NUGGETS OF GOLD FOR YOUR SUCCESS AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT
“This is the single most powerful investment we can ever make in life—investment in ourselves.”
–Stephen R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
THE “A TEAM” FOR BUILDING THE LAW FIRM OF YOUR DREAMS
Let’s face it: you can’t do this alone. You need help. Through a ton of trial and error, I’ve assembled an “A TEAM” of experts for all aspects of law office management and systems. So, don’t recreate the wheel—hire this team of experts and you won’t hire anyone else again.
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Julee Hutchison, Hutchison-Frey, 5355 McKenzie Springs, Road, Placerville, Colorado 81430 (970-327-4565):
Graphic designer extraordinaire and an amazing asset for any law practice! Julee does all of my monthly newsletters for my referral partners, Lawyer Alert, and graphic work for my trial lawyer workshop, The Jury Project. I could not get it done without Julee. Consider yourself lucky if you get a chance to work with Julee.
FULFILLMENT AND PUBLISHING: Help Without Hassle (Michelle Foster), 2709 Comanche Road, Canton, Kansas 67428 (620-628-4902):
Michelle Foster is the best fulfillment provider in the business. Michelle can work with any deadline and has the attitude of “I’ll get it done” for every new project. If you have time-sensitive deadlines for new projects, Michelle is the person for the job. BTW: Michelle and Julee Hutchison work very well together.
AUDIO AND VIDEO SUPPORT AND COURTROOM EXHIBITS: Litigraphics, LLC (Mark Whalen), 26 Sunset Terrace, Baldwinsville, New York (315-635-3653):
The best videographer and courtroom exhibit expert. Mark is just a tremendous asset for any trial lawyer and a great guy to boot! I use Mark in just about every trial and he hasn’t said “no” to a last minute work project yet. If you give Mark a shot on one of your cases, you won’t regret it.
WEBMASTER FOR LAWYERS: Foster Web Marketing (Tom Foster), 10555 Main Street, Suite 470A, Fairfax, Virginia 22030 (571-251-7386):
Simply the best webmaster for lawyers on the planet! If you want to get serious about internet marketing, you can do no better than Tom Foster and his great team.
MARKETING FOR LAWYERS: Great Legal Marketing (Ben Glass, Esq.), 3915 Old Lee Highway, Suite 22-B, Fairfax, Virginia 22310 (703-591-9829):
Ben Glass, Esq. is the AUTHORITY on marketing and law office systems and office management. Ben has had a HUGE impact on my professional development (and truth be told, my life) and I know he can do the same for you.
The best thing you can do for your career is to attend Ben Glass, Esq.’s seminar, Great Legal Marketing. Your head will explode with the great information that Ben provides.
SCREENING NEW CASE CALLS FOR LAWYERS: Legal Intake Professionals, 300 10th Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37203 (615-263-5222):
Are you wasting your time with new case calls that are just garbage? Do you want to pick and choose the new clients who get to speak with you? Legal Intake Professionals has a team of professionals who will answer the new case calls for you and patch the new calls through to your office if the case has merit. Legal Intake Professionals can save you and your team a ton of time weeding through new case calls.
PHONE SERVICE FOR LAWYERS: Call Ruby, 1331 NW Lovejoy Street #875, Portland, Oregon 97209 (866-611-7829; www.callruby.com):
Call Ruby is not your ordinary call answering service. Without fail, Call Ruby will answer your phones with a big smile and an enthusiastic voice. Call Ruby will answer your phones, or any overflow of calls from your primary receptionist, for very reasonable fees. The service provided by Call Ruby is exceptional.
The person answering your phones is the face of your law firm. The problem is, most receptionists can be cold and impersonal. Call Ruby is your answer.
CASE SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT: Trialworks, 1550 Madruga Avenue, Suite 508, Coral Gables, Florida 33146 (305-357-6500):
Simply the best case management software for a litigation law firm! Check out the competition and you’ll find there’s plenty of case management software companies, but none like Trialworks for a litigation lawyer. Save yourself some time, just hire Trialworks.
Why it’s done this way: Let’s face it, you can’t do this alone. You need a team. Through trial and error, I’ve created a tremendous team. You can feel free to contact any of members of my team to find out what they can do for you.
SELF-IMPROVEMENT SEMINARS THAT CAN CHANGE OF YOUR LIFE
“Training isn’t a perk; it’s a tremendous business advantage.”
–Jim Collins, Beyond Entrepreneurship
This is the list of seminars and workshops that I recommend:
Dale Carnegie: Dale Carnegie is the premier self-improvement training in the world! If there’s ever anything you thought impossible, Dale Carnegie will train you to tackle those challenges. Simply stated, Dale Carnegie is life-changing if you implement their principles.
