success Archives - Page 26 of 34 - The Attorney Marketing Center

Are you getting stale?

October 23, 2015 by David M. Ward

You’ve been a lawyer for more than a few years and you’re good at what you do. So good, you could do most of your job in your sleep.

You know the forms to use and the words to say. You know the best places to park at the courthouse. You know the judges and other lawyers, and they know you.

Your job has become routine. Easy. Life is good.

Don’t get too comfortable. Before you know it, some rookie lawyer will come along and eat your lunch.

They may not know what you know or be able to do what you can do, but they’re fresh and hungry. Everything is new and exciting. They’ve got energy and drive and something to prove.

And let’s not forget that they have been using computers since pre-school.

If you’re not careful, as their practice grows, you may see yours diminish.

But you can stay ahead of them by re-inventing yourself and your practice. Become a newÂ lawyer again. Look at everything with fresh eyes.

Imagine that you have just opened your doors and you don’t have any clients. Get hustling and bring some in before the end of the month.

Take classes in your practice area and also in practice areas you know nothing about. Take classes in business, marketing, sales, writing, and speaking.

Take some cases you’ve never handled before. Find another lawyer to associate with you or mentor you.

Start over, from scratch, and build your practice again.

In the military, for a day or for a week, a unit will periodically stand down and review all of their operations. You should do the same thing. Examine all of your office management procedures and forms, look for holes that need to be patched, find expenses that can be reduced or eliminated, andÂ processes that can be improved.

Do the same thing with your marketing. Find ways to make it better. Eliminate things that aren’tÂ working, do more of Â theÂ things that are, andÂ find new ways to bring in business you’ve never tried before.

Examine every piece of paper in your office and every electron in your computer. Resolve to get organized, eliminate clutter, and streamline your workflow.

And from this day forward, do something new every week. New ideas, new projects, new people, will keep you fresh and alert and sharp and open new doors for you.

Get excited about the future you are about to create and then go eat someone else’s lunch.

Get your marketing plan here

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Goal Setting, Increase your income, Inspiration, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Personal development, Productivity, success

Goals are a bitch

October 13, 2015 by David M. Ward

Goals can beÂ a demanding and unforgiving bitch. You do what you’re told, or rather what you said you would do, or there’s hell to pay.

Who needs that?

Yes, you want what you want, and yes, you’re willing to do the work to get it, but who needs an overseer? Who needs the pressure of “do or not do” when you might only want to try?

I write down my goals, but more and more I focus on something else. Something that helps me reach my goals without making my life miserable along the way.

Instead of focusing on the goal, I focus on the process. Instead of focusing on the results, I focus on the activity.

After all, it’s the activities that bring the results.

But to do the activities long enough (and get good at them) you have to find peace with the process. Or else you won’t stick with it. Or if you do, you might get the results but come to hate what you’re doing and burn out or get ulcers or ruinÂ your marriage.

You can’t say, “Once I get what I want, I’ll be happy”. It doesn’t work that way. You have to be happy, first.

Author James Clear said,

“. . .if you look at the people who are consistently achieving their goals, you start to realize that it’s not the events or the results that make them different. It’s their commitment to the process. They fall in love with the daily practice, not the individual event. . . If you want to become significantly better at anything, you have to fall in love with the process of doing it. . . Fall in love with boredom. Fall in love with repetition and practice. Fall in love with the process of what you do and let the results take care of themselves.”

And they will take care of themselves. Or they won’t, but you’ll be happy nevertheless because you’re doing something you love.

Use this to create a simple plan (i.e., one that you will do)

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Goal Setting, Personal development, success

How do you know you’re making the right decision?

October 12, 2015 by David M. Ward

Sometimes I get ideas and they work right from jump street. Everything falls into place and the finished project looks very much like what I envisioned when I first got the idea.

But that’s the exception, not the rule.

Usually, my first idea turns out very differently than I imagined. Once I start working on it, I realize that I’ve missed things or that the entire idea is defective.

I’m working on a new book and I’ve been struggling with how to slant it. There are two completely different markets I could write for and I didn’t know which to choose. (For the record, attorneys are one of them).

I thought about it and decided to write the book so that both markets could benefit from it. Problem solved. But it wasn’t. As I thought about it some more, I realized that one market was a much better choice than the other.

Then I thought, why not write two books? The two markets are different but I could easily take the material and adapt it for both.

I noodled about the problem for a few days but couldn’t decide. Back and forth I went, but nothing felt like the right choice.

Finally, I made (another) decision. I would write the book for the non-attorney market since that was the more logical choice.

