Overnight success usually doesn’t happen overnight

September 3, 2026 by
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It’s exciting. You start practicing, open an office, get a few clients, and then you get a few more. 

Some clients pay you well. Some have good cases. Some days are good. Some, not-so-much.

Your first year or two, it’s hit or miss and you wonder why you thought going out on your own was a good idea. But you hang in there (because you have no choice) and eventually, you gain some momentum and start making a living. 

In a few more years, you might take inventory and realize you’re on your way to being one of those rich lawyers people talk about. They think you were an overnight success, but you know it’s not true.

Unless it was, in which case kudos to you and/or your rich daddy who set you up. 

Most lawyers have to “put in their dues” before they make it. Five years of hard work, my law school torts professor told us it would take, but it will be worth it. 

It was for him. He earned enough in his practice to retire and teach law school for “fun”. 

Whatever your end game is, if you haven’t reached the level you want, if it’s been a lot longer than five years and you’re still not even close to your goal, there could be a lot of reasons but it might simply be this: there is no formula and everyone’s journey is different. 

So maybe you just need more time.

For most of us, it takes time to learn the business and get good enough to do the job clients demand and deserve. Even more, it takes time to figure out how to bring enough (good) business and income to cover expenses and begin to chew down some the debt taken on to get through school and open that office. 

So, don’t beat yourself up. Maybe you’re not failing, maybe you’re just expecting success too soon. 

Give it time.

It will happen when it happens. 

As a successful friend of mine puts it, “Stick and stay and you’ll get your pay”. He isn’t a lawyer but he is far more successful than most of the lawyers I know. 

My friend didn’t expect overnight success. In fact, I’m pretty sure he didn’t expect to be successful at all. He got his ego out of the way and went to work. 

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan, success

I wish I had done this sooner

August 18, 2026 by
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If you’re like me, and you are, more than once in your life you’ve said to yourself, “I wish I had started this sooner.”

It might have been a diet, a productivity method, a new habit or approach, or anything else you hadn’t done before, have started recently and regret not starting sooner.

Because it’s providing you with some amazing benefits. And you’re excited.

Maybe you didn’t know about it before. Maybe you’d heard about it but stubbornly refused to try it. Or maybe you started and stopped and now wish you had continued.

Don’t beat yourself up. You’re doing it now, it’s working, and you can continue.

Yay you.

One thing I wish I had started sooner is doing more self-improvement activities. As one blogger put it, “Regularly look for opportunities to do something your future-self will thank you for.”

What might that be for you?

In the context of building your law practice, what could you do this year or this month that you might be glad you did next year or next month?

Hire someone new? Start a new practice area? Finally, use ai?

How about marketing?

Some lawyers do little (or no) marketing. Or do things that aren’t working, are too expensive, or take too much time.

Or force themselves to do things they hate doing and wish there was another way?

Ring any bells?

You might already have a few ideas in your planner or on a “Someday/Maybe” list. Maybe it’s time to look at them again and choose one.

If it doesn’t work, or you hate it, no worries. Try something else.

On the other hand, you might not have any ideas. You’ve been busy working or putting out fires.

You’re willing to try something, but you need ideas.

In which case, I suggest you make “ideation” a regular part of your workflow.

Schedule a recurring task on your calendar or in your task app, even just ten minutes per week, to brainstorm, search, read or watch videos. Let yourself discover, or rediscover, options for bringing in new clients, increasing your income, decreasing expenses, or finding more satisfaction in your work.

Take notes. Write down questions. Talk to someone who might be able to help.

At the very least, plant the idea in your brain; let it create more ideas for you, and remind you to look at them.

And then try one of those ideas.

Who knows, it might be the one thing you wish you had started sooner.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing Plan, Personal development, success

Overcoming marketing overwhelm

July 30, 2026 by
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You’ve read the books and blogs, watched videos about marketing professional services, attended seminars, listened to podcasts, and subscribed to more than a few newsletters about legal marketing. 

You have a long list of ideas, things to do to bring in more clients and better clients and increase your income. That’s the good news. Too often, it’s also the bad news because with so many ideas and options, with a long list of tasks on your marketing todo list, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and do nothing. 

Ask me how I know. 

