Top 100EMyth Tips

Top 100 E-Myth
Attorney Tips
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© American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys
E-MYTH ATTORNEY TIP # : 1
Change How You Define Yourself
Stop defining yourself by your chosen profession. When you define
yourself solely as an attorney, you tend to think of yourself and your
practice as one and the same. Giving up the idea that you are what
you do allows you to see your practice as a separate entity—this
subtle shift can be the start of a business that puts you in control of
your time while it increases your firm’s revenue.
E-MYTH ATTORNEY TIP # 2:

Stop Thinking Like an Employee
If you own a law firm, there’s no getting around it—you’re an entre-
preneur. True, you’re also a lawyer and part of your function within
your firm is to provide top-notch legal services to your clients. But
as an entrepreneur, you have the added role of business leader for
your firm. This means cultivating a new and exciting skill set—that
of a successful business owner. Understand this additional role, and
you’ll be miles ahead of most of your competition.

Know Your Number
Every law practice needs a specific daily revenue goal. Start with an
annual goal, be it $5 million or $500,000. Then, divide your annual
goal by 219 working days. This gives you four weeks of vacation
and takes into account Christmas vacation, weekends, and nation-
al holidays. Next, account for your firm’s operating expenses. The
final number, after operating expenses, is your firm’s daily revenue
goal—the number your team must bring in each day for your law
practice to be successful.

Secure an Adequate Line of Credit
From time to time, every law firm has variations in cash flow and
gaps between accounts receivable and accounts payable. One strat-
egy for ensuring there are always funds available is to secure an
adequate line of credit now, while you don’t need it. Waiting until
you’re in desperate need of new credit is a bad idea. From a lender’s
perspective, it’s much less risky to extend credit to a business that is
safely in the black.
Top 100 E-Myth Attorney Tips 1

Establish a Solid Relationship
With a Local Banker
It’s not enough for your firm to have a long-standing relationship
with a local bank. Go a step further and take the time to develop a
personal relationship with a local banker. Explain the type of prac-
tice you have and your firm’s credit needs. When your firm needs
a loan or a line of credit, this person will be your advocate to the
committees who hold decision-making power.

Foster a Strong Bond
With a Good CPA
You’d be surprised how many attorneys run their firms out of their
check books. This might be adequate for eking out a living as a solo
practitioner, but it’s no way to grow a business. As a business owner,
you not only need instant access to your firm’s numbers, you need to
know what those numbers mean. A good accountant keeps your fi-
nancials up-to-date and interprets the numbers so you can use them.

Stay on Top of Your Firm’s Numbers
Once a month, ideally no later than the 10th, meet with your account-
ant to go over the previous month’s numbers. This keeps you current
on the truth of your firm’s financial status. Review your monthly
income statement and balance sheet and have your accountant point
out any patterns as they emerge. Also, take this time to review your
expenses and make sure they’re not getting out of hand.

Set Aside Time to Sharpen the Saw
If your law firm is going to be successful, you need a plan in place
to guide all your business decisions. Your instincts might tell you
to simply jump in and get things done, but this approach just ends
with you spinning your wheels. Regardless of how many urgent
matters are competing for your attention, you need to carve time
out of your schedule to clarify your vision for your firm, commit
it to writing, and map out the steps for bringing your vision to life.
2 Top 100 E-Myth Attorney Tips

Take an Honest Look at
Your Practice Area
Do you have a burning desire to go to work each day and build your
practice? Your practice is your livelihood, and life is too short for you
to spend time doing work you’re not passionate about. Think about
it: every day, you’re competing against people who are passionate
about what they do. If you’ve lost your passion—or if you never had
it to begin with—take a second look at your practice area. Think
about the advice you’d offer a new attorney about choosing an area
of law to focus on. Then, give yourself that advice… and follow it.

Learn to Say “No”
As you build your practice, one word becomes the most important
word you’ll ever say—“No”. Once you have decided on a practice
area and put your business plan in writing, have the conviction to
stick to that decision and say “no” to the countless other oppor-
tunities that will present themselves. Those who truly succeed in
creating a life they love choose a path and stay on it.

Define Your Firm’s Personality
If an activity is done more than once by any member of your staff,
your firm should have a system for it. The reasons for this are two-
fold: systems create efficiency and—just as importantly—they give
your firm its own signature way of doing things. With systems in
place at all levels, you make sure that everyone in your office is on

the same page. This helps to ensure that your clients enjoy the same
exceptional experience each time they deal with your firm.

