What’s the dif?

I wasn’t planning to share this information until the informational call tomorrow officially launching The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business, but my article @ Lawyerist.com and the recent Creative Business Lawyer call have resulted in a stack of emails asking me to share a bit more about how The Space Between Center’s lawyer mastermind group will be different from The Creative Business Lawyer program that I helped create, but recently left.

First, let me say that I have NOT been a part of the planning of the CBL program since I resigned a couple weeks ago – actually, two weeks ago today.  And, I was not on the call today. So, I don’t know all the current details of the program. A friend on twitter said this about the call when I asked how it went.

@kevinhouchin Not bad. Discussed changing the mindset from creating docs to becoming a trusted advisor. How would you distinguish your call?

So, what’s the diff?

First let me say that I still believe fully in changing the mindset from creating documents to becoming a “Trusted Advisor” (that’s one of my all-time-favorite business books…) and believe that any program that helps you do that will be worth whatever you’re paying (within reason).

Here are some elements that I believe distinguish the Space Between Center’s program from CBL. We’ll be discussing these in detail on tomorrow’s call.  Sign up, because even if you can’t make the live call at NOON EASTERN, you’ll be on the list to receive the replay link.

SpaceBetween_logo_FA

Here we go:

  1. The context of The Space Between Center program is different.  The overarching mission of The Center is to help people reach their full potential through entrepreneurship. This lawyer mastermind program is only the first phase in that mission because I believe that entrepreneurs can be more successful when working collaboratively with their lawyers. The flat fee model that I created and implemented in my own practice is just the starting place.  An important starting place, but not enough.
  2. While working with the founding Creative Business Lawyer group, it became apparent almost immediately, that we can all learn from each other substantively. For instance, one of the member attorneys called me to ask if I could teach her how to file a trademark for a client. I’m no expert on employee agreements, so I was interested in learning from the members who had more experience in that area.  There are sub-niches in small business practice. Obviously, we’ll have a library to share forms, but we need to go beyond that.

    So, HERE’S a MAJOR difference: we are going to dedicate substantial resources and one hour a month to offer a substantive legal training session on topics such as Private Placements, NV Formations, Trademark, Copyright, Employee Agreements, LLC Operating Agreements, etc.  We’re going to invest and use our best efforts to get these sessions accredited for CLE credit in the home state of each member. We have the partnership in place to manage that process and it’ll just come down to the approval process in each state. We’re committed very firmly to making this a reality. If we’re investing in a program to learn and better ourselves as lawyers, we might as well satisfy our CLE requirements in the process!

    No, I’m not going to be the one teaching all these. I don’t have the knowledge, credentials, or time to do that.  The Center will offer opportunities for members to lead these sessions, and we’ll bring in outside experts when needed.  Founding members will have dibs on offering sessions, because these sessions are a great way to help members build their own “expert” brands.

  3. We’re going to dedicate one call a month to work/life balance.  Yes, some of this material will come from the CLE Ethics workshops I’ve done for the ABA and other Bar Associations, but a lot will come from outside experts. Success is more than money, way more. And, you have to feel successful as a human before you can ever have financial success. I learned that the hard way.
  4. Finally, at least for this post, we’ll dedicate one call every month to open mastermind discussions, tending toward the practical issues we all face at work and at home, leaning toward developing each member’s own unique expertise and branding. We don’t expect the power of this program to come from The Space Between Center brand (although we hope that will be a benefit). We expect the real power to come from enabling each of the member lawyers to reach their own full power and potential through this creative business we call “practicing law.”

Those are some major distinctions, at least as far as I know.  I’ll still have a few cool elements to share on the call tomorrow such as how the membership works and what the first few sessions will contain.  We’ll start the program with the kick-off call March 30th, so don’t miss tomorrow’s live call.  Again, if you can’t make tomorrow’s call at Noon Eastern, at least SIGN UP so you’re on the list to receive replay instructions.

Now, back to work.

Appreciation and Sharing

Last Saturday I was at a birthday for a very cool little 3-year-old boy, the son of some of our closest friends. One of the other fathers there asked me how business was going. I looked at him with a sincere smile and said “business is Rockin!” He looked stunned and said to me “you’re the first person I’ve heard say that in 2 years.”

I thought, but didn’t say, “maybe that’s WHY I’m the only person who you’ve heard say it in two years.” Instead I said “I changed my business model last year and that seems to have made all the difference.” We talked some more about the changes, but the initial engagement of the conversation stuck with me.

Usually, I consider myself a pretty glass-is-half-full kind of guy. Then yesterday a Facebook friend named Barbara Nelson pointed out that I might not be approaching a very important project from a place of abundance and appreciation. That stuck with me too.

This morning on the drive down the mountain I was listening to an audio book that reminded me to get in synch with the fact that there is way more than enough to go around and to surrender feelings of scarcity and competition.

In my Fuel the Spark books I share a chapter on the importance of “surrendering” limiting thoughts. There is also a full chapter on “paying attention.”

