Law Business Revolution Blog : Alexis Martin Neely's Law Business Revolution Blog : Legal Coaching & Consulting For Lawyers & Attorneys

I'm super dee duper exhausted, so I'm going to make this note short and sweet.

I just got finished speaking at the Los Angeles County Bar Association Small and Solo Firm Conference, which had the theme of Mission Possible this year and I'm gearing up for two days of private client meetings.
 
Not to mention, Dave's back in town and waiting for me to go snuggle on the couch, so I'll get right to the point.

This week's Law Business Secrets Weekly Briefing Memorandum may take you beyond your comfort zone. In fact, I hope it does.

Check out what I mean.

Until next time,

Power to the People (and your dream law business!),



PS - congratulations to those of you who stepped out of YOUR comfort zone and made the decision to attend Ben Glass' sold out Great LegalMarketing SuperConference for lawyers happening this weekend.  You made a great decision!

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  Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memorandum
              Whether You Like It or Not Doesn't Matter
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I left my job at one of the best law firms in the country because I was disillusioned by what I now know to be the broken business model of law practice.  (Back then, I thought there was just something wrong with me.)

The clients came in, form documents were shelled out with a wham bam, thank you ma'am and I never heard from these people again (probably because they were afraid of my hourly fees and avoided calling me at all costs!)

Vowing to change that broken business model and really do something that would make a difference with my law degree and my life, I opened my own firm.

As I spent thousands of dollars on marketing for my new practice, I quickly realized I was wasting my money because I didn't know how to engage the clients that were making it in to meet with me.

Ultimately, after a huge amount of trial and error, I created a system that resulted in a near 100% engagement rate for me (which has now been tried and tested by HUNDREDS of lawyers, many of whom maintain a 100% engagement rate since using it!)

This system is the Client Engagement System as you all know-and I really don't need anything special to convince people that it works! The results speak for themselves.

I held a recent call to share my system with lawyers and after giving out boatloads of content on that call, I offered the Client Engagement System at a special sale price with a whole bunch of bonuses, including an implementation program, one-on-one time with me, and a de-briefing session.  Many, many smart lawyers decided to make the investment.

Yet, one lawyer sent me a quite interesting email afterwards.

This lawyer compared my marketing to that of an infomercial. She suggested I would sell much more of my system if I, and I quote:

"REALLY look at both how you are marketing this and to whom your marketing is directed, give us credit for being a bit more sophisticated than the average consumer of Sham-wows or Magic Bullets, and make a straight-out pitch at a set price, without all of the manufactured chatty crap? Frankly, I was mightily tempted to hang up less than fifteen minutes into the call, since there was so much unneeded repetition, exposition, and bald pitchman quality. I wanted to scream, "GET TO THE POINT!! STOP WASTING MY TIME!!!!'"

She didn't hang up fifteen minutes in the call.  Here's what I love most about this email ... she not only stayed on the entire call, but she invested in the system.  Would she have invested anyway if I had sent a simple email that said here's how much the system is and why you should get it?  Maybe she would have, but I can guarantee most of the others who invested wouldn't have.

I market the way I do because it works. And while I'm personally a big fan of the infomercial, whether I like my marketing or not doesn't matter.  All that matters is whether it works.

I believe in my product so much that I feel I have a moral obligation to do everything I ethically can to get it into your hands because I know when I do, it will change your life.

I know many, many, many people (especially in our industry) who have great products and services that can really help people.  But, because they are not willing to do everything ethical necessary to market their product, drawing the line at what they consider to be "professional", they are doing a disservice to the people who will never be aware of what they have to offer.

If you truly believe in what you offer, as I do, you will step outside of your comfort zone and utilize marketing that you may not like, but that works.  And I can assure you that as you use it and as it works, you'll start to really love it.

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I’m writing to you this week from beautiful Lake Lanier outside of Atlanta, Georgia where we just finished up our bi-annual Personal Family Lawyer® training conference and now I’m vacationing with my kids and Dave’s kids.

Here’s where you can check out a few photos of our trip. 

The PFL conference was amazing. We got rave reviews from the lawyers who attended. You can see some of their videos talking about their experience at the event and as PFLs here.

In attendance at the event was a long-time lawyer who thought I was setting the PFLs up for disappointment when I said they should expect to make appointments with 60-70% of the people in attendance at their seminars and engage close to 100% of the clients who come into their office.

According to him, making appointments with 30% of seminar attendees is about right and engaging around 60% of the people who make it into the office is realistic.

If these are the numbers you are shooting for, it’s time to re-evaluate! I asked the lawyers in the room who had been coaching with me for a while to share their results and many had a 100% engagement rate with prospects who came into the office and were setting appointments with 2/3 of the people attending their seminars.

This weeks Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memorandum explains.

