Listen Now

In this week’s episode of the Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Theodore Monroe. Theo is specializes in copy infringement and trademark litigation while representing merchants, payment processors, and banks.   Main Questions Asked: Who is Theo Monroe? How long have you been with your law firm of Theodore F. Monroe? What is the match list? What’s involved with the trademark and copy infringement work? Are there ways for payment companies to mitigate their risks? Do you have specific recommendations for payment companies?   Key Lessons Learned: Internet Payments There are a lot of things that can go wrong when transacting over the internet, chargebacks, leaked or hacked info, and more. Payment law clients usually involve large online merchants or banks, rarely the consumer. There isn’t a library of case law for this area so it’s a new area of the law. Most clients are derived from referrals from past clients and people that know you. Position yourself as the expert of whatever niche you choose to focus on. Visa and MasterCard keep a list of merchants that they don’t want to do business with. It’s important to look for multiple revenue streams within the niche you’ve chosen. Litigation The internet and nation wide nature of the companies that utilize it makes practicing law more complicated. Sometime you’re working in multiple jurisdictions. The majority of cases occur in Federal court. The main kinds of lawsuits are contract disputes FTC Laws Many young, aggressive marketers get in trouble by making claims that may not be true. Asset freezes are a common tactic of the FTC at the beginning of a lawsuit. Payment companies are being targeted by the FTC if they are processing for shady merchants. Payment companies need to vet their merchants and review them on a regular basis. Errors and Omissions Insurance would be a good investment as well. Cases are usually civil but can become criminal as well. Payment Companies Get good insurance from a reputable broker. Deal with your contracts in an honorable manner, read them and keep them. Most disputes are determined by who has leverage, not who’s right or wrong. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned monroe@tfmlaw.com

In this week’s episode of the Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Mims Driscoll. Mims is a trauma informed yoga specialist and has been practicing in the field of spiritual direction for the last twenty years. She’s the CEO and founder of Living Mangaliso. Main Questions Asked: Who is Mims Driscoll? What is exactly Living Mangaliso? What are the pillars of Mangaliso and how do they interact with each other? How do these principles apply to the corporate world? Are there specific movements in Living Mangaliso’s yoga that helps with trauma? Do you customize the program for certain people based on their needs? Key Lessons Learned: Mangaliso Zulu for “You are an an amazement”. Focuses on yoga and yoga healing and helping people work through physical trauma. The three components of yoga are to focus on our bodies, breath, and awareness. Be able to embrace silence, we are almost always surrounded by noise. Mangaliso is about empowering the people involved. You have to evaluate your limiting beliefs and deal with why you don’t feel amazing. There are five components: Recovery, Discovery, Exploration, Expression, and Expansion. We need to learn to trust ourselves, our voice, our expression. Productivity Mangaliso and yoga encourages movement and proper posture. Better posture leads to better productivity and an empowered state. Pause during the work day and take a moment to adjust your posture, breath, and place your feet on the floor. Find a place once a day to yell and deeply express yourself. However many times a day you are comfortable with, pause and breath. Three deep breathes. Stopping mid day allows you to reset and recover and that will increase your ability to execute afterwards. Give yourself permission to take time and focus on you and resting and recovering. Yoga Traditional yoga thought is to exhaust the person in order to seek stillness in the final pose. Living Mangaliso yoga focuses on a restorative method and slow movements combined with breath work. It’s about giving permission to people to slow down. Focus on health and wellbeing is important, it will make you a better employee or CEO. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned Livingmangaliso.com Living Mangaliso on Facebook

In this week’s episode of the Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Frank Klesitz. Frank is an entrepreneur, real estate investor, marketer, and CEO of Vyral Marketing. Frank started his own marketing firm in order to build up and acquire leads for his fitness training business. Main Questions Asked: Who is Frank Klesitz? What kinds of things should you do to simplify lead generation? Why do you focus on education? What are some of the problems your clients often have? How does a marketing plan help with client retention? What happens when a client contracts with you?   Key Lessons Learned: Marketing Frank found himself wasting a lot of money marketing to strangers to build his fitness training business. Instead of constantly marketing to a cold audience, Frank began building a database and then building relationships. Lead generation is the most important thing you can do. Be the trusted resource. Educate your audience and then add a call to action to turn them into customers. Get your service and knowledge into some form of media and get it out to your database. Filter your list and follow up with the people who click on your links. Focus on whatever media type works best for you. Marketing is more than just offers, you have to bring value via education first. Educating your audience gets people to trust you. It’s easier to book clients with a seminar where they learn something than where they expect to be sold to. There’s no such thing as over communicating, communicating builds good relationships which helps with client retention. You want to be the preeminent advisor in your space. Lead Generation Seeds - basically your referrals, they take a while to grow and flourish. Nets - videos and media you put out to a wide audience. Spears - going after a specific target that could use your services. Having a mix is good but Frank likes to focus on Spears. Build a list of highly qualified people that have given you permission to stay in touch with them. Building a Plan Your database of contacts needs to be consolidated. Create a spreadsheet of all your contacts and upload them to an email responder. Grow your list, ask for permission to stay in touch after every conversation. Get the email address. Schedule time to record to simple educational videos, post them online, and the pull the data of the people who watched the video. Contact the people and ask if they are interested in knowing more or using your services. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned Getvyral.com 1.800.323.9974

