RJon Robins

To: Brian Sajdak

To: Brian Sajdak From: RJon Robins Re: Answers to your question(s) Date: September 20, 2010 Mr. Sajdak, In a series of public tweets you have posed a series of questions to me, which I have done my best to answer in 140 characters or less.  In the final question you ask “…given your past failure at running a law firm, why should anyone hire you to advise them how to do it?” Question # 1: Am I a “Fake” lawyer? September 7 You Tweeted: Re: Fake lawyers…er…social media gurus like @rjonrobins don’t follow me much. Do you go looking for them @btannebaum, or am I just lucky? My Response:  No, I am not a “Fake” lawyer.  I was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1997.  I have never had a disciplinary complaint lodged against me. I have never been sanctioned by any court.  I am admitted to practice in Florida and in the 11th Circuit.  I interned for The Office of The US Trustee and later for then-chief Bankruptcy Judge AJ Cristol who later performed my swearing in ceremony in his courtroom for me. Question #2: Do I Use A Female Avatar? September 7 You Tweeted: @DavidSug I was going to correct you but I see @rjonrobins uses a female avatar for @tweet4lawyers. Interesting @antoninpribetic @btannebaum September 7 You Also Tweeted: Sadly, I actually looked. @tweet4lawyers is @rjonrobins and @DeniseWakeman – pic is hers. @AntoninPribetic @DavidSug @btannebaum My Response: No, I do not use a female avatar.  In early 2009 I interviewed well known social media expert Denise Wakeman for my coaching group and as part of her lesson she demonstrated for us how to set-up a twitter account. Since Denise was using her computer for the demonstration we loaded a picture of her to demonstrate the process with a made-up twitter name. You will note that I enjoy a following of more than 2,000 mostly-lawyers.  The account you referenced above has been dormant for more than 18 months.  It has fewer than ten followers.  Clearly no-one is attempting to use that dormant account for nefarious purposes. I explained this to you in a tweet to which you responded with Question # 3:   Question # 3: What About My Bar Standing? September 9  You Tweeted: @rjonrobins That’s the easy mystery to solve. Now what about your bar standing? You’ve avoided those questions. @antoninpribetic @DavidSug My Response: In your tweet you imply that there had been numerous questions posed to me that I had avoided. In point of fact the same day I saw the question I immediately responded not only with independent tweets, but also with replies and even a blog post explaining all of the facts & circumstances which added up to the acknowledgment that yes indeed I missed some credits in my cle cycle that had ended 9 days before. And I was just waiting to finish making them up online and for The Bar to update records. Point-being, I never “avoided” the question as your tweet implied.   Same Day (September 9) You Further Tweeted: @rjonrobins Your website says “I am a Member of The Florida Bar in good standing (Fla Bar No.126 713).” Explain: http://is.gd/f1QLH. My Further Response: You made it as far as to search-out and find my records on The Florida Bar website. So you were also able to plainly-see that I enjoy more than a 10 year unblemished disciplinary record, I maintain current membership in a number of voluntary sections and that it was simply a matter of some missing CLE credits. Had you extended me the professional courtesy of a private email from the address listed on that page, instead of a public accusation on twitter I would have been able to assure you in more than 140 characters that, I made no court appearances and let all of my clients know about the situation and was simply waiting for the records to be updated. Question # 4: Do I Lie On Social Media? September 11 You Tweeted: @rjonrobins With an easy explanation, there is nothing offending. Other SM folk have lied to me, and it is a problem. My Response: I was not offended that you posed any of your questions.  I was disappointed that the tone of the “questions” were more like accusations.  As you correctly pointed out, there was an easy explanation. Perhaps a different approach could have been an email from you to me along the lines of “Hey RJon I don’t know you but I’ve seen lots of testimonials from lawyers and bar officials all over your website and as a professional courtesy I wanted to let you know you appear to be CLE delinquent on your bar records.  By the way, I have seen a number of your tweets in which you state that you are a lawyer.  Please clarify the situation with your bar record?” Brian, I’m pretty sure you would have received back a big “Thank You” from me with assurances that I’d only become aware of the problem a few days before, that I was just about done with the online courses I then-immediately signed up for, and that the bar records should be updated in a few days, along with assurances that none of my clients were mis-lead and no court appearances made. Question # 5: Why Did I “Re-Tweet” Your September 9th Tweet? On or about September 19th I did in fact RT the following from you: @rjonrobins Your website says “I am a Member of The Florida Bar in good standing (Fla Bar No.126 713).” Explain: http://is.gd/f1QLH. Your Response: @rjonrobins Glad you got everything straightened out. Of course, retweeting my post is a bit disingenuous, no? To Which I replied: @bsajdak I RT your post b/c it publicly implied I am not what I say I am & included a link to my bar credentials. Not to embarrass you. My Further Response: The “context” extends beyond only the people who “follow” me.  You have hundreds of “followers” who may or may not follow me.  Given the tone of the string of emails preceding this one I believed and still believe the only way to put the status of my bar license in complete context is by retweeting your original tweet. Admittedly this is an imperfect solution to a complex problem.  Which is exactly my point about jumping onto one tiny bit of information shared in less than 140 characters. You presumed I am a transexual avatar using liar pretending to be a fake lawyer who dodges questions.  And you made your presumptions publicly, at my expense. I retweeted one of your public questions in order to alert people who had seen it to the fact that my bar license is in fact in good standing. Could we BOTH have been more clear in our communications?  Of course.  