Power to the People (and your dream law business!),

Alexis

PS – if you haven’t registered already, be sure to register now so you don’t miss out on my call Thursday about how to engage 97.5% of the prospects who call your office. We’ve already got over 100 lawyers registered and I’ve increased our line capacity, but if we end up with a flurry of last minute registrations, some people could get shut out. So, please register now instead of tomorrow. http://budurl.com/ednl
 

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  Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memorandum
                      Are Your Expectations Too Low?
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This week’s Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memorandum is going to re-set your expectations about what should happen when you speak at a seminar or meet with a prospective client in your office. If your objectives are too low, you are wasting time, money and energy. Let’s maximize your resources – you can be making a whole lot more impact and money in a whole lot less time when you up your conversion rates.

This past weekend at my Personal Family Lawyer® training conference, as I was discussing how Personal Family Lawyers in our program should be making appointments with 60-70% of seminar attendees and engaging nearly 100% of prospects who make it in for appointments,along-time lawyer, but short-term Personal Family Lawyer®, expressed concern that I was setting “unrealistic expectations” for our lawyers based on typical marketing stats.

He felt that a 30% appointment rate and 60-70% engagement rate was “more accurate” for attorneys.

But I’m here to tell you that those numbers stink and if that’s what you are shooting for, you are setting your bar way too low.

Here are three things to consider if you are satisfied with those numbers:

1.       You aren’t confident enough in the value of the services you provide:

When my appointment and engagement numbers were low, it was because I didn’t really believe in and understand the value of my services and it came through.

You must be 150% confident that you are the absolute best at what you do. If you don’t feel that way, determine what must change within your practice so that you do feel that way.

You must be so confident in your skills and services that it permeates every aspect of the conversation so that whoever is talking with you and needs your service walks away feeling as if they must have you as their lawyer. 

2.      You don’t follow a script that is designed to get to yes:

Whether you are speaking to a group or one on one to a potential client, you cannot wing it. You’ve got to be following a script. Period.

Now that you own your own firm, every conversation you have is an opportunity to sell yourself and your services, especially if you are speaking to a group of people or in a prospective client meeting.

Your script should include your firm story, which in an engaging story-based manner explains who you are, how you work and why people should listen to or hire you. And, it should always include a strong close designed to result in the outcome you desire – an appointment, an engagement or even simply an exchange of information. 

Your close does not have to be salesy or pushy at all – if done right, you’ll be simply helping the people in front of you make the right decision for themselves and for the vast majority that right decision will be you.

3.    You’re satisfied with less than you deserve:

Maybe you think 30% appointment rates and 60% engagement rates are just fine. If you are satisfied with that—great—that’s what you’re going to get. But if you want more and believe you can have more in your business, you’ll see that you deserve better.

Look at it this way, if you are spending marketing $$ to get people to attend a seminar or come in to meet with you and more than half the people leave without making appointment and more than a 1/3 leave your office without saying yes, you are wasting a huge amount of your marketing dollars. Even small increases in these numbers can have a big impact.

The good news is that this is not rocket science, but it does take practice. That’s why large corporations pay MILLIONS of dollars to hire sales trainers to come in and train their staff and create script books (which are kept under lock and key).

Fortunately, you don’t have to spend millions on this. But, you do need to be confident in your services, follow a script and not settle for less than you deserve.

 

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 I'm writing to you from the Personal Family Lawyer® training conference in beautiful Lake Lanier, outside of Atlanta, Georgia. We'll be taking ordinary lawyers stuck in a broken business model rut and transforming them into lawyers who have a whole new way of working with their clients and doing their business.

It's very exciting to say the least!

Today, I want to continue the theme I've been writing to you about lately, which is efficiency and outsourcing.

I hope you are starting to realize that you will never move beyond being a worn-out solopreneur or struggling small business owner if you don't start delegating the things that fall outside of your Creative Genius -- that which brings you the most happiness and financial return in your business.

I guarantee one of the things you should be outsourcing is something you assumed is impossible to delegate away!

So read on as I dispel this huge myth that's really holding you back from that which you love to do.

Power to the People (and your dream law business!)

Alexis

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  Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memorandum
     How to Let Go of the Biggest Time-Suck of Your Day
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If you're anything like the majority of people today, one of the areas you are most bogged down in is your email.

With hundreds of emails a day from clients, office staff, associates, family and friends, it's hard to get a handle on what really needs your attention and what can wait until later.

And right now, you are the filter of it all-which means reading each and every email and responding (or forwarding them) accordingly.

Email is a huge drain that is not only keeping you from your creative genius, but also from enjoying free time and staying on top of everything you need to do to meet your client's needs.

Hard Lessons Learned from Productivity "Gurus"

Until recently, I was very guilty of spending too much time filtering emails and responding to things that really didn't need my attention.

A couple of years ago, I read Tim Ferris' book, the Four Hour Workweek, and even interviewed him for the Law Business Revolution members.  Honestly, I tried to implement his suggestion of only checking email twice a day and using autoresponders to handle the rest. Sadly though, I learned the hard way that Tim's strategy DOES NOT work for client service focused businesses!

