Would you hire you?

November 16, 2012 by
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If I was interviewing you for a job working for my law firm, one thing I would evaluate is your attitude. What would I see in you?

Is it:

  1. “I’ll try.” Hmm, not too promising. It’s better than, “I won’t try,” but not much. Was this your attitude when you enrolled in law school? How about when you got married? Sorry, I’m looking for someone with a stronger commitment to success.
  2. “I’ll do my best.” Ah, much better. But what if your best isn’t good enough? Will you put your ego aside and ask for help? Will you work hard to improve your skills? Will you make your best even better?
  3. “I’ll do whatever it takes.” Now that’s the attitude I’m looking for. It tells me you’ll work hard, stay late and come in early. You’ll do what is expected of you and a lot more. You won’t let obstacles get in your way, you’ll overcome them. I can count on you to do the job and stick around for the long haul. If you’re willing to do whatever it takes, I’m willing to invest in you.

When someone’s attitude says they’ll try, what they’re really saying is that if they don’t like it, or it’s too hard, or they find something they like better, they’re going to quit. Yes, that could be true of anyone, but when you start out with that attitude, it does not bode well for your future. Why should I choose you when someone else has a much better attitude?

An employer–or a spouse, law partner, or business partner–is looking for commitment. They’re looking for someone who will do, “whatever it takes” to make their relationship a success.

So, take a look in the mirror. What is your attitude towards your legal career? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to be successful?

Would you hire you?

If you’re willing to do whatever it takes to make your practice a success, you need The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Personal development, success Tagged With:

The simplest way to get things done when you have too much to do

November 9, 2012 by
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In yesterday’s post, I told you how I was able to organize my work flow and do a better job of following up with prospective clients. Today I want to talk about what to do when you find yourself not following up on your tasks and projects.

Actually, there are a lot of things you could do to improve your “completion ratio.” The simplest strategy, however, is to take on only one thing at a time.

One goal. One project. One task.

Start. Finish. Next.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when there are too many things on your plate. It’s a lot easier when you only have one.

When you focus on just “one thing,” you aren’t distracted by everything else. You’re better able to complete that task or achieve the goal when it’s the only one in front of you.

Of course you will still have many tasks and projects on your list and many will need to be done today or this week. That will never change. You’ve got five files you need to work up, two hearings to prepare for, and three documents to draft. But while they all need to get done, they don’t need to get done simultaneously.

Do one thing at a time. Finish it. Or take it as far as you can right now and then move it out of the way. Now, what’s next?

I remember a time when I got way behind in my work. I had several stacks of files on my desk and I wasn’t working on any of them. There must have been 40 files and I didn’t know where to start. I had put off working on them for so long I think I was afraid of what I might find. Deadlines missed, responses long overdue, problems I had ignored and made worse.

I was overwhelmed and feeling sorry for myself. If I had a blanket in the office, I probably would have crawled under it.

My wife was in the office that day and offered to help. Not with work itself but to help me get through it. She sat across the desk from me and asked me what I needed to do with the file on the top of one of the stacks. I opened it and could quickly see what to do. It wasn’t so bad. I either did it on the spot or made notes for myself or my secretary.

“Great, what about the next file?” my wife asked.

And so it went. In about two hours, I had gone through all of the files on my desk. My wife sat with me the entire time. My Consigliori.
.
When I was done, I still had files I needed to work on but I had a handle on it. I had notes about what to do, I knew which ones I needed to work on first, and I was able to move forward. There weren’t any major problems.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you get more work done? One file at a time.

If you don’t know what to do next, I suggest you read The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Personal development, Productivity

Goal setting and the law of attraction

November 5, 2012 by
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He never said, “The Law of Attraction,” but when Earl Nightingale recorded “The Strangest Secret,” that’s what he was talking about. Throughout history, the phenomenon has been described in many ways, but they all mean the same thing: “We become (attract) what we think about.”

So if you think about money all the time, you should attract plenty of it, right? In theory. But in practice, when we think about money, we’re usually thinking about the fact that we don’t have enough, why we need it, and why it has eluded us. We’re not thinking about “more money” we’re thinking about the absence of more money and that’s exactly what we attract.