That’s why triers of facts that have the power to damage a person’s reputation, don’t limit their due diligence to Twitter. We BOTH Agree? To Your Credit On September 20 You Tweeted: To his credit, he [RJON] was honest and straight forward about it [the cle issue](which is more than I can say for other SM-lawyer-types). Congrats @rjonrobins My Response: @bsajdak To his credit Bsadjak was interested in & acknowledged the facts (which is more than I can say for others in my “fan club”) Tks B Note: I should think there is no other way to interpret this tweet except in the spirit it was intended:  As a compliment to you for being interested enough to inquire and honest enough to acknowledge the facts once they were brought to your attention. I Further Tweeted To Clarify The Facts: @bsajdak For the record: I am NOT a SM “guru”. I teach FUNDAMENTAL law firm management & law practice marketing. SM is new to me too. Question # 6: Why Should Anyone Hire Me To Advise Them How To Run A Profitable Law Firm? September 20 (Several Hours Later) You Tweeted: @rjonrobins Now, on the facts: given your past failure at running a law firm, why should anyone hire you to advise them how to do it? My Response: @bsajdak Great question. 140 char answer is b/c I learned what NOT to do. Then learned what TO do. Then I helped 1,000’s attys DO it too. I then tweeted: D bsajdak: Do you have an email address I can reply to this w/ more than 140 characters? Pls send to rjon@howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com And since it’s directly responsive to your question I added… @bsajdak Here’s the brief “About Me” version: http://bit.ly/cpiTod w/ a few of my testimonials sprinkled throughout. @bsajdak …& a few more spec to starting a law firm: http://youtu.be/4TzwY3SFfGE 140 not really enough to tell anyone’s whole story is it? Your Response To My Invitation Above:   @rjonrobins No, but you’ve got a website (presumably a blog) – a great opportunity to answer without the PR buzzwords from you About Me site So Here’s My 140+ Character Response To Your Question: One of my favorite quotes that I keep on my office wall is by Bruce Lee who in addition to being well known as a martial artist was also a highly-respected entrepreneur.  Lee said “To Know & Not To Do Is Not To Know”. I KNOW how hard it is to live with the fear, embarrassment & frustration of having a law firm that does not perform up to your expectations either financially, personally or professionally.  I also KNOW how empowering it is to discover some relatively-simple law practice management techniques they never taught most of us in law school, put them to use and almost like magic you start to see your whole practice & your whole life turn-around. I brought my own law practice back from the brink of financial disaster in only a few short months by using law firm marketing & law practice management fundamentals. In fact I turned it around so effectively that I ended up being recruited by the legendary J.R. Phelps who was the founding Director of The Florida Bar’s Law Office Management Assistance Service. I called J.R. for help.  He told me what to do.  I did it.  It worked.  I called back for more help. And that’s how we got to talking which lead to the offer to come to Tallahassee and work as the only lawyer who has ever served as a Law Practice Management Advisor with The Florida Bar’s LOMAS program. As a LOMAS PMA I would routinely spend about half my month in the office fielding anywhere from 3-10 calls a day from lawyers and legal administrators asking everything you can probably imagine about how to start, market, manage, merge, buy, sell, close etc, etc. etc. a law firm. The math and J.R. himself verify, in just that part of my job over 3+ years I helped THOUSANDS of lawyers to have a better law practice. And I have a redwell stuffed full of some very touching thank you notes, emails and hand-written letters. When I wasn’t in the office I was out in the field at the behest of the Disciplinary Committee. Nearly 54% of all bar grievances filed trace their roots to a law practice management problem.  So very often the Disciplinary Committee would send me out to find and fix the management problem(s) that lead to the complaint in the first place.  I have crawled through the depths of many dozens of solo & small law firms to turn them around.  Which is a big part of why I was attracted to bankruptcy law in the first place. When I wasn’t busy fixing broken law firms I was presenting dozens of CLE seminars & workshops all over the State of Florida about how to start, market & manage a small law firm. I have probably addressed into the tens of thousands of lawyers in literally more audiences than I can count. And while no-one raises their hand or waits until the end of a CLE program to ask the speaker a private question with the expectation that he will have heard the same question 20 times before, that’s the reality of it when you’ve spoken with and worked with as many lawyers as I have. Just like you, Brian, have probably handled the same fact pattern enough hundreds of times before to be pretty good at being able to predict and resolve it for the municipality before the whole situation hits the fan, right? So that brings us to about 7 years ago when I left The Bar and began working with clients privately where the emphasis was more on marketing than management and I ALWAYS offered a 100% guarantee of satisfaction. In my last “job” working for a consulting firm our average annual retainer was $100,000 and our averag e performance bonus was nearly half that much at year-end based on new business attributable to our work. In 2006 I started my current business because I was in love, I didn’t want to travel as much and be away from my now-wife for weeks at a time, and I really do like the instant gratification that you can only get with a small law firm that has only one decision-maker instead of a whole committee. While I profess to know alot about how to market & manage a successful small law firm I DID NOT know alot about how to run an online business that sold mostly educational materials online, and shipped them to lawyers all around the world. Still, I shipped many hundreds of programs.  I got many repeat orders.  I ALWAYS offered (and still do) a 100% guarantee.  And I enjoyed a return rate of less than about 5%. Today, after running my lawyer coaching & education business for several years I have “Done” which means I “Know” alot more about this type of business than I did when I started. And  the technology has improved dramatically in just the past few years. So I’ve transitioned from only selling educational materials to offering telephone-based coaching supported by educational materials. I have dozens of “Members” representing all different types of practice areas, from all different States around the Country (even Wisconsin).  And we have Members in at least three different Countries too. Every single month, every single one of them enjoys a 100% Guarantee and I’m proud to say in the past 18 months my business has nearly doubled. So, Brian, given my past failure at running a law firm, why should anyone hire me to advise them how to do it?  I suppose if I were to try & sum it up in 140 characters or less I’d say “Because I Get Results.”

