Being Stuck--Ideas on How to Work with Your Inner Critic

A reader wrote: "I'm sure you hear this often--I'm stuck! I am great at first drafts, in fact I'm submerged in them. They never get anywhere. I found your site online and performed the "Ophra" asks exercise and it helped. I would love to attend your classes however geography does not permit. The internet may. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks so far--it worked."

Being stuck. How familiar that feeling is. Like trying to pass through a high-walled canyon. No way to travel easily.

It happens to most of us, no matter how many books we write. I've published 13, and I still run into the frustration of writer's block with every new project. The difference is: I know it's happening. I prepare for it. I have a bag of tricks.

Inner Critic
In each stage of writing your book, you’ll meet a most unsavory part of yourself: the Inner Critic. Single-handedly, the Inner Critic causes more cases of "I'm stuck!" than anything else.

Some find themselves stuck in too much structuring, too tight a focus, and the book journey loses freedom. Others are stuck in the opposite arena--too much writing and no way to organize it. As you explore and plan your book, the Critic can even help you worry that you don’t have a good enough idea--so your writing never even gets started. Later on, it will hint you are seriously lacking in the skills to pull it into a book.

And here's another one: As you write your book and form the chapters, it will convince you the draft is definitely good enough to show your best friend—right now, today! (This, of course, is a not-so-subtle sabotage attempt, made real when your friend asks about missing parts and you crumble with the realization that you have omitted half your story.)

Even as you revise, the Critic will get bored with your book's inner story, theme, pacing--those essential fine-tuning steps each book writer must implement. It will begin to say things like, "Edit out this part; all your friends and relations will shun you when they read them."

I'm at the final stages of the book journey with my novel which will be published in August. I'm still facing this Inner Critic. Now the message is: Everyone will know what your life is like, what you are! Hide now!

Writers beware. Get to know your own particular Inner Critic and how it delivers its sabotaging self-talk. Learn to feel the fear and write anyway.

Here's a first step. Write a letter to the Inner Critic. Get to know it, what guise the Critic takes, how it stops you. Name it, describe it. Make a sketch of it. We'll tackle more Inner Critic tools in future posts. But let me know how this one worked for you.

How to Start a Law Firm | Law Firm Website SEO

I was looking up my visitor stats today (yes, I can tell when all of you come here, and even where you come from!) and realized I hadn't posted on here for over a week. I'm sure you are all just dying to hear what is going on, so here you go.

In the interests of full disclosure, my time hasn't been extremely fascinating, busy, or anything else related to the fun that should be associated with opening your law practice.

This is for one simple reason - I'm waiting to get my bar results back. See, I've been a practicing attorney in another state (two technically) for four years, but with my recent move, I had to take another bar exam. I get those results back a week from Friday, so I have been doing as much as I can without expending any money. Because, although I feel fairly confident about my bar results, I don't want to put the cart before the horse and spend a lot of money before I know for sure. So a lot of my time has been has been spent on optimizing my law firm website to rank high in Google. Or at least set everything up so when I turn on my law firm website it should be recognized by Google and ranked pretty highly pretty quickly.

If you go to my other site, which discusses law firm website SEO, you will kind of get an understanding of what I'm talking about. More posts on that site should come shortly.

Speaking of starting a law firm website, a funny thing happened to me the other day. And this is part of a larger story, so let me start from the beginning.... Law office space - I've decided that I think I need some. But I want some that is relatively cheap, and I want some where there are some people around that I can get some local knowledge from (if you are new to law practice or an area of the country, it is easiest to learn about how things work by those that are already there).

I called this firm that listed office space in the local bar bulletin, and after finding out they didn't want to have someone that practiced in the same area as them and asking to just "let me come in and see what happens," I scheduled an appointment to see the space.

And it was interesting what happened. Just the week before the firm had had two associates leave to go start their own law practice. So, not only were they interested in leasing out some office space, they likely were going to have some work that they couldn't do, and they needed someone that could take some of that over. I welcomed the opportunity (although I think the true prospects of work diminished slightly when I made it clear that I was looking to start my own firm, not come on as an associate), and they volunteered to put me at the top of the list for any work they had that they couldn't handle (and conflict work they have too). He promises to call me later with some more information. I don't wait on pins and needles.

And then, on Friday, the owner of the criminal defense firm calls. He asks me what I'm doing, and can I come into the office this afternoon because he has some stuff he thinks I can help with right now (don't get worried, it is not up to the level of practicing law). I don't have much on my schedule, so I go in. After I leave at 5, not only do I have a lot of great information about the practice of law in Seattle, but I've got a little bit of work to do, and I've established myself as an SEO expert for law firm websites!

