Are you thinking about focusing on email marketing for your firm? In this episode of the Maximum Lawyer Podcast, Jim provides practical tips for effective email marketing within a law firm. In order to do email marketing, you need to be dedicated and committed. This is because email marketing usually entails sending planned mass emails to people depending on what is in your marketing plan. Sending sporadic, random emails to people will not be as effective, so it is important to sit down and plan how email marketing is going to look for your firm. Another aspect of email marketing is building a dedicated email list of people who are already subscribed or have connected with your firm.Jim outlines the difference between leading and lagging indicators. Leading indicators are what you can control and what you can do to get more subscribers or clients. For example, if you are wanting to dedicate your time to email marketing, focus on sending out dedicated content. Make a plan to send out 3 emails to your email list each week for a year. Lagging indicators are things that you can’t control. This can be losing subscribers or clients as you are dedicating yourself to sending out 3 emails a week.Planning content ahead is crucial to ensure you do not fall behind. It is important to plan for email launches weeks in advance to ensure everything in your email is covered. Writing an email the day it is to be launched is one of the worst things you can do when email marketing. Make a plan ahead of time!Jim also talks about the importance of having a call to action for those who are reading your emails. This provides people with things to do. An example can be inviting people to join a Facebook group or to sign up for an upcoming webinar. This connects those on your email list with other platforms and brings more subscribers or watchers to those platforms.Another important aspect of email marketing is using branded and unbranded emails. Branded emails will have your logo and name of your firm, while unbranded will not. There are reasons to use both which can make email marketing effective. It is good to use branded emails for the sporadic, blow horn emails. Unbranded emails are more effective as they are short, personal and usually ask for a reply. You can even respond to these replies using a template, especially if you are getting the same response from different people.List segmentation is another great aspect of email marketing. Using email providers like Mailchimp allow you to segment your emails based on a topic. For example, if you get a bunch of people asking about citizenship or the process of getting citizenship, you can segment your list to where you can send these people all types of information only on citizenship. As a lawyer, this will allow you to help solve a specific problem.Listen in to learn more on how to do effective email marketing.1:10 The importance of making a decision to do email marketing10:41 The significance of including a call to action at the bottom of an email11:37 The effectiveness of unbranded emails that are short and personal🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube here.  Resources:Join the Guild MembershipSubscribe to the Maximum Lawyer Youtube ChannelFollow us on InstagramJoin the Facebook GroupFollow the Facebook PageFollow us on LinkedIn

Are you a lawyer who doesn't have LinkedIn? In this podcast episode, Jim and Tyson talk with Jason Cheung, a LinkedIn expert who assists lawyers in improving their online presence. They discuss the significance of LinkedIn for legal professionals.LinkedIn is one of the only platforms that provide exposure to corporate professionals. It provides people with the chance to know who is in their industry and can make that connection for professional development and career growth. Jason provides his approach to using LinkedIn. He uses a storytelling angle that can be beneficial for lawyers. He uses the example of describing a problem a client had and the processes he used to solve that problem. Potential clients want to see how you have helped others which will provide them with comfort that you will do the same. It will also provide partners or other firms with the chance to understand how you work.Jason shares how to convert LinkedIn posts to actual clients. He talks about the importance of including a call to action in posts. Most people do not want to just cold call a lawyer or email them, but if you add that little message at the end inviting people to reach out, it makes it easier on the client. Another way is to reply to comments from viewers and followers. Ask someone about the problem they're having, which might end up in your direct messages where there is a bit of a back and forth prior to having a client intake call.For lawyers who use LinkedIn, it is important to engage with people who like your posts. These individuals may not follow you, but there is a benefit in sending them a friend request to connect and adding a message of “Thanks for liking my post, I look forward to connecting”. This allows the individual to know that you are responsive and active and that they can have a chat down the line if they feel you can be of help.Listen in to learn more!Jim Hack: Use the 6 minute rule. This rule is when you find yourself done with a project and you have 6 minutes left, start on another project. If you have less than 6 minutes, use it to goof around on your phone.Jason’s Tip: Is to always make the assumption that people who don't know you would love to talk to you. 90% of the time people do want to engage. You have nothing to lose with this tactic and it is a great way to expand your network quickly.Tyson’s Tip: Call your parents more because they are getting older and time goes by quickly. The same goes with colleagues. Connect with your colleagues more and check in on them.5:32 Jason shares his approach to creating LinkedIn posts11:20 Tips on how to convert LinkedIn posts into actual clients21:35 Jason provides information about his LinkedIn marketing practiceConnect with Jason:WebsiteLink Me AI Jason’s Email: jason@ksjmarketing.com 🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube here.

