If you can't tell from my writing, I love the business of running a law firm. I like thinking about ways to get clients to me, I like to think about ways to get them to sign up once they get here, and I like thinking about what to do to make my firm run like a well oiled machine. While this probably sounds fun to you too, there's a lot more to it than just having a check list to run down to get things done. We all do things to get in our own way and sabotage what might be a great thing. The key is identifying what those things are and moving past them.
To help me with this side of running a law firm, I read a lot of books about business, read a lot of blogs about business, and just think a lot about business. One of the blogs I read a lot is called "I will teach you to be rich." It's run by a guy named Ramit Sethi (pronounced Ram-meet, in case you were wondering - I did for a long time). He's a small business owner who's business is helping people make money. I've never bought any of his products, so I can't vouch for his paid stuff, but his free stuff is amazing.
I was reading one of his posts today, entitled, "Testing Your Assumptions" and I thought it would be a great thing to write about here today. I've linked to the post so you can go and read it, and I'm only going to briefly discuss what he's said. What I'm going to write about are some of my assumptions and the ways they may be holding me back. Like always, you are going to get a first hand look at what I think is holding me back.
Our Assumptions - a Little Background
A funny thing about human beings is that we are pretty scared a lot of the time, but we aren't really great about identifying those fears and figuring out how to move past them. What we are great about doing is internalizing those fears and rationalizing our way around them. The good news with the way we handle fear is that we often don't have to face them. The bad news is we don't get to accomplish everything we should be.Now, I know you, Mr. or Ms. Reader, don't internalize your fears and rationalize your way out of taking action. I'm talking about the other guy or girl. I know that when you find yourself saying these things like:
"I shouldn't pick a niche area because the money simply won't be there" orthat you just move right on past them and actually test your assumptions instead of letting them control you.
"So many people fail when they start out I probably shouldn't do it" or
"You've got to have a lot of money to start and I don't so..." or
"I don't have enough experience to open my own law firm"
I'm going to tell you about some assumptions I have below and what I'm doing to test them out. What I want you to take out of this article today is this: Failure is Good. What I mean by that is you've got to be constantly checking your assumptions to see if they are reality or a result of your rationalization of fear of failure. Sometimes you'll find you're right, sometimes you'll find your assumptions were dead wrong. Failure is okay if it comes from testing your assumptions. That's the only way you can eliminate the bad and implement the good.
Three of My Assumptions and How I'm Testing Them
When I first started out I had a lot of demons following me around. A lot of tiny voices in my head telling me why I wasn't going to be successful at what I was doing.Assumption Number 1 - "I look too young for anyone to hire me."
I don't know if you've seen a picture of me, but I do look pretty young. If I told you I was 25 you'd probably believe me.
This assumption was holding me back in several ways when I first started. Although I didn't specifically address it, whenever I'd meet with a potential client, it would be running through the back of my mind. "Are they wondering how old I am?" "Are they just waiting to get out of here so they can go talk to an attorney with gray hair?" These were actually things I was thinking about.
The first great step for me here was identifying that I was making an assumption that was holding me back. I assumed that people didn't want an attorney that looked young. And even though I wasn't actually discussing it in my potential client meetings, I think that self-doubt was creeping through on a sub-conscious level and affecting my meetings.
So I talked to some people about it. I talked to RJon (who I've referenced here several times) and I talked to a colleague that was in a similar situation. I quickly realized two things. First, not everyone is looking for an old attorney. In fact, the people I'd probably most like to have as clients (younger professionals) probably are looking for someone just like me (a go getter who knows his stuff, has enough guts to go out on a limb and can relate to their situation). I'd never thought of that because I'd been so locked in with my assumption.
When I talked to my friend about it with the same problem, she just said "it's not a problem for me. I've got my sales pitch down and it works more often than it doesn't. You just have to go in there like you deserve to be their attorney." Light bulb moment.
Although I wasn't completely sold on what she'd told me, her and RJon seemed to be making a lot of sense. So I tested out my assumption by mixing up my sales presentation. For some potential clients I'd bring up the fact that I looked young and talk about it. For others I would simply talk to them like I knew I belonged to be there and they deserved my help. Lo and behold, when I didn't talk about it and projected confidence, people started signing up. When I talked about my youthful appearance they didn't. I think at the end of the day people don't think about it as much as I thought they did. My assumption as really hurting my business!
Assumption Number 2 - "People Don't Have Enough Money to Pay My Fee"
I'm not going to lie to you, this is one I'm dealing with right now. It doesn't really require that much background. I'm just not signing up as many people as I think I should be, and I'm getting a lot of "I don't have enough money." It's easy to assume that that's the case, but I think there's more to it than that.
I'm assuming it's a them problem, when, at the end of the day, it's a me problem.
Bottom line here is that I haven't demonstrated to them that I'm providing the value for the fee I'm proposing. I need to do a better job showing them what I'm going to do for them, why I'm the one to do it, and why my fee is a reasonable fee for it.
My assumption that people don't have enough money to pay me is keeping me from realizing the full potential of my business.
So, I'm going to test this assumption by completely revamping my potential client meeting process. Not only am I going to come up with some new ways to demonstrate value to them, I'm going to come up with some ways to help my potential clients find the money to pay for my services that they didn't know they had. No, I'm not going to be pushy, I'm not going to give the hard sell, I'm just going to be prepared to educate them so they can make an informed decision.
I'll keep you in loop on what I'm doing.
Assumption Number 3 - "I don't have enough time to do everything I want"
This is probably something that we can all relate to. There is this constant feeling that time is running out, that nothing is ever going to get done, and that deadlines are always looming.
This assumption, for everyone, is wrong. I don't care who you are.
To test this assumption out, I want you to do a few simple things. First, make a list of all the things you do in a day. When you check your email and facebook write it down. When you post to twitter write it down. When you work, write it down (and write down what you are working on). When you surf the internet, write it down.
Do this for one week and then take a look at all the time you are wasting. Now, I'm not suggesting you should stop checking facebook and your email. That's something even I couldn't do. What I'm suggesting is coming up with a system that maximizes your time.
What I've tried to start doing is checking my email only every 2 hours. I check it when I get to the office, at 10:00 a.m., at noon, at 2:00 p.m., and at 4:00 p.m. Trust me when I say if you're checking it every two hours you aren't going to miss anything. Same with facebook and twitter. Figure out all the time you are wasting and stop wasting it.
The second thing you should do is stop doing the minutia and anything that isn't productive. For example, are you doing all of your own filing and stuff like that? Why? Get someone in there to do it. Pay them or have them work for free (there are a lot of people out there that would work for free to put your law firm on their resume). But stop doing the things you have no business doing.
And stop making yourself busy just so you feel good. For example, in the last two days I've said no twice and it's felt amazing. The first no was to a request to be on a committee. I won't get into details but it was not going to be productive. After the first meeting I went to I told the person I couldn't be on the committee - my time is too valuable and I didn't think I'd be able to contribute anything worthwhile. The second thing was a meeting of small firm lawyers. I thought the topic of discussion was interesting, but I knew I wouldn't get anything new out of it because of the precise details of this meeting. So I didn't go. I'm writing this instead!
Telling yourself you don't have enough time to do something is the easiest way to rationalize not doing something. I bet if someone offered to take you on an all expenses paid vacation you'd find the time to do it. Make the time for these things too.
I know I said I was going to talk about something marketing related at the end, but this post is already too long. What I can promise you is that coming up very soon I'm going to let you in on the secret to my reaching number one in Google for my search terms. Hope that's got you excited!