You may not know this, but over the last year or so I've become quite the authority on web site optimization, or getting your site to the top of Google. For example, there is a reason you found this site, and it wasn't by chance! I told the owner of the firm a little bit about what I know, and they were very interested in how everything worked, and wondered why the guy they were paying a lot of money to didn't mention half of the things I did. Anyway, in the end I think the guy was seriously considering hiring me to optimize his websites!

UPDATE - 10/07/09: I am still at this space, and they are still throwing me some work (though mostly in the form of coverage work, which I'll discuss in another post), but I've come to see just how much money they spend on marketing to get the volume of calls and clients they do, and it is scary. I don't know exactly how much money it is, but I know it's a lot. And, they have someone on that does SEO full time. A little goal of mine is to get up in front of them on Google, for next to nothing, just to see if it's possible.

I think the point of this entire post is this - you have to keep plugging away and you have to be willing to grasp opportunities when they come up. Fear can cripple you, and you need to be ready to accept an opportunity when it comes up. If it doesn't work out, then nothing has been lost but a little time and a lot of knowledge has been gained. And be confident in what you are doing.

On the internet, I may seem like a pretty wise old guy (I have no idea how you see me actually). What would you say if I told you I was 28 years old, have basically already run a solo practice with an office sharing arrangement, and have done 10 million dollar real estate deals? I would hope you would say that anything is possible.

So, if you hadn't heard it today, I'm telling you now. Starting a law firm is possible. You can successfully open your law firm. You can create opportunities for your law firm. And you have what it takes to be a successful law firm owner. All you have to do is go for it (and make sure you rank high on Google - if you have questions, email me, I'll see what I can do for you).

As always, questions and comments are very welcome. How is everyone else doing out there with opening your practice? Any specific questions (I am now set up to essentially hit the ground running once I get my bar results, so I have a lot of research stories to tell...)?

Why Books Aren't Just about Shooting in the Dark--And a Writing Exercise to Prove It

Five weekends each year, I travel from my home in Connecticut to Minnesota, to teach book-writing structure at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis (http://www.loft.org/). I gather thirty-five would-be book writers who want some light in the darkness. We spend two days together in a classroom and come out with our personal book-writing plans, a workable structure and step-by-step method to creating and crafting a novel, memoir, or nonfiction book.

I love teaching at the Loft. The Loft is unique. I've taught at university and college, art center and private school, but nothing is like the Loft. It's the largest nonprofit writing school in the U.S., offering hundreds of classes and writerly events each year. I've been proud to be part of the Loft's teaching artists staff for nine years.

Two of my own books have gotten healthy beginnings from Loft classes. My novel, Qualities of Light, which will be published this August, was launched via a class with Loft instructor Alison McGhee (author of Shadow Baby and other novels).

I'm packing today for my workshops at the Loft this coming weekend, April 24-26. Friday and Saturday, I'm teaching the most popular of my Loft workshops, a two-day intensive on "How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book." I wish I'd had this workshop when I began writing and publishing books in the 1980s. I didn't have much back then, just hopes, fears, and book ideas. Somehow I published, but it wasn't easy. It's still not easy but at least now I have a method, a strategy. It's not just shooting in the dark.

I want to make book writing simpler for any writer. In my Loft workshop, this group of 35 book writers will be mixed, in skill and achievement. Some have manuscripts drafted, some only have an idea. During the two days, we create the structure of our books via tested writing exercises. We start with tag lines, move to writing segments that develop the inner and outer story, then craft linear and nonlinear storyboards.

By day 2 of the workshop, writers are jazzed. That's when their books become real. They are really going to happen.

Maybe you'll be joining me this coming weekend. If you'd like to, call the Loft at 612-379-8999 and get your name on the list. There are 9 places left, as of this writing. You'll be among the greatest book writers in one of the greatest writing schools. It's fun, inspiring, and creative.

Mostly, it's a wake-up call about how books are really written. Writing a book is not just about hoping for the best--although hope does factor in. There's a real formula, a real strategy. I've seen very beginning writers follow this strategy and come out with a good, solid book. One just published last month. She is not alone. My favorite experience is when a writer appears at my workshop, someone who took the class a year or two ago, and hands me a copy of their published book. I love the look of pride on their face.

Books take hard work, of course, and dedication. But having a strategy makes it possible. Otherwise, you're just shooting in the dark.

Writing a Focus Statement

Here's the opening exercise from the workshop. It's easiest if I am there to coach you through it, but try it on your own if you can't join us this weekend at the Loft. Set a kitchen timer for 20 minutes and write three paragraphs about your book--everything you think it's about. Then read it outloud to yourself. Find the sentence that is most interesting to you, that speaks to you, that maybe surprises you. Underline it.

