success Archives - Page 8 of 34 - The Attorney Marketing Center

The journey is what you make of it

February 4, 2022 by David M. Ward

When I was in school, I made the mistake of telling my parents my goal to become rich by the time I was 30. They told me that was crazy.

“You have to put in your dues,“ they said. “Things don’t work that fast,” they said. “Turn off the TV and finish your homework, “they said.

“Don’t rain on my parade,” I said, or would have if I had been as sharp as I thought I was.

They wanted me to stop dreaming and do what everyone else does. Work hard, endure the pain, and in twenty or thirty years, if I was lucky, I might get there.

That’s the message they grew up with and the message they wanted me to learn.

But I didn’t want to hear that. Twenty or thirty years of pain? That didn’t work for me.

My law school torts professor told us it would take five years after we pass the bar before we could expect to see success.

I didn’t want to hear that either, although I liked his number better.

But the issue isn’t how long it takes. It’s the idea that success requires suffering.

I reject that idea. I did then and I do now.

Yes, growth can be uncomfortable. We’re doing difficult things, making mistakes, and regularly getting out of our comfort zone. But that doesn’t mean we have to suffer and hate what we’re doing.

It comes down to your attitude, which is driven by your beliefs.

If you believe success requires years of pain and suffering and sacrifice, that’s probably what you’ll find.

But you can choose a different belief.

You can believe that while there will be a certain amount of problems and discomfort, you can enjoy the journey on your way to success.

When you hit a snag, when you are uncomfortable, you can choose to endure it and suffer your way through it, or, as they teach new recruits in the military, you can “embrace the suck”.

See the difficulties for what they make of you. Because they are not only inevitable on your journey, they are how you reach your destination.

No matter how long it takes.

Filed Under: success

Mono-maniac on a mission

February 2, 2022 by David M. Ward

Several years ago, I was in a business and worked with a guy who put in long hours and worked harder than just about everyone else in that business.

No “work-life” balance for him.

He was asked why he worked so hard. He answered, “Because building this business requires a lot of pain and sacrifice and I want to get it over with.”

And he did. In a few years, he accomplished what most people never come close to accomplishing.

Another friend did the same thing. He described himself as “a mono-maniac on a mission.”

Both of my friends started their business by taking massive action. And kept at it until their business was big enough and had enough momentum that they didn’t have to work as hard.

They had the knowledge, the people, the systems, the skills, and the reputation. They had ironed out the kinks and found ways to get the most out of what they had.

True, their first few years required sacrifices. You can’t have it all when you’re a mono-maniac on a mission. When you’re building quickly, as they did, everything else besides the business is a distraction.

A few years later, they had enough money coming in they could take their foot off the gas a bit and build out other areas of their life.

We’re taught that having work-life balance is important. Don’t work too many hours, take time to smell the roses, and if you don’t, your health and relationships might suffer.

Because we’ve been taught that most people don’t take all-out massive action. They build their business or practice pedantically, over decades, not a few years.

They go for a stroll instead of a sprint.

Am I advocating one way or the other? Not necessarily. Just pointing out that you have options.

All-out massive action might not be a good fit for you. It might lead to burnout, loss of friends, health challenges, and ignoring things that are important to you.

But if you’re the right person, and you’re willing to live an unbalanced life for a few years, you might achieve the kind of success most people only dream of.

And do it early enough that you can enjoy the fruits of your labor for the rest of your life.

How to build your practice quickly

Filed Under: success Tagged With: momentum

Strategic alliances, masterminds, and workout partners

January 17, 2022 by David M. Ward

Strategic alliance is a ten-dollar word for a simple idea: teaming up with one or more individuals for your mutual benefit. These other folks might be lawyers, business owners, or others who are influential in your niche or local market, or folks who are successful in completely different fields.

The purpose: to help each other achieve your individual goals.

You might team up with another lawyer who targets the same market you do and become workout partners, or form a mastermind group of four or five other folks with complementary skills and resources. Each of you might contribute your specific skills, e.g., editing, graphics, copywriting, videography, etc., or contribute ideas, feedback, and encouragement to other members of the group.

Strategic alliances are often marketing-focused, with each member of the group agreeing to promote the content and services of the other members.

But there are no rules besides the ones you agree to. You might use an alliance or group to

share ideas and resources
critique content
make introductions and referrals
promote each other’s services
share each other’s content, links, pages
celebrate each other’s wins
help each other through difficult situations
hold each other accountable

What do you need and want? What do they need and want? How can you help each other?

Set up a regular meeting schedule and some rules for attendance and contribution.

Some members will drop out. Replace them with others. You may go through quite a few before you find a core group that sticks.

Whatever happens, you’ll learn a lot about yourself and how others see you, about your target market, and what others are doing to build their practice or business that you can adapt to building yours.

Other people know people you don’t know and how to do things you don’t know how to do. You do, too.

