Law office management

Are you managing your law practice or is it managing you?

January 8, 2014 by David M. Ward

See the client. Review the document. Write the letter. See the next client. Document the file. Mail the letter. Read. Read some more. Email. Email some more. Prepare the complaint. Prepare the motion. Make the calls. Go to the meeting. Check your email. Check your calendar. Oops, late for court. Out the door. Fight traffic. Wait to be called. Back to the office. Record notes. Send the email. Look at the time. Oops, late for dinner. Fight traffic. Kiss the wife. Eat, read, news, sleep, get up, eat, dress, fight traffic, see the client. . .

Another day. Another week. Another month. Another year.

Who has time for marketing? Thinking about the future? Planning?

You want to, thereâ€™s just no time. Too much to do and it never gets done. At the end of the day youâ€™re tired and want to go home.

You arenâ€™t managing your law practice. Itâ€™s managing you.

Believe me, I understand.

Itâ€™s time for you to take control. Tell your practice who is in charge. Decide what kinds of clients and cases you want instead of taking what shows up. Decide how much you want to earn this year and do what you need to do to earn it.

But to do that, you have stand down from the daily grind, clear your mind, and make some decisions.

What do you have to decide? Start with the end in mind. What do you want your future to be like? What is your long term vision?

What do you want your life to be like five or ten years from today? Imagine things the way you would like them to be. What are you doing? Where are you living? How much are you earning? What is a typical day like?

Write a â€œvision statementâ€ describing your life, in the present tense, five years in the future. One page is all you need. The only rule is there are no rules. Describe the life you want, not the life you think you might have.

Your vision statement is where you want to go. From this point forward, you can make choices that are consistent with your vision. Youâ€™ll do things that move you towards your vision. Youâ€™ll reject activities that donâ€™t.

Instead of being pushed through life by circumstance, youâ€™ll be pulled forward by your vision.

Once you have a vision statement, the next step is yearly goals. What do you want to happen in the next 12 months that is consistent with your long term vision?

You can set one big goal or a handful of goals in different areas of your life. Goals should be specific and measurable. At the end of the year you should be able to say that yes, you did reach the goal, or no you did not.

Goals should be bold and exciting. They should require you to stretch and grow, but not be so far out of reach that you donâ€™t have a chance of achieving them.

Once you have yearly goals, the next step is to write monthly plans. What will you focus on this month? What projects will you work on? When will you start? When will you be done? What will you do after that?

Schedule your monthly plans in your calendar. Set up files to collect information and track your progress.

While youâ€™ve got your calendar handy, also schedule a recurring weekly review. Once a week, take an hour or two to review what you have done during the week and what you will do the following week. This keeps you focused and accountable. This is you managing your practice instead of it managing you.

Finally, from you yearly goals, monthly plans, and weekly review, you choose your daily activities. What will you do today to move you forward? Choose a few things but make sure they are important.

Itâ€™s best to write down your daily activities the night before. â€œPlan your day before your day begins,â€ one of my mentors taught me.

A well-lived life is a well-planned life. If your law practice is managing you, itâ€™s time to show it whoâ€™s boss.

The Attorney Marketing Formula will help you plan your future. Click hereÂ for details.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Goal Setting, Law office management, Personal development Tagged With: law firm management, Law office management, law practice management, planning

Slowing down to speed up: getting ready for the new year

December 30, 2013 by David M. Ward

It’s time. The last few days of the year when the holiday craziness is nearly over, the tree and the lights are coming down, but the new year has not begun. This is the time when I tie up loose ends from the current year and get ready for the new one.

I’m sure you’re doing something similar. Or you will in the next few days. Much like we do in the days leading up to a vacation.

It’s called “slowing down to speed up”. We shut off the flow of regular business and look at things from a different perspective. Because we’re not consumed with taking care of clients and projects, we can better see where we are and make plans for where we want to be.

In addition to doing some goal setting and planning, I’m getting caught up on CLE and learning some new software I plan to use extensively next year. I’m also cleaning up my computer workspace, catching up on email, consolidating files and folders in “my documents,” and consolidating my Evernote tags.

Not difficult stuff. Kinda fun, actually. But important, because it will allow me to start the new year with fresh eyes and fewer distractions and, therefore, be more productive with “real” work.

At least it feels that way. And that’s why we do this year-end ritual, isn’t it? So that we’ll feel refreshed and empowered?

So, how about you? How are you getting ready for the new year?

If you’re planning to upgrade your Internet presence next year, you need this.

