Working part time on your fortune

November 2, 2015 by
Share

Personal development legend Jim Rohn advised us to, “Work full time at your job and part time on your fortune.”

Your job pays the bills. It keeps the machine running. And most people need to spend most of their time doing that. But not all of their time. Some of their time should be invested in their future.

Your future might be where you want your practice to be in five years. It might be a side business or project you’re working on that will allow you to slow down, retire, or enter another phase of your life. It might be your investments, a cause that excites you, or something else you dream about.

How much time should you invest in your future? That’s for you to decide, but 20% seems like a good place to start. If you work an eight hour day, spend 90 minutes working on your fortune, and the rest earning a living.

If that’s too much, if you need a full eight hours to do the work that pays your bills, then for the next few years, you might have to work a 9 1/2 hour day. Or, work on your fortune after your work day ends, in the morning, and on your lunch break. That’s what I did when I started my publishing and consulting business.

And hey, don’t go looking for the time. You won’t find it. You have to make the time. Look at your calendar and block out 90 minutes a day, or two 45 minute periods, or six 15 minute periods every day.

Don’t forget commute time or exercise time. You can make calls in the car or dictate letters and articles at the gym. I dictated the first draft of this post while I was on my morning walk.

If 90 minutes is too much, start with 30 minutes and work your way up. Whatever number you choose, make sure you do it every day. If you don’t, if you skip days, you are telling your subconscious mind that your dream isn’t important. Before you know it, it won’t be.

Whatever future you desire and dream of, if it’s important to you, you will make it a priority. You’ll get up early or stay up late, and you will do what needs to be done. If it’s not important, you won’t.

In a few years, you’ll either say, “I wish I had,” or “I’m sure glad I did”.

Share
Filed Under: Inspiration, Personal development, success Tagged With:

Are you getting stale?

October 23, 2015 by
Share

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 new 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, and processes that can be improved.

Do the same thing with your marketing. Find ways to make it better. Eliminate things that aren’t working, do more of  the things that are, and 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

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

What, are you chicken?

October 1, 2015 by
Share

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 grand 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.

Share
Filed Under: Inspiration, Personal development, success Tagged With:

When was the last time you were scared?

September 22, 2015 by
Share

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

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

How to increase your income ten-fold

July 21, 2015 by
Share

What would I have to do to increase my income ten-fold? That’s a question you should ask yourself periodically.

Yesterday, I did a consultation with an immigration lawyer and asked him a similar question. We were talking about his fees and I said, “With your experience and reputation, you could probably triple your fees, right now, and get it, no questions asked. Who’s to say you’re not worth three times what you now charge? What you need to do is figure out how you could increase your fees ten-fold. What would you have to do? How would you have to package your services in order to get that?”

Because he could. Because you can, too. The challenge is to figure out how.

Okay, too much to ask? I’ll ask a different question that might make you more comfortable. “What would you have to do to increase your income ten-fold in the next year?” The answer would entail a combination of increasing fees and getting more clients, yes?

Good stuff.

I heard an interview with an author recently who said his goal was to increase his income ten-fold within the next year. His plan calls for a combination of writing more books and selling more of them (marketing).

Will he reach his goal? I don’t know. But I do know that as a result of thinking this way, he’s bound to increase his income, undoubtedly much more than he would if he didn’t ask “how”.

Ten fold is big. But not impossible. You have to ask questions like this. It’s no fun to ask, “How could I increase my income five percent?” Snore.

So, what would you have to do to increase your income ten-fold? What new services would you offer? What new (higher-priced) markets would you target? What would you have to do to increase your fees? What would you have to do to get more traffic to your website, viewers of your ads, or attendees at your seminars? What would you do to get more referrals?

Think. And maybe you’ll grow rich.

How to increase your income ten-fold: Go here

Share
Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Goal Setting, Increase your income, Inspiration, Law office management, Marketing legal services

The thrill is gone? Here’s how to get it back

July 17, 2015 by
Share

The thrill is gone. You’ve lost the spark you had when you started practicing. You’re spinning your wheels and getting nowhere fast.

