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!

What Lawyers Can Learn From NetFlix

Two days ago in the WSJ I read a great article about Netflix and how the owners are preparing for the demise of DVDs.  Well, demise may be a bit of a strong word but they are well aware that snail mail is going the way of the typewriter and they will need to prepare and adapt their business to what modern technology holds (which as of now appears to be movies sent digitally directly to subscribers’ TVs).

So here’s a really quick summary of the article and how you can employ the same wisdom to your practice.  The first point was that they know that although they are cranking out cash with their current setup it’s not going to last forever (in fact they’ve predicted that in 4 years DVDs will be almost obsolete – not movie-watching, just the DVD part).  What elements of your practice are going to become obsolete or are going to require adaptation to keep up?  Are your clients going to still come into your office to see you, are they going to work with you remotely, does video integration into your current structure make sense.  Is paperwork that is currently being mailed going to be filed electronically (or more of it be filed electronically).  If the economy booms, what areas will take off.  If we have another recession what areas of law will take a hit.  Are you prepared for any or all of these possibilities.

The second part of the article made reference to how Netflix invested several million dollars to create a small box which would go on top of your TV and allow movies to be delivered directly to your TV.  Great idea except that they nixed the idea AFTER development and realized that they were in the movie business.  Not the gadget-development business.  Smart people.

So they outsourced the work to a company that does it best and they focused on what they do best.  Question is, “are you focusing on what you do best and outsourcing what you do not?”  Most lawyers don’t.  Not only do they practice areas of law that they have little or no knowledge about (aka the “general practitioner”) but they also handle their accounting, administrative duties, etc.

Focus people, focus.  We’ve been taught our entire lives to work on what we’re “weak” at.  Forget that.  Our weaknesses are infinite while are strenghts are limited.  Focus on what you do well and do it better.  Besides keeping you happier and sane it helps the bottom line by making sure you’re earning $300 an hour for what you do well versus $0 for making photocopies and sharpening pencils (which I can’t imagine is that hard but it’s certainly not paying you what you’re worth).

Lessons from NetFlix:

1) Be forward thinking by pulling your head out of the sand and seeing what is either forseeable (remember that great term from law school) or inevitable; and

2) Do what you do best and outsource everything else to others who do that stuff best.

Now take a break and watch a DVD while there’s still time!

Lawyers Lack Marketing Skills (Article in the WSJ)

This article is about 2 weeks old but warranted mentioning.  It’s a clear indication that law school does NOT prepare us for running our own practices.  In fact, law school teaches us a way to think, not particularly even how to practice law.  But that’s a digression.

The focus is that lawyer marketing training is growing exponentially.  The article focuses on attire, first impressions, etc. which are all salient points.  But the sad part comes in the last line of the article where it states that a large corporate firm has “shifted resources toward one-on-one relationship building.”

I’m wondering what they were working on before?  Even when you have mid to large-sized corporations as your clients ultimately you are still dealing with an INDIVIDUAL (hence the one-on-one relationship).  Luckily as solos we don’t have that confusion of whether we are dealing with an entity or a person (hint: I do believe in both scenarios we are still working with humans).

So if you’re going to take anything from this article it’s to not deviate your marketing focus from what it is, and should be, from the onset, personal relationships.

Here’s the article link from the WSJ (it was still active as of this writing).

Lawyers Often Lack the Skills Needed to Draw, Keep Clients (May 20, 2009)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124277203983936555.html

Are You a Lonely Lawyer?

Entrepreneurship can be a lonely lonely place.  Not many people get you.  Not even other lawyers.  See, many attorneys who hang out there shingle think that running their business (because that’s what it really is, not a law practice) think that the rules of “regular employment” still apply: 9-5 hours, 45 minute lunch breaks, 401K, health insurance, 2-weeks vacation, etc.

All that goes out the window when you start your own practice.  I’m not saying that you don’t have perks but they certainly don’t follow the rules of regular employment.  You can work 10am to 12pm or you can work 7am to 9pm, you can take days off without having to report to anyone, you will find it a pain in the neck to find affordable health insurance, guess what employer contribution to a retirement plan suddenly means?

All that can be sorted out and you will get to a familiarity and comfortable level with all of this.  But what do you do about the loneliness?  Not the “he broke my heart and I’m home crying” loneliness, the kind that when you meet your 9-5er friends and they can’t relate to a thing you do?  They can’t go for breakfast with you at 10am on Wednesday, whenever you whip out your credit card they will always say, “well, you can just expense it” (I love this one, who do they think you are expensing it to?) and of course the concept of time with family is foreign to them outside of weekends and holidays.  I actually took the day off this Memorial day just so I could spend some time with my “regular” friends (let’s just say at 6am on Tuesday morning we went back to our very different routines).