We attract what we think about. Think about wellness and you attract wellness. Think about illness (or, more properly, the absence of wellness), and you attract illness.

if this concept seems like “new age” folly to you, think about it in terms of what we know about the human brain.

Our subconscious mind cannot distinguish between reality and imagination. If you walk up to a closed door and hear the sound of a roaring lion on the other side of it, you will have a physiological response to that sound (fear, rapid heart rate, sweating, etc.) and you will hesitate to open that door. If you believe the lion is clawing his way through the door, your subconscious will inject adrenalin into your bloodstream and give you the urge to flee. It will direct more blood to your leg muscles to make that easier.

You will have the same response to the sound of the lion whether it is made by a real lion or a recording.

Your subconscious mind works to protect you and your perception of reality. Our nervous systems plays a role. In a previous post about “Why goal setting works,” I said that the Reticular Activating System (RAS) filters the stimuli around us, making us more aware of threats and opportunities.

If you think about getting more money, your subconscious, in conjunction with the RAS, helps you spot opportunities, wake up earlier, and remember to smile when you meet the right people. On the other hand, if think about your lack of money, your subconscious mind will guide you towards behavior that is consistent with that reality. You will find yourself missing opportunities, or sabotaging them.

What does this have to do with setting goals? Well, we are told that, “A goal without a deadline is just a dream,” so when we set goals, we are told to set a date for their accomplishment. The deadline starts the clock ticking and whenever we think about the goal, that ticking clock reminds us to get to work.

That sounds like the right idea, but in the context of the Law of Attraction (or it’s physiological equivalent), the impending deadline may actually cause us to attract the opposite of what we want.

Here’s what I mean.

Let’s say your goal is to earn an additional $50,000 in the next 12 months. If you believe that this is possible and you have the resources and plan to accomplish this, fine. But too often we set goals that are out of our reach and instead of rising to the occasion, we fail to accomplish them.

You start thinking about why your goal is difficult to achieve. You think about all of the things that could go wrong. You might think, “I don’t have enough time,” “I don’t really know what I’m doing,” or “I’m not going to be able to do this by myself.” You’re not thinking about reaching your goal, you’re thinking about not reaching your goal, and “not reaching it” is what you attract.

In setting my own goals over the years, I’ve found that “what” and “why” are more important than “how” and “when”. When I think about what I want and why I want it, it feels good. As long as I stay with that feeling, I move forward. When I think about how I’m going to accomplish my goal, or when, those good feelings often dissipate.

So, should we set our goals low enough that we’ll be assured of achieving them? No. It may feel good to accomplish them, but if the bar is too low you won’t be accomplishing much. The answer is to set goals that you really want, but not let yourself get caught up in their achievement. Today I focus more on what I want and less on how I’m going to get it. I don’t get hung up on deadlines. I trust that my subconscious mind will take me where I want to go and that I’ll get there at the right time.

I let my feelings guide me. If what I’m thinking feels good, I keep going. If it doesn’t, I change what I’m doing or I change my thoughts.

Some say this is God’s hand at work. Others stick with the physiological explanation. Some say the Law of Attraction is the answer. I don’t know how it works. I just know that when I listen to my instincts, I’m almost always guided in the right direction.

I still have goals. But I don’t let my goals get in the way of my dreams.

If your goal is to increase your income, get The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Goal Setting, Personal development Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

November 2, 2012 by
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In 1988, Don’t Worry, Be Happy reached number one on the Billboard music charts, a position it held for two weeks. Bobby McFerrin’s a cappella hit had us singing (or whistling) along, buoyed by it’s upbeat message. Right now, there’s a whole lot of worrying going on in the world and it might do us all some good to listen once again.

“In every life we have some trouble. When you worry you make it double. Don’t worry, be happy……” (lyrics)

A long time ago, I eliminated the word “worry” from my lexicon. Worry is not a helpful word, or emotion. All it does is make you anxious. Today, I might be “concerned” about something, but never worried. I find I can deal more clearly with things when I’m not caught up in the emotions surrounding them.

Worrying about a problem will never fix it. Creative thinking, asking for help, taking action–these can fix a problem, but not worry. So stop it. Stop worrying about your problems. Get yourself a big box and put all your worries in it. Set that box on fire. Burn it up. You don’t need what’s in it, so get rid of it. (At least put it in storage. You can come back later if you really miss your problems.)

