Feel the fear and DON’T do it

August 26, 2016 by
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Many say that the way to overcome fear is to face it head on. Do what you fear long enough, they tell us, and you will eventually conquer that fear.

There are others who say otherwise.

One group of philosophers say that instead of making ourselves do something that makes us uncomfortable, we should heed the feeling. “Never move forward in fear,” they say.

Who’s right?

Should we brace ourselves in the face of fear and soldier on? We know this works. If you fear public speaking, for example, but force yourself to do it enough, you often overcome the fear and are better for it.

But facing your fears can also make you miserable. For every one time we think, “I’m glad I stuck with it,” there might be three times when we think, “I never want to do that again!” Isn’t there a way to accomplish the deed without the pain?

The folks who say, “Never move forward in fear,” say there is. They say we can (and should) eliminate the fear first, or at least dilute it enough so that we aren’t bothered by it, and then take action. They also say that doing it this way will allow you to do the task more easily and get better results. You can speak without trembling knees and sweat dripping down your face.

Sounds good to me. But how? How do we dissipate the fear?

Therapy? Hypnosis? A stiff drink or two?

The philosophers who recommend this path suggest that you guide how you feel about the activity by changing your thoughts about it. “Reach for a thought that feels better,” they say. Keep doing that until the fear is all but gone.

So maybe you think, “I’m not going to have a heart attack and die on stage”. Marginally better thought, yes?

Then you think, “It’s only twenty minutes. I can get through this.” Relaxing a little. Feeling a little better.

“I have something worthwhile to say.” Yes, you do. And the audience wants to hear it.

“Actually, it’s a friendly crowd.” Feeling better and better.

“Once I get past the first few words, I’ll be okay”. That’s the ticket.

And so on. Little by little, thought by thought, you think your way to feeling better and better until the fear is all but gone.

I’ve done this before and it works. It takes a little practice, but it’s not difficult.

Anyway, you don’t have to feel the fear and do it anyway, you can remove the fear and feel good about it.

Try it. Find something you know would be good for you but you’ve been putting off because of fear. Change your thoughts about it, little by little, until the fear is gone or at least completely under control. And then do it.

Your mind is powerful. It created your fears and it can be used to eliminate them.

Afraid to ask for referrals? This shows you how to get them without asking

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Filed Under: Personal development, Presentations Tagged With: ,

Keeping the main thing the main thing

August 25, 2016 by
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Yesterday, I talked about investing for a future when you might not be able to work or you may want to retire. I mentioned the option of starting a side business that has the potential to create passive income and pointed out that this is what I did.

I should have added a proviso about being careful about remembering your priorities, lest your Plan B tempt you to put more time and energy into it, to the detriment of your Plan A.

It’s difficult to build two businesses at the same time. Some say that at best you’ll have mediocre results in both and never achieve excellence in either. Speaking about the risks of diversification, Mark Twain said, “Put all of your eggs in one basket and WATCH THAT BASKET.”

But I think that if you’re careful, you can be successful in both your main business and your Plan B.

First, choose a Plan B that harmonizes with your Plan A. Choose something that allows you to leverage your knowledge and reputation and contacts to help you build your side business. Choose something that, when your clients and contacts find out about it, they say, “That sounds like a good investment,” instead of, “It sounds like he’s giving up his practice.”

Second, be mindful about timing. Put most of your time and effort into building your practice or primary business, until you get to the point where you can safely peel off some time and money to invest in something new.

If you’re smart about it, you can have the best of both of both worlds. Your practice will provide you with cash flow to raise your kids and have a good life, and your Plan B will provide you with passive income to fund retirement or the next phase of your life.

Since there are only so many hours in a day, and you only have so many years to live, you’ve got to keep the main thing the main thing. But that doesn’t mean it’s the only thing you can ever do.

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Filed Under: Increase your income Tagged With: ,

How much do you earn when you’re not working?

August 24, 2016 by
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I have to visit the doctor today. It’s nothing serious but it made me think, “What if it was?” “What if I was truly ill and had to stop working?”

Fortunately, I don’t have to work. I have enough passive income coming in to take care of the essentials.

How about you?

