The 80/20 Principle

To create a better practice you should leverage technology. Here are my top tech recommendations for simplifying, automating and outsourcing your way to freedom. Show Notes Here's my a link to download my top tech recommendations , and here's my best overall advice: After having worked for over a decade with hundreds of lawyers in all kinds of practices, I've zeroed in on three essential elements...

There are tech companies that take advantage of lawyers by first cleverly gaining their trust. I'll explain how they do this and reveal one of the scoundrels. Show Notes Blog post: Problems with Findlaw? ReadWise ; - app for reviewing Kindle highlights and other articles Link to register for free webinar series General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this r...

The key to avoiding "seemingly good options" that are not actually useful is understanding the tradeoffs in every decision involving technology choice you face. Show Notes Link to register for free webinar series General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www.the8020lawyer.com/ Focus on these essential tech tools for maximum traction in...

Figuring out how to effectively create systems can be tricky. Ernie addresses a solo lawyer's question why she might be having trouble creating systems. Podcast Episode Show notes: Atomic Habits , by James Clear The Artist's Way , by Julia Cameron Brian Koppleman's podcast (the episode where he talks about doing the 3 daily pages practice that he learned from reading The Artist's Way) General Reso...

Referral marketing is powerful. And done by email it's also ridiculously easy as business attorney John Rafferty discovered. Learn how he cracked the code.   Episode Show notes: John Rafferty's biography ; John's simple template for sending a monthly referral marketing email that gets astonishing results. MailerLite ; - free email for 2,000 or fewer recipients (this is the service that John uses)....

In this episode I talk with Maddy Martin of Smith.ai about why their services are especially beneficial to solo and small firm lawyers. For many attorneys affordability is the primary motivation for signing up. (i.e. plans start at $70/month). But the more you research Smith.ai the more reasons you'll discover for giving it a try. For example, they can make outbound calls for you— everything from...

Working on your business requires focus, and I recommend you focus on simple text automation and basic outsourcing using these tools/services: TextExpander ; - subscription service provides the ability to trigger text macros in any text input field, email or word processing area. If you can't leverage TextExpander it's because you aren't working on your business enough. FancyHands ; - subscription...

There are 3 levels of automation. You need to progress through these levels to fully harness the power of the 12 most essential tools that will transform your practice. Episode Show notes: There are 12 Automation Essentials (see my YouTube video if you want a visual refresher), and here are links to the topics discussed in the episode Styles ; in Word Processing - Training by LawTech Partners ( Ad...

What do grifters, con-artists and magicians know about persuasion that lawyers don't know, but should? Listen and find out.   Here are show notes for this episode: Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion , by Robert Cialdini This 5-star Amazon review gives a nice summary of the six principles in the book. The One Sentence Persuasion Course - 27 Words to Make the World Do Your Bidding , by Blair Wa...

The fundamentals of running any kind of business apply to running a law practice, but where can you learn those fundamentals most easily and conveniently? Here are show notes for this episode: The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business , by Josh Kaufman General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www.the8020lawyer.com/ Focus on these e...

This episode features two recommendations: a new course on how to get referrals more easily, and how to drastically improve your negotiation skills. Here are links to the resources mentioned in this episode: Never Split The Difference , by Chris Voss TED Talk by Chris Voss ( 12 mins ) Sign Up for my Dec 6th Webinar on *How to Create a Referrals-by-Email Marketing System* ( that takes only 30 minut...

Todd Smith left a big Texas firm to start a solo appellate practice, and provides insights into the benefits and challenges of making that shift. Here are links to the resources mentioned in this episode: Todd Smith's firm website Westlaw ; - legal research used by Todd Microsoft 365 - word processing and email used by Todd Lawmatics ; - CRM used by Todd to onboard new clients and send template em...