You’re doing okay, but you want to move on up, to an east side apartment in the sky.

Or maybe things aren’t so good. You’re struggling and falling behind.

What can you do? How do you get things moving?

You need to start over. Go back to the beginning and be “new” again. Forget what you have and what you know and begin from square one.

Before you can construct, you have to destruct.

I know, starting over might hold some bad memories for you. It does for me. I was scared to death. Everything was riding on my making a go of things and I didn’t have a clue about what to do.

But I was excited. The world was mine for the taking. Anything was possible.

And I was hungry. Determined. Open to anything. I had nothing, so I had nothing to lose.

You too? Good. Go back to those days in your mind. Be hungry again. Be open again. Be excited again.

Pretend you have nothing. No clients, no lists, no website, no ads. Chuck it all and start from scratch. You’ll add them back one at a time. Or maybe you won’t.

Yes, but what do you do? That’s not really important. If your head is on right and you are truly reborn, you’ll figure it out.

You’ll try lots of things, with no expectations. Some will work, most won’t. You want this thing to work and you’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.

Get out a legal pad and a pen. Time to start building. Start by taking inventory.

Who do you know? Write down the names of people who might be able to help you. Clients, prospects, referral sources, other lawyers who can give you advice, friends and family who can support your dreams.

What do you know? What are you good at? What are your skills (legal, marketing, management, leadership, speaking, writing, etc.)

What do you want? Write down one or two goals for the month. Forget next month for now; you’ve got a rent payment coming due.

Are you excited yet? Scared? Itching to do something? Good. Pick up the phone and call someone on your list.

Call a friend and tell him you’re re-launching your practice today and just wanted to share the good news.

Call a lawyer and tell her you’d like to meet for coffee and talk about how you can work together.

Call a former client and see how they’re doing. They might need you for something, or know someone they can refer.

Call a current client and tell them how much you appreciate them.

Spend the rest of the day talking to people. Tonight, write down some marketing ideas. Tomorrow, get up early and do it again.

Need a marketing plan? Get this

Share
Filed Under: Increase your income, Inspiration, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, success

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

July 10, 2015 by
Share

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

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

Are you busy? That’s a shame.

June 18, 2015 by
Share

Being busy isn’t necessarily something to brag about. It’s not a virtue. In fact, it may well be a failing if you’re busy doing things that aren’t important.

It’s better to be productive than busy.

Being productive means you’re producing. Creating value for yourself and others. It means you’re not simply in motion, you’ve got to something to show for your efforts.

What do you want to produce? What results do you want to achieve?

Not someday, now. You can have dreams and long term goals but life is lived in the present, so what do you want to do today?

What are your priorities?

You should be able to cite a few things that you are focused on, and only a few. Because if there are more than a few, it can’t be called “focus”. When everything is a priority, nothing is.

“If you have 3 priorities, you have priorities. If you have 25 priorities, you have a mess,” one writer said.

You may have heard it said that you can do anything you want in life, you just can’t do everything; there isn’t enough time. Fill your day producing things that are important to you, your family, and your clients. If you do that, you will have a productive and happy life, even if you’re not that busy.

Share
Filed Under: Inspiration, Personal development, Productivity, success

To dream the impossible dream

June 4, 2015 by
Share

One of my favorite musical recordings is Richard Kiley singing The Impossible Dream in the original cast performance of “The Man of La Mancha”. Don Quixote sings about his impossible dream and the resolve he brings to attaining it:

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

What is your impossible dream? The one that defines you and your purpose but eludes you?

Perhaps you have dismissed your dream as truly impossible, or banished it to a faraway land called someday.

At some point in your life, your impossible dream filled your thoughts as you fell asleep each night. Perhaps no longer. Perhaps too much has happened and those days are long gone.

Never give up on your dreams. Your dreams are what make life worth living.

