The $100K Problem Firms Don’t Realize They Have

When you first start your business, you’re careful.
Every hour gets tracked, every expense noted because every dollar matters.

But the more you grow, the more directions you get pulled in. Clients need you. Team members need you. There are fires to put out, emails to answer, and deadlines to chase.

And that’s when the little things start slipping through the cracks.

For service-based businesses, especially law firms, those little things are often billable hours.

It feels tedious to stop and log a five-minute call or a quick email. It interrupts your flow. And let’s be honest, nobody started a business because they were excited about keeping time sheets.

But here’s the reality: skipping or delaying entries costs more than convenience.
👉 Wait until the end of the day? You lose ~15%.
👉 Wait until the end of the week? You lose ~25–30%.
(Source: RocketMatter, ALANet)

At $250/hour, that’s $150,000–$300,000 in lost revenue for a $1M firm.

That’s money earned, but never collected.

How to Stop Leaving Billable Hours on the Table

1. Start with awareness.
Run the math. Even a 10% miss can be tens of thousands in lost profit. That realization shifts the mindset: logging isn’t busywork — it’s profit protection.

2. Identify the blockers.
It’s rarely laziness. It’s overwhelm.
The bigger the practice gets, the harder it is to stop mid-task, write detailed notes, or shake the feeling you’re nickel-and-diming. Naming those barriers makes them solvable.

3. Apply practical fixes.
Here are adjustments I’ve seen work in high-growth firms:

• Timers that live where you work. Start/stop when you switch cases.

• Templates for common tasks. Quick tags reduce friction.

• Passive capture. Tools that log emails, docs, and calls for later confirmation.

• Weekly review. Compare “what I did” vs “what I billed.” Small corrections compound.

• Shadow-billing for flat fees. Even if you don’t bill hourly, tracking time helps you price more accurately.

These aren’t silver bullets. They’re small adjustments — consistently applied — that optimize how you operate and protect your margins.

Sometimes growth isn’t about adding more clients.
It’s about keeping what you’ve already earned.

→ If you’re ready to stop leaving money on the table and want to map your growth path, book an Discovery Call.