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With your budget in mind, I'd probably run a small ad in a couple of local newspapers under the "Services" section. Most papers now have a section for all kinds of things, including yard work, plumbing, etc. I'd put one under paralegal and list: wills, divorce forms, business forms, etc.. as much as you can squeeze in for the small fees the newspapers charge. This is not as expensive as the usual print ads. You can usually get it for a month at a reduced rate. Run if for several months and see. People looking for other services may need yours. I assume you're a notery. I'd advertise that, too. If someone uses you for that service, they may think of you down the road. Hang in there, it takes time.

Try composing a nice sales letter and posting it on Craigslist. It's free and can drum up a lot of business for you. If you live close to a large city, I recommend posting it on that city's website instead of your local one.

You can also register your business with yellowpages.com and the like so that people can find you.

Good luck!

If the services you provide do not require in-person meetings, you can "advertise" though elance.com. It is a website that I go to to find people with special skills to do work. I also post projects and have people bid on them. You should check it out and see if there are other paralegals using it to advertise their services or to bid on jobs. It works best when you can work "virtually" ---- that opens a whole market to you beyond your immediate geography.

First, congratulations on starting your own business. That's very cool.

In the general scheme of things I think that there is confusion amongst the general public about what paralegals actually do.

Whoever told you that advertising in the newspaper is a waste - is for the most part right. It works great for bigger businesses that have a big enough budget and a big presence to keep advertising constantly - but not so much for small, home-based businesses.

Here are a couple things I see right off the bat:

Your bread and butter money - business that you can count on - on a steady basis - probably will come from other attorneys. They are in a position to give you repeat business from clients. So, they are known as "centers of influence" because they know what you do and can provide you with a steady stream. So you need to nurture those relationships to keep them sending you business.

The rest of your steady cash flow will come from regular folks who want to save money. You have to position yourself as a solution to a certain problem. Maybe you can do a myriad of different things with your skills - but if you try to present yourself as sort of a jack-of-all trades - in the specialized world that we live in - people will become confused. And Denise's Marketing Rule Number One is, "A confused mind always says 'no.'" So create a specialization. Of course once you've done something for a client and they are happy you can tell them - "Hey, I also do this and this." That's fine.

So, you have two very different niche markets - attorneys and regular folks.

I wish you great success with all of it.

All the best,

Denise Michaels
Author, "Testosterone-Free Marketing"

PS: Visit me online at http://www.MentoringwithDenise.com

Hi - I met a self-employed court reporter at a holiday festival this evening and thought about your paralegal business. Was any of our input helpful? Have you made any progress? We'd love an update when you have one. Thanks!

How about a Brochure Web Page?

It is like your business card online.

My company offers this service for free.

http://www.intechspecial.com