My Agenda is YOUR Success
On Wednesday, April 6, 2016 I am presenting an ABA Women Rainmakers Spring 2016 Program titled : DON’T BE AFRAID TO PERSUADE: Using Persuasion to Win at Littler Law Firm in San Jose, California. Here is how to register and be part of a dynamic learning experience. We will also have networking and lunch!
What could be better? Just click HERE
So you have identified your challenge and made certain that the description is accurate. Then you decided on some goals and tasks to start working on overcoming that challenge. The last piece is to do those action tasks until you have the desired results.
SOUNDS ALL TOO SIMPLE? Actually this third step is the hardest. Usually you start out relieved to have finally pinpointed exactly what the problem is. Then you have taken precious time to decided what steps you need to take. Now you can start worrying that these may not be the right actions and/or that you can really do them.
NOW THE HONEYMOON IS OVER. The last step is to pull out all stops and devise a method to actually do the actions tasks and to stick with them, revising along the way until you are rewarded with the right results.
This takes ACCOUNTABILITY. Who are you going to be accountable to? I always say that if you at least go out to the nearest tree and tell it your action tasks, that is on the right path to becoming accountable. Actually having a live person to hold your feet to the fire is even better!
What about FOLLOW THROUGH? Is there something that you must do to make sure that your action task actually got done? Simply giving someone a call but never reaching them, is not enough. Here you need to develop your “stick to”brain cells and write these further actions down!
TENACITY is the overall talent that makes all the other steps fall in place. This may take some support as you begin to lose your will to push forward. Some challenges take ten minutes to overcome and some take ten days, ten months or ten years. You need the tenacity to stick with your goals no matter what.
AND THAT HOW YOU OVERCOME ANY CAREER CHALLENGE YOU FACE.
Last blog I promised you that I would add the second key this week and next week will give you the third key. Are you on the edge of your seat?
Second key is to TAKE ACTION. What are your action choices you ask?
These are a only few of the obviously choices to look for help. Again, if you have specifically identified the correct challenge, then the action becomes simpler. For instance, if you believe that you are not making your monthly nut, and you have paperwork to show that, your best next step may be to sit down with your CPA and find out what part of your financial picture is suffering. You may assume that it is lack of income but the real problem may be too much unneeded expense or something you never thought of. A good CPA who is on your side and aware of your business can be a big help here.
After you have gathered as much information as you can from your CPA, then you plan the next step. You may need now to involve your family to see how to cut expenses or talk with your office staff. If you are lost as how to proceed then it is time to get a coach involved to pinpoint your next action steps.
Do you see how it is so vitally important to properly identify not only the correct challenge but to whittle that challenge down to be able to see what action can be taken to overcome it? Insight is the first step to any challenge.
When you are sure you have gotten the challenge not only properly identified but also narrowed the needed action down, then you need to start developing action tasks to get to your goal of overcoming your challenge. Again, a coach is very useful for this step because they are aware of how to focus you on the important goals as well as take into account your entire situation. A good coach will make your goals due able so that you can have the greatest chance of success.
Stay tuned for next blog to find out the Third and Final Key to Overcoming Any Challenge!
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know how to meet any challenge you might have in your career? Will keep tuned and in to two or three more blogs, I’m going to give you a system to approach how you deal with obstacles which come up in your work. So print out this blog or save it and refer back to it when you are feeling stuck.
First, You will need to identify the KIND of challenge you are facing. Some of the more obvious ones are:
These are only a few challenges but this is where you start. The better you can define the actual challenge , the more success you will have overcoming it.
Asking yourself: Why is it a challenge for me is the next step to answer. The more information that you can find out about the fears or blocks that you are experiencing around the challenge will help you to really get down to the nut of the challenge. Doing this step may even show up as that your challenge is something else. Say for instance, you are having trouble with your assistant. He/She is showing up late to work, spends time on personal errands and generally doesn’t support your work. On the other hand, he/she is very intelligent, a distant relative and his/her salary demand is very low. So at this point you see the challenge as being stuck trying to make a decision about what to do next.
