Software > Box 1 > Legal Billing

Lawyers have unique requirements. We feel we have you covered in amazing ways.

If you have not read our home page, please do so before continuing.  ​You need to get the low down on the Five Box Model for this to resonate quickly.​

• This flow chart below shows a real world model on the left with the Five Box Model Pieces on the right. 
• Learning to build simple models and then learning to apply them with real world flow is magical for learning and healthy software development and use.

​(Info below is a Some links missing or not active yet...)

Five Boxes for you, the Lawyer...

The Five Boxes are used below to convey the pieces parts we (and others) have to offer to round out your needs. People pay BIG BUCKs for this kind of education. Please remember to donate from time to time.

Box #1 - Sales System

​We took a basic Invoicing System and built the heck out of it for your exact and fairly unique Billing, Escrow Management and Statement Presentation needs.

The first version to be released will be a single file template. Long term for most we'd suggest using multiple files which are connected for a more modular feel and greater build out,   but starting with the single file version will be easier for learning, initial use and use by some of the smallest self-employed attorneys. 

​A single spreadsheet template has 1) Clients 2) Client Matters 3) Escrow Management and Expense Tracking 4) Billable Time and Expense Tracking  5) Expense tracking from working account 6) Invoice Generation in a 1 off manner and in a bulk printing manner. 7) Accounts Receivable tracking (and more...)   

​Combine this with Google Drive and simple Client Folder Management System and you have an amazing Sales System. 

(and i have not exposed any portion of the reporting in this system yet >> that is a real wower!!)

This is all TBD.. .but here are the thoughts now...

Pricing for Template: The template will be free with a suggested donation. We'd love a donation of one billable hour per year. That'd be great but maybe it's asking for too much. If you are a student, toss in $10-25/year if you can, but if not, just wait until you are a Licensed Attorney and then make some contributions. Or maybe you just make a one time donation of something worthwhile after you get it up and going.   << We want this to be free and accessible to students and young attorneys trying to find their way. No other logical way to do that other than to make it FREE. Maybe we'll hold back a really advanced feature or something, but I doubt it. >>

Pricing for use in Education: When formally used in an educational setting where money is being collected for the education, we'd ask for a $3-5 royalty per person per (semester) course (or something like that). Open to suggestions and whatever flows our way...

For Detailed Video Instructions, tech behind the scenes, Private Community Forum Access etc >> may have a required one time and/or annual fee: Maybe $99 to $199 initial fee with $10-20 annual fees to remain active. I dunno. Will figure it out.

Open to suggestions on this pricing model...
Will provide some type of comparison to Rocket Matters if that is needed at some point...

Box #2 - Advanced Accounting Systems / Modules

Time Tracking, Escrow, Statements and A/R included in the Sales System so no separate Advanced Modules for those. 

For cash flow management

• For those that really want or need to track cash flow management in their Operational Checking account, we suggest using a simple check journal {link coming soon - sd $10}  in visual combination with your online banking console.
• This check journal is a simple, single spreadsheet worksheet  that could be stored in your Sales System Workbook, your Bookkeeping Workbook, your ToDo's file, or as a stand alone file.
• it is not core to your bookkeeping but will be a nice reference if you want to track cash flow before month end bookkeeping reconciliation. 

For budgeting

• We offer a "Business Expense and Profit Estimating Workbook" (sd$5).
• Likewise, you can use the Budgeting tools in the Bookkeeping Worksheet (Box 5 below)

For Payroll

• We suggest outsourcing it and only tracking aggregate needs in your Bookkeeping module. 

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Box #3 - Payment Inflows

• For check and cash deposit preparation, we offer a really great "Cash Bank and Bank Deposit Prep Workbook" (sd$10).
  
• As an Attorney you likely won't need to use the Cash Bank tab in this workbook for managing a cash bank. It's there if you need it or you can just hide it. 
  
