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…sooner or later you sleep in your own space.

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Originally broadcast to my ezine list 9/27/2011…

be·lieve

[bih-leev] Show IPA verb, -lieved, -liev·ing.

verb (used without object)

1. to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so: Only if one believes in something can one act purposefully.
Would you do something today, if you had absolute proof that it would bring more business to your law firm tomorrow?
 
Either you said “no” in which case we should probaby talk about how to manage your law firm more effectively.  So that you’re not afraid of more business.
Or you may have said “no” because the business you’re attracting isn’t the sort of business you want, not the sort of clients you enjoy, or requires you to do work you don’t find particularly motivating or stimulating.  If this is the case we should probably talk about how to manage your law firm more effectively.  So you can attract better business.  Marketing, afterall, is a critical area of management’s responsibility in a law firm.
Or you may have said “YES!”
If you did say “YES!” then I want to remind you that I’ve already shared two very simple, very inexpensive, and very-well-proven things you could have done last week to get more business coming into your law firm already by this week.
Did you implement either of those suggestions?
Why not?  Either it’s because you don’t REALLY want more business, or more likely there’s something keeping you “stuck” isn’t there? 
OK, so I’m going to share one more effective, and reliable “button” you can push today, that can generate more business for your law firm as soon as tomorrow. 
Remember: action talks, and bullshit walks. 
Keep that in mind as you begin to formulate excuses or explanations for why you’re postponing or even avoiding doing something so simple, so proven and so profitable, to bring-in more business to your law firm tomorrow.
Members of my coaching programs have the benefit of an easy “score keeping” tool that we use to measure progress and diagnose problem-areas and opportunities. 
We embrace reality and don’t make excuses.  Because reality doesn’t care about any of our excuses.
“We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality” – Ayn Rand
What are the inevitable consequences of your current growth trajectory? 
Hopefully the inevitable consequences are that you’re going to be doing GREAT!  If that’s you I would encourage you to investigate our “Find Your Freedom” coaching program, or even our “Play A Bigger Game” group may be just what you’ve been looking for.
If the inevitable consequences are that you’re not going to be in a place where you’re going to be happy about being, then our “Get Out Of The Weeds” program may be able to help you. But only if you have the personal courage to deal with the reality of your current situation.  Not everyone is.
So ultimately, “the” question is, do you believe in yourself?
“…sooner or later you sleep in your own space.  Either way it’s okay to wake up with yourself.” – Billy Joel
Do This Today, Get More Business Tomorrow:
1.)  Pull 25% of your active files, conduct a 5 minute file review and “drop-in” on those clients with a telephone call to let them know you’ve been thinking about them and have a few ideas about their case you want to discuss with them. 
-or-
2.)  Go to www.HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com/Appointment to schedule a call with me to discuss where you are today, where you want to be tomorrow and what’s keeping you from getting there.

be·lieve

[bih-leev] Show IPA verb, -lieved, -liev·ing.

verb (used without object)
1. to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so: Only if one believes in something can one act purposefully.

 Do you believe in yourself enough to take action and do something about it?  I hope so.

~ RJON

p.s. Don’t miss out on the chance to position your law firm as one of the BEST in the country! Take two minutes to apply to get your firm on the Law Firm 500 list. This is not just an award, it is a PROFIT STRATEGY! Click here to apply!

How to Start a Law Firm (part 2)

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Steps

  1. Define your goals:
  • Financial – How much money does the firm have to ‘gross’ in order for you to ‘net’ enough to live the way you WANT to live? ;
  • Personal – How many hours do you WANT to invest on a daily, weekly and monthly-basis?;
  • Professional – What types of cases, clients do you WANT to work with in your practice?  Remember starting a law firm is an opportunity to create the life you WANT.  Don’t settle.

2.  Inventory your skills and resources.  If you know a particular practice area very well that’s probably the best practice area to concentrate on in the beginning rather than having to learn a new practice area at the same time you’re learning how to run the business of a law firm.

  • What kind of hands-on business management & marketing skills do you have?
  • What kind of budget do you have to cover living expenses while the firm gets established, working capital for start-up and operating expenses and to invest in educating yourself about the business of how to start, market & manage a law firm so you don’t waste years of your life & career learning these critical skills the hard way

There are many free resources available to help you.  Including many provided for free by me.

But consider the hidden ‘cost’ of free in terms of the time required to piece everything together vs. just enrolling in a course.

Imagine the difference between the student who chooses to enroll in a well-organized course in law school with discussions lead by a supportive and experienced professor vs. the law student who simply takes the course syllabus and endeavors to spend the whole semester on his own looking up and studying all the cases in the library by himself or with a few of his buddies.  Who is going to do better on the exam?

3.  Make a plan and put that plan to budget and time-table to acquire the skills you find yourself lacking in.

Do this BEFORE you start trying to follow anyone’s advice about writing a business plan or how to create a law firm website that actually generates business, etc.  The root cause of the successful law firms isn’t what you can see from the surface from a casual conversation with another lawyer in passing, or in a blog.

Warnings

If you’re reading this and you’re a lawyer I’m going to assume you’re a pretty smart person and you want to be successful.  So I’m going to skip the usual and obvious warnings here.  Instead, the biggest danger to look out for is advice from other lawyers.

  • Some aren’t nearly as successful as they’d like you to believe.
  • Some are in fact very successful but may not have traveled a deliberate and replicable path and so their well-intentioned advice can be a real distraction.
  • And sad to say, some lawyers are just jerks who would rather have company in their misery and can be quite persuasive in their efforts to recruit you into their merry band of losers.

Don’t miss out on the chance to position your law firm as one of the BEST in the country! Take two minutes to apply to get your firm on the Law Firm 500 list. This is not just an award, it is a PROFIT STRATEGY! Click here to apply!