Starting a Law Firm | Goals for 2010

I know I know, another goals for 2010 post. If you read any other blogs then you are probably seeing these pop up all over the place. Everyone is telling you how to set goals you can achieve and set goals that will help make starting a law firm a reality for you. Well, I'm selfish. I care about your success, but I like to do a little less talk and a little more show. To do that, I'm going to tell you what my goals are for 2010 for starting my law firm (there won't be any personal goals in here, so wifey, don't get mad).

Before I get there, I want to talk about the questions I've asked myself to get to my answers. And, as is usual with much of my direction, I haven't obtained this information from any lawyer sites. I picked it up from somewhere else. And to get to my goals for the year I asked myself 4 primary questions. First, how much money do I want to make this year? Second, what kinds of specific things do I want to do with the money I will make? Third, what am I going to do to reach that moneymaking goal? And finally, what am I going to do to measure day to day success?

First, the money. People start law firms all the time for different reasons. One of my reasons is to make money. I want to be able to provide for my family. But I'm realistic. I know it grows over time. But I also know to reach goals you have to set goals. My gross income goal for this year is $100,000. That boils down to about $8,333 a month, though I may not make that much every month (the goal is to increase my revenues every month).

Second, what kinds of things do I want to do with the money I'll make? The first thing I want to do is pay down debt. I won't tell you what I owe, but it's a lot. The main thing I want to do with this money is pay down the debts I owe (these are primarily personal debts). I'd like to pay down at least half of the debt that I owe that isn't associated with student loans (the interest rate is too good to pay off early). The second thing I want to do is travel with my wife. The third thing is play some golf. And the fourth thing is begin saving money to buy a house.

Third, what am I going to do to reach that moneymaking goal? First, I am going to continue to strictly adhere to my online marketing plan (you can read more about that here). Second, I am going to set up a system where I give one online or in-person talk a month about dealing with cops. Third, I am going to continue to track and tweak my marketing efforts to get the return on investment I need. And finally, I'm going to continue working every day to become the best Seattle DUI attorney there is (this includes doing at least 5 trials this year).

Fourth, and finally, what am I going to do to measure day to day success? This is easy, but won't be readily explained here. I'm going to create a strategic plan in the next couple of days that will produce a day to day list of action items to carry out. It will be set up so the next 6 months or so are planned out for me. The day to day satisfaction I'm going to take out of meeting my goals is crossing everything off the to-do list I've got scheduled for that day.

2010 is on the horizon, and I'm really excited about it. I'm looking forward to getting new business, helping new people, and making more money.

By the way, I'm working out my finances for this year right now. When I get those numbers I'll let you know what they are so you can have an idea of what I've been doing.

Happy New Year and thanks for reading How to Start a Law Firm!

Related Posts:

How to Start a Law Firm | To-Do List

Starting a Law Firm | Practice Update

Turning Down Clients the Key to Starting a Law Firm Successfully

You may have just read the title of this post and immediately thought of clicking away. After all, how can you make any money if you turn down clients? Isn't the goal to make as much as possible, and isn't that goal only attained by getting the maximum number of clients? I mean, if you are just starting a law firm, isn't any client better than no client?

The short answers are: you can make more money if you turn down certain clients; the goal is to make as much money as possible, but that doesn't necessarily mean getting as many clients as possible; and no, any client is not better than no client at all.

If you've already started the journey, you know starting a law firm is a scary experience. And for me, it was probably about as scary as it could get. I was in a new city, didn't know any people, and was scared the phone might never ring. But, keeping my law firm goals in mind and thinking big picture instead of immediate gratification helped my law firm generate money from day one.

Turning Down Bad Clients is Okay When Starting a Law Firm

Turning down clients to make more money with your new law firm, while appearing to be a little counter intuitive, definitively holds true. Let me give you an example from my practice to show you what I mean. I had someone come into the office who had a problem. They were facing some pretty serious criminal charges. No problem, I told them, I can help you, it will only cost you x dollars. I need to be paid up front and once I get that payment I'll help you.

The client's court date came and they told me they'd have a check waiting. I showed up, entered my appearance, got the check, and deposited it. And it bounced. Not only did it bounce, but I found out it was a check on a bank account that had been closed. So I called the client and told her I needed to be paid, in cash. She said okay, but she couldn't get it all, she could only come up with about a third. I said okay, bring the third and then pay me x dollars a month after that.

The last time I got paid was in September. I've been doing some work for her ever since, and every time I ask for payment I get excuses that I buy and give her more time. Tomorrow I'm entering my motion to withdraw and get out of the case. And if I would have demanded payment earlier I could have used the time I wasted helping this person to help a paying client or do something else that would help my business.

And it isn't just nonpaying clients. You ever have someone come in that you knew was going to be difficult? That was going to be pulling teeth to work with? Why take them on as a client? I know it's a scary proposition to turn business away, but you will be happier, your employees will be happier, and other people will still want your help if you turn bad potential clients away.

Making the Most Money Possible Doesn't Mean Having the Most Clients Possible

You can have two kinds of practice as an attorney - a volume practice or a value practice. The volume practice relies on discount prices and a high volume of clients. Think bankruptcy, think criminal defense (for some people), think traffic defense. You need a lot of people to survive because the profit each client gives you is small.

The value practice works in a different way. Your clients are paying you not for your time or because you are the cheapest, but because you provide something to them that they consider valuable enough to pay a premium (or at least market or above market value for). It is your job to create and demonstrate that value to potential clients, but it is there, and it is possible. A value practice makes more money with less clients by making more money off of each case, by providing more value to each case.

If you are a volume practice, turning down clients is difficult. If you are a value practice, it is easy.

Any Client is Not Better Than No Client at All

I think you already know where this is going. The bad client doesn't pay according to your agreement. The bad client calls you for no reason. The bad client doesn't adhere to your policies and procedures they agreed to at the beginning. The bad client has had previous attorneys and moved on to you. The bad client is just not a nice person. And you don't need the bad clients.

And turning them down will not only not have a bad effect on your business, it could actually help it thrive. First, you won't have the stress of dealing with that bad client. Second, you won't have the stress of trying to track them down for payment. And third, you can use that time to work on your firm (marketing, marketing, marketing) and work for your good clients, your paying clients.

I'm a Seattle DUI attorney. This means I have the choice of slugging it out in the gutter, racing to be the cheapest attorney out there or provide a great service to the clients I have, at a good price. I think you know which way I'm going.

Any thoughts, questions, comments? Please leave them below.

Related Posts:

Starting a Law Firm? Get Your Money Up Front

Challenges of Starting a New Law Firm

Starting a Law Firm and Time Management

When you are starting a law firm one of the first things you are going to have to think about is how to manage your time, particularly if you're starting a solo law firm. Every once in a while I make a short list of all the hats I might wear in any given day, and it ends up looking a little something like this (in no particular order): attorney; receptionist; paralegal; office manager; marketing manager; and customer service representative. As you might expect, my days can go by in a flurry feeling like I get nothing done.

To get the most out of my day I've found it is best to do two things: first, every day I devote a third of my day to marketing your law firm, a third of my day to administrative tasks, and and a third of my day to lawyering. That way all of the things that need to get done get done. And second, I make a to-do list every day so I know exactly what I have to get done. These two things help me maximize my time, keep everything moving forward, and prevent me from going crazy thinking about all of the things that have to get done.

Of course, some days things will pop up and the time allowance will get skewed, or you won't get all the way through your list. But that's okay. Just keep working down the list. And cross things off when you get done with them - it will make you feel good knowing you are getting stuff done and at the end of the day you can see what you have gotten done.

Remember that you can't get everything done in one day. Break a task up into manageable pieces and get something done every day. And follow the one third rule. It will ensure that you are getting stuff done in all the aspects of your practice that are important, not just the one.

Why Bad Decisions Make Good Stories--A Cure for Writer's Block

Still life--it doesn't make for good stories. Bad decisions? They do.

A friend from Florida just emailed me a list of random thoughts, truisms to laugh at or shake your head over. Here's the one that grabbed me for this week's writing exercise: "Bad decisions make good stories." Funny, but really accurate. A good motto for writers.

Bad decisions are one of the only ways plot is furthered in memoir and fiction. If you're stuck in a rut, chances are your writing is staying too safe.

