RJon Robins

Who’s Going to Stop You From Building a Million-Dollar Law Firm?

November 6, 2014 by RJon Robins

“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” -Ayn Rand

Ask most solo lawyers if they’d like to build a million-dollar law firm and they’ll respond “Yes BUT…” and proceed to rattle off a list of reasons why this is impossible. They’ll say things like:

“Building a seven-figure law firm requires too much work.”

“This market is too small to support a seven-figure law firm.”

“This market is too large (too competitive) for me to build a seven-figure law firm.”

“Building a seven-figure law firm is impossible because of the area of law I practice.”

Notice that most lawyers will rattle off these excuses before you’ve even asked for them. They’ll do this because they’ve adopted a defeated mindset. They look for reasons that good ideas will fail. They’re cynical and many of them are probably secretly miserable as well.

As a result, they’re asking the WRONG question as highlighted by the Rand quote above. They’re asking “Who is going to let me build a million-dollar firm?” and the answer is that nobody is going to LET them. Nobody is going to roll out a red carpet for them. That’s not how you are growing a profitable law practice. That’s not how the market works. That’s not how life works.

Lawyers who get it (like our members) know that Ayn Rand was right. They don’t ask who’s going to LET them… they ask who is going to STOP them. And then, they build a plan and a strategy and a process to overcome the obstacles that sit in their way. Building a high-earning law practice happens when you apply that plan from the information and experience that you have.

It’s not rocket science. Building a massively profitable law firm that supports your lifestyle and allows you to enjoy life, whatever that means for you, isn’t about complicated business theories and strategic concepts. It’s about your MINDSET. It’s about your determination to find a path (or blaze a trail if needed) towards ultimate success, whatever that looks like for you.

So be honest.

What’s your mindset?

Are you asking who’s going to let you?

Or are you asking who’s going to STOP you?

How To Keep All Your Law Firm Employees Moving In The Same Direction

November 4, 2014 by RJon Robins

https://youtu.be/n5jlN5ROYng

“How can I keep all of my law firm employees moving in the same direction?” Even if you’re a solo lawyer completely by yourself in your office without anyone helping you at all, you have to know that every law firm has the following positions on hiring a managing law firm staff. Every law firm has a receptionist, a secretary, a paralegal, a associate, (a rainmaker), a manager, and a chief operating office. A chief operating officer is the person who creates the policies and the systems and the procedures and makes the factory work. A chief financial officer and an owner so you’ve got to inventory all of these people to make sure that you’ve got someone covering each of these positions. It may be one person wearing all of the hats if it’s all you by yourself still but if you ever want it to not be always you by yourself you’ve got to document what these jobs are, what these positions are and start building a successful team for your law firm.

Next step, you get someone in one of these jobs and now you’ve got to lead them. Leadership and management; two very different things. Don’t confuse management with leadership. Getting everyone to go in the same direction is a function of leadership. It’s very simple, it’s a very simple conversation. This is the job of the managing partner. You go and talk to the managing partner of a million dollar solo law firm, you go and talk to the managing partner of a 100-lawyer firm, the job of the managing partner is very simple, there’s four parts to it and an extra part is retaining law firm employees.

One part is to have a very simple conversation with all of the key players and the conversation goes like this. Ready? Where are you now in terms of your career, in terms of your income, in terms of your professional development? Let’s say for example that you talked to someone and where they are now is they’re 30 years old and they’re single and they have no kids and they’re making $75,000 a year.

Where do you want to be in 12 months, 24 months, 36 months? Well, in 24 months I think it want to be, well, obviously I want to be 32 years old and I want to be making $150,000 and I want to have these professional experiences and credentials and responsibilities and then you help the person make a plan to get them from where they are now to where they want to be. You help them make that plan, you coach them, you guide them, you mentor them, you advise them, you cajole them, you encourage them, you hold them accountable and you schedule regular interval meetings to sit down and say where are you against the plan that we laid out? Where are you against the things that we agreed that you were going to accomplish between then and now to help you accomplish your goals in your life and your career?

Now, to the extent that they’re achieving their goals in their life and their career are consistent with the overall business plan you have for your law firm, you’ll get everyone working in the same direction by maximizing law staff productivity.

It’s okay, by the way, if someone’s plan is to achieve X, Y or Z and they plan to stop working with you once they’ve achieved those things. At least you know you’ve got them for that long at least you know you can motivate them to that point. At least you know when you need to start replacing them. This is the job of the managing partner, it doesn’t matter if you’re the managing partner of a solo law firm that’s $250,000, $500,000, a million dollars, multiple million dollars or if you have aspirations or maybe you’re already the managing partner of a 10, 20, 50-lawyer firm. This is one of the key functions of a managing partner and this is what leadership looks like.

How to Network Strategically and Get More Referrals

October 20, 2014 by RJon Robins

https://youtu.be/Ka5Xbp8e4yI

How to network strategically and get more referrals. Networking is very simple. Networking is all about talking to the right people about their favorite subject and then following up with them. Write that down!