Filed Under: Goal Setting, Law office management, Productivity Tagged With: getting rid of clutter, planning

How to make next year better

December 26, 2013 by David M. Ward

If you want to make next year better than this year, start by taking a look back at your practice over the last 12 months. Look at every new case or client and figure out where they came from.

Who referred them? How did they get on your list? What did you do to get them to call?

Do the same thing for repeat clients.

Also look at the quality of those clients. Some clients are better than others. They hire you more often, pay higher fees, and provide more referrals. Which of your new and repeat clients fall into the category of “better”? Where did they come from?

Grab your calendar, your bank statements, your website statistics, your notes and records, and take a mile high look at what you did last year and your results.

Look at your networking, speaking, writing, and blogging. Look at your keywords, your content, your offers.

What worked for you? What worked better? What worked best?

Look at your professional relationships. Who provided referrals or other help? Who referred more or better clients? Who provided you with important intangibles–support, ideas, friendship?

(Note to self: “Make sure to keep better records next year so the next time I do this analysis I’ll have everything in front of me.”)

You can see that some things you did this year worked great, many didn’t work at all, and most fell somewhere in the middle. The same with your relationships.

If you look hard enough, you will see that although a lot of things produced a lot of results (clients, money, subscribers), a few things produced the majority of your results. You may find that

Eighty percent of your results came from just twenty percent of your activities
Eighty percent of your referrals came from twenty percent of your clients and professional contacts
Eighty percent of your income came from twenty percent of your cases
Eighty percent of your new subscribers came from twenty percent of your posts, keywords, speaking gigs, ads, (etc.)

Or not. It doesn’t have to be eighty percent and twenty percent. But it is almost certain that a big percentage of your results came from a small percentage of efforts or sources.

Identify the activities that produced most of your results so you can do more of them. Identify the handful of referral sources that sent you most of your referrals or your best referrals, so you can strengthen your relationship with them and leverage those relationships to meet their counterparts.

If you want next year to be better than this year, you need to find what worked best and do more of it. To find the time and resources to do that, cut down on or eliminate things that didn’t work, or that didn’t work as well.

For me, one thing worked better than any other. My twenty percent activity was writing. The books, courses, and blog posts I produced brought me more traffic, subscribers, and revenue than anything else I did. Knowing this means I can make next year a better year by being more prolific.

I know where to focus. I know my priorities. I know where to spend my time.

How about you? What will you do more of next year? What can you cut down on or eliminate? How will you make next year better?

The Attorney Marketing Formula comes with a simple marketing plan that works. Check it out here.

Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: 80/20 principle, 80/20 rule, do what works

A high school class that has earned me a fortune

December 5, 2013 by David M. Ward

I took a typing class in high school. I think we learned on Remingtons, ancient mechanical monsters that made typing a labor-intensive chore. The keys would get stuck, corrections were slow and frustrating, and typing line after line of “f-f-f-space, j-j-j-space” barked out by our instructor made the experience anything but enjoyable. But I learned to type.

Still, in my practice, I used a dictation machine and had a secretary do the typing. Even on a fast and forgiving IBM Selectric, typing was frustrating and it was better to let someone else do it.

Not anymore.

Today, with the computer I am able to type quickly and errors are no bother at all. I can get the words down “on paper” as soon as I think them. There’s no need to have someone else do the typing. In the time it would take to dictate, I can have it done myself.

I think that’s true of many attorneys today. But not all. Many attorneys never learned how to type, or if they did, they don’t do it well. If that’s you, I encourage you to do something about it. Take a typing class. There are many available online. Increase your speed and accuracy.

For the record, we’re talking about “touch typing” here–typing without looking at the keyboard. The two-finger jab, no matter how fast you are, doesn’t cut it.

The other day, I wrote about the value of practice for improving our skills. Typing is a skill with a huge return on time invested. The thought of spending 40 hours practicing typing may seem ridiculous when you bill $400 an hour, but it’s not ridiculous at all if it allows you to save 30 minutes a day for the rest of your career. You’ll be in the black in less than 90 days.

And, what if improving your typing skills allows you to lower your secretarial costs?

The idea is to “slow down so you can speed up.” Invest time to learn, practice, and improve. There is a cost, but there is a greater return.

I bought a new laptop last week and it arrived a few minutes ago. It’s my first experience with Windows 8 which I hear is not very intuitive. If I can’t figure it out, I’ll go online and learn what I need to know. I’ll take a class if I have to. Or. . . I might just trade that sucker in on a Mac.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Leverage, Personal development Tagged With: practice, typing

5 simple steps for improving productivity

November 19, 2013 by David M. Ward

I’m going to give you a simple checklist for improving productivity. To use it, first make a list of everything you do in your work day. Do this over the course of a week so you don’t leave anything out.