So how do you overcome the loneliness?  It’s actually quite simple.  Surround yourself with like-minded individuals and entrepreneurs.  And if you care about your well-being at all please do NOT just associate with other lawyers.  There are a lot, seriously, a LOT, of unsuccessful solo practitioners who either don’t know how to run a business or are still stuck thinking they are regular employees (in which case they should not be running their practices to begin with).

Spend your time with SUCCESSFUL entrepreneurs (I highly recommend a “mastermind group”).  The ideas and strategies that are used in business transcend industries and an attorney can learn as much about running and marketing his business from a plumber as a carpenter can learn from a chiropractor.  Do not become deluded into thinking that you are running a law firm.  We are all running businesses and the truths apply universally.  So get out there and make some new entrepreneur friends (but keep the old ones, they’ll be the only ones available to play on the weekends).

Are You STILL Unsure Whether to Start Your Own Law Practice?

A recent subscriber to my newsletter wrote to me and said he’d like to cancel his subscription.  I honored his request and asked him why.  What he said gave me great respect for him.  He didn’t whine, he didn’t complain about how it was too expensive, he didn’t come up with an excuse.  He simply said, “I’m not cut out to be an entrepreneur!”

That I can respect (somewhat like when people don’t drink just because they don’t like the taste of alcohol).  But he’s the exception.  Only about a week back I had a seminar attendee whine to me about how he doesn’t know if he wants to start a law practice or go work for someone else.  He asked for my advice.  In other words, he wanted ME to give him clarity about his life?

What do you want your life to look like in 3 years?

Look, I understand that’s it’s often hard to know what to do.  But it’s not that hard to know where you want to be.  My vote will always be for entrepreneurship but that’s it’s not for everyone.  So figure out what you want your life to look like in 3 years (I say three years because regardless of whether you’re starting your own practice or working for a firm you pay your dues for at least 12 months).

Do you want to be working 60 or 70 hours per week, hopefully making a high six-figure income, only getting to tuck your kids in at night, not having job security, commuting back and forth to the office and remaining in the rat race (fine, I’m a bit biased but if you can justify that lifestyle based on the money more power to you).

Or do you want to work your ass off for the next 12-18 months and establish a practice where you will make MORE money and if you play it smart and listen to what I teach, work less than 20 hours per week.  But that’s not the end goal.  The end goal is more time with your family (or if you don’t have a family and enjoy going out every night and getting lit well, who am I to second-guess you), working from home as and when you choose, might as well throw in a little golf because you know it’s a requirement to be a bar member and overall enjoying the lifestyle we are meant to lead NOW and not when we’re 72 years old and burnt out from the whole idea of practicing law.

So don’t ask me if I think you should start your own practice.   The answer will always be YES.  But if you’re unsure about what you want (and assuming your not a desk rat that really belongs behind a desk all day) then ask yourself, “what do I want my life to look like in 3 years.”  You’ll have your answer.

Are You the Recognized Expert in Your Area of Law?

People want to work with experts.  You don’t want a cardiologist performing brain surgery and you don’t want a divorce attorney representing you when you’re charged with armed robbery.  That’s the straightforward part.  But how do you set yourself apart from the OTHER divorce attorneys or the OTHER criminal lawyers?

The simple answer is that your WRITE and SPEAK.  It’s that simple.  When you write articles, answer questions, hop on stage or provide useful, practical INFORMATION in a public forum you become the recognized expert.  It’s really that simple.

Write articles for newspapers, blogs, magazines, newsletters, etc.  Hop on stage to give seminars, appear on TV as an expert, etc.  When people see you speak and read your articles you default as the expert.

This isn’t rocket science.  Sometimes it’s as simple as taking some basic questions that people have the providing answers (be careful to disclaim any attorney/client relationship being established).  So seek out and accept every opportunity you have to get in front of a captive audience and share your expertise.  You’ll get easy recognition and guess what, experts can charge more than non-experts and people will still seek you out.

Have You Negotiated Yet (come on, we’re lawyers – it’s what we do)

Everyone’s screaming recession and yes, EVEN attorneys are getting slammed.  But for those of us that run our own businesses there is no better time than NOW to revisit every bill that you’re paying.  I a few hours on the phone with my vendors/suppliers/etc. and ended up saving at least $400 a month.  That may not seem like a lot but for the way I run my practice it’s like pulling out buckets of water from a dry well.

In case math isn’t strong point that’s $4800 in savings every year.  Not a bad chunk of change to keep in your pocket.  So go ahead and call everyone from your cell phone provider to your malpractice carrier and scream RECESSION then ask for the best price they can give you.  When they respond, simply ask, “is that the best you can do?”  Good luck and happy recession!

Lingering Questions on How to Start Your Own Practice

I went through the questions of the attendees of my seminar in at Rutgers Camden Law School this past weekend and all could be sumarized in 3 questions:

1) How do I get clients?
2) How much does it cost to start”
3) How do I learn what to do, say, advise, etc.?