“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” –Mark Twain

While you’re at it, throw into your box all of the things you worry about that aren’t problems. Stuff that never happened and probably never will. That includes all of the “missed opportunities” that nag at you. All of the shoulda’s, coulda’s, and woulda’s.

What good is it to worry about your web site and all of the search engine traffic you’re NOT getting, for example? Let it go. Stop thinking about it. In fact, what if you never had to think about SEO again? How would that feel? You wouldn’t have to think about it or read about it or spend money on it.

Release it. Let it go.

There are other ways to get traffic (and clients) that have nothing to do with search engines. Sure, it’s nice when you get them through search but wouldn’t it be nice to know you don’t have to depend on it?

Relax. Everything will be fine. Don’t worry. Be happy.

“Here is a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry be happy

Now that you’re feeling better and you have more free time, you can explore SEO if you want to. But only if you want to, not because you have to. No worries, no “have to’s,” just an opportunity. Do it or don’t do it.

Make a list of things you’re thinking about right now. Projects, ideas, things you have to do. Make sure you add anything that you’re worried about. Get them off your desk and out of your head. That alone feels good, doesn’t it?

Then ask yourself, “How many of these things could I cross off my list?” If you can’t cross them off, label or tag them with “someday/maybe” and file them away, out of sight.

Spend your time thinking about things that are important, and things that feel good when you think about them. No, you can’t ignore your responsibilities or pretend you don’t have any problems. But you don’t have to worry about them, either.

Need clients? Don’t worry. Get The Attorney Marketing Formula and be happy.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Inspiration, Personal development, Productivity Tagged With:

The power of focus: how one new habit can transform your practice or your life

October 23, 2012 by
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Darren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine, tells the story of Paul O’Neill and what he did as the incoming CEO of Alcoa. It was 1987 and O’Neill was being introduced to investors and analysts for the first time. To everyone’s chagrin, O’Neill didn’t talk about growing market share, lowering expenses, or expanding markets. He didn’t talk about anything directly related to increasing the company’s profits. Instead, he turned everyone’s attention to the subject of safety.

It wasn’t that safety was such a big issue or that there was a direct correlation between improving it and increasing profits. O’Neill later said he wanted to disrupt everyone’s habitual thinking and get them all focused on one thing. Hardy calls this “one thing” a “Keystone habit,” “a pattern of behavior that has the power to start a chain reaction, changing other habits as it moves throughout the organization.”

To everyone’s surprise, it worked. Focusing on improving safety led the company to record growth and record profits during O’Neill’s tenure.

In explaining how focusing on one habit can create seemingly unrelated results in other areas, Hardy cites another example, a dieting study. The participants in the study were told to concentrate on writing down everything they ate at least one day per week. Nothing more. It turns out that this one habit led to other habits, which in turn led this group to lose twice as much weight as everyone else.

Even more surprising was how many of the participants

. . .reported big improvements in other areas of their lives… areas they weren’t even focused on, but awareness and improvement in one area, with noticeable results, bolstered their self-confidence and informed them about other areas of their life, which also improved. It had a rippling effect throughout most every other area of their lives.

Hardy notes that if you want to transform some aspect of your life, trying to adopt too many new habits is unsustainable. He challenges his readers to choose one new habit and track it, and I am challenging you to do the same.

Pick something and commit to it. Make a change and watch how other things change.

Could something like going for a twenty minute walk three days a week actually lead to an increase in your income? Will writing a weekly blog post for your practice improve your marriage?

I don’t know. But I do know that you’ll be healthier and get more clients.

Get in the habit of focusing on marketing. Get The Attorney Marketing Formula and learn how.

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Filed Under: Personal development Tagged With: , , ,

The myth of “finding time”

October 19, 2012 by
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Several readers caught my mistake in yesterday’s post. Instead of writing “meditate” I wrote “mediate”. Freudian slip? Subconscious lawyer mind echo? Nah, just a typo.

Coincidentally, I was reading an article today about meditation. It begins with the statement, “People say the hardest part about meditating is finding time to meditate.” The author points out that because meditation is seen as “doing nothing,” it’s hard for people to justify the time.

His point is that by understanding the benefits of meditation, which include making us more productive, we can then see the value of taking the time to do it.