This week's discussion and exercise looks at a simple question. Why are you keeping bad decisions out of your book?

Staying Safe
A student in my classes complained about her writer's block. She wrote several chapters that just flowed out. Then, about chapter 5, she got stuck. Nothing happened--either on the page or with the pen. I suggested she look at the bad decisions in her chapters. Try to find something that made everyone uneasy or got them into trouble.

What you're after here are the qualities of risk. What does the edge feel like? What does it feel like to "up the stakes" in your writing?

This writer was working on her storyboard (see post two weeks ago) so she went back to it. As she reviewed the plot points, she realized nothing big had happened. She was saving the big stuff for later. No bad decisions yet, so very little momentum. Very little energy to propel the plot.

I asked her why not. As she explained, I saw that this writer is a very nice person. She believes in a world where most people are good at heart. She just couldn't see getting her characters in trouble, painting them as anything but good people too.

I like her, who wouldn't? And I also believe in that kind of world. But not on paper. Not in fiction or memoir, especially if you want to publish today.

I'm not suggesting you have to make murder and mayhem. Bad decisions can just be telling a white lie, and watching the consequences unfold. I asked this writer if she'd ever told a white lie, and she said, "Of course, who hasn't?"

"Find your bad decisions," I suggested. "List them, then transport one into your story."

Finding Bad Decisions--This Week's Writing Exercise
We've all made bad decisions. We've been on the receiving end of other people's, too. They are hard to forget, no matter how hard we try. Think of what your "story" was after the decision. It probably had drama, movement, energy, and consequences. That's what you're after in your writing.

This week write about one really bad decision you made in your life. Write about it in all its glory. I like to set a kitchen timer for 15 minutes, to limit the agony. Maybe you're far enough away to not feel the pain of it again, but if you do feel some embarrassment or unease as you write, good thing--because it'll make the writing that much more emotionally grabbing for a reader.

Now look at your book draft. Where are the bad decisions? If you don't have many, make a list of 10 things your character would never do. (Use this equally for memoir or fiction.) Now write one scene, one moment, using one item on the list--imagining it happening.

See if this provides momentum. Gets you unstuck. Out of that "still life."

PS We'll carry this one step further next week, with an update on storyboards. I've been learning a lot as I work on my novel's sequel, and I'm feeling far from stuck now--hooray!

Working with Unsavory Characters

A reader recently posted this excellent question: "I have many stories in which the characters are not easily appreciated. I am sure many of my stories will be filled with hints of resentment, bitterness and disdain. Many players acted badly, and hurt the lives of many people. I guess forgiveness is due, but the facts are the facts. How do I deal with that?"

Another reader wrote me the same week, very disappointed in the ending of a popular thriller which let the bad guys triumph. Why'd the author do that? he wondered. Such a let down, after a great story.

So here we have the same dilemma, from both sides.

What do you do, as a writer, when one or more of your characters is not very likeable (at best) or downright horrible (at worst)? You'll be spending time with this person. A negative character isn't like a downward turn of plot. Plot changes. People often do, but they don't always, especially if their nastiness is part of who they are.

And how does a negative character affect a reader? Will they stop following your story, or will they read to the end and be so disgusted, they won't want to recommend your book to anyone?

An Example from Tobias Wolff
Tobias Wolff wrote a fabulous short story called "Bullet in the Brain." I teach this story in one of my one-day workshops because it's complex, amazing, and gives writers so much information on working with unsavory characters.

Wolff presents a character, Anders, who is thoroughly despicable. So much so that he gets himself killed halfway through the story. But the way Wolff continues the story, revealing Anders beneath the anger, boredom, and frustration that makes him a really bad guy, is brilliant.

We end the story actually feeling the depths of humanness, even in this miserable person. How is this possible? How does the process work, for the writer, while he or she is putting the story together?

My Challenge with Melvin
Melvin Fisher is the main male character in my novel Qualities of Light. He's the first character that "came" to me, nine years ago, and was the subject for a short story published many years before the novel. Melvin was a pest; he didn't let me stop writing about him, even though I grew to really dislike him.

He's everything you don't want in a friend or relative: self-absorbed, terrifically talented but pretty mean-spirited about it, short with loved ones, a betrayer at his worst. A painter, who hasn't actually had affairs, Melvin falls in love with his models and does everything but sleep with them. Somehow he believes this is OK, justified by his need to "absorb beauty."

Bleech. My writing groups, three of them over the years Melvin has haunted me, agree. The first one actually told me they really didn't want to hear more Melvin scenes until he got nicer.

So what's a writer to do?

I would've dumped Melvin like a bad lunch date if he hadn't presented some interesting writerly problems for me. I needed to learn how to make him less evil. In other words, if my basic belief in life and in writing is that human beings have many sides, not just bad or good, where was Melvin's compassion, beauty, shades of gray? Could I show him as vulnerable, learning and growing? Who in my story would help me do this?

It turned out to be Molly, his teenage daughter. She saves the entire family in Qualities of Light, but mostly she saves her dad. From himself.

One reader told me, "I loved your book, and by the end I even got to like Melvin." That was my biggest complement.

This Week's Exercise: Write a "Good" Bad Character
Find someone bad in your story, be it a real person or a fictional one, and interview them on paper. Pretend you are a very skilled interviewer who knows how to get to the truth about someone. First ask them what bad stuff they've done. Get them to be specific--who have they cheated, lied to, stolen from, or worse? Then begin asking them about good stuff they've done--even small.

Finally ask your character about their missed chances, their longings, what they wanted from life but never got. Go beneath their bitterness if you can, into the innocence they once had.

If you can, get ahold of "Bullet in the Brain" (search for it online, or better, get ahold of the short-story collection--you'll love Wolff's other stories too). Read it as a writer, asking yourself how Tobias Wolff allows us to see a bad character in a good light.

The ending lines are particularly important, so pay attention, but don't read ahead. It's a great surprise.

What Makes Strong Writing? Something to Think about as You Work on Your Book

How does a book writer create writing that pulls a reader in, that engages us so well, we can't stop reading? A favorite nonfiction writer, Malcolm Gladwell, spoke about this in the preface to his book What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures.

Gladwell's topics are potentially dry. I love his ability to present his material in an amazingly engaging way.

"Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade," he said. "It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head--even if in the end you conclude that someone else's head is not a place you'd really like to be."

Each book writer has their topic, the thing they must write about. Some write about flowers, some write about addictions. No matter your topic, the trick is to make it engaging. It's harder than it sounds. The key is something called "container."

On Sunday I taught a one-day workshop at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis called "Self-Editing for Book Writers." We spent all day on this question: How does a book writer move from the writer's view to the reader's? How do we get the reader engaged in our work? It usually happens in the crafting stage, or editing stage. In the class, I guide writers through a series of exercises that let them move to the reader's chair, instead of the writer's.

This is the first step to producing the engaging writing that Gladwell is talking about.

Tough Material, Great Container
In the class, we read an essay by Susan J. Miller, excerpted from her book Never Let Me Down. Miller's father was a well-respected jazz musician who hung out with the likes of George Handy and Stan Getz. But he was also a heroin addict, and her life was terribly affected by this. Her memoir is heart-breaking.

Some of the class members were really repulsed by the essay. Some couldn't even finish it. Others loved it. No one was nuetral. We had a lively debate, trying to understand why the essay affected us so much.

In the end, we concluded it was because of her extraordinary "container," the living environment of her story.

Container Equals Emotion
This is the key to engaging writing. Container, the enviroment of your book's story, delivers more emotion than plot, characters, topic, structure, or all of these combined.

"It's counter-intuitive," said one class member. You would think that good plot, exciting action, would create emotional response.

Good plot creates momentum. It drives the story forward. Container creates emotional response. It's what makes us feel hit in the gut by a story's tender moment or feel our hearts racing with anticipation by a twist. Without container, plot is just a series of events, like a newspaper report.

Why else would I, as a reader, become so engaged in the healing of a crime-ridden neighborhood, the comeback of Hush Puppy Shoes, and other examples from Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point? I don't care about Hush Puppies. Really. But I did when he talked about them. Same with Susan Miller's work. Heroin addiction is not on my list of fun things to read about. But I was totally engrossed by her tale.