Using this sentence, craft a statement about your book. This is your focus statement, elevator speech, tag line. Your answer to Oprah's question, "What's your book really about?" Make sure you create a statement that contains the book's outer story (event or method) as well as its inner story (answer to a quest or question).

Post it where you can see it. Let it be your light during the book-writing journey. It will be simpler to navigate the trip.

How to Start a Law Firm | Favorite Blogs and Update

Before I get started, I want to thank those people that have left comments on here recently. They are very much appreciated and always welcome. As I think you will soon learn, every person's journey to solo law practice is a little bit different, but the twists and turns are much more easily dealt with if they are anticipated. Now, on to what I've been doing.

I've actually meant to post on here for the last couple days (and respond and post your comments - sorry!) but have just been busy trying to get everything sorted out. But, because I haven't been posting on here, I actually have gotten some work done.

For starters, I've doing a ton of work with my law firm blogs. I haven't discussed it much yet on my legal marketing blog, but the key to getting number one on Google for any of your search terms (Seattle DUI Lawyer, for example) is getting as many links to your sites as possible. This means that you have to create many of the links you want. So, I wrote this article about Seattle DUI law that was approved by ezine articles. It gives my DUI Law blog a great, keyword rich, link. Google loves these.

I also, looking for a way to get Seattle metro specific search traffic, secured almost all of the neighboring towns in blogger web addresses. For example, I just set up bellevueduilawyer.com. The name of the site can give you some immediate Google juice. I think I put together 11 of those. Next is to start getting links to them, and eventually link them all to my firm website. That has actually taken up quite a bit of my time.

UPDATE - 10/07/09 - I actually switched all of these local blogs around to Seattle keyword rich blogs. What I found was that I was simply diversifying too much, and that most people in this area don't search for a lawyer in their particular town or neighborhood - they search for Seattle DUI attorney. But I have seen great results using this method, and I'd encourage you to do the same.

I also had the opportunity to speak with a colleague of mine from Kansas, a great Kansas City personal injury attorney, who relayed his experiences getting started with his partner to me. I learned two great lessons from this conversation: (1) get out there in the community, talk to people that might be able to give you business, and ask for that business; and (2) IT CAN BE DONE. He told me of some long days when he first started out, but said over and over again if he had the chance he'd do exactly the same thing again. He also said his worst day as the owner of his law firm is better than his best day as an associate.

Don't be afraid to get out there and talk to some people and ask them how they did it, and what advice they have to offer. Often it will be followed up with an offer to throw you some business when you get up and running. Believe it or not, most law firms turn away some business, and all law firms get calls for work they don't do. Why can't you be the one they send those additional people to?

And, to end this post, I got an email from a gentleman that wanted to know what other blogs I read, since I mentioned that there are a lot of other people out there talking about their experiences. Instead of emailing him back I thought I'd do a mini-blog review here and just send you to them. Because I've been reading them for so long they deserve a little link love. So, without further adieu, these are the people in my blog reader.

Eminent Domain Watch

Gideon's Trumpet - eminent domain

Golden Practices

Grand Theft Property - eminent domain

Inverse Condemnation

Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips

Law of the Land

Make Money Online - online marketing (great resource for working up Google quickly)

My Shingle

Build a Solo Practice, LLC

Criminal Defense

Duct Tape Marketing

DUI Blog

How to Make it Rain

Law Firm Management

Law for Profit

Law21

Legal Living

Legal Marketing

New Jersey Eminent Domain Law Blog

Palm Beach Criminal Lawyer

PLF on Eminent Domain

Practical Lawyering

Shaun's Real Estate Adventures

Simple Justice

Solo in Chicago

South Carolina Trial Law Blog

The Attorney Marketing Blog

The Eminent Domain Blog

Illinois Trial Practice

The Inspired Solo

The Marcus Perspective - legal marketing blog

The Matlock Blog - criminal law blog

the (non)billable hour - legal technology blog

Party of the First Part - a language blog

Washington Criminal Defense

West Virginia Criminal Law Blog

I gave short a short synopsis when the title of the blog wasn't clear. Please check all of these out if you have time (and they interest you of course). And there are a lot of other resources out there that I haven't even found yet. Take a little time and search for what interests you. You won't be disappointed.

Okay, enough for tonight. See you later. And please comment or ask a question if you have one!

The Beauty of Regular Writing Practice--Watching Your Book Grow

Writing practice is like walking a path and not knowing exactly where you're going, but enjoying the journey. To paraphrase my yoga teacher, writing practice is not writing perfect.

Perfect means you have it all under control. Practice means you're willing to make mistakes to get to a goal. Practice is about sitting in the chair, putting words on the page, letting mistakes happen. Letting miracles happen too.

