Colleen Young, Chief Marketing Officer at Get Staffed Up, and Senior Community Coordinator Joe Bravo join Danny Decker on the Center Stage Podcast — the show by Spotlight Marketing + Branding for law firm owners who want to grow smart, not just work harder. Listen as Colleen and Joe break down when to make your first hire, how to use AI without losing your strategy, and why intake is one of the most underrated revenue drivers in a law firm.
The First Hire: Why an Executive Assistant Changes Everything
Colleen’s advice for overwhelmed solos starts with a simple exercise: write down everything you do in a day, then count the hours you spend on email, scheduling, and calendar management. For most attorneys, that number is the argument.
“Attorneys are taking away their billable hours and focusing on things that are $10-an-hour tasks.” — Colleen Young
An executive assistant is almost always the right first hire. It is not glamorous, but it immediately returns time and mental energy so attorneys can focus on the work that actually grows the firm.
AI Is Only as Good as the Strategy Behind It
Most attorneys know AI can help them. They just are not sure how. Colleen’s take: before you use AI to generate content or build a marketing plan, you need to know your audience and your practice focus. Trying to be everything to everyone is a problem AI cannot fix — it can only amplify it.
Danny adds a number worth noting: Google organic search declined last year for the first time in history. Prospective clients are now turning to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini to find and vet law firms. Attorneys building consistent content and collecting testimonials are quietly positioning themselves in those results right now.
Intake Is a Sales Job, and Most Firms Are Treating It Wrong
Intake gets bolted on to someone else’s job description. A paralegal handles it on the side. An office manager picks it up when they have time. And without fail, it slides to the bottom of the list — while leads go cold.
“Intake is sales. You’ve got to take that lead from being a warm lead to a signed client.” — Colleen Young
A dedicated intake specialist is not just answering phones. They are qualifying leads, managing conversion rates, and protecting the revenue your marketing is working to generate. AI can handle overflow and gatekeeping. But the conversations that require judgment and relationship-building still need a human.
When Is It Time to Make the First Hire?
Joe’s answer: the time is now, especially if you are spending money on marketing without anyone to follow up on the leads it generates. That is not a growth problem. That is a revenue leak.
Colleen’s answer is the one that stays with you:
“When you start feeling the weight and the smile goes off your face and it’s no longer fun to practice law, that’s when it’s time.” — Colleen Young
Listen to the full episode on the Center Stage Podcast. Ready to figure out which Staffer your law firm needs first? Schedule a call with our team and let’s build your team.
Contact Get Staffed Up, LLC for more information by calling (800) 921-4987.