Because both Gladwell and Miller are masters of writing container.

How Is Container Presented?
Container is presented in writing in several ways. Here are a few from just one paragraph of Miller's essay:

1. physical setting (being on a speeding subway train, watching the night flash by outside the grimy windows)
2. use of the five senses (screech of train wheels, whisper of her father's voice against her ear)
3. physical sensations (the rocking of a train causing nausea, felt in the body)
4. word choice ("screech" and "whisper" echo the sounds of jazz being played--Miller's overall container for the essay)
5. paragraph length and flow (a series of clauses, separated by commas, giving the impression of movement and jerkiness while on the subway train)

The effect of this paragraph--one where her father takes her on a train ride then gleefully whispers that he just dropped acid--is one of terror. A young girl is aware that her father might at any moment decide the train car is a tomb and try to jump off. What can she do? Not much. She just has to ride out the ride.

It's an astonishing container.

This Week's Exercise
Choose a dead spot in your writing--a paragraph or a page. Insert one of the above tools to increase container. See if you can let go of your preferences as a writer and be willing to see your work from the reader's view. Does more emotion come through?

When Starting a Law Firm, Be Careful What You Outsource

One of the difficult tasks you will face soon after starting your own law firm is what to delegate and what to do yourself. And more importantly, what you delegate in house and what you delegate out of house. I was reminded of this lesson today when a colleague of mine (in the sense that all criminal attorneys are colleagues of mine) was called out for outsourcing his marketing and having the marketing company use some less than professional methods of marketing.

If you know anything about internet marketing (and if you don't and are starting your own law firm you better learn) and marketing your law firm, you quickly discover that one thing can send you to the top of the Google ranks faster than anything else - links from other sites to your sites with your keywords in them. But, as you might expect, getting those links is harder than you might expect (and, by the way, if anyone wants to link to this site, feel free - I love links). Some people try to get them in less than honest ways (and there are different degrees of this).

One of the dishonest ways is called comment spamming. Comment spamming is when you troll other blogs and websites and leave comments for the sole purpose of getting a link back to your site. Usually these comments contribute nothing to the article or the conversation in the comments. They are made solely to get a link. The funny thing about these links is that Google doesn't even count them (I could explain this in more detail but it would take to long) so they are doing this for nothing.

My criminal defense attorney friend found himself in the cross hairs of some angry bloggers because he was comment spamming on their site. And after he promised to stop he kept on doing it. His name is Bradley Johnson and you can read those posts at the following links - W-T-F?; Bradley Johnson, Seattle Spam Lawyer; I'm Going to Make a Bet with You Bradley Johnson, Seattle Personal Injury Lawyer, And Spammer; and Don't Be Bradley Johnson.

The real problem I have with something like this is that you have to be in charge of the content you are putting out there and have to know what your name is being put on. If you don't, there is the chance that you could end up with something like above happening, which is extremely hard to get rid of. Your reputation is everything. For me, I require the approval of all marketing materials that go out with my name on the, particularly on the internet (they will stay around forever).

Bottom line, being a criminal attorney or DUI attorney is tough. The market is tough. There is a lot of competition. And it is all moving toward the internet. But that doesn't mean you should cut corners. Take the extra time to figure out what you need to do to be successful, and then create your own content. You'll sleep much better at night knowing the above won't happen to you.

A New Way to Do a Storyboard for Your Book

I really dislike storyboards. They tell me what I don't want to know--where I have too much or too little, where I've written on track or on a tangent. Where my book isn't yet working well.

A writer needs to know placement in time and space--where things will be, in her book. It's not just enough to flow out the words. You need to have a sequence that readers can follow. Storyboards provide this. They are used a lot in publishing and the film industry. Imagine a giant blank cartoon--a row of empty boxes lined up on a page or wall or posterboard. You insert ideas, then you move the boxes around until the sequence of ideas equals a reasonable flow for your book.

What you learn: All the things I grumbled about above. What is working, yes. Also what is not working. It's not uncommon to emerge from a storyboarding session with many blank boxes. Stuff you know you need to write, transition chapters or sections. Research still to do. It's also not uncommon to feel discouraged. All that writing done, but it's not yet a book. Sigh.

Why even bother? Storyboards are the absolute best way I've found to see if I have a working book, to force myself to structure the flow of ideas, to see what's left. I usually get kind of squirrely (imagine a squirrel twitching in agitation) when I have written too much to really see my book anymore. When I get squirrely, I know it's time to storyboard.

After the Meltdown, Even though I Really Hate Doing It...
If you read my pre-Thanksgiving post below, you know I had a nice little meltdown after my recent book tour, when I got back home and tried to storyboard my next novel, the sequel to Qualities of Light.

It just didn't track--the new book's flow, that is. Too many dramas, too many characters, not enough cohesion. So I rescued myself from myself by putting the storyboard aside and making a character plot chart for each of the three main players. After screaming under the covers for a while.

That plot chart was fun. It reminded me how much I love Molly and Zoe and Kate and Anna and Sammy and even bad-tempered Melvin, my continuing characters. From the plot chart, I began to approach storyboarding again.

I did it a new way this time. I went to Staples and bought a foam core posterboard, clean and white. And three colors of Post-It notes. My main players are Molly, Kate, and Melvin. A different color for each. Using my plot chart, I wrote Post-It notes for the beginning and ending boxes. The plot chart had told me where I want each of these three characters to begin their story and where I want them to end. Then I began to imagine what could go in the other boxes.

This was very different from past approaches to storyboarding. I pretended I hadn't written anything (I've written about 100,000 words already) and let myself take the three stories wherever I wanted. New ideas came through--better ones than I'd already written scenes for.

When they were laid out on the storyboard in their rows of boxes, I saw very nice connections between the three characters' individual plots, as well.

Then, Back to the Manuscript
I liked what I created. But there were 100,000 words waiting to be used, if possible, and I'm too economical to toss everything and start over. So my next step was printing out my manuscript pages, in all their rough and raw glory.

So many errors, I winced when I read it over. So I tried not to. I just scanned each chapter, each island, each section. I thought about where it might be placed on the new storyboard.

60 percent of the pages made it. They fit nicely, they filled in blanks. Some will be heavily reworked or repositioned in time. But I can do that now; I know what goal I'm shooting for.

The rest? They go into my "extras.doc" file.

I created the extras.doc file when I was working on Qualities of Light. The extras file was about 30,000 words at its peak, but almost all of the pages got used in Qualities of Light's revision. Sometimes an idea or setting, only. But little was wasted.

My new storyboard is complete. I finally have a working map for my next book.

This Week's Writing Exercise
This week, get yourself to an office supply store. Buy a posterboard and some Post-It notes. Go home, take a deep breath, and try creating two boxes on a storyboard: just the opening and ending moments of your book.

First ask yourself: Where will you begin? What moment do you see launching your reader into your topic or story? Write a note about this on a Post-It and place it on the storyboard.

Then, what moment ends your book? Where would you like the reader to be at the last page--with what new understanding, hunger, idea or feeling? Write a note about this too.

If you get brave, if you get enthused--as I did--see how many of the other boxes you can fill.

When Starting a Law Firm Don't Forget to Take a Break

The world doesn't revolve around you. It will continue to spin around every day even if you don't wake up and put in a full day of work. The sun will continue to rise. The phone will continue to ring. If you are starting a law firm, sometimes this is hard to remember. But what better time to talk about this than around the holidays.

Thanksgiving was on Thursday. As you know, I recently started my own law firm (which, by the way, when do you think it stops being recently and turns into something different, like some time ago, or "back when I started my law firm"), and when Thanksgiving rolled around do you know how much work I did? None. Do you know how much I thought about work? Very little. And you know what, when I checked my email and looked at my website, everything still worked, there were no emergencies, and everything was fine.

This is a lesson everyone needs to remember, for both the holiday season and the rest of the year. It is okay to take a day off from work. It is okay to remember why you are doing what you are doing (which probably involves something other than the law firm itself) and take some time to enjoy your friends and family and take some time to enjoy yourself. When you come back to work everything will still be functioning. And if there is an emergency, you can take care of it. I can guarantee you nothing will happen in one day that will hurt your business.

