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RJon Robins

Over-paying for information

I don't like paying for information.  Information isn't all that valuable.  Information isn't even very hard to get.  Message to lawyers and staff everywhere:  Stop Trying To Make A Profit On Information.

I'm ok paying for explanations.  Explanations save me time.   Explanations enable me to get more done in less time.  Message to lawyers and staff everywhere: Analyze the information for me and deliver it to me in the context of an explanation.  I'll pay you more for it and more cheerfully too.

What I really like to buy and pay for are solutions.  Solutions are worth alot of money to those of us who value our time and have productive ways to put it to use in our lives and in our businesses.  The value of a solution can be disproportionately-higher than the amount of information and analysis required to arrive at the solution.  I always prefer to pay for a solution and I don't mind one bit paying a premium for a conveniently-delivered solution.  Message to lawyers and staff:  If you want to get me excited about giving you alot of money and repeat business and referrals too, please don't bother me until you've explained the information to yourself and can come back to me with a proposal for a solution!

Last chance to fire someone this year…

Lee Rosen is NOT a member of my coaching program but we’ve spoken and I can tell you he’s a happy lawyer who owns a very successful 9 lawyer firm in North Carolina.  In his spare time Lee also shares a ton of useful information about the business or running a sucessful law firm.

Lee’s website is https://divorcediscourse.com

This is straight from Lee.  I think he says it so perfectly there’s no need to add anything…

————–

If you’ve got someone on your team who needs to go, then do it this week.

We’ll be into November next week, and Thanksgiving (in the United States) will be here before you know it. Then we’re fully into the holidays in December.

You’ll look like the Grinch if you fire someone in November and December. Your whole team will talk about what a jerk you are.

This is your last chance to let the person go without it looking like you took the turkey right off the victim’s holiday table.

Hopefully, you’ve already done what needs to be done to prepare yourself and the employee for termination. You’ve been counseling the person, documenting your actions, etc. Of course, every state has different requirements. Thankfully, my state, an at-will state, has minimal steps for us to take. We can fire pretty much willy-nilly. But that does not mean you shouldn’t be navigating the process of firing your employees. Make sure you do what you’ve got to do to comply with the law in your jurisdiction.

It’s unfortunate, but some employees just don’t work out. Both of you will be better off when the relationship is over. I’ve fired people who have found a better fit and done very well for themselves. I was only holding them back by keeping them in a job that really wasn’t right for them.

It’s easy to procrastinate about letting go of an unsatisfactory employee. It’s easy to keep reexamining the situation and finding something positive that allows you to drag it out for another week.

However, these situations rarely get better. They get progressively worse. Once you’ve started thinking about when the end will come, it’s time.

This is your week. Take action. If you don’t, you’re going to be buying that employee a holiday gift a month from now, and then you’re really going to hate yourself.

———————

Don’t you feel better just knowing there are other lawyers who own succcessful businesses and we think about the same sort of things YOU do?

Now go and do what you know must be done.

~ RJON

p.s. While it should only cost about $2,300 to hire the right $50,000 employee, it can easily cost more than $100,000 to keep the wrong $50,000 employee hanging-around.

www.HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com

“Happy Lawyers Make More Money”

The Second Time: A Tale of Profound Impact in Law Practice

Note: I originally sent this yesterday.  If you opened it in a preview window or on certain mobile devices my system can’t tell. So I hope you don’t mind too much that you’re getting it again. 

I’m resending to everyone who appears NOT to have opened it.  Because I think this is an important message that transcends “just” how to make your law firm better…

——-

October 12, 2011 @ 11:10am EST
Miami Airport Gate D
I’ve installed myself at the Admiral’s Club…

The email I was PLANNING to share with you was going to be all about “is this how you feel?” and in it I was going to share some of the feelings I used to struggle with that were holding me back from stepping-into my potential.

Don’t get me wrong, I still struggle.  That’s why I’m at the airport on my way to see one of my own business coaches.

