Houchin Consulting PLLC
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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.
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.
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.
Alexandria, Virginia USA
Founding Member, Space Between Center lawyer mastermind
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.
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:
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 19th 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 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.
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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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:
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:
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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The clients of Houchin & Associates have been enjoying a novel (and very win-win) approach to working with a lawyer for almost a year now. The model is basically that clients sign on to a one-year agreement to work with the firm at a flat monthly fee which includes a list of the projects they need us to complete, and “as needed” access to the lawyers and staff of the firm for advice and counsel as issues come up during the course of their business.
The model just got the attention of the American Bar Association – specifically the ABA Journal online edition. They are currently running a short feature on the model and the firm on the front page of the ABA Journal Web site.
I’m sure it won’t be on the front page forever. 🙂 So I grabbed a screen capture.
The full article will probably be online indefinitely, but I grabbed a screen capture of that too.
Many might question the wisdom of sharing that I’ve been through a personal bankruptcy and the struggles surrounding that time in my life, but it’s part of the story and helps put the who issue in full context. I learned a great deal during that experience and I believe what I learned has value to other people in both that as I survived, so will they and that it’s better to try and fail then to never try at all. Then get up and keep trying new things until something works.
I think I’ve found a system that works, for me, and for my clients. Other people are starting to think so too.
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