Still figuring this out…

Ok, so you know how you see celebrities out there acting all crazy and you think to yourself, “Why is this person acting like this, it seems like s/he has everything going for them?!?!”

Well, I'm beginning to appreciate something I'd only understood intellectually before.  You see, in the past 18 months my business has grown by more than 100% and we're on track to grow alot more in 2011. 

This has been mostly the result of Ale regaining her health and me finally reconciling myself to get out there and publicize what I've been doing privately for the past 10 years or so.  Which admittedly is not to everyone's taste.  And that's ok. Because growing your law firm requires you to stand for something.  And the more clearly you stand for something and the more publicly you do so the faster and the bigger your practice will become.

But along the way you have to be prepared to attract your detractors too. 

Because there are chocolate lovers who are content to enjoy their chocolate while someone else enjoys their vanilla.  But sadly, there is a part of the population who because of their own personal problems just can't stand to see you enjoying ANY flavor ice cream. 

The thing is about these types of people is that their inability to be happy for another person's happiness comes from a place of internal dishonesty with themselves.  And our human egos being what they are, most people look for facts to justify how they feel.  So the internally unhappy person goes in search of facts to support their positions.  Now one of two things can happen.  An unhappy person who is honest with him/herself will find facts that force them to take different actions to become happy.  But the dishonest person will often just start making things up.

This is part of the reason I really like to work with lawyers.  Because we are trained to be objective and find facts upon which to base our opinions.  So even a lawyer who may not be happy with his or her practice today but who goes in search of facts will eventually find the path to a happier practice and a happier life.

The problem is when you encounter an unhappy person who is also not very honest with him or herself and so in order to protect their ego starts making things up.  And while I am not a celebrity I'm beginning to understand how distracting it can be when an unhappy reporter or gossip columnist who is also not honest with him or herself sets their sights on someone who is out there in the public eye trying to do some good in the world be it through education, entertainment or politics.

Because logic, facts and basic human kindness count for nothing if they stand in the way of a dishonest-unhappy person and his or her fragile ego.

Anyway, I'm still figuring this out. 

I thought I'd share because I know there are alot of lawyers who read my blog who are similarly experiencing exponential growth in your practices and I wanted to let you know not to be discouraged or retreat.  That you are not alone if your efforts to grow, improve and extend your reach of influence to improve the lives of your clients is unexpectedly making you the target of some unhappy people who for reasons known only to them and their mental health professionals cause them to be highly threatened by your prosperity and happiness, to the extent of making up things.