In this week’s episode of the Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Lewis Landerholm. Lewis began his law career as a part-time clerk for an attorney during law school, when he confirmed his passion for family law. Motivated to make his mark on the world, Lewis founded his practice right out of law school and continues to seek new, dynamic ways to foster positive change in the lives of his clients. He has eight years of upper management experience giving him business management skills that are integral to the continued success of his firm. Lewis holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in business from University of Oregon. He received his juris doctor degree from Willamette University. Main Questions Asked: Who is Lewis Landerholm? Do you get any training about how to run a law firm while in school? Why did you start your own firm? Did you have difficulty managing the growth of your firm? How do you plan for your firm’s future? Do you have specific metrics that you measure? How do you stay on top of payments? Why did you develop a second law firm?   Key Lessons Learned: Running a Law Firm Law school often leaves out the business side of running a law firm. Due to necessity, Lewis had to open his own firm rather than pursue a position elsewhere. He began with bankruptcy and family law and focused on family and matrimonial law because of client demand. Understanding exactly why you chose law is the best way to figure out which field to focus on. Having push incentives in addition to pull incentives is a good recipe for success. Hire someone specifically to work with clients so they understand the costs involved and the payment schedule. They should keep in communication with the clients often. Cash flow is always a challenge, you have to make sure invoicing is on time and be aware of upcoming expenses and income. Affordable Family Law is the do it yourself option for people who want legal advice but may not want to hire a full time lawyer. It came out of a realization that a lot of the side effects of your primary work can be turned into something valuable. Marketing Lewis focused on online marketing instead of traditional marketing early on. Online leads tend to be cheaper when compared to traditional marketing. Video is a good medium to build trust and for convincing prospects to move through your funnel. If a client asks a question, that’s an opportunity to create a video. The ability to communicate via technology has majorly impacted the design of workspaces including the acoustic and lighting aspects considered. Testing the effectiveness of your marketing efforts is important. Understanding the avatar of the clients you want to work with is how you figure out where to market. Growing the Firm Certain revenue thresholds and tracking which tasks you can do yourself is how you figure out when to hire. Block out your time on your schedule and focus on the high value activities that only you can do. Working with a coach can be useful for deciding what projects to focus on and which path to pursue. You can get the biggest growth in your firm by working with someone who has been where you want to be. Lewis works with a business coach as well as a financial coach. Metrics Tracking your marketing and sales metrics is vital to success. Lewis tracks revenue numbers, the number of active clients and cases, as well as conversion numbers. InfusionSoft for internet marketing, QuickBooks and Cleo for the case management. If you aren’t measuring your metrics you might as well not spend your money. Test your options before committing. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned lewis@landerholmlaw.com Give Lewis a call: 503-227-0200 http://www.landerholmlaw.com/

In this week’s episode of the Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Ken Baker. Ken is currently serving as the member of the Gensler Management Committee and is the co-managing principal of Gensler South East Region. Ken is a globally recognized expert in workplace design and planning and has designed over 10 million square feet of office and institution workspace.   Main Questions Asked: Who is Ken Baker? What do you mean by workplace design and planning? How is today different for law firms compared to twenty years ago? What is your experience with the different perspectives between the traditional way of doing things and the way millennials want to work? What are firms doing to attract new legal talent? What should firms be doing to help adjust to the trend towards collaboration? Do firms need less space now? Has technology like video conferencing changed the way law firms operate?   Key Lessons Learned: Designing Workspace Having an understanding of the structure of a building influences the design of the interior of the building. Inside out design is where the interior and what the space needs to be determines the exterior of the building. Workplace design is about analyzing what the average end user is looking for. It goes beyond offices with windows and is more about the efficiency of the space, ergonomic issues, as well as trends in technology. Trends in design include the focus space, the collaborative space, learning space, as well as the social space. The correspond with four different modes of working. Design is moving away from a traditional modular style of office space. The number of secretaries per lawyer is going down because of the average law graduates technological skill set. Considering the future needs of the law firm is important to considering the design of the workspace today. Allowing people a choice of place to work is a trend in workspace design today. Gensler benchmarks the changes and effects their designs have had to the businesses they have served.   Traditional Vs. Modern Firms are moving towards workspace design that accommodates the new way millennials want to work. There is more focus on the needs of the business instead of the traditional way things have been done in the past. Law firms tend to favour the focus mode but the emerging trend is moving towards collaboration which is growing in importance. The average number of square feet per attorney has gone from 1000 to 650 in the last fifteen years due to technology making the work more efficient with a smaller footprint. The space is mostly being invested in other areas. The ability to communicate via technology has majorly impacted the design of workspaces including the acoustic and lighting aspects considered.   Building Collaboration Space A firm’s design should focus on ubiquitous technology in the workspace. Wifi should be widely available, plug and play options, areas that you can collaborate without interrupting the focused work. Access to natural light is important and making the interior space comfortable and pleasant to work in. Space that isn’t client facing can be made more casual. Beverage and food options where lawyers can escape and decompress and return to work refreshed.   Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned kenneth_baker@gensler.com Gensler.com

In this week’s episode of the Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Dave Frees. Dave runs several companies including Success Technologies and Business Black Ops. His experience has exposed him to leaders, communicators, and influencers from across the world. He uses his experience to teach leadership, sales and marketing, and influence to his audience. Main Questions Asked: What is enhanced communication? What are force multipliers? How can attorneys apply force multipliers in their practice? How do you manage to do everything you do and also practice law? What kind of team do you have working with you and how did you build it?   Key Lessons Learned: Enhanced Communication Science is giving us a better idea why certain communication strategies work over others. Disagreeing right at the start is the wrong approach to negotiating. There are certain steps you can take to change someone’s opinion or position. Start with agreeing with them and presupposing the change. Pique their curiosity by asking them what would it be like if the opposite of their position was true. This method, influence instead of persuasion, is more in line with our biological way of thinking. Persuasion is manipulation like all communication. It’s the tactics we use to change the way people think. Influence is persuasion combined with trust that you have the person’s best interest in mind. Most people don’t have a deep understanding of what they want and so when asked, tend to lie by omission. Marketing Successful marketing involves asking your audience constantly for feedback. More information allows you to better serve your audience and customers. Even when you know what someone may need you may not be able to give it to them. Experts tend to take for granted about how much they know that they forget how the client feels about it. Proposing a solution has to be done in the language of the client. Force Multipliers A force multiplier is a technology or technique that allows you to achieve much more with fewer resources. You can take strategies and techniques from other areas of life like the military and use them in your business and marketing. Gathering intelligence on what your client’s are interested in via social media and using that to customize the way you communicate with them is a force multiplier. Technology like a client relationship manager is a powerful way to create a better connection with your existing clients. This increases the odds of them referring you to new clients. If you find yourself saying that you have tried something and it didn’t work, reassess, you probably haven’t. Blocked Time Dave sets aside a block of time each day for him to work on his business instead of in it. It typically involves activities that are on a high, strategic level. If you want to achieve you need to set aside time for yourself and be strict about your schedule. Do the small things each day, and over time you will achieve things that would seem insurmountable at the start. Start your thinking from where you want to be and work backwards. Building a Team You can’t do everything on your own nor should you try. Building a team you can trust to make intelligent decisions frees you up to pursue strategic plans. Take responsibility and train your team for leadership. Hire slow and fire fast. Do a pre-hire assessment and a post-hire assessment. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned Business Black Ops Dave Frees on Twitter David Frees on Facebook The Language of Parenting Abundance by Peter Diamandis Extreme Ownership 3 Days To Success The Slight Edge

