May 2010 – The Business of Creativity

Sounds good, but does it WORK?

With all you have going on, why add more to your plate? Because adding the right thing at the right time can actually make your life less complex. I know it’s a paradox, but it’s true. The challenge is knowing when and what to change.

Hopefully, I can help. I’d like to make at least a part of your life easier.

Sounds good, but does it WORK?

I receive a lot of email with offers for all kinds of different programs. I’m sure you do too. It can be a bit overwhelming for sure – especially when you also have client work, family, and community projects that need your attention.

Yesterday morning there were 3 new urgent client matters to deal with and an urgent matter for one of the community organizations I’m serving – all popping out of the blue. You’ve been there; you know what it’s like to be a solo or small firm attorney.

Hopefully, I can help. I’d like to make at least a part of your life easier.

We’ve all faced the fear of not knowing where the money to pay the bills would come from next month, let alone 6 months from now. Most of us don’t even want to think about 6 months from now, and if we do, we know in our hearts that any planning we’re doing is really just a fantasy.

That’s where being a member of The Space Between Center lawyer mastermind programs can help. One of the first things we do is help you free yourself from the trap of hourly billing and implement some flat fee models (customized to your practice, not mine) that will give you some benchmarks for REAL planning.

Does it work?

Here’s an email I received late last week from one of the founding members of The Space Between Center lawyer mastermind. Remember this is after less than two months in the SBC program:

“I wanted to share with you that I landed one of the prospective membership clients considering my program (the other is just having me do a TM registration on a project basis for now) – his reaction was ‘I think that you have a great formula with the different tiers of service. Frankly, I wish we had met earlier so I could take more advantage of it…’- <- he is a very early stage start-up.

Once I showed the new membership client the math for the services they were looking for over the next year they signed up – at the $1500/month level!

Not only has this one client more than covered the cost of the Space Between Center program for me, but having knowledge of that recurring cash flow over the next year is already freeing me to focus on creatively growing my firm.”

Brian Fletcher, Esq.

The Fletcher Law Firm PLLC

Alexandria, Virginia USA

Founding Member, Space Between Center lawyer mastermind

Does it work?

Yes.

How good would it feel to know you had at least $1,500/month on the books through this time next year? How about $3,000, $5,000, $7,500? How much better would your life be if you could look at contracted revenue of $10,000/month for the next few months?

That’s just one example and we’re too early in the program to have generally expected performance results to share, but it’s a great indicator of the results you COULD get if you become a member of our program and actually implement the approaches we’re discussing.

It’s about sharing.

It’s about experimenting.

It’s about moving through your fears and into the excitement & success that self-employment can offer.

It’s about being creative and taking control of your life and future rather than trying to fit your future into the model that some lawyer started using in England centuries ago. We’ve all been trapped by that guy. I’d like to throw some rocks at him. His billable hour model has caused unconscionable damage to lawyers and their clients over the centuries.

It’s time to get out of his trap.

Are you ready to take a few simple steps to get control of your life?

Are you ready to take a few simple steps to reach the potential you know you have inside?

Are you ready to share your knowledge and experience with like-minded business, estate planning, and collaborative family lawyers who would like to share with you?

Would you like some real support and guidance in building a legal services business and go beyond just “practicing?”

If you’re ready to get control of your life, then join us this Wednesday at 2pm for a free informational call about The Space Between Center’s lawyer mastermind programs.

We have openings in our small business mastermind group, and we’re introducing two new tracks:

A track for estate planning attorneys led by estate planning attorney Candice Aiston; and
A track for collaborative/family law attorneys co-lead by Michael Sherman and Steve Worrall.

Join us for the call.

The easy steps we’re talking about literally changed my life and took me from the depths of bankruptcy, fear, and anxiety to a place where I could plan, grow, succeed, and enjoy my profession. It can do the same for you.

Again, the call is this Wednesday, May 19^th at 2pm Eastern.

You’ll be able to learn what we’re doing in the programs, meet the leaders of the different tracks, and ask some questions to make sure the program is a fit for you.

Sincerely,

KH-sig-formal

Kevin E. Houchin, Esq.

Founder, The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business.

P.S. These programs are NOT for everyone. If you’re satisfied in the billable hour model or if you have no intention of taking action to make the changes that will improve your life, then this program is not for you. If you’re ready engage with a mastermind group, share, implement, and receive, then you owe it to yourself to find out more.

