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Last week I received an email from a family law attorney named Renee from Cape Coral, Florida. Renee wrote and told me that the economy was killing her law firm. She said I should help her on a contingency basis because none of my ideas was different from anything she heard from other legal marketing gurus. She said if I didn’t help her, I should stop emailing her because, if I didn’t “put my money where my mouth is” it would prove that I was no marketing genius.
I turned down this offer.
Lawyers cannot share fees with non-lawyers in Florida but that’s not the main reason I passed on working with Renee on a contingency basis.
The reason I don’t work on a contingency basis is the same reason I don’t have a partner. I can control what I do but I cannot control what you do. Most businesses fail because of a lack of action.
Everyone knows what to do. They just DON’T do it.
It’s not poor planning that causes a business to fail. It’s not undercapitalization. It’s not selecting a bad location. All of those things are symptoms of the real disease…failure to take action.
As for the attorneys who say they have no time for marketing or business strategy…Make no mistake, each time you use that excuse, you are actually selecting a different priority. You have plenty of time.
You just have screwed up priorities.
We always find time for things we think are important.
Renee is right about one thing. The ideas I share with you are not new. They have been used over and over again by successful people. These ideas are old and battle tested.
You don’t want new ideas. New ideas have not been fully vetted. New ideas make you a lab rat in an experiment. They do not have a track record of success. New ideas do not offer you a formula that works.
These crappy old ideas are working right now for me, the solo consultant with a thriving practice. You see, I practice what I preach. I use my own systems each and every day. And these ideas are working right now for hundreds of attorneys who implement the information I share with you each week.
It is Renee’s poor ability to execute that has caused her law practice to fall off a cliff.
When I asked her which of my ideas did not work, she was nonresponsive. The answer I received was a personal attack on me.
It is in the spirit of the holiday season that I say:
Yes Renee, there is a Santa Claus. He’s the guy who can leave the gift of new clients under your Christmas tree.
Alas, I am not him. I’m just a guy who helps lawyers with old, successful ideas. I’m no marketing genius. I’m no guru.
But you don’t need a genius or a guru. You just need to pick an idea and implement it. And then pick another one and repeat that action.
It is the genius that lies within you that will help you make a great living and live a great life.