So, what’s stopping you? Take me up on this offer of free Dale Carnegie training and you will never look back…and your life will never be the same.
Great Legal Marketing: Great Legal Marketing and its founder, Ben Glass, Esq., have changed my life. If you get a chance to attend one of Ben’s seminars, just go. Ben is the premier business development and marketing expert for lawyers in the country.
If you’ve ever dreamed of operating the best law firm, Ben will give you the blueprint and teach you how to get home in time for dinner with your family. I don’t listen to anyone else—Ben is that good.
InfusionCon: There is no better small business marketing machine than Infusionsoft based in Chandler, Arizona. Infusionsoft is a world-class small business marketing company that gives an annual convention known as “InfusionCon”. The enthusiasm and spirit of those attending InfusionCon is off the charts.
Look, it doesn’t hurt that the InfusionCon conventions are held in sunny Arizona in the late winter. So, just go and be amazed at the outside the box marketing and self-improvement skills you get from the leaders of InfusionCon.
Dan Kennedy: There is no marketing expert in the country that can hold a candle to Dan Kennedy. Read all of Dan’s books—there is no better place to start.
If all you did was read Dan’s books, you’d be just fine. The “No BS” series of books is chockfull of practical advice for anyone running a small business or law firm.
Why it’s done this way: If you simply earn money for me and nothing else, I haven’t done justice for you. My goal is to make you a better person through self-improvement seminars and workshops that are designed to not just make you a better employee, but a more committed and dedicated spouse and parent.
9 BOOKS THAT ARE ESSENTIAL READING FOR YOUR GROWTH AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT
What is the greatest skill a person can have? Is it the ability to dissect a hostile witness during cross-examination? No! Reading great works of literature is easily the most important skill that a lawyer or non-lawyer can have. But we’re all too busy to read, right?
This is my Top-9 list of the books that should be at the very top of your “to read” list. These books are classic reads on the topic of self-improvement. Do yourself a big favor, read at least ten pages a day. It won’t take long, and your life will be changed immeasurably.
The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson
In his incredible book, The Slight Edge, Jeff Olson explains why 95% fail miserably to accomplish their goals in left and live quietly in a life of quiet desperation. Only one out of twenty persons will achieve their goals in life, but why?
Jeff Olson’s formula for success: a few simple disciplines, repeated every day. As Olson writes, “it’s simple to do, and simple not to do”, but the compounded effect of simple disciplines taken every day will transform your life. But you will not see the results of your actions immediately. Success doesn’t come overnight; it takes a lot of time and hard work.
Do one thing before you read on: buy The Slight Edge. This book has the power to change your life!
The E Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
Ever wonder why over 80% of franchised businesses succeed while roughly 95% of non-franchise businesses fail? Franchise businesses, like McDonald’s, have systems for every aspect of their business, while other businesses have no systems. Having systems for running a law firm is the secret to running a successful business.
If you let your employees decide how they will do things, they will choose their way of doing things. This haphazard business “non-strategy” of letting your employees decide how to do their work is a formula for failure. Instead, you create specific policies that govern every aspect of how your law firm is run. And as Michael E. Gerber says, “the more automatic the System is, the more effective your Franchise Prototype will be.”
I wrote this book with exactly that goal mind. I wanted to create systems that control every aspect of a personal injury law firm—not just for New York lawyers, but any lawyer with an injury law firm.
So, what are the “rules of the game” for your law firm? Today, you should create very specific rules for your law firm, just like this one, that govern every activity in your law firm from answering phones to requesting medical records.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
The biggest flaw of almost every lawyer: getting caught doing the barrage of new things that get thrown at them every day. When you are simply reacting to new stuff, it’s impossible to be productive.
But we all know that 20% of our cases bring 80% of our income (a/k/a the “Pareto Principle”). So, why do we ignore our best cases that will make most of our money? As Stephen R. Covey says, “effective management is putting first things first.” Putting first things first puts your “A” cases at the top of your to-do list and focuses on work that will sustain your law practice with business development and marketing.
Ask yourself, “What one thing could you do in your personal and professional life that, if you did on a regular basis, would make a tremendous positive difference in your life?” Now, try to focus your time only on this activity.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Book is a must-read for anyone serious about self-improvement and should be read over and over again.
The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
As the author says, “winning is only possible with massive actions.” It’s simply not enough to have big dreams without massive action. Losers talk about grand dreams and plans, while winners just take action and make stuff happen without the fear of failure.