Include everything: seeing clients, paperwork, calls, meetings, administrative. Include your commute and errands. Also include things you do during work hours that aren’t work related (e.g., playing games on your phone, coffee breaks, watching videos, etc.)

Once you have your list, go through every item. Look at the checklist and make notes. For best results, go through the list several times.

CHECKLIST FOR IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY

1. Eliminate. Ruthlessly purge anything that is unnecessary or does not contribute enough value to continue doing. Peter Drucker wisely said, â€œThere is nothing less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.â€

2. Delegate. Just because something must be done doesn’t mean you are the one who must do it. Assign these tasks someone in house or outsource them, so that you can do, “only those things that only you can do.”

3. Do it less. What could you do less frequently? If you do something daily, could you do it once a week? Once a month? What can you consolidate with other tasks? For example, can you do some of your reading or dictation during your commute?

4. Do it faster. What could you do in shorter chunks of time? If you routinely take an hour to do something, find ways to do it in 30 or 45 minutes. How? Eliminate or delegate parts, use forms and checklists, improve your skills, or get help (i.e., do it with a partner).

5. Do it later. Are you doing anything during prime time you could do after hours? What can you do when your energy is lower? Which tasks are routine or low priority and don’t require your full attention?

Improving productivity means improving effectiveness (doing the right things) and efficiency (doing things right). 80% of your improvement will come from steps 1 and 2 which focus on effectiveness. Eliminating and delegating things that don’t need to be done or could be done by someone else frees you up to do more high value tasks. The remaining steps will help you become more efficient at everything else.

The Attorney Marketing Formula shows you how to earn more by working smarter, not harder.

Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Personal development, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: 80/20 principle, effectiveness, efficiency, peter drucker

How to deliver a great presentation

November 7, 2013 by David M. Ward

If you’ve never seen Simon Sinek’s TED Talk on inspiring action you’re in for a treat. In it, Sinek explains why companies like Apple captivate and dominate their market when legions of other companies sell boxes that do essentially the same thing. He tells us why the Wright Brothers were first to flight with no funding or credentials that would have predicted their success.

Sinek also helps us to understand the difference between a leader and those who lead, and why great ideas and great products often languish while smaller ideas catch fire.

His talk is filled with wisdom. In a few minutes, he will help you understand the key to success in marketing your services and building a firm that sustains and grows.Â I heartily recommend that you take the time to watch his presentation and learn why it is the second most popular TED Talk with more than 12 million views.

But there’s another reason to watch it. Not only will you learn great insights about marketing and business, you’ll also see a great presentation. As you know, a presentation isn’t just what you say, it’s how you say it. It’s how the information you deliver is packaged and staged. A great presentation connects with the minds and emotions of the audience, and this is a great presentation.

If you want to know how to deliver a great presentation, study this one. See how he packages and presents his information. Learn how you can make your next presentation more effective.

This postÂ makes it easier. It analyzes the structure, style, and delivery of Sinek’s talk, helping us to understand why in a world of presentations, this is one of the greats.

Do you know The Attorney Marketing Formula? Check it out here.

Filed Under: Communication, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Personal development, Presentations, Writing Tagged With: Simon Sinek, TED Talks

Friday is pink, Saturday is yellow

November 1, 2013 by David M. Ward

When I was a kid, each day of the week had a different color. Friday was pink, Saturday was yellow (sunny?), Sunday was white. I don’t know why. Maybe I had seen a calendar with the days displayed in different colors.

Mondays were blue. Not because it meant going back to school. We had a housekeeper come on Mondays who often wore a blue dress. Tuesdays and Thursdays were dark gray, probably because on those days I attended an after school event I didn’t like. Wednesdays were Orange, a bright color signifying a respite between the dark gray days, no doubt.

Whatever the origin of these colors, my attitude towards each day of the week was slightly different. That’s true even today. Today is Friday and I’m looking forward to the weekend. I’m more relaxed, more likely to write something light, maybe even fun.

How about you? You may not see the days of the week in different colors, but I’ll bet you see each day a bit differently. Your energy is different on different days. You probably get more billable work done on certain days than others.

Of course the same is true throughout the day. Clearly, we have times when we are more productive than others. I think this is also true throughout the year. During summer and during the holidays, we work a bit less, play a bit more.

So, what does this mean? It means we’re not machines. It means we have cycles. Our energy ebbs and flows. There is a natural rhythm to our lives. Unfortunately, we’re often out of sync with that rhythm. We have school and work five days a week and we have to show up and produce, whether we feel like it or not.