In this week’s episode of the Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Aiden Kramer. Aiden is a solo practicing lawyer focusing on business transactions and estate planning. Producing videos on YouTube has been a major driving force in the growth of her practice.   Main Questions Asked: How did you get into creating videos for YouTube? What are some mistakes people make in their marketing? How do you come up with the ideas for your videos? What is the process you go through to upload your videos? Do you do any keyword research to figure out what search terms to focus on? How do your videos incorporate into your marketing plan? Do you track and analyze the statistics for your YouTube videos? How much of an impact has video marketing had on your law firm?   Key Lessons Learned: Internet Marketing, Blogging, YouTube YouTube is less crowded for lawyers than other possible channels. Blogging increases the odds of you being found on search engines like Google. Videos are an easy, fast way to discuss a topic and connect with your viewer. It takes a while to become proficient with video production, but if you put in the work you will see results. Don’t get intimidated by the process, it’s easier than it looks. Once the video has been uploaded, you should promote and share it to drive views. The more views a video has in the first couple of days of being posted, the higher YouTube will rank the video. Pinterest and LinkedIn are others places to post your video content that can drive views. 70-80% of Aiden’s clients find her online through her video marketing efforts.   Video Production Create an account on YouTube and Google+. Invest in the equipment you need, your computer’s webcam and microphone will work when you’re just getting started. Good audio can make up for substandard video quality. Lighting can be tricky when recording video. Use extra light/block extra light to try to even out the recording. Cell phone cameras have improved a lot in the past few years and are fully capable of creating high resolution videos. Video content doesn’t have to be complicated to work well and drive results. Video marketing can create a connection with your viewers before you ever meet them in person. Write an accurate description for your video while trying to keep in mind what your potential clients will be searching for. Write as many relevant tags for your video as YouTube will let you. Editing the closed captioning of your video can help with SEO as well.   Inspiration Questions your clients ask you make for great content. Once you begin producing videos, the comments are another great place to find new ideas. Snapchat is a relatively new app that works well for reaching your followers and asking for feedback. Searching in Amazon is another good source of ideas, chapters in books you are searching for are great for finding long tail keywords.   Video Editing Windows Video Editor (PC) is a viable option for editing simple videos. iMovie for Macs is the alternative. Fiverr.com is an easy and inexpensive way to outsource video editing.   Keyword Research Use Google Keyword Planner to discover what keywords your clients are searching for. Use those keywords in your video title, description, and tags. The keyword planner can also help you find ideas for new content. Identify the channels that are driving the results you want. Focus your resources on what works.   Tracking Metrics YouTube stats can show you valuable information about how your viewers are interacting with your video. You can use tracking to find out which content resonates and what you should focus your efforts on. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned Google Keyword Planner Long Tail Pro aiden@aidenkramerlaw.com AidenKramerLaw.com All Up In Yo Business

In this week’s episode of the Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews John Skiba. John has practiced law for the past 13 years, he’s also a blogger and a podcaster and focuses on law practice management and marketing. Main Questions Asked: Was there anyone you looked to for inspiration when it came to marketing your practice? What are some mistakes people make in their marketing? Is it more important to create quality content or more frequent content? How do you track the results of your marketing efforts? What are some of the resources you use in your solo practice? Key Lessons Learned: Marketing Marketing has changed drastically in the last 10 years. Technology and the internet is the new way to market. Content marketing is a great way to market and build a practice. Model the marketing efforts of attorneys who are getting the results you want. Marketing is all about getting people to know, like, and trust you. Give value in your content and you will build trust and authority. Many attorneys don’t really understand what they are getting into when it comes to marketing. Do some research and test the process before spending a large amount of money. You will make mistakes, the trick is to learn from your mistakes. Be genuine and human in your marketing, create an authentic connection with the people you are trying to reach. Video Creating videos is one of the most effective ways to market your practice. Invest the time into figuring out the setup, it’s definitely worth the effort. Don’t project your beliefs and habits onto the market. Just because you don’t consume video content, that doesn’t mean you future clients don’t as well. Producing video is a great way to create a connection between yourself and a potential client. Video content can pre-sell your practice. Video allows your client to get to know you ahead of time and builds their confidence that you are the right choice. Blogging Blogging has driven major results within John’s practice. Longer articles are more effective than shorter ones. Really dig into the question you are trying to address. Your content should be the answer the user is looking for. Quality content is what people and search engines like Google want. Write your article from the perspective of your reader. Your content should benefit the reader and help them answer their questions. Writing is a chance to convey empathy and connect with the client. Social Media Facebook and Twitter are powerful platforms for reaching new clients. Your Facebook page should focus on helping your readers rather than just promoting your practice. Paid ads on social media are an inexpensive way to target the exact people you want to see your ads. Edgar is a useful tool for driving traffic to your site and recycle your content. Tracking and Analytics Tracking your most important metrics gives you the feedback to improve. Analytics will show you what is working and what isn’t. Google Analytics is a great free tool you can use to understand your website traffic. Identify the channels that are driving the results you want. Focus your resources on what works. Resources Assistants can be overwhelmed with work and calls. Ruby Receptionist is a service that can make sure your office doesn’t miss a call from a potential client. Lexicata is a software that tracks people as they come into your office and helps you identify the practice areas that are driving the most revenue. It also tracks conversion rate and helps with follow up. Rocket Matter takes care of the billing and client information. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned Jdblogger.com john@jdblogger.com @johnskiba MeetEdgar CallRail Avvo - Lawyernomics Ruby Receptionist Lexicata Rocket Matter