It’s time to begin your journey. It’s time, right now, to set forth towards your unreachable star so that when you are laid to rest, your heart will be peaceful and calm.

Go back in your mind to the place where your dream was exciting and real. Remember how exciting that felt and feel that way again. Sing about it. Affirm that nothing will stop you. This is your quest, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far.

To reach your impossible dream, you need that kind of unassailable determination because without it, you won’t get out of your comfort zone and do the things you need to do. You won’t risk rejection and ridicule and you won’t keep going when pain and frustration make you want to give up.

Don Quixote was thought to be crazy. You need to be a little crazy to accomplish your impossible dream.

Then, prepare for the journey. Research, study, practice. Find your Sancho to travel with you.

Or just start. Put one foot in front of the other, and then do it again.

Work on your dream every day until it becomes a part of your routine. John Grisham developed the writing habit by committing to writing every day, even if only 5 minutes, no matter how busy he was with his law practice.

Some days you’ll do a lot. Some days not so much. But if you work on it every day, you will make progress. You’ll get better, and faster. Eventually, your efforts will compound and you will see meaningful progress towards your destination.

Keep going and the pace of your progress will accelerate. Before you know it, what was once an impossible dream will be a foreseeable reality.

You might tilt at windmills along the way, but that’s how you will find your unreachable star.

Share
Filed Under: Goal Setting, Inspiration Tagged With: ,

Mr. Spock was only half right

May 28, 2015 by
Share

As a kid, I loved Star Trek. I watched the original series and thought that Mr. Spock’s unemotional, logical approach to problem solving was the way to go.

Examine the evidence. Calculate the probabilities. Make your decision.

I even took a class in logic in college. It was one of my favorites. My professor noticed my enthusiasm for the subject and wrote me a letter of recommendation to law school.

Anyway, I started my legal career with a penchant for logic. I calmly reasoned my way through problems to find the best solutions. I did my best to keep my emotions in check.

And it’s a good thing I did. Those first few years were awful. I didn’t know how to bring in clients and, oh yeah, I barely knew how to do the legal work. Every month was a struggle to survive and if I had let my emotions out of their box, I would surely have fallen apart. Logic got me through some tough times.

Later, when I had turned things around and had a thriving practice, logic only took me so far.

At one point, I had an important decision to make. I can’t recall the subject but I remember having a terrible time deciding what to do. I had a paralegal who saw my consternation and offered a suggestion. She told me that I was more intuitive than I realized and that I should trust my intuition to provide me with the right answer.

I listened to her. And then I listened to the voice inside me that told me what to do.

Whatever the issue was, my intuition provided the solution and the problem is long forgotten.

We should remember that Spock was half-human. Somewhere inside him was a reservoir of intuition and human emotion. We saw flashes of it when he made illogical decisions to save the life of Captain Kirk.

We all have great intuitive powers and we shouldn’t ignore them. There is a voice inside us that wants to guide us but most of us (men) don’t listen.

Feelings, who me? I’m a lawyer. I don’t let my feelings tell me what to do.

Maybe we should. Maybe we should listen to how we feel about things before we make decisions.

I do that now. When I think about choosing A or B, for example, I ask myself how I feel about those options. More often than not, I choose the option that feels better.

I also do that when charting my future. I look at the pantheon of options available to me–all of the projects I could work on, all of the tasks on my master list–and do the ones that I feel pulled toward.

I have one such project I’m working on right now. It’s something I feel good about and I can’t wait to get back to work on it. Isn’t that how our work should always be? Mostly doing things we enjoy?

Look at everything on your plate right now, and everything on your list of ideas. Which one calls to you? Which one feels good when you think about it?

That’s probably what you should do next.

Mr. Spock might not approve, but he’s at the Science station and you’re in the Captain’s chair.

Share
Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Goal Setting, Inspiration, Marketing Plan, Personal development, Productivity Tagged With:
« Previous Page
Next Page »