We covered most of them Saturday but I know there were some lingering questions so if there was anything left unanswered shoot me an email at sameer@lawfirmguru.com and I’ll get it up here.

The question of the bona-fide office is already up here.  One question that I saw was how do I afford health insurance.  I wish I had a simple answer to that.  My recommendation is that if you’re in good shape go for low monthly cost and high deductible.

Another question was asking about whether you need to take out a small-business loan.  Simple answer is no.  If you’re looking to build a legal empire maybe that’s not the best advice but if you are looking to start a solo practice with minimal hours and a solid six-figure income then you don’t need the loan (unless you don’t even have $1000).  In which case temp at Starbucks for a month and start your law practice the next.

Finally, the question of paperless office came up.  I addressed it in the seminar but I cannot emphasize how important a paperless office is if you are planning to lead the lifestyle I discussed.  Make this a staple of your practice from the start and I guarantee you’ll be thanking me a year from now.

For the love of God just help them out!

Could be just a fluke that this happened twice in one day but here’s another example of how customer service transcends industry.  An old client of mine calls me up and tells me how his boss is having issues with his attorney and wants a 2nd opinion.  After a bit of delving it looks like his boss’s attorney is giving the same advice that I would.  Turns out that wasn’t the issue.  The other attorney was doing what most attorneys do – telling him that’s how it is and I can’t help you.

Clients can handle bad news or limited options but they just want a little help.  They want to be hand-held.  If you were at my seminar this weekend then you know what type of business we’re in (not the legal business).  Most attorneys don’t get that.

So now his boss is going to give me a call because I’m going to tell him the exact same outcome but I’ll let him know the pros, the cons, his options and I’ll hold his hand.  Really, not rocket-science here.

That’s the legal side.  Later today I step out to pick up some groceries and I’m waiting on line and the cashier tells the lady ahead of me “your card didn’t go through.”  Fair enough, so the lady swipes it again, enters all her digits, requests her cash back, etc. and the cashier turns to her and says, “didn’t work again” and blankly stares at the customer to do something about it.  For the love of God just help her out.  Swipe the card for her, type in the digits manually, offer a bloody solution or at least an option before talking to your fellow cashier about what time she gets off tonight.  Nope, none of that.

Well I’m not one to stick around so told the cashier I was leaving and left my groceries there.  I figured it would give the cashier something to do once the woman ahead of me was finally able to check out (no clue if it actually happened – I was long gone by then).

Bottom line – hold your clients’ hands.  It’s not that hard to do.  They’ll appreciate it and guess what.  The outcome of their case will be the same whether you’re an ass or a sweetheart!

Bona-Fide Office Rule (NJ)

So it seems that after this past weekend’s seminar “ethics” have got the best of many of my readers.  I’ve said it many times before but I’ll restate it, “ethics regulations for lawyers often make it difficult to run an efficient and effective business.”  With that said, I’m NOT in favor of breaking ethics regulations.  But at the same time I’m not one to play things overly safe.

Thanks Terry for sending me the following excerpt which covers the bona-fide office rule in NJ:

1:21-1. Who May Practice; Appearance in Court

• … no person shall practice law in this State unless that person … maintains a bona fide office for the practice of law. For the purpose of this section, a bona fide office is a place where clients are met, files are kept, the telephone is answered, mail is received and the attorney or a responsible person acting on the attorney’s behalf can be reached in person and by telephone during normal business hours to answer questions posed by the courts, clients or adversaries and to ensure that competent advice from the attorney can be obtained within a reasonable period of time.

The statute is reasonably self-explanatory so let’s not read more into it.  Keep files at your office, have a “RESPONSIBLE PERSON” running the gig (yes, a receptionist can be responsible), and respond with “competent” advice in a “reasonable” period of time.  That did not translate into “answer your phone at all times between 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday and give advice to your clients, etc. IMMEDIATELY.”

But even after getting this blurb the the questions were still rolling in.  Can I have my calls forwarded since it’s technically OUTSIDE my office?  How can I have a PO Box if mail is to be received at my office?  Etc., etc. etc.

Look, there’s a level of common sense invovled in running your practice and balancing the operations of your practice with ethics regulations.  Leave the “what if” questions to your clients (trust me, they’ll have more than enough).  You focus on running an ethical practice through the use of good common sense (and a knowledge of what you can and can’t do).  It’s not that hard to avoid lying, cheating and stealing.  That’s basaically what ethics regulations do.  They keep your clients safe.  Focus your attention on the same end goal and it’s going to be tough to be in violation.

Camden Seminar This Saturday (5/9/09)

For those of you who are in the NJ/PA area this weekend I’m presenting a 4-hour seminar on starting and marketing a solo practice.  We are a few seats over capacity but I’ve been told that we can move to a bigger room if we have more people signing up.  If you’re interested just click HERE and keep an eye on your email in case we change rooms.