What would you do if you got sick and had to stop working? What if you want to retire?

Most lawyers trade their time for dollars. Even if they don’t bill by the hour, their income is tied to the amount of work they do.

More work (more time) means more income. No work means no income.

Even if you’re a partner or you have staff that does most of the work, you still have to show up, make decisions, and supervise.

You may be extraordinarily well paid, but how much will you earn if you don’t work?

If you’ve been good about saving and investing and have assets that provide passive income (interest, dividends, rents, royalties, etc.), or you own a business with partners or a management team in place and it doesn’t require your active participation, you may be good. If you don’t, what will you do?

I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but you have to admit that this is something you have to think about.

Start a savings plan. Study investing. Find a side business that doesn’t require a lot of time. (That’s what I did.)

But don’t put it off.

“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago,” says the Chinese proverb. “The second best time is now.”

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Filed Under: Increase your income Tagged With: ,

Making the case for doing what you feel like doing

August 23, 2016 by
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Grab your task management system, your calendar, and whatever else you use to manage your lists.

Next, put aside anything that has a due date or deadline or is associated with an upcoming appointment.

What you’re left with should be a large quantity of optional tasks and possible projects. Your “somedays” and “maybes” and ideas.

If you’re like me, you’ve got a boatload. Good ideas, dumb ideas, things you’ve already done, and things that make you wonder, “What was I thinking when I wrote this?”

Now, maybe you’re a good boy or girl and do weekly reviews and regularly clean up and prioritize your lists, in which case you have already decided which tasks to do next and which ones you’ll do after that.

Forget all that. Lump everything together (temporarily) into one big pile. We’re going to take a different approach and see if we like it better. C’mon, it’ll be fun.

Remember, if there’s a deadline or due date, put it aside. This is for everything else.

Alrighty. You have a big list of tasks and projects. What do you do with it?

Break up your list into groups of 25 to 35 items. Take one group and read through the list quickly, then come back to the beginning and read it again slowly, thinking about each item on the list. Put a mark next to any item that stands out to you and that you feel ready to do today.

Don’t try to prioritize them based solely on what you think you “should” do. Let your intuition guide you. Then go through the next group of 25 to 35 items and do the same thing.

When you’re done, you should have a short list of tasks you are ready to do today. They may not be things you previously thought you would do next, but they will be important and they will be things you will actually do because unlike other things on your list, you’re ready to do them.

If you are familiar with Mark Forster’s Autofocus system (aka, “The Final Version”) you will recognize this process. I’ve been reading about it and there are aspects of it that appeal to me.

The essence of his system is balancing the rational and intuitive parts of our brain. Forster says, “It’s very difficult to focus on what is important with one’s rational mind alone, because what your conscious mind thinks is important may not be what your subconscious mind thinks is important.”

There’s a lot more to the system but one thing to note is that it doesn’t rely on elaborate tagging or detailed prioritization methods. It’s based on repeatedly reading through your list and doing what you feel ready to do.

The result, says Forster, is a greatly increased volume of work getting done, and done faster. “This seems to be mainly due to the fact that there is very little friction in the way of resistance or procrastination.”

Have you used the Autofocus system? Does it sound like something you’d like to know more about? If you tried it, how did it work for you?

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , ,

Why clients don’t follow advice (and what to do about it)

August 22, 2016 by
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Ever wonder why clients pay good money for your advice and then don’t follow it? Yeah, me too. It’s one of the mysteries of life.

But you shouldn’t lose sleep over it. You did your job. It’s not your fault if they don’t listen.

Or is it?

Did you do everything you could to convince them to do what you told them to do? Did you explain everything as thoroughly and completely as possible? Was there anything else you could have said or done?

You should use checklists and form letters so that nothing is left unsaid or undone. Ask them to sign off on your instructions. Tell them horror stories about clients who didn’t listen. Look them in the eye and ask them to pinky swear that they will follow your advice.

Do these things because you have an ethical duty to do them. Because if they don’t follow your advice and things go south, they may blame you. And because it will help you grow your practice.

You’re not going to get repeat business or referrals from a client who goes out of business, even when it’s not your fault.

