I was a guest on my friend and colleague Jory Fisher’s BlogTalkRadio show last week. After talking with numerous clients who were experiencing writer’s block, Jory and I agreed to discuss content generation: why to create content (meaning, generally, written or oral information relevant to your practice that you share with an interested audience), how […]
Every single one of my clients faces the need to build new habits at some point. Whether it’s replacing an unhelpful old habit or building a new one from scratch, the process of illuminating automatic behavior and changing it can be quite difficult. At the same time, building a habit that operates without conscious thought […]
How do you ask for business? We all know intuitively (or through training) that those who don’t ask typically don’t get business. However, many lawyers are reluctant to ask explicitly for business, and rightly so. A flat request can disrupt a relationship if the answer is “no”, and, under some circumstances, asking can even be […]
What are you willing to risk to grow your practice? The reality is that reward almost always requires some risk, whether it’s the risk of stepping outside your comfort zone, the risk of putting an investment on the line, or the risk of rejection. There’s no point in taking foolish risks, but without taking some […]
There’s a lot of analysis these days about practice and law school in light of the recession and the recovering economy. Most of these articles are focused on large law firms (for a variety of reasons ranging from the better availability of data to the different economic pressures), but the discussions are relevant whether you’re […]
“Should I write an article for this publication? Should I accept this invitation to speak? Should I attend this conference?” Since neither time nor money is unlimited, you’ll have to make some difficult decisions about which business development activities to pursue and which to let pass. Especially if you’re eager to get new business, it’s […]
Here’s how it happens… You get back to your office, having met some interesting new contacts, armed with their business cards and good intentions of following up. You take those cards, maybe flip through them to remind yourself of who’s most interesting, and then you put them somewhere safe, so you won’t forget. My “safe […]
When I have a consultation with a potential client, I always ask two questions: what do you want to create in your practice, and why? More often than not, one aspect of the “why” addresses the desire for independence. Service partners, for instance, often mention the desire to regain some scheduling freedom. Freedom in being […]
On Monday morning, I read a Wall Street Journal article sharing the news that law firms have “regained some of their pricing power” and that hourly rates are up an average of 4.8% from 2011. Later Monday, other news started to roll out: Weil Gotshal announced a layoff of 60 associates (7% of its associates) […]
A few days ago, a colleague and I were swapping stories about our business missteps: the things that just didn’t work, and the things that were colossal, flaming failures. To listen to us, you might think that neither of us had a viable business, must less a successful one–but fortunately, that isn’t at all the […]