In this week’s episode of the Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Tamarra Causley Robinson. Tamarra is a certified coach that helps people live with purpose right now. Tamarra has worked in the corporate world for the past 25 years, 20 of those years with one of the largest professional services firms in the world. Main Questions Asked: How did you come to realize that your life needed to change? How does someone figure out what they really want? What does it mean to actually coach someone? What are some common reasons that people come to you for help? How do you work with clients to figure where they should go from here? How does confidence fit in to how you coach people? Key Lessons Learned: Lifestyle Being successful at work can sometimes be at odds with living your life. High achievers often work unconsciously, focused on success without thinking about things like family. Understanding Yourself People often have a hard time admitting that they don’t know how to change. Look to your past to see where you found joy in your life. An extra 15 minutes each day can be the small win that can create big changes. You are you’re own worst critic. You need to find a balance between achievement and appreciation for what you’ve accomplished. Celebrate your small wins. Maintain a positive atmosphere in your life and try to eliminate or minimize negativity. “Comparison is the thief of all joy.” Other people often see things in you that you can’t see yourself. Focus on your work rather than the possibility of failure. Coaching Coaching is helping people understand where they are and where they want to be. A coach helps you in every area of your life. They ask questions that make you think about the way you live. A coach can help you take your “game” to the next level. Compete against yourself instead of someone else. Journaling can reveal what you really want. Physically writing can be more powerful than typing. Find a close friend that you can actually talk to about what you want. Saying it out loud is very different from saying it in your head. Focus on creating value and giving, you will tend to get back more in return. Common Problems People typically compare themselves to others without taking stock of what they have already achieved. High achievers feel like spending their time on themselves can cost them professionally. People lose the passion for their work. Without the support of family or friends that they can share with, they can feel lost. Your perception of others can minimize how you feel about your own achievements. Confidence Building confidence can be done in many different ways. Affirmations, saying positive things about yourself out loud. Facing your fears directly and finding they aren’t as scary as you thought can be life changing. A common fear is public speaking, conquering that can be a major confidence builder. People sometimes feel that if they aren’t confident in one thing, they aren’t confident in anything. If you see someone doing something you want to do, ask them how they got to where they are. Put your problems into perspective, the biggest problem you’re facing is likely pretty small in the scheme of your life. Final Tips Figure out where you are and where you want to be, then take the first step. Don’t compare yourself to others, compete against yourself. Take the time to celebrate your achievements. Start journaling, you may learn something about yourself you did not expect. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes! Links to Resources Mentioned Confidence From the Inside Out Workshop Call Tamarra: 1-609-238-2874 Dare2doitnow.com

In this week’s episode of The Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews The New York Times bestselling author Kevin Kruse, who is a reformed serial entrepreneur. Kevin is a speaker and podcaster, and has built and sold several multi-million-dollar technology companies. During the show, Kevin and Sam discuss time management, the secrets of high-achieving, ultra-productive people, to-do lists, living from you calendar, block scheduling, avoiding procrastination, notebooks as a tool for legacy, and the importance of morning routines.   Main Questions Asked: Why is time management so important? What are the secrets of high-achieving, ultra-productive people? What is the best way to avoid procrastination? Do the people you interview have similar routines?   Key Lessons Learned: To-Do Lists Ultra productive people don’t use to-do lists. 41% of things we put on our to-do lists we don't do at all. To-do lists are where important but not urgent things go to die.   Living From Your Calendar Successful people live from their calendar and schedule everything. Take everything on your to-do list and choose a date, time, and duration and transfer it over. Even checking e-mail and taking breaks is on the calendar. We can’t really manage time, as we have the same 1440 minutes per day, but we can manage our energy, focus, and attention.   Block Scheduling Work through the day in ‘working jam sessions,’ where you are all-out on one task without interruptions, then go into a short break. The most well-known technique is called the Pomodoro Technique, which suggests we work in 25-minute blocks with a 5-minute break. The front part of our brain known as the prefrontal cortex is like the CEO of our mind and controls decision-making, logic, and impulse control. This runs on glucose, which burns faster the more we are taxing our minds.   Avoiding Procrastination Know what your most important task of the day is. 20% of people are chronic procrastinators, where it interferes with personal happiness and careers. Procrastination is sometimes a cognitive defect, where we can’t estimate time well. However, for most of us, it is a behavioral issue, where we choose a more pleasurable task now and put off the less pleasurable task. To cure procrastination, you need to time travel and do battle with your future self. Your future self is the enemy of your best self. The best way to understand procrastination is to understand all the excuses you will make and the triggers that will make you slip up, and deal with them ahead of time.   Notebooks These are part of our legacy. It is, however, important to get ideas out of your mind and on to paper, so a notepad is a great idea to use and then transfer to the calendar. Use your notebook as an opportunity to give back and complete your thoughts for those who will follow you.   Morning Routines When you wake up, you are already 1-2% dehydrated. Ultra-productive people don’t skip breakfast and know food is fuel. Exercise in a way that will give you immediate benefit and a better day. 20 minutes of light cardiovascular exercise will oxygenate our brains in a way that allows us to make better decisions and focus.  Achieve more by becoming more, not by working longer.  Doing your morning routine will give you a more productive day.   Energy Management Without energy, you won’t be productive. This starts with staying hydrated. Most of us are mildly dehydrated throughout the day; that has an effect on brain function. Take your body weight and divide it in half, which is the number of ounces per day you should drink. E.g. A 200lb person needs to drink 100oz. of water. Food is fuel, so eat the right food and not the wrong carbohydrates in excess. Sleep quality is better than sleep quantity, so maximize deep sleep. Caffeine may not keep you awake, but it will prevent you from going into a deep sleep. If you dream a lot, then you are in shallow sleep.   Resources: How to Increase Performance and Profits Through Full Engagement 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management  Extreme Productivity Podcast Master Your Minutes Text: Achieve to 44222

In this week’s episode of The Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews communication strategist Lee Caraher, who is the CEO and President of the PR and digital marketing firm, Double Forte. During the show, Sam and Lee discuss common issues, LinkedIn, websites, professional photo shoots, and working with millennials.   Key Lessons Learned: Common Issues People are spending money but not seeing results. Competitors are out maneuvering, but have a lesser product. Businesses want to do it all themselves and think it’s easy, but aren’t getting results. Hiring interns who don’t do a good job. People feel they can get services cheaper online.   Realities What used to work no longer works, and if you aren’t online, you don’t matter. Start at the bottom. It can’t just be a LinkedIn page with no photo and where you went to school. The first piece of being credible is being where those other people and services are.   LinkedIn Pay for the monthly fee for the professional service. Get a professional photo taken that indicates to who you want to serve and that you are the person who should indeed be serving them. Build out your profile. Join law groups that are affiliated with your industry. Give examples of cases, not clients. LinkedIn will tell you what you need to add, and you should shoot for 95%.   Website You and your firm must be online with a professional looking website. Always opt to post on your channel, as you own it. You can use Square Space, Wix, or buy a good template. Buy professional stock photography from sites such as iStock Photo. Remain consistent across all media including the website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.   Professional Photo Session When you have your profile picture session, choose 15 photos to use across your media. This will give consistency. Take 3-4 sets of clothing to your photo session.   Create a Group on LinkedIn If there are no groups in your area of expertise, start one yourself and invite lawyers into your private group. This will position you as an organizer of colleagues. Ensure you are posting on LinkedIn in a relevant way at least 3 times a week. This could be your content or curated. Provide relevant information that you have personally vetted.   Creating Your Own Posts Posts should be 600-800 words and always think about the graphic.  Look at your billing receipts and what you get paid for. Write posts related to those topics. The pro tip on going to page 10 of iStock Photo is that you’ll find images that are less commonly used by competitors.   Search Terms Think about what terms are associated with what you specialize in doing that someone who is looking will use when searching. Who were your last twenty clients, and what did they call you for?   Surveys If you give your readers a survey, make sure to report back so people know you listened. Be direct and ask clients, “Where are you struggling right now?” If you solve the struggle, you will be the outlier and known for going above and beyond.   Handwritten Cards Send 5 handwritten cards to clients or newsletter subscribers every week. Making a personal touch doesn’t have to be difficult, but it takes time.   Millennials and Management The oldest millennial will be 40 in 4 years. If you have a business without a millennial working in it, your business will end soon. The Millennials and Management book is about the myths of working with millennials, faulty stereotypes, and setting expectations.   Resources: Lee Caraher Double Forte Millennials and Management (book)

