Hiring as a True Solo—What I Wish I Knew Sooner

Did you like this episode? Dislike it?

💼 Making your first hire as a true solo isn’t just possible—it might be the smartest move you’ll ever make. In this episode, Brett Trembly of Get Staffed Up and Trembly Law shares how a $10/hour law student helped him double his revenue and triple his take-home pay. He and host Danny Decker unpack the mindset blocks solo lawyers face around hiring, and lay out a roadmap for turning overwhelmed solo practice into sustainable growth. If you're still stuck thinking you “can’t afford help,” this episode will change your mind—and your math.

📌 Key Takeaways:

• The real cost of waiting too long to hire.
• Why your first hire should free your time, not drain your bank account.
• The mindset shift that helped Brett scale faster—and stress less.

👉 Visit Brett here

📆 Schedule Your Strategy Session

📱You can check out the video component by following us here on
Instagram or TikTok

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
you know, at what point did you start saying to
yourself I need to get some help.
And like what was your, whatwas your thought process around
actually building your team?
Because you started as a truesolo correct, yeah, yeah, up and
up until that 2014.
So my thought process aroundhiring was it was an expense
that I wouldn't know how to payfor and I couldn't afford it.

(00:20):
So it was like I'm only makingthis much, it's barely paying
the bills.
How can I afford to hiresomebody which now I know and
hopefully most people now know,but for anyone that that's in
that situation, um, the rightperson doesn't cost you money.
They make you money.
So I was like finally convincedto hire someone, and the only

(00:41):
reason I did is because it was alaw student, 30 hours a week
for a very cheap amount, like$10 an hour.
And I'm like okay, I got to trythis, you know, and I doubled
my income, my top line revenue,probably tripled my take home
immediately and I was like wow,I, you know, I guess this works,

(01:03):
and so I will give myselfcredit.
At that point.
I didn't do it A lot of peopledo, which is like hey, I was
able to ride a bicycle and I gotfrom point A to be faster, but
it was just luck.
It's just something thathappened one time.
Clearly, I can't replicate thatand get a faster bike or or get
people to ride with me, so I'mjust going to stay where I am,

(01:23):
you to ride with me, so I'm justgoing to stay where I am.
You know most people and I talka lot about this in my book
because I think when we're, whenwe're speaking, we're
projecting on our past selves,because we're pulling on our
experience and I'm almost liketrying to convince my past self
to to get with it, to say thatnicely.
But you know most people arelike well, when I get X amount
of dollars in my bank account,then I will be able to hire

(01:46):
somebody, which is backwardsbecause you'll never really get
that money unless you get awindfall or you just suffer,
suffer, suffer.
Maybe you're in the PI worldand then you finally get like a
decent settlement.
But you will get that money ifyou hire someone, because you
will then free up your time todo more of the thing that pays
you three, four $500 an hour,not do more of the thing that

(02:07):
pays you $10, $15 an hour.
And when you're working byyourself, like 95% of your day
is all of the little things abusiness needs that is only
going to yield you $10 to $15 anhour.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Thanks for listening to today's preview from this
week's episode.
If you had any thoughts on it,please leave us a review.
We would greatly appreciate it.
Don't forget if you love yourlawyer friends, let them know
about the Law Firm MarketingMinute.
We'll see you tomorrow.