My clients, friends and family felt the autoresponders were cold and detached from my usual attentive nature. They wanted to speak with me, their lawyer or their coach, and I was essentially telling them "you're just not important enough for my time right now".

Not to mention, some of the things that came through really did require my immediate attention and just couldn't wait until my "designated email checking time" later that evening.

So needless to say, I fell of the Tim Ferris wagon very quickly.

Letting go of Your Email IS Possible

But I had to do something because my inbox was out of control. At any one time, I'd have as many as 500 emails waiting for a response from me (and that was after I had deleted the ones that I could toss or respond to quickly!) 

I began to notice that my stress level corresponded nearly exactly to the number of emails waiting for my reply. I had to do something! Fortunately, after a brainstorming session with my Executive Vice President, Laura Lee Sparks, I discovered a very doable way to relinquish control of my email without letting down my clients or allowing work to fall through the cracks.

Essentially, you need to hire an email manager to act as your filter. Your email manager must be someone you trust to determine what's important and what can be handled by other members on the team.

Your email manager will send the things that need your attention within 24 hours to a special, private email that only you and a few trusted team members know about. He or she will personally respond to everything that needs acknowledgment with a pre-scripted message that can be edited in appropriate circumstances. Something along the lines of:

Subject line: Alexis Has Received Your Message

Dear <first name>,

This is Michelle Foster, Alexis' executive assistant. I've received your email to Alexis and wanted to let you know that she is traveling today [in meetings all day today] [overloaded with email], [won't be able to get back with you personally] etc.

Alexis greatly appreciates you and doesn't want you to feel ignored by the fact that she cannot get back with you so she has asked me to follow up with you personally to ensure you get what you need.

Please email me back and let me know how I can help so I can ensure your needs are met promptly. 

If you must talk with Alexis directly, please let me know  what you need to speak with her about so I can check in with her and determine when she may have available time on her calendar. In the meantime, a great way to stay connected to what Alexis is up to is by subscribing to her Wealth Secrets online magazine at http://www.FamilyWealthMatters.com.

Sincerely,
Michelle Foster

Emails should then be labeled in folders or marked with icons in your original email account so you know what needs your attention, what's been responded to and what is just FYI when you log in to check your account once or twice a day.

Take the Leap and Let Go of Email Management!

I'm the first person to admit that delegating email to an email manager can be scary-especially for us control freaks.

But, I can promise you that once you get a system in place, you'll never look back. You'll realize just how much time you were wasting each day and you'll now have more time to do that which brings more revenue and enjoyment into your business and your life. 

 

 

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I'm back home after speaking at the Get a Life™ Conference in Chicago and I am floored at the overwhelming response for our free outsourcing manual that you should have had the opportunity to download last week (if you missed it, you can still download it. Simply email Support@FamilyWealthMatters.com

What this tells me is that hundreds of you aren't yet outsourcing the many parts of your business that really don't require your constant attention.I'm heartened by the thought that so many of you recognize this is one of the major keys to taking back your life!

Today's Law Business Revolution Briefing Memorandum will focus you in on something that I suspect has been holding you back from bringing more income into your firm.

When I built my firm from nothing into a million dollar business, I didn't have a cookie cutter system I could follow.  I had to get creative and think outside of the box.

At first, I turned to other lawyers in my industry for guidance and advice, but very quickly I was able to see that I didn't want to replicate what those apparently successful lawyers had built because they were stuck with businesses they could never exit.  They could never take vacations and were facing a situation where they'd have to work until they died.

That was not why I started a business.

So, I went outside the legal industry to learn from all sorts of other entrepreneurs ... automotive repair shop owners, carpet cleaners, dentists, chiropractors and even yoga teachers.

Again and again I had to ask myself, how is my business the same? What can I learn here in this apparently unconnected business that can apply to my business?

This is the exact same thing you can and should do with everything I'm teaching you here.

I don't care what area of the law you practice in-everything I teach is applicable to you!  This week, a reader's question is helping me help you figure out how to bring immediate revenue into your business through speaking engagements.

So read on and don't forget to download our outsourcing manual if you find yourself doing way too many jobs you hate or dread throughout the day.

Power to the People (and your dream law business!),

Alexis

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  Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memorandum
   How EVERY Practicing Attorney Can Generate Income
                     Through Speaking Engagements
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Have you ever read one of my past articles on generating income and thought, "That all sounds nice and good Alexis...but there's just no way I can [insert opportunity] because I'm not an estate planning attorney?"

If so, you're not alone!

In fact, I received an email this week from one of our subscribers just like that.  Here is a reprint of the email in part:

Hi Alexis,

You and I follow each other on Twitter, and I have listened to a couple of your telephone seminars, but I am not enrolled in any of your teaching programs.

But I've been wondering since I received this email how you were able to "rustle up a speaking engagement," and bring in money on what seems to be nearly immediately.