Here are the resources mentioned in this episode: Recording of Webinar with Ernie: Uplevel Your Practice in 2020 My New Course: The Trusted Lawyer - A Simple "Referral Marketing by Email" System E-Myth Revisited , Michael Gerber The 80/20 Rule , ( podcast episode & show notes ) The 3 R's of Referral Marketing , ( blog post ) Mike Kim's 2-part email template (for getting referrals via regular email...

Automation can change your practice in astonishing ways, but too many lawyers are stymied in trying to leverage its power. The key to fully harnessing the power of automation is learning how to pay attention to opportunities to automate. Once you start seeing the many opportunities to make work happen automatically you'll become exponentially more efficient, and way less stressed out. General Reso...

If you want to simplify your practice you need to be realistic. It's important to work from a plan as much as possible, so you can keep the overall process in mind easily. If you want the blueprint/framework I created you can click here to download it now . And below I've listed the various resources that I mentioned: Free to Focus , by Michael Hyatt (includes discussion of mapping out your ideal...

Here are some resource links for things mentioned in the podcast Download the 10-part LawFirm Autopilot framework Check out the LawFirm Autopilot course . General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www.the8020lawyer.com/ Focus on these essential tech tools for maximum traction in your practice. Take this short law practice assessment to...

If you're a solo or small firm lawyer struggling to get quality legal research and writing done on short notice (without needing to hire an associate) you should check out a service called Lawclerk . In this episode I talk with one Lawclerk's co-founder, Kristin Tyler, about how their service works, and why so many attorneys are enthralled when they discover what it can do for them. If you want to...

Aaron Krigelski is the co-founder of StrutLegal ;, a company that helps lawyers created hyperlinked ebriefs. Increasingly, judges want lawyers to create such briefs . But doing so is beyond the technical skill of most lawyers. In this episode, Ernie and Aaron discuss advanced PDF skills generally. But they also highlight the reasons why judges and their clerks are so enamored of hyperlinked briefs...

Amanda is the founder of Aguillard Accounting, a small business accounting firm based in New Orleans with clients across the country. Her focus is solo and small law firms and real estate brokerages. She is also the co-founder of Elefant, a training company for accountants and bookkeepers. Amanda's #1 passion is helping small business owners build the practices of their dreams using technology. Re...

If you want great clients you need to talk to them in an authentic, personal way. If people can't figure out who you really are, or where you're coming from (i.e. your values) they will deal with you at arms length. They won't trust you very much. But if you put your real self "out there" you'll be amazed at how many wonderful people will be drawn to you. General Resources Learn to use technology...

In this episode, Knoxville attorney Patrick Slaughter returns to discuss the importance of crafting (or discovering) your law firm's vision. Patrick and Ernie explain why they think that these two books are helpful in crafting a meaningful vision of success (in life, and in your law practice): The Alchemist , by Paolo Coelho Traction: Get a Grip On Your Business , by Gino Wickman General Resources...

Through his company Optiable , Craig Bayer has helped hundreds of solo and small firm attorneys better manage their digital documents. So he's in a great position to discuss the best way to backup those documents, along with other crucial data. … Want my personal help? And if you want ongoing guidance improving and growing your practice  consider joining my ; Co-Pilot coaching program ...which is...

The main reason people aren't able to effectively manage their important tasks and projects is they don't have a good system for capturing tasks and ideas as they come up. In this episode I'll share with you the three keys to effective task capture and management. The Magic Number 7, Plus or Minus 2: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information , by George Miller Eisenhower Matrix , ETA...

Literally every person who thinks has flaws in the way they think. It's not their fault; it's factory-installed in their cognitive engine. That's true for me, for you, and for any human born with a brain. You can ignore the preset cognitive flaws and live at their mercy. Or you can improve your thinking. Step one is understanding some of the basic flaws that are most insidious and most debilitatin...

Podcasting is not as hard as most people think. After having doing this podcast for over a year I am ready to share some "behind the scenes" observations. The main takeaway is that you can create a podcast more easily than you'd imagine. And the impact that a podcast will have on your marketing efforts are huge. The ROI of podcasting surpasses every other form of marketing or advertising. Listen t...