If you want to make this year better than last year, a good place to start is by taking inventory.  What do you have in terms of cases or clients, relationships, and hard assets?  Go through your calendar and apps and note how you spent your time. Similarly, go through your financial apps and note how you spent your money.  As you examine last year, write down the positive experiences–victories, successful projects, good decisions, areas…

Some of your clients are holding back on you. They know people who need your services but they don’t refer them. Do you know why?  More importantly, do you know what to do about it? Yes, asking your clients for referrals will work. But we both know you don’t want to do that. You don’t want your clients to think you “need” business, or you don’t want to be “pushy”. Even though I can teach…

Some people say you can build a successful career even if you’re not well-liked. There may be some truth to that. If people respect your abilities and track record, they may hire you (or refer clients to you), even if you’re a Grinch.  On the other hand, I can’t see how having your clients and professional contacts like you could ever work to your disadvantage.  So, likable it is.  Now, some people are naturally likable.…

Mark Twain said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” Brian Tracy expanded on this idea in his popular book, “Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.” For Tracy, your “frog” isn’t necessarily the worst task of your day or something you may be avoiding. It’s the task that’s likely to…

Most of what you do in your practice is routine. You’ve seen it before, done it before, and you know what to do. If you’re not sure, you know how to find out.  And yet, there are times when you don’t.  You are presented with a new (and difficult) issue. A case of first impression (and a lot at stake). A big decision and nary a clue about which way to go.  When this happens,…

I’m planning a new course. Writing notes,  clipping articles, jotting down a list of questions that need to be answered. It looks good. But what I’ve envisioned looks like it’s going to take months to complete and I don’t want that. I want to get this out into the world in a few weeks.  Over the weekend, I watched a video by a prolific course creator who explained how he produces a two-hour course in six…

I just saw an infographic depicting “America’s Most & Least Trusted Professions”. Lawyers ranked near the bottom, just above business executives, car salespeople, and swamp-creatures, aka, members of Congress. I’ve noted before that lawyers are an easy target. We do everyone’s dirty work and tend to make a lot of enemies, after all. And who doesn’t like a good lawyer joke? But that doesn’t mean we should accept the world’s collective opprobrium. Neither should we…