It should give you some comfort to know I practice what I preach.

And I know from personal experience how much better life can be when we take steps to get un-stuck.

It’s not just about all the extra money we make.  It’s about not feeling un-alive.

Because fun isn’t the same thing as excitement.  Fun is healthy & sustainable.  The kind of excitement that comes from “saving the day” isn’t.

But all my plans to write THAT email went by the wayside the second time I saw someone drop-dead right in front of my eyes at an airport.

That just happened literally 10 minutes ago. 

The first time was in 1997 in Puerto Rico during my vacation after I took The Bar Exam.  I was too young and inexperienced then to fully-appreciate what it meant to live your life as big as you can because it could be over tomorrow. 

Thankfully I fully appreciate what that means these days.

I am happy and excited (in a healthy way) to report that we have a record number of our Members flying-in from around the Country to attend our quarterly Members-Only Meeting this weekend.

I’m also happy and excited to report that we have sold-out yet another Mastermind Weekend, even though this one is actually Sunday-Tuesday because of scheduling & logistical reasons.

But I’m seriously upset and disappointed that more of my fellow lawyers are not able to bring themselves to take the action they know they must take to live the life they know they want to live. 

Or even if they’re not exactly clear about the life they want to live, at least to move-out and begin to stop living the life they know they DON’T want to live.

To stop is also a verb.

If you already know you have a great law firm, then you already know it can be so much better.

You may not have anyone else in your life you feel safe telling this to.  Because to everyone else, your life might appear to be perfect.  Enviable even.  But if you’re a lion or a lioness you can’t be satisfied living in captivity.  And that’s what it feels like sometimes doesn’t it?  Like you’re living in captivity.  No thrill.  No real challenges.  Nothing to stretch you.  Like you’re just waiting.

But waiting for what?

If this is you I want you to know that there are other lawyers who know how you feel.

You’re not alone.

We meet in-person every quarter.  We meet by phone every month.  We support and encourage one-another all the time.  We’re never far-away and we would be very pleased if you join our tribe.

–> I will show you how to justify your membership in our tribe by showing you how to make alot more money.

–> And I will show you how to justify your membership in our tribe by showing you how to make your staff more profitable, and how to make your law firm more efficient and taking into account law firms’ client care.

–> And along the way I’ll show you how to grow your business with more and better clients and how to eliminate a/r and eventually how to even sell your business at a profit taking into account law firms’ client care.

But the truth of the matter is, most of that is really just our cover story.

Because our friends, our family, our staff and sadly, most of the lawyers around us, they don’t have a clue how it feels to be the king or the queen of the jungle.  And you’re stuck in a zoo when you long to be out-here and be in the wild with others of your kind.

This may be the first time you’ve ever heard or read anyone talk like this.  Do you like it?  Can you taste it?  Can you smell your freedom?  Can you practically feel it in the grip of your hand?

I don’t care if this email scares-away the zebra – too afraid to decide which way to go, what to do or who to be.

I just saw a man drop dead in front of my eyes and I cannot hold this in any longer.

If you’re one of us then this message has touched something deep inside of you that’s been waiting to be taken seriously.  Not pushed down, shoved-aside and made excuses for.

I am on a mission to recruit an army of winners like us!  Let the rest make their excuses.

If you’re one of us I invite you to study the programs at www.HowToMANAGEaSmalllawFirm.com.

Pick the one that best fits your current situation. 

And then at the end of that desciption you will find a handy scheduling tool you can use to arrange for a telephone appointment with me to discuss your future.

From the bottom of my heart, have a happy, healthy and a fun day!

~ RJON

p.s. Next Mastermind is in February in Salt Lake City.  Two of the 10 seats are already taken.  If you are ready to sit with us at that table send an email to Alex@HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com with “Salt Lake City Mastermind” in the subject line.

What it means to be “stuck”

Over this past weekend a lawyer explained to me why she’s not planning to come to a Mastermind with me.  I asked her, so that I could gain some insight in hopes that it could help other lawyers like you.