Are you looking for tips on how to use your phone more efficiently?  In this episode, Tyson discusses various tips and tricks for iPhone users and shares advice on how to use different features.One feature Tyson talks about is text replacement, which allows you to set up shortcuts for phrases you use frequently. This is great for those that use their phones a lot, especially for work. The pathway to do this is Settings, then General and then Keyboard/Text. Another great feature that many people deal with is silencing unknown and spam callers. We all get those spam calls that just cause frustration. The pathway is Settings, then Phone and then Turn On Silence Callers.Tyson shares an interesting trick that allows people to create different ringtones and vibrations for different callers. The pathway is to go to the individual contact, then select edit ringtone. This can be done for each person. Another trick for all the headphone users is Siri announcing messages through your headphones. This is really handy if you work with headphones in and don't want to glance down at your phone every time a message comes through. The pathway is Siri and search Announce MessagesThere are ways to connect your phone with your computer to work better. There is a feature called handoff that allows you to start something on one device and finish it on another. For example, if you are typing an email on your phone but then you get distracted, you can use the feature to finish it on your laptop. You simply turn on the handoff feature in your settings. Listen in to learn more!1:13 Setting up shortcuts for frequently used phrases on iPhone2:04 Avoiding spam calls by enabling the "Silence Unknown Callers" setting in iPhone2:57 Using the back tap feature to execute different actions🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube here. Resources:Join the Guild MembershipSubscribe to the Maximum Lawyer Youtube ChannelFollow us on InstagramJoin the Facebook GroupFollow the Facebook PageFollow us on LinkedIn

Do you need a tip to help with organization while completing a project? In this episode, Tyson discusses the use of Kanban boards for task management and improving productivity. Kanban boards are a great way to improve productivity in your firm. Kanban boards are divided into columns, with each representing a stage in your workflow. It shows the start to finish of a project. It is a great way to visualize how your work is getting done. It is perfect for visual learners and working with a solid team. There are many variations of a Kanban board. They can be used in an app or even put up on a wall in your office for everyone to see and add to. A really great way to utilize a Kanban board is to have 4 columns: to do, in progress, review and complete. This way people can move sticky notes from one column to another, depending on where that task is along the cycle of a project.Kanban boards can also be used for your personal life. If you have a busy life, where personal and business tend to mesh together, you can build a physical one on your wall at home. Add all the different tasks you need to get done: walk the dog, cook dinner, help kids with homework, read a chapter of a book, workout. etc. The list is truly endless. This will allow you to visually see what you need to get done and when.Kanban boards provide a birds eye view of all ongoing tasks. You can easily see what is happening now and what will happen later on. It also helps to promote better work habits with your teams. Honestly, who doesn't want to have a giant board of sticky notes that everyone is moving around as things get done!Listen in to learn how to better communicate with your team and enhance productivity.2:08 Tyson explains the concept of a Kanban board.9:44 Tyson discusses different ways Kanban boards can be used.11:28 Kanban boards provide a bird's eye view of ongoing tasks.🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube here. Resources:Join the Guild MembershipSubscribe to the Maximum Lawyer Youtube ChannelFollow us on InstagramJoin the Facebook GroupFollow the Facebook PageFollow us on LinkedIn