• Then, we suggest an envelop in the night deposit box for large volume of checks and cash. Or you can use your phone app for small volume of checks for deposit and ATM for small amounts of cash.
• For Net Income and Profit estimating, we offer a "Business Expense and Profit Estimating Workbook" (sd$5). 
• Accepting checks online in addition as a supplement to credit cards can be a great way to accept digital payments while lowering your electronic transaction processing.
  
  • Most merchant account providers hide this offering because it cuts into their credit card processing revenues.
    
  • Please see information below about our affiliated company for this option. 
• For accepting credit cards, most of you likely already have Square, Paypal and/or other merchant processing tools.
  
  • Having a simple way to 1) process credit cards in person 2) send out "payment requests" for a dollar amount and 3) digitally processing invoice payments via requested payment requests , a payment link or a web portal is important for most.
  • Please see information below about our affiliated company for this option.
• For Paypal and any other processes who aggregate sales which you need to manually withdraw from, we suggest you make aggregated deposits to your working account routinely.
  
  • This isn't a big deal unless a portion of the revenue coming in had sales tax and a portion did not. That makes things a little more tricky on the bookkeeping side of things, but as with anything, there is a way to track it that is "good enough". 

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Affiliated Company for Merchant Accounts and Electronically Accepting Checks 

• If you process over $10,000 per month, this developer has a 20 year relationship with a small, boutique Merchant Account originator.  We'd be interested in providing you a quote for processing with the goal of lowering your rates and/or providing more functionality.  
• Regarding Electronic Check processing, our minimum fees are $25/month for the account and $0.50 per check.  The $25 fee is waived if the total per check fees exceed $25 (or something like that, I need to check and post details here..)
• Switching your merchant processing to our affiliated partner is one way to support our work long term while hopefully saving you additional money per month. 
  

Box #4 - Payment Outflows

• For Expense Estimating and budgeting, we offer a "Business Expense and Profit Estimating Workbook" (sd$5). (same as referenced in Box #2 and #3 above) 
• ​For credit cards, we suggest you use at least one card dedicated to your business expense. 
• For checking accounts, we suggest you have one working account/operational account and a second for your Escrow. That is a requirement for most of you already, so this is not a novel suggestion for anyone in this audience. 
• For checks, we suggest wallet duplicates for your carry around checks and you need a check book for each account you use with you at all times as well as a separate set in your office.
  • If you plan on sending out checks in envelops with clear windows you'll need the larger format checks.
  • Online Bill pay is also a good option for most. 
  • We do have a check printing module that is fairly pedestrian, but for those that want to buy one up or three up checks and print them it might work for you. {link coming soon - sd $10} 
• For cash, just withdraw in small amounts for incidentals like tipping. When it comes time to bookkeep for this, we suggest simply allocating to office supplies or meals or as appropriate. Don't get overly concerned about receipts unless spending large amounts. If you get audited and it comes down to receipt for a few hundred in cash withdrawls, something has gone very wrong. 
• For Paypal or comparable online wallets, we suggest avoiding use for expense items if you can Tracking this is just another time consuming step that is a little clunky.  BUT if you do use it for expenses, we can suggest ways to account for things to an appropriate degree. 

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Box #5 - Bookkeeping ​

Obviously, we suggest our Bookkeeping Module ($199+) or our Bookkeeping Module LITE ($sd49) over Quickbooks Online, Freshbooks and all other Software As A Service offerings.

• Nobody can beat the Privacy of our modules since they are just a spreadsheet template with no ties to us or anyone else.
• Nobody can beat the functionality either, but you may not realize that yet. And that's okay. 
• With no ties to anyone, it means you use a manual download and import process, but once you realize that is a 10-20 second adventure that never breaks, you should come to really appreciate it.
• Needless to say, we also suggest our Bookkeeping Modules over Quickbooks desktop version because it's time to put that data in the cloud for easier access, collaboration and sharing as well as lower data backup stress.
• Full Version vs LITE -- The full version has a fully automated Balance Sheet. Once configured properly that is an awesome time saver. The full version also comes with some special community benefits.Much more on this at the links. 

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Cost Summary

Below is a breakdown of your onetime and ongoing costs... ​

Total Investment in one-time fees for Copy-written Software and/or Detailed instructions ?

