RJon Robins

A Formula For Success

November 12, 2007 by RJon Robins

Watson’s Formula For Succcess

” Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success, but it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it.
So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you’ll find success. . . on the far side.”

This quote is by Thomas Watson, founder of IBM so he might just know what he’s talking about. And I’d like to add-on a couple of ideas Mr. Watson did not address:

1. Notice the title to this blog entry “A” formula for success, not “The” formula. I recently sold a program to a very successful lawyer who also has chosen to give back and teach other lawyers how to market their own law firms too. We later ran into eachother and laughed about the fact that we both invest alot of time reading books, listening to programs & attending seminars of people whom those “not” in-the-know would consider to be our competitors. But you have to constantly challenge yourself, learn new approaches, fan the flames of creativity by exposing yourself to new ideas. In other words, there are lots of formulas for success and I’d encourage everyone who has read, listened to, attended any of my books, audios, seminars etc. not to limit yourselves to just my approach.

2. The only two common denominators that I see in all the successful Rainmakers I work with are that they focus their practices on areas of the law or with clients or concentrate on aspects of the business of running a law firm that gets them excited; and that they get off their butts and try things. . . in other words they fail ALOT but when something does work, it generally brings with it a very nice reward.

OK, gotta run. Food’s here!

Please comment or e-mail me with your biggest failures. Things you thought would be great but weren’t and most important, what you learned from the attempt.

RJON

Remember to use a little tenderness

October 20, 2007 by RJon Robins

It’s amazing how many professionals choose their line of work after having been a patient, client, customer etc. All other things being equal, I know I’d prefer to have a doctor/lawyer/accountant, etc. who has been through what I am coming to them for help with. I think that having had to hire lawyers and having had the client experience makes me a better attorney. It certainly helps me keep my clients’ priorities in mind. And those priorities very rarely include getting a lecture from my attorney about what an idiot I am for having gotten myself into the position of needing his/her help in the first place. The next time you’re counseling a client, try & couch your advice in terms of what can be done, empathize with the feelings they must be having that may cloud their better judgement and let them know that they are not the only one in the world who has gotten into their current predicament. I guarantee, this alone will boost your revenue and lower your stress from your practice.

A good example of a bad example. . .

October 16, 2007 by RJon Robins

A lawyer in NY sued her florist for using the wrong color flowers at her wedding. Click here to read the whole story. No wonder we have to work so hard just to overcome the negative perception some of our prospective clients have of us!

Blogging For Profit

October 7, 2007 by RJon Robins

On Friday October 12th Grant Griffiths is hosting a free teleseminar to celebrate the launch of a brand new program every successful Rainmaker and aspiring Rainmaker should be interested in: Blawg
for Profit is the culmination of six months work that Grant and his partner have invested to create a very simple step-by-step course to help you understand what a blog is and appreciate, how it can be used to make it rain for your practice.

As I’ve said again & again, there is no “magic bullet” when it comes to making it rain for a small law firm that in & of itself will consistently generate hundreds of thousands of dollars. Instead, the long-term successful Rainmaker knows we have to employ our favorite dozen or so techniques which each year can consistently generate tens of thousands of dollars. That way we’re never “betting the ranch” on any one approach. Blogging should definitely be among the techniques any serious Rainmaker considers.

Grant has been nice enough to invite all
solo and small firm lawyers to participate on the call he will be
sharing some practical, valuable advice on how to effectively blawg for
profit.

Also, on the call, to celebrate the release, they will be awarding one
lucky winner a free copy of the Blawg for Profit course. The course
consists of 4 audio CD’s, 2 DVDs, a Workbook, and several other goodies
all of which are designed to make you a more effective blogger.

To qualify for the drawing that will take place during the call, visit Blawg For Profit to register now.

Applying Solo Rainmaking Secrets To A BIG Law Firm

September 22, 2007 by RJon Robins

Kxxxxx,

How exciting! I hope you don’t think me presumptuous by sharing an
observation of what may be very obvious to you (it’s not very obvious
to the majority of attorneys in mid & big firms). OK here it goes.
. . when you peel back the veneer of a big law firm what you find is a
collection of smaller law firms and solo practitioners. The more you
can think of yourself as a solo practitioner and treat the attorneys
around you as clients and referral sources just as you would if you
were actually a solo, the more success I predict for you. Just like an
individual store in a shopping mall. The mall operators and the larger
law firms provide a variety of services for you which relieve you of a
lot of responsibilities and you might even pick up some business just
from the foot traffic of the stores/lawyers around you – but at the end
of the day the economics of a large firm and a solo are pretty much the
same. First you have to bring in enough business to pay your share of
the overhead. Then you have to bring in enough to pay the operators
their profits and what’s left over is what you can claim as your own.
I would very much encourage you to sit down & write out a
business/Rainmaking plan so you can make the most of the extra free
time the firm will provide for you by them taking care of so many of
the mundane things solos have to deal with and use that time wisely to
make it rain, not just bill more hours. I don’t mention it often on
the How To Make It Rain site but in the past I have done a fair amount
of consulting with mid-size firms and have helped a ton of lawyers who
have come out of big firms. So don’t hesitate to send me an e-mail
with any questions. . .and check out the free e-book “Ten Rainmaking
Mistakes Made By Solo Practitioners” I promise, most of them are being
made by lawyers struggling to find success in big firms too!

