The root of the rainmaking struggle?

How often have you heard (or perhaps even said) that only a select few lawyers are good rainmakers?  I hear it all the time, and though I agree that not everyone can be a world-class rainmaker, just about every lawyer willing to put in the effort can learn to bring in business.  A variety of pressures make business development challenging and at least one personality tendency: introversion.

I’ve worked with many clients who consider themselves to be introverts and who, therefore, hate doing the relationship-building that is the foundation of business development.  I love working with those clients, because I’m an introvert too, and I’ve learned plenty of strategies to make networking painless.

A new book, 200 Best Jobs for Introverts, places law as the sixth best job for introverts — right after computer software engineering, computer systems analyzing, network systems and data communications analyzing, and accounting/auditing.  Law also garners the spot as the second-highest paying job for an introvert, right behind astronomy, with a reported average annual earning of about $98,000.