If you missed Part 1 – then make sure you check out last week’s blog Here.
Last week I identified the first 3 of 6 Key Characteristics that Every Law Firm Owner Needs in order to Build a Successful Personal Injury Law Firm:
- Passion- You start with a burning desire and love for what you are doing.
Building a business is exciting- Watching it grow, exhilarating. And we personal injury lawyers are in a unique position- the very nature of our business is fighting for the legal rights of those who have been hurt, injured, or killed- and can’t fight for themselves. Remember who you are, the position you are in, and the great things you are capable of accomplishing!
- Positive Attitude- You need to see your glass as half full and not half empty.
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When faced with obstacles, look for the positive opportunity within them. Don’t allow clouds of doubt to blur your vision and your objective of building a successful law practice. And make sure that everyone who has a seat on your firm’s bus shares your passion and enthusiasm. Positivity breeds positivity, and negativity breeds negativity. Fuel that positivity as an intricate part of your firm’s culture and give Nay Sayers the proverbial boot!
- Discipline- Far too many lawyers get caught in the weeds- they don’t experience growth because they lack the discipline to follow through and IMPLEMENT their great ideas.
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You absolutely must set clear goals and identify the necessary steps that need to be taken to achieve these goals, and then commit to seeing it through, step by step. There’s no room for excuses- not if you are dead serious about Law Firm Growth! Prioritize your own personal to-do list each day, too- and here is the nugget high-achievers know: Always do the hardest thing first each day and get it behind you- That will serve to propel you forward like a huge gust of wind in your sails each day.
Now, let’s dive into the last 3 important characteristics you need to take your Personal Injury Firm to the Next Level of Success:
- Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses
We all have unique abilities, including both strengths as well as weaknesses. One of the biggest keys to success is learning to focus your time, energy, and efforts on developing and using your strengths.
Stop trying to focus on developing your weaknesses. Now I’m all about self-improvement, don’t get me wrong. But, when it comes to growing your law firm, you need to shift your mindset. Spend more of your precious time leveraging your strengths than trying to improve your weaknesses. Develop your Strengths and Delegate your Weaknesses. Once you begin to operate with this mindset, you will see dramatic results.
For example, I’m a great “idea guy,” but I’m not naturally good at the details needed to implement my ideas. I’m just not a nuts-and-bolts guy. I see the big picture. I can see what the obstacles are going to be, but as far as getting down and doing the step-by-step process needed to get the idea accomplished, it’s just not one of my strengths.
So how do you deal with this? Once you realize what your strengths are, then hire people and surround yourself with others whose strengths are your weaknesses. As a law firm owner, you can’t do everything. You can’t wear all the hats- Well, you can, but when you do, you keep yourself from growing and completely burn yourself out in the process.
Some people have problems with this concept of delegating. They don’t want anyone around them who is smarter than they are in certain areas. Or they truly believe that no one else can do a task better than they can. But operating under that kind of mindset is a sure-fire way to NOT be successful. Be secure in your own talents and abilities. Check your ego at the door.
If your passion and strength is trying cases and you don’t like the business aspects of the law firm, then hire someone to manage and market your firm- Conversely, if your strength is management and marketing, then hire other lawyers to try the cases. IF your passion is marketing, but you hate management, then hire someone whose gift and passion is management. If you have tasks on your plate each day that you genuinely hate doing, then set about getting these tasks off your plate and onto someone else’s plate. You may think that you can’t afford to hire someone else to do these jobs. But the truth is, if you really want to grow your law firm, then you can’t afford not to.
If you aren’t sure what your strengths really are, there is a book entitled Strength Finders, with an online test that you can easily take, and it will help you identify your top 5 strengths. It also gives you a guide for how to increase and build on those strengths, along with details on how to use them to leverage your abilities to your utmost success.
Surround yourself with people whose strengths are your weaknesses. And here’s a critical point: Do NOT Micromanage them; You have to have people you can trust and that you know can get the job done, and then let them do it. Don’t stifle them. That only serves to slow down the growth process and make reaching your goals twice as hard as it should be, assuming you are able to reach your goals at all.
- Take Action
“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The True entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” –Nolan Bushnell
Fear is the main obstacle to people taking action. They are scared of failure. They are scared of the unknown. Believe it or not, some people are actually scared of success. They subconsciously feel they are not worthy of success and happiness. They sabotage themselves.
NO action gets you no change. A little action gets you a little change. But a massive amount of action brings substantial change and usually success.
And nothing changes at all unless and until you Take Action.
As an old Chinese Proverb aptly notes: The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is NOW.
That advice has always stuck with me because it rings so true about almost anything you are trying to do or accomplish in your life.
- Never Give Up
When I think about Perseverance, I can’t help but think about Basketball legend Michael Jordan. Did you know that Jordan’s high school coach cut him from the basketball team? Aren’t we glad that Jordan didn’t give up? The world would have missed some of the most exciting moments and games in basketball history.
When you have an ultimate goal, you owe it to yourself to completely follow through and never give up. When I started my first law firm in 1996, there were several times when I went months without pay. All my friends and family thought I was crazy and was going to go bankrupt, but I never gave up. I invested in the right kind of marketing and continued to follow through with strategies and tactics I believed would yield results. I just kept at it. Eventually, the money came in, and I began to see real law firm growth- all because I never gave up and continued to charge forward even in the face of adversity.
George Allen, a great former NFL Coach of the Washington Redskins and the Los Angeles Rams, said it best: “People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.”
There are many factors that have contributed to my success- in growing and selling two seven-figure law firms- and to growing PILMMA to what it is today. Honestly, I consider my perseverance to have been a major factor in my personal success.
I hope this two-part blog has given you the motivation to reach for more, both personally and professionally. Remember, when things seem impossible, and adversity is staring down your throat- Persevere!
** If you are serious about Taking Your Personal Injury Law Firm to the next level, make sure you attend PILMMA’s 2021 Legal Marketing and Management Super Summit being held at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans, Sept 29-Oct 2, 2021.
I’ve hand-picked over 2 dozen speakers- and over 36 presentations- and put them all together in one jam-packed Super Summit Event- designed to give Personal Injury Law Firm Owners the Powerful strategies and tactics you need Right NOW so you can TAKE ACTION to Grow Your Law Firm Exponentially.