You have clients and cases to work on. You don’t particularly enjoy most of the things we call marketing and often have to force yourself to do them. You don’t want to hire more people or spend more on advertising, but you know you need to do something to build your practice and you are willing to do it, you just don’t know what “it” is. 

I have a solution. A way for you to cut through the overwhelm and resistance and make progress. 

The first step is to gather up all of your ideas and notes and lists and put them in one place. Create a master list of things you could do, might do, want to do, and (you believe) will do (eventually).

Put everything in one big pile. Get everything out of your head, out of your drawers, off your desk, off your legal pads, out of your computer files. 

Go through that pile and make a master list of tasks and projects and ideas. Or get your favorite ai to do it for you. 

It’s still overwhelming, I know, but less so than when you had notes and notebooks and files everywhere. You’re making progress. 

Okay, you have a list. It’s messy and long and unorganized but it’s a list. 

What’s next? 

Next, read through your list and put a star or symbol or tag next to anything that stands out to you as urgent. 

If there is an upcoming event you need to prepare for, an inquiry to respond to, an email or phone call you need to do,  a bill to pay, a problem with your website, anything that shouldn’t wait, take care of them. Do it or delegate it. You’ll feel better.

But this is marketing, not legal work, so there’s probably not a lot that’s urgent.

What about everything else?

You might think I’m going to suggest prioritizing your remaining list in terms of importance, Eisenhower Matrix or Priority Matrix style. If you can, have at it. If it’s still overwhelming, you don’t know what’s truly important, or you just don’t feel like going through this process, there’s something else you can do. I think you’ll like it.

Read through your list, quickly, and choose five to ten things you would like to do this week. 

Not twenty, five or ten. Not things you think you should do, things you’d like to do.

Later, you’ll zero in on what’s important. For now, pick five to ten things you’d like to do–because they seem fun or easy or quick wins. Theis will help you get started, and getting started on something you resist doing (e.g., marketing) is key. 

Let’s recap. 

You’ve made a master list, taken care of urgent matters, and made a list of five to ten things you’d like to do this week. 

You’ve sorted out your week. The next step is to sort out your day. 

Go through your list for the week and choose one task for today. Just one. Okay, two if you must, but one is great. 

Do that one task today. Look at you, you’re marketing. 

If you finish that task, you can go back to your week’s list, or, if that’s complete, your master list, or your “inbox” and choose something else. 

I follow this process for all of my tasks, not just marketing. Each week, I choose six tasks I want to do for the week, one or two I want to do today. (These are my most important tasks. I have separate lists for routines, etc.)

This system works for me. I get a lot of important tasks done. Try it and see for yourself.

Overwhelm, marketing or otherwise, will be a thing of the past.

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan, Productivity Tagged With:

How to create a marketing plan that works for you

July 23, 2026 by
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So much to do, so little time to do it. You may not like it, or be good at it, but you realize that marketing is critical for attorneys and you need to do it. 

And you need a plan

You can delegate or outsource many marketing activities, including a lot of the planning, but the important bits need to be done by you. 

Even if that means using otherwise billable time to do it. 

Much of the relationship building inherent in marketing professional services cannot be delegated. Clients hire and want to work with you, not a secretary or assistant. Or your partner. 

You can hire people to do things like following-up on your behalf, but you need to talk to the clients and prospects, at least at some point in the process. The same goes for referral sources and other business contacts. 

You can’t simply write a check and expect others to do everything for you. You need to be involved in the planning and execution. You’ll get better results when you do. 

If you don’t have any plan, where do you start? You start with where you are and what you know. 

It may sound daunting and it would be if you tried to do it all at once. You won’t. You’ll do it incrementally–one step at a time. 

Start by making an outline of the steps for each part of the process you use. What do you do that could be called marketing, lead generation, follow-up, or client relations? What do you tell prospective clients about your services, when and how often? What do you send to leads or inquiries and to existing clients? 

Write it all down. Write down what you do and identify things you don’t do but think you could or should.

If you advertise or do seminars, you might start there because you’ll have some quantifiable data to look at. What do you spend, what publications or keywords, how much business does that bring in? 

You might want to start with existing and former clients. What you do between engagements, during holidays, to remember birthdays, or to otherwise stay in touch and keep your name in front of people who have already hired you?

