/02/cbosof.html) - Why So Few Young People Start Businesses? “The share of employed people ages 20 to 24 who run their own incorporated businesses is only 0.3 percent, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Because much business knowledge needs to be learned by doing, there is no good substitute for [...]    VISIT THE SITE FOR THE REST OF THE SHOW NOTES!   © Courtney Anderson Enterprises LLC  CourtneyAnderson.com [email protected] @ZealousBusiness