In this week’s episode of The Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Scot Malouf, who is a litigator with more than 10 years’ experience in commercial claims, construction litigation, and insurance matters. He joins Sam on the show to discuss the growing field of electronic and social discovery.   Main Questions Asked: What is E-discovery? How should people understand E-discovery, and what should they be asking for? What are the tricks for locating party and witness information? Who are the people coming to you for assistance on their projects? How do you approach E-discovery when a judge isn’t familiar with it? What should people focus on when it comes to presenting E-discovery information while using it most effectively? What other social forums should people be looking into?   Key Lessons Learned: E-Discovery Discovery and e-discovery are now one in the same. All the records that at one point would have been in paper documents are now in electronic format.   What to Ask For How do we defensively, legally, ethically not do things? Who is involved in this case, and what systems did they use? Are you taking company data off-site (from work computer into personal cloud accounts)? Tally up how much data there is. What types of data exist? Assume there will be problems, and build that into your schedule.   Practice Focus Plaintiff personal injury bar There are a lot of laws about preservation and data mapping. Clients are creating a lot of data but don’t have traditional tools that the IT department and data director does. Commercial litigation bar All companies are creating and using a lot of data. Employment Lawyers constantly use LinkedIn, but is it surprising how clients use it.   E- Discovery Universe    Facebook: Personal injury matters. LinkedIn: Employment matters. Chat: Instant messaging such as Slack is becoming important in the workplace. Chat is the new water cooler, so there is a lot of informality and authenticity. This backfires, as it is now searchable.   How to Be Most Effective Don’t get bogged down by volume, thinking presenting more is better. Similar to all evidence, weave it into your story. Focus on what you are really trying to tell. Try to avoid on-paper, and instead create PowerPoints or show it live.   Social Forums For Marketing Attorneys are focused on using social platforms to talk about cases; however, platforms are excellent for listening. Social media is your chance to see the community and what issues they are talking about. How are people talking about their issues, and what terms are they using? Spend time on platforms where prospective clients are. If you speak a foreign language or serve a community that has overseas connections, see what foreign tools they are using. Periscope: Forces attorneys to shed perfection. Twitter: Local media is still accessible on Twitter.  Pinterest: Predominantly female audience.  Social platforms can be industry-specific, as well as generational. Always measure the quality of the website and know how they work.   Avvo This is an online legal services marketplace that offers on-demand legal advice through an Avvo advisor. Understand what questions you want customers asking and how are they being responded to? If you claim your Avvo profile, you are ethically responsible for what is put up there. There is a digital code that you can place on your website that shows your rating. The platform brings clients in, but you always want a direct relationship with the client and have them turn directly to you instead of having Avvo bring them to you. If Avvo manages the relationship, and the terms change, then this could be an issue. Always build your personal list.   Resources: Scott Malouf Avvo The Social Media Ethics Guidelines Social Media Jury Instructions Report

In this week’s episode of The Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews David Ward, who is an expert in the area of marketing and building a profitable practice and using technology to advance the law firms position. During the show, Sam and David discuss marketing, referrals, thinking in terms of clients not cases, systematic follow up, lifetime value of the client, lawyer to lawyer referrals, and website essentials.   Main Questions Asked: How do you go about building a referral network? Talk about systematic follow-up after a referral is made. What are common problems lawyers are coming to you with? What is the first step?   Key Lessons Learned: Referrals Think in terms of clients not cases. When you make the referral, always have marketing in your mind to acquire the lead. Stay involved in the process once you have referred a client to another attorney, and follow up to ensure they are getting the attention they need.   Systematic Follow-Up If the referral attorney is new on your list, make sure to check up on them and build a relationship so that when they need someone who does what you do, you’ll be the one that they call.   Lifetime Value of a Client Embrace the concept of lifetime value of a client. Think long-term and in terms of clients, as it’s all about relationships with people.  You are building a career and not just trying to make this month’s rent, so the person who pays you $1K today may over their lifetime provide you with business and referrals of $50K.   Marketing Advertising is a part of marketing, but advertising is not marketing. Marketing is being able to determine what is actually working for you.   Lawyer to Lawyer Referrals Approach this with the mindset that if you help enough people, they will be willing to help you. Do a good job of informing other lawyers of what your ideal client looks like so they can do a better job of recognizing them. Put it in writing and let them know the best way to make that referral to you. Prepare a booklet or letter that outlines the referral system and information, and get it into the hands of attorneys you know. You can also deliver the letter to attorneys you don’t know. This is showing that you can help them by handling existing clients and those that they are turning away.   Common Problems Most attorneys don’t like or want to market, and prefer a turnkey solution. Delegating the relationship building isn’t the best way to go about marketing. Many attorneys also don’t want to do a lot of advertising and also need to separate the idea of marketing from advertising. A lot of attorneys don’t like the concept of sales; however, a sale takes place when a client signs up, but that doesn’t mean you’re a sales person.   Specialization Clients prefer a specialist. If you have a general practice, you will limit the number of attorneys who will want to give you referrals, as you’ll be a direct competitor. Attorneys also need to specialize in the types of clients that are handled. You can accept clients outside of your niche, but when it comes to targeting clients, where do you network? Work smarter, not harder.   The Essentials When someone is referred to you, the first thing they will do is go online and try to find you. Make sure they find information that you have created and not some third party. You must have a web presence that you own, and not on someone else’s platform. Even if you aren’t doing things to get traffic, have a place to send prospective clients and professional contacts so they can learn about you. A simple way to show people what you do and how you can help them is by writing about it. Show examples of people you have helped with the very problems people come to your website are likely to have. Show them, don’t tell them, what you do by having updated content. If you have little time, post a description of the services you offer and frequently asked questions.   The First Step Take your calendar and carve out 15 minutes per day to start a marketing related activity. Make this a daily appointment with yourself, and focus on the consistency. Your attitude and results will change. You don’t have to take massive action every day, but you do have to do something consistently.   Resources:  Attorney Marketing

