Archives for October 2012

My one page productivity system

October 3, 2012 by
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When I was in high school I used a simple system for planning my day: a single piece of paper. I folded it three times so it would fit in my shirt pocket. On the page I would list the things I needed to do that day: tasks, errands, classes, homework. As I completed each one, I crossed it off the list. At the end of the day I would look at my list and feel good about what I had accomplished. I would then write a new list for the following day.

Putting everything on one page forced me to decide what was important for the day. There were many things I could have done each day but I wrote down only the things that I intended to do. Sometimes I numbered them so that I knew what to do first.

There was room on my page for ideas, things to do tomorrow or next week or someday, or to jot down random thoughts about life.

My one page productively system was all I needed for the day. It worked so well, I stopped using it.

I still plan my day and sometimes I put it on paper, but most of the time, my plan is in my calendar and in Evernote.

The last few days I’ve been playing around with an app called WorkFlowy. It is a list-making/outlining application that lets you put everything on a single “page”. You can use it for your task list(s) or to outline projects. You can create nested outlines to unlimited depth. I’m using it to outline a book.

I’m also using it to create my daily task list. I add a #Today tag to tasks I want to do today and filter the master list so that it only shows those tasks. On one page is my daily task list, just like I used to use in high school.

But I don’t have to print that page to put it in my pocket. WorkFlowy has a free iPhone app that syncs my lists. (There is an Android app, too.)

Nothing is simpler than a piece of paper. But this comes close.

Do you use Evernote? Check out my ebook, Evernote for Lawyers: A Guide for Getting Organized & Increasing Productivity.

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Filed Under: Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

How self-employed attorneys can avoid burn out and increase their income

October 2, 2012 by
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One of my Facebook friends posted today: “Totally. Burned. Out. In desperate need of a day off, but then the work won’t get done. Ugh.”

He’s an attorney and works for a firm. I assume he is salaried. I assume he cannot give the work to someone else to do. He has to do it because the work is assigned to him or nobody else is capable of doing it.

Either way, he’s stuck. That’s the way it is with most jobs.

But most self-employed people say the same thing. They either don’t have any employees or partners to whom they can give the work or nobody else is capable of doing it.

Either way, they’re stuck, too.

The employee understands the trade off. They exchange their time for dollars and don’t have to deal with the administrative and marketing demands of being self-employed. They give up some of their freedom in exchange for “security” (or so they think; there are no secure jobs). The self-employed person values freedom above all and is willing to take on the additional responsibilities and longer hours, in order to “be their own boss.”

For most of my career, I have been self-employed. I worked for my father for a year out of law school and I didn’t like it. I wanted to “do my own thing” (that’s how we described it in the ’70’s). I was willing to take on the additional responsibilities and long hours and give up the “security” of a job to get it.

But only to a point.

After a few years, I got Totally. Burned. Out. I wanted to take time off, but the work wouldn’t get done. I was stuck, and that’s when I made a decision to change what I was doing.

I realized that “if the work won’t get done unless I do it,” I didn’t own a business (practice), it owned me. I worked hard but if freedom was my goal, and it was, and I couldn’t take a day off when I wanted to, or six months when I wanted to, I might as well get a job.

I decided that I would hire more people and delegate to them as much of the work as possible. I supervised them and did the legal work that nobody else could do. I soon found out that there wasn’t much legal work that nobody else could do and while that may not have been good for my ego, it was very good for my well-being and my bank account. It meant I could concentrate on marketing and building the practice, and that’s what I did.

And then, I was able to take lots of time off because I owned a business (practice) and it no longer owned me.

If you are self-employed and “the work won’t get done unless you do it,” you should consider making similar changes. Hire more people, outsource, associate with other attorneys. Do what you have to do to lesson the need for you to do the work.

Not only will you avoid burn out and increase your income, you will have more time to post on Facebook.

Your time is precious. Learn how to leverage it to earn more and work less in The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Law office management, Leverage, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Marketing legal services like a Grandmaster

October 1, 2012 by
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In the game of chess there are strategies and there are tactics. Strategies are the plans–how you will gain space or material that leads to a winning advantage. Tactics are the battles–the maneuvering of your pieces and exchanges of material that allow you to execute your plan.

Marketing legal services is very similar. You create a plan and you execute that plan. Your plan might be to get more referrals from your professional contacts by strengthening your relationships with them. Your tactics might include sending them referrals, taking them to lunch, and inviting them to join you at your next networking meeting.

In chess, the best strategies aren’t created randomly, they emerge by observing the board. You look at your strengths, where you have an advantage, and build your strategy around these advantages. If there aren’t any advantages, you look for differences in your positions and use those differences to create your strategy.

The same goes for marketing legal services. You may not have any significant advantages over other attorneys, but you do have differences:

  • Your background, outside interests
  • Your knowledge and experience
  • Your style and personality
  • Your professional contacts
  • The size of your client list
  • Your web site
  • Your lists (email, mail, directory)
  • Your awards
  • Your publishing credits
  • Your content (articles, reports, books, audios, etc.)
  • Your niche market
  • Your experience
  • Your social media network
  • Languages spoken
  • And so on

You can use these differences to create a marketing strategy.

If you are an “Ambassador” at your local Chamber of Commerce, know how to make and publish youtube videos, or you are personal friends with a prominent blogger, these can all become a part of your marketing strategy.

Where are you different? What do you know how to do? Who do you know? Don’t take those differences for granted. They may not seem significant to you but they can be enough to create a winning strategy for marketing your services.

The Attorney Marketing Formula shows you key strategies for marketing your practice. Click here for more information.

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Filed Under: Leverage, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan
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