But what if the real challenge is that you are unwilling to be a real business person and look at your bottom line? The fear of having to face the fact that this person is not supporting your business and that it would take a tremendous amount of mentoring, teaching and supervision to change this is the real problem.
You can see how getting to the correct, specific challenge you are facing is the FIRST STEP.
We’ll get to what to do with this information with next week’s blog…..SO STAY TUNED!
I wanted to let you know that we are forming a Mastermind Group for Attorneys here in Santa Cruz, CA. Below is the announcement. If you don’t live in this area but are interested in attending a group , let me know. We will be expanding into other regions by skype or phone shortly.
DYNAMIC ATTORNEY MASTERMIND GROUP FORMING:
Led by Eleanor Southers, owner Professional Legal Coaching and Mastermind Facilitator
Mastermind Groups were originated by Napoleon Hill author of THINK AND GROW RICH and have helped people for several generations come together to support each other in reaching greater success and happiness. “Two minds create a third person”.
The structure of the Group forming now is as follows:
• Meet twice a month on Mondays beginning Monday, March 7, 2016.
• Meetings will be 90 minutes long and will be in person or if occasionally unable to attend, then by phone or skype.
• Will be limited to attorneys who want to increase their revenue through new marketing skills and more effective networking.
• Will be limited to attorneys ready to take a chance to improve their lives with the help of a trained and experienced facilitator and support of like-minded attorneys.
• All participants will sign a confidential agreement so that there can be a free discussion of needs.
• Group is limited to a maximum of 6 attorneys.
• Group will meet at my office: 1362 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, Ca 95060.
• Time will be early morning or late afternoon and will be decided after group is formed and what is most convenient for the participants.
• Participants are asked to make a 3 month commitment and the cost is $450.00(payments possible). Participants will also receive a copy of my book, BE A BETTER LAWYER: A short guide to a long career.
• Participants will commit to formulating and working on personal goals consistently for three months.
• I promise that in three months participants will be equipped to earn more dollars and have some fun along the way while using new skills/tools.
Enrollment takes place during February, 2016. In order for this kind of group to work, we need to put together attorneys who are focused and want to make a difference in their careers. Also ones who are tired of working on their own and want the comradery of a group that wants to talk about their business. Therefore, only serious applicants should apply. Please fill out the brief application below and email it to me ASAP. Applications close Feb 29, 2016 so we have time to begin on Monday, March 7, 2016 and we will only be taking 6 attorneys. Email: [email protected] or call 831 466-9132 .
Name:___________________________email_____________________
Area of practice:______________________
Years in practice:_________
What results would you like to get from this
Mastermind Group?_________________________________
Have you ever been in a Mastermind Group previously?_______________
If yes, when and what were the results?______________________________________________
Which time, Morning or late afternoons, would be best for you?______________________
Anything else you would like to add?_____________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Since it is the first of the year, it is still great fun to talk about money! Last blog you got on it and created a plan to find out if you were meeting your monthly nut. Today, I thought it would be fun to take a look at a few hints or “sound bits” that you might do immediately and make more money.
STAY TUNED, I’M REALLY JAZZED ABOUT THIS TOPIC AND YOU WILL SEE FURTHER BLOGS.(orange is the new ………….)
LET’S BE HONEST. NO ONE IS LOOKING.
Review your income and expenses in 2015 NOW. Yes, I know you don’t have to do taxes for a few more months but this is really important. Also label expenses or categorize them so you can see where your money went. Be brutal and don’t let anything get by. Can you tell how much you spent on designer coffee? How much for gym or classes? What was your overhead total? How much was spent on marketing?
Now go through and mark each expense as N. Necessary or NN. Not Necessary. Look at the N’s and see if all or part of that expense was not really necessary and mark it. N is things like rent, reasonable food, gas, phone, gas, car expense, etc.
Look at the bottom line. Did you make enough money to cover your expenses this year? Did you incur any debt? If so how much?
WHAT IF YOU COME UP SEEING THAT YOU DID NOT MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO COVER YOUR EXPENSES????????
First, take another look at the NN expenses. How many can you cut out altogether or decrease? How many of the N expenses might be reduced, if even slightly?
