Crushing Chaos with Law Firm Mentor

How do you do all of the work that is mounting on your desk when you don't have a full team or lack the resources to be able to assemble a team?    Many lawyers often say to themselves, “I have too much and I'm not yet at the place where I can hire.” Almost invariably that's the wrong assumption, but that's the belief system at that moment.    So I wanted to share with you all a fo...

In today’s episode I talk about law firm scholarships. Recently, I remember seeing a post where someone raised the question about how to create a law firm scholarship. This individual had seen a lot about them and thought, “Hey, this seems like a really cool idea, and I want to help our local high school community.” So, in essence this scholarship would be a philanthropic tool used to help this pe...

Today I am talking about crushing the chaos in your client communications. I want to direct your attention to the idea of automating as many of your client communications as possible. I realize that automating client communications can be a cringe-worthy topic for many lawyers. There is a belief system that says, “Hey, I can't automate communications! There's a relationship component that&...

In today’s episode, I’m talking about firing your family from your law firm.  I know I have talked about the need for us to really have very clear boundaries with those that we employ so that we can get optimal performance out of our team, and how that is particularly necessary when you have family members in your law firm. Today, I want to expound upon that a little bit because I know that there...

In today’s episode I talk about law firm retreats. For me, this is a fun topic because I love talking about what we can do to up-level our law firms.    Even though I spend a lot of time talking about solving the problems of our law firms, I know that there are plenty of people who listen to this podcast and already have a fully systematized law firm. These firms aren’t necessarily perfect or runn...

This episode is dedicated to the topic of success. It was originally recorded and published in May 2021, so if you’re new to my podcast, I’m bringing this one back just for you.    Several of us as solo and small law firm attorneys want success, and we all have these grandiose thoughts about what success looks like. But then, we see people that we perceive to be successful who are not living that...

Today we are sharing a previously recorded episode that is just as timely as it was when it was first recorded. In it I wanted to talk about the need for growth and how it ties into the subject of intake.   You want more clients and more money, which means you need to grow.   However, growth is often destabilizing.   How can you and your law firm successfully work through the ‘growing pains’? Stay...

Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Melissa Houston, chartered professional accountant, a CPA, a financial strategist for CEOs, columnist for Forbes.com, and the host of the Business Society Podcast.    Melissa helps successful business owners increase their profit margins without having to increase revenue so that they keep more money in their pocket while increasing their personal wealth. ...

Is it October already? Seeing as the holidays are quickly approaching, it seemed appropriate to replay an episode from December 2020.   This episode is one that I think you're going to get plenty of value out of because even though the topic is sabbatical, and you may or may not have even thought about the possibility, let alone the desire of taking a sabbatical.    Freedom to be able to take...

In today’s episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with John Hinson of Spotlight Branding. We had a really great conversation about marketing, but not from your usual perspective.    I think a lot of times when we, as law firm owners, want to solve a problem, we literally want to press a button and poof our marketing works, or we want to hire someone that we can just hand them a check and say, her...

In today’s episode I’m talking about law firm PTSD - which can be defined as that very tricky, undiagnosed mental health disorder that is seen when we are dealing with a new employee who's come into our company and is still suffering the effects of their residuals from their previous employer.    Now I know a lot of you have had experiences where you bring in a new employee and you're real...

In today’s episode I’m asking you all “who are your clients”?   I've gotten a lot of questions recently about how to serve clients, take care of oneself and family, while creating financial wealth? It's almost like the idea of helping people who are poor is so foreign to the legal profession that people who want to do that work also assume that what comes along with the legal profession is...

As we continue coming off of the high of our one-hundredth episode, today I’m bringing you a throwback to one of our most popular episodes.    This episode is entitled “It Has to Be Me and Other Myths in Law Firms”.  This is definitely one of my favorite episodes, and obviously you guys share the same sentiment because this is our most downloaded episode!    I think this episode continues to get m...

Having just come off of the high of our 100th episode, I thought it would be fun to share a quick throwback to our very first episode.    I want you to recognize that we have always been committed to bringing you top quality information and strategies that you can use in your law firm right now to grow from a solopreneur to a company that ultimately can run without you.    My very first episode wa...

Today is our 100th podcast episode! I am so excited about this milestone and I wanted to mark this occasion by talking about manifestation.   Unfortunately for so many people, what stops them from making real strides and scalable growth in a law firm is the fact that they are often mired down in decisions.    There's so many things coming at you, so when your energy, your time, your attention,...

In today’s episode, I talk about a recent weather event that we experienced. Hurricane Ida ravaged New Orleans. Our thoughts and our prayers are with Louisiana and everyone that was affected in the South. But Hurricane Ida also made its way up to the East Coast.    As a result of massive change in our climate, we have seen a significant uptick in weather events across the country. When Hurricane I...

Today I talk about one of my favorite topics, Your Budget is NOT your Bible. Now, I know the title alone may be triggering for some people. So, I'm going to explain to you what I mean by this topic. I'm also going to give a shout out to all of our financial people out there in the world that keep us financially stable through budgeting and sound financial decision-making - no matter whethe...

In today's episode, I’m talking about letting others fail. This is my favorite topic, actually, of all the things that we talk about involving people- the idea of training and cultivating a culture of people that know how to do things without you. It's such a challenging topic for most law firm owners, current/former clients, and even for people that have approached me online.    Many beli...

Today’s episode is dedicated to the topic of efficiency. Now, before you tune out and say, “Oh, my God, she talks about Crushing Chaos all the time! Do we really have to go there again?”I'm not going to go there on my own.    I brought in a special guest who is a productivity coach. I learned about the role of a Productivity Coach some time ago. When Mridu, our special guest, approached me and...

Today I’m talking about buying attorney awards. Many of us are familiar with some of the big organizations that give out “awards” to attorneys. We know about Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers of America, and the growing cottage industry around different types of awards. Some awards can be bought while others cannot.    So, I’ve decided to give you some frame of reference for thinking about attorney awar...

In this episode I talk about constant feedback. Constant feedback refers to being in a state of giving people your perspective on how they are doing on an ongoing basis.    A few of you may remember when I requested your feedback in an episode called “Pivot The Annual Review”. In that episode I remember explaining that when you give the annual review, the annual review is a reciprocal process - Yo...

In this episode, I’m going to be talking about parenting your baby lawyers. Yes, I know that the term "Baby Lawyers” can be considered controversial, even offensive to some new lawyers. And if you are offended by that term, please know that I use the term, not with any level of condescension.    A baby lawyer simply means the individual does not yet have the knowledge, skill, or context that a...

In this episode, we're going to talk about when your bills are paid. Yes, you read that correctly. What do you do when all of your bills are paid and you have a comfortable life? How do you keep yourself motivated? This topic is actually coming up because I've talked to a couple of lawyers recently who have been interested in joining the Law Firm Mentor community.  We are always looking fo...

Today I’m going to talk about how to tap into inspiration. I wanted to cover this topic because I know many people are wondering “Is this all there is?”. There is confusion about where we stand in life and a lot of that really does derive from a lack of inspiration. Therefore, I am going to give you three strategies for how to tap into your inspiration - because at the heart of your inspiration yo...

In today's episode, we're going to talk about the importance of being decisive. More than a few of our guests recognize the power of decision, but I think many lawyers struggle with knowing how to be decisive. Therefore, I’d like to provide a framework to help you to learn how to be decisive in your day-to-day lives.    In this episode we discuss: The importance of being decisive. A three-...