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RJon Robins

…sooner or later you sleep in your own space.

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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…

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“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

 

 

Filed Under: You

My “No Assholes” Policy Is There To Protect You AND Me…

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NOTE FROM RJON:  I originally shared this lesson only on our private discussion forum. Then some of our Members encouraged me to share it with a wider audience – our Members are a very generous group! And then some of the things I received in emails and in responses told me I’d really struck an important and positive chord.  With several “You MUST Share This With The World!” type of admonitions. So here it is.  Remember, there’s SO MUCH business out there that we can and should all be happy lawyers who make more money!I hope the below lesson gives you some important things to think about over the weekend.  Maybe even the courage to take action on something today!~ RR—————————————— For Distribution To Members Only: … OK, so the purpose of this email…You have all heard me talk about the importance of “client grading” and how critically important it is to the long-term success of your law firm to have and enforce a “No Assholes” policy. I never “enjoy” enforcing our No Assholes Policy. In fact I think if you read between the lines below, what you’ll see isn’t so much an “asshole” as much as a person operating from a place deep in fear. Still, we can help anyone.  But as soon as we try to help everyone it’s going to ruin us for our best clients/members like all of you.  And you deserve me and me and my team at our best! Since you’re a Member I wanted to demonstrate to you a “No Assholes” policy in-action below (NOTE: The only editing I’ve done to the email string below is change the order to read top to bottom instead of bottom to top, I’ve redacted the name of this (former) member of our group, and I’ve highlighted the time sequence so you can follow the conversation more easily 😉 ——————————— From: Lxxxxx Xxxxxxxx <lxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com> Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2011 07:55:59 -0400 To: Corey Whitaker <corey@.com>, Alejandra Leibovich <alex@howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com>, Alejandra Leibovich <rjon@howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com> Subject: Re: How to Manage a Small Law Firm Customer Receipt/Purchase Confirmation — EXCUSE ME??? Rjon, Alex, and Corey, I, in no way, shape, or form, authorized TWO transactions of $750 to be taken from my account within one week of each other. I did not receive 30 days worth of service to even judge your program before you took more money out of my account. I want my $1500 back. I am happy to overnight your materials back. I received them yesterday – they’re still in the box. Thank you, Lxxxxxx Xxxxxxx From: Alejandra Leibovich Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 8:44 AM To: Lxxxxxx Xxxxxxx; Corey Whitaker; RJon Robins Subject: Re: How to Manage a Small Law Firm Customer Receipt/Purchase Confirmation — EXCUSE ME??? Hi Lxxxxxx, I’m SOOO sorry. It was my mistake. I put the wrong charge date when I set up the automatic subscription. I apologize. It was in no way a personal attack to you. I just void the transaction so it will not be taken out of your account. I apologize again, it was a mistake. Ally — Alejandra (Ally) Leibovich www.HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com alex@howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com Office: 1-888-xxx-7460 ext 10 Note that I did not cc anyone on the private email below as my purpose was to educate and enforce boundaries not to embarrass On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 1:06 PM, RJon Robins <rjon@howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com> wrote: Hi Lxxxxxx, I realize you may not have learned yet about the importance of “client grading” since we are catching-you-up to the rest of the coaching group.  A big part of how we make sure we have happy lawyers and happy lives is by being sure we only work with great clients.  And to do that we create a grading scale to evaluate our clients, just as you will learn how to create a grading scale to evaluate your clients.  Because life is too short, and there’s too much opportunity out there, to spend your life working with the wrong clients. There are many benefits to being an “A” client in my business.  Lots of bonuses and extras and opportunities that we don’t advertise that my team members often find themselves in a position to go the extra mile for our “A” clients.  The flipside of course is that just as you are free to drop out of the group, we also reserve the right to invite certain people to drop out too.  I don’t want to have to extend that invitation to you.  What I want is for you to get the most out of this program so that you can achieve all of your goals which law school, unfortunately, did not equip you (or any of us) to achieve at the business of marketing & managing a successful law firm. So here’s what it means to be an “A” client/member in my business (in no particular order):