As I understand it, your specialty when you practiced was estate planning, which I think lends itself to speaking engagements or presentations more than other specialties. For instance, I specialize in employee benefit litigation and business litigation, which means that my potential clients may have a claim to prosecute or defend, but there's not much available in the way of speaking engagements that generate revenue promptly. I agree that it would be great to set up or find speaking opportunities that result in revenues, but I'm just not sure that your experience translates to other specialties."

Thank you for your consideration.

First, let me get one thing out of the way before I address this subscriber's specific question-ALL businesses are at their core the same.

Every business owners is in the business of marketing the service that business provides.

So, yes, even though you are a litigator, you can rustle up a speaking engagement and get clients into your office that translate into revenue ...fast.

Let's take a look at how.

As more people lose their jobs, entrepreneurs are taking it as a sign to branch out and start their own businesses.  In fact, small business startup rates are higher than ever-especially when it comes to online ventures.

This subscriber could be putting together a presentation (and even charge for it!) that teaches businesses owners and corporations what they MUST know to avoid being sued and/or what to do if they are sued to keep their legal fees as low as possible.

This presentation could be advertised online nationally or locally in your community.

I guarantee if you market it right, you'd get a great turnout.  How do I know?  Because I've created a tele-conference series for business owners who want to put a great foundation beneath their business and over 20 business owners have paid $397 to participate.

Business owners want and need this information.  When you provide it to them, guess who they are going to call when they find themselves in hot water? YOU!  And, how many of the business owners you will be hot water right when you talk to them?  A few.

These potential clients are now be educated on why they need your services and why you are the best person to serve them.

Can you see how this is applicable to every practice area?

The personal injury lawyer can be speaking to accident victims - what to know before settling your accident case with the insurance company. The divorce lawyer - what to know before you file for divorce so you keep as much money as possible and don't screw up your kids.  The employment lawyer - what every business owner must know to keep from losing tens of thousands of dollars to employees. The business litigation lawyer - what every business owner must know about disputes to keep legal costs down.

These are very basic, simple examples, but here's what you can see ...

Experts hold seminars. Experts get referrals, and the experts get immediate income.You are qualified to be holding seminars, giving presentations and sharing your knowledge because you are an expert in your practice area!

Now it's just a matter of getting creative, finding the right audience and getting in front of them-which is really a crash course in direct response  marketing 101 (taught through our Law Business Secrets Success Coaching Club) - and has nothing to do with estate planning.

And while I can't reveal every single detail about securing and converting these speaking engagements into immediate income (that's a perk for Personal Family Lawyers and Law Business Secrets Success Coaching Club members only!), with a little bit of research and "outside the box" thinking-you too can generate additional income through speaking engagements no matter what type of law you practice!

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I'm at the Get a Life Conference in Chicago right now speaking on a dirty word for attorneys ... outsourcing. 

I have to laugh because so many attorneys find the thought of "not doing it all" scary or even appalling, but that mentality is exactly what's holding them back from creating the kind of lifestyle law business they'll love!

Thankfully we have top secret information here in this week's Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memorandum to help you avoid the time-sucking traps to which so many law firm owners fall victim.

Specifically, in this week's Briefing Memo I'll how show you how to stop working long hours and start focusing on what you love to do by simply identifying your "Creative Genius".

I am more committed than ever to help lawyers like you stop wasting your time on things you don't have to be doing.

So make a commitment today to stop trading dollars for hours and learn how to put quality time into your law business instead of the tiresome quantity you are doing now!

Power to the People (and Your Dream Law Business!),
Alexis

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   Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memorandum 
              The Dirtiest Word in the Legal Dictionary.....
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Are you sick of working 15 hour days? I'll show you how to STOP once and for all!

As attorneys, we are all pretty much type-A perfectionists with control issues, right?

While that personality has pushed us to excel, it is a HUGE liability when transferred into our businesses if we want a work/life balance that our families can live with.

Why? Well, those personality traits translate into an inability to let go of those things that we could delegate or outsource.

As a result, we end up spending most of our time working outside of our Creative Genius. Your Creative Genius is that thing you love to do, that you are really great at doing, and that provides the most value to your world. You may have more than one Creative Genius, but very rarely will you have more than a handful of things that meet all three of these criteria.

As a lawyer, there are many, many, many things you can do, but that doesn't mean you should be doing them. From here on out, I want you to focus your energy on narrowing down a little more every day until eventually you are only doing those things that you identify as your Creative Genius.

I remember a medical malpractice lawyer jokingly said one time, "I can do anything if I read it in a book. I'm pretty confident I can do brain surgery if I had a text book in front of me". 

And while he may very well be smart enough to learn brain surgery from a book-the result would be FAR worse than the medical malpractice cases he sees on a daily basis!