It's almost time for New Year's Resolutions (and 2010 goals). Don't forget to make it a priority to make your business work for you, and not the other way around.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Next Week--Join Me for a Wonderful Book-Structuring Workshop

I'll be at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis next weekend, December 4-5, teaching my two-day book-structuring workshop. Please join me! The workshop is almost full but a few spots remain. You'll get a real workout with your book idea, taking it from tag line (focus statement) to islands to storyboarding to working plan for finishing it.

For more information or to register, call the Loft at 612-379-8999 or visit www.loft.org and search for "How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book."

Hope to see you there!

Payment and Your New Law Firm - Always Get Your Money Up Front

Just to warn you, this post is not going to be the most politically correct I've ever written. But this is a blog about how to start a successful law firm, so I have to tell it how it is. I will make a few broad generalizations that I know don't hold true to everyone. That is why they are generalizations. But the lesson holds true, and if you aren't following it, give it a try and see how much better your law firm runs.

Here we go. Your clients do not want to pay their legal bills. They think you are overpriced. They don't understand the kind of expertise, advice, and counsel that you give them, and they will probably never understand that. Your work is, for the most part, intangible. When it is all said and done, though you've worked your butt off and gotten a good settlement, avoided litigation, drafted and executed the perfect contract, or saved the client from jail time, they see the end result and think you didn't do anything - particularly enough to warrant the fee you've agreed to.

And even if your work is not done, as the expenses start piling up, you'll find your clients more and more reluctant to pay their bills on time, if at all. And they will soon find (after you don't get out when you should) that they know you will continue to work even if they don't pay. All of a sudden you are doing a lot of work for free.

But there is a way to avoid this problem. And if you read the title of the post you'll probably already know what it is - get your fee paid up front. This solves several problems. First, you'll know that your client can afford you, which is always a good thing. Second, you won't have to keep hounding your clients for money and you can focus on resolving their case in their best interests. And third, you can get paid for your work.

As a criminal defense attorney I accomplish each of those three goals by charging a flat fee for my work. The prospective client and I come to an agreement for a specific amount of money that includes whatever needs to be done on the case through trial. If the case is resolved earlier, the fee is still earned, as it is my expertise, experience, and skills that are paid for, not my time. I provide a value service, not a commodity, so I don't measure my work in increments of 6 minutes (and I honestly wouldn't even if I was litigating civilly).

If you are not a criminal lawyer and want to continue to bill hourly, this can be done by getting a retainer that is earned down as time goes by. Break it up into segments that the client can pay up when necessary. For example, you budget x dollars to investigate, draft the complaint, and file the lawsuit. Once that is done, you budget x dollars for discovery. Once that is done, you budget x dollars for the drafting and argument of your summary judgment motion. If, at any time, the client can't or won't pay, you can withdraw at a point in the case where the break is clean.

I learned this the hard way over the course of my first couple of years of practice. People will convince you that they can pay, just not right now. You will believe them, either because you want the work or they come off as trustworthy to you. And then time will go by and you won't get paid. And then more time will go by and you still won't get paid. Eventually you'll have to decide whether or not you want to try to collect from them using all the means at your disposal (and most of you won't because you are afraid of bar complaints - I always tried to collect).

When I started my law firm, I made a pact to myself. I promised myself that my new law firm and the success of my new law firm was more important to me than feeling busy. To be successful when starting a law firm, you need to make money. To make money, people have to pay you. If you are the best lawyer out there and can't pay your bills or feed your family you aren't the best lawyer out there.

If you are having trouble getting paid from your legal clients take a step back and think about how you are presenting your fee options. Think about how you value your services internally and what you deserve for the work you are providing - and don't take anything less than that. Moving forward, think about options you can present to your clients that allow you to actually get paid and allow you to do the work your clients need.

How to Network When Starting Your Law Firm

One of the things I try to do a lot is talk to other people who have started their own law firm or are thinking about starting their own law firm to find out what they are doing. Invariably the ones that aren't making any money or are really struggling are spending a lot of time "networking." This means going to meetings with various other struggling practitioners and handing out business cards and acting like something is going to come of it. If you are doing this - stop it - it won't work!

What I always ask these people to tell me is this: how much business have you referred to anyone you met at those networking events? How many people have you met there that you have followed up with and actually had a discussion with at some other point? The answer is almost always "none" and "a couple," at best. When I hear that then I ask them why they are wasting their time doing it since they aren't seeing any results. Sometimes it clicks, sometimes it doesn't.

I decided to write this post because I went to a "networking" event last Thursday night and it reminded me of the scenario I described above. Why did I go, you might be asking, if I know I'm not going to get any business out of it? Well, for starters, let me point out that I didn't say you couldn't get any business out of it, I just described a scenario where people don't and won't get business out of it.

Why do I go? I go for two reasons. First, I don't know very many people in town. I've only lived here for a year and been open for five months. So I don't know very many attorneys either. And, even more specifically, I don't know very many attorneys that are around my age, which I like to know because it is fun to hang out with them. Second, I see it as a way to make a lot of money in the future, once people know who I am. It just needs to be done right.

For every networking event I have two goals: (1) have a great time; and (2) meet and make a connection with at least one new person. Sounds pretty easy, right? And it is. And that's what makes it fun. And that's what takes the pressure off of you to go out there and perform like some networking rock star that comes off as a needy, struggling attorney hoping to find someone to throw you some business. You end up having a fun time, meeting some nice people (you always meet more than one person because usually the person you meet knows someone else there, and the snowball begins) and usually talking a lot about how fun it is to start a law firm.

So, how do you make money at networking events like these? You simply have to give people what they want - referrals. But isn't that taking money out of your pocket? No, because you are referring people to them that handle things that you don't. For example, at the networking event I was at I met a patent attorney, a family law attorney, an estates attorney, and a business law attorney. They do things I don't do. When people ask me for help in those areas I can send them to them without the fear of losing my criminal defense business. And, when people come to them with problems I can help them with, they can send them to me without fear of losing their business.

You beginning to see how this works? It's all about give and take, and the more you give, the more you will get over the long run. That's why this is a long term marketing strategy. You have to get to know these people (you do not want to refer business to someone who will do a good job - that makes you both look bad) to send them business, and they have to experience getting business from you to get business from them (usually - at some point you will be the first to receive business - remember this, thank them for the referral, and keep them informed on what is going on - within the ethical rules of course - this will get you more referrals).

And one last thing - be yourself, whoever that is. For example, when I go to these things I'm usually the one to say the things that everyone else is thinking. I'm not trying to be proper. I'm not trying to be passive (though I am always respectful). I'm trying to show people who I am and learn about who they are. The only way to do that is to be yourself.

So, the next time you go to that networking event, collect those cards that people give you, and then send them an email by at the latest the next day telling them it was nice to meet you and offering to go get some coffee with them (you buy if you ask them to go). You will have probably received between three and five business cards so it shouldn't be too difficult (I got four at mine). While you are at the event find out what they do and begin thinking about ways you can help them in their practice. You'll be surprised about the money that will start flowing in after.

Related Posts:

Law Firm Marketing with Adwords - Yodle Review

Update on Law Firm Online Marketing With Yodle

Update 2 on Law Firm Online Marketing with Yodle

Starting a Criminal Law Firm and Out of the Box Marketing

Finding Your Story's Pathways--The Art of Rethinking What Your Book Is About

Today I had plenty of creative energy, so I decided to tackle a big project: storyboarding my new novel. It's the sequel to Qualities of Light, which was published this fall. I've been working on this sequel for five years and I love the story, but it's gotten complicated. Three characters, three separate plot lines. In desperate need of a storyboard.

I've taken this new book through NaNoWriMo twice, so I have a decent first draft. I just haven't tested the draft for logical flow. Which is the purpose of a storyboard.

So I set about it. Got tea, a piece of homemade pie, and closed the door to my little office. Began to note the main points for each chapter and the islands (separate dramatic scenes) within each chapter. Arc them on a flow chart as a series of cartoon boxes. Test their track.

They didn't. Track, that is. Boring, boring, boring.

The critic got real happy. "You're a one-novel author," it shouted. "Yes, your current book is getting lots of great reviews and people are loving it. But that's it, baby. Nothing more to come."

