Calling all note-taking junkies–come and get your fix

July 29, 2015 by
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Who knew?

I had no idea how many different note-taking methods there were. Different methods for different styles and a variety of situations, from classroom to courtroom and everyone in between. And then I read a blog post, The Ultimate Guide to Note-Taking, which I heartily recommend to you.

Even if you’re not a note-taking fanboy or girl, or looking for something different from what you currently use to record notes or ideas, you’re bound to find something you can use.

The post presents a wide variety of note-taking methods, including the traditional outline/list method we first learned in grade school, visual methods like mind maps and charts, the Cornell method, and more. The author first demonstrates a paper version of each method, and suggests how it might be adapted for digital.

I think we all develop our own methods of taking notes. I know I did, first in law school, and then in depos and court. For the latter, I would write down what a witness said, what I thought about what they said, and notes to myself about what to ask in cross or what to look into when I got back to the office. I used abbreviations and visual marks to identify notes to zero in on when I later reviewed them.

I do something similar when I’m listening to a presentation or in a business meeting.

I’m going to study this blog post to see how I can use some of these methods for recording tasks and projects and for taking notes on books and blogs.

If you want to talk nerdy to me, check it out and let me know what you think.

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Filed Under: Communication, Productivity, Writing Tagged With:

Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat

July 22, 2015 by
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I’m going to write a blog post today and show you my process. I want you to see how simple it is, and how quickly it can be done.

While I was out shopping with my wife yesterday, I thought about two of our neighbors who have just repainted their houses and wondered how they chose their painters. I remembered how we chose our painter, Mr. Kim, the last time we repainted, and wrote down the topic for today, in Evernote. This morning, on my walk, I came up with the Bullwinkle-inspired title for this post.

When I got to my desk, I wrote down the topic, and set a timer for five minutes. I started the timer and wrote, without stopping. When the timer sounded, I had written 253 words for the first draft.

I set aside the first draft for a few minutes, came back and wrote what you’re reading now. I spent a few more minutes editing the first draft. The final version of the post, not including what you’re reading now, is 340 words.

This post isn’t brilliant. I made a good point, and made it interesting, I think, by referencing a personal anecdote.

Total writing time today, approximately 15 minutes. And I’m done for the day.

So, here’s the post:

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WATCH ME PULL A RABBIT OUT OF MY HAT

Two of my neighbors just repainted their houses. As I watched the painters working, I thought about the last time we repainted and how Mr. Kim and his brother did such a good job for us. He put on two coats, and this has lasted a good ten years or more. I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that our neighbors had one coat done and will have to repaint again in a few years.

The Kim brothers were very thorough, clean as a whistle, and very low priced. When we paint again, we’ll use them again.

I found the Kim brothers through my former secretary. Her husband is a meticulous shopper, very detailed oriented, and drives a hard bargain. He was a banker for most of his career, so I guess this isn’t surprising. He did a lot of research before hiring the Kim brothers and told us how happy he was with them. Good enough for me.

Friends ask friends for referrals. Especially with expensive purchases. We depend on referrals because they save us time and money and help us avoid the risk of making a bad choice. This is true for finding a contractor, or a lawyer.

I thought, what if I had been referred to the Kim brothers not by my secretary’s husband but by a lawyer I had hired. I’d be grateful to that lawyer for his help and I would assume he could help me with other referrals, to other contractors, businesses, and professionals. I’d go back to him when I needed a referral, and when I needed a lawyer again, he’s the one I would call.  I’m sure I would refer clients to him, too.

The point is, every lawyer should make a point of being a resource for their clients and prospects. They should go out of their way to seek out high quality businesses and professionals and recommend them. Their clients will be happy, hire them again when they need them, and send them referrals. So will the businesses and professionals he or she recommends.

Want more referrals? Go find a good painter you can refer.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters, Referral sources, Referrals, Writing

What to write when you don’t know what to write

July 20, 2015 by
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“I don’t know what to write.” “I’ve said it all before.” “What I have to say is boring to most people.” “I’m not a good writer.”

This is what many lawyers tell themselves. These are the reasons they offer for not writing to their clients and prospects.

No articles, no blog, no emails. Or very few and far between.

Have you avoided setting up a newsletter or blog because you don’t think you have anything to say? I’m talking to you.

Yes, time is a factor. But you’re smart enough to know that it’s worth finding 30 minutes a week if it means bringing in several new clients per month.

No, if you’re not writing, it’s probably because you don’t think you have anything to say.