In this week’s episode of The Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Andy Paul, who is a trainer, speaker, author, and coach. During the show, Sam and Andy discuss the nature by which attorneys can develop sales techniques to translate into better serving their clients, avatars, block scheduling, providing content, and accountability.    Key Lessons Learned: Lawyers Sell Regardless of what area of law you are in, you are constantly selling your services and yourself. Part of the challenge is lack of familiarity with the product you are selling. If you are an attorney, then you already understand your product and service intimately, which is a huge advantage. Is your product aligned with what you are selling?   Find Your Avatar Define who your ideal client is, and be very deliberate about who that is. Create your persona and define the activities you need to do in order to find those specific clients. Type the data into Google images and find a photo of what that would look like as a person so you can see your ideal client.   Target Your Avatar Ensure your plan, strategies, and tactics are written down.  Find out where your avatar is hanging out online, and become part of those groups and conversations. Sales is more about giving than receiving.   Talking With Your Avatar When you meet the people, make sure you ask them the right questions rather than talk about yourself. The goal is to build a rapport and have that lead to a point of trust, which at first you hope will lead to them revealing their legal needs. You want to understand the industry the person is in and what challenges they face on a day-to-day basis.   Block Scheduling for Business Development You don’t have time in your day NOT to do sales. Don’t handle the $10/hour work when you can handle the $10K/hour work. Block out time in your calendar for developing new business. Block scheduling, and work on one task for a specific time without interruptions. Developing new business needs to become a habit.   Common Problems The negative stereotype of sales people is that they are persuading people to do things they don’t want to do. The correct perspective on sales is that you are providing a service that people need. If you have the attitude that lawyers are service providers, then what you are doing is making people aware that you offer the service. Reach out to people confidently and assertively. They might not be a prospect today, but if you create a positive first perspective, they will remember you when they have the need for legal services.   Providing Content Solo and small law firms have the luxury to be nimbler in the online world and provide content to prospects via the website. Not all content has to be yours; you can curate rather than create everything on your own. Sharing information that isn’t yours shows you are providing value. Create a Google Alert for keywords, and create articles around found content. Repurpose your content, and use it across platforms. Don’t feel you have to do all this yourself, as you can outsource via virtual assistants. Creating content puts you in the position as being the expert and person people want to go to.   Accountability Engage someone to be an accountability resource, whether that be a coach or mastermind.  It is worse to show up not having done the things you said you would than doing the actual task. Investing your money in accountability means your productivity will increase.   Resources: Andy@zerotimeselling.com 619-980-4002 Andy Paul Accelerate! With Andy Paul (podcast)

In this week’s episode of The Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews John Livesay, who is a known as the Pitch Whisperer. John is a funding strategist for tech CEOs, the host of The Successful Pitch podcast, and a pitch mentor for Start Fast. During this episode, Sam and John discuss the importance of storytelling, power connecting, common networking issues, storytelling structure, branding for small firms, and how to successfully pitch.    Main Questions Asked: What does it mean to be a power connector? What are the standard problems you see with clients in terms of networking? How do you set up the storytelling structure for people that you work with? How can smaller law firms create their own brand to combat bigger organizations? How can someone go from bad to good to great, when it comes to pitching?   Key Lessons Learned: Storytelling Regardless of what you are pitching, you need to tell a story.   Power Connecting Top three questions to ask if you want to be a power connector: How can I help you? What advise do you have for me? Who else do you know that I should talk to? You have to give two things before you can ask for anything. If you are a lawyer and only hanging out with other lawyers, then you aren’t really expanding your network. Network with people in non-competitive categories.   Common Networking Issues   Confidence Define who you are and the problem you solve. Ensure your elevator pitch is conversational, short, and distinct. The key to confidence is success, and the key to success is preparation. The more empathy you show, the more likeable you are. The goal isn’t to get rid of the butterflies in your stomach, but to get them to fly in formation. In order to improve your confidence, write down your moments of certainty.   Storytelling   Think about stories relating to your life that are relatable and compelling. All stories have a structure, genre, and lesson. Once you start telling a story instead of making a speech, you relax, as you don’t have to force it. If you tell a story where you are vulnerable, it allows people to relate to you.   Structure Good storytelling has three elements: 1. Exposition: Who, what, where, when, and why? 2. Problem. 3. Solution or outcome. It is always great to have conflict in the story.   Branding In order to be successful, you have to find your niche.  Define your set of values, who you are, and what you stand for. If you try to be all things to all people, then you are nothing to everybody. Who you say no to is more important than who you say yes to when you are looking at taking on new clients. Focus on being a progressionist, not a perfectionist.   The Pitch Whisperer You have to be aware and address the unspoken questions people have while they are listening to you pitch. Work on your content and have a clear, concise, compelling message that is easily understood. Ensure your pitch and content are unique to you and not generic. Work on the pitch delivery. Remember that people buy you first, then the company, then the service. Connect emotionally with your audience, and back it up with content.   Resources: john@johnlivesay.com Text FUNDING to 66866 to get free PDF Selling Secrets for Funding The Successful Pitch Podcast Start Fast How to Be a Power Connector (book)