Don’t Let Your Systems Become Static
At the foundation of a thriving law firm is a well-developed group
of systems that details every function performed within that prac-
tice. But it’s not enough to put those systems in place and forget
about them. Instead, constantly evaluate the way you do things and
ask yourself what you could change for the better. Empower your
employees to get on board with this way of thinking, and you’ll
have team members to help you build a dynamic and continually
evolving business.
Stop Looking for Experienced
Employees
When you’re looking for a new employee, is experience at the top of
your list of qualifications? Basic skills are important, but attorneys
tend to over-focus on experience during the hiring process. Instead,
look for the key personality and character traits you need for each
position; qualities like friendliness, perseverance, and stellar inter-
personal skills, along with a willingness to learn and to shoulder
responsibility. Want a recipe for success? Match qualified employ-
ees with appropriate positions within your firm, and then empower
those employees with your set of innovative systems.

Don’t Make Your Employees Wing It
What happens when you don’t give your employees a predictable,
detailed system within which to operate? They wing it. Everybody
gets the job done in their own way, and the results often aren’t
pretty. When you implement systems, on the other hand, you give
your employees a much-needed roadmap for doing their jobs– and
everyone can breathe a sigh of relief.

Stop Hoarding the Workload
Far too many attorneys cling far too desperately to tasks that are
better suited to well-trained staff members. Truth is, you don’t have
to do it all—nor should you. Here’s an idea to consider: if a task does
not legally require an attorney, then a non-attorney is often the best
person to do it.

Understand the Value of Equity
Equity in your legal practice is one of the most valuable assets you’ll
ever possess, yet few attorneys understand its full worth. What ex-
actly is your firm’s equity? It’s the financial value placed on your
practice by a prospective purchaser of your law firm. Design your
practice with systems that allow it to provide stellar client service
predictably, every single time. Ultimately, this will turn your prac-
tice—not your services and not your clients—into your most im-
portant product.

Choose Your Receptionist Wisely
How did you select the person who sits at your front desk? Too of-
ten, finding a receptionist is an afterthought—and this can be a
crippling mistake. Your receptionist is often the first point of con-
tact for your firm’s prospective clients. Make sure you choose some-
one who represents you well.

Consider Using Group Interviews
As part of your hiring system, the group interview can be an inval-
uable time saver –and it can reveal a wealth of information about
potential job candidates that just can’t be uncovered during a string
of individual interviews. You get to glimpse how candidates interact
with each other and with your employees, how they carry them-
selves, whether they’re articulate, outgoing, reserved, polite, and a
thousand other little things you might otherwise never find out un-
til after you’ve brought a new employee on board.

Don’t Be Too Quick to Hire
That New Associate
So, your firm is generating extra work plus the additional income
that accompanies it. Is it time to bring on a new associate? One
factor to consider: what kind of work will the associate be doing?
If even part of her job will be tasks that your paralegal should be
handling—proceed with caution! This is a recipe for an unsatisfied
associate, not to mention a frustrated paralegal. Consider stream-

lining your systems before you jump to hire an additional attorney.

Hiring an Associate? Know
What You’re Looking for
If you’re ready to hire a new associate, do you know exactly what
you are looking for? In enough detail that you could write down
the specific criteria? Because this is what you should do before you
interview your first candidate. When you create written standards
for the associates you’ll hire, you’re taking the first step in setting
the bar for the performance of your growing firm.

Hiring an Associate? You
Need a System
How do you plan to define your new associate’s role and monitor
his progress? You need a system. This system outlines the associate’s
basic duties and responsibilities, provides the goals and measures
he will be held to, and gives him the tools he needs to succeed. For
instance, a good system lets your associate know the methods he
should use to document a file, to contact a client, to record his bill-
able hours, and to perform all the other practical tasks he’ll need to
do. Not only does a system let you keep tabs on your associate’s pro-
gress, it does something even more important—it empowers him to
measure his own performance.

Two Words: Alternative Billing
If you haven’t already made the switch, consider abandoning the
billable hour for a flat-fee model. It’s a win-win, particularly for es-
tate planning attorneys. Your clients will love the certainty a flat
fee brings to their budgets, and you’ll love the efficiency it brings to
your law firm. You’ll have more time to devote to managing your
clients’ cases, more freedom to delegate tasks to your staff members,
and no need to track your hours.

Bundle Your Services
One way to take advantage of flat-fee billing is to bundle your services.
Consider creating several different “packages” that offer clients a tiered
approach to your services—maybe a basic package, a gold package,

and a platinum package. Price each package according to the services
included. This lets you offer clearly-defined services to your clients in
a way that adds value to their experience with your firm.