Well, you can probably guess what happened. After a good night’s sleep, out of nowhere, another idea came to me. Strangely, this idea focuses on a completely different angle and market than what I had been considering. Even stranger, and better, is that the book can appeal toÂ both of the two original markets and another completely different market that might be even better.

Weird, huh? But cool.

How do I know it’s the right decision? I just do. It feels right. When I think about it, I feel lighter, like a burden has been lifted. I can’t wait to work on it. Also, it feels like this book will be easier to write, that it will flow quickly and naturally because I’m not trying to make it do something, I’m letting it do what it wants to do.

Like I said, weird.

If you’ve ever struggled with making the right decision, the answer isn’t to try to think your way through it. The answer is to relax and let it go. Get away from the subject for a while and let your subconscious mind work on it.

In your heart and your gut, the right answer exists. Give it time and allow it to bubble to the surface. When it does, it will let you know that it has arrived.

Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity, success Tagged With: decision making

Everyone is an entrepreneur. Including you.

October 8, 2015 by David M. Ward

It doesn’t matter whether you’re employed or self-employed, you are an entrepreneur.

Deal with it.

You are an entrepreneur because every day, you take risks with your career. You may get fired today. Your partnership may break up. Your biggest client may leave you.

You are in sales, too. You sell your services (and yourself) to an employer or to individual clients. Every day, you sell or re-sell yourself on getting and staying hired.

But every day you also have the opportunity for gain. You may get a raise. You may get a big case. You may start to embrace marketing and double your income.

Risk and reward. The yin and yang of the entrepreneur. The only question is, how much risk are you willing to take?

You do know that a job doesn’t mean safety or security? In fact, it means just the opposite. You don’t control your fate. Others do. Just ask people who lost their job two years ago and are still unemployed.

Starting your own practice or business isn’t risk free, of course, but if you fail, you will at least have a skill set that allows you to start over.

In fact, the very act of failing makes you more likely to succeed the next time. The greatest risks are often borne by those who have never failed.

Venture capitalist Ben Narasin says that he sometimes funds startups run by people who have never failed at anything. He says,

Sometimes these prove to be the founders most likely to fail. They’re likely to fail exactly because they are afraid of doing so. They’re so used to winning, so used to the orderly, structured, achievableÂ goals… conquerable by brain power and effort alone, that they are ill-prepared for the entirely messy reality of entrepreneurship.

Being an entrepreneur is messy. You might fail. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Building a law practice is easier when you know The Formula

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Salesmanship, success

The one thing you need to do to build a successful law practice

October 7, 2015 by David M. Ward

Do you remember the Billy Crystal movie, “City Slickers”? There is a scene where Jack Palance’s character, Curly, is about to tell Mitch (Crystal) the secret to life? “There’s just ONE thing,” Curly says, holding up one finger. All eyes are fixed on Palance. What will he say? What is the “one thing”?

Curly never does answer. When I saw the scene, I thought he would say, “That’s what you have to figure out”. That’s your quest. Figure out the one thing and everything else will take care of itself.

I don’t know if that’s what he meant, but it makes me wonder, is there “one thing” for building a successful law practice? One thing that can take a lawyer from where they are to where they want to be?

Yes there is. For most lawyers in private practice, the one thing that would make all the difference is getting more clients.

Getting better clients is important, of course, and should be on every lawyer’s to-do list. But for both short term and long term success, getting more clients is the one thing that changes everything.

More clients means more money. More money allows you to improve your lifestyle. More money means you are able to help more people and leave the world a better place.

Yes or yes?

Okay, so more clients is the main ingredient. With a side dish of better clients. The next question, of course, is what’s the one thing about getting more clients?

You know the answer to that, amigo. It’s marketing. That’s how we get clients, after all.

But marketing is big and scary. There are too many variables. I don’t know what to do. Tell me, is there “one thing” about marketing?

Hold on, now, you want me to sort through everything there is to know about marketing professional services and tell you the “one thing”?

Okay, I will.

It’s referrals. Get referrals right and you may not have to do much of anything else.

Referrals have always been the number one way clients find attorneys and it still is today. The Internet is important, vital even for many types of practice, but it’s number two on the list.

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. To build a successful law practice, referrals are king. But. . . but. . . what’s the “one thing” about getting referrals?

You ask a lot of questions, Chachi. No worries. That’s what I’m here for.

Anyway, whether it’s referrals from clients, other professionals, or anyone else, the one thing, the Holy Grail about getting referrals is. . . delivering value.