In Thunder and Lightning, Natalie Goldberg wrote of a time when she and a friend were in the dumps. They first tried a long hike to cure it. That didn’t work. They sat zazen (meditating), but both women still felt bad. Finally, Natalie suggested writing practice. “We wrote for half an hour, read to each other, wrote another half hour, read aloud,” she said. “By the end we were both beaming. Writing practice had done it again—digested our sorrows, dissolved and integrated our inner rigidity, and let us move on.”

Goldberg adds “Writing practice lets out all your wild horses. Everything you never dared to utter—didn’t even know you thought—comes galloping and whinnying across the page. This is good. You become connected with a much larger force field, one where you’re not in control.”

Not being in control: that's what practice is all about.

In my writing class today, we practiced practice. We did three 10-minute freewriting exercises. I asked the writers to pick a line from their homework that stood out in some way, write it at the top of their page, then write for 10 minutes--nondirected practice. They tried it again. The third 10-minute freewriting session, writing got looser, more interesting. Discoveries were made.

Writing practice has worked for me more times than I can count—and I certainly often can’t remember what I wrote about during these freewriting sessions. Although they have produced many books, stories, and articles, that wasn’t the point of the practice. The practice itself was the point, the rhythm it gave to my writing life.

This non-directed practice is called automatic writing by Peter Elbow (author of Writing without Teachers) and Lynn Lauber (author of Listen to Me), freewriting by Natalie Goldberg and others. Try it yourself this week. Pick a "prompt" (starting phrase or sentence) from your favorite piece of writing. Set a kitchen timer for 10 minutes, and go for it.

Starting a Law Firm | Do I Need an Office?

Over the last couple days, in addition to other things, which I'll talk about later, I've been doing some serious soul searching to determine if I really needed a law office outside the home. Because I actually want this to work, I realize I need to focus on two critical factors: managing cash flow; and getting clients. And an office raises serious questions for each.

Now, before I say this, understand that I am all for the home office, and if my practice was going to focus more on transactional work or other work that was more document centric, I'd be all for the home office. But I think certain practice areas require an office space, and even further, I think for some practice areas an office can help to inspire client confidence (it is required because of confidence expectations). I think criminal defense (one of my practice areas) in particular requires some established office space to function effectively.

The managing cash flow aspect of law practice makes signing up for any client space rather scary. Rents in Seattle can vary from $675/month to $1500/month, which can be a fairly heavy burden when beginning to open a practice. Your first goal from a business standpoint should be to break even, and it gets that much harder with each expense that is added.

But, on the other hand, you need to get clients in the door, and an office can help establish your law firm as reputable. And even further, I like the thought of differentiating work from home, and keeping my home life private from all of my clients. Having an office helps me, at least, stay on task, looks good for clients, and also, in the end, makes you feel like a real life lawyer (I don't pull any punches on here).

So, a lot of my day today was spent scouting out possible office space. My first decision was location. After careful consideration, I decided that my office space needs to be located downtown, near the courthouse. This makes the courthouse accessible to me, makes my office accessible to clients (transit runs heavily to downtown), and makes me seem like a real life criminal defense lawyer.

Most of the locations I looked at were office sharing arrangements with other lawyers or law firms. The reason for this is simple - I would love to have some other attorneys around to (a) potentially get work from, and (b) have some people to talk to that first month or so when I'm waiting for the phone to ring. Of the spaces I found (check your local bar bulletin - these days everyone has free space they are looking to lease out), the attorneys currently in the office practiced criminal law, business law, elder law, family law, and even insurance defense. And they were all relatively close to each other.

So who did I pick as my number one (this, of course, is before even looking at the office or speaking with the lessors about terms)? I picked the criminal law firm to check out first. They are in one of my practice areas, have an established practice, and were the most reasonably priced. Because criminal law at this point is the weakest of my practice area, I could use the (probable) run off business and the ears to bend when I have questions. I'll be checking them out in the next week or so and let you know what I decide.

Other than that, I've been continuing to post to my Seattle criminal defense blog and my Washington eminent domain blog, as well as creating as many links as possible. I've also been looking into virtual reception services, pinning down my legal research costs, and doing a couple of other things.

But, you know what? It's Friday, the Masters is on, and I don't really feel like writing much more today. So, look for me on Monday, when I'll expound a little bit on what I've done to start my law firm.

And don't forget, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask. It's really hard to get everything I do in here, so I might have looked into something you are considering and might be able to give you a little information about it. Have a great weekend.