Are you struggling with knowing how to build a business from the ground up? In this episode, Jessica Gonifas shares her insights on building a successful law firm. She provides some tips on how to gain the confidence needed to run a business. In order to run a business, you need to have a good understanding of your firm’s numbers and where your firm sits financially. Jessica shares some questions to ask when you get your books in order. Ask yourself: Where is the revenue coming from? So what are the types of cases you take and how much profit are making from these cases. Another question is where is your money going? How much is going towards salaries, softwares, training, etc. The last question is what is the firm’s profit margin? With this, it is important to partner with an accountant that understands law firms who can help determine this margin.When starting out as a new firm owner, it is important to understand what your personal and work goals are as well as the time you are willing to commit. For personal goals, consider how much money you want to take out of the firm and how much your family needs on an annual basis to keep afloat. In relation to work goals, understand what your purpose is at work. Are you reviewing technical work, doing technical work or going out and getting clients? The time you dedicate to your firm is so important because it will determine how much you make. Decide how many hours a week you want to work.Jessica emphasizes the importance of having a big picture goal. What do you want your firm to look like in 5 years? What steps will you take to get there? In doing this, think about what you need to do as an owner and what your staff need to do as they help you run the business. Think about all the things you want to accomplish (ie. a certain number of cases, a new intake system, a new tech tool for the firm, etc.) and outline exactly how to get there. It might be good to break them down into quarterly objectives, that way it is spread out over 4 periods and you can take time throughout the year to plan.Listen in to learn more!1:12 The importance of financial structure and asking key questions4:16 What about personal goals, work responsibilities and time commitment?8:16 The importance of setting big picture goals🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube here.Connect with Jessica:Website Facebook Page Facebook LinkedIn Instagram TikTok 

Do you need help in maximizing productivity as a lawyer? In this podcast episode, Jim and Tyson talk to solopreneur Lauren Lester, who runs her own estate and family law firm, Lester Law. She shares her journey into law as a second career. Lauren shares a few tips attorneys can use to maximize productivity. For new attorneys, it is important to identify where inefficiencies lie in the repetitive tasks. Because you are doing things over and over, it makes sense to see what is not working or how to develop a system to do that thing better so it becomes easier and faster for you. For Lauren, she uses technology as leverage to make these tasks more efficient. For those that are too busy to develop systems, it might be best to focus on the one task that either takes the longest to do or is extremely important and build something around it.Another tip Lauren shares is how to manage a busy personal life with an equally busy business. It is really important to schedule time for yourself when you have a busy life. One thing to do is protect your time. For example, Lauren shares how a client really wanted to meet with her the following morning at 9am, but she already booked an hour 1 gym session. She responded back saying the earliest time available was 11am. Clients do not need to know your work schedule. Doing this will allow for a more structured day where you can fit in time for personal care.A lot of attorneys struggle with the billable hour, which is charging clients a fee by the hour. You will always hear people say “They charge by the hour” or “I pay $200 for a client call with my lawyer”. For attorneys, it is important to have value based pricing. In this profession, most have worked in the industry for a long time and have a lot of experience and expertise, but do not bill clients based on that. A shift in mindset towards billing based on the value you bring to a client is needed to succeed.In this day and age, there has been a shift in having a better work life balance. No one wants to work 80 hour weeks, feel burned out and not enjoy the money they make. Lauren provides advice on how older attorneys can work with the younger generation to learn this. The value of an employee is not the time they spend sitting at a desk, but hitting benchmarks in a time that works for them. For example, an employee may be able to accomplish a task in an hour as opposed to spending their whole work day doing it. That person should not be punished because they did their job quicker. As long as the objective for the business is being met, who cares how fast it took them to complete it. Take a listen to learn more!8:17 Tips for solo attorneys or attorneys starting out to maximize productivity10:49 Tips for managing personal and business life15:45 Discussion of the challenges attorneys face with the billable hour18:33 Advice on how law firm owners can work with the younger generationJim's Hack: Read or listen to $100M Leads: How to Get Strangers to Want to Buy Your Stuff Alex Hormozi https://amzn.to/4998nkvLauren’s Tip: Tech tool called Text Expander, which allows you to create little snippets of things you are constantly writing. Whether it be closing out an email with a signature phrase or acronyms that you need to spell out, the tool allows you to get emails out faster.Tyson Tip: Use Teleprompter when creating videos, which allows you to copy and paste text into it and then adjust the speed.🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube here.Connect with Lauren:WebsiteTikTok LinkedIn Instagram 