RJON

An easy & free law firm marketing “strategy”

1. Be quick with your compliments & slow with your criticism.

2. Compliment people.  Criticize only things & issues.

3. When you make a criticism that is later proven wrong, tell twice as many people that you made a mistake as you shared the criticism with.

This is a very effective law firm marketing strategy because at the end of the day law firm marketing is all about building & maintaining relationships. 

Open email to my twitter fan club

To:david@davidsugerman.com

From: RJON@HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com

Re: Let’s talk.

Date: September 11, 2010

Hello David,

As far as I know we’ve never spoken or done business together.  You seem to have an interest in me.  So I’d like to invite you to let me know a few dates & times this week that would be convenient for you for us to schedule a call.  This way you can “meet” me, ask me any questions you’d like and form an educated opinion about who I am, my business and what I’m all about.  I was not able to easily find Mr. Pribeti (@AntoninPribetic) or Mr. Sajdak’s (@bsajdak) email addresses from their blogs/websites but I would like to extend the same invitation to them too.  Perhaps if you are in contact with them you can coordinate a conference call for the four of us.

A little background about me:

First of all, in response to one of your questions, I am a Member of The Florida Bar.  I was sworn in by The Honorable Judge AJ Cristol whom I interned for.  I missed some CLE credits before the cut-off a few weeks back.  Here in Florida we operate on a 3 year cycle. I’ve since made-up the missing credits by taking some online courses and as soon as the Bar receives the letter proof of that along with a $150 administrative fee everything will be cleared-up.  I’ve never been sanctioned by any court, I’ve never been disciplined by any Bar, I’ve never had a bar complaint lodged against me.  In fact I used to work for The Florida Bar and you can find a very nice testimonial on my website from my former boss saying that I’m a good guy.

Speaking of which, I am a good guy.  I treat people with respect.  I go out of my way to help my fellow lawyers whenever I can.  And I am always quick with a compliment and I try to be slow with any criticism.  And yes, it hurts my “feelings” when my fellow lawyers call my character into question as you have done so publicly.  If you want to make fun of the fact that I am a human being with feelings, I can’t stop you.  But there you go, I have nothing to hide.

Another thing about me that you might be interested to know is that I am a very good friend to have.  I am very loyal and I go out of my way for my friends and clients.  Usually far above & beyond the call of duty.  Notwithstanding the fact that we have gotten off on the wrong foot, I’d like to think I am mature enough to enjoy a productive conversation with you.

Anyway, I do hope you’ll accept my invitation and pass it along to your other friends so you can all three base your opinions of me on actual experience.

RJON ROBINS

Please excuse this “soap box moment” :-)

Please excuse this “soap box moment” 🙂

The essence of an effective law firm marketing strategy is as follows.  Everything else (websites, social media, etc. are merely the tactics used to deploy this 1,000 year old law firm marketing strategy:

1.    Understand what your clients really want because a big source of bar complaints and malpractice cases is when lawyers work their butts-off but inadvertently solve the “wrong” problem.  There is a method for being sure you understand the client’s problem and how to document it to protect yourself, protect the client, protect your relationship with the client and of course yes this is all exactly what the Bar Rules are concerned about when they talk about client communication.  

2.    Don’t concern yourself with selling YOUR services.  Focus on helping people in the community to find solutions to their problems.  There is a method for doing this that positions you as a lawyer as a valued resource to the community.  Bar Rules encourage us to go out and be of service to the community.  Some State Bars even have whole departments that exist to encourage lawyers to get out and do speeches and other kinds of outreach programs to the community.  

3.    Communicate with your clients.  There are a myriad of law office management procedures that affect the client’s perception of how effectively their lawyer communicates with them.  The Bar Rules give added weight to the client’s perception in these sorts of matters.  Clients who feel like their lawyer communicated with them often and effectively are less likely to file a bar grievance, a malpractice action and are more likely to come back for more help and refer their friends to the law firm.

4.    Stay in touch after the matter ends.  State bars spend a fortune on trying to improve the public’s perception of lawyers.  And every day lawyers prove them wrong by cashing the client’s check and then forgetting all about them.  Bar Rules say that once a client, always a client for purposes of attorney-client privilege, conflict of interest and loyalty.  So doesn’t it make sense to apply that same standard of forever giving a hoot about a client to proactively keep in touch with them even after the matter or case has drawn to a close?  The Statute of Limitations for Bar Grievances & Malpractice actions in most states is about 5 years.  Ongoing proactive communication with clients reduces the chance of “buyers’” remorse that leads to bar grievances and malpractice actions.  It also happens to be a timeless method of effectively marketing a law firm.