Here’s what she told me:

“…I actually don’t feel like I am “stuck.”  I have had my practice open since 2006 and I have been doing significantly better every year!”

This helped me realize I have not been doing a good-enough-job explaining what it means to be “stuck”.  I hope you will take the time to read what I’ve written below.  I put alot of thought into it for your benefit.

What It means To Be “Stuck”:

1.) Being “stuck” doesn’t necessarily have to do with the money.  I spoke with a long-time member on Friday who finally decided to attend a mastermind because he feels stuck at $800,000.

He keeps bumping-up against it but something is keeping him from going past this number.  So he feels “stuck”.  Would his lifestyle materially change grossing $1mm vs. “only” $800,000?  No.  Does it still bug him that he can’t seem to break-past that number?  Absolutely.

The money is just how we keep score for him.
 

Billy Joel sung about this in his song My Life: “…sooner or later you sleep in your own space/ Either way it’s okay to wake up with yourself.”  In other words, you have to run your own race.  Revenue is just an easy way to keep score.

2.) Being “stuck” doesn’t necessarily have to do with the profit. I spoke with another long-term member a few weeks ago.

Four years ago he was grossing $600,000.  Today he’s on track to gross $3mm.  And he’s not necessarily working harder to do it.  In many ways his work is much easier today because now he can pay people to do things for him that he does not like to do and which he is not necessarily very good at either.

But even though he makes more and his work is much easier, he doesn’t feel he can leave town for an extended time so he’s stuck.

The amount of time away from the office is just how we keep score for him.
 

Turn of the Century The British Author James Allen said: “A man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life”.

 

3.) Being “stuck” doesn’t necessarily have to do with the free-time, either.

I spoke with a new Member of our program.  During that admission-interview it became clear that she really doesn’t need to make any more money.

She already has more than enough profits from her single-shareholder law firm.  And she can take-off for extended periods of time.  So she’s not chained to the office either.

But she’s bored.   So she’s “stuck”.

Because she doesn’t know what to do next to challenge herself.  Admittedly “fun” is a subjective measurement.

How much “fun” she’s having is how she keeps score for herself.
 

Earl Nightingale once said “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.”  He also said “The big thing is that you know what you want.”  

People who know me well, know that I’m REALLY un-impressed with money.

I’m only impressed with what money “well-used”, can do for a person.  And chief amongst the things that money can do for a lawyer who owns a law firm, is to serve as your ultimate objective arbiter: How much, How consistent and How rapid is the success of your law firm?

Because, as Dan Kennedy says “You can have excuses or you can have profits.  Not both“.

And the fact of the matter is that without profits, no law firm can last for long-enough to deliver much value to anyone.

Ayn Rand (one of my favorite philosophers) taught us that “We can evade reality but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality”.

She also teaches us that “Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity but your talent to their reason.”

4.) I spoke with a lawyer last week who took great pains to tell me about how much value her law firm has delivered to its clients in the past 3 years.

But still she was broke!

I asked her how much money she earned and she told me “more than half-a-million dollars”.

I asked her how much money she had collected.  Only $75,000.

The remaining $425,000 was all wrapped-up with excuses.

Assuming her law firm really did deliver that much value to those many clients who had stiffed-her for that much money, how much longer do you expect her business can continue to be of any value to anyone?  Except for the inevitable fees the bankruptcy trustee will earn upon her liquidation.

That lawyer is “stuck” with a dangerous mindset about her relationship with her law firm.

“Caution: Blind Spot.  If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you.” – a sign pasted on the back of a big truck I saw on the highway.

We all have blind spots in our life.  And in our businesses.  

Warren Buffet, one of the most successful business persons of our time said  “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken”.

Masterminds break the chains that hold-you-back from achieving your best. 