Time to practice what I preach.

If you’ve been paying attention to my blog, facebook posts, and my tweets over the last week, you know that it’s been a bit of a wild ride. Less than two weeks ago I decided to resign from a project I’d been working on with a lot of energy called The Creative Business Lawyer Program. I was working together with one of the hardest working and most creative women I know, Alexis Martin Neely, on that project. The goal was to help lawyers who work with small businesses implement a different practice model that allows real “trusted advisor” relationships to develop between lawyers and entrepreneurs. Alexis and I had different approaches to how the program should be developed and shared, and since that program was part of her Family Wealth Planning Institute, I decided it was best for me to resign my involvement. Alexis will be moving on with the project without my involvement, but more on that below.

I admit I was upset. My ego was involved as one might expect, and when a healthy ego gets involved, things happen – both good things and bad.

The good thing that came out of this situation was that I started thinking bigger than I had before and was inspired to move forward and finally create The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business (sorry, long name…).  The Space Between Center is a manifestation of my soul’s purpose on the planet and will be the umbrella organization for many initiatives I’ve been hoping to share with the world. The team of partners I needed to launch The Center appeared as if by magic. Lawyers from around the country approached me to create a program of my own based on the flat fee model I’ve implemented in my practice. I’m doing that, with several folks already committed to becoming members, even before the launch call this Friday, but more on that later.

The bad thing that came out of the situation, and a bruised ego, was that I lost my perspective on the principle of appreciation and abundance. Saturday’s conversation at the birthday party, Sunday’s Facebook conversation, and this morning’s audio book session helped me see that I had fallen into a competitive mode. There was an undercurrent of “oh ya, well I’ll show you!” in my heart.

That’s not who I am. That’s small. And, it’s stupid.  It’s stupid for any of us to think “either/or” instead of “both/and.”

Don’t I believe at my core that flat fee billing models and other approaches are able to change the entrepreneurial world and through entrepreneurs, revive our sagging economy and spirit?  Of course I do – no matter who is leading the program.

Do I believe my program will be a perfect fit for everyone?  Of course NOT, we all have our own paths toward our potential and there are plenty of guides.

I’ve stated before, and it’s true, that I’m on the planet to help as many people as I can reach their full potential through creativity. I believe that aligning one’s personal creative spark with one’s vocation is the secret ticket to a happy, abundant, and wealthy life. That doesn’t mean that I have to be the one leading everyone – I don’t even know if it’s possible (or beneficial) for one person to lead everyone in our world. Especially me.

So, I make the following resolutions:

  1. I will do my absolute best to support anyone’s efforts to help people reach their full potential through creativity, even if their efforts might be seen by many as “competitive.”
  2. I will focus only on creating continually increasing value in the programs, services, and relationships I offer the people who come into my life.

What that means this morning is that I’m going to ask all of you who are lawyers and/or an entrepreneurs to do two things.

  1. Sign up for Alexis’s Creative Business Lawyer informational call happening this Thursday. This is the program I helped create and recently left.  See if it is for you.   Obviously, this is NOT an affiliate link – I’m no longer associated with The Creative Business Lawyer.  There are some very smart people involved in that program and it might be a match for you.
  2. Sign up for the Space Between Center informational call happening this Friday. This is the program I’m offering. There are some fundamental similarities between the two programs and I’ll share what I believe are fundamental differences between the programs on my call.  Since I’ve not been involved with the CBL program for the last week or so, I don’t know exactly what Alexis will be offering.  What I AM sure of is that my team has come up with some great value propositions that we’re eager to share.

Is one program “better” than the other? Definitely, but which one that is will depend on your goals, dreams, and life path.  I think you owe it to yourself to listen in on both before making a decision which approach might work for you. Maybe neither will be a fit for you. Maybe both.

I appreciate the encouragement Alexis gave me last year to try something new, and I appreciate all the lessons I’ve learned from taking some risks and implementing my flat fee client engagement model. THE MODEL, and my action changed my life – both financially and from a work/life balance perspective.

Finally, I appreciate the opportunity to share what I’ve learned with people interested in helping others reach their potential through entrepreneurship.

Now back to work.

Introducing The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business

Last week I announced that I had resigned my working relationship with Alexis Martin Neely and the Creative Business Lawyer (CBL) program. Immediately, business attorneys from all over the country asked me if I was going to start my own program, because if I did, they wanted to know about it. I was very proud of the work I was doing as part of CBL, but it became apparent that progressing down that path was not a good fit for me. I sincerely wish Alexis and the members of the CBL program the best as they move forward.

While the CBL program was small, I knew the attorneys in the program were on to something powerful. They were on the way to changing how lawyers work with entrepreneurs from the old lose-lose hourly rate model to a model that empowers both the attorney and the client and forms a true “Trusted Advisor” (go read the book) relationship. I couldn’t give that up.