You could start with your newsletter subscribers or social media followers. What do you send them and how often? How many subscribers do you have and how has that changed in the last six months or a year? What subjects do you typically write or talk about and how much engagement does that create? 

You might start by identifying the steps you take to respond to inquiries or leads. What do you send them or say to them? What do you offer or tell them to do? 

It doesn’t matter where you start. What matters is that you start, because that will help you identify what you need to change or add or stop doing, even if you’re not sure what that could be.

Keep at it. Eventually, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s working for you and what needs to be improved. 

At that point, if you haven’t done so already, you might want to talk to marketing experts and see what they tell you to consider, or use an ai to give you additional ideas.

You’ll realize there are many options and variables and you’ll start making some decisions, some of which will be a waste of time but some of which could make a huge difference.

It’s messy and might take a long time. And, once you’ve done it, you’ll need to continue doing it because it’s a process, not a one-and-done event. 

The hard part is starting. It’s also the most important part so if you don’t have a plan right now, or know you need to update your existing plan, I encourage you to start immediately. 

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

A simple marketing strategy for sole practitioners

June 4, 2026 by
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It has to be simple or you won’t do it. Ask me how I know. 

You’re busy, you don’t have a lot of help, or a lot of time. You can outsource some things, but, let’s face it, a lot of this thing we call marketing and practice development falls squarely on your over-burdened shoulders. 

That’s okay. You don’t have to do everything. You can get all the business you can handle doing mostly what you already do and maybe only a little bit more.

Here’s what I suggest:

  1. Make referrals your cornerstone. It always has been and always will be the number one marketing method for professionals, and especially for sole practitioners. You already get referrals, right? With a little bit of attention, you can get more. Treat people right, tell them what to do to tell others about you (directly or on social), and thank them when they do.
  2. A simple website. You need a place to send people to find out what you do and why someone should hire you. A few pages about you, your capabilities, and your services. You can do more but you probably don’t have to. Just make sure what you have doesn’t look dated, hype-y, or lacking something important.
  3. Networking. If you like it and are good at it, have lunch or coffee once a week with a fellow professional, business contact, or prospective client. Find out what they need or want and help them get it. Introduce them to people, share ideas, build a relationship. If you don’t like doing this, or aren’t good at it, don’t do it. Life is too short; find something else you like and are good at and do that. 
  4. Build an email list. People you know and want to stay in touch with, and people you want to know. Don’t rely on anyone remembering your name if they never hear from you. Email is easy, inexpensive, and ubiquitous. Create a lead magnet (report, seminar transcript, ebook, etc.) and offer it as an incentive to sign-up for your list and then stay in touch with that list. (See below). 
  5. Content. Write something, record audio or video, or get yourself onto podcasts, and talk about your area of expertise, ideas, trends, news, and stories your market will appreciate. Use this content to keep your name in front of your target market and educate them about things they need to know and can share with with their contacts. You know your field. You know your clients and prospects. A 300 to 700 word article or blog post once a week is not overly demanding to produce and should provide you with sufficient leads and inquiries, visits to your website, and more sign-ups for your list. 

You can certainly do more but you probably won’t have to. You don’t have to spend hours every week attending formal events, posting several times a day on social media, promoting seminars, or laying out six-figures for advertising. In fact, as a sole practitioner, you probably shouldn’t advertise at all. You don’t need billboards or bus benches. Advertising gets expensive, fast, and in many fields and markets, there is too much competition. 

Not everyone only wants to hire a firm that has a billion dollars in settlements to their credit. 

Stick to your knitting. Do what you like and are good at and is working. And keep doing it. 

Unless you want to do more. 

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan Tagged With:

It might be time to put your marketing on a diet

April 16, 2026 by
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Have you heard of the elimination diet? It is described as “a short-term diagnostic tool. . . designed to identify food intolerances, sensitivities, or allergies by removing suspected trigger foods and then reintroducing them systematically, to see if symptoms resolve during the elimination phase and reappear upon reintroduction.” 

Basically, you eliminate foods or supplements that might be causing you issues, reintroduce them one at a time, and see what happens. Do your symptoms stop? Improve? Stay the same? Get worse? 