Even if everyone around you thinks, from the outside looking-in, that you’re doing great (according to their standards)

Buffet also says “Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction” and “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

How are your ACTIONS today (not just thoughts or good intentions) going to affect your life tomorrow?

My favorite American Statesman, Benjamin Franklin said “How few there are who have the courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.”

He also said ” Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” 

And lest we lawyers forget Franklin reminds us “The U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it.  You have to catch up with it yourself.”

5.) A lawyer I spoke with not long ago – actually I have virtually this same conversation on a fairly regular basis – was in materially the following situation:

  • Invested nearly one hundred thousand dollar on his legal education without taking a single course on how to run a successful law firm.
  • Working too-many hours, for not-enough profit, doing too much administrative work he’s ill-equipped for and bringing home too much stress and anxiety to his family.
  • Consciously-aware of the inevitable consequences of his current trajectory but too-afraid to change.

I keep a quote on my office wall by Bruce Lee “To know and not to do is not to know”.  Think about that for a minute and see if it doesn’t really stir-up something deep inside of you.

We’re all smart people.  Stupid people do not become lawyers.  But fear makes smart people – even smart lawyers – do stupid things.  Like holding-on to an inevitably-losing hand.

But to paraphrase Napoleon Hill: An unsuccessful law firm needs no plan and no advice or counsel, because failure is bold and ruthless to the lawyer who earns it.  Success in the business of running a law firm is shy and timid.  It has to be learned, practiced and cared-for.

Still I travel the Country asking rooms full of smart lawyers “Who wants to have an ‘un-successful’ law firm?” and understandably no hands go up.

I ask “Who amongst us who wants to have a ‘successful’ law firm  can define it for the rest of us?”  and no hands go up.

How can this be?

How can there be so many smart lawyers who want to have a successful law firm and so few who can even define what it means for them to have a successful law firm; much less how they will know when they’ve got one on their hands!

So I define it for them.

I say that to be successful a law firm, I think, must generate sufficient profits to afford its owner the lifestyle he or she wants to live.

Not to drive a particular car or live in a particular home or to vacation in a particular manner.

Only to live the way the owner true-to-him or herself truly wants to live.

I say that regardless of how much profit a firm generates I don’t consider it to be successful in the long-term if those financial rewards come at the price of the lawyer’s personal life.

So in order to be successful, I think, the law firm must also serve the owner’s personal needs.

Not to work a particular number of hours or to vacation a particular number of weeks.  But to have the flexibility and the freedom to be away from the business enough to attend to all the things in life that are truly more important than the work of a law firm.

If you’ve never sat by the bedside of your spouse for weeks-at-a-time you may not yet fully-appreciate the importance of having a business that works for you.

Even when you’re not there to work for the business.

And even though we may not ye have met in person, I hope you never do.

But by the time the car starts to skid, it’s too late to fasten your seatbelt, so better to start making your law firm successful on this account now.  Don’t you agree?

And who cares how much money the firm generates in the short-term and how many or how few hours it takes from the rest of your life to achieve this level of performance if the work itself is unsatisfying, if the business of managing the firm is unpredictable and stressful and/or if the clients or staff are unpleasant to work with!

In other words, if it’s no FUN!

That sort of situation never works-out in the long-run.

And rarely even in the short-run.

Because clients reflect back to you what you have going on inside of you.

That’s one of the big “secrets” of turning a law firm around.  It all happens from the inside-out.

  • So if your law firm isn’t yet producing enough profit, you’re probably stuck.
  •  If your law firm isn’t enabling you to live the life you want to live, you’re probably stuck.
  • If your law firm isn’t fun, and enjoyably-challenging and taking you somewhere you’r excited to be be going  you’re either already stuck or you probably know you will be soon.

If you are ready to plant a tree today so that you can sit in the shade tomorrow, then a Mastermind is something you should give serious consideration to.