UPDATE - 10/7/09: I ended up picking the office downtown with the criminal defense firm and it was just about the best decision I could make. First, it helps me to separate work and home, even if just a little bit. Second, it makes me feel like a real lawyer going downtown to work everyday. And third, it's made a big difference in signing up clients. For me, choosing this location is probably one of the reasons I've been able to have some success. So, put some thought into it. Location really can make a big difference.

Why Book Writers Need to Hang Out Together

I teach weekly writing classes for book writers at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center in Westchester County near New York City. The beginning class, meeting each Monday afternoon for six weeks, draws a range of skill and experience levels. Some writers come in with a good idea, encouragement from friends and family ("You should write a book!"), expertise in a topic, or a group of characters who won't leave them alone. I take the group through a series of writing exercises to determine where their real story lies.

It's the tools in the class that start the process of discovery. But it's the gathering of other writers, those specifically working on books, which lends clarity and inspiration. The class discussions, the helping of each other, bring very interesting results which reveal to the writer (and me, the teacher) where the real stall-out is.

One woman in my class, a brilliant ex-journalist (and I've changed details here to protect her privacy), was writing about an entertainment world legend. She had put together ten chapters then stopped for some reason. Nothing moved the book forward, so she came to my class to figure out why. Over the six weeks, she discovered that she was deeply afraid of ridicule from fellow reporters and of making some monumental mistake in reporting accuracy. Her award-winning newspaper and magazine were pieces of cake compared to a book. How could she ever create copy that was interesting enough to hold a reader for 300 pages? More importantly, how would she keep all those piles of research accurate?

Navigating this writer's block came about through discussion with thirteen other struggling book writers and ended her procrastination on her manuscript.

I've taught this weekly class for many years. I'm fascinated, at the beginning of each session, how varied the group of writers is. We are usually between twelve and fifteen people. We meet for three hours once a week for six weeks. By the end of the session, we are often changed inside. The books we write reveal ourselves, our deepest fears and longings, whether they are fiction, nonfiction, or memoir. Good books put the writer on the page. They can't help it--they have to.

I'm starting a new session in May. Already writers are signing up, coming from around the East Coast. Some drive in for an overnight to attend the class, and when I am amazed at this, the writer tells me, "There aren't very many classes like these. My friend took it last year and raved about it. And her book is actually finished now." I hear many stories like this, because we, as a group, are unique. We specifically address the strange and wonderful needs of the book writer.

I know these classes keep me writing! I have two books coming out this summer, and I am thanking my classes for the inspiration and momentum to keep going on them over the past few years.

If you want to join us for the next session of "How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book," here are the specifics: 6 Mondays, 1:30-4:30 p.m., May 4-June 22 (skips May 18 & 25), $355, at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center in Sleepy Hollow, NY (near Tarrytown). Visit http://www.writerscenter.org/, email info@writerscenter.org, or call 914-332-5953 to register. Class size is limited, and this one usually sells out. So call soon. Maybe you'll find the missing key to finishing your book, as you are supported and encouraged by this wonderful group of fellow writers.

If you're too distant to join us, try an exercise from the class. Consider the writerly support in your life. Write for ten minutes about how you are encouraged, motivated, and appropriately mirrored in your efforts to write your book. Where does your support come from--and where might it be missing?

Writers, especially book writers, need each other. It's essential to hang out together so we realize (1) we're not going crazy in this book-writing process, (2) it actually demands more of us than we might first believe and there are specific tools to get stronger, and (3) we can keep going when the going gets tough.

Starting a Law Firm | Tracking Expenses

As you can tell by the title of this post, I've been spending the last few days finalizing my law firm business plan, which means, at some point, trying to nail down the financials. For me, the financials include start up expenses, monthly expenses, and projecting income. And if you are like me, this is the most difficult part of the entire starting a law firm process.

The first part of determining expenses is figuring out what you are going to need to make your law firm work when you get started. A lot of this is common sense, but if you poke around on the internet you can find some pretty good information out there. I don't know about you, but I am an avid blog reader, and I have about 50 blogs in my Google Reader. Some are practice specific, some are lawyer specific, some deal with starting a law firm, some deal with law firm marketing, and some deal with entrepreneurship. From this information I am able to pick up a lot of helpful tips that I might not otherwise be able to.

For example, the other day I was thumbing through my reader and stumbled upon this post from Peter called Solo in Chicago. As the name suggests, this site is Peter's blog about his journey as a solo lawyer (he is doing quite well). If you click on the link you will see an outline of his expenses and income from the month of February. This is about the best look in you will have in building your practice, because you actually get to see what is absolutely necessary for this specific attorney to run his practice. And, because he is so forthcoming with information, I'm going to give a link to his website, where I'm sure he is a great Chicago divorce lawyer (by the way, giving links on your site to people who are doing a good job, with a keyword that you think represents their site, is about the best thanks you can give anyone on the internet - I will be discussing this more on my law firm marketing and website SEO site as time passes).