After a pretty discouraging two hours fighting my storyboard and this ruthless inner voice, I went back to bed. Screaming under the covers does help, especially when someone who cares a lot about you is listening and can give good advice.

Such as, "What story are you really wanting to tell? The one you have sketched out so far?"

No. Not really.

"Then how do you rethink it?"

I talked it through. I went through each character's main plot points, or story arc, and let the words out into the air. As I spoke them, I could hear the strengths--there were some!--and the flaws. "What does she really want?" I answered that question. "What about this idea?" It was a good one. Suddenly I had to run back downstairs and write it all down.

The result wasn't a revamped storyboard--that will come later. It was a character plot chart. One for each of the three people I'm tracking. As I wrote down their initial longing (that opens the story), their main challenges (that provide meat for the story), their crises (that peak toward the end), and the results, I saw the overlaps. I realized I needed to do three separate storyboards, one for each of these characters. Then weave them together.

Whew. Saved from my own self. The critic stood back, nodded, said, "Maybe you do have another book in you, after all."

This Week's Exercise--for Novelists and Memoirists Make a plot chart for each of your main characters. Keep their passageways separate until you get each uniquely on paper. Then place them side by side and see where there's overlap.

If you feel extremely brave after this, try storyboarding what you learn.

Ever Seen Your Name in Lights? I Just Did!

When I did my book signing last week at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, a friend said, "Check out the marquee. Your name is in lights." Luckily, someone had a camera. My mother will never believe this otherwise. It was a first, there for all the rush-hour traffic on Washington Avenue to see.

Book tours are strange experiences. I've been very lucky on this one. Minneapolis's book signing drew 90 people, and they listened to my 20 minute reading then asked such good questions about writing, I wanted to stay and talk with them all night. I've been on book tour events where only a few people showed up, and I've spoken to other authors who've experienced the same thing. So thank you, if you came to listen and support a fellow writer. It's a solitary profession and we need all the support we can get.

Three Aspects that Make Writing Healing--And Create Good Books

This past weekend I taught my trio of one-day workshops at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. One of them, the most difficult to teach and the most rewarding for me, is called "Writing through Healing, Healing through Writing."

Twenty-eight writers of all skill levels, genres, and ages gathered in one of the Loft's beautiful classrooms for a day. We explored what made our writing go deep enough to be healing--for us as well as for a reader.

I've taught the class for about ten years, using ever-growing research about the healing effects of certain types of writing. James Pennebaker, from the U of Texas, Austin, launched my interest in this topic. He clued me into the amazing medical documentation on creative writing's benefit in reducing physical illness and emotional stress.

One of my favorite books on this subject is Louise De Salvo's Writing as a Way of Healing. De Salvo talks about Pennebaker's research and how important it is that writers use all three of the elements that make writing actually heal. I've journaled for years and was very interested in hearing that venting into my journal, for instance, doesn't have healing effects on me. It's good for processing, not healing.

To heal us and touch the reader, writing must have:

1. specific details (senses-rich images, rather than concepts)
2. how the writer or narrator felt about the event when it happened
3. how the writer or narrator feels about the event now

De Salvo cites the research of Pennebaker and others, noting that it is the combination of these three elements that makes writing a healing process. Not one alone, not even two.

In my workshop this weekend, writers asked themselves which of these three aspects they naturally favored. A person who writes about thoughts and feelings will use doorways #2 or #3 to enter her story--reflective, conceptual writing. The third aspect, specific image-rich detail, is the missing element. When it's added to the piece of writing, the magic happens. The writing becomes healing. Same with a writer who lists events and specific details with no trouble. But the missing element is the feeling, the "what does this mean to me?" analysis of the experience. Some writers believe that the events should speak for themselves. But there needs to be some reflective writing to make it mean something to both writer and reader.

Why don't writers naturally incorporate all three aspects, giving themselves a healing boost from their own art?

Because it causes them to re-experience strong events, re-feel the strong feelings.

I wrote many times about my experience with cancer. I could reflect for pages on my feelings and thoughts about what happened. But it wasn't until I began to add the specific details--describe the room and the chair where I had chemotherapy, tell about the movie I went to each week as a treat to keep myself from throwing up too much, talk on the page about what it looked like when I lost my eyebrows--did I begin to heal.

This Week's Exercise
List 10 turning points in your life, events or moments when you experienced a big change. Pick one. Set a kitchen timer for 20 minutes. Write about it as it comes, then read it over. Ask yourself which of these three doorways did you go through? See if you can fill in the missing aspects. Does it make the writing more healing for you?

Beginning and Ending Chapters--Bookends You Can Work on First

My weekly book-writing classes at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center are wrapping up their six-week fall session this month. We're reviewing what we've learned about first and last chapters. In my teaching, I've learned these are essential signposts, bookends to keep a writer going forward with a book project.

Many writers start with outlines. An outline seems the best way to manage a huge project like a book. Outlines stall me. I use an outline, like I use notes cards and a writing notebook, but outlines can't form the basic structure of my book. It becomes too linear, too predictable. If it doesn't surprise me, it won't surprise the reader.

I use islands to start a book. Kenneth Atchity (author of A Writer's Time) introduced me to the concept of "islands," although Natalie Goldberg and others use them too. Islands are nonsequential units of writing, dramatic moments in fiction or memoir, teaching moments in nonfiction.

I begin my book in islands, not worrying how they're going to link up. I just let myself write freely.

Freedom's great. But have you ever noticed what happens when there's too much freedom? Islands become hard to organize. The writer starts to lose perspective on her project. I use another tool, storyboarding, to help this. But even more effective is the exercise of first and last chapters.

Your First Chapter Must Have . . .
In our summer session, my writing classes worked on their first chapters. I asked them to consider these "must haves" in a first chapter:

1. Introduction of main players (narrator, others) via anecdote
2. Introduction of main dilemma or conflict (fiction and memoir) or main questions or need (nonfiction) that the book will answer
3. Placing the reader in a relevant container (physical and emotional and cultural setting) that will echo throughout the book

The goal of the first chapter is just to create a tension cord, tight enough to pull the reader into the second, third, fourth chapters, and so on to the end. You don't give everything away yet. But you create a triggering event that triggers the reason for the rest of the book. You create an engaging place and time for the story you're going to tell--even nonfiction books must do this via their opening anecdotes.

We workshopped (shared with discussion) our chapter drafts and crafted them during the summer session. I saw huge improvement in everyone's writing--it was as if the focus on a small part of the book, one essential chapter, helped the writers see strengths and weaknesses in their overall writing.

By fall we were ready for the last chapter. Even though nothing in the middle had been written yet.

Your Last Chapter Must Have . . .
Ending chapters are not where everything gets wrapped up neatly. In fact, you must leave the reader with some hunger, some unresolved emotion, some longing to go back and read your book again. That way they will think about the story for days, talk about it with their friends. Lining up all the ducks is satisfying for you, boring for the reader.

This isn't to say that you can leave large sections or questions unanswered. If you're writing a mystery, you need to solve it. But perhaps your memoir isn't going to reveal a happily-ever-after. That's just fine. Leave with a call to action or a relevance to the reader's life. Make them think and feel a lot, and you have a good last chapter.

What else makes a good last chapter? Not introducing new dilemmas, or main conflicts. It's too late. The reader will go, "Where'd that come from?" You can hint at one, if you're writing a sequel. But main dilemma is rarely wrapped in the ending chapter. More often you need to finish tying dilemma threads in the next-to-last (penultimate) chapter.

What really needs attention in the last chapter are the main relationships. How did the narrator change? How did the method you're teaching shift your way of approaching life? How did the character realize something? Show us how the primary players changed, how something new was realized or achieved or lost. Demonstrate a new state of being and you'll have the reader hooked, hungry, and happy.

This Week's Exercise
Spend time with your first chapter, your last chapter, in whatever shape they might be. Craft them if you haven't already--brainstorm possible beginnings, possible endings. Then, using the notes above as a checklist, analyze the chapter drafts for what's missing and what's too much.

Any time you spend on your bookend chapters will teach you a lot about your writing in general.