All joking aside, you probably don't even realize where you are compromising on your Creative Genius-but I promise that if you take the time to identify this and make daily small changes, you will add more hours to the day and far more happiness to your life. When you identify your Creative Genius and work more towards doing only that, you can stop struggling because you'll be free to focus your energy on those activities that bring the highest return on investment to your business and your life.

So let's get into the two basic steps for identifying your Creative Genius. 

1. Notice What Comes Naturally

Many of us look for things that are challenging and hard to tackle because it makes us feel "more accomplished" or that much smarter. I did this myself by taking tax classes with Martin Ginsburg in law school just because he was known as the toughest professor and I got a charge from the
challenge and being good at what was hard. But I didn't love it. And it was only after joining the tax group at my first job out of law school that I realized what a mistake I had made.

So rather than doing what's hard, take an inventory of the things in your business that just come naturally to you. 

For example, maybe it takes you hours to draft a letter or legal document when you sit down in front of a computer-but you could get up and give a speech with just a few moments notice! 

Or maybe you are on the opposite side of the coin.

Everything you want to say to your prospects comes out so much easier on paper than it does from your mouth. 

Maybe you are fantastic at managing the business, making tough decisions and running a team-- but you just aren't that great in front of clients. Conversely, perhaps you LOVE meeting with clients, but you hate running your business.

Here's the great news about all of this ... it's all okay. Whoever you are is perfect.

2. Accept Who You Are and Outsource the Rest

So many of us have a subconscious belief "if it's easy, it must not be good." But, this is a lie! It's a lie that's keeping us from experiencing the best of what life has to offer. Life can be easy.

Begin to write down everything you love to do, that comes easily to you, that provides value to your business.

The truth is that if you don't like running your business, you don't have to. If you don't love speaking publicly, you don't have to. If you don't like engaging clients, you don't have to. If you don't like drafting legal documents, you don't have to.

I can hear you now. You're thinking "OK, Alexis, how DO you expect me to run my business if I'm not doing these things? Magic?"

Well, kind of! As you focus more and more on your Creative Genius, you can find others to handle everything else.

That's the power of outsourcing.

3. Let Go and Trust

Now, this is the most difficult part for lawyers. To successfully outsource, you've got to let go of some control and trust. If you really want to stop working 15-18 hours a day, you must embrace this step with everything you have. It will be your biggest barrier. But, when you breakthrough it, what you find on the other side is the freedom and peace you want from your business.

Understand, there will be mistakes made. There will be balls dropped. But, these experiences will be learning opportunities for the people you are outsourcing to and as long as you turn them into opportunities to teach and not opportunities for blame, the people who you are outsourcing to will become your saviors.

Pick one thing and get started. Because remember, you can always make more money-- but you can't make more time. 

So if you want to go on vacation, take a day off to just play with the kids, or run a business that truly brings you joy, make it a priority operate in your Creative Genius and outsource everything else on your plate!

I put together a 21 page manual on outsourcing called Outsourcing: The KEY to Running Your Million Dollar Law Practice While Working Less Than 40 Hours a Week".for the Get a Life Conference.

If you'd like to get your hands on it, simply email Support@FamilyWealthMatter.com with Outsource Manual in the subject line.

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Wow, all I can say is if you have not taken a vacation from your work in a while, do it sooner rather than later.

It's amazing how much perspective you will come back with on what's really important for you to be focusing on in your business and in your life and how much time you are spending everyday wasting time on things that are not your Creative Genius.

Your Creative Geniusis all that you are meant to be doing. Sure, you are capable of doing much more, but by doing more you are actually sabotaging your success.

In next week's Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memo I'll share my trick for how you can easily identify your Creative Genius and let go of the everything else.

This week though, I'm briefing you on something many lawyers overlook and it's kind of embarrassing - kind of like the cobbler's kids having no shoes.

Does Your Business Have the Right Legal Foundation?

I got bad advice when I first started my own law firm and didn't have the right foundation beneath it. Once I shored up the foundation, I was able to take off and soar.

If you've overlooked this important foundation for your own business, it's not too late. Details in the Briefing Memo.

Power to the People (and Your Dream Law Business!)
Alexis

PS - Save the date for June 18th. You will want to plan to spend 75-minutes with me on that day at 12pm PT/3pm ET  so you can learn how to create your own system for engaging 97.5% of the people who come into your office, no matter what practice area you are in. Engaging 97.5% of the people who call your office is the holy grail that will finally give you the freedom you've been craving in your business

PPS - Want to see pics of Ali, Dave and I in Maui, friend me on Facebook and check out my photos.

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    Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memorandum 
     Does Your Business Have the Right Legal Foundation?
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Is YOUR Law Business Set Up Right? The Smart Lawyers Guide to Protecting Your Personal Assets From Your Risky Business

As lawyers, we advise our clients on how to keep their assets safe from lawsuits. And yet so many of us are like the cobblers kids who wear no shoes and have not set up our own business in the right way to protect our own personal assets.

