I was lucky enough to be asked to give a presentation today at my local bar associations solo/small firm section meeting. We meet once a month and talk about things associated with being in and running a small firm. The presentation, as the title of this blog indicates, was about the basics of blogging.
I thought it went really well, though I was struck by a couple of things. Here are a couple of my thoughts.
First, there are a lot of people that are going out on their own. I think in this meeting, of twenty or so people in attendance, at least three or four were planning on starting a law firm. I think a lot of this, obviously, is predicated on the economy. No one has any choice but to try to go out and make some money on their own.
Second, there is a lot of disorganization out there. And what I mean by that is simply there are a lot of people out there that don't have much of an idea of where they want to go or how they want to get there. I would wager that if I asked most of the people in there what they were doing today, this week, this month to promote their business and be a better law firm, they wouldn't be able to give me a straight answer.
Make no mistake here with what I'm saying. I'm not really meaning to talk trash on them or anything like that - I applaud their having the guts to go out on their own. But what strikes me as almost criminal is the true lack of foundation most attorneys have coming out of law school when it comes to actually starting a law firm and running it successfully. Many of these people, unless they take some time to learn how to be successful, are out in a row boat without an paddles, just hoping the current takes them to where they want to go.
Third, and finally, there is a lot of interest in learning about marketing and learning about creating a successful law firm (at least there was from this group). At least, there was in this type of circumstance (when the seminar was set up for them to come). I get the funny feeling that there is a lot of thinking and a lot of reading and a lot of attending seminars, but there isn't a lot of doing.
I wish them all the best, told them about this site, and hope they visit. I also told them to email me if they ever want to talk, and I meant it.
On the completely opposite end of the spectrum from my talk, and a great example of what we should all be doing, was a webinar put on by Ramit Sethi. The speaker was Noah Kagan, a guy who's been involved with facebook, mint.com, and many other ventures. The topic of discussion was "hustling." It wasn't hustling in the negative sense of the word - getting stuff from people by lying to them. It was a discussion on doing what needs to be done, and doing it today, to reach your goals.
For example, if you want to talk to someone, don't go to their website, click on the support page, and send an email. Either pick up the phone and keep talking until you get the person you are looking for or do some digging and try to come up with the actual email address of the person you want to talk to. Sure, it's way easier to send the email to support and wait and hope, but if you want results, you've got a much bigger chance if you track that person down.
Bottom line, don't take no for an answer, get your ass out there and pound the pavement, and do whatever it takes to be successful.
Good luck!
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