So, while I’ll still serve my legal clients, I’m going to stop limiting myself to that and now allow the right marketing and coaching opportunities into my world. What will that look like?

I don’t know for sure yet. I’m just now opening up to that question. I’m happy to hear your suggestions.

The only constant is change, and I’m finally ready to allow some major changes to happen-both internally and in this reality we all need to work with.

How does it get better?

This is an “Ignite” style event – all the speaker have 6 minutes with 20 slides on auto-timers.  If you’ve ever been to an Ignite event locally, do it.  You’ll find that these are very high-energy programs and I’m sure this Legal Rebels program will be a crazy good time – at least a crazy good time for lawyers.  :-)

Here’s the list of speakers:

Paul Lippe

Gregory Norman Fernandez

Stephanie Kimbro

Kevin Houchin  (That’s ME!)

Ron Baker

Alexis Martin Neely

Kevin O’Keefe

Michael O’Connor

Francine Ward

Matthew Homann

A video of each talk will be posted at legalrebels.com during the month of September.

—

If you are not yet registered for the ABA 2010 San Francisco Annual Meeting, please take a moment to register now at www.abanet.org/annual/2010 .  For specific registration questions or details about the Annual Meeting in General go to www.abanet.org/annual/2010<http://www.abanet.org/annual/2010 or call 312/988-5871.

If you’re reading this as an email, rather than a blog post, you’re being served by the system.

But now, after a lot of thought, I’ve decided to change the system over to AWeber to manage my contact lists.

So, as an incentive to have you opt into the new list system, I’m offering you a few valuable gifts.

1.  An updated version of my NO LAME NAMES ebook.

2. A new ebook discussing the topics you should understand when considering forming a business – specifically YOUR LLC.

3.  The first chapter from my FTC-TOOLKIT product that will give you an intro to the issues you need to understand regarding the Federal Trade Commission Guidelines for the use of endorsements and testimonials in your marketing.

To get these ebooks, just visit my Website at http://www.houchinlaw.com and sign up  - I don’t think you can easily miss the sign-up area.  :-)  After confirming your email address, you’ll receive a link to the dowload page.  It’ll take about 30 seconds of your time, but you’ll I’m sure you’ll feel well rewarded.

I hope all three will provide great value to you and I look forward to seeing your name in the new list so I can keep you updated on all the fun things happening through the firm and my other initiatives.

Sincerely,

Kevin Houchin

This information IS that important.

A lot of people are waking up to “Conscious” Business, instead of just stumbling though business and life in the usual fog.

Conscious Business is a trend in business that’s getting a lot of attention.

Doing well by doing good.

The new discussion on the table is how are we consciously generating  business and what is the process of consciousness in business development?

Business as it has been done is just not working. . . and conscious business is more than  people, planet, profits and passion.

Dawn and Rikka will both be speaking at a single event here in Fort Collins next week.

August 4, 2010

9 am to 1 pm

Rikka will be speaking on the subject of Getting Out of Your Own Way and Dawn will be giving a talk on Conscious Business Development.

Rikka Zimmerman

Rikka’s Background:

Rikka Zimmerman; author of  soon to be released “21 Secrets of the Universe” and Access Consciousness Facilitator is a world class leader in the consciousness movement. She is a gifted speaker and workshop facilitator domestically and internationally. Her work empowers, enlightens, engages, and inspires.

Dawn Todd

Dawn’s Background:

Dawn Todd is a Collaboration Strategist, a Client Attraction Expert, a Certified Coach  and CEO of Wildly Successful, Inc.  She is the creator of The Inside Edge ™ , Founder of Wildly Successful Network and author of Make Money, Change the World – Conscious Business Development for Entrepreneurs and The Power of Positivity. She has been a small business owner for over 25 years.

Access Conscious Business

• Learn the practice and structure of using consciousness in business
• Expand your clients, income and business
• Eliminate beliefs that prevent your success
• Bring conscious business practice to ground for you and your company
• Hands on, practical tools for  more sales,  better systems,  and conscious leadership in your organization

Conscious individuals transform business. Create a new framework for how business works!

RVSP NOW

- Comments Welcome.

Get the free “No Lame Names” ebook by entering your email address at the right (Middle column, just under the video over there…). It’ll automatically redirect your browser to the PDF or start a download.

Have a great weekend.

—

Here’s a little video on the Alchemy of Ideas.  Hopefully this will shed some light on why Intellectual Property law does not care about your idea – only what you’ve DONE with your idea to bring it into the word and share it with the rest of us.

Granted, I still have a lot of improvement to make on the video technical – lighting, sound, visuals, etc.  Stick with me.  I hope to polish up the technical as quickly as I can.

Comments Welcome.

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.

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.

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,

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.

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:

1. Olive Oil
2. Lowery’s Seasoning Salt
3. Fresh Ground Pepper
4. Fresh Crushed Garlic
5. Parmesan Cheese (optional)
6. Fresh Basil (optional, but worth it…)
7. Potatoes – Medium/Large
8. 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:

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

Prep the good stuff.

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.

Taters ready to roll.

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.

All Mixed Up & Ready to Grill

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.

Grillin' Taters

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.

All in progress

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.

Veggies on top.

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.

Dinner is Served

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.

13 minutes and 42 seconds later...

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.

—

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.