Oh, and feel free to forward this post to other small practice attorneys that you would like to help succeed.

Houchin’s Famous Garlic Grillin’

A few days ago I posted a tweet that I had grilled up some of my famous garlic grilled potatoes & veggies and that the kids were digging in. A bunch of people asked for the recipe. Since I usually don’t work from recipes (I hate playing by other people’s rules if you’ve not noticed….) I promised to document the next batch and share the secrets.

I’m going to risk it and send this to my mailing list too… I beg your indulgence…

Here we go.

Open a beer or a bottle of wine, maybe mix up a Marg…

Then, gather all the ingredients. Start with:

Olive Oil
Lowery’s Seasoning Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Fresh Crushed Garlic
Parmesan Cheese (optional)
Fresh Basil (optional, but worth it…)
Potatoes – Medium/Large
Other veggies of choice: bell peppers, zucchinis, and mushrooms are wonderful. Eggplant (which I hate) is one of my wife’s favorites.

Get all the stuff ready. (Sorry about the poor lighting.)

Get a big mixing bowl – biggest you can find.

Mix up the goodness:

In the mixing bowl, pour in a few tablespoons – maybe around 1/4 cup of olive oil.
Liberally add some Lowery’s salt.
Generous fresh ground pepper.
Several nice sections of crushed garlic.
Fresh Basil if you have it.
Grated Parmesan if you’re in the mood.

Now, go turn on your grill – nice and hot – then come back in to start cutting potatoes.

Cut the potatoes along the long axis of the spud. Try to get them as uniform as you can at around 3/16 of an inch thick – give or take. Try not to cut wedges or the slices won’t cook evenly. I always do the potatoes first because if you put more porous veggies in the bottom of the bowl, they soak up all the olive oil and get kind of nasty. The potatoes don’t absorb the oil like the others.

Now it’s time to cut the other veggies. Go ahead and add them to the same bowl.

All the veggies in the bowl with the potatoes.

Now mix it all up. You MUST do this with your hands because you’ll want to separate all the potato slices to make sure they get coated with the oil mixture on all surfaces. Watch out, they’re slippery. You’ll probably have to claim a 10-second rule at least once.

Open another beer or pour another glass of wine.

Now, head out to the grill. It should be nice and hot by now. Brush off the burners and turn the heat down to about 2/3 max. Your grill is your grill, so it’ll probably take a few practice rounds on these to find the right setting. You don’t want the heat to high, or the potatoes will burn on the outside without cooking all the way through. If your fire is too low, then you don’t get the right surface crunchiness.

The potatoes take the longest to cook.

Line ’em up.

I have a thermometer on the grill. I’ve found that the perfect temp to turn the potatoes is every time the temp hits 300 degrees. I don’t really trust that thermometer, but if you have a thermometer on your grill, make note of the reading.

As the potatoes get nice and crispy on the outside, move them to the upper tray of the grill to continue cooking in the middle without burning. Then start adding the rest of your meal. If you’re doing bell peppers, always put them skin-side up to begin with so they can cook through without burning.

Tonight we had a nice spicy sausage for the grown-ups and some all-natural hot-dogs for the kids. Notice the quartered pepper and the zucchinis (some halved, some quartered). As the veggies get done, just move them up to the top tray too. If you’re doing mushrooms, I’ve found that it’s just as nice to just put them all up in the very top swing-tray and let them slow-cook.

Depending on the meat you’re cooking (if you’re eating meat), you might want to crank up the heat. If we were doing steak or pork chops, I’d crank the heat up to high to cook the meat. Sausages need a little more patience.

Enjoy.

Here’s something you might not think of on your own – the grilled potatoes are WONDERFUL with a side of Caesar dressing, and you can never have enough parmesan cheese for me.

Now, if you have kids, stand back because you don’t want to get between them and the food.

It looks like we’re finished, but we’re not.

Get another beer. Pick out a movie. Have the kids wash up.

Now, make some popcorn and put it in the veggie bowl. YUMMY!

Use the mixing bowl for your popcorn. MMMMMM

Let me know if you have any questions or comments. Give it a try, then come back here and post your reviews.

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10 Basics of Services Marketing

I just met with a smart young attorney who is fresh out of law school and hanging his shingle. Like any service-based business, he was very concerned about how he’s going to attract the clients with whom he would love to work. Like I said, he’s smart.