Last year, I wanted to see if I could improve my sleep so I stopped drinking coffee for a few months. I didn’t get more sleep or better sleep and (not surprisngly) had less energy throughout the day. When I started drinking coffee again, my energy improved, my sleep didn’t worsen, and I’m (happily) back to enjoying the bean. 

I’ve done similar experiments with vitamins and supplements I’ve taken and discovered that some bothered me, some weren’t helping, and some could be eliminated completely. 

That’s the idea behind an elimination diet. And if your marketing and practice development efforts aren’t working the way you would like, you might consider doing the same thing.

If you suspect your advertising is costing more than it should, for example, turn it off and see what that does to your numbers. You’ll probably get fewer leads and cases or clients but your net income might actually be higher. if you think the time you spend networking or creating content isn’t worth the effort, stop doing what you’re doing and re-introduce each activity one at a time. 

You can also do an elimination diet (in reverse) for strategies you’re not doing. 

If you’ve never advertised, for example, or it’s been a long time since you’ve done it, if you’ve eliminated advertising from your marketing, consider introducing or reintroducing it and seeing what happens. 

I’ve cut out ads and publications that were no longer pulling, started them up again after a period of time and found they were profitable. I don’t know why but I didn’t question it. 

That’s how marketing works. 

We’d all like our marketing to be consistently profitable but things change and we need to accept that and roll with those changes. 

Yes? Yes. And now it’s time for another cup of Joe. 

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Filed Under: Advertising, Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing Plan

My best marketing advice. In three words.

March 19, 2026 by
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Marketing legal services can be complicated and take a lot of time and expense, which is why many attorneys say they don’t like it, do it inconsistently, or don’t do it at all. On the other hand, marketing can be relatively simple and not require a lot of time or expense.

Marketing can be easy.

How? Three words: “Deep, not wide”. 

Going “deep” means building upon your existing relationships, skills, and knowledge to grow your practice instead of going “wide” in search of something new and better.

Your existing relationships, the people who already know, like, and trust you, your clients and business contacts, will lead you to people they know, through introductions and referrals. You’ll get new clients and discover new opportunities. That process will continue and compound, providing you with a steady stream of business and your practice will continue to grow.

The same is true for your existing niche or target market and your successful ads and marketing strategies. Your articles and blog posts will continue to bring you traffic and inquires, your reputation, testimonials, and success stories will continue to persuade prospective clients and the people who refer them that you can deliver the results your clients need and want. 

What you already have that’s working for you is all you need to take your practice to the next level.

You can speed things up if you want by building new relationships, acquiring additional knowledge, and trying new ideas, and you may do that at some point. 

Or you may not.

You can stick to your knitting and continue doing more of what’s working, or you can go wide. 

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan, Relationship marketing

Growing your practice by doing LESS? 

January 13, 2026 by
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This might be the year you take your practice to a much higher level. But not in the usual way. Not by doing more, but by doing less. 

What do I mean? 

I mean that instead of increasing your billable hours, getting more cases or clients, ramping up your ad spend or expanding into new markets, you cut back on what you’ve been doing or planned to do this year. 

You don’t hire more employees or open another office. You don’t force yourself to create more content or do more networking. Growth doesn’t always require “addition”. It can also occur through “subtraction”. 

Doing less but better. 

It might mean putting fewer hours into marketing but getting better clients or bigger cases, or more income and greater profits.

How does that happen?

When you do less or spend less on something, you have more time and energy and cash (and enthusiasm) for doing something else produces better results. Or allow you to accomplish more with less effort. 

When we simplify our marketing and management workflow, we get better at what we do. When we spend less on one strategy or in one market, we have more to spend on others.

It’s called leverage. The 80/20 principle. Working smarter. And it’s a beautiful thing.

Start by taking inventory of what you did last year—all of your time, all of your expenses, all the people and processes you managed. 

Then, review the list and consider what you could cut or change. 

Maybe this is the year to downsize some personnel. Maybe you can do just fine with a smaller office. Maybe one ad or one marketing technique is producing the lion’s share of your income and the rest aren’t contributing much.

Of course, you might also see things that are worth expanding, and others you’ll simply decide to continue. 

It’s all good. 