I’m not suggesting we abdicate our responsibilities, only that we be a little less rigid about our schedules and a little more open to going with the flow. Listen to our inner voices instead of always doing what’s next on the list.

When we don’t feel like doing something, we usually push harder, “because we have to”. The work has to get done. But maybe the resistance we feel towards the task means something. Maybe if we put the task aside temporarily, when we came back to it we could get it done faster, with better results.

Anyway, too much thinking for one day. Today is pink and I feel like having some fun.

Filed Under: Law office management, Personal development Tagged With: flow, natural rhythm

How to prioritize your daily tasks

October 10, 2013 by David M. Ward

I use my own version of GTD (Getting Things Done) as the backbone of my productivity system. Every day, when I sit down to prioritize my lists and choose what to work on for the day, I chooseÂ three “MIT’s” (Most Important Tasks). If I get my MITs done, I call it a good day.

Some people recommend the 1-3-5 system: 1 big thing for the day, 3 medium things, and 5 small things. Others use the 3-2 method: three big things, two small things. And then there’s the ABC/123 method.

For me, “three things” is about right.

Many days, it’s just one or two MITs. The number really doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am effective because I’m getting important things done.

But how do you decide what’s important? How do you look at a long list of tasks and projects and select three Most Important Tasks?

I don’t know. I just do it.

Sure, there’s a certain amount of logic in the process. I look at deadlines and appointments and reminders. But more often than not, it’s my gut that tells me what to do.

In “The 4-Hour Work Week,” Tim Ferriss offers a suggestion for deciding what’s important. He says, “Imagine you’ve just suffered a heart attack and are allowed to work only two hours a day. What would you do during those two hours? And if you had another heart attack and were allowed a maximum of two hours of work per week, what would you do?”

Ferriss also says, “. . .requiring a lot of time does not make a task important,” and I agree. He is also a proponent of making a “don’t do list,” ignoring things that aren’t important so you can focus on what is, which I wrote about recently.

I like learning about new productivity systems. But most of them are too complicated and time consuming to learn and use. I like the simplicity of focusing on just “three things”.

If you want to know how to prioritize your daily tasks, start by acknowledging that some things are much more important than others. Think 80/20. A minority of tasks, perhaps 20%, will contribute to the majority of your results.

You’llÂ never get everything on your list done, and trying to categorize and prioritize hundreds of things that aren’t important, or as important, as your three things, isn’t efficient or effective.

This post is one of my MITs for today. Next for me is to finish another writing project. I’ll get to that right after I check my calendar.

I explain my productivity system in my Evernote for Lawyers ebook.

Filed Under: Law office management, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: effectiveness, efficiency, evernote-for-lawyers, getting things done, gtd, most important tasks, prioritizing, The 4-hour work week, the 80/20 principle, the 80/20 rule, Tim Ferriss

Grow your law practice today by getting excited about tomorrow

October 7, 2013 by David M. Ward

Your employees (and you) come to work every day knowing pretty much what to expect. You’re going to have documents coming in, you’re going to produce documents and send them out. You’ll open some new files and close others.Â You’ll be on the phone talking to people about the same things this week as you talked about last week, and the week before.

Same old, same old.

Where’s the excitement? Where’s that something new that gets people out of bed in the morning with their pulse beating a little faster? Where’s that something different that people can talk about and look forward to?

You need to find that something.

Something you can promote to your team so they can get excited and creative and work harder than they’ve ever worked before. Something that makes them look forward to coming to work each day, glad to be a part of your team.

What are we talking about?

It could be money. A bonus for achieving certain results. A trip. A weekend. A dinner. (You do know that your employees can bring in a lot of business, don’t you?)

It could be recognition. Employee of the month, who gets featured on your blog and gets the last Friday of the month off, with pay. Recognition is powerful. Men die for it. Babies cry for it.

It could be a cause. Something in the community you are passionate about. Something you want to change or build.

It could be new tools or techniques. Cool new tablet computers. A new training program. A new way of doing what you’ve always done.

Create an environment that’s fun and exciting, where your folks don’t know what’s going to happen every day.

Every day, you should either have something to promote or something to recognize. It could be progress reports on something already announced. It could be something new. Or it could be something that’s not yet here but is coming next week or next month.

How do you make things fun and exciting for yourself? Set a goal and a reward for reaching it. If you bring in so many new clients this month you get to take that trip to Tahiti. If you really want to make it exciting, tell your team (or family) about the goal and the reward so they will hold you accountable.

Same old, same old may get the job done, but if you really want to grow your law practice today, you have to get excited about tomorrow.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Personal development Tagged With: leadership, promoting