Are you a recent or soon-to-be law school graduate? If so, landing a gig at a big firm with great pay and experienced mentors is probably your # 1 choice. But if #1 just isn’t working out for you, consider your other options. Starting a law firm of your own may seem daunting, but it is easier than you may think.

According to the American Bar Association (ABA), 59.9% of 2014 law school graduates were employed in long-term, full-time positions that require passing the bar. This is only a 2% increase from the previous year; prior to 2014 the numbers had been steadily declining for the past six years. Worse still, 2014 saw 6.5% fewer graduates that the previous year making the slight increase in employment statistics seem moot.

The ABA also reports that the average debt taken on by law school graduates was $84,000 for public schools and $122,158 for private schools. This is not including undergraduate school.

If you are trying to break into the field of law, these numbers might seem overwhelming to you. Maybe you have already been experiencing this for yourself and find you are not one of the lucky 59.9%. What are you expected to do, find a job in a different profession; waste all of that education-related time and expense?

We hope not.

So what do you need to do to have a firm of your own?

We recommend starting where any good business venture starts: with a plan. If you are still in law school, use this time to create a detailed business plan. A strong analysis of the area you want to work in, expense reports, mission statements, and a marketing plan are necessary to have a solid business plan. Talk to as many solo lawyers as you can who are willing to go through your business plan with you to critique it. Determine beforehand how long you can work without making any income, and use this timeline as your guide. Obviously you should have some money saved up to allow for this, even if it is a small amount or (yikes) another loan.

Another important thing to do when starting your own law firm as a newbie is to narrow the focus of your practice to one area of law. Don’t be fooled into thinking you can take on any case in all areas of law, ready to accept any money that walks in the door. You will never build expertise and will spend your career being a mediocre attorney at best. Choose one area of law to work in and you have a better chance of becoming an expert in that area. Also, don’t choose one that requires a reputation from years of practice and big-name cases (you don’t have one yet, remember).

Once you know what area you want to work in, you need a website. Would you really trust a lawyer who doesn’t have a website these days? Judgmental or not, it’s true. Most people do their research online and if you aren’t there, no one is going to be knocking on your door. You can create a simple website with general info on your practice on a free web building site like WordPress and pay a small fee (we’re talking roughly less than $100-$200 a year) to host it. It is worth it if you want to get your name out to prospective clients.

Now this next part could be the difference between making it and breaking it. You need to network with other attorneys and you need to create a referral base. Starting off on your own with little to no experience might make this feel impossible, but there are ways to get around it.

Firstly, join some reputable groups for attorneys in your practice and outside of it. You can just do some research on Google to find them. This gives you a point of contact for any questions you might have or support you may need, and also gives you the opportunity to find other attorneys you can possibly co-counsel with.

You can also consider housing your law firm out of a shared office space. Finding one that caters to attorneys is the important thing here. For instance, at Amata, the majority of our shared office space members are attorneys. They pay a low monthly fee to have their own private office in one of six downtown Chicago office buildings and share common areas with other members, like a lounge and café. This gives them an outside, professional space to meet with clients, while impressing them with a high-cost Chicago Loop address for a small fraction of the cost. We offer services tailored for attorneys, such as court-filing. You may feel like starting out with an office is going to be a waste of your limited startup funds, but the payoff comes from getting your name out there through these referrals. What good is starting a business, after all if you have no clients? The best part is that there are many other attorneys just down the halls to network with.

Remember that most of your referrals are going to come from other attorneys. Networking with attorneys in other areas of law is a great way for them to have a trustworthy source to refer their clients to for legal help in areas that they don’t practice. If you want to bring in clients, this is the best way to do it, and most practicing attorneys will agree that referrals and networking is the key to gaining clients.

Of course, following these steps can’t guarantee success, but they can guarantee a chance, which is something that many fresh lawyers need these days. The most important thing to have though is confidence. Most people will likely try to tell you that trying to start your own practice fresh out of law school is ridiculous and bound to bring you failure and debt. But hey, if you went to law school, you are probably already in debt. Just because other people are too afraid to try doesn’t mean it is a lost cause. Remember, attorneys before you have taken this chance, and they have succeeded! You need to believe whole-heartedly that you can too. Self-doubt is the #1 killer of dreams.