Not just doing good work and treating people with respect. That’s expected. That’s the standard of care. Every lawyer should do that, and most lawyers do. No, if you want to get more referrals and stand out from the crowd, you have to do what most lawyers don’t do.

You have to do more than do your job.

The lawyers who get the most referrals are the lawyers who do things for their clients and contacts that transcend their work and their professional relationships. They help them, unselfishly, without being asked and without expecting anything in return.

Yes, the golden rule.

There, I said it. Call me a sentimental fool, but there you go. Help others, give to others, treat others the way you would like to be treated.

What’s the “one thing” when it comes to the golden rule?

That’s what you have to figure out.

Filed Under: Client relations, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Referrals, success

What, are you chicken?

October 1, 2015 by David M. Ward

What are you afraid of? Public speaking? Writing and putting yourself out into the world for all to see? Are you afraid to network and meet strangers? How about asking for referrals?

I’m calling you out. Issuing a dare for you to do the thing that scares you. Because the thing that scares you might just be the best thing you could do.

Yes, there are risks. You might fail. You might be embarrassed. You might do something stupid and lose a client or a friend. But you might also find that the thing you dare to do opens up vast new opportunities for you and catapults you to an amazing level of success.

Back to the Future is about to celebrate its 30th anniversary. If you recall, Marty McFly didn’t like anyone calling him chicken. He did things, on a dare, and it got him into trouble, but it also took him on a grandÂ adventure. He was the hero of that adventure because he dared.

Yesterday, I had an email conversation with an attorney who has started a network marketing business. He told me that he was hesitant to show his professional contacts what he was doing. He’s read my network marketing books so he knows that I understand. When I started my business, I felt the same resistance he is feeling.

Whether it’s practicing law or building a business or doing anything that takes us out of our comfort zone, there are many things we can do to help lessen our fears, or bypass them. One of the best is to get a workout partner to hold us accountable to doing the activities we need to do to reach our stated goals.

I told the lawyer that eventually, he would experience a breakthrough, and that right now, he should focus on doing whatever he can do to get started. I know that once I did that in my business, my fears quickly proved to be unfounded and I was on my way to success.

Whatever it is you fear, just do it. Get started. Trick yourself if you have to, get drunk if you have to, take someone to hold your hand if you have to, but do it. Take the leap and build your wings on the way down.

He might not find a breakthrough, of course. He might let his fears get the better of him. Like so many, he might find himself in the “I wish I had” club, instead of the “I’m glad I did” club. But if he never starts, he’ll never know.

I broke through my resistance because I was at a point in my life where I was tired of working all the time and realized I had to do something about it. I wanted the benefits of time freedom and retirement income and the associated lifestyle that goes with it and my desire was stronger than my fears.

In other words, I felt the fear and did it anyway. And I’m glad I did.

Filed Under: Inspiration, Personal development, success Tagged With: network marketing

My biggest shortcut to success

September 24, 2015 by David M. Ward

Think about someone you know, or know about, who has accomplished something you would like to accomplish. A lawyer, perhaps, who has the kind of practice you would like to build.

It might be someone you know, someone you met, or someone you’ve read about. It could even be an historical figure.

Find out all you can about them. Read what they have written and what has been written about them. Talk to people who know them or who have studied them. Immerse yourself in information about them–how they got started, their daily habits, the tools and resources they used, their philosophies, their priorities, and how they spend their time.

If you could talk to them and explain your situation and your goals, what advice do you imagine they would give you? If you know them or can meet them, ask them this yourself.

Study them and then reverse-engineer their accomplishments. Identify the steps they took to achieve their success. Then, use those steps to create a plan of action for yourself.

You may not do as well as they did. Talent, timing, and a host of other factors might see to that. But you might do better than you would if you didn’tÂ follow their path, for one simple reason. They’ve shown you what’s possible.

When I wrote my first marketing course I knew about marketing and building a law practice but I didn’t know how to package and sell that knowledge. I’d never written a course before. How big should it be? What should it look like? How much should I charge?

I was fortunate to find a course that someone else was marketing to financial professionals and I used that as a model for my own.

I studied how he packaged his information, how he priced his course, and how he marketed it. I conscripted many of his ideas and my course finally began to take shape.

More than anything, what helped me get it done and (finally) up for sale, after three years of work, was being able to hold his course in my hands and know that I could create something like it, or, as it turned out, something better.

Without that course to model, who knows what I would have come up with. Who knows if I would have had the courage to come up with anything.