Market Your Estate
Planning Packages
Have you already bundled your estate planning services into sev-
eral different “packages?” With a little creativity, you can turn this
into a fantastic marketing tool. Invent and trademark a unique
name for each level of service, and you’ll set yourself apart from
your competitors.
Offer a Money Back Guarantee
How’s this for service? While you can’t guarantee the outcome of a
case, you can guarantee the level of service your firm will deliver.
Consider offering a guarantee that you’ll return phone calls within
a certain time period, or that you’ll offer regular updates on client
matters. Certain areas of law may restrict this strategy; however,
this is a powerful tool to use where you can!

Speak Plain English
We all want to keep our clients informed and happy. One of the
simplest ways to do this is to communicate in plain English. Don’t
use legal jargon as shorthand (or to make yourself sound smart).
Instead, break concepts down so your clients understand exactly
what’s going on. You’ll gain their trust and you just might eliminate
a few unnecessary calls to the office.

Expand Your Definition of
Client Development
When most attorneys talk about client development, they mean
bringing in new clients. No doubt, finding and engaging new cli-
ents is important, but you should devote a portion of your client
development budget to retaining existing clients. The return on in-
vestment is 10 times higher, and your current clients can be your
absolute best referral source.

Mine Your Existing Client Base
The best tool for attracting new business might just be hiding in
plain sight—your existing client base is likely an overlooked cache
of potential new business and referral sources. Go through your
list of established clients and ask: what additional services will
each client likely need in the future? What affiliations does each
client have—to which groups or centers of influences could each
client introduce me? You might be surprised at the potential reve-
nue you’ll uncover.

Make a Sale to Get a Client
How do you view your clients’ value to your business? Do you look
at each client only in terms of the immediate services you’re billing
for, or do you focus on the lifetime of services—or even the multiple
generations of services—you can provide to the client and her fam-
ily? Our view is that you don’t make a client to get a sale; instead,
you make a sale to get a client. Once you make contact, your job is
to nurture a solid, long-term, mutually rewarding relationship.

Keep in Touch
We all know we need to keep our clients informed of what’s hap-
pening in an active case. But fulfilling your ethical obligation isn’t
enough. Regular, consistent, year-round contact with each of your
clients is essential. We think once a month is about right, and you
can do it in a variety of ways. Get creative—you can send newslet-
ters, emails, or holiday and birthday cards; you can have an open
house, an ice cream social, or a client appreciation lunch; figure out
what works for you and your clients, and do it!

Be Human
So you’ve decided to keep in touch with each of your clients once a
month. Should you only talk about the law? No. Your clients know
you’re a good lawyer; otherwise, they wouldn’t have hired you. They
need to like you and know you’re human. So, talk a little bit about
yourself… share your hobbies, talk about your vacation, your pets,
or what’s going on with your staff. Strike a balance, and let your
clients get to know the real you.

Consider Your Clients’ Feelings
The success of your business is determined by your ability to attract
and retain clients. Give your clients what they want, and they’ll be
loyal to you and refer their friends, family members, and colleagues
to your firm. Spend some time thinking about how you can im-
prove your initial contact with each client as well as each subse-
quent client interaction to make sure they always feel connected,
cared about, and important to your firm.

Separate Yourself from Your Business
You started your own law firm because you wanted your own busi-
ness, but you might have just ended up with a super-stressful, in-
credibly time-consuming job. What’s the difference? A business is
an entity separate and apart from its owner. What happens if you
get sick, go on vacation, or simply reach the limits of your capacity
to get things done? If your firm can’t function without you, you
have a job—not a business.

Ignore New Office Technology
at Your Own Peril
Technology is expanding and evolving at breakneck speed, and it
is changing how our clients live their lives—and how they expect
to do business. Don’t underestimate the power of software that lets
you instantly track client matters, prepare sophisticated documents,
collaborate online with clients and colleagues, and share the results
instantly. If your clients don’t demand this level of service now, they
will before long.

Keep Your Firm Visible
Gone are the days when a yellow pages ad was enough to ensure you
a steady stream of clients. Your marketing strategy has to include a
strong, dynamic online presence for your firm. Without it, you’re
all but invisible.

Track Your Clients
Does your firm have good contact management software? If not,
consider investing in it. A program that holds your clients’ infor-
mation and tracks all of your firm’s communications—with staff,
clients, and vendors—is essential for increasing your efficiency and
productivity.

Innovate
If companies like LegalZoom have taught us anything, it’s that it is
no longer enough to be an average attorney cranking out the same
documents as the firm down the street. To survive and thrive in
the new economy, you have to be an innovator. Imagine new ways
to connect with your clients and meet their needs, and you’ll be
untouchable.

Grow or Die
In business—the practice of law included—there’s no such thing as
status quo. You can’t reach a comfortable place and just stay there.
Your firm is either growing, or it’s dying. So, it’s imperative that you
make the time to work on your business, instead of spending all
your time working in your business.