And if you live near the Twin Cities, consider joining me for a writing workshop on this subject. It'll be on Thursday, November 5, 4-5:30 p.m. at the Loft Literary Center. The workshop is called "Container, Dilemma, and Players: Three Essential Elements for Making Your Writing Come Alive," and we go into more depth and try writing exercises for these important chapter elements.

Registration is limited. For more information or to sign up, go to www.loft.org and search for the workshop title.

When Starting a Law Firm, Don't Be Afraid to Ask For Help!

I can't remember how much I've told you about myself (aside from the things I'm doing to open a successful criminal defense law firm) and I'm not going to look back to figure it out. So, if this is more detailed or less detailed than you already know, too bad (if you care).

In general, I am a criminal defense attorney and DUI attorney (I consider them to be different technically) who, almost one year ago from today moved from a small city in the Midwest to a large city in the Pacific Northwest. When I moved to said city, I didn't know a soul in the legal community. I'd never practiced in said city. I wasn't familiar with their rules, practices, procedures, and how things "really" ran. I pretty much went in cold. All I had was my (semi-considerable) experience from the Midwest.

To figure out what was going on in my new city, I reached out. I sent completely blind emails to anyone I could find any shred of compatibility or commonness with and asked them if they would meet and talk with me about stuff. I asked stupid DUI questions to get lunch, I asked stupid criminal defense questions to get a coffee. And anytime I met anyone anywhere that did what I did, I sent them an email and asked if they'd like to talk. And I learned a lot pretty quickly.

In no time flat, I also realized something that I wasn't sure I really knew, believed, or understood about most legal communities out there - there is a pretty high level of camaraderie, particularly with those that do what you do. Sure, the world is competitive, and they aren't going to give you their clients (and maybe not even their marketing secrets), but when in the trenches of battle with the opposition, many many people like to extend a helping hand.

And I was reminded of that, very thoughtfully, today. I was in a hearing, on a very routine, mundane matter that can be dismissed without the client there (I'll let you try to figure out what it is). When my client's name was called, I stood up, made my arguments, and got shot down by the judge on every one. I did my best, but just couldn't come up with anything she'd buy. But, before she ruled against me, she sat my case off to the side and said "we'll come back to this in a minute." I had no idea what was happening, so I went and sat back down and kept looking at what I had to try to find something that would work.

Then another attorney came over and sat down next to me, someone that I knew was very good at his job and that had a lot more experience dealing with the kinds of problems we were addressing. He introduced himself and asked if he could see what I was looking at. After about 10 seconds he looked back, pointed, and said "right there is a problem - bring this up and the case gets dismissed." I took the opportunity to ask him a couple of questions about what he showed me and some other things, and thanked him for his help.

When the judge called me back up I made the one last argument and the judge dismissed the case! She'd seen what he had seen and wanted to give me a chance to get a case dismissed that should have been dismissed. And she knew that the other attorney would come over and help me out to figure out what was wrong. And neither one of them had to do that.

I guess the point of my post is this. At some point we were all young attorneys, or just opened our criminal defense offices, or moved to a new area, or transitioned to a new area of law. And at some point we could have all used a couple of helpful hints on how to proceed on an issue. And, I hope, in a couple of years, I'll be able to hand out some helpful hints on how to proceed on an issue. The practice of law is not easy. A lot of answers are hidden out there like needles in haystacks. And it is your responsibility, if you know where the needles are hidden, to show others. Sure, they are competing with you, but if you have to worry about them taking all of your business, you are already fighting a losing battle.

The next time you have the opportunity to help someone else out in the industry, do it. It will make you feel better, it will make them feel better, and you'll probably make a new friend out of it. And, remember, the more friends you have, the better off your life, your practice, and your wallet will be.

Book Signing--Sunday, November 1, 2:00 p.m. at Hickory Stick Bookshop, Washington Depot, CT, www.hickorystickbookshop.com for directions

Please join me!

Pushing vs Resting--Why We Need Both Will and Vision to Complete a Book

Today I am sitting still. I'm visioning, listening, waiting. It's the opposite pace of these last few months, when my novel Qualities of Light was released into the world. When a book gets born, there's nonstop activity.

Publicity, the book tour, interviews, good reviews if you're lucky. I've been deep in all of this. Today is different.

Outside my window are sunlit fields and the fiercely gold last-ditch efforts of three fading maple trees. Inside, a vase of flowers is catching the light. I haven't noticed this beauty lately, because of the pushing, the pace, the will needed to move my project out into the world. Like birthing, it takes that push. It's essential.

Today I am resting from the pushing, to let bigger visions filter in and bring their welcome creativity and renewal.

Balance of Visioning and Will
Visioning and will balance each other in book writing like two ends of a seesaw. If you don't have an initial vision for a book, you really don't create something that goes deep enough to touch readers, make them tell their friends and family and writing group about your writing, even change lives if you're lucky. Visions change as the book evolves. For Qualities of Light, I started with a vision of unexpected romance. As it evolved, as more characters got developed, the vision changed into healing of a family. Both stories made it into the final book. I like to think the pauses, the visioning I did, helped them weave together into a whole.

It's hard to book time for visioning. The sequel to Qualities of Light is cooking. It needs the visioning help to take it to the next step--I have a solid draft, some edited sections, but not a sense of the whole picture. While I'm working on my publicity, I can't seem to slow down enough to vision. I have to book a visioning day.

Today, the end of October in peak leaf-changing New England, it feels like a cycle shifting, a perfect time to vision. New possibilities, the season changing. Ideas are starting to come, faint pictures that will make a wholeness for this next book. I am committed to taking notes today.
I enjoy the golden trees, the flowers indoors. The pushing mind empties, the attention is freed up.

When You Know You Need Visioning Time
I usually don't accept the need for visioning time until I'm maxed. Yesterday it hit me as a wave of sheer exhaustion: I needed visioning time like oxygen. I'm very happy about all that's happened but the pushing it's required has stressed me way beyond my comfort zone. I'm grateful for the cheers and congratulations, but I'm an introvert (like many writers) and it wears me out after a while. I'm really excited about my booksigning this weekend, November 1, in Washington Depot, Connecticut, and my booksigning Thursday, November 5, at the Loft in Minneapolis. I'm really thrilled with the reviews coming out, the buzz happening. Releasing a book is the realization of a dream: wonderful, joyous, overwhelming. But it needs the balance of visioning. Otherwise we lose sight of why we're doing it. Don't we.

I was driving back from teaching a writing class when things reached critical mass. The cell phone rang, I couldn't locate my headset in time, and for some reason this felt like the last straw. I was on the very rainy Saw Mill Parkway, a twisty highway in western New York, and Chris Pureka was on the radio. Her melancholy voice perfectly reflected the rainy fall day. I felt myself let go inside. Let the call go to voice mail. Let myself just listen and drive, sink into the slow motion.

Then it happened. I suddenly got a picture, a new idea, a wholeness. As my pushing self let go of all the efforts, creative ideas came fast. Ideas to solve some dilemmas in my next novel, things I'd been struggling with.

Planning for Visioning
Take advantage of the change of seasons to set up a visioning time for your writing project this week. Maybe you've noticed the difficulty in talking yourself into this need--and the effect of dried up writing that comes when you don't have an overview of your project? And maybe you've noticed the serendipity that comes through, the originality, when you let yourself stop pushing and start visioning?

This week's exercise: Take your solo self and your writing notebook someplace for an hour, an afternoon, a morning or a day. Let yourself look at changing leaves or mountains or the ocean. Sketch, doodle, or write what comes. Take notes. Maybe you'll get the overview of vision, worth gold to the book writer.

Also: Write down what you'd really like from the project you're working on. What vision do you have for it? Why are you doing it, really?

Newest Update on Yodle for Law Firm Marketing

Looks like this is installment number three related to using Yodle to market your law firm on the internet. You can find the first post here, and the second post here, if you want to read the entire exchange. If you want the reader's digest version, here it is.

I decided about a month ago to supplement my organic search engine optimization results with some paid online advertising. Yodle called me up at the right time, have a great online interface for tracking your clicks and calls and emails and seeing what is working and what isn't. So I signed up with them, with a $1,000 a month budget for advertising, to see what would happen.