Networking is part of marketing, it’s not part of sales. If you’re networking to try to get business from the people you’re networking with, and it’s not working, that’s why. Networking is marketing. Marketing is designed to cultivate a referral network as part of referral marketing strategies. That’s why it’s called networking, right? So the idea is you go and you identify who the influencers are either by their job, by their position in society, or by their temperament. It doesn’t have to necessarily be someone with great credentials but there are influencers in every community. You identify who those influencers are. You see where they’re going. They may be going to formal networking events like a BNI group or something like that, or they may be standing behind the counter at their store just meeting and greeting all of the people who come and go and being a resource to their staff. Identify who is in a position to refer business to you; that’s number one.

Next, talk to them about their favorite subject. Their favorite subject is always very predictable. It’s going to be their business, their occupation, their profession, their family, their kids, their hobbies; it’s their interests. Ask them about these things. Put them on a pedestal and ask them all about what they like best about their business, their industry, and where they see their future going in whatever they are doing. Make sure you only ask positive questions. This way they will connect you with positivity, stay positive!

Make sure to tell them what you do very briefly. Put it in terms of why they should care. For example, I would say I’m the CEO of How to Manage a Small Law Firm. That would be very boring, no one cares about that. If I was speaking to someone and I wanted them to care I’d say, I help lawyers make more money in record time.

Even if they’re not a lawyer they might know a lawyer and what I just said will then resonate with them and if they’re interested, they’ll ask for follow-up. If they’re not, you add them to your (rainmaking) rolodex and come back to them.

You have to but constantly be on the lookout for how to connect A and B in your network and be that connector, that person who recognizes when people should be doing business together and they’ll love you for it. In return, they’ll refer business back to you because you care enough to refer business to them. That is one way in generating more business referrals.

This last point will be on networking; it’s called networking it’s not called net socializing. Do not go and pretend like you’re networking by going and hanging around with a bunch of other lawyers who do the same thing you do. Hanging around with people who do the same as you won’t get you far.Hang around with realtors, hang around with family therapists, anyone who doesn’t do the same thing that you do because the odds are those who do the same as you are not going to refer you business. That’s why so many lawyers go around and they spend years and years on law firm networking growth and they think it doesn’t work. In reality, it isn’t working for them because they are hanging around and networking with people who do the exact same thing that you do, they are not likely to send business your way.

Remember: networking, not net socializing!

The Perils of Wrong Clients: Why They’re Worse Than No Clients

October 19, 2014 by RJon Robins

As the owner of a law firm, you might think that waking up one morning and realizing that you don’t have a single client would be the absolute worst-case nightmare scenario. But you’d be wrong. The true nightmare scenario is having the WRONG clients. The wrong clients force you to do work that you don’t like doing for people you don’t like working with. It is almost a must to avoid bad clients. Do this long enough and you’ll wake up one morning and realize that you’re miserable, that you hate your job, and that you’d rather do just about ANYTHING than go into the office for yet another day of miserable, mind-numbing, unfulfilling work. This is a trap that many law firms still in the first stage of firm growth fall into. And it’s easy to understand why. When you’re barely making enough money to make your mortgage payment, let alone actually taking your spouse out to a nice restaurant, you are inclined to take any work that you can get. If representing the Devil himself would cover your student loan payments… you’re probably going to do it. But then you’re trapped. Your devil cient may give you the income you need to just barely scrape by. But in the process, he will demand so much of your time and your energy that you’ve got nothing left. No energy to invest into growing your business. No desire to get up in the morning. And no time to think about anything other than meeting his demands. What should you do instead? Figure out what kind of work you want to do. Your work should energize you. It should leave you feeling good about yourself and what you’re doing with your time. And then figure out what type of clients you want to work for. Don’t make the wrong client selection. This refers to their occupation and position in life (i.e. small business owners or wealthy retirees)… but their personality is just as important. At How to MANAGE a Small Law Firm, we have a strict NO ASSHOLES policy. And your law firm should probably have a similar policy. Once you know what type of work you want to do, and who you want to do it for… force yourself to say no to the wrong clients. This can be very difficult at first, especially when you need the money. But it’s one of the most valuable habits you will ever learn. Having the WRONG clients is worse than having no clients at all. Be honest with yourself. Are you working for the wrong clients?

Don’t Set Yourself Up to Fail: Five Signs That Your Factory Can’t Keep Up With Your Marketing and Sales

October 5, 2014 by RJon Robins

Many of you know that there are seven “Main Parts” of your law business. Building a seven-figure business requires that you have all seven of these Main Parts working together in synergy. When everything is working together properly, it’s a beautiful thing. But when one part of your business falls out of alignment with the other… watch out, because bad things are going to happen.

One common example is when your Factory can’t keep up with the business that is being generated by your Marketing and Sales. This usually occurs when you and your team are doing a GREAT job reaching your target audience and converting them into clients… but your associates and your support staff aren’t able to handle all of the new work.