  • We like working with the Member
  • The Member likes working with us.
  • The Member is highly-motivated to have a successful law firm and all the benefits that flow from it.
  • The Member has tangible and objectively quantifiable goals that excite him/her.
  • The Member respects my staff and appreciates them for the very challenging work that they do servicing and keeping hundreds of lawyers happy from all around the world.
  • The Member responds to the mistakes that we make in our business w ith the same grace and maturity the Member would expect his/her own clients to demonstrate when the Member’s own law firm makes a mistake.
  • The Member believes that the best investment s/he can make is an investment in him/herself.
  • The Member cooperates and supports our policies
  • The Member is collaborative and intellectually generous with the Group.
  • Good sense of humor and not easily offended by liberal use of the “F” word especially when it’s so richly called for in an explanation!
  • The Member thinks it’s cool that I work from home, with my dog and often from remote and sometimes exotic places, so there may be the occasional odd sound in the background.
  • The Member does the work required to translate the lessons, tools, insights, ideas, templates and instructions we provide into tangible results.
  • The Member is honest with us and him/herself
  • The Member remains current on their financial obligations to us and otherwise follows the rules we have established and which are designed to help all of our Members get the best results possible.
  • Positive, prosperity-based outlook on life – no whiners or crybabies allowed! Of course, everyone has a bad day.  But your email below is not acceptable.  I think if you re-read it now you’d agree that when you make a mistake you’d hope that your own clients would treat you better. 

Accordingly, please acknowledge this email and let me know if we are going to be good, or if you are returning the course materials and receive a full refund. The second charge was obviously an oversight and has already been reversed.  I apologize for this inconvenience. Optimistically, RJON From: Lxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx <lxxxxxxxx@gmail.com> Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2011 03:42:59 -0400 To: Corey Whitaker <corey@.com>, Alejandra Leibovich <alex@howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com>, Alejandra Leibovich <rjon@howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com> Subject: Re: How to Manage a Small Law Firm Customer Receipt/Purchase Confirmation — EXCUSE ME??? I don’t do business with companies that double-charge me. Your materials have been mailed to the address they were sent from. Refund my money. Lxxxxxx —————————- OK friends, so there you have it.  I sincerely hope this demonstration inspires you to document your own N.A.P. and emboldens you to enforce it.  Remember, happy lawyers make more money!   RJON   p.s. Especially if you haven’t been to one yet, I want you to give SERIOUS attention to the next (and last) Mastermind we’re hosting this year.  We have only 6 seats left as of this morning.  We will DEFINITELY sell out so I don’t wat you to miss-out! 

Scared shitless

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It's true my friends!  Many lawyers are scared shitless…of success! 

Why else would some otherwise very intelligent people make such illogical decisions about their lives, careers and their businesses? 

I really should have kept count of the number of lawyers I've spoken with in the past 75 days.  It's been alot more than usual. 

I don't have an easy way to tell you the exact number of lawyers I've spoken with.  But I can tell you I've run across at least a dozen lawyers whose logic seems to go like this:

a.) My law firm/career isn't where I want it to be as evidenced by the fact that I cannot afford to live the way I want to live.

b.) I recognize that a big part of the reason my law firm isn't performing the way it has to in order to afford me the lifestyle I want to enjoy, has alot to do with the fact that I've never actually studied anything practical about the business of marketing and/or managing a successful law firm.

c.) I believe that if I don't make some changes, my life is going to get worse, not better in the next 12-18 months. Afterall, sitting around for another year doing things the same way I've always done them isn't likely to produce materially better results than before.

d.) I believe you RJon, when you say this course, book, lesson, etc. can help me.  And I know it comes with the assurances of a 100% money-back guarantee.

THEREFORE, what I'm going to do is, I'm going to do nothing.

Now my friends, these are NOT stupid people. 

These are intelligent and respected practitioners who are behaving this way. 

So what other reasonable explanation could there be?  Except that they're actually more scared of being successful than they are of being unsuccessful. 

Afterall, they “know” how to be unsuccessful.  By comparison, being successful, even though that's what they consciously want…well, it actually scares them!

So why am I sharing all of this with YOU?