Protect your little darlings. Keep them safe and help them prosper. Make sure they are happy and well fed and remember that what’s good for them is good for you.

Now, will you follow my advice? Pinky swear?

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Filed Under: Client relations

Reviews are starting to come in

August 19, 2016 by
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The first review for my new book, The Easy Way to Write a Book is in and it’s a humdinger.

It points out the value of the “real world examples” in the book and says, “Anyone should be able to use this guide to whip out a book in a week or two. Delivers exactly what it promises.”

Nice.

And very much appreciated. Not just by me but by book buyers who are looking for a way to write a book quickly, but aren’t sure if my book delivers.

Reviews help sell books, just as testimonials help sell legal services. I’m not shy about asking for reviews and you shouldn’t be shy about asking your clients to provide a few words about their experience with you.

How do you ask? You just do. You tell them you would appreciate them for leaving a review on XYZ website, or filling out a survey form you provide. Or you wait until they say something nice about you and you ask them if you can post their kind words on your website.

But ask.

Your clients are willing to tell the world what they think about you, but they are busy and need a little prompting.

So prompt.

Anyway, here’s my prompt:

If you picked up a copy of “The Easy Way to Write a Book,” and you liked it, please leave a review. Even one sentence can help someone who is on the fence make a decision.

Here’s the link.

Okay, maybe you don’t want to write a book. No problem. Remember, you can use the ideas in the book to interview professionals you know (or want to know) for your blog or newsletter or podcast. Interviews aren’t just a great way to create content, they are the consummate networking tool.

Maybe you want to write a book but you don’t want to interview anyone, you want to tell your own story. Okay. I heard from a lawyer who is using the ideas in the book to do exactly that. He tells me his book is coming along nicely and he will post a review as soon as he’s done.

So there.

The Easy Way to Write a Book is still just .99 cents, but I will bump up the price soon. (You can read it free if you have Kindle Unlimited).

And if you’re still not sure, you can read the first chapter online here.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Writing Tagged With: ,

How to never run out of ideas to write about

August 18, 2016 by
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Think about your target market and answer me a few questions:

  • What is the market’s biggest problem right now? The one that keeps people up at night?
  • What’s the latest news in that market? What are people talking about?
  • Name three websites, podcasts, or newsletters that focus on this market.
  • Who is the top lawyer, CPA, insurance or real estate professional in that market?
  • Name two organizations dedicated to that market that have networking functions in your area.
  • Name three profitable keywords for blog posts, books, or ads for that market.

Okay, that’s enough to make my point, which is that if you can’t answer these questions, you probably don’t know your target market well enough.

Or you don’t have one.

Which is why, when you set out to write an email or article, you “don’t know what to write about”. Which is why you aren’t writing, or if you are, your writing is too general and doesn’t stand out.

If your last blog post or article or email is written to appeal to “anyone,” there’s a good chance it appeals to “no one”.

When you know your target market well, which you must if you want to dominate it, you won’t have that problem. You’ll have plenty of things to write about, specific to that market. In fact, you’ll have so many ideas, your biggest problem will be deciding which one to write about.

Which is a nice problem to have, don’t you think?

Need help choosing a target market? Use this

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Filed Under: Blogging, Email, Newsletters, Writing Tagged With: ,

The paper is due a week from Friday and is worth one-third of your grade

August 17, 2016 by
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Remember in school when you were assigned a paper to write that had to be turned in by a specific date? You were given a topic, a word or page count, and a deadline, and somehow you managed to turn in the paper on time.

You may not have known anything about the topic. You may have hated the topic and wished you could write about something (anything) else. You might have put it off until the night before it was due. But you got it done.

Because you had to. Your grade depended on it.

Today, you want to write something for your newsletter or blog, but if I’m right, too often you don’t do it. You don’t because you don’t have to.

No due date. No grade. If you don’t do it, nobody will notice.

The solution? Give yourself a due date. Decide in advance a posting schedule and put it on your calendar. Even better, announce it to your subscribers: “I post a new article every Tuesday”. If you don’t post as promised, they’ll notice.

You can also assign yourself a topic to write about.