Anyway, back on topic. I put together a list of projected law firm expenses, both yearly and monthly. This is what I came up with (insurance, legal research, and rent are estimates because I haven't received all the information I've asked for yet):
Monthly -
1. Insurance - malpractice: $125

2. Insurance - premises: $50

3. Legal Research: $100

4. Marketing: $100

5. Website (hosting): $10

6. Office Supplies: $40

7. Rent: $1,000

8. Phone: $100

9. Fax: $20

10. Clio (online management and billing software): $49

11. Mozy: $20

12. Credit Card Processing: $25

13. Transportation: $50

14. Postage: $70

Total = $1,759

Yearly
1. CLE: $500

2. Attorney Registration: $100

3. Local Bar Dues: $215

4. Chamber of Commerce Dues (Seattle and surrounding communities): $500

5. Business Cards: $50

6. Accounting: $250

7. Technology: $500

8. Software: $200

9. Practice Area organizations: $200

10. Ironkey USB: $150

Total = $2,665 or $222/month (not all of these are necessary - I just wanted to try to figure out everything I would need).

Doing this gives me at least an idea of what I need to start making immediately just to keep my law firm open (plus, if all the business pundits are correct, about 10% more). The great thing is, when I boil it down to this, even $2,000 is a manageable number for a law practice (essentially one misdemeanor criminal case). So, if I can just get one person to sign up a month, the rest I can begin to invest back in the firm to make it the well oiled machine I envision.

The next step is to put together my law firm income projections for at least the next three years. And this is where it gets tricky, because so much about it is unknown. All I can be sure of are the rates I will charge. I have to project how many people will sign up, and when I'll actually be able to collect the money (thankfully most of my work will be up front flat fee, so I won't have to wait long to deposit it in the business account). When I have that done I'll try to figure out how to post a spreadsheet on here and give you an idea of what I expect to make my first three years after opening my law firm.

I think that's all for today. Once I get this business plan finished I should start to pick up my law firm marketing posts, and provide a lot more tidbits of information on here (there is a lot of great information out there). I think I will leave you with one thing though - at some point you are going to have to commit to doing what you want to do.

There are always going to be unknowns out there, but I can guarantee you there are a lot of attorneys out there running their own practice that at least make enough money to pay the bills, and they are not remotely as motivated, as smart, or as dedicated to success as you are (I've gone against a lot of these guys - trust me, there are a lot). So, keep working toward your goal and get your mind prepared to take that leap and get out there and start your own law firm!

I also wanted to thank the couple of people that left comments. I think the more successful stories people can hear, the easier it is to get over that fear of opening a solo law practice.

How to Start a Law Firm | Great Entreprenuership Book and One Page Business Plan

A couple of days ago I was out getting my hair cut and stopped by the bookstore to see what they had to offer. I'm a voracious reader and love to get my hands on a new book whenever I can. Because I am now constantly in the entrepreneurial mood, I thought I'd check out the business section, peruse the starting a business section, and see if I could find anything worth reading. I'm glad I did, because I ended up stumbling upon a great book, not only for information and advice on starting a law firm, but encouragement that it can be done (something we all need to hear from time to time).

The title of the book is "Young Guns," and it is authored by Robert Tuchman. However, contrary to the title, it is not geared specifically toward those of a youthful age. The subtitle is "The Fearless Entrepreneur's Guide to Chasing Your Dreams and Breaking Out on Your Own." As the title suggests, it is a book, told in the first person, about starting your own business, what to expect, and how to deal with some of the fear and anxiety that comes with starting and building your own business (in this case a law firm). It also has a great idea for a one page law firm business plan starter that I'll share with you in a bit (including my own results).

The premise of the book is this: don't let fear paralyze you. When you begin to become anxious with fear, not because of something that is presenting itself that you don't know how to deal with, but because of the unknown, or the thought of failure, ask yourself, Why not me? This quote from the book explains it perfectly.

You must get into the habit of asking yourself: Why not me? You must answer this question daily, and probably hourly, and you must answer it in the right way if you hope to use the ideas in this book to your advantage. You must use those answers to overcome every fear of failure and every ridicule, every doubt, every adversity that enters your mind. Your own answer to this question will be the single most important factor in your personal campaign - your mission - to start a great business from scratch.

Throughout this book there is a lot of motivational advice, as well as practical advice, regarding things such as: the time and effort you must expect to put in at least the first couple of years (a lot); the amount of money you need to get started (not a lot); and the amount of dedication you must have to succeed (100%). Basically the idea is to jump in, give it your best shot, and see what happens. If you don't succeed, who cares? Pick yourself up off the ground and get back in the game doing something else.