Two reasons.  First, in case there are any lawyers in your life who you care about and you see them staying stuck, it may help for you to approach them with empathy not contempt.  And second, in case YOU are the one who is stuck.  I want to invite you to take adantage of a few openings I have in my schedule next week to discuss your situation.  Just go to www.HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com/Appointment 

I'll look forward to speaking with you.

~ RJON

p.s. Being “stuck” is a relative term.  I know plenty of lawyers who are stuck at the million dollar mark and for absolutely no “real” reason, they can't seem to break past it.  If you “feel” stuck, you're stuck. Notwithstanding how many other lawyers around you  wish they could be in your shoes!

Filed Under: You

Notes from my wallet

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Ok so you know how every few months you have to clean out your wallet and you find all sorts of things you’ve been carrying around with you for no currently-relevant reason?  Old business cards belonging to people you meant to follow-up with but have now forgotten why.  Old receipts for things long-since disposed of.  I even found an expired credit card on my most recent jaunt though mine! 

But every once in awhile you find a gem.  In my case, this week I found a note I wrote on the back of a restaurant receipt.  It captures one of those “moments of brilliance” that seem to happen at the least expected times.  Hence, why it gets jotted down on some scrap of paper and warehoused in your wallet waiting to be rediscovered.  Here’s exactly what I wrote (unedited):

I know you want to start and enjoy the benefits of owning a successful law firm, don’t you?

Well, your LIFE is not a spectator sport!

To win, you must get in the game!

We were ALL once where you are now – unsure about when, where & how to get in the game and “start your own business”.  BUT NOT WHETHER!!!

Listen for yourself to what some other lawyers experienced when THEY took action & got in the game too.  The all recieved an email or read a blog or saw an article just like this and then scheduled a call with me to learn more.  And that’s exatly what I’d encourage you to do now.  While I still have these 5 spots open in my schedule to speak with youabout what it’s going to take, to get your new law firm to perform for you: personally, financially and professionally.

Note: I don’t know if we still have 5 spots left in my schedule to discuss your law firm and your future plans with you.  Could be more, could be less.  I wrote that note more than a month ago.

I’m actually waiting for a car to take me to the airport for the mastermind we’re conducting in Ft Worth this weekend (exciting!) and I only came into my office to get my computer when I couldn’t resist lightening the load of extra stuff in my wallet so I typed this out so I can now dispose of the aforementioned restaurant receipt.

Go to www.HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com to determine which category you most closely fit into and then if you’re motivated enough to improve your life you’ll easily find the link to schedule a telephone appointment with me to discuss your options.

Gotta run…

Filed Under: You

Self-defeating marketing

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I have to make this quick b/c it’s late & I have to be a the San Antonio Bar Assn for tomorrow’s workshop bright & early.  Funny story.

So one of the things I talk alot about is how marketing-when done right- should feel good.  It’s not supposed to be the sort of thing you have to dread or apologize for.  Law firm marketing is something we do FOR our clients, not something we do TO them. 🙂

Self-defeating law firm marketing in action…

Day before yesterday I conducted a workshop for The Dallas Bar Association.  There were about 150 lawyers in the room.  I mention that because you have to imagine that with so many people in the room it’s sometimes hard to see what everyone in the room is doing or even who is there.

Apparently one of the people in the audience was a person who was going around trying to drum-up some lawyer coaching business at MY workshop.  Funny becaues had she introduced herself to me I would have been happy to introduce her to the audience.  I mean, why wouldn’t I do that for someone who is trying to grow her business, right? 

But think about the message it sends to her prospective clients about the way she’s going to coach them to grow their law firms when her appoach is to sneak around like that obviously embarassed about what she was doing. 

I HAVE NO IDEA WHO THIS PERSON IS.   I only know what I know becuase several lawyers related similar stories to me about her antics.  I didn’t ask them about her identity because I didn’t/don’t want to know.  That’s not the point of this post.

The point of this post is to remind you that the way you get engaged by a client is as important as whether you get engaged by a client.

OK goodnight.  BTW, we don’t have any seats left for the following masterminds weekends:

San Antonio

Ft Worth

Minneapolis

Dallas

We DO have seats open for Atlanta.  Go to www.HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com for details