RJon Robins

Law Firm Economics 102

So as you probably already know I had a dispute with
the guy I originally hired to build a website for me, it ended up in
arbitration etc., etc. etc. 

Not wanting to
keep this story private just for my Members I've been blogging about
the whole thing in case you're interested in the details.  But Kristin asked a question in one of
the comments that made me realize there are alot of lawyers who never
studied law firm economics and that could be hurting you. 

What follows certainly isn't a substitute for a more detailed
discussion.  Consider it to be an appetizer to get you thinking in the
right direction about the financial management of your law firm:

Lesson # 4:  In hindsight, should I have pursued the NetArb or
simply
walked away from the $500? I certainly made enough mistakes in this
matter but I still think I made the right call on this point of not
walking away from my money. Most small law firms operate on between a
33-50% margin. That
means in order to spend $500 to treat your spouse to a nice spa-day you
have to earn between $1,000-1,500 in gross revenues.

So consider that
when you walk away from a dollar you'll actually have to work to earn
between $4-6 more of them to make up for the
one you're walking away from, just to break even.

Now multiply that into the number of minutes or hours that
translates into in your practice and consider the last time you had to
apologize to friends or family because you couldn't be there with them
due to having to be in the office to earn your living. And let THAT
image stay in your mind the next time you go into a negotiation where
you're asked to hand over your money.

Got
you thinking?  Good! 

Here's something
else to think about too…it's now official the year is more than
half-way over.  Time to review the goals you set out for yourself six
months ago and either pat yourself on the back or else it may be time to
get some help so you can celebrate on December 31, 2010 and start 2011
on the right foot.

~ RJON

p.s. In case my hint above was too subtle, next week I am
going to be opening-up 5 more spots in my Small Law Firm Management
& Marketing Bootcamp Program.   E-mail me if you think you may want
to reserve one of them for yourself!

How to deal with a blackmailer

from RJon Robins
to RJONROBINS@gmail.com
date Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 5:59 PM
subject How to deal with a blackmailer

Hello everyone

I want to share a
lesson with you on how to deal with a blackmailer. 

Here's what happened.  Last year I hired a website
developer to build a fairly complex private membership site for me.  The
contract called for all kinds of exciting bells & whistles
including a tool I invented to help you set key goals for your law firm
and then log them each week to produce a visual graph that shows you
exactly where your business is and then use that to diagnose what needs
fixing.

To make a VERY long and expensive story short
I am now engaged in mediation with this developer as I refuse to
release the second half of his fee from escrow since he failed to
deliver a satisfactory work product.  And in fact I've had to now spend
more than three times as much to have the whole site built up from the
ground-up with my current developer who I have nothing but good things
to say about.

So below is the blackmail this crook tried
pull on me
.  The lesson of course is that when you conduct your
business affairs in a totally stand-up way, the way you deal with a
shakedown attempt is beat them to the punch by shining the light
directly on the matter.

Just one more of the ways good marketing
& good management go hand-in-hand with ethics and professionalism.

By
the way, if this lunatic does bother you by carrying through on his
threat, please forward his email to me because I am going to crucify him
with this b.s.

Thanks in advace for your patience &
understanding,

~ RJON
———————————-

from: Reelay Developers <dreelay@yahoo.com>
to: rjon@howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com
date:
Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 4:54 PM
subject: warning

Rjon,

Please
note I have obtined the database of your users, i will definitely be
informing them of how you ripped of the developer. Belive you me , its
never going to be worth it for you. But i will teach an ass like you
what it happens when you mess around and steal other people's money.

Hold
your breath for the mass mail this weekend 🙂
Good luck trying your
lawyer stunts then.

Paul

Million Dollar Law Firm Marketing Lesson

Alright in this short video below I’m going to teach you a very important law firm marketing lesson.  This is a million-dollar law firm marketing lesson. That can help you build a million dollar brand with effective strategies for high-earning firms. I’ve use this lesson to help sell tens of millions of dollars of legal services.  So pay attention in maximizing marketing effectiveness. No one wants chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream! Make sure your law firm appeals to people and don’t be afraid of offending other people. Because people who love vanilla we love it.  We don’t want chocolate People who love chocolate love chocolate.  They don’t want vanilla! Trying to please everyone creates a freakin’ mess that no one wants.

Extract more PROFITS from your law firm

Last week we had an amazing teleclass entitled “How To Grow The Revenues
Of Your Small Law Firm 25-35% THIS Year”
.