In 30 minutes, you can brainstorm enough topics to keep you busy for a year. Start with the ten or twenty “frequently asked questions” posed to you by prospects and new clients.

You can also set up a notebook and collect articles and notes and ideas as you go about your business day. I have more than 1000 “blog post ideas” I’ve collected and stored in Evernote.

You could work with a writing partner and give each other assignments. “Okay, this week, I want you to write about that client you told me about. . .”

Another way to get ideas is to use “writing prompts”. A search on that keyword will reveal a plethora of books and websites that can provide you with an almost endless supply of writing ideas.

I went to a website this morning and was given the prompt, “Why I love to. . .” I thought I could easily write a post about why I love marketing. I would talk about how gratifying it is to be able to use my skills to help people get solutions and benefits they otherwise might not get, and make a nice living doing it.

You could use the same writing prompt. Write about why you love helping your clients.

In school, writing assignments trained us to write “on demand,” a valuable skill to be sure. If you’re struggling to do that in your practice, a writing schedule and writing prompts can help you get there.

You can get lots of ideas for article and posts with this

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Filed Under: Newsletters, Writing Tagged With: ,

Why being a bit neurotic might be a good thing

August 16, 2016 by
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If you’re like me, you are constantly fiddling. No matter how well things are going, we’re never completely satisfied and we’re constantly looking for something better.

We may be running a tight ship at work but good isn’t good enough. We’re “getting things done” but we can’t help but think there are ways to get more things done, or get them done faster.

I’ve used Evernote as my primary productivity application for several years but I am continually trying new apps. I’m also trying new methods–new tagging schemes, new ways of organizing tasks and projects, new ways of approaching how I work.

I used to think my mercurial ways were a sign of weakness. It turns out they might actually be a strength.

According to Charles Duhigg, author of Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business, the most productive people frequently try new systems. “I found that the people who are most productive decided to think about it deliberately,” he says. “Habits are useful tools, but they can hinder as well as help,” he adds. “Constantly cycling through systems forces you to think about your own productivity.”

Each time we try a new app, a new system, or a new process, we critically examine what we have been habitually doing. Things may be good but they can always be better and by continually trying new ideas, we continually find ways to improve.

So the next time you’re feeling guilty about changing your methodology or replacing your favorite app with another, give yourself a pat on the back.

And if you’re not a jumpy monkey like some of us, if you’re satisfied with the way everything is working and have no interest in re-examining what you do, you might want to smoke some of what we’re smoking and join us on the cutting edge.

Evernote for Lawyers

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: ,

Eh, What’s Up Doc?

August 15, 2016 by
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What’s new? Something, I hope. Because if you and your practice are exactly the same right now as you were last week and last month, I might think you’re not accomplishing anything noteworthy. If I were your client, that might make me nervous.

Your clients want their lawyer to be alive and growing and in tune with the world. They want to know what’s new.

When they come to your office, they don’t want to see an ancient IBM PC, they want to see you with the latest laptops and tablets. When you write to them, they don’t want to hear the same tired things you’ve said before, they want to hear something new.

Most law practices are staid and boring and have little news to report. Don’t be like that. Always have something new going on, and make sure your clients and prospects and business contacts know about it.

Tell them about your new services or new features or new ad campaign. Tell them about your new web page, blog post, or article. Tell them about your new client, new speaking engagement or new employee.

Let clients know that things are happening at The Law Offices of You.

Always having news to report not only shows your clients that you are growing, it gives you a great excuse to contact them. It also allows you to connect with people on an emotional level. When you have exciting news, let them know you are excited and tell them why. If your news involves a serious topic, let them know about your concerns.

But don’t get out of character. You’re still a member of an esteemed profession and you don’t want to appear to be anything but. Your clients want to know that their lawyer is stable and reliable, so avoid radical news and keep news about major changes to a minimum.

But always have news to share.

Look at your calendar and notes for the last 30 days. What did you do that might be considered news? Do the same thing for the next 30 days. What are you working on? What’s going to change?

You can almost always find news to share, but if you are finding that difficult, then, by all means, get busy and create some.

Email is the easiest way to share your news. Here’s how to do it right

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Filed Under: Email, Newsletters
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