Counsel Cast

How do you evolve your firm with design?

Why is it so important to consider the design of your firm from all angles?

While some may believe that design doesn’t matter, it truly does impact your firm in terms of clients, retention, trust and brand presence.

Joining me for this conversation is Gail Doby.

Gail Doby is co-founder of Gail Doby Coaching & Consulting, a firm that has helped designers, architects, and other creatives increase their profitability by up to 512 percent. As the firm’s Chief Vision Officer, Doby does more than help her clients wrangle decimals on a budget sheet. 

After nearly 20 years of experience running her own Denver-based design firm (plus a BSBA in Finance and Banking), she’s obsessed with sharing innovative ways to overcome the business roadblocks, challenges, and detours creative entrepreneurs face when trying to do it on their own. (She also works as a strategist, brand builder, interviewer, marketer, operations manager, human resource advisor, and sometimes therapist.) 

No matter which hat she is wearing, her goal is simple—to empower design-industry clients to differentiate themselves, drive measurable results, achieve business projections, and create personal satisfaction through game-changing strategies and business practices.

Gail gives listeners actionable tips on:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Be Your Future Self Now by Benjamin Hardy

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What is the anatomy of a marketing strategy? 

Why is it so important to consider the components of your strategy before creating social media content, writing blogs, running ads, and generating leads?

In this episode, Caleb Roche joins me to discuss the three elements of a marketing strategy and how you can leverage each to create a sustainable plan for your firm.

Born and raised in Enid, Oklahoma, Caleb brings a personalized approach to each and every client of his. With a degree from the University of Central Oklahoma in Marketing and a M.B.A from West Texas A&M University, he finds innovative ways to reach new target customers and expand your business no matter where you start. 

Combining strategy with implementation, he focuses on building long-term customers through data-driven decision-making. With experience working with both small and large companies, he has the experience to help businesses create strategic marketing plans that focus specifically on each business’s strengths, not just a one size fits all/template-based strategy.

Caleb gives listeners actionable tips on:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt

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What are the myths when it comes to being published?

Do you need to be in every big media outlet to build credibility? How can you become a regular contributor? What do outlets look for when it comes to running a story?

Joining me for this conversation is Cindy Constable.

Cindy is a strategist, writer, and speaker. She is a Business Transformation Strategist, founder of Women Breaking The Mold, and co-founder of Results Global Impact Consulting Agency. Cindy specializes in communication by helping Vision-driven business leaders to create an equitable and inclusive workplace culture that respects and embraces each other’s humanity while continuing to multiply profitability.

Cindy gives listeners actionable tips on:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Antiracist Business Book by Trudi Lebron

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In this episode, we learn how to do profit-driven marketing with Hannah Smolinski.

How do we ensure our marketing efforts are actually profitable? Are there ways in which we should be paying attention to our numbers to increase profitability?

Hannah is a CPA and the founder of Clara CFO Group, a virtual CFO agency providing small businesses with financial clarity and profit maximization strategies. Her experience working for one of the world’s largest accounting firms inspired her to make corporate expertise accessible to small business owners through fractional CFO services. She also hosts a YouTube channel with over 35,000 subscribers and uses the platform to help small businesses achieve financial success.

Hannah gives listeners actionable tips on:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits! by Greg Crabtree

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IS a DIY website right for your firm? 

How do you know if you should create a professional website or a website through Clio’s new website developer app? 

In this day and age, every lawyer should have a marketing plan, and part of that plan should be an online presence and website.

As the CEO and Founder of Clio and a pioneer in cloud-based legal technology, Jack Newton has spearheaded efforts to educate the legal community on the security, ethics, and privacy issues surrounding cloud computing, and has become a nationally recognized author and speaker on these topics. Jack has set a mission for himself and Clio to transform the practice of law, for good, and for over a decade, his commitment has been unwavering. Jack’s tremendous vision has already made a deep impact on one of the world’s oldest professions. 

Jack gives listeners actionable tips on:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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What makes for the most successful website copy?

Is the text on your website actually that important? What makes your website copy stand out vs. your competitors?

Joining me for this conversation about writing successful website copy is Erin Ollila.

Conversion copywriter. Copy Coach.Wing Woman. Word slinger. No matter what you call her, Erin Ollila believes in the power of words and how a message can inform—and even transform—its intended audience. When she’s not working with big brands and small businesses to marry strategy, storytelling, and SEO, you can find her hosting the Talk Copy to Me podcast or exploring southeastern MA with her family and friends. 

Erin graduated from Fairfield University with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and then co-founded Spry Literary Journal, which celebrates undiscovered and established writers' concise, experimental, hybrid, modern, vintage or just-plain-vulnerable writing.

Erin gives listeners actionable tips on:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

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Why is having a marketing strategy so important?

Do you take the time to think about the marketing strategy you want to implement for yourself or your firm?

What are the tactics most lawyers get wrong when it comes to marketing? We’re talking about it in this episode with Sara Nay.

Sara Nay is the COO at Duct Tape Marketing, Founder of Spark Lab Consulting, Scalable Business Advisor and host of the Agency Spark Podcast. With 11+ years working in the small business space, it is her passion to install marketing and operating systems for small business owners so they can get more clarity and freedom in their lives. 

Outside of work, Sara tries to spend as much time as possible outdoors with her daughters and husband - from skiing to hiking to biking to camping.

Sara gives listeners actionable tips on:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Ultimate Marketing Engine by John Jantsch

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How is speaking a marketing strategy?

How can you leverage speaking to grow your presence, your reputation, your firm, and bring on new clients?

As founder and CEO of The Speaker Lab, Grant Baldwin has helped thousands of people build successful and sustainable speaking businesses. Over the last 15 years, Grant has become a sought-after speaker, podcaster, author, and accomplished entrepreneur. 

Featured on the Inc. 5000 list, Forbes, Inc. Entrepreneur, and The Huffington Post, he has committed his expertise and insight to equip others to share their meaningful message with the masses. His leadership and dedication to creating a one-of-a-kind organizational culture are evidenced by the impact of the team he leads. Grant lives near Nashville, Tennessee with his wife, Sheila, and their three daughters. For more, visit thespeakerlab.com.

Grant gives listeners actionable tips on:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Rework by Jason Fried

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How do you dominate local search?

How has Google My Business changed drastically over the years? Is it really enough to try and rank organically?

Joining me for this conversation is Stormy Knight.

With 27 years experience in search engine optimization, you would think that Stormy Knight would have a mumbo jumbo pile of technical complexity to share. But instead she has distilled all of her experience down to the simple basics that any small business person can understand and implement. 

Having worked as a speaker for the launch program for Google My Business, Stormy knows what small business owners want to hear. Make it understandable and make it implementable is her motto.

Stormy gives listeners actionable tips on:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Atomic Habits by James Clear

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What are privacy policy best practices?

What are the differences between privacy policies, cookie policies and terms and conditions? 

How can you ensure you’re compliant with the correct policies in your country? 

Donata Stroink-Skillrud is an attorney licensed in Illinois and a Certified Information Privacy Professional. She is the President and Legal Engineer behind Termageddon, a SaaS that has generated thousands of website policies and kept them up to date with changing legislation. Donata is the Chair of the American Bar Association's ePrivacy Committee, SciTech Liaison to the ABA Cybersecurity Legal Task Force and Chair of the Chicago Bar Association's Privacy and Cybersecurity Committee.

Donata gives listeners actionable tips on:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Everything Store by Brad Stone

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