When I first opened the doors of my law firm, I asked around about whether I should incorporate my business and the universal response I got from other lawyers (!) was that there was no real benefit because I would be on the hook for my malpractice whether I was incorporated or not. I asked my CPA and she told me there was no real tax benefit, so I didn't incorporate.

Unfortunately, what I later came to learn is that this is TERRIBLE advice.

Everyone who runs a small business should put a shield between their business activities and their personal assets, especially lawyers.

Sure, your business entity won't protect your personal assets from any potential malpractice claims. But, your business entity will absolutely protect you from any claims by employees or independent contractors, claims against you as a result of actions taken by your employees or independent contractors, claims against you as a result of injuries on your property, etc.

Then, once you get your business entity set up with the right corporate form based on your state laws, be sure you maintain the entity and don't make the mistake many business owners make of thinking all you need is to file with the State and get a tax ID number from the IRS.

You need resolutions, annual meetings, updated annual meeting minutes, and to ensure you maintain all of your business bank accounts totally separately from your personal accounts.

Get yourself a credit card in the name of your business and never pay for anything personal with that card. 

Be sure to absolutely record any contributions of capital you make into your corporation so that when you sell your business down the road you'll pay less capital gains tax. And, you are building your law firm to sell one day, right?

Last, be sure not to inadvertently subject yourself to personal liability by either 1) signing legal documents personally and not as the President or CEO of your business entity or 2) signing legal documents, like a property or equipment lease, that have a personal guarantee included that you could potentially have negotiated out of, if only you'd read the document.

It's pretty funny that I'm writing this article for lawyers, but like all business owners it's very easy to get caught up in working in our business that we make poor decisions when it comes to setting up our business in the right way.

 

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I'm writing from bed where I'm caring for two sick babies. Okay, they aren't so much babies. They're 9 and 6, but of course they will always be my babies, especially when they are sick.

I'm loading up on zinc, echinacea and elderberry and washing my hands like crazy because I'm leaving for Maui on Monday for a MUCH needed vacation and to meet with my mentor, Ali Brown, and our mastermind group.

All wellness prayers would be very much appreciated!

In the meantime, this week's Law Business Revolution Briefing Memorandum is about a key component of growing your law practice - adequate capitalization!

Most law practices will never make it off the ground because of this one issue - lawyers seem to think they don't have to invest in their businesses to make them successful.

I used to think this too - I thought I could grow my law firm with just the revenues I brought in from clients on a real time basis. No way Jose. That's just going to stick you on the cash flow roller coaster; a sickening place to be.

Fortunately, it's pretty easy to get off - IF you know what you are doing.

After this week's briefing memorandum, you will.

Power to the People (and Your Dream Law Business!)

Alexis

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     Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memorandum 
              Need Money to Grow Your Law Practice?
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Financing Your Law Business: How to Find All The Money You'll Need to Go It Alone and Grow Big

When I first started my law practice back in 2003, I expected to pay the bills for my new business by bringing in clients.

I didn't have any money in savings and my husband was a stay at home dad without an income, so it was seriously do or die time for me and my family.

I had been making $165,000 per year as an associate at the big law firm and we were spending all of it, so I needed to at least replace that in profits from my firm.

Everyone told me I needed to plan to not be profitable for at least a couple years. I believed I'd be the exception to this rule.

I did hedge my bets a bit by finding office space I could use without paying rent by trading my time with an attorney who had an empty office space in his suite. This worked out well for me because that office space also came with all of the big equipment I'd need to get started, like phones, a copier and a furnished conference room.

All I needed was a laptop, my own phone line, a website, a desk and some chairs. I was able to pay for all of that out of the little bit I had in savings and on my credit card.

Now, it was time to start bringing in some revenue.

Fortunately, I quickly discovered that as a business owner, I'd be keeping a whole lot more of what I brought in as a business owner than I was as an employee due to the favorable tax treatment for business owners who know how to use the tax code in the right way. (If you need a little brushing up on this, check out the book Lower Your Taxes - Big Time! by Sandy Botkin, CPA, Esq., the best resource I've come across on the subject.)

Pretty quickly, I realized I'd need to bring in at least one person to help me because it just wasn't possible for me to do everything I needed to do to attract clients, engage them, service their matter and build a relationship with them without help.

At the time though, I didn't feel as if I had enough revenue to bring on an employee I'd have to be responsible for paying each month.

But when I really looked at the numbers and how much more money I could bring in if I could focus my energy on revenue generating activities only, I decided I couldn't afford NOT to bring someone in. I'd just have to make the commitment to myself to bring in one additional new client per month to pay for my part time employee and determined that with the extra time I'd have, I could do that.

At the time, I didn't know that as a small business owner I'd actually have access to financing that would help me grow my business.

And a part of me actually felt like I should be able to do it all on my own without any help. You know how a two-year old blindly yells, "I DO IT, I DO IT!" and doesn't want any help even though any adult looking on can clearly see that the two year old would benefit from a little assistance? Well, that was me. business-wise, I was a two year old, blindly insisting I didn't need any help.

