Are You Practicing Law to Live the Life You Want?

This past week I was working with three different clients in 3 very different industries: an IT guy, a lawyer and a chiropractor.  Each was at a different stage of their business development from starting out to totally revamping their marketing strategy.

But they all shared a common problem.  None of them had defined the life they wanted or set measurable benchmarks and/or goals.  Basically they were living to work without knowing WHY they were working, creating a marketing plan, etc.

Back to basics.  Before you start or grow your law practice it’s imperative that you determine WHY you doing any of the above.  Where do you want to be in 5 years?  What type of life do you want to be living?  Do you want a house, a Porsche, kids, live in a big city or out in the suburbs, do you need to have $789,000 in your retirement account to have a feeling of security, etc.  You get the idea.

Determine your life FIRST then figure out how your law practice can feed that lifestyle.  For some lawyers that means staying where you are and doing what you always have.  For others it means getting licensed in a different state, practicing a completely different area of law or maybe leaving the law completely.

Your practice is a tool to achieve the life you want.  Your life is not the tool to achieve the practice that you want.

Personally, I’m not passionate about the law and those of you who know me are well aware of that.  However, my love of business development and marketing is unmatched.  Ask me to spend 10 minutes looking up a statue or ask me to spend 10 hours giving a marketing seminar and it’s a no-brainer (I’d choose the latter FYI).  Hence the reason I’m teaching the business of law and not the practice of law.

Figure out what drives you, what gets you pumped and jumping out of bed every morning.  Set your priorites (mine are: a simple life, lots of time with friends and family and teaching marketing).  Once your priorities (and goals) are set keep them in front of you and from there onwards always ask yourself, “is this action bringing me towards my priorities & goals?”  If not, then make the changes necessary to succeed “personally!”

Simple Ways for Lawyers to Save Money

Every few months I take a look at what I’m spending on my business and make every attempt to cut down expenses.  What I find fascinating is that almost every time I revisit the issue there’s something I can reduce.  Which ticks me off because I could have been saving that money for probably the last 6-12 months and just missed it.

But this is a live and learn topic.  So I’ll share with you some of the top 3 ways to cut your operating costs:

1. Negotiate.  Call up every software provider, landlord, subscription provider, malpractice insurance carrier, etc. and ask them what can be done to reduce your price.  You’ll get those that say you can’t (in which case it’s time to start shopping around), those that will just drop your price because you asked (which of course you follow up with by saying “is the best you can do?”), and those that will be able to do something but will also reduce the level of service or quality of product they are providing (which is often ok depending on your needs).
2. Only pay for what you use.  This includes office space, paralegal services, etc.  There is no need to keep a full-time office or a full-time paralegal if you are not getting more out of them than you are paying.  Seriously consider an a-la-carte life.   Now, I do maintain a full-time office because I just can’t work at home (not for too long at least) but let’s just say I don’t NEED a full-time office and you probably don’t either.  Yes, it may cost a bit more if you rent it hourly or daily but you’ll never be wasting money.
3. Live cheaper!  You do not need the Armani suit or the Mercedes so stop trying to look rich while living poor.  Sure you may be leasing the car and expensing it through your practice.  Guess what, much cheaper to do that with a Honda.  If you are a connoisseur of cars then fine, spend money on what you love.  But if you’re just trying to keep up with the Jones’ (attorney Jones’ that is) stop.  No point in being sexy if you’re broke.

Are you being cheap?  Nah, just frugal.  I’m not asking you to stiff your waiters on a tip or start giving Christmas gifts from Job-Lot.  I’m just telling you to make your operation lean so that it runs minimally while you enjoy life maximally.

Happy Savings!

What Can Lawyers Learn From Billy Mays (the OxiClean Guy)

The last 2 weeks have been just ridiculous with celebrity deaths.  But the one that really hit home for me was Billy Mays (for those who don’t know the name he’s the OxiClean guy with the beard and the “authoritative” voice).  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not happy about any of the departed.  Ed McMahon was elderly so his death could have been anticipated, poor Farah fought hard but it was just a matter of time, and Michael Jackson’s was outright shocking.  Hell, I even had posters of all of them growing up (ok, not Ed but at least Farah & Michael).  Nevertheless, when I found out that Billy was gone it just hit home.

He was one of us.  He was the guy we hung out with at 2 in the morning wondering whether we really needed another potato slicer or 5000 HP chainsaw that fit in the palm of your hand.  And we really liked him.  Sure, many found him loud and borderline obnoxious but that just made him like family.

At a professional level he was also one of us.  He was a pitchman.  Now I’ve only used a handful of infomercial products but did you ever doubt that Billy believed wholeheartedly in anything and everything he sold?  Not for a minute.  Nothing cleaned better than OxiClean and nothing bonded better than Mighty Putty (which by the way is one that I’ve actually used).  Are you giving your clients the same feeling of security and confidence?

Billy could have easily been an attorney the way he exuded confidence about anything he did and how he was smooth enough to make you see the benefit in anything he sold.  Sometimes we didn’t even know that we suffered enough to need his products he showed us.

That’s what we need to do in our law practices.  We need to make our clients secure and confident.  We’re in a better situation than Billy because our clients already know what pain they’re suffering or going to suffer (usually) and they know they need a solution.  That’s where we come in.

But that’s not all.  It’s also our jobs to show other pains/concerns which may exist or rise that are not as obvious and that our clients may not be as aware of.  Of course these should all be legitimate issues and not stuff made up to simply scare your clients into working with you.  This serves two purposes.  First, it shows them that you are looking out for them.  Two, it generates more business for you.  If you are a real estate attorney and you point out that your client should really have a will now that he’s a property owner you have looked out for his legitimate interest and you’ve opened a door to new business.

On top of that you absolutely MUST show your clients light at the end of the tunnel.  Sometimes there isn’t any.  They ARE going to go to jail, they ARE going to lose their house, have to pay alimony and a laundry list of other events that will be painful.  There’s still something you can do and that’s make the trip smoother, less costly, less painful and that’s what you need to show your clients is what happens when they work with you.  They don’t care how you do it (believe it or not) as long as it’s ethical and won’t put them in a worse situation than when they came in.

Like Billy you must exude that utter confidence as to how good your services are and how the price that your clients are paying is an amazing deal for what they are going to get from you.  Plus, you’ll be showing them how their lives will be better after working/buying from you.  And if you haven’t figured it out yet, you are a pitchman (or woman) just as much as Billy was.

RIP Billy.  You are an inspiration to us all!