Why Do You Suppose so many lawyers are in all these videos I keep sharing and why do you suppose they’re all saying it’s been such an invaluable experience for them when they decided to plant a tree today so they can enjoy a life in the shade not a life being stuck? (Rhetorical question, obviously)

Why not check-out the link above right now so that you can make a more informed decision about how you choose to live your life?

 

…sooner or later you sleep in your own space.

Originally broadcast to my ezine list 9/27/2011…

be·lieve

[bih-leev] Show IPA verb, -lieved, -liev·ing.

verb (used without object)

1. to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so: Only if one believes in something can one act purposefully.
Would you do something today, if you had absolute proof that it would bring more business to your law firm tomorrow?
 
Either you said “no” in which case we should probaby talk about how to manage your law firm more effectively.  So that you’re not afraid of more business.
Or you may have said “no” because the business you’re attracting isn’t the sort of business you want, not the sort of clients you enjoy, or requires you to do work you don’t find particularly motivating or stimulating.  If this is the case we should probably talk about how to manage your law firm more effectively.  So you can attract better business.  Marketing, afterall, is a critical area of management’s responsibility in a law firm.
Or you may have said “YES!”
If you did say “YES!” then I want to remind you that I’ve already shared two very simple, very inexpensive, and very-well-proven things you could have done last week to get more business coming into your law firm already by this week.
Did you implement either of those suggestions?
Why not?  Either it’s because you don’t REALLY want more business, or more likely there’s something keeping you “stuck” isn’t there? 
OK, so I’m going to share one more effective, and reliable “button” you can push today, that can generate more business for your law firm as soon as tomorrow. 
Remember: action talks, and bullshit walks. 
Keep that in mind as you begin to formulate excuses or explanations for why you’re postponing or even avoiding doing something so simple, so proven and so profitable, to bring-in more business to your law firm tomorrow.
Members of my coaching programs have the benefit of an easy “score keeping” tool that we use to measure progress and diagnose problem-areas and opportunities. 
We embrace reality and don’t make excuses.  Because reality doesn’t care about any of our excuses.
“We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality” – Ayn Rand
What are the inevitable consequences of your current growth trajectory? 
Hopefully the inevitable consequences are that you’re going to be doing GREAT!  If that’s you I would encourage you to investigate our “Find Your Freedom” coaching program, or even our “Play A Bigger Game” group may be just what you’ve been looking for.
If the inevitable consequences are that you’re not going to be in a place where you’re going to be happy about being, then our “Get Out Of The Weeds” program may be able to help you. But only if you have the personal courage to deal with the reality of your current situation.  Not everyone is.
So ultimately, “the” question is, do you believe in yourself?
“…sooner or later you sleep in your own space.  Either way it’s okay to wake up with yourself.” – Billy Joel
Do This Today, Get More Business Tomorrow:
1.)  Pull 25% of your active files, conduct a 5 minute file review and “drop-in” on those clients with a telephone call to let them know you’ve been thinking about them and have a few ideas about their case you want to discuss with them. 
-or-
2.)  Go to www.HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com/Appointment to schedule a call with me to discuss where you are today, where you want to be tomorrow and what’s keeping you from getting there.

be·lieve

[bih-leev] Show IPA verb, -lieved, -liev·ing.

verb (used without object)
1. to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so: Only if one believes in something can one act purposefully.

 Do you believe in yourself enough to take action and do something about it?  I hope so.

~ RJON

You can’t handle the truth…

“You want the truth?  You can’t handle the truth!”

– Jack Nicholson to Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men

Yes my friends, the time is approaching when you’re going to have to choose a side…

I’m writing this to you at 36,000 feet jamming out to Led Zeplin IV “Going To California”.  It’s being streamed to me on Pandora via Go-Go-Inflight into my Bose noise-cancelling headphones.  We’re aboard American Airlines flight 271 enroute to Los Angeles.  It’s quite surreal.  The stewardess just offered us chocolate ice cream.

I’m headed to L.A. with Ale passed-out and in a nearly-fully-recliend position in the window seat beside me. 