But then I got to a point where I was stagnating. I wanted to grow bigger. I wanted to move out of that office space I was sharing with those other lawyers and into my own space. I had a very clear idea of how I wanted my office to look and the kind of image I wanted to create, none of which was possible in the high-rise office space I was sharing.

I wanted a team of staff members standing by at the ready to support me and my clients, instead of just the surly receptionist who growled "law offices" when she answered the phones. I didn't want my clients to have to navigate a confusing parking garage. I wanted beautiful letterhead and envelopes and a better website.

All of that would take money. Money I didn't have and wasn't going to save up seeing 1 or 2 clients per month, which was all I was able to bring in on my own without investing in some really good marketing. Which of course I didn't have the money for.

Right around this time, I happened to meet a local banker in my community who was opening up a new community business bank.

This was a fortuitous meeting because up until then, I thought a bank was merely a place to deposit checks and had no idea that a relationship with a banker could be helpful to me in my business. The banks had always been a necessary evil up until then and certainly not anywhere I would think to turn for help.

But this banker wanted to know about my business. He wanted to know what my vision was for its growth and how he could help me. I excitedly shared with him the amazing vision I had for the law firm I wanted to grow.

He could see the vision and wanted to help me make it a reality, so he let me in on how I could find all the money I'd need to build my business.

Here's what he told me to do:

1. Figure out exactly how much money you would need to do everything you want to do and write it all down. Think big. You can always scale back later or do it in stages, he said.

2. If you have family, he said, have a frank conversation with them about what they are willing to invest in your business. Let them know your vision, how you'll use their investment and when they should expect to receive their investment back. Put it in writing.

3. Next, look into a loan or line of credit through the United States Small Business Administration (SBA). He said he would help me complete all the paperwork for this. (This is the benefit of working with a small community bank who takes an interest in you and your business.)

4. He also told me that I could use equipment financing for things like my computer network, my phones and even furniture. He connected me with an equipment financing company that was able to roll everything together into one neat package.

5. Last, he told me to begin applying for credit in the name of my law firm, separately from myself. This is a process that can take some time, but is well worth it and if done right can get you a whole lot of money to grow your business without any of it personally guaranteed. 

a. If you have not already incorporated your business, this would be a great time to start because you are going to want to apply for business credit using your business Tax ID number, not your own social security number. 

b. After you've incorporated, make sure you've got all the right city licenses in place and begin registering your business with the business credit reporting agencies, such as Dun & Bradstreet.

I'll be honest with you, all of this was difficult to do. It was difficult from a paperwork perspective, but it was also difficult emotionally.

The entire time I was going through the process of applying for the line of credit through the SBA, I was full of feelings of embarrassment and shame. I can't tell you why, I can only tell you I felt it and as I've talked with other business owners, they've expressed that they've felt the same during the process. So, don't be surprised if you do. And, more importantly, don't let those feelings hold you back from getting the money you need to finance the growth of your business and grow big. It's totally worth it!

During this process, it can be helpful to have guidelines to consider when making projections about income and expenses. I created a comprehensive business plan for my law firm that
you can have to review. To get access to it, go to http://budurl.com/47mg and join the revolution.

I'll send you the business plan as well as a whole lot of other free practice-building gifts that I created for my law firm that will give you a much bigger vision of what's possible for your business.

PS: Lawyers frequently ask about obtaining funding for their practice. After a whole lot of looking, we've found one of the leading business finance consultants in the country, Midas Financial to serve our lawyers.

Midas has secured in excess of $250,000,000 on behalf of their clients in the past 3.5 years. They are experts at what they do with an exceptional success rate.

Our representative at Midas is Darrell Hornbacher.You can contact Darrell at 303.513.8664 or via e-mail at: Darrell@midas-financial.com.

He is extremely knowledgeable and has developed several programs that give attorneys preferential treatment in a streamlined loan process. We encourage you to contact Darrell for you lending needs. Please inform him you are part of our Law Business Revolution Program. He is a pleasure to work with! 

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Does it feel as if your business has taken over your life?

Not experiencing the freedom you once hoped for and dreamed of when you started your business?

If so, you are definitely NOT alone. 

The first three years of my business were painful. I was the breadwinner in my family.  I had two kids at home under the age of 4.  I was working 6-7 days a week.  And struggling mightily to keep all the balls in the air.

If you've read my Law Business Manifesto, you know the whole story.

You've read about the cash flow roller coaster and the marketing merry go round I was stuck on.

In the 4th year of my practice, I found the solution though.

That year, my business did a million dollars of revenue with me only going into my office 2 days per week.

One of the major secrets to making that happen is something I've talked about a bit, but never LIVE to anyone other than my Personal Family Lawyers.

It's the power of outsourcing. 