Nakia Gray is an attorney and business consultant, and is committed to helping others create their own economy through branding, marketing, and passionate entrepreneurship. She is the CEO and founder of Nakia Gray Legal, and during this episode of The Law Practice Doctor with Sam Gaylord, Nakia discusses virtual law firms, creating your situation, the importance of ‘why,’ the pursuit of happiness in law, technology used in a virtual law firm, and how to think like a brand and not like a lawyer.   Main Questions Asked: What do you mean by “the importance of ‘why’?” How have you defined a virtual law firm? What kind of technology do you use in your practice?   Key Lessons Learned: Create Your Situation Nakia wasn’t able to find the right situation for herself, so she created it. The key to success is constant education. Proximity is power, when you put yourself in the position of being surrounded by likeminded people. If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room. When you make the first leap, the answer might not be in front of you.   The Importance of ‘Why’   Your ‘why’ is why you truly do what you do. If the answer to your ‘why’ is for the money, then you need to start over. Money is not enough to sustain you through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. It is because of your ‘why’ that you won’t quit when you want to give up. For many, the ‘why’ is quality time with your family.   The Virtual Law Firm This is a law firm that exists on the internet and leverages technology to deliver legal services online. This involves servicing clients without them physically needing to be present at the office. Virtual law lends itself to different practice areas. There is also scope to have a virtual component to existing practice areas. Nakia handles business matters in intellectual property, copyrights, and trademarks for entertainment professionals and E-Commerce. Estate planning doesn't lend itself well to being virtual.   Entrepreneur Mind-Shift Find what drives you. This will allow you to produce great work for whomever you are representing. Take the entrepreneurial mind-shift and be prepared to lose clients that aren’t a right fit, but ensure they land somewhere safe. If there was nothing stopping you, what would you do?   Technology Used Online scheduler. Virtual paralegal. 17 Hats: Client booking and management tool. Zoom: Video conferencing. Asana: Task management system.   Think Like a Brand, Not Like a Lawyer You don’t have to solve every problem in your business; you can outsource. When you do the slightest thing that is different or better by way of the ‘Disney’ experience for your clients, they will refer you.   Resources: Think Like a Brand Not Like a Lawyer Nakia Gray Legal NGray@NakiaGray.com B School Simon Sinek TED Talk Abundance (book) 17 Hats  

Joshua Latimer helps small business owners understand the power of business systems and automation. In this week’s episode of The Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord covers the importance of creating systems in business, company architecture, law as a commodity, and focusing on touchpoints.   Main Questions Asked: What is important when it comes to the lifecycle of the client? How do you decommoditize your law firm and stand out in a unique way?   Key Lessons Learned: Systems This means being intentional with your business and putting in small, simple, duplicable processes to provide freedom. If you are not making sales, there are ways to make tweaks and to systemize your business in order to engage your clients.   Company Architecture Almost all businesses have the same internal structure, which involves the following: The way those clients are sourced. Client conversion. Management of the client lifecycle.   Law as a Commodity Even when it comes to attorneys, people buy from those they know, like, and trust, and overall purchase experiences. Law is a commodity in the eyes of the consumer, but it needs to be decommoditized.   Focus on the Touchpoints Focus is about following one course until you reach success. What do you do to manage the referrals and relationship? This is from the moment your client first hears about you to the time they do business and refer two of their friends. The entire lifecycle needs to be exemplary. The more you can do to make you and your firm higher level, the more money you can demand and the more freedom you will have in your business. You need to focus on securing the right ‘types’ of clients, and not just any client.   Choices & The Slight Edge Every day you make choices about what you want to do. Choose to do something every day that is tiny and easy to do. If you do the thing for 30, 60, or 90 days, look at the achievement. It is significant.   Consistency & Lifestyle Being steady and consistent is boring and takes a while, but it produces so much. Craft a lifestyle by building a good team, providing value to clients, and systemize the process.   Common Problems People have clouded vision when it comes to their own business. Employee issues. Struggling with the difference between leading and managing people.   Leadership You don’t have to be born a leader; it can be a learned behavior. A-type personality and dominating isn’t leadership. Being imperfectly authentic beats a polished sales copy.   Joshua’s Top Tips Begin with the end in mind. Carve out with a high level of specificity towards your destination and what you are trying to do. Reverse engineer from your ‘Why?’ You have to sell yourself on your own dream.   Fail Fast Forward High achievers are often risk adverse, because formal education teaches you to avoid failure. Entrepreneurship is repeated failure.   Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned: Automate Grow Sell  Send Jim

In this week’s episode of The Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Justin Christianson, who is the co-founder and President of Conversion Fanatics. Justin is a 13-year veteran of digital marketing, having worked on hundreds of profitable campaigns. He is also the author of the bestselling book Conversion Fanatic, and has a knack for finding holes in marketing campaigns and being able to offer simple solutions. During the show, Sam and Justin discuss how to get more out of your advertising, ROI, SEO, getting more leads, micro-commitment, diagnosing problems, campaigns, and the conversion improvement cycle.   Main Questions Asked: What do you mean ‘get more out of your advertising?’ What are some of the ways to get more leads and customers? What are the similar problems you’ve found in people coming to you? When you talk about campaigns, what are you referring to? Are there certain analytics someone should be focused on? What is the conversion improvement cycle? What is the secret to increasing website engagement? What can I do to improve the user experience?   Key Lessons Learned: ROI In the online space, getting more out of your advertising is about getting an ROI. Put $1 in, and get $1.50 out. Increasing your budget and generating more leads isn’t always the way; you can often cut your customer acquisition cost. ROI is making a positive return on your investment. PPC is pay per click, often seen on website sidebars and involves things such as Google AdWords. You bid for every click.   SEO Working on SEO is important, but not the only part and the sole go-to tool. SEO takes time, money, and effort to get ranked, and there is never any real guarantee. Use SEO as support rather than the end point.   Getting More Leads There needs to be an education factor, as everyone is competing for a piece of the pie. You need to set yourself apart from your competitors. Lead with the benefit for your client and offer something of value in exchange for the client contact information. The ‘know, like, and trust’ factor is how people make decisions more than the features of the service. People make buying decisions for two reasons: i) Avoid pain, ii) Gain pleasure. The better you can connect with those two factors, the better you will do. Find where people are hanging out and listen to what they are actually saying, not just what you think they are saying.   Micro-Commitment Taking a small step and getting a win is often better than shooting for a long form and missing. Ask one question at a time instead of bombarding clients with a huge questionnaire project.   Diagnosing Problems Figure out where your visitors are going and where they are falling off. The goal is to get visitors to make the next commitment and take the desired action. 97% of website owners have tracking in place, but less than 30% use it. Your analytics are the window into seeing how people are interacting with your site.   Campaigns This is the big picture from the start to the end goal. Where is your traffic coming from? Where does your audience go from there? What is the entire process to get them to the ultimate end goal of lead generation?   Analytics What are the most high-traffic pages? On-page time. Bounce rate. Additional pages viewed. Look for commonalities. Heat maps and click maps helps understand what people are doing while they are on the site.   Conversion Improvement Cycle Analyze Conversion Rates This is the people who land and partake in the call to action. Survey the Market This is if you have an existing customer database. Ask your clients why they chose you. You may not like the answers, but the negative feedback is often the best areas of improvement. Decode the Competition There are tools that allow us to spy on other people’s marketing campaigns. Leverage what the competitors are doing (don’t steal it). What SEO words are they bidding on, and what do their landing pages look like? Set up a test hypothesis and run a split test to confirm.   Increasing Website Engagement Break up paragraphs. People scan rather than read on the internet. You have 3 seconds to capture the attention of a website visitor. Break content up into bite size, consumable pieces Use bullet points and support with features. If you lead with a lot of video, it doesn’t always work on mobile.   Improving the User Experience State your unique selling point. Create a strong benefit-driven headline that captures the visitors’ attention. Support the headline with stats and use proof such as a client list of testimonial. Have a strong call to action. Don’t try to give too much too early. Nurture the audience to make a ‘micro-commitment.’ Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned: Conversion Fanatics Conversion Fanatic (book) Crazy Egg