5.    Every State Bar has a pro-bono outreach program.  They spend millions of dollars on these programs because the Oath of Attorney and the Bar Rules say we’re supposed to facilitate access to the courts and stand up for people’s rights.  If more lawyers understood how to properly manage their finances and implement creative billing strategies, more of the general public would be able to afford legal representation, there would be less burden on the pro-bono programs and every such attorney would be doing his and her duty to uphold the objectives of these programs for ensuring as many people as possible have an advocate to protect their interests.  These creative billing strategies also tend to increase client satisfaction, improve law firm profitability and lead to more repeat & referral business.

With the right  law firm marketing and law office management skills a lawyer doesn’t have to choose between happiness, cash flow or the ethical practice of law.  Together the three form a trinity that cannot be broken.   You cannot reliably attract clients to a law firm for the long term if you are not upholding the highest ethical standards.  You cannot stay in business or be of greatest service to the public and your clients if you do not run your law firm effectively as a business.  You will burn out and client service will inevitably degrade if you do not run your law firm at a profit. 

I assure you everything I’ll be teaching has a direct bearing on and is directly borne upon by our professional & ethical standards as members of the legal profession. 

I could literally just read the Ethics/Professionalism Rules of any State Bar aloud commenting on them as I go and connect each & every one of them to proven and profitable law firm marketing & management practices that long-pre-date the rules.  So no worries, we’ll keep the CLE people happy!

My roof & your law practice

So what does my roof have to do with your law practice?  Alot actually.  Let me explain…

As you may have gathered from my last email it’s been raining like crazy here in Miami last week.  And our roof sprouted a leak.  Not a huge problem but an inconvenience.  If it was a huge problem I would have called the roofer.  But since it was a small job and I used to renovate houses I knew I could tackle it in about an hour without even heading to Home Depot for supplies.

Now here’s the thing.

Normally you know what I say about concentrating on the highest & best use of our time.  Which for most of us is doing the jobs of Rainmaker, Owner & Lawyer for your law firm.

But in this case I had the extra motivation of NOT wanting to have to deal with calling a roofer, waiting for them to maybe or probably not show up on time.

And of course there’s the ‘Ale Factor’ too.  So getting the roof patched in an hour this morning was a much more attractive prospect than calling in a roofer and waiting.

It’s a great feeling to know that I’m capable, if need-be, of fixing my own roof.  Even though that’s NOT how I want to spend my time most days. 

Likewise I read the manual & am capable-of, and in fact have fixed minor mechanical problems when out on the boat which might have otherwise required a tow and ruined everyone’s day.

I’m not saying I’m super-mechanically-inclined.  But here’s the thing.  Machines, roofs, and the business of a law firm were MEANT to work.  So if they’re NOT working to specifications there’s a problem.  And all you have to do is remove the problem to get them working again.

But what if you don’t know how well a law firm is SUPPOSED to work? 

And what if you never read the owner’s manual? 

Then just like when I used to go out on my boa,t miles from shore with no mechanic in sight I was always a bit on-edge.  And if my roof had leaked I’d be dependent on a roofer.  Instead of being able to help myself out of a tight spot when need-be.

One of the mechanical systems that makes a law firm work is our IOLTA Client Property Trust Account. 

And if it’s not working properly your law firm cannot function as it was designed to operate. If you’ve never read the owner’s manual for your IOLTA (and I don’t mean the bar rules) then you might not even know how well your IOLTA COULD be working for you.

I was going going to take the whole “Simple System For Managing A Law Firm Client Property Trust Account” and put it back into the members-only library this week.  But I’m going to leave it out there for everyone to enjoy for a few more days. 

I encourage you to empower yourself in this area of the operation and management of your law firm by investing the time to watch the videos or even just download & listen to the mp3 audios if you prefer.

I’ve also recieved alot of inquiries for the How To Start A Succesful Law Firm In 90 Days Or Less program as well as when we’re going to have more seats opening in the Small Law Firm Management & Marketing Bootcamp monthly coaching program. 

We expect to have answers to these questions next week. 

In the meantime if you THINK you might be interested in either program I would encourage you to get yourself onto the head-start notice list. 

Because when we DO open the doors the spots usually go pretty quickly.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

~ RJON

p.s. As I am typing this I JUST HEARD the first drops of rain!  It really is all about timing, isn’t it!?!?!