Again congratulations!

RJON

An Important Cautionary Tale About Defending Your Boundaries

August 18, 2007 by RJon Robins

Hello Everyone,

I’ve decided to share the following exchange with a formerly-satisfied Rainmaking Client of mine. My reasoning for sharing this is twofold:

1st – So you know. I try to keep a policy of complete transparency and don’t hide the bad so that you can rely on all of the good. (Lesson # 1: Anyone who tells you s/he is perfect is LYING to you); and

2nd – Because so many of you have written, called and shared with me in person during coaching & consulting sessions stories about feeling you are being held hostage by a client. Hopefully it never gets as extreme as you will read below. But I wanted to let you know you’re not alone and how important it is to set & defend your boundaries, lest your clients, your staff, your adversaries take your prisoner and walk all over you.

Remember though, always be as nice as you can without going so far as to allow yourself to be abused. Never lose your empathy for others. And don’t ever let the poor behavior of other people become an excuse to act differently towards them than you would hope they could find it in themselves to act towards you because years from now the only feeling you’ll have left is regret for your own conduct. . .

“Earlier in the week we sent you a revised version of the Ten Rainmaking
Mistakes E-book. The revision was the removal of (NAME DELETED)’s
testimonial. (NAME) is becoming aggressive about seeing the change made.
Please escalate this to the top of your list and attend to it as soon as possible. Send me an e-mail to
confirm when the change is made. Also, please do another sweep of the
site to be sure all references to NAME have been removed so that when
someone does a Google search we have done all we can to distance
ourselves from NAME DELETED.”

NAME DELETED,

This is the e-mail I sent to my webmaster a few days ago – before
your call to me yesterday. I use an outside service and unfortunately
we don’t always get “instant” attention to all of our requests. More
than a month ago when you first requested it, I asked them to remove
your testimonial from the site, which contrary to your statement below,
you gave me written permission to use (see attached). I am sorry their
first sweep of the site missed the testimonial in the e-book but all
reference to you was removed elsewhere on the site.

I will forward confirmation to you as soon as I get it from the
webmaster service, that the change has finally been made to the
e-book.

With regard to your not-so-subtle threats to me, I would say that your
disability is not my fault and I would advise you, now that you are in
your self-described “right mind”, to take whatever steps you or your
caretakers deem necessary to prevent you from making me
“uncomfortable”. Perhaps write a letter to yourself to remind yourself
of the reality of the situation. Perhaps a video message to yourself.
Perhaps have yourself committed for your own safety and security. Do
not delude yourself to believe that you bear no responsibility for the
consequences of your words and actions. If you permit this to escalate
by your failure to take adequate precautions you alone will bear the
responsibility. . . and the consequences.

Please know that I say this with no malice towards you whatsoever. I
have the utmost empathy for you and wish you only the best. However I
also know that people with your condition sometimes tend to try &
shift the burden of their disease to others. I hereby refuse to accept
any such burden as it is entirely not my problem and I have done all
that I can to accommodate you. Unfortunately though, the whole world
does not bend to my will by the press of a button or else I would
relieve you of your suffering too.

With only the best of hopes for your well-being,

RJON ROBINS

On 8/18/07, NAME@bellsouth.net wrote:Dear Rjon,

I have emailed you and called you and talked to you on Friday, August 17.

I have wanted you to take my name off of your website, along with any of the language which you are attributing to me.

You have agreed and claimed you have told your webmaser to remove my name.

I do not want any hits to come up for your website if my name, (NAME DELETED), is put into a search engine.

I hope that is clear enough for you. You do not strike me as dumb.

As
I have told you, I have a mental illness, bipolar mood disorder. I was
on the upswing of a manic phase when I wrote that email to you which
you have, without my consent, turned into a reference. Thoses are the
words of a disabled person and do not reflect how I speak, think, or
talk when I am rational. Within a month of writing those words I was
hospitalized in a psychiatric ward.

Please remove my name and
any language that you attribute to me from your website. As I have told
you, I wish to file a Motion to Seal with the Florida Supreme Court so
it’s action with regard to my bar membership also does not appear as a
hit when my name is put into a search engine.

Then I intend to resign from the Florida Bar.

I
am not going to go away, and the situation could conceivably get
uncomfortable for you if I have a relapse of my mental illness. I hope
this doesn’t happen, but my illness is serious enough that I am on
disability. People with a diagnosis of Bipolar 1-manic aggressively
bother people who become the focus of their attention, with negative
consequences for the mentally ill person and embarrassment , and
extremem inconvenience for the person they are bothering. You don’t
want this to happen, and certainly I don’t.

Please honor your promise to remove all traces of me from your website.

NAME DELETED

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