In this week’s episode of The Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Heather Ann Havenwood, who is the CEO of Havenwood Worldwide and founder of Sexy Boss Incorporated. Heather is an Amazon bestselling author, podcaster, speaker, and serial entrepreneur. During this episode, Sam and Heather discuss marketing approaches, the marketing ‘free line,’ consistency of message, why proximity is power, and how being a lawyer and entrepreneur is one in the same.   Key Lessons Learned: Marketing Approach Approach your marketing from an abundance point of view. Provide as much free content as possible without the fear of giving away your services. Your services might not immediately be retained through the provision of free content, but the prospect will remember the value that was supplied.   The Marketing ‘Free Line’ The marketing ‘free line’ is counterintuitive for humans, but in marketing and sales it is the most positive thing you can do. This is moving the ‘free line’ back to giving information, tactics, and tips. The information marketing overload on the web wasn’t necessarily moved, as the process was content in exchange for an email. The more you move the ‘free line’ back and the more you provide, the more you will attract.   Consistency of Message How we consume media has changed, but humans haven’t. The consistency of the message is key, as is the time of the day. The power of email marketing today involves consistent client touching and social media. You can be more frequent than you think, because we are used to it as a society.   Proximity is Power Put yourself in a position to know people who can be a mentor and help raise you. Never stay where your presence is not valued. Seek to be uplifted rather than seek approval.   Lawyers are Entrepreneurs There are a number of ways to leverage skills and content. Avoid the minutiae and focus on consistency   LinkedIn for Lawyers The place to do well in is LinkedIn. Think of it as a long resume, and show you are a human being and not just knowledge. You are doing business with the person, not the law. People do business with people, and they want to trust that you have the knowledge.   Common Problems & Solutions The number one challenge people have is getting out of their own way, and not the lack of knowledge or desire. It’s not the action that causes the issue; it's the mindset around it. Not giving yourself permission to fail is not allowing yourself to fail forward. If you aren’t embarrassed by your first project, then you waited too long to release it.   Attorney Tips Who is the person you consistently represent, and who is it you want to represent? Reverse engineer and find where they hang out. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned: Heather Havenwood Sexy Boss (Book) SexyBossInc

In this week’s episode of The Law Practice Doctor, Sam Gaylord interviews Gerry Oginski, who is a medical malpractice attorney based in New York. Gerry has been a solo practitioner since 2002 and has created more than 2,100 educational law videos. During this episode, Sam and Gerry discuss video marketing, education-based marketing, providing information in advance, common problems, and the first steps for creating your own video.   Main Questions Asked: Talk about how you decided to move into video marketing. What is the advantage of getting information out there in advance of a client coming into the office? Tell us about the Lawyers Video Studio. What are common problem lawyers have when creating videos? What are the first steps for creating videos? Can you create videos using an iPhone?   Key Lessons Learned: Education-Based Marketing This was designed for articles and blog posts, and has migrated to video. Teaching your ideal client and consumer information they need to learn about. E.g. “Three things you need to know if you are injured at work.”   Marketing Activities You have an obligation to do the marketing activities you believe will generate calls as a result of your efforts, as long as you stay within your ethical boundaries. It’s hypercritical you have read the rules in your state.   Information in Advance You need to get into the mindset of someone searching for an attorney. Referrals are the best way to find an attorney, but for those who don’t have that, people go online and search. What are people looking for, and why? They have a legal problem and need either answers or to learn more about their legal problem. If the attorney can answer the questions of the potential client, it shows that the attorney has the information, experience, and knows what works in previous cases. Offering information and advice is a way to stand out from competitors who handle the same type of cases as you. While clients are looking and learning through your content, they are developing trust with you. An attorney who creates useful information is more likely to generate a call than those who offer a free consultation.   Common Problems 1) The mechanical aspect of physically doing the video. This is wholly teachable.   2) The content they are putting out online. There is a disconnect between what attorneys think clients want to know and what they actually need to know. Attorneys aren’t focusing on who the video is for and how the message is generating trust with the ideal client.   Stop Talking About Yourself Saying how great you are isn’t what drives people to call. Instead, eliminate, “I, me, my, my firm, and our firm.” Your ideal client doesn't care about you, so don’t talk about yourself. Focus on your client and what they need to know. Change the focus, and your marketing message will change. Become a teacher and not a salesperson. Your goal is to teach them before they meet you in person.   First Steps Don’t just think about creating a couple of articles or videos, but rather do it on an ongoing, consistent basis. Put aside 15 minutes to write a timeline of every step from the moment a new client calls the office to the very end. The timeline forms the basis for creating content for every piece of marketing you do from now on. Create a video for each segment of the litigation process. Every week, take another 15 minutes to identify each topic area to talk about.   Tips for Using an iPhone Hold the phone horizontally, not vertically Don't use the built in microphone. Add a lavaliere mic. Place the phone on a tripod. Clients think the quality of the video relates to the quality of your legal abilities. You will still need lighting, audio, and good images. Start with an iPhone, and see what happens. As you get more proficient, you can always upgrade.   Creating Systems Batch-create up to 10 videos at a time; this will allow for advanced scheduling. Drip out the content on a weekly or daily basis. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!   Links to Resources Mentioned: Great Legal Marketing Lawyers Video Studio Gerry’s YouTube 516-487-8207