The second post I put up just last week, and it detailed the progress from then until now, which was a little shaky. Two things appear to be the problem - first, there were some clicks from all over the United States, which aren't very beneficial to a Seattle DUI attorney. And second, the people that were clicking in the area, after coming to my site, just weren't picking up the phone and calling me. That is not a Yodle problem, that's a me problem (and a problem I think a lot of people starting their law firm have).

One thing I love about the internet and the way technology works these days is that soon after writing the Yodle review post last week I received a phone call from one of the Yodle reps inviting me to join her for a conference call to try to work out the issues. I wrote the post on Thursday afternoon, she contacted me Friday morning. At least someone is reading this blog!

Anyway, we met and talked this morning and I thought I'd let you know what was going on. First, so far I have been impressed with Yodle's customer service. They have been easy to get in touch with and have been extremely helpful at all stages of this process. Second, they seem genuinely interested in helping me get those clicks through to phone calls and conversions. And we are working on some changes right now to fix that problem (to at least get them to call, I still have to sign them up).

The changes, I'm sure you want to know, are this: first and foremost, my site(s) need to have a stronger call to action. You get to the site, see the information, see that I know what I'm doing, and now what? That is the call to action, and it is probably one of the most important things you can have on your law firm website (all over the place, and in different forms - phone number, email, online submission form, etc).

Second, I need more on my site to differentiate myself from the competition. And what is that? It is testimonials, it is special things that I've done for clients, it is anything that will set me apart from other people (including price, by the way). Yodle is helping me with all of this (and I'm sorry for not going into specifics, but they, at least I feel like, hooked me up with a special deal that I don't want people to think they just do for everyone - if they offer, take it, but what they are doing is outside of what I originally paid for, at least I think it is) and will continue to help me until it is right.

And the thing is, this is a lesson not just for using online paid advertising sources, this is a lesson for all of your marketing efforts. You have to think about your marketing effort in three different ways (at least that's how I see it): first, how am I going to get them to look at me and be interested in me; second, once they find me, how am I going to convince them that I am the right attorney for their needs AND get them to call me; and third, once I've got them in my office how am I going to continue to reinforce their feelings so they decide to sign up and be my client. If you can understand and execute those three items, the sky is the limit.

I guess for now the jury is still out on Yodle. They are doing everything right, their customer service is great, but I need that to be converted into dollars in my bank account. That is the measure of success in this case. And don't worry, I'll keep you informed on what happens.

Update on Yodle for Law Firm Marketing

If you have ever tried to start your own law firm, you know one thing - getting clients is the end all be all of your business. You can be the best attorney out there, but if you can't get anyone to utilize your services, you won't be in business. Because of that, the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about when I go to bed is how to get clients to my law firm.

A week or so ago I wrote a little bit about the only marketing I'm paying for. I'm using Yodle to market my law firm right now. What they do is put ads up at the top of Google search and on the sidebar of google search so that people can see that your firm is out there and that they can do what the potential searcher needs. I think it's been about a month and I've received three calls, one from a prospective client and two from internet marketers trying to sell me the same type of stuff, and a lot of ad clicks.

Does this mean that adsense and adwords advertising doesn't work? I don't know if I'm ready to say that yet. For one thing, it's not possible for me to tell if people are just not interested when they click or if they are not interested when they get to the site. That remains to be seen (and I'm doing some site modification as a bit of a test to see if it helps).

Another thing that has caused me to shy away from this type of advertising is the studies and articles I've read on it that show that people don't really look at those ads anymore when searching for what they want. And those articles make sense to me, because when I am searching for stuff I never look at or click on the ads that are around. In some sense it is almost like they've disappeared into the background. I immediately go for the organic search results to find what I am looking for, in part because I can see some of the content they've created and gauge whether or not I think they are a trusty source.

I'm going to try to talk to the Yodle people and either suspend my account for a bit or significantly downsize it until my site changes are made. I'll let you know how that works out, since we don't have a term contract in place, just an agreement to start the services. I have a feeling they get responses from customers like me all the time, so we'll just have to see how they handle it.

In the end, getting law firm clients is king. Without them, not only do you not work, but you don't eat. So keep your marketing efforts ramped up, keep going after those clients, and don't rest on your laurels. Business may be good now, but there is always someone (like us!) hot on your heels trying to dethrone you as the (in my case) Seattle criminal defense attorney in town.

Update on Yodle Law Firm Marketing

Here are the other Yodle Marketing Posts.

Yodle for Law Firm Marketing - Part 1

Yodle for Law Firm Marketing - Part 3

Five Things You'd Never, Ever Do for Yourself

One of my favorite writing exercises is to list five things I'd never do, or I'd never make a character do, then write a scene imagining that very thing happening. It's an edgy exercise. But it always gets me out of a slump.

This past week, I did something on my list--stand in front of about 70 people and read from my new novel. The novel is edgy, and I'm always aware that the subject matter might be seen as, to quote my wonderful mother, "not my cup of tea." But it was what I felt compelled to write. I'm proud I pushed past my fears, that I did something that scared me. Because the results were so very worth it.

The picture above was taken by photographer Bruce Fuller ( see his amazing work at http://www.brucefuller.com/). If you look closely, you'll notice I'm not fainting or stumbling over my words, but really having a pretty good time. You'll see people listening and not walking out in boredom or disgust (a common fear of authors at readings). It's a SRO crowd (the empty seat was even taken).

Most important to me, this photograph captures a moment where I was facing my fear and doing what was in my heart.

This week's exercise is about pushing past your limits and fears. Want to try it?

This Week's Exercise

Make a list of five of the most frightening or impossible things you can think of doing to further your creativity, your book, your writing in general. Buy an expensive pen or laptop you want? Take a workshop you can't imagine being brave enough to try? Spend a weekend at a writing retreat to get peace at last?

You can also try this with your character, especially a stubborn character who refuses to evolve. What five things would this person never, ever do? Have them do one.

Warning label: Results of this exercise might feel astonishing, freeing, and joyous. The process might make you tremble before it helps you fly.

But look at me, in the photo. I'm actually having a blast. No problem that I couldn't sleep the night before, worrying about every little thing. It was worth it. And afterward, I slept like a baby. Very satisfied that I'd tried something that a few years ago I would never, ever do.

Starting a Law Firm and Phone Systems - What I Do

Received this email from a guy in New Orleans today and thought it might make a pretty good starting your law firm post since we all need to figure out a way to get connected to clients and there are a lot of options out there. So, here we go:

Jim

I'm a New Orleans law student thinking about starting my own firm after school. I love your site and subscribe to your feed. I have a question as to your thoughts on phone systems for the fledgling practice.

Phone systems are critical because a lost or mishandled call could result a lost client. Virtual phone systems have really picked up recently and do offer convenient services. However, there is a lot to be said for having a live body answer the phone. Is there anyway to marry these two ideas? What phone systems do you recommend (virtual or not; live body or not)? What are the best options?

Greg in New Orleans

When I first started thinking about opening my criminal defense law firm, one of the first questions that popped up was what am I going to do about phones? If you have ever worked in a law firm, ever been in a law firm, or ever been in any other type of business, there is usually at least one person dedicated strictly to answering the phone.

But people cost money. And I didn't have a lot of money. So I immediately ruled out the idea of starting with a receptionist from the very beginning. And besides, the way I saw it, the phone wouldn't be ringing that much to begin with, so who cares if it was just me to answer it?

Then I started thinking "Well, what if I'm in court or something and a prospective client calls? I don't want to miss the call because then I'll likely lose the client." And, quick aside here, at least in criminal defense, people aren't very fond of leaving messages, so it is important to try to get them on the phone and then into your office as quickly as possible. So I started looking into virtual assistants.

Law Firm Virtual Assistants - The Pros and Cons

As I started looking into virtual assistants, I quickly realized one thing - if I wanted them to answer the phone the way I wanted, get client information the way I wanted, and provide clients and potential clients with the type of experience I wanted, it was going to take a lot of time to train them, and it was going to cost a lot of money.

There are very good virtual assistants or receptionists out there and they do a good job. And though they are much cheaper than any help you might hire in your office, they definitely wouldn't fall into the category I would call cheap. And, in addition to that, not being able to set everything up exactly the way I wanted was a major hurdle to me.

