Have you ever looked at your calendar and felt that pit in your stomach when you see more white space than client meetings? Or watched your operating account balance slowly decline, thirty for some deposits? I’ve been there. In fact, I experience predictable slow periods around the holidays and sometimes after extremely busy stretches when my calendar is so packed that new leads can’t get in quickly enough.
Here’s the thing about slow periods in solo practice that I finally realized only a few years ago: they’re not a crisis — they’re an opportunity.
The Panic Response (That Doesn’t Work)
When business slows down, our first instinct is often panic mode. I see so many attorneys immediately rushing to networking events, thinking they need to shake every hand in town to drum up business. While networking has its place, it’s rarely the fastest path to new clients during a slowdown.
Many attorneys also make the mistake of completely abandoning their long-term marketing strategy in favor of desperate short-term tactics. This reactionary approach usually leads to inconsistent marketing and spotty results.
What Actually Works: Strategic Content Creation
During my last significant slow period a couple of years ago, I decided to use the time differently. Instead of doing random acts of marketing in a panic, I created a batch of TikTok videos and committed to posting consistently.
Most of these videos got around 1,000 views — nice, but not game-changing. Then one day, I quickly made a simple video of me working at my desk with some text overlay, following a trend I’d noticed. I didn’t think much of it.
The next morning, that video had over a million views, and my consultation calendar was suddenly booked solid for the next two months.
Why did that particular video take off? I honestly don’t know. But I firmly believe it happened because I had built the content creation habit during a slow period and kept showing up consistently.
Your Slow Period Action Plan
Here’s what I recommend doing when business slows down:
1. Embrace the Slowness
First, take a breath. Remember how much you wished for “just a little downtime” when you had more work than you knew what to do with? The slowdown is temporary — enjoy it rather than letting anxiety consume you.
2. Batch Create Marketing Content
Use this time to create evergreen content that works for you both now and later:
- Blog posts: Create in-depth content answering your potential clients’ most common questions
- Videos: Record short educational videos explaining common legal issues in your practice area
- Lead magnets: Develop downloadable resources that collect email addresses from potential clients
- Email newsletters: Reach out to former clients and lost leads with valuable information (and subtle reminders that you’re available)
Pro Tip: Create once, publish everywhere! That blog post you wrote? Turn it into a script for a video. That video? Break down key points for social media posts. Use screenshots or clips in your newsletter. One solid piece of content can feed your marketing engine across multiple platforms with minimal additional effort.
The beauty of content creation during slow periods is that you’re building assets that continue working for you when you get busy again.
3. Optimize Your Operations
Take this time to finally fix those small inefficiencies that drive you crazy when you’re busy:
- Update document templates to eliminate those annoying formatting issues you manually fix every time
- Set up email templates for common client communications
- Create or refine client intake automations
- Review and adjust your pricing strategy (hello, value-based pricing!)
I recently spent a slow holiday period updating all my document templates — fixing spacing issues, font sizes, and adding commonly used language. The time savings when I got busy again was a breath of fresh air.
4. Track What Works
Add a “How did you hear about us?” dropdown field to your intake form that includes all your marketing channels. Pay special attention to which channels not only bring in leads but convert to paying clients.
When you identify your highest ROI channels, you can double down on those when you have limited time and resources – and feel comfortable ditching the ones that aren’t working for you.
5. Build Video Confidence
If you’re not comfortable on camera yet (most attorneys aren’t!), use the slow period to practice. My advice: record a bunch of videos that you immediately delete. Then create a few that you post knowing only a handful of people will see them.
Everyone starts out terrible at video. Don’t believe me? Check out my YouTube channel or TikTok account and scroll all the way back. Fair warning: my first videos feature an awkward posture, um-filled sentences, and that deer-in-headlights look that screams “please let this be over soon.” But hey, at least my content was solid even if my on-camera presence was…developing. We’re all cringeworthy beginners at first! 😅
The difference between those who succeed with video marketing and those who don’t is simply the willingness to be terrible at first and improve through repetition.
Tools to Maximize Your Slow Period
Here are some tools that can help you make the most of your downtime:
- Content scheduling: Buffer, Hootsuite, or Later let you batch create and schedule social posts
- Video editing: CapCut (free) or Adobe Premiere Rush (paid) make video editing much easier
- Document automation: Gavel can help automate your document creation
- Email marketing: Beehiiv or Mailchimp for staying in touch with your network
- Automation platforms: Zapier or Make.com to connect your various tools and automate client intake, scheduling, and follow-ups
The Mindset Shift
The most successful solo attorneys don’t see slow periods as a sign that there’s a critical failure — they see them as natural cycles and opportunities. When you’re frantically busy, you wish for time to work on your business. When that time arrives, embrace it.
Remember, the slowdown is giving you something precious that you dream of when you were busy: time to invest in your future growth. Use it wisely.