We’re headed West for a meeting with MY OWN COACH.

And in my ongoing effort to assure you that THERE IS PLENTY OF MONEY OUT THERE I’m reporting that yet-again, first class is sold out

That’s 14 seats plus mine & Ale reclined next to me. 

I so sincerely wish for each and every one of you, even if we’ve never met, that you could participate or even just observe a Mastermind with me and come to fully appreciate that it really is your choice whether not you choose to continue participating in the “recession”. 

We decided not to and so our business is thriving. 

Nearly 100 lawyers from all walks of life, in all different practice areas and from all around the U.S. and even in other Countries have joined-us.  I mean this both literally and for thousands more, figuratively-too.

I know that talking this way may be off-putting to some lawyers out there.

You may even consider it “bragging” to report honestly and accurately that our business has more than quadrupled while others are crying the blues. 

You may consider it to be self-serving to also honestly and accurately report that we have dozens, and dozens, and dozens of solo lawyers in our various coaching programs who are having their best years ever.

And you may be right. 

But then what do you call it when you go to a bar function and listen (or worse, participate) in a conversation with a bunch of other lawyers who report honestly and accurately about how poorly their businesses are performing in this changing time of plenty? 

Fair is fair. 

But who would you prefer to hang around with? Who would you prefer to resonate with?  Who would you prefer to have influencing your decisions and affecting your point of view?  The losers or us?

“Why do you have to call them losers, RJon?  That’s not nice!”

OK so what should we call them?  “profitably-challenged”?

They’re losing money.  They’re losing time.  They’re losing hope.  And they’re losing self-confidence.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing them.  I’m just saying out-loud (or in writing, rather) what everyone else is thinking.

The difference is, I’m actually giving them a road-map out of the morass they’re so obviously in. 

(mo – rass [muh-ras] “…any confusing or troublesome situation, especially one from which it is difficult to free oneself; entanglement.”)

For those with alot of time on their hands, they can keep reading my free emails, enroll in my free courses, even send me an email or post a questio on my blog. 

If you place a higher-value on your time or if you have a compelling-enough-reason to increase your income, your free-time and your fun quicker, you can schedule a call to discuss one of our proven & guaranteed programs.

But at least I’m not perpetuating the problem by making those lawyers feel better about a situation they’d (presumably) rather not be in.

So Here’s My Challenge To Everyone Who Reads My Emails:

I want to ask you to consider what YOU are doing about this pervasive problem in our industry? 

  • If you’re a lawyer, do you tolerate it when one of our bretheren wastes his or her talents crafting a persuasive argument why things have to suck when we know things can be great instead?   Or do you speak-up?
  • If you’re a bar official are you promoting messages about how tough things are?  Or are you promoting programs that offer concrete action steps and celebrating lawyers who are thriving in these admittedly “changing” times?  
  • If you’re a client, do you reward lawyers who complain or do you reward lawyers who come up with creative new approaches to the practice of law that benefit you and/or your company?

Yes my friends, the time is approaching when you’re going to have to choose a side. 

For the time being though, I hope you’ve made a deliberate decision to do what is required and equip yourself to be successful in your own business

That is, to have a law firm that serves you financially, personally, and professionally too. 

Because with the same law firm marketing and management principles, techniques, tools and strategies we’ve been using for hundreds of years to grow our law firms, you really CAN have all three!

And if you HAVE then you’re probably the sort of lawyer we’d love to have with us in Miami for Our Last Mastermind Workshop of 2011.  I hope you’ll invest the time required to make an informed decision and don’t hesitate to let me know (by email) if you have any questions about this or anything else I can do to help you have a more successful law firm.

RJON

p.s. You may wonder “why” I’m always so willing to help lawyers have a more successful law firm, even if they’re not (yet) a member of any of our programs.  The answer is that I want EVERYONE to be successful.  Because the more lawyers we have out there who are not “losing” the better it will be for all of us!

www.HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com