You know what? You might be right. You may not know what to say and you may not be a good writer. But it doesn’t matter. If you don’t know what to write, write anything.

You don’t have to be brilliant. You can write something that’s “just okay”.

Why? Because building a digital relationship with your clients and prospects isn’t about information or elegance, it’s about engagement.

It’s not what you say or how you say it that’s paramount. It’s that you said something.

You showed up in their life again, reminding them that you’re still practicing and still interested in knowing them. You shared an idea or observation, or shared something about your practice or your personal life. You asked for their feedback, and asked them to tell you how they are doing.

You don’t need to be brilliant, or even good. You just need to show up regularly and say hello.

Tell them something you did this week, or something you thought. Tell them about a website or book you recommend. Tell them about an interesting case or client you have, or one that another lawyer told you about.

A few paragraphs, once a week, is enough to maintain your relationship.

But here’s what happens.

You keep doing it and your writing gets better. And faster.

You find more interesting things to say, and better ways to say them. You start to enjoy writing, and you look forward to it, especially when you see how it is helping your practice grow.

You don’t have to be good to start, but you have to start to be good.

Here’s what you need to start your newsletter or blog

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Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Writing

Relax, don’t do it, when you want to go to it

July 10, 2015 by
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Author Raymond Chandler said something about his writing process that resonates with me. He said, “The faster I write the better my output. If I’m going slow, I’m in trouble. It means I’m pushing the words instead of being pulled by them.”

Writing faster allows him to bypass the resistance he feels when he tries to force his way forward through the story. When he lets go, he gets better results.

I’ve found this to be true in my writing. When I write quickly, I write better and more naturally.

This morning, I thought about this idea in the context of marketing and building a law practice. Many lawyers force themselves to do the things they are told they need to do to achieve success. Pushing through their resistance, however, often leads to poor results.

Some things we resist simply need to be done. For these things, the best advice is to be do them quickly. Like pulling off a bandage, get it over with so you can move on to other things.

When I have to make a call I’m not looking forward to making, for example, I don’t think about it or plan it out, I just pick up the phone and punch in the number. Before I know it, the conversation is over.

Much of what we do is discretionary, however. We don’t have to engage in formal networking, for example, but many lawyers who hate it force themselves to do it. Not surprisingly, they get poor results.

Think about the many possible ways to market your services. As you run down the list, ask yourself how you feel about each method. When you find something that creates a “tug” in your gut, something that feels right to you and fraught with possibilities, that’s what you should do.

There may be only one “reaching out” method that feels good to you when you think about it, but that’s enough. You’ll do it with gusto and you will do it well. You’ll get good at it and your results will multiply.

Don’t push through the sludge and force yourself to do things you hate. Let go of things you resist and allow yourself to glide towards success.

What if nothing appeals to you? What if you can’t stand anything that bears the marketing label?

Some of it you can skip. Some of it you can delegate. But if it has to be done and you’re the one who has to do it, don’t think about it, just rip that sucker off.

Do you need a marketing plan. Here you go

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Networking, success, Writing

“Keep your eyes on your own paper!”

June 25, 2015 by
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When I went to school it was against the rules to cheat off of your neighbor’s paper. Not sure if that’s true today. After all, if you don’t copy off of someone else, you might hurt their feelings. It’s like telling them they’re not smart enough to copy. What if they are a different race or gender? You might be guilty of racism or sexism.

But hey, I’m old. What the hell do I know?

By the way, it’s okay for me to say I’m old, but if you say it, that would be ageism. Wait. What if you’re older than I am? Can an old guy be accused of ageism for calling an older guy old?

Okay, my head hurts. I’ll stop. Wait. Did I just hurt the feelings of migraine sufferers by saying my head hurts?

Where was I?

Ah yes, assuming that cheating (and plagiarism) are still verboten, I want to point out a loophole. A way you can use what other people write to create your own content.

Here’s the thing. It’s not plagiarism to copy someone else’s idea. So if one lawyer writes a blog post about a SCOTUS opinion and says he thinks it sucks eggs, and you agree with that, you can write your own post and say the very same thing.

Don’t use their words, just their ideas.

The same goes for the post’s title. You can’t copyright titles, so go ahead and use it if you can’t come up with your own.

Of course if you don’t agree with what the other writer said, you can say that instead. (Careful, though. You don’t want to hurt their feelings.)

So there you go. You can never say you don’t know what to write about. Look at what someone else wrote and cheat off of their paper.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters, Writing

Quieting my inner monster

May 1, 2015 by
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I have a little monster living inside my head. He talks to me from time to time. Mostly, I ignore him and go about my day. But sometimes, he just won’t shut up.