Combine forces, leverage each other’s talents and resources, and help each other grow.

Filed Under: success Tagged With: mastermind, strategic alliances, workout partner

Making friends isn’t required

January 13, 2022 by David M. Ward

You can be massively successful in your practice without “getting to know” more people or “building stronger relationships” with the people you already know.

I’m not saying relationships aren’t valuable. They are incredibly valuable and if you are so inclined, you should regularly meet more people and strengthen your existing relationships.

But you don’t have to. You can bring in all the business you can handle, and then some, without it.

You don’t need to “do” social media. You don’t need to network or blog or podcast. You don’t need to create content or do any of the other things the cool kids are doing. You can get new clients and increase your income by simply doing a good job for your clients and treating them well.

The old fashioned ways still work.

However, if you go that route, I suggest you also employ two additional strategies. They are easy to do, don’t take a lot of time, and could multiply your results dramatically.

First on the list: stay in touch with the people you know.

You don’t have to see them in person or do anything other than contact them regularly. Email is the easiest way to do that but you could also use regular mail.

Each time they hear from you, they’ll think about you and what you do and be prompted to talk to you about new legal issues, and/or refer people to you who might need your help.

Of all the marketing strategies in existence, staying touch with people who already know, like, and trust you is about as simple (and effective) as it gets.

The second strategy is also simple, and also likely to pay huge dividends.

No matter how much you avoid seeking out new relationships, they will occur naturally. A client or contact will give you a lot of work or send you a lot of referrals, tell people about you, send traffic to your website, and otherwise do you a solid.

Give these folks more attention.

Contract them more often. Send them an article or link you think might interest them. If you have good chemistry with them, invite them to coffee or to do something with you off the clock.

They could help your practice not just grow but multiply.

Yes, I know I said you don’t have to do anything like this. You don’t need to make new friends. You don’t, but with friends like that, you might want to make an exception.

How to use email to stay in touch with people who can hire or refer you

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Newsletters, success

The two most important questions you will ever answer

January 7, 2022 by David M. Ward

It’s not clickbait. These two questions are the key to your future.

The questions are simple. The answers, not so much. The answers require some thinking and introspection, maybe some praying, and a willingnes to be completely honest with yourself.

The first question: What do you want?

Describe your ideal life five years from now. Where are you, what are you doing, who are you doing it with? What have you accomplished and what are you on the road to accomplishing?

In this vision, you can be, do, and have anything. No rules, no restrictions. This is your vision for an ideal (perfect) future.

Write it down. You will surely want to refer to it again.

Now that you know what you want, it’s time to answer the second question:

What are you willing to give up to get it?

Yes, give up. Because if you didn’t have to give up something, change something, you’d already have what you want.

You may believe you are on the path to your ideal life and the only thing needed is to give it more time. You know that if you keep doing exactly what you’re doing now, you’ll get there.

Even if that’s true, wouldn’t you like to speed things up?

Either way, you have to change something. What are you willing to change? What are you willing to give up?

Mostly, we’re talking about time and how you currently spend it.

Track your time for a week and you’ll likely find that you waste a lot of it. Three hours or more per day, according to some experts.

Are you willing to give up some of your indulgences, change your habits, and redirect some of your time and energy towards more productive things? Are you willing to give up an hour of TV or gaming or social media each day, and use that time to improve your knowledge and skills?

So, two questions. What do you want? What are you willing to give up to get it?

Plaintiff rests.

Filed Under: Productivity, success, Time Management

What worked?

January 3, 2022 by David M. Ward

It’s time to let go of last year. That was then. This is now. This is the next chapter.

But before you turn the page, reflect for a few minutes on what went well last year.

What did you do that had a positive outcome? Which projects bore fruit? Which habits, mindsets, strategies, and methods helped you make progress?

Go through your notes, your calendar, or your journal. Meditate or free-write or just have a good think and find a nugget or two that belongs in the “win” column for last year, so that this year, you can do it again (or something like it).

While you’re at it, also note what didn’t work.

It may be a marketing strategy that flopped or a bad habit that didn’t serve you, like staying up late, not exercising, or spending too much time reading the news.

Identify what didn’t work, so you can stop doing it or do it less often.

Finally, ask yourself what you can do differently this year. Besides doing more of what worked and less of what didn’t, what could you change about the way you do the things you do?

How could you do them better or faster? How could you make them easier, more enjoyable, or less stressful? What could you change that might help you earn more, work less, or both?

You might want to enlist the aid of your employees to help you brainstorm ideas. They may see things you can’t see about yourself or your practice. They might offer some game-changing ideas.

Good or bad, last year’s story has been told. But before you put that book back on the shelf, do a quick re-read and find the lessons you can use to provide a happy ending to this year’s story.

How to make this year your biggest year

Filed Under: Productivity, success

You can always add more plates

November 29, 2021 by David M. Ward

Next year will soon be this year, and this is a good time to do some planning.