When you have done this as Step 1, you will be able to see if you can set your 2016 goals to recover at least as much income as your 2015 revenue. If not, then onto Step 2.
This is about finding out how much more income you need to make in 2016. Look at your overall short fall for 2015. How much was that? Do you want to add any expenses to 2016? At this point, you need to figure out a good estimate as to what income you need to generate in 2016.
Some insightful authors have determined that to be at our happiest as attorneys we need to make $70,000 a year. Does this seem reasonable to you? This figure is, of course, balanced with having less income but more happiness and work/life balance. If you are willing to take this information at face value, it may be a place to start your next year’s budget. It means you won’t have so many goodies but more time to enjoy the ones you already have.
So, all of this is your decision. UGH
I have found that this is a really simple way to look at your financial situation. We’re not talking about saving for retirement or anything else at this point. Just how did you do money-wise last year. Debt reduction and proper savings come later. This exercise should be done at least once a year. Now is a great time.
If you can decide this upfront, you can get whatever you want or need. It’s as simple as that.
The catch is that you have to come up with a wished for result that is reasonable and available. I can’t ask that the result I want is to become a star ballerina within a year’s time (or a life time) because that is not reasonable nor achievable for me. I could ask, however, that I become a good salsa dancer in a year’s time and that is achievable if I am willing to plan carefully and be committed to my goal.
You ask, how is this different from setting a goal? Good question. Answer is that you have an “end” to work back from and are clear about what you want. This makes goal setting much easier and more rewarding because you know exactly what you want the goal to materialize into.
Try this out with your New Years Resolutions. Exercise is usually one of the biggies in this area. End result might be that you want to be able to enter a half marathon in a year. That result will then put you on a goal track to achieve the endurance to do it. Can you see why you might get a bigger commitment to exercise if you see yourself running a marathon at the end rather than just forcing yourself to go to the gym?
THINK BIG. I am finding more and more in my coaching practice that clients aren’t thinking on a big enough scale. It’s just as easy to plan for a 50% increase in revenue as it is to set up goals for a 10% increase. It might be less scary to go for a lower figure but you are more likely to succeed by shooting higher. There is still success in reaching a 30% goal and adding a 20% goal the next time.
RIGHT NOW take pen and paper or iPad and decide one result you want in the next three months. Write that result down and look at it at least once a day. Tell it to one person. Send it to me. I’d like to see it. I guarantee that just doing this step will excite a few of those pesky neurons to act.
HAVE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY HOLIDAY AND I WILL BE BACK BLOGGING ABOUT JANUARY 10TH.
***One of your New Years Resolution is to set up a 15 minute conversation to see if we might be a good fit to collaborate on your future as a better lawyer.
See my website for directions on how to do this. My Website
Dear Readers: I first posted this titled: IS THERE AN ELEPHANT IN YOUR LAW OFFICE? Unfortunately, today the thoughts are the same, just a new title.
You’ve probably heard about the dysfunctional family with the Elephant in the living room, and nobody talking about it or even recognizes that it is there. Well, the same thing can and does happen frequently in Law Offices, from the small to the large.
So what are the characteristics of these Law Office Elephants?
• Elephants are born from denial and fed by denial
• Elephants are big, heavy and move very slowly. They are very happy to stay in the office all the time and never go outside.
• Elephants start out as 1,000 lb babies and get bigger …and bigger.
• Elephants take up a lot of room and are constantly getting in the way.
• Elephants eat and poop and you have to fed them and clean up after them.
• Elephants can’t fit through your doors once they are full grown, so you usually have to take the door off the hinges or cut a huge hole in the wall to get them out.
How are Elephants created?
• Elephants are created by time wasters.
• Elephants are created by living in denial about issues in the office which cause resentment, foster chaos, and divert the focus of good lawyering.
• Elephants are created by lack of leadership.
• Elephants are created by lethargy.
• Elephants are sometimes created by drug or alcohol use.
• Elephants are created by lack of planning.
Time Wasters can come as spending inordinate amount of time on unimportant phone calls or projects which will not produce revenue. More subtle time wasters are being so hesitate to make a decision that one never gets made or when it does, it is useless.