My biggest shortcut to success? Find people who have done what you want to do and model them. Let them show you the path, and let them show you what’s possible.

Need a marketing plan? Want to earn more without working more? Go here

Filed Under: Leverage, Personal development, success

When was the last time you were scared?

September 22, 2015 by David M. Ward

I was pretty cocky about starting law school. But I was also scared.

It was new, it was different, and it was intimidating. I didn’t know if I was embarking on a great adventure or I had made a big mistake.

I can say the same thing about opening my practice and about many other milestones in my life. I’m sure you can, too.

It’s not the fear of failure so much as the fear of not knowing what’s next. H.P. Lovecraft said, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

But the flip side of fear is excitement. Not knowing what’s about to happen can be thrilling. So can the notion that you might be about to accomplish something great.

And so I ask you, when was the last time you were scared?

Because if you’re not scared from time to time, if your career or your life are boring and routine, it means you’re not taking enough risks, or big enough risks, and you’re not growing.

Former CEO of Evernote, Phil Libin, said recently that one of the reasons he stepped down from the company was that he was bored. He’s now with a venture capital firm and thrives on not knowing what’s next. “It wouldn’t be the best time if it wasn’t scary. When we started Evernote, it was terrifying,” Libin said. “I don’t think I’ve ever embarked on anything great without being scared.”

Of course too much fear can be paralyzing, so you have to find balance. You have to find things to do that challenge you and frighten you but also excite you and pull you forward.

What might that be for you career-wise?

Take on a partner? Go out on your own? Start a new practice area? Revamp your marketing?

Or are you ready for a new career?

Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing.” Do something that scares you. Find your next daring adventure.

If you’re ready to revamp your marketing, start here

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Inspiration, Personal development, success

Are you excited about practicing law?

September 17, 2015 by David M. Ward

Are you excited about practicing law? I was, when I started. But it didn’t take long before the thrill was gone.

I liked helping people and I liked the challenge of building something from scratch. But I didn’t love what I was doing.

Is that all there is? Is that all there is? If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing.

I kept going because I had invested so much into my career, how could I walk away?

How could I not? How could I wait twenty years before finally giving myself permission to do something else.

Successful people are passionate about what they do. Monday morning can’t come soon enough. They can’t imagine doing anything else.

Successful people don’t need to push themselves, they do what they do because they love doing it. Steve Jobs said, “If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you donâ€™t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.”

That’s what I want for you.

I’m not saying you need to leave the law, although that may be the right thing for you at some point. I’m saying you need to find a way to get excited about your work.

How?

In The One Thing You Need to Know,Â Marcus Buckingham distilled years of research about personal success down to one thing: “Find out what you don’t like doing and stop doing it.”

Get rid of the things you don’t love about your practice so you can do more of what you are good at and enjoy.

It sounds simplistic but imagine if the things you don’t like about your work were gone. Handled. Not something you need to think about.

It would be liberating, wouldn’t it?

Is thisÂ possible? Could you delegate or outsource all of the things that cause you stress? Probably not. When you’re in charge, there are always burdens on your shoulders. But if you could get rid of 80% of the things you don’t like, you might smile a lot more.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Law office management, Personal development, success

What’s next?

August 20, 2015 by David M. Ward

What are you working on right now? What will do after that?

What project(s) have you lined up for next week, next month, and later this year?

It could be anything: hiring a new virtual assistant, updating your website, or getting trained on a new contact management system. Whatever it is, you need to know what’s next.

I just finished a project (Lawyer to Lawyer Referrals) and I’m already working on the next one. I also know what I’ll do after that.

For me, knowing my next project gives me time to think about that project before I start it. I can do research, outline and plan. My subconscious mind will cogitate on the subject and prompt me with ideas and questions.

Knowing what’s next also means I don’t have any “dead air”. I go from one project to the next without missing a step. And if I have any challenges with a project, or it fizzles out, I always have something else to turn to.

It’s exciting to think about what I’ve got lined up. Thinking about future projects inspires me to finish the current one.

I don’t know my next ten projects, just the next two or three. But I have a list of hundreds of ideas to draw from, and as I complete the next few projects, I’ll have the next few lined up.

Mind you, I’m not obsessed with planning. I like a little spontaneity in my life. When I stumble upon a new idea that excites me, I’m fine with pushing aside my other projects to make room for it.

No matter what productivity system or method use, or if you don’t use any, develop the habit of always knowing what’s next. Whenever you start a project, ask yourself, “What’s will I do after this?”

When you know what’s next, your productivity will soar.

Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing Plan, Productivity, success