But, I couldn’t just take what I was doing with the CBL program and slap a different name on it. While I could do that legally, it didn’t feel “right.” If I was going to do my own program for small business attorneys, it needed to be the type of program I would build without the influence of someone else’s vision, style, and habits.

I’ve kept a journal since the day my dad passed on way back on Memorial Day, 1991. My journal entry dated 7/7/09 includes a description of an organization that helps foster the spirit of creative business. I called it “The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business” and I kept coming back to the concept over and over.  It would keep me awake at night.

Last week, I had a choice to make: was it time to bring The Space Between Center to life?

So, I thought about it for a little while.  Then it hit me… I could build my program for small business attorneys as the first initiative of The Space Between Center. It had been waiting for months for the right time for action.

Every day at least a few emails came in from attorneys around the country continuing to encourage me to start my own program. If you’re and entrepreneur, you shouldn’t ignore customer demand.

I formed The Space Between Center LLC last Friday. It felt REALLY GOOD!

SpaceBetween_logo_FA

Since then, I’ve been defining what my program would look like, how it would operate and what partners I will bring in to make it all come together. The idea is too big for me to implement alone. I found the right partners. They’re on board and almost as excited as I am.

And, inquiries from business lawyers keep coming in…

As of NOW I don’t have to say “wait just a few days.” Now I can say “go to www.spacebetweencenter.com and sign up for a free informational/introductory call on Friday, March 19th at Noon Eastern.”

There will be other initiatives of The Space Between Center, but for now we’re focused on helping small business attorneys develop win-win relationships with clients. The program based in part on the success I’ve had implementing my flat monthly fee model over the last year. This model changed my life almost overnight.

My clients love it.

The members of the Creative Business Lawyer were having success with it in less than two months.

So, I want to share it.

I’m keeping a few new benefits of the new program secret until the call. These new elements will go beyond just learning the business model and provide some tremendous value to the members.

In case you’re wondering – no, it’s not some kind of “private coaching” scheme.

If you are an attorney and want to know what’s going on, join the call. It’s free, so it won’t hurt you to listen in.  Oh, and my friend, attorney, and marketing consultant Ben Glass will be co-hosting the call.  Ben is NOT associated with the program financially, so you know he’ll keep it real.

If you are an entrepreneur, tell your lawyer about this and ask them to listen in on the call.  If you don’t have an attorney using a flat fee monthly model, then we’ll just have to do something about that soon…

Now back to work.

Creative Business Lawyer Resignation

I’m sad.

Yesterday I posted a tweet that I was struggling with an important and difficult business decision.  That decision was whether or not to remain a leader/member of the new Creative Business Lawyer Program that I helped create with my friend Alexis Martin Neely.

Alexis is one of the most creative and hardworking people I know. I have a great deal of respect for her.

Yesterday, however, it was confirmed that we have a fundamental difference of perspective relative to the program and after much consideration (I didn’t sleep much last night), I’ve decided that the best thing for me to do is withdraw from participation in the program.

If there’s interest, I may continue helping attorneys find new ways of serving small creative businesses. I honestly don’t know how that will shake out.

What I do know is that I wish all the members of the CBL program only the best in their personal and professional endeavors.

OK, on to the other business of the day…

-Kevin.

Where I’ve been…

I haven’t taken the time to do a blog post in over a month. That’s not my normal MO, so I think I need to share what’s been keeping me from the regular posting.

1. Client Work: My monthly flat fee client program has generated a lot of new clients, who all have a bunch of work. The flat fee programs look like this: $250-$3000/month for a 1-year relationship, auto-billing to credit card, excludes out-of-pocket fees & litigation. Obviously, the pricing/month depends on the anticipated work. All include “as needed” advice. Clients are loving this program and so am I because it places the value in the right place and doesn’t include hourly billing.

2. Creative Business Lawyer Program: I’ve teamed up with Alexis Martin Neely’s Family Wealth Planning Institute to bring this flat fee model to other law firms (and their clients) around the country. We’re basically trying to do for business attorneys what she already did for estate planning attorneys through her Personal Family Lawyer program. This program launched earlier this month. If you’re interested in learning more, visit www.creativebusinesslawyer.com.

3. Moving Office Suites: I need room to expand, and my office lease is up this week. So, I’m moving into a larger suite in a cool space. I’ll be in the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art building. This is a historic building in the heart of Fort Collins. It was built in 1912 as the post office. I’m on the Board of the Museum, so this is a nice fit. And, I love the creative energy of being in surrounded by all that great art.

4. Hiring Help: I’ve hired an attorney to join my firm to help actually do the work. 🙂 Her name is Christina Robertson. Christina received her JD from The University of Denver College of Law in 2006, and will complete her MBA from The Univ. of Colorado @ Denver this year. Like me, Christina is incredibly entrepreneurial and loves working with small, creative businesses. I’m very excited about Christina joining my firm.

Hopefully I’ll be back to a regular blogging routine after we get settled into a new routine.