I’ll start writing, for example, and a few minutes later, there he is. He has something to say that has nothing to do with what I’m working on, but he wants me to listen. Or he tells me he’s bored and wants me to play with him.

I tell him not to bother me, but by then, I’ve lost my concentration. I go check email or get up and take a break. Sometimes it takes me 15 minutes before I’m able to get back to work.

I start working again, but ten minutes later it happens again. Stop, start, stop start. Before I know it, the day is over and I haven’t gotten much done.

Does this ever happen to you? Perhaps you have a little monster, too.

Good news. I’ve found a way to keep the little devil quiet. It sounds simple, but it works remarkably well.

All I do is put on my headphones and listen to music while I work. The music drowns out my monster’s monkey chatter so I can continue to work without interruption.

I listen to music without words: classical, new age, Celtic, and various forms of so-called ambient music.

I also listen to ambient sounds, like recordings made in a coffee shop, restaurant, or library. The sound of clinking glasses, whispered voices, pages turning, and the occasional cough take me to a different place.

I listen to recordings of people typing. The clickity clack sound and rhythm is a perfect background for writing.

I listen to birds chirping and rainstorms. I listen to the ambient rumble of Star Trek TNG ship’s engines idling in space.

I even tried something called ASMR. (It’s weird. Search for it on YouTube.)

They all work because I don’t consciously listen to the music or the sounds. They play in the background, a form of white noise, that allows my little monster to take a nap.

I’ve even set up a play list and have everything on autoplay. I’m able to put in an hour or more before I need a break.

How about you? What do you listen to when you work?

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Filed Under: Productivity, Writing Tagged With:

The best way to close a presentation

April 22, 2015 by
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Yesterday I talked about the best ways to open a presentation. Today, I want to talk about the best way to close a presentation.

Many presentations close with a summary of the key points made during the talk. You tell the audience what you want them to remember, perhaps numbering them in some fashion, and that’s fine.

Another way to close is to tell another story that illustrates those key points.

Stories can dramatize your message and create an emotional response in the listener. People tend to remember the stories you tell long after they have forgotten the facts.

You might combine these two techniques–summarize a few key points, then tell a story that reinforces them.

Another good way to close is to say something that echoes something you said at the beginning. Finish the story you began early on, or provide another startling statistic.

One of the best ways to end a presentation, and something I do in almost every presentation I give, is to tell the audience what to do.

Tell them to fill out the paperwork. Tell them to visit a web page. Tell them to like your page. Tell them to buy.

What do you want them to do after they leave the presentation? What do you want them to do while they’re still in the room?

They’re listening to you because they want to learn something. What do you want them to do with that information?

You’re delivering this talk to gain a new client, subscriber, supporter, or follower. What should they do to take the next step?

The same idea applies to written pieces, mostly. Close with a call to action. Tell them what to do. Tell them why.

When you tell people what to do, more people will do it.

Like this:

If you’re reading this in an email, please forward it to three attorneys you know. If you’re reading this on the blog, please like, tweet, or share.

And this:

Your friends will thank you for thinking of them and how they might benefit from this information. I will appreciate you, too.

So thanks for sharing. You’re a good egg. And thanks for listening. You’ve been a great audience.

 

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Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Public Speaking, Writing

3 sure-fire ways to start a presentation

April 21, 2015 by
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In any presentation or piece of writing, the first words spoken or written need to get your audience’s attention. Those first words are your headline. They tell people, “look at this–this is important”.

If your audience knows you and trusts you to deliver something they will value, you can jump right in and say what you want to say. That’s what I did at the start of this post.

But in other situations, you need to do more.

You can’t go wrong by promising a benefit in your headline. Tell people what they will learn or gain by reading or listening. The title of this post does that by promising to show you 3 sure-fire ways to start a presentation.

But there are other ways to get attention. Here are 3 of the best:

(1) Tell a story

Start your talk or article with a story. People like stories because they are about people and things that happen to them. They keep reading or listening to find out, “what happened next”.

Start with a story about a former client, for example. What happened to him? What did you do to help him? How did it all turn out?

(2) Make a provacative statement

Say something unusual or shocking, something people don’t know or don’t expect you to say. You might share a surprising fact, for example, or a statistic related to the subject of your talk.

If I was speaking about identify theft, for example, I might say, “Most people think identity theft means that someone has stolen your financial information. The truth is, there are five different types of identity theft”.