And if you were on that call
you heard some very exciting success
stories from some of our Members who are getting exactly these kinds of
results.

On last week's call I promised you a BONUS follow-up
call to teach you even MORE about how this stuff works. And here it is!  The BONUS call will take place
May 20th at 3PM EST.

Please R.S.V.P. as soon as you decide you're interested in learning how to do this, so we can plan accordingly.

~ RJON

Law Firm Marketing 101: How do SOME lawyers manage to earn premium fees even in your same market?

Have you ever asked yourself why some lawyers in your very same market can
earn premium fees while you sometimes struggle to get clients to pay
your more modest fees? If those other lawyers aren’t as experienced or
even as qualified as you are, it can really sting to see their law firm
marketing efforts pay off big time for them by attracting clients to them like a more expensive magnet.  Especially if you’re equally as qualified but still you’re unable to produce similar results in your law practice.  This
short video demonstrates the power of being creative and understanding
that when it comes to marketing a law firm, it’s not (only) all about
results. Get more great real-world law firm marketing & law
practice management insights, advice, tools, techniques and action steps
you can take to improve your own small law firm at
www.HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com

Feeling worn out as a solo

So on Thursday May 13th at 3pm , back by popular demand, I'm hosting another great tele-seminar entitled “How To Predictably Grow A Small Law Firm 25-35% This Year While Enjoying More Control, More Free Time, Better Cases & More Bottom Line Net Profits” and on the registration form we included a space to let me know what is the most important law firm management or law firm marketing question you have that you want to be sure I address on the call.  The responses have been pretty amazing.  Everything from lawyers who have plateaued at just below $1mm and can't seem to break-through, to new lawyers who are struggling to keep heads above water. 

Here's one particularly touching question that I just couldn't make her wait until Thursday to start helping her with:

Betsy Wrote:
I'm just starting my business, and I have a part-time paralegal. I am feeling so worn out wearing the hats of receptionist, secretary, and paralegal, as well as doing the rainmaking. do you have any advice on how I keep up my energy and get my business to the point (quickly) where I can afford the support staff? thanks, rjon.

My Response:
We’ll definitely be covering these points on Thursday's call.  An important question for you to think about between now and then:

What are you actually accomplishing with your time each day as you wear all of your hats?  Notice I did not ask what are you doing, I asked what are you actually accomplishing?

Bear in mind the four primary things you should be accomplishing, even at the expense of everything else, are:

1.) Generating revenues to the firm (this means being sure the work gets done, delivered and you get paid for it).

2.) Attracting more work to the firm – ideally enough work to enable you to be more selective about the quality of the work & clients you accept.

3.) Monitoring you key management systems to avoid conflicts of interest, lost files, trust account, statutes of limitations and your six key numbers; and

4.) Keeping track of your weekly scores, i.e. the financial, personal & professional performance of the firm so you can spot problems & opportunities every week instead of only every month, or only every quarter, or only ever once-a-year by which time it’s too late to easily do a course correction.

 
With this in mind, go back and reconsider your answer to my question above.

I suspect the cause of the problem you’re having is that you’re working your ass off trying to make a broken system work.  Kind of like asking me how to keep up your energy so you can win a bicycle race on a bicycle with flat tires, irregular-shaped wheels, bent frame and a few gears missing from the sprocket.  Sure you can keep pedaling harder and take energy supplements to eventually finish the race but my advice is going to be to learn how to fix the bike.

My advice is also going to include words of encouragement to let you know “it’s not you, it’s them!”   In other words, it’s them (your law school, your Bar, your CLE instructors, your first employer, etc.) who should have taught you about how to manage a small law firm so you wouldn’t have to start the race on a broken bicycle in the first place. 

Oh well, you can’t teach what you don’t know so it's no wonder this topic gets precious little or no attention at all in law school or in most CLE programs.  At least you recognize it’s broken and can now do something about it.  Sadly, many lawyers finish the whole race on a broken bike always wondering why their lives have to be so hard, frustrated to see other less-qualified racers pass them by with apparent ease, and at the end with so little to show for all their efforts and sacrifices along the way.

This is why I created my very popular, we’ve only ever heard praise for it and never a request for refund even though it comes with 100% money back guarantee that you’ll thank me for it program, entitled “How To Start A Successful Law Firm In 90 Days Or Less”