Side note again - there are two things I envision with my law firm. First, an experience that makes people feel like they made the right decision to hire us, like they have a good attorney working for them, and that they are getting the best outcome possible for their case. And second, I want every client to have exactly the same experience, i.e. I want to have a set of systems in place that help move every client from intake to resolution in as smooth a manner as possible. To do that takes a lot of work and a lot of staff training to get it just right. This would include answering the phone, the information you get at intake, the correspondence clients get and when they get it, and on and on.

The way I see it, right now I can give them the experience I want, and though at this point it is more elbow grease than hiring someone to do it, this way it gets done right, and I've got plenty of elbow grease to spare.

My Law Firm Phone System Journey - Phone.com vs. Google Voice

When I first opened my law firm I bought two numbers through phone.com and a fax number from efax. Total cost was about $30 a month. I like phone.com because you can do a bunch of different things with the numbers, including directing where they ring and when they ring the locations they do.

Part of my office rent includes a phone with a dedicated number. What I did was, take my phone.com numbers and have them first ring the office phone for 30 seconds, and if no one answers, then ring my cell phone. For my cell, I set up phone.com so that when potential criminal defense clients call the phone.com number shows up. This way I always know if a work call is coming through (though I don't know who is calling - and if you need caller ID to screen you aren't doing good by your clients - it's much better to just talk to them for ten minutes and answer whatever question they have). This worked just fine for a few months. And then I found Google Voice.

Google voice does exactly the same thing phone.com does, except it is free. So I immediately signed up two numbers, set them up to ring my office and cell phone at the same time (again with the google voice number showing), and began telling everyone that that was my number. And it's worked great. In addition, google voice can convert your messages into emails for free. This means if you are in a meeting and someone does leave you a message, if it is a potential client you can call them back immediately and hopefully sign them up.

As my practice grows I will continue to have those two numbers as my main phone numbers and just point them towards whatever phone system I have in place at the time. This allows me to keep the same number forever, never have to pay to have it move, and easily set it up to ring wherever it needs to ring at any given moment.

Whenever anyone calls, I answer the phone. The phone rings and I answer it whether I'm at work or at home, whether a weekday or a weekend, whether 7 a.m. or 7 p.m. And it works great. The only downside to this is that when people find out you are an attorney, they will want to talk to you to get a fee quote for their case immediately - don't fall for this trick. Get their basic information so you can look up what they've been charged with (or do a little bit of investigation into their lawsuit possibilities) and make them come in for a face to face. Only then can you sell them on what you can provide to them and can they see why they need you over everyone else.

Hopefully this answer the phone system question. As my practice grows and I add staff I'll keep you updated on the changes I make, including my system from start to finish (if you're lucky!).

Tackling Marketing Costs and Choosing the Right Marketer

I received an email today from a guy asking a question about something that I think everyone would want to know about when starting a law firm, so I'm going to post it here and then answer it. And, I think from now on I'll do the same, so that if anyone else has these questions they can all be answered here, and (gasp!) maybe a discussion will break out here that will provide even more insight for people.

David in Colorado wrote this to me today, bringing up a point I've been meaning to talk about:

Hi, Jim –

Love the blog.

I note your marketing cost line is $100 to $500 depending on which posting I view.

I am a partner in a small firm (2 partners and several contract attys).

Our marketing is insane compared to what you have listed (which I tend to think is closer to what is actually necessary). We just spent $13k last month on our ads, listings, everything marketing. About $2500 of that will go away in January when we cut the cord with Findlaw/Thompson West. But that still is a very bloated budget.

Other than a heart attack, any thoughts?

Thanks,

Dave in Colorado.

He brings up a question I've struggled with for a long time - how much to spend on advertising for your new law firm. And more importantly, where to spend the money I would so love to keep in my pocket.

The sad news is, I don't have any clear answers, but I do have a philosophy on this, and I think it might be something that can be carried out and adopted by others, assuming it fits into the view of what your practice should be like.

First and foremost, I don't do any print advertising. Just don't do it. And I practice criminal defense, where people might be interested in finding a criminal defense attorney. Why don't I do any print advertising? A couple of reasons. First, I don't think people use print advertising any more (unless it's a billboard - that could have value). Even the poorest of people know how to get down to the public library and look for what they want. And second, the type of client I want (even for criminal defense, which honestly ends up being some of the most regular people you'll ever meet) has both a computer and an internet connection and is smart enough to use them to find me. Possessing those qualities as a client usually means they possess another quality I like - a stream of income that can be used to pay for my services.

Second, whenever I get a call from someone promising to feed me clients, I am immediately skeptical. First, not everyone can guarantee clients, so someone is lying to me. And second, I haven't yet seen enough evidence from anyone that is trying to sell me this stuff to convince me they can make it worth my time.

Except one. After doing no paid advertising for the first two to three months of starting my law practice, and my organic google experiment moving a little slower than I liked, I decided to sign up with a company that creates ad campaigns for you on google (these are the ads you see on top of the search engines and to the right). The reason I chose these guys was they were relatively cheap, they had a cool/useful database system to work with, they targeted the specific keywords that I was looking for to get clients, and they allowed a three month contract. They are a company called yodle.

To give you the details, I think I paid $99 for a set up, pay $57 a month in helper fees (they organize the campaign, update it, and modify it over time to more specifically target the ads and campaigns that work) and $1,000 a month in fees for google adsense (you pay an agreed to fee every time someone clicks on one of your ads). If the entire $1,000 isn't used, it is rolled over into the next month. If you aren't happy, you can get out.

Using this advertising, if I sign up one client a month through them, I've paid for the advertising and made some money on top of that. Assuming I sign up more than one client (the obvious goal), I'm immediately on my way to making decent money for my firm (I am about as streamlined as you can get - my overhead is stupid low). In the past two weeks, since this has started, I've had 53,000 ad views, 53 clicks, and one phone call for business (that I failed close). And the thing is, the calls should become more frequent and better suited to sign up with me as time goes by because I grade every phone call that comes in.

Third, and finally, I don't ever buy anything from anyone that promises to put me on the first page of google organically (i.e. without the ads and stuff like that). Why is this? Because they aren't charging me enough to be their only client, and they aren't the only company promising this, so pretty much all of them are lying to me in some way. What I will pay for is a link to my website with my keywords in it, because that is actually valuable for building your organic search rank (see my post on law firm website backlinks for a refresher on this).

Instead I am working on that on my own, which will be information in another post (as this one is already getting pretty long). And, after about two months of nothing, I am now seeing the results I thought I'd see (see my post on the law firm website sandbox for that).

And, I guess to finally answer David's question, since it seems like I only did it in a round about way. I try to keep my marketing budget as streamlined as possible, and I only want to turn on one form of marketing at a time so I can see what really works (I hate throwing good money away). So far I'm only signed on with Yodle. I'll give them the three months, at least, to see if they start bringing me enough business to justify the cost. If they can and they appear to be working, I may try to pick up another advertising mode, if they can convince me that they are truly offering me value for my dollar.

I also saw that you mentioned you pay for Thompson/West listings. Don't do it. They are the equivalent of a yellowpages.com (which I would never use anyway). Where, in the past, someone had to go to the yellow pages to find information on a business (think pre-internet), they would look to the yellow pages. Now, the yellow pages are set off into three areas - Google, Yahoo, and Bing. No one goes to a site within those sites, they just look for what they want right in the Google search engine. So, if I were you, I'd focus on getting onto Google in places where people will see you (for your extremely targeted keywords - think Seattle DUI attorney vs. Seattle attorney) and working toward building your organic ranking so you don't have to spend gobs and gobs of money on advertising.

Oh, and I forgot one last thing. I do have one other paid advertising string that I use. It is on a local news station website, and I paid for it for one reason - I get to insert as many keyword links as I want. So, what I did was put in all of the keywords I like (Seattle DUI attorney, Seattle DUI lawyer, etc.) and then once that site was up I've begun sending links to that site to make it more recognizable by Google, thus making my website more recognizable by Google. This is the type of stuff you should be paying for.

As always, I love comments, questions, and suggestions, and hope everyone is successful opening their own law firm.

Update on Yodle Law Firm Marketing

I have since written about using Yodle two more times.

Yodle for Law Firm Marketing - Part 2

Yodle for Law Firm Marketing - Part 3