Is your Factory being overwhelmed? Here are five signs that this may be the case:

Clients are complaining about delays. Is it taking too long for you to deliver the promised work? Do you find that you can’t produce the work as quickly as your marketing & sales say that you can?
Clients are upset because the work is sub-par. Are you and your team increasingly prone to making mistakes? Does your work lack the quality that previous clients have come to expect, or that your marketing & sales promise? This is a major problem and can lead to bar grievances or worse.
Your people are overworked. Are your associates and your support staff increasingly stressed out and unhappy? Are they putting in longer hours than they should be? Are they grumbling and talking about leaving the firm?
You’re stressed and can’t stop thinking about work even when you’re at home. If you can’t relax and stop thinking about the work while you’re at home… if you’re distant and not fully present… consider whether the root of your anxiety is fear that your Factory can’t meet its obligations.
You are terrified to take a vacation. If the idea of taking a vacation is out of the question for you… most likely your Factory is not keeping up with workflow. If you feel that your business can’t keep producing without your physical presence, something is wrong with your Factory.

Do any of these symptoms sound familiar? You’re not alone! Many lawyers become “victims of their own success” in this way. It’s GREAT that your marketing and sales efforts are working. But make sure you give your Factory the resources and attention it demands so that your marketing success doesn’t ultimately sink your business.

Small Law Firm Business Development: How to Get Started

September 24, 2014 by RJon Robins

“How do I get started with my law firm business development?” First of all, if you are asking this question I’m going to presume you’re probably still in the first stage of growth with your law practice meaning you have not yet achieved $20,000 of sustainable predictable monthly gross revenue.

If you’re in the first stage of growth with less than $20,000 a month in monthly gross revenue the way you get started is pretty simple, reliable, predictable and does not require a lot of money. By strategizing and planning you will not only improve your law firm but you will save lots of money!

The following steps will help you surpass the first stage of growth. First, come up with your goals. These goals include financial goals, personal goals and professional goals. When thinking in terms of financial goals, you may ask yourself questions like, “how much net income does my business need to earn in order to live the way I reasonably want to be living?” Once you have these financial goals in mind and you can picture exactly what it is that you want in your financial future, marketing and everything it entails now has a clear purpose and makes much more sense.

Personal goals are just as important as financial. You need to think about how many hours per week and weeks of the year you want to be giving your firm on average. I know we live in the real world and it’s never going to be exactly the same week after week. It’s going to fluctuate but you always need to have an average amount in mind. Do you want to be working a 40-hour week, a 50-hour week, or do you want to not have any control over it at all and have your law firm eat you alive?

Professionally you also need to set goals. Ask yourself, “where do I want to be professionally three years from now, five years from now?” Setting these goals is the first step in getting started with your attorney marketing. The rest of the tools, the techniques, and the tasks are pretty simple. As your marketing firm propels past the first stage of growth, there is going to be one question that you will be asked over and over again.

The question is, what do you do? You need to be able to give people an answer that they care about when they ask you this. When people ask you what do you do, what they’re really asking is what can you do for me? Don’t bother to give them the obvious answer : I’m a lawyer, I’m a bankruptcy lawyer, I’m a family law attorney. No one cares about that, answer what you can do for them. We call that giving them your magic statement.

Also, you need to go to networking events. Here’s a secret, the best way for an introvert like me, people don’t realize I’m an introvert but I am, is to go to these events with a plan. Try and identify two or three influencers and meet them. Ask them about their favorite subject, their business and their favorite hobby. They will love to talk about their favorite things and will eventually ask you what you do. At that point you unleash your magic statement and set the hook so they remember you.

Next, you create what we call a (rainmaking) rolodex. Take your old-fashioned rolodex and every time you meet someone you add their name to the rolodex under every topic that you discover they’re interested in. This way, you keep these influencers favorite topics organized and you find ways to better network with them.

Another step for your firm’s development is calling all of your former and current clients and using your new and improved pitch or “magic words”. Using these magic words with clients will put an extra 10% revenue in your pocket consistently, reliably, and predictably every year. This works for everyone who does this, it will work for you too!

Here’s the next step, you call these clients and you say what else can I take off your plate? Everyone has a problem, everyone has an opportunity, everyone’s got something going on in their life that they would welcome getting some help with. Don’t worry about if what they need help with is legal work or legal development. Don’t limit yourself, just be of service to your clients, to your former clients, and to your potential referral sources.

Last and not least, is a quick, easy and reliable step. I shouldn’t say easy, this stuff is not easy but it is worth it. It’s simple all you have to do is make as many referrals as you possibly can. If you’re out there making referrals to everyone in your network, connecting people and being of value and of service to them they will think of you. These are very simple things that lawyers have been doing for hundreds and hundreds of years. Before we had computers, before we had the Internet, before we had videos we had worth of mouth.

These steps are reliable and help in your legal business growth. Rewind this recording to the beginning and watch it again and take notes. These things will get you started and will propel you past that first stage of growth.

One last thing, I just want to share with you; the second stage from $250,000 to $500,000 requires less work than the first stage from zero to $250,000. That’s why it’s so important that we get you through that first stage quickly so that you don’t burn yourself out.

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