Do you want to learn how to become a keyboard wizard? In this episode, Tyson shares an important tip lawyers can use in their practice, which involves using a keyboard. Lawyers are very busy people and usually don't have a lot of time. There are keyboard shortcuts that attorneys can use that will make work more efficient, especially if you do repetitive tasks. Some of these shortcuts include functions like: Copy: Control + C or Command + C to copy Paste: Control + V or Command + V to pasteDelete: On a Mac, you click Command + Delete OR on a PC, you click Command + Shift + Delete.Entire screen screenshot: Click Shift + Command + 3 for a Mac OR on a PC, you select the print screen button on the keyboardThere are some advanced functions that Tyson shares. If you want to quickly lock your screen, you press Command + Q for a PC. If you want to open your emoji keyboard on your screen, it's Control + Command + Space for Mac. For a PC, it is “Windows.Windows;” Another interesting function is looking up a definition. For a Mac, click Command + Control + D, all while hovering above the word you want to look up. For PC, it is Alt + Click.All of these shortcuts take practice to learn and master. Sooner or later, you will be able to use them to streamline your workflows.Listen in to learn how to master using your keyboard!1:10 Why keyboard shortcuts are important for efficiency4:49 Basic keyboard shortcuts for common actions10:11 How to quickly lock the screen on a Mac or PC using keyboard shortcuts11:03 How to quickly show the desktop on a Mac or PC🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube here. Resources:Join the Guild MembershipSubscribe to the Maximum Lawyer Youtube ChannelFollow us on InstagramJoin the Facebook GroupFollow the Facebook PageFollow us on LinkedIn

Are you looking for a way to organize your firm better? In this podcast episode, Tyson discusses the benefits of organizing law firms into pods or teams. Tyson talks about the benefits of splitting up people within law offices to really maximize the talent that exists. Within Tyson’s firm, staff are a part of different teams that are colour coded. Ultimately, it is a way of organizing an agile team that is composed of an attorney, a case manager, and a litigation assistant. There are many reasons why a system like this is effective. One reason is that it allows for clear communication. All members (especially when looking at small teams) know their roles inside and out, which means less chances for misunderstandings and better opportunities for streamlined operations. Looking at the trio of an attorney, case manager and litigation assistant, everyone has a role. The attorney focuses on complex legal stuff, case managers focus on client relations and the litigation assistants focus on the administrative work.At its core, law is the business of people. Pod systems allow for clients to have consistent, attentive services from the same group of people who know and understand their case. This makes the client management aspect of a firm so much better. Clients can trust the people who are helping them in the journey and don't have to worry about talking to different people.Small pods can create a close knit nature among the people who work together. People can deliver better if the dynamic and vibe of a team is top tier!Listen in to learn more about setting up pods in your firm.2:22 The advantages of organizing a law firm into pods4:25 How the pod system allows for seamless coverage7:24 The close-knit nature of pods🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/hDZi1y_Uc6I Resources:Join the Guild MembershipSubscribe to the Maximum Lawyer Youtube ChannelFollow us on InstagramJoin the Facebook GroupFollow the Facebook PageFollow us on LinkedIn