How about the “doggie” cases in the office that do not produce anything but pain and frustration? Definitely a huge Time Waster.
Then there is the law office where one of the staff comes in late every morning and every one grumbles about it behind his/her back but no one ever speaks up. Or the drama queen or king of the office who has an emergency every twenty minutes. Or the Bank that totally screws up the accounts over and over again, but never gets dumped. Or the client who, although his case is worth big bucks, is such a hassle that it takes 24 hours of therapy to recover from a session with him.
Elephants don’t like someone to take a leadership role in the office and to begin to solve the problems and thus deny the elephant more food so it can get bigger. Elephants would prefer their handlers to snooze or zone out for most of the day.
When Elephants smell that someone in the law office is using drugs or alcohol, they raise their trunks up and thank the elephant Gods for providing a substantial increase in food. Especially, if there are timid people around who cannot bring themselves to recognize that something is very, very wrong in the work environment. In these cases a special Elephant Intervention might have to take place using professional help. More tragically, if lethargy and lack of leadership is already in place, the Elephant can get so big that it obliterates the office and everyone in it.
Elephants thrive best in an environment where there is no planning. When there are not clear goals and focus, Elephants are happy.
Once a plan is in place to stop time wasters and to challenge problems and not ignore them, Elephants start to shrink to a size that will fit through the office doors and with a kick to the behind, wander back out to the jungle where they belong.
There are other times, however, when people in the office have to cut a huge hole in the wall and shove the Elephant out. Unfortunately, the Elephant may be accompanied by several staff members or clients. The results can be painful, but remember the hole in the wall can be easily rebuilt and after sweeping up the last of the Elephant pooh, the office will be large enough to accommodate all kinds of new work and profits.
So the next time you reach for a pen on your desk but instead find a big grey trunk under your hand, it’s time to act……
Everyone knows that the most people rank public speaking right up there with root canals or at least something to be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately, attorneys also know that being an effective speaker, whether it be in Court or in a Seminar, is a great benefit to their profession.
Although there is not enough space here to go into details, I wanted to open up a conversation to explore why it is so scary and how attorneys can work towards feeling more comfortable in speaking.
So, you have made up your mind that if other attorneys can do it, so can you. Where do you start? First, you will need to find an audience. This should be people in your “target market”. That means people who have the ability to become clients or refer to you. Also you will want people or a group where you can get some publicity and help in branding yourself as a competent and knowledgeable attorney.
For instance, if you are a family law attorney, Marriage and Family Therapists(MFCCs) might be part of your target market. They often need to refer clients to family law attorneys. What do these therapists need to know about the law? Is it about adoption? Is it about family support? Is it about bankruptcy? Is it about the rights of parents? The list goes on and on. Here you might want to run any ideas by a family law attorney that you know and find out what is of interest.
Next you will need to find out where these groups meet. Do they have an organization that you can approach for speaking? If so, prepare a few topics and write up a proposal allowing them to pick from it a topic that they want to hear about. If you can’t find a group, it might be possible to form your own little seminar by inviting all of the MFCCs in your area to a free seminar. Sometimes libraries will have free facilities to do this or you may have to use someone’s large conference room or even rent a space.
Next you will have to PREPARE, PREPARE AND PREPARE some more. Research and have a “core” of information that you are going to concentrate on. This will make you less nervous because you have facts, opinions and ideas that you are going to give to your audience. You will also need a beginning and an ending. If you aren’t a good joke teller, forget that. Often times you can start with a scary story about how a MFCC got in trouble for not knowing the law. You need something up front to grab the attention of the audience immediately.
Last, know your venue. Arrive early to set things up. Coordinate with the sponsor (if there is one) so you know the time allotted for your talk. Leave time for questions or tell your audience up front that you welcome comments and questions during your presentation. Be sure you have a microphone available if you need it. Also it is very important to have hand outs so you can put your contact information on it.
So I have skimmed the surface of public speaking. Hopefully, I may have calmed some of your fears about trying it to increase your marketing. Have a lot of your friends in the first audience. That always helps and get their reviews.