I’m always encouraging lawyers to take a look at their life and their business and ask specific questions.
Is the business supporting the life you desire?
Are you getting what you want out of your business or is your life designed to support your business?
Kevin Houchin made a 6 minute presentation at the ABA Convention. You’ll find it here. Stop for just a few minutes and watch. Then ask yourself the questions mentioned above. You’ll be glad you did.
Richard Branson recently authored an article published on Entrepreneur.com giving advice to startups about how to build a successful business. I’m a big fan of Mr. Branson and have read most of his books. Mr. Branson should know a thing or two about starting and building successful businesses. He’s also quick to point out in his book Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur that he’s got a good deal of experience in businesses that fail.
Mr. Branson is responding to the frequent inquiry that goes like this, “Have you found a secret to building successful businesses?” Surely during all these years he’s uncovered the secret. After all, it seems now that everything he touches turns to gold.
His 5 Tips can teach lawyers something about building our law businesses.
Branson’s Tip No. 1: Enjoy What You Are Doing.
Are you? I mean enjoying what you do. I recently read an article that said that 55% of all people do not enjoy their job. Assuming that is the case, is it any wonder that we generally receive such poor customer service?
When someone asks you, “Do you enjoy being a lawyer?” What is your honest response?
You spend an enormous amount of your waking hours doing the doing of a lawyer. If you don’t enjoy it, be assured you’ll wake up one morning and ask yourself, “Why, Why, Why have I continued for so long?” Are there parts of being a lawyer that you enjoy? Perhaps you might want to see what you could do to expand the amount of time you spend doing that part of the business.
If there is absolutely nothing you enjoy about being a lawyer, perhaps its time to reconsider professions. The training we each received in law school equips us to contribute to a number of businesses. Just don’t assume because you are a lawyer now, that you’ve got to continue. That’s the beauty of being trained to think critically, it equips us for lots of other things.
Branson’s Tip No. 2: Create Something That Stands Out.
Does the representation you provide “stand out” when compared to others? Are you always better prepared, better equipped than the competition?
One of the surprises to me over the last 27 years is that the clients of my competitors evaluate me in the same way that the client paying me does. The really cool part of this is that you are absolutely in control of this. You can decide to be the very best you can be or you can abdicate the decision and just roll with the wind. Branson says if you are going to make your mark, then be remarkable.
Are you?
Branson’s Tip No. 3: Create Something That Everybody Who Works for You is Really Proud of.
Do your employees understand the value that you provide to the lives of your clients? Sometimes we are transactional, mechanical if you will, and just look at resolving this particular problem. However the impact we have in our clients lives (and often their businesses). Bring your employees into the inner circle of influence with your clients. Educate them on the very important role they play in the lives of your clients, in the success of your business, and the future of their career. I’m absolutely confident that when you empower your employees with the knowledge of the impact of their role then you get better performance and greater employee satisfaction.
Branson’s Tip No. 4: Be a Good Leader.
It really doesn’t matter whether you are a solo, in a small firm or in one of the mega firms if your law business is going to be successful you must pick up the mantle of leadership.
Be a leader in the way you treat your employees.
Be a leader in the way that you treat other lawyers both inside and outside the firm.
Be a leader in the way you interact with your adversaries.
A leader sets the pace. A leader raises the bar. A leader elevates what those around the leader expect of themselves.
Branson’s Tip No. 5: Be Visible.
Branson says, “A good leader does not get stuck behind a desk.” What he’s really saying here is that you can learn more about how to improve your business (and perhaps the quality of your service) by insuring that you are not isolated from new ideas and even from criticism.
Often when you are in the “thick of the battle” it’s hard to see how things can be improved. One of the toughest parts about Branson’s recommendation is that you might get exposed to criticism that may damage your ego. Ask yourself this question “Is it worth a little ding to your ego in order to improve the quality of your client’s experiences with your firm?” The answer is obvious.
So there we have it. Richard Branson’s 5 Tips for Business Success. We can each apply these 5 in our respective businesses.
By the way, I really recommend Branson’s book “Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur.”
Today is a day when you’ll hear many talk in excruciating detail about the events of September 11, 2001. They’ll be much weeping as many mourn the day of lives lost, of lives forever changed.
So what will you do to honor those who died on September 11th?
Here are my thoughts:
I’m going to be proud to be an American. Although there are events in our country’s history I wish did not occur, I’m standing proud that I’m an American.
I’m going to appreciate the gift of liberty that our soldiers have fought and died and sacrificed for. I don’t take for granted that we will always be free in this country. Although a cliche’, we know that “Freedom isn’t Free.”
I’m going to live the very best life that I can by giving to others as much as I can, beginning right here at home.
I’m going to do my very best to show love to others even when I don’t understand them.
I’m going to do my best to model before my wife, my children and my grand-children the kind of man that Jehovah God wants me to be. 1 Corinthians 13
I don’t know what you plan to do, but these are my plans. Be careful to not let today pass without reflecting on the America we once knew and the America we can become. We begin at home.
On Tuesday I had one of the worst days I’ve had in the law business for a number of years. Why? Computer failure. No, Not Computer Failure, but instead Personal Failure.
I coach lawyers all the time to delegate, delegate, delegate. As the owner of your business, a business that should be designed to give you financially the life of your dreams and desires, you should not be involved in the minutia of its existence.
You need to begin with systems. I mean systems for everything you do more than 3 or 4 times. I call them “howwedoes”. That’s slang for “How We Do’s”.
- This is how we answer the phone.
- This is how we accept the mail.
- This is how we put papers into paper files.
- This is how we saved documents (and where).
You get the point. Once the systems are set up, they should be handled by someone else.
BUT, you mustn’t, absolutely mustn’t neglect what Ronald Reagan said about the Soviets:
“Trust, But Verify.”
He said “Trust, But Verify!”
I say, “Delegate, But Verify.”
Once you set up a system, be sure that it is working AND that you periodically follow-up just to insure that the system that was designed is in fact the system that is being followed.
So that brings me back to the title of this post, “My Grandsons Brought Me Joy Last Night.”
We had a major disaster in my office on Tuesday because I forgot the warning of President Reagan and my admonition and instructions to other attorneys who I coach.
I beat myself up all day. (No, I mean really beat myself up!”
But when I got home I had my two grandsons. You see it was Mimi day. Which also means it was Mimi night as well. That’s when we get to just hang out and do fun things that a 3 year old and a 15 month old wants to do.
Guess what? They are not too much into worrying about granddad’s failures. Nor are they into worrying about me letting my business down.
Here’s what they are in to:
Swinging on swings.
Sliding on slides.
Cutting out pictures from magazines.
Glueing pictures on cardboard.
Wresting on the bed.
Playing in the tub.
And there’s more……………lots more.
So I thought I’d share this with you.
When you make a big mistake, perhaps you’re the one with the failure. Don’t forget, there’s life after that failure.
There’s laughter.
There’s giggling.
There’s smiles.
And, there’s snuggling.
My Grandsons Brought Me Joy Last Night. I just wanted to share it with you.
I saw this today and just had to share it with you.
When you think of advertising your services do you think creatively, like “out of the box?”
Here’s an add, presumably for a divorce lawyer. I guess the firm specializes on representing the wife.
It made me laugh. But then, I’ve never lost my Porsche to an “ex” before either.
The point of course is that if you see this add you absolutely stop to read it.
Many thanks to Kevin Underhill who posted this on his blog.
Have you seen some other creative adds like this? Leave a link in your comment below.