Massive action, more than anything else, separates the winners from the losers. Grant Cardone’s philosophy of taking ten times more action than your competitors, without the fear of failure or criticism from your peers, is a formula for success.
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Ever wonder what makes great leaders and profitable companies? Jim Collins answers this question with the “Hedgehog Concept” in Good to Great. The “Hedgehogs” are the leaders and companies that stick to three guiding principles: they find out what you do better than anyone else, what they are deeply passionate about and what drives their “economic engine” (i.e., profit).
Can your law firm success in a dire economy for lawyers? Guess which company in the S&P 500 had the highest rate of return for investors between 1970 and 2001? This company just happens to be in the worst possible industry imaginable. Yes, Southwest Airlines thrived in an industry that was beset by bankruptcies and failed mergers. If Southwest Airlines can thrive in the worst industry, there’s nothing stopping you as a lawyer from doing the same in a business overflowing with competitors.
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living is a life-changer for anyone lucky enough to read this amazing book.
About ninety percent of the things in our life are good and only ten percent are bad. In Dale Carnegie’s immortal words “if you want to be happy, all we have to do is concentrate on the ninety percent that are right and ignore the ten percent that are wrong.” Dale Carnegie’s book is chock-full of interesting and real-life examples of persons who overcame enormous obstacles involving severe injury and financial failure by refusing to focus on the negative and instead, giving thanks for the blessings in their lives.
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris
The concept is a great one: you should be doing the work that ONLY YOU CAN DO and out-source everything else. Timothy Ferris talks about the 24/7 workplace where, “it’s a strange feeling having people work for you while you’re asleep.”
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “this would never work in my profession”. Au contraire, my friend. The goal is to “free your time to focus on bigger and better things” and that won’t happen if you’re doing the technical work of a law practice like typing pleadings and discovery responses. And this doesn’t just apply to your law firm—you should be delegating and assigning personal errands as mundane as grocery shopping and cooking dinner. Each time you are about to do something ask, “Could someone else do this?”
If Donald Trump has five administrative assistants, shouldn’t you have at least one? You don’t have to recreate the wheel to have a successful life—roadmaps from the ultra-successful are everywhere. Just start reading ten pages a day of a success book and you will be amazed at the long-term impact on you personally and professionally.
No B.S. Ruthless Management of People & Profits by Dan Kennedy
Just read any book written by Dan Kennedy, but if you could only read one, read this. Most business owners want to be well-liked among their employees. Big mistake! Just like Bill Parcells, the hall of fame football coach who was disliked by most of his players, your only goal is to get results and make money.
As Dan says, “if you occasionally accept occasional unacceptable behavior, it’s only a matter of time before you’re be routinely accepting routine unacceptable behavior.” You have to be ruthless in enforcing the highly specific standards and systems that you set for your law firm. Otherwise, the inmates will be running the asylum.
The “NO BS” series is must reading. If you read one of Dan’s books, you won’t stop until you’re finished.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
In law school, you were taught concepts that show you how to do the technical aspects of the law. But the theory of the law is just a small part of the practice of law. Far more important is your ability to interact with others and see things from their point of view.
But it’s a common mistake to think that Dale Carnegie is all about public speaking. Yes, part of Dale Carnegie training is public speaking, but it’s really developing the courage to break through your comfort zones and doing things that you never dreamed possible. If you take action and implement Dale Carnegie’s principles, your life will be profoundly changed.
No book has had a bigger influence on my life than Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. This timeless classic should be must reading in every college in America and training through Dale Carnegie should be offered free for its employees by every company. If you are serious about the personal growth and development of your employees, you should offer Dale Carnegie training to your employees as part of their compensation package.
How can we help you become more awesome?
What if there was a book about law office systems, management and marketing that leaves no secrets behind?
A book that will give you systems for every aspect of your practice, so your law firm runs like a finely tuned sports car while you’re on vacation.
Yes, a book that Ben Glass, Esq., the nation’s leading marketing guru calls, “amazing”.
Now, for the first time ever, this book exists. The Power of a System: How to Build the Injury Law Practice of your Dreams is crammed full of 328 pages of cutting-edge, “you’ve never heard this before”, inside secrets about law office systems, management and practice and for only $26.99 it can be your’s.
Now, go to the home page of www.ultimateinjurylaw.com and order your copy of The Power of a System. Let’s get started building the injury practice of your dreams NOW!
P.S.: And by the way, if you’re not absolutely thrilled with The Power of a System, just send it back to me. You’ll get your money back plus $25.00 just for reading my book (sounds crazy? Read the book!) No questions asked and no strings attached!