In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of lawyers are having a hard time adjusting to life in this post-pandemic era. The pandemic has leveled the playing field leaving solo attorneys and law firm business owners of all sizes in the same boat of economic uncertainty. As a solo attorney or business owner, nothing can be left to fate if you want your business to thrive. Now is the time to adapt and find innovative solutions as you move forward in an evolving post-pandemic landscape. 

In this episode, we speak with Michael Whelan. Mike has worked in logistics, solo law practice, and legal media. Through his speaking, consulting, and writing, Mike aims to improve the lives of solo attorneys.

If you are looking for an innovative way to navigate the uncharted waters of our current post-pandemic era, then you won't want to miss this episode. 

In this episode, Mike and I discuss:

• Innovation as a life mantra 
• How starting law school in the 2008 recession created an innovator’s mindset
• How to use Google my Business with NO website 
• Book recommendation: Business Model Generation
• Book recommendation: Different by Young Mae Moon 
• The Lawyer Forward movement - what it is and how it helps lawyers
• Book recommendation: The Business of Expertise, David Baker 
• The Availability of Substitutes in the marketplace 
• Story Grid book - and how it helps to create messaging 
• The ultimate book recommendation: Lawyer Forward: finding your place in the future of law 
• Breaking the cycle of being only as good as your next hour
• How to STOP building a business model for others!
• Why Lawyers are on Facebook, while their Service providers are on Twitter (and vice versa)

As most law firm owners are making the shift from a partially or fully integrated virtual firm, most come to a halt when it comes to hiring virtual employees. If you have never experienced working with a virtual assistant then many questions may arise, such as: how much should you pay, what expectations are acceptable, or how to evaluate the performance for someone who isn’t physically present. When hiring virtual assistants expect a learning curve that will require your patience and time. The pay off will be worth it. Trust me.

In this episode, we speak with Brett Trembly, a former President of the South Miami Kendall Bar Association and former Vice-Chair of the Florida Bar 11th Circuit Grievance Committee 11 “I.” Brett has also been named a Super Lawyers Rising Star in Florida for the past three years. 

Brett is well known for his outstanding law firm and how he created a whole business model around working with virtual assistants. 

In this episode, Brett and I discuss:

• The accelerated acceptance of hiring a virtual assistant fueled by the pandemic
• Migrating from a VA for projects to a full-time VA that becomes an integral part of the team and the culture of your company
• The importance of identifying all job responsibilities that can be delegated to a VA.
• The recommendation that a VA be a full time
• The learning curve to managing a virtual employee
• The distinctions between an in-house employee and a VA
• The pros and cons of going international for skilled Vas
• Anticipating a boom in the need for bankruptcy attorneys and bankruptcy training
• Maintaining confidentiality and security working with international VAs versus domestic Vas
• The ability to hire high-end talent for less than U.S. wages while helping society as a whole
• The benefits of managing your time and interruptions when structuring your interactions with your VA

I wanted to take some time to address the issue that I think a lot of law firm owners are struggling with right now in light of what's going on in our country. And that's the issue of communications and in particular communications around touchy subjects. 

 

There are a lot of ways that we can address traumatic events that happened but how can you communicate these events both externally to the public as well as internally among your teams and between the owner and others that work in the firm?

 

In this episode, I will discuss how law firm owners can systematize their communications during times of controversial and devastating events. 

In this episode, we discuss:

• Addressing sensitive, emotionally charged issues as leaders within our businesses
• The fear of expressing genuine support when any and all attempts get unintended responses or consequences
• The struggle to show support for the cause and do something meaningful that can affect change
• Moving past the fear of judgment
• Having the mindset to think strategically and smart about your approach
• The importance of determining the scope of your communications
• Deciding the frequency and consistency of your communications
• Putting in place a process to measure the success of your messages
• How core values contribute to the culture of your business and affect internal communications
• Determining how much to share when both under sharing and oversharing can be detrimental
• Considering how often you are going to communicate with your team and schedule

Tough times lay ahead for a lot of business owners and their clients. Some clients may be behind on payments due to the current economic situation, leaving business owners struggling with billing collections. These last few months have posed a burden on us all. How can you and your business survive? 

In this episode, we speak with Elizabeth Miller, Owner and Founder of Managing the Business of Practicing Law(R), which helps solo, small and mid-size law firms handle administrative matters, including billing time, collection procedures and a host of other business functions.

If you are looking for a solution to help streamline your billing processes and get paid, then this is the episode for you. 

In this episode, Elizabeth and I discuss:

• How delay in billing creates calamity
• Ways to structure effective retainer agreements
• Smoothing out the “billing edges”
• Automating retainer replenishments in software
• Flexibility in client billing
• Ethical and expedient ways to raise hourly rates
• Testing the waters to ensure clients have the ability to pay
• Running interference between clients and attorneys when collecting fees
• Extracting lawyers from billing to improve the collections process

As we all move into motion with the economy slowly making its way to re-opening, now more than ever is the time to round up your All-Star Team so your business can continue to grow and thrive. In this episode we speak with Molly McGrath, the owner and founder of the company, Hiring and Empowering Solutions, the only team of management consultants offering hiring and training support to boutique law firms and solopreneur attorneys throughout the United States. 