New goals, new projects, updates, changes.

Do yourself a favor. Make it a short list.

Conventional wisdom tells us to shoot for the moon. Big goals, lots of projects, run hard and do as much as you can do. Cut your plans only if you run out of time or energy, because if you start small, you won’t accomplish as much.

For me, it’s the other way around.

If I start big, I find it easy to get overwhelmed. I prefer to start out with too little rather than too much. A few key ideas, projects, and goals.

When I look at my list, I want to feel good about what I see. I want to be inspired, excited, ready for the adventure ahead.

Some people like a schedule that’s filled to the brim. They want to always be busy. I prefer a schedule that’s relatively open, and fill in the blanks with whatever I’m drawn to.

I like to have a general idea of where I want to go, not a detailed itinerary with every moment thought out in advance. I like to add things as I think of them rather than subtract and postpone things because I didn’t have enough time.

Adding is fun. Subtracting isn’t.

I know that when I have too many projects and tasks, I’m busy working but not necessarily doing the things that matter most. When I have too many plates to keep spinning, eventually, I don’t want to look at my plates any more.

I like to get a couple of plates spinning, see how it’s going and how I feel about adding more.

Because you can always add more plates.

Filed Under: Productivity, success

Failure must be an option

November 11, 2021 by David M. Ward

I heard Elon Musk say this in an interview about his hiring practices. He values innovation and doesn’t like it when “bold moves that go wrong are punished,” he said, “and keeping your head down isn’t”.

He rewards people who take risks and lets go of people who don’t. Which is no doubt a key to his success, even if there is a lot of breakage along the way.

If you aren’t willing to accept the risk of failure, you aren’t trying hard enough. You can’t innovate, reach higher, or go further, if you’re not willing to pay the price if things go wrong.

I thought about how a lawyer might apply this philosophy to building a practice or career.

We help clients avoid and minimize risk; must we always do this for ourselves?

No. Not if we want to grow.

We can’t grow without trying new ideas. If we’re focused on avoiding risk, we’re unlikely to do anything that might lead to significant reward.

Fortunately, innovation isn’t our top priority. We’re not in tech or space or anything cutting edge, with the eyes of the world, investors, regulators, and competitors upon us. We’re not putting billions of dollars on the line and risking everything venturing into unknown territory.

We can try new ideas on a small scale, take time to get them right, and be satisfied with incremental growth.

We may never fly to Mars, but we can make a fortune helping the people who do.

And that works for me. How about you?

Filed Under: success Tagged With: risk taking

You wouldn’t treat a client that way, would you?

November 1, 2021 by David M. Ward

You have a meeting with an important client.

Do you put it on your calendar?

Do you show up?

Would there have to be an emergency for you to cancel that meeting at the last minute?

During the appointment, do you silence the phone and other devices so you can give the client your full attention?

I’ll bet you answered “yes” to each of these questions. Because your clients are important to you and you want to do your best for them.

Now, consider the same questions regarding an appointment with your most important client—yourself.

Many lawyers I talk to don’t have the same commitment to scheduling their marketing activities. They look at marketing as something to do when they think about it or they have some extra time.

What if you were as disciplined and committed to making and keeping appointments with yourself to work on marketing as you are to appointments with your clients?

Do you think this shift in your perspective would make a difference? Do you think changing the way you plan your schedule and prioritize your marketing activities would materially affect the growth of your practice and income?

I do, too.

Which is why I tell you to calendar a 15-minute daily “appointment” with yourself, dedicated solely to marketing, and to keep that appointment.

Because you really are your most important client.

The Attorney Marketing Plan shows you how to earn more without working more

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, success

No shortcuts?

September 14, 2021 by David M. Ward

We’re told we have to put in our dues, meaning we have to do the work and give it time. We’re told it takes hard work and we shouldn’t try to beat the system. We’re told it takes as long as it takes and there’s nothing we can do to speed things up.

But this isn’t true.

Knowing the right people is a shortcut. Knowing people who can send you business, give you good advice, and introduce and endorse you to key people in your niche or market will almost always shorten your path to success.

Timing is a shortcut. Investing in precious metals before massive inflation destroys the value of paper currency can lead to great wealth. Starting a new practice area before other lawyers realize its potential could help you get the lion’s share of the business.

The Pareto Principle is another shortcut. Figure out the 20% activities in your work that lead to 80% of your results, do more of those 20% activities, and you can multiply your results.

Personal development is perhaps the ultimate shortcut. Increasing your knowledge, improving your skills, becoming a better leader and communicator, are the very stuff of success.

So yes, there are shortcuts. But there are no guarantees.

So, while you’re looking for shortcuts, you might want to cover your bets by working hard and giving things time.

No, hard work won’t guarantee your success or speed up the process. But it might help you find some shortcuts that do.

More shortcuts for building bigger, faster

Filed Under: Inspiration, success