This gets the audience thinking about what these are, and whether they might be a victim of one of them.

(3) Ask an probing question

Questions work because they bring the reader or listener into the conversation. If you start your talk by asking, “When was the last time you updated your Will?” your audience starts thinking about the answer to that question.

Questions asked at the beginning of a presentation also make the audience continue to listen or read, to find out the answers.

With that in mind, would you like to know the best way to end a presentation? I’ll tell you tomorrow.

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Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Public Speaking, Writing Tagged With:

How to write faster than you thought possible

April 14, 2015 by
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I wrote the first draft of yesterday’s blog post in 5 minutes. I also wrote the first draft of today’s post in 5 minutes.

If you want to write faster, here’s how to do it:

STEP ONE: CHOOSE YOUR TOPIC

Choose a topic you know well. If you need to research your subject, do it before you sit down to write.

What do you want to write about? What point do you want to convey? Write down your topic.

My topic yesterday was, “How to promote an event or offer”.

STEP TWO: TURN IT INTO A QUESTION

Take the topic and turn it into a question. Why? Because when it is in question form, your subconscious mind gets to work and searches for answers. The question primes your mental pump and the words start flowing.

My question was, “How can I promote an offer or event?”

STEP THREE: WRITE DOWN 3 “SEED WORDS”

Think of three words related to your topic. Whatever comes to mind. These may change as you start writing but these 3 words will help you start.

My seed words yesterday were, “Excitement,” “Urgency,” and “Repetition”. They became the three points I wrote about to answer the topic question.

STEP FOUR: WRITE NON-STOP FOR 5 MINUTES

Set a timer and write. Don’t stop to correct spelling or do any editing. Just write, as quickly as you can, until the timer goes off.

I’ve heard that most people who do this will write between 200 and 400 words in 5 minutes, and that’s what I did. When the timer sounded yesterday, I had written 269 words.

The 5 minutes flew by for me. I had more to say so I continued writing for roughly another two minutes.

STEP FIVE: EDIT

Using this method, you will probably find that your first draft is quite good and won’t require a lot of editing. I found that to be true.

I did some cutting, added a thought or two, edited, and changed the title. Total time from start to finish was around 20 minutes. That included time to make notes about what I was doing, in preparation for today’s post.

Not too shabby.

By the way, although this method is meant for writing short pieces, you could also use it to write longer pieces. Yep, in 5 minute increments.

So, how many posts, articles, and emails could you write if you use this method to write your first draft in 5 minutes?

Why not try it and find out?

Need ideas for topics? Get this 

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

3 Keys to promoting your event or offer

April 13, 2015 by
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So you want to get people to register for your seminar, hire you for your service, or buy your new book. What should you do?

Promote it.

Promoting isn’t announcing. Announcing is merely stating the facts. Promoting has an emotional element to it. Here are 3 keys to promoting your event or offer.

(1) Get excited

If you’re not excited about what you are promoting, you can’t expect anyone else to get excited. If they’re not excited, they’re probably not going to look at what you’re offering, let alone sign up.

Start by asking yourself why you are excited about your offer. What’s new about it? What’s different? What will it allow people to do that they can’t do now?

Put your thoughts on paper or record them. Tell people why you are excited and, more importantly, make sure you sound excited.

Don’t go over the top, and don’t make up things. Just share how you feel about it.

Instead of just saying that you are excited, illustrate it. For example, you might say that as soon as you heard about this, you ran to your laptop and started writing. Or at breakfast, you couldn’t stop talking about the upcoming seminar, “just ask my wife!”

(2) Urgency

Tell people why they need to act immediately. Tell them why they should not delay.

What will they gain by taking action now? What will they lose if they don’t?

If there is limited seating or phone lines or quantities, tell them, and be specific. If you’re offering an added benefit for the first ones who respond such as preferred seating, additional bonuses, or lower pricing, tell them.

Make sure they know why they shouldn’t wait, and then tell them what to do: go here, do this, do it now.

(3) Repetition

Don’t tell them once, tell them several times.

They may not have received your email, or read it. They may have been busy with other things and forgot. They may not realize that what you are promoting is as good as you say it is, or believe you when you say you’re not sure it will be repeated.

So tell them again, and tell them in different ways.

In one version of your message, appeal to their desire for gain by emphasizing the benefits. In another message, appeal to their fear of loss by telling how many others have signed up or how many seats are left.

Get excited, use urgency and repetition to promote your event or offer and you’ll get more people signing up.

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Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, List building, Marketing legal services, Presentations, Writing Tagged With:
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