If you are ready to bring your A-Game and recoup what you’ve lost these last few months during the lockdown, then this is the episode you need to inspire and drive you forward. 

In this episode, Molly and I discuss:

• Writing an ad versus a job description
• The resume: Skill set versus emotional intelligence
• The hiring process – money mind-set and making the process transparent
• The human need for time, attention and connection
• Setting specific, measurable goals for the first 30 days of employment
• The importance of communication when setting standards and expectations
• Using Daily Huddles to follow-up and onboard
• Growth Time: Dedicated and intentional time for training
• Tracking ROI on time and cost of training
• Transforming employees into future leaders

For every lawyer your website is your home base, it’s where people find you and check you out even if they were personally referred to you. How do you define what a website is and what it is really designed to accomplish?

In this episode, we speak with Steve Ryan, Founder and CEO of RyTech LLC, a full-service digital marketing agency working with clients across the US at all stages of growth. Steve and I discuss one of my favorite topics of marketing, which is the online business card, i.e. the website. 

 

In this episode, Steve and I discuss:

• Website: Your place to convert
• Story, Key Differentiator, Why Choose You
• What are Key Differentiators
• Creating a URL/landing page/ web address, to at least get your place online.
• Websites as validation of your Credibility
• Why controlling your message is KEY
• Powerful Calls to Action
• Content that answers questions - FAQs
• Free tools to research key word - trend value over time
• Optimizing your website to rank higher organically on key words
• Live chat; chat bots - just bells and whistles? Measuring ROI?
• Converting clients when your firm is not open
• Content is King - Focus on Quality over quantity
• Use of landing pages with video to increase conversion
• Variables that impact the ROI for websites
• The importance of Intake Tracking to validate the success of your website
• Powerful use of Google My Business
• Pacing the Google Algorithm

Content marketing is everywhere, it has saturated every outlet and has seen the most success within the realm of Social Media. Consumers gravitate towards video content more than anything else. If you are unsure where to allocate your marketing budget, Video Content is the first place to start and is where you can expect the most return. In this episode, I am joined with Mark Bullock, Co-Founder of Videosocials a video blogging platform for attorneys and other professionals. 

In this episode, Mark and I discuss:

• The power of video marketing for lead generation
• Using video to enhance the know, like, and trust factor
• Overcoming the resistance to how we look and sound on video
• Practice makes perfect-enough!
• Choosing content that connects
• The synergy between email and video marketing
• Double your email open rates through use of video
• Building your content library

As more firms are going virtual increased risks pose a threat to privacy security. When it comes to technology we as lawyers can tend to be laggards, but this can come at a cost that we can’t afford. In this episode Heinan and I discuss the importance of staying abreast technological advances necessary to preserve the privacy of client information in a virtual era and the challenges law firm owners face when it comes to these changes. 

In this episode, Heinan and I discuss:

• The exponential growth of technology
• The emergence of AI (Artificial Intelligence)
• Staying technologically current to compete and provide exceptional customer service
• Using technology for risk mitigation
• Using AI for transcription
• Managing how you house your data and your clients’ data.
• Overcoming the obstacle that is fear of change
• Adapting to practice management systems
• The myth of the paperless office
• The importance of training and leading by example
• A way to benchmark technology use called the Technology Operational Maturity Level (Self) Assessment, included in Heinan’s book
• The importance of choosing an IT firm that understands your business and what you need technology to do for you

Have you been thinking about making the leap from Big Law to having a practice of your own? It can be scary especially when there are so many unknowns to account for. In this episode, we speak with Carolyn Elefant, a law firm owner in Washington DC and a long time advocate of solo and small firm practice and lawyer entrepreneurship. Since 2002, Carolyn’s blog MyShingle.com has helped support thousands of lawyers with launching a practice. She is also author of Solo by Choice, the most comprehensive guide on starting a modern 21st century law practice.

Both Carolyn and I can attest that once you do make the leap the opportunities become clearer. Carolyn’s best advice is to stop over analyzing and JUST DO IT, once you start you can never lose. 

 

In this episode, Carolyn and I discuss:

• Transitioning from big law over to becoming a solo attorney as an energy lawyer.
• The advantage of being a front runner to step out ahead of opportunity
• The control and autonomy of being a solo attorney
• How technology has dramatically improved accessibility to resources and information
• Maintaining professionalism as a solo or small firm lawyer
• Adapting to a changing marketplace and staying relevant
• Gender diversity in the solo practice arena
• Moving beyond the analysis and planning, to just going out and making it happen

The method in which prospects seek information has resulted in Amazon-ified search results making it difficult to have a conversation that doesn’t just begin and stop at price dropping. 

In this episode I am joined with Jan Roos, bestselling author of The Legal Marketing Fastland and CEO of CaseFuel, a marketing platform that helps law firm owners gain greater visibility into their pipelines, generate more leads, and close more deals. 

 

In this episode, Jan and I will discuss:

• Amazonify-ing your online search results
• Going “niche” with your content
• Being top of a list verses being the ONLY one on the list
• Niching the “Normal”
• Marketing metrics that matter
• Creating association with groups to connect with Potential New Clients