Sometimes you subtract, sometimes you add, and sometimes, you appreciate your blessings and look forward to the coming year.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing Plan, success

95% of marketing legal services is doing two simple things

November 18, 2025 by
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You can do more, but if you do these two things consistenly, you won’t have to.

They aren’t complicated, expensive, or time-consuming. They don’t require you to be clever or do anything unique.

How’s that for simple?

Two things.

First, you need to “show up”. That means keeping your name in front of people you know and people you want to know.

Clients, former clients, prospective clients, business and professional ontacts, family and friends.

You don’t have to contact them, although that’s always helpful. Showing up means getting people to rebularly see or hear your name.

That could be in their email, on social, at a networking or social event, or by seeing ads you run in publications they read.

Anything.

Each time they see or hear your name, they think about you. If they need legal help, it might prompt them to contact you. If they know someone who needs your services, it might prompt them to give them your name.

For a professional, “showing up” is 80-90% of marketing. Keep your name in front of people and the rest usually takes care of itself.

What about the other 10-20% of your marketing?

That’s also simple. The rest of your marketing is creating and dissemenating “information”.

Information about the law, legal problems and solutions and the benefits of hiring you.

Write it or record it and invite people to read or watch it.

Invite them to sign up for your newsletter, download your report, watch your video, or read your book.

Your information shows people (or reminds them) that you help people like them and shows them the benefits you offer.

Two simple things. Stay visible. Share information.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Referral marketing on steroids

October 23, 2025 by
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No matter what other types of marketing you do, referrals will always be key to marketing your legal services. Prospective clients contact you because someone they know and trust recommends you. They come to you pre-screened as to need, or at least interest, and the ability to pay.

The odds are they’ll hire you. You usually don’t have to do a lot to make that happen. 

And, not only are referred clients easier to sign up, they usually turn out to be better clients. 

There are other benefits to prioritizing referrals as a marketing strategy for a law practice. Among other things, that focus can also lead to more traffic to your website, more seminar attendees, more invitations to speak, and more subscribers and followers.

Because it’s based on relationships.

It’s an idea as old as marketing itself. And while many attorneys benefit do this, they usually “watch it happen” rather than taking steps to “make it happen”. 

What do I mean?

I mean, most attorneys don’t systematically identify other professionals and businesses that already serve their target market (and don’t compete with them), approach them, and propose a marketing alliance.

A mutually beneficial strategic relationship, leading to referrals and other benefits. You promote their products or services, endorse and recommend them, send them referrals and traffic and so on, and they do the same for you.

You help them build their business or practice; they help you build yours. 

Hold on, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that business people and professionals who might make a good strategic alliance partner for you already have referral relationships with attorneys and law firms in your market. 

They don’t need you. 

But they do.

Because the attorneys they currently work with often

  • Target different sub-niches, industries, or types of businesses or clients than you do
  • Offer different services or use different fee and billing arrangements than you do
  • Can’t handle, or don’t want to handle big cases, or may not want the mid-size or small cases you prefer 
  • Have conflicts of interest and can’t take every case or client 
  • Get busy and can’t handle all the work that comes their way
  • Retire, die, move, or get into trouble and are no longer available

They also might not have the same reputation, experience, or skill set you bring to the table, making you a better fit for their contacts.

And even if none of this is true today, tomorrow might be another story.

Which is why you should continually look for and get to know potential referral partners. 

It should be a cornerstone of your marketing. 

Routinely ask yourself, “Which business leader or professional in my market sells to, advises, or otherwise influences prospective clients who would be a good fit for my practice?”

Identify them, meet them, and show them how they can benefit by working with you. 

That’s the plan. 

Okay, I know what else you’re thinking. You’re thinking this is extremely difficult and time-consuming. It’s not worth the effort. 

It might be difficult, but it isn’t impossible. And it is indeed worth the effort. 

Not only can it pay off big time for you, but you don’t need dozens of strategic alliance partners, you only need a few. 

In fact, just one can make a tremendous difference. 

Not only can one new referral partner send you business, they can also introduce you to other professionals and businesses they work with who might also form a marketing alliance with you. 

Good referral relationships might not be easy to come by, but when they come, they can compound. 

Prove it for yourself. Do you have any business or professional relationships right now? Even one? 

Have a chat with them and ask them to introduce you to someone they know who might also want to work with you. 

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing
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