• Low End - $25-275 in suggested donations, nothing required
• High End - $675 ($199 for legal billing instructions/support forum access, $199 for Bookkeeping and about  $275 in suggested donations)

Total Investment for Consulting Support from others to get going?

• Low End Setup with only free stuff?  $0 to $1000.
• High End Setup with paid items and a seminar or two? $500 to $3000
• Additional Google Platform Class Material and Consulting that goes way beyond accounting?  $400-3000

Total Ongoing Costs for Software, Storage and Support?

• Products -- $0 to us for life, but small ongoing donations always appreciated. 
• Fees to Google -- $6 or $12 per month depending on your Google Suite plan.
  
  • This gets you voice and email support for Google Platform Tech issues. If you only are using a gmail account for gDrive/gSheets, that is $0 per month but you get no google support with that other than their forums
• Software Specific Tech Support  - $0 to minimal -- The software portion is is designed to be community supported one way or another. 
  
  • If you want to do something out of the box or if you make some serious user errors that you can't back out of, you'll need to find a paid consultant. 

Software Modules for more than Your Accounting needs.

Clients Module

• We suggest everyone keep a detailed client list list of clients in addition to any storage in gmail contacts and any simple configurations in our single billing file above
  •  We offer a simple customer/client module (sd$15) that is quite robust. {link coming soon - sd $10}
    
  • Our invoicing module has client information in it. Technically you could build out your invoicing module to be a client contact module too.
    
  • I would probably keep them separate and just duplicate my data. The extra one time setup is minimal and you won't be changing peoples addresses that often.
    
  • You only need a small subset of data in the Invoicing Module AND getting tricky by tying them all together is a headache for all but those that like futzing with data.   

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Other -- check out our list of generic modules here to see if anything else fits.{link coming soon } 

Foundational Google Platform Education

For those not familiar with Google's massive platform offerings and the way in which 220 Club folks suggest you string them all together, the Technology Section of the Soul Proprietor Guide http://soul-proprietor-guide.weebly.com/technology.html has 12 to 20 hours of tutorials and setup that most new and experienced google users find exceptional.  

A) Some of you should become familiar with this information and get a good foundation BEFORE you try to shift your business systems over to this Legal Billing Solution
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B)  Others who are more comfortable with spreadsheets and/or google drive to some degree may want to play around with these options on Google Drive and then decide if you want additional education in this area. 

Consulting and Technical Support

• We are a publisher of books and software. We are NOT a software company. We are NOT a consulting company..
  
  
• Our goal was and is to create advanced DIY solutions for those capable of self orienting.  That said.. we are going to try to help with uptake of these solutions initially with consulting but it will be under a different company name, like maybe Tall Ventures LLC for example..
  
  

Tall Ventures LLC Tentative Consulting Information...

• One of our our long term goals and a targeted revenue stream is to train individual consultants separate from ZAP and the 220 Club who we can promote for consulting services, but until that time comes we will fill the void. 
  
  
• We offer initial strategy and/or initial planning consults at a rate of $100/half hour. Unfortunately, we don't offer any "free initial consults".  The majority of our product offerings are pennies on the dollar compared to your current options and many of our utilities are free with tiny suggested donations, so hopefully this makes sense. For most, an initial 30 minute consult is sufficient to get a feel for things. This is a pay in advance program. Please fill out a System Survey and have it ready for your consult. 
  
  
• Depending on your level of computing knowledge or needs, after an initial consult, we may or may not contract to help you with initial setup and migration from current systems. That is done at $200/hour. If we won't do it, we will try to refer you to someone who will and we'll ask for a small kickback from both parties for the referral. 
  
  
• Your first line of ongoing support would be the community forums. Outside of those we will offer support on a sliding scale TBD  for $75 to 150/half hour with a 15 minute minimum until we can get others up to speed to do the same. ​​
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• We may try to offer both offshore consulting and onshore consulting. You could then decide if you want low cost or of you want to support your own country's workforce...