Outsourcing is what will allow you to grow your business without taking on huge overhead before you are ready.

Outsourcing is what will allow you to expand the services you can provide without learning anything new at all.

Outsourcing is what will allow you to serve your clients in a much deeper way, be more responsive, AND have the freedom you've been hoping for in your business.

In Chicago at the Get a Life Conference, for the first time ever, I will speak about outsourcing LIVE. 

Not only are you invited to the Get a Life Conference, but I have very special VIP pricing for you ($500 OFF the VIP package,which INCLUDES the Presidents dinner and a Cubs game at Wrigley field) PLUS you'll get to spend private time with me asking all of your questions about business, marketing, outsourcing or anything else you want to talk about during a private event I'm holding just for my subscribers attending the conference.

All you have to do now, to take the first step to taking back your life is to call Beth Bond at 312.753.6911, let her know you want to attend and she'll get you registered.

Even better, if you really want to get a leg up on the journey to take back your life, send this email over to your assistant and tell him or her to call Beth for you.

Not only will you get VIP attendance at the conference plus all the goodies I mentioned, but you'll ALSO get a year free in the Total Practice Management Association.

What's cool about that that is that they'll even book your travel and hotel for you!  So, now you have absolutely no reason not to pick up the phone and call Beth right now.

Be sure to let Beth know I sent you so you can get the $500 discount pricing AND the VIP private meeting time with me.

Power to the People (and Your Dream Law Business!)

Alexis

PS - Don't forget this VIP offer for $500 off the VIP package at the Get a Life Conference plus a special private meeting at the conference just for my subscribers is only available by calling Beth at 312.753.6911. Do it now.

PPS - It's not just me that you get at the Get a Life Conference!  You also get to hear: Gerry Riskin of Edge International, Kevin O'Keefe of LexBlog, Nancy Roberts Linder of Nancy Roberts Linder Consulting, Larry Bodine of Larry Bodine Marketing, Stephen Fairley of the Rainmaker Institute, and Allison Shields of LegalEase Consulting.  This is a DON'T MISS event!

 

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Wow, we are so excited over here at the Law Business Revolution because more lawyers than ever
are ready to transform their businesses from the old, outdated broken business model into something absolutely extraordinary!

Laura Lee, our Executive Vice President, has been jam-packed all week with interviews and calling me with updates about the amazing group of lawyers we’ll be transforming over the next several months.

Many people have asked me “Alexis, how is it that you and the lawyers you work with are thriving more than ever during these challenging economic times?”  I believe the answer is that I no longer settle for less than I deserve AND that’s brought an energy into my space that rubs off on
everyone I come into contact with.

So, this week’s Law Business Revolution Briefing Memorandum focuses on how you can cultivate the energy of not settling in your own life and your own business and watch your life transform.

Power to the People (and Your Dream Law Business!)

Alexis

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    Law Business Revolution Weekly Briefing Memorandum
             Do NOT Settle For Less Than You Deserve
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One of the biggest mistakes I made in my business right from the beginning was settling for less than I deserve and as a result of that settling, guess what I got?

Frustration. Burn-out. Overwhelm.

I bet you can relate.  But, what you might not know is that there is something you can do about it.

This Law Business Revolution weekly briefing memorandum will show you exactly how to experience the life and business of your dreams, by not settling!

The first place for you to start is to honestly look at WHERE you are settling for less.

The likely places for you to start looking are with your clients and your team.  It might be your office space. 

Take an honest, good hard look.

Are you taking on clients that are not your ideal clients? For that matter, do you even know who your ideal clients are? What about team members?  Does every person on your team feel like they are the best fit? Or are you creating jobs to fit your team members?

While you are at it, look around your office space.  Your work space.  Is it all you want it to be or do you see things that are not the way you want them to be?  Is your space the way you want your clients to experience you?

It's very, very likely that you've now identified some places that you are settling for less in your business. (By the way, this exact same process works in your life too!)

So now what?

Now that you are aware of where you have been settling,  write down the areas where you have been settling and what exactly and specifically it would look like if you were NOT settling.

For example, you might write:

I've been settling with my receptionist. If I wasn't settling, my receptionist would answer my phone with a smile on her face every single time and she would say "welcome to [name of law firm] this is [name] how can I assist you?" When clients walk in the door, she would immediately greet them
with a smile, an offer of a beverage and guide them to a comfortable space.

Great!  Do this as many times as are necessary.

What this process will do for you is give you clarity and focus about what you DO want.  That's the first step to receiving what you want in your life and no longer settling.

Now, your job is to begin to let go of what you've been settling for in favor of what you want and deserve in your life and your business.

This, of course, is the difficult part.  All sorts of fear will come up that makes you believe that you can't really get what you want and it's better to settle for something than end up with nothing.

This thought/fear is blocking the life/business you deserve.

Now that you are aware of it, you can breakthrough it.  I'd love to hear how it goes for you!
 

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