Attracting clients is not just an issue for lawyers, it’s an issue for everyone – especially if you’re a service provider.

He’s doing his homework and asked me to share some ideas about how he should approach his target niche.

While this type of information is at the heart of the discussions we’re having as part of The Space Between Center lawyer mastermind groups (business law, estate planning, & collaborative/family law programs), I thought I’d share what I told this young man over coffee this morning.

Here’s what I suggested:

1. Consolidate his knowledge of the target niche area of law into a short (say 20 pages) ebook that outlines the core issues his target clients should be thinking about.

2. Distill that ebook into a PPT presentation.

3. Offer to give that presentation to as many groups in his target market as possible. Free. In person and via Webinar when he can.

4. Constantly blog with short value-providing articles for his potential clients and use social media (twitter, facebook, linkedin, youtube) to build friendships and increase the number of people he’s helping with his blog.

5. Break out sections of the ebook into blog posts and submit those post to other blogs/sites read by potential clients.

6. Offer the full ebook as a free gift in exchange for people getting on his mailing list.

7. Use the ebook and blog to qualify potential clients.

8. Build a flat-fee engagement model to build relationships.

9. Have a merchant accounts to take credit card payments.

10. Tell clients that your initial consultation fee is rolled into the engagement if the potential client wants to engage, otherwise, it’s a fee of $XXX due at the end of the meeting. He can always waive that if he wants, but it sets the expectation of value in the initial meeting and lets the tire-kickers move on to someone else for free advice.

These 10 elements work in every services business, not just for lawyers.

For the lawyers reading this:

If you’d like to learn more about how to attract more perfect clients to your practice using these approaches, you owe it to yourself, your clients, and your family to be on our informational call next Wednesday, May 19th at 2pm Eastern. You can sign up for that call here. We’ll be sharing some tips and tricks and also giving you the details about how you can be part of The Space Between Center lawyer mastermind group.

Space Between Center Update – Lowering Fees, Adding Value

The leadership team at The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business has been listening to our members, potential members, and friends. As a result, we’ve made some major changes.

Very quickly, those changes include:

Lowering membership fees.
Adding a program for family law attorneys.
Adding a program for estate planning attorneys.
Welcoming our first three “Fellows” to The Center.

We’re hosting a free informational call next Wednesday, May 19^th at 2pm Eastern to explain the full details about what these changes mean for you, so please register to be on the call or receive the recording. You can find out a few more details and register for the call here.

Oh, and if you have never signed up for anything before you also will get a copy of my Fuel The Spark: 5 Guiding Values for Success in Law & Life Action Guide as a complementary gift for joining our community.

Go ahead, sign up for the call now.

Joint Works (copyright)

No, we’re not talking about creativity that originates from prison.

Nor are we talking about helping a bud roll one.

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We’re talking about when at least two people work together on a creative project.

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Unfortunately, “inadvertent” joint authorship happens all the time.

Here’s the analysis:

1. A work is “jointly authored” automatically upon its creation if:

1) two or more authors contributed material to the work; and

2) each of the authors prepared his or her contribution with the intention that it would be combined with the contributions of the other authors as part of a single unitary work.

2. Intent AT THE TIME THE WORK IS CREATED is the controlling factor.

3. The contributions do NOT have to be equal.

4. IN the ABSENCE of a Collaboration Agreement or agreement otherwise:

Joint authors have undivided interest in the ENTIRE WORK. (that means even-Stephen for all the authors, even if they didn’t contribute equally.)
Each joint author has the right to exploit the copyright, without the other’s consent.
Each joint author has the right to license the joint work, without the other’s consent.
Each joint author has the right to transfer their share of the ownership without the other’s consent.
The ownership interest does NOT revert to the joint author upon one author’s death, it goes with the estate.
Both authors have a duty to account for profits – each joint author has to pay the other the appropriate share of profits.

So, what this means to you is that before entering into any collaborative creative project, you should create a “Collaboration Agreement” that irons out the details of the project and relationship.

A collaboration agreement should include at least:

Description of the project
What each person will contribute
Ownership %
Authorship credit
Control of use – decision making

There are a bunch of other things your lawyer will help you with, but the things listed above are the key relationship issues to keep in mind and bring to the meeting with your attorney.

Please understand that I’m not saying “don’t collaborate” because collaborations can be incredibly powerful. I’m saying get the deal in writing before you begin the work, even if you’re sure everything will be swell.

Things happen.

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