Are you looking for systems to manage your tasks better? In this episode of the Maximum Lawyer podcast, Ryan Anderson discusses the concept of task-based management in law firms. A lot of people run their business using calendar and email based management. It’s so easy for most because many people use their calendar and email frequently. But, Ryan shares how these methods are not efficient to manage your to do lists. He shares how using task based management systems are the way to go when it comes to staying organized and on top of all your tasks. Ryan shares its own platform, FileVine. FileVine is a task based management system that allows you to know what you have to get done for the day and what you have assigned to other people. So many lawyers have a million things to do from meetings to research to court. Having a system that lays everything out is ideal for this type of work. What makes FileVine and other project management systems so great is you remove the “email me” from your language. Most times, people will say “just email me”, but that can get lost in a flurry of other emails and priorities. With these systems, you can say “task me”. This allows you to task things out quickly to other people. If not, you are emailing, calling and messaging multiple people to get things done.Ryan shares that people should be able to use case management systems with no more than their voice. He announces the creation of a voice interface that FileVine will have. With a voice interface, more tasks and communication will get onto the platform. What this feature does is allow someone to make a call to the platform where an AI bot will answer and ask what you would like to do. Let's say you realize at 10pm that you have to do something right when you get into the office, but you are worried you will forget. Call into the platform and let the AI bot know to leave a task for you and have it added to whatever case file. That way in the morning, you will get a notification that the task is waiting for you.Listen in to learn more!00:24 The concept of task-based management6:31 The benefits of using a task-based management system11:27 Using task-based management to keep track of important information🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube here. Connect with Ryan:WebsiteInstagramFacebookTwitter Linkedin Resources:Join the Guild MembershipSubscribe to the Maximum Lawyer Youtube ChannelFollow us on InstagramJoin the Facebook GroupFollow the Facebook PageFollow us on LinkedIn

Have you thought about what you will do when it’s time to retire and leave your law firm? In this podcast episode, Jim and Tyson interview Victoria Collier, the founder and CEO of Quid Pro Quo. Victoria shares her journey in the legal industry, from being a paralegal in the military to starting and selling her own successful law firm. Tyson, Jim and Victoria discuss the mission of Quid Pro Quo, which is to guide others to finding their path to life after law. This mission encompasses the idea that you need to begin a career with an end in mind. Most attorneys only think about the next paycheck or next client, but don't think about where they will be at the end of the road. For many law firm owners, they will need to sell their business at some point. Victoria shares the idea that the best way to sell when the time comes is to stay low and stay small.Victoria discusses the concept of the “owners box” in a law firm. This is the idea that a firm needs to be separate from the owner. Most times, it is harder to sell a firm if the owner is so closely tied to the business. Being closely tied comes with an owner being too involved or front facing. To move away from this, it is important to have people in between the owner and the business. For example, hiring people to answer phones and schedule appointments. This allows owners to not be chained to their desk. Ultimately, being in the owners box means being the visionary of where a law firm is going to go and building a team to help execute it.There are a few things to consider when selling a law firm at retirement. One thing is ensuring your finances are in order and that you are in the right place to sell. Think about your profit margin and where you will be at retirement. If you don't have enough, you need to think about ways to increase revenue and decrease expenses. Another thing is ensuring you as the owner are a bit removed from the firm, through processes and systems. The whole firm should not revolve around the owner. It is important to maximize the system, processes and people to ensure a firm can run without an owner.In many cases, there will be multiple partners of a law firm. Victoria talks about how to address an attorney who wants to be a partner. It is important to consider if this individual will add value to your firm and that they have the best intentions. Ask a potential partner why they want to join and how they will make the firm the best it can be.Listen in to learn more!3:19 Victoria shares the mission of her company, Quid Pro Quo10:32 Being in the owner's box12:26 Considerations for selling a law firm23:49 Associates expressing interest in becoming partners27:23 Focus on developing leadership skillsJim's Hack: Sign up for Gary Falkowitz masterclass on intake and client advocacy, which helps people fix their intake systems at www.maxintake.comVictoria’s Tip: Start learning about leadership instead of management and how to be a great leader versus a manager.Tysons Tip: Read “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. The book has a lot of practical tips to help get organized.🎥 Watch the full video on YouTube here. Connect with Victoria:Website Facebook Group LinkedInInstagram