This is true. It’s true of any activity. If there’s no perceived value in doing something, why bother?

So, when people say they don’t have the time to do something, or that they need to find the time to do it, aren’t they really saying they don’t see enough value relative to the time required for doing it?

Yes. (I like answering my own questions.)

In truth, we usually find time for the things that we value. We only say things like, “I don’t have the time,” when we are being asked to do something we don’t value, or don’t value enough.

True, we have obligations imposed upon us by work or family or school, but even then, you don’t have to “find the time” to do them. You do them because you see the value, i.e., the pleasure of doing something for someone you love, avoiding embarrassment, keeping your job, and so on.

So, if you find yourself saying or thinking you don’t have time to do something, before you try “to find the time” or feel guilty for not trying, ask yourself if what you are contemplating doing is really worth doing. Often, the answer will be no and you can let it go.

You don’t have to “find the time” to do things that are important to you. You just have to be honest enough with yourself so you know what is important.

If earning more is important to you, The Attorney Marketing Formula should be a priority.

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

Are you thinking about quitting the practice of law?

October 18, 2012 by
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I just heard from an attorney who says he’s thinking of getting out of law. He’s been very successful in the past, not so much right now.

He was looking for “inspiration” so I asked him if he really wants out or would he choose to continue practicing if he could again be successful.

I told him not to use logic to answer, but to look to his feelings.

Your logical mind will lie to you. It will tell you to you what you’ve habitually said to yourself over the years, or what your parents have said, or what you think you should say. Your logical mind will have you say, “I’ve invested all these years in building my career, I can’t just walk away from it and start over.”

Yes, you can. People do it all the time.

You can talk yourself into or out of just about anything. You can add up all the pluses and minuses, examine your skill set and other interests, talk to your loved ones, and seek the guidance of mentors. With logic, you can come to a measured, intelligent decision about what to do. But would it be the right decision?

When it comes to making a big decision like this, don’t trust logic, but don’t ignore it, either. Examine the facts. Let them incubate in your subconscious. Plot out the alternatives. Give yourself a month or three to think it through.

And then, before you make your decision, go get drunk or meditate or go to the beach and stare at the waves. Think about the alternatives and ask yourself, “what feels better?”

My grandfather always told me to “trust my gut”. I’m offering you the same advice.

If you decide to stay in your practice, do yourself a favor and order The Attorney Marketing Formula. You’ll thank me later.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Inspiration, Personal development Tagged With:

Get into flow and get more done by grouping your activities

October 16, 2012 by
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A friend of mine was making follow-up sales calls to prospective clients he’d spoken to previously. He commented that the mindset for making follow-up calls is different from the mindset of first calls and the two activities should be done at different times.

I agree. Don’t edit when you write and don’t write when you edit. Two different activities, two different mindsets.

My friend cold calls. When he makes a first call, he is prospecting. He moves quickly through large lists. He is sorting, looking for someone who will take his call and agree to look at some information. His focus is on the mechanical act of dialing rather than the quality of any one conversation. He knows that if he makes a certain number of dials, he will get a certain number of leads.

Follow-up calls are different. When he calls someone who agreed to look at some information, my friend is in sales mode. He engages the prospect. He asks questions to find out their hot buttons. When he knows what they want, he can show them how his service can help them get it. My friend answers questions and responds to objections. He moves the prospect forward to the next step, using finesse and skill.

It is important to my friend that he separates first calls from follow-ups because the mindset, energy, and rhythm are so different. When he’s prospecting and banging out calls, the last thing he wants to do is slow down and change gears into sales mode. It’s better to keep dialing and racking up leads and make follow-up calls later, after a break.

This is good advice for any activity. Do your work in bunches. Finish one bunch before moving onto another.

See new clients during a two hour block of time rather than spaced out throughout the day. Make all your calls to adjusters back to back. Review three files in a row.

When you get into the rhythm and feel of an activity, stay in it as long as you can. When you’re in a groove, you’ll get more done. Time will pass more quickly. You’ll get better results.

Psychologists refer to this as “flow“. One of the hallmarks of being in a state of flow is joy. It comes from being fully immersed in an activity and focusing on that and nothing else.