Besides the motivation and helpful tips (based on his own experience starting a business), he offers one great practical piece of information I've already used to help me focus on what I really want to accomplish by starting my solo law firm - a one page business plan. This plan calls for a few simple elements that can be completed in a short amount of time (I did it in less than 30 minutes, although I've been thinking about what I want to do and need to do for some time now). The elements of his basic business plan are this:

1. Your best idea so far for a name for your law firm.

2. Your best description of the group of people your business will be helping.

3. Your vision of what the company will look like five years from now. For example, how many employees will it have, how much money will it be pulling in, what your personal salary will be.

4. Your main goal to accomplish in the first year of your business. It should be specific, measurable, attainable but a stretch, realistic, and tied to a specific date.

5. The three most important immediate goals you see for your business to achieve in the next thirty, sixty, and ninety days that will support the big goal you just identified.

That's it. Pretty easy right? But it makes identify several key important concepts that can then be worked into your more detailed business plan: long term goals of the company; target market; and immediate to-dos that need to be accomplished to continue moving forward. To give you an idea, here is what I came up with for my one page law firm business plan (and remember, this plan can and should change over time as your goals become more well defined and through trial and error your business begins to take shape).

Name of law firm - Law Office of _______________________ (I don't want to tell you my name until I'm open - I'm superstitious!)

People my law firm will help - (1) Landowners whose property is taken by eminent domain; (2) individuals charged with crimes (DUI primary; drugs secondary); (3) people who want peace of mind of attorney available 24/7.

Law firm vision in five years - three attorneys, two support staff, one office assistant; grossing $1,000,000 a year; personal salary of $100,000; employees that are excited to come to work; so much demand for work from our firm that we have to turn people away and can be selective about the cases we take.

Main goals to accomplish in 1st year - gross average of $10,000/month; reach the first page of google rankings for Seattle DUI lawyer and Washington eminent domain lawyer; 2 jury trials. Date to be accomplished by - June 1, 2010.

Three most immediate goals for next 30, 60, and 90 days -
30 days - read and learn as much as possible about Washington state DUI laws and procedures and eminent domain law; determine office software structure; price and decide on insurance/legal research; and get blogs indexed in Google (this means my blogs are "on" google and can be found by people searching on google).

60 days - Website set-up; office forms complete; business cards/stationary decided on; sign up for services; locate office space; be able to take credit card payments.

90 days - market practice to other attorneys for referral and "table scrap" work; get signed up as a court appointed Seattle criminal defense lawyer; finalize inter-office procedures; sign up for bar/practice associations and local chamber of commerces and find out how to get in front of members with speaking engagements.

Why not me? (this isn't on the business plan, but about halfway through the book I thought it might help to write this down so I could come back to it in the future) I am a very good attorney, experienced in my practice areas, and people need my help. And, the people I help face significant obstacles against people/organizations with a vast amount of resources, experience, and knowledge. I am here to level the playing field, to help the underdog, so at the very least my clients are treated fairly throughout the eminent domain and criminal justice process.

Feel free to use this outline to help you, whether you are just starting your journey to open a law firm or if you are well down the path. And write it down. Not only does it help solidify what you are doing and push you toward your goal, it in a way makes it more real, more attainable. If you can write it and think it you can accomplish it, right?

So good luck moving forward, and remember to ask "Why not me?" when you start to feel a little discouraged or anxious.

And remember, if you want, leave a comment, ask a question, or tell a little of your own story. There is nothing more helpful to us all than to hear what others are doing to start their own law firm.

How to Start a Law Firm | Find Attorneys Who Went Out on Their Own

If you are even a semi-regular follower of this blog, you will see that I haven't posted here in a few days. There are a couple of reasons for that. First, I played in a golf tournament on Thursday afternoon about an hour and a half away from Seattle (don't ask how I played - it wasn't pretty). Second, on Friday I kind of slacked off a little, only doing a couple of blog posts and working a little bit on getting my blogs indexed for the keywords I need (although not as bad as these Wellington lawyers). And third, I knew I was having lunch today with a fellow solo practitioner, and I figured I'd wait so I could tell you what I learned from him today.

Reach Out to Other Attorneys to Learn How to Start a Law Firm

One of the best things I've done so far is find an attorney who seems to have a good head on his shoulders and who seems to be doing fairly well for just starting his own law firm, and building a relationship with him where I can ask him all the questions that are too dumb to ask others or are too complicated to try to waste time sorting out on the internet, and where he can tell me things he learned along the way so I can avoid making the same mistake when starting my law firm.

Today I had lunch with this other attorney, who is a Kent bankruptcy lawyer and a Kent criminal defense attorney (one of the few things I can offer him is some link juice from my site) who went out on his own in September of 2008 after clerking for a judge (even a scarier proposition to me, since I have a fairly extensive practice background already). He was extremely candid in answering all of my questions, as well as giving some other advice he'd learned along the way. To maybe help you a little, here is a bit of a recap of my questions and some of the information he provided.

1. How do you market your law firm?

Much of his law firm marketing comes solely from the internet, both through blogs and building up his site and using adwords sparingly (it can get very expensive if you are not careful).

He has also had great success getting referrals from other attorneys (this is why it is important to speak with as many people as you can - you will be surprised how many are willing to lend a helping hand, and how many people have to turn down business that they would be more than happy to send your way).

2. What was your cash flow timetable? Are you meeting projections?

I won't give you specifics here, but just say that he pointed out what in retrospect seems to be fairly obvious. In the first month, it was extremely slow, but since then he's made at least some money every month (with pretty extreme differences in the amount). I'd say that you shouldn't expect to make a lot of money in the first year.

UPDATE - 10/7/09: This was true of me as well. The phone didn't really ring at all the first month but has steadily picked up ever since. I've been cash flow positive since that first month (though the money is not rolling in). Bottom line - it can be done!)

3. Did you have any start-up cash? What do you think is the minimum?

I won't tell you what he started with, but it is probably a lot lower than you might expect. The key is to plan extremely well with your law firm business plan, keep expenses as low as possible, and try not to upgrade until you have the cash for it. One of the overriding principles you will see with successful business of all walks of life is they are constantly pouring money back into the business. It is an exponential build that must continue to be added to.

UPDATE - 10/07/09: For me, I started with about $5,000 in the bank. I borrowed some, my wife let me take some out of an investment account she had, and I saved up for the rest. So far, I've never come close to running out of money.

4. Do you have an accountant? Should I get one?

The Kent bankruptcy attorney told me that yes, I should shell out the money to hire an accountant, particularly for the quarterly taxes and yearly taxes that will come due. He made an excellent point here too that everyone should consider when thinking about doing something yourself. If you have to pay someone even $50/hour to do something for you and that means that you can bill $150/hour, it makes sense to pay the money, do the work that you can do, and make sure it gets done right. So, hire an accountant to help manage your law firm.

5. Any other recommendations?

He did have a few recommendations. First, he thought Tabs practice management software was pretty useful, and recommended it to me. Second, he told me he uses Mozy as a file backup service for off site backup (a must for your practice). And finally, he just made me feel generally like it can be done. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of follow through, but it is possible to open your own law firm and make it successful.

UPDATE - 10/07/09: I don't use any of that practice management software and I'm doing just fine. I used CLIO for a bit but found I didn't need it. The type of practice you have is going to dictate the kind of software you need. For me, I just use microsoft office, my law firm email (google applications), and that's it.

Law Firm Website | Law Firm Marketing Blog

I was going to try to discuss all of the things I was doing on this blog, my other blogs, and eventually my law firm website to get it ranked number one in google for particular search term, but decided it would make these posts ridiculously long (as if they aren't already). I'd discussed it previously on here, including how to create a law blog (and part II), using keyword rich law blog posts, and how to get good law firm backlinks.

But combining the two would just be too cumbersome. So, instead, I just made another blog where I will discuss what I'm doing to rank high in the search engines for specific terms I think clients will search for, and let you know how that success works out (it has to be working out pretty good - most of you got here originally by searching google for things like law firm business plan, law firm budget, law firm marketing, how to start a law firm, or starting a law firm).

The name of the blog is Law Firm Marketing | Law Firm Website SEO, and I thought I'd let everyone know about it in case they wanted to check it out and get started building their online law firm presence. I've already got a post up, and I'll be updating it fairly frequently as well. Please go and check it out and let me know what you think.

UPDATE: 10/07/09: I haven't been updating that site at all but plan to soon. It is part of my effort to really bring my internet marketing efforts up to the next level.

Okay, this is probably enough for tonight. I've got more to talk about, including a great book I read yesterday that really gave me a lot of motivation to get this thing off the ground (and a quick one page business plan idea that will really help you focus and get started) and some great opening a DUI law firm resources I got for free from the Washington State Bar Association (although I think you have to be a member or soon to be member to get the materials for free). I can talk about that tomorrow, though.

Oh, and one last thing. I can see that there are at least a few people reading this from time to time, and I want to encourage you to leave comments or questions you might have concerning everything. And further, if someone leaves a comment and you have a suggestion or response, please respond to them. I know in the past I've been pretty bad about posting and responding to comments in a timely manner, but I promise I'll do better this time. :)

Good luck to starting your law firm - and keep up the hard work!