Joy is the catalyst to growth. The more my friend is on the phone, the better he gets at what he does (he just reported going seven for seven on first calls), and the joy he feels makes him want to do more.

When you find the joy in what you’re doing, success is imminent. You don’t need a psychologist to explain it:

The more you do of something, the better you get. The better you get, the better your results. The better your results, the more you enjoy it. The more you enjoy it, the more you want to do it. And the more you do it, the better you get.

Get better at marketing. Get The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Law office management, Leverage, Marketing legal services, Personal development, Productivity

What do you do when you f****d up?

October 15, 2012 by
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The other day an attorney asked me, “What do you say to your client when he says “you f***d up and I’m not going to pay you?”

I told him that if he did do something wrong, the answer is easy: admit it, fix it, and be prepared to offer a refund.

Don’t blame others for your mistake. Be honest about what you did or didn’t do. Your client will understand and respect you for admitting it. Then, do whatever you have to do to fix the problem.

The good news is that when you do the right thing after making a mistake, when you fix things to your client’s satisfaction, they often feel a stronger allegiance to you. You didn’t try to hide it, you took responsibility and respected them enough to admit your mistake. And, of course, you fixed the problem.

Even if the problem cannot be fixed, if you bite the bullet and offer to pay compensation, most of the time you can save the relationship. So when you mess up, see it not so much as a problem but an opportunity.

Of course the next thing you need to do is to figure out why you made the mistake and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Ask yourself some questions:

  • Are you taking on too much work?
  • Are you taking on work outside your core competencies?
  • Are you promising too much or too soon?
  • Would a checklist help?
  • Could you get someone to help you?
  • Are you allowing enough time to review your work before the deadline?

The most successful people in the world often attribute their success to having made more mistakes than anyone else. They learned from those mistakes and got better at what they do. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes or admit to them. Use them to get better.

But we’re not done with the subject.

What do you do when a client blames you and accuses you of making a mistake you did not make? Clients often blame their lawyer when they don’t get the results they want. Do you have to take the hit?

Not at all. When you aren’t at fault, stand firm. Show the client that you did everything you were supposed to do, everything you could do, and that whatever happened was the result of something outside of your control. If the facts are on your side, and you handle things firmly and respectfully, in time, most clients will see the light. Often, they will apologize.

But we’re still not done.

You will have far fewer unhappy and ready-to-blame-you clients by managing your clients’ expectations at the beginning of the case, rather than trying to explain things at the end. Clients need to acknowledge, before you take their money, that:

  • You don’t promise results of any kind (other than best efforts)
  • They understand the risks and contingencies you have spelled out for them
  • They have declined certain options or a course of conduct you have recommended
  • They know what you will do for them and also what you will not do

You can’t be so heavy handed about this that you scare the client off, but you do need to make sure the client understands, from the beginning, what to expect of you and their case. Then, if something goes wrong, it will be clear that you are not the one to blame.

Get more clients and increase your income. Read The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management, Personal development

We won!

October 11, 2012 by
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Have you ever noticed that when your team wins you say, “we won!” but when your team loses you say, “they lost”?

It’s understandable. When your team wins, you want to be associated with that success. It’s a subtle way of suggesting that you contributed to it. But you don’t want to be blamed when the team loses.

In truth, unless you own the team or play on it, you don’t deserve the credit or the blame. But that’s okay, it’s just sports. No harm, no foul. It’s not okay, however, in your law practice where you are the owner and star player.

When you win the case you deserve credit for your skill and hard work. But what about when you lose? If you blame the judge or the jury or the evidence, you may learn nothing from your loss. If you made a mistake you may be destined to repeat it. Maybe the judge was an idiot but maybe you should have known that and prepared for it.

Personal growth starts with personal responsibility. If you blame others for your losses, you relinquish your power. You can’t change anything when someone else controls the outcome.

And yet taking all the credit for your wins doesn’t increase your power, it diminishes it. Michael Jordan wouldn’t have won championships without teammates passing him the ball or a coach setting the plays. When his team won, he freely credited his coach and teammates. When they lost, he took responsibility.

Michael Jordan never said, “they lost.” And that’s one reason why he could so often say, “we won”.

The Attorney Marketing Formula shows you how to build a championship practice.

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Personal development Tagged With:
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