Pay Attention
How do you ensure your law firm stays successful? Pay attention to
the details. Put systems in place to give you up-to-date information
on items like your firm’s finances, marketing activity, conversion
to clients, and the status of all legal work in process. Then, monitor
that information on a consistent basis and make adjustments when
necessary.

Know Where You’re Going…

and How to Get There
You know where your law firm is now. And if you’re a fan of the
Academy, chances are one of your goals is to transform your firm
into a thriving business. To do this, your number one goal must be
to go from a practice that is dependent on you, to an enterprise that
is run by—but separate from—you.

Take a Fresh Look at Your Website
When prospective clients visit your website, what do they see? Do
they get a boring, static page listing your credentials and your firm’s
phone number, or are they greeted with an interactive, engaging
hub of information? Prospects and existing clients alike will re-
spond to a website that reflects your firm’s unique personality.

Spruce Up Your Blog
Assuming you already have a blog, make sure it’s updated regu-
larly with a variety of information. Use it to highlight your firm’s
achievements and to fill visitors in on changes in the law and other
useful information—and make sure it’s written in a way that’s en-
gaging and easy to read.
If you don’t have a blog… start one!

Redefine “Law Firm” for Your Clients
In case you didn’t know, clients tend to have some pretty negative
views of lawyers and law firms. There’s a whole range of adjectives
people use, none of them flattering. Staid. Stuffy. Pompous. Arro-
gant. Untrustworthy. You get the picture. Why not be the firm that
redefines “law firm” for your clients? Break the mold… provide
unfailing communication, anticipate your clients’ needs, offer new
services they actually want to buy, build lifelong relationships, and
be the firm your clients can’t wait to tell everyone about—for all the
right reasons.

Be the Ritz-Carlton of Law Firms

Why do guests pay top dollar to stay at the Ritz-Carlton? They know
that staying at the Ritz means unparalleled service. Your law firm
should be the same way. Adopt an unwavering commitment to ex-
traordinary client service, and you’ll become the firm that sets the
bar for all the other law firms in town.

Take the Focus Off Price
You want to offer your clients an experience that is so amazing,
they’ll be happy to pay your fee. So… minimize the issue of price.
Instead, emphasize the things your firm has to offer that clients just
can’t get anywhere else—the value of your expertise, a lifelong rela-
tionship they can build with you and your staff, and above all, the
unparalleled experience of working with your firm. Top 100 E-Myth Attorney Tips 11
Offer Results in Advance
Want to win over a prospective client? Offer them a taste of your ex-
pertise and the quality of your firm’s work, at no risk or cost to them.
Whether it’s a free report, a seminar, or an e-book, make sure it’s some-
thing that answers a question or moves them a little closer to their goal.
When they need a trusted expert, they’ll know where to look.

Start a Newsletter
Looking for a way to add value to your marketing strategy? If you
don’t already have one, start a newsletter. It’s a great way to keep
in touch with current and prospective clients while offering them
valuable information and updates about your practice area.

Get More Newsletter Subscribers
Need more newsletter subscribers? Make sure you have a subscrib-
er form on your website, and offer an incentive for new subscrib-
ers to sign up. Consider writing a short special report to use as a
free gift for subscribing. Need a topic? Think about your topic area
and consider what information could be useful. For instance, an
estate planning attorney might try “Top 10 Reasons to Plan Your
Estate” or “How to Avoid Living Probate.”

Don’t Let Technology Overwhelm You
Technology is evolving at lightning speed, and keeping up can feel

like a full-time job. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be your
job. From designers to programmers to writers, there are thousands
of experienced professionals available to help your firm maintain a
cutting-edge presence in the digital marketplace. You just have to
find the right people and make good use of them.

Take Advantage of Your
Team’s Talents
Having trouble mastering the newest social networking trend or
deciphering the nuances of your firm’s new software? Before you
decide to out-source, take a look within the four walls of your office.
Some of your team members might have talents you’re not aware of.
Leverage these abilities, and you could end up with happier employ-
ees as well as a healthier bottom line.

Redefine “Time”
Most of us are not great at managing our time. That’s probably be-
cause of a fundamental misunderstanding. We don’t realize that
“time” really means “life”. The two are basically synonymous… the
“time” you have left is really the “life” you have left. Sobering, isn’t it?

Block Your Time
Mastering a technique called “time blocking” can revolutionize your
life—at the office and at home. Time blocking means consistently
setting aside time for the high-priority activities you need to take
care of. It’s natural to make time for client appointments and oth-
er routine business tasks, but the power of time blocking becomes
evident when you set aside time for exercise, meditation, recreation
with your family, and building your business—and then treat those
commitments with the same importance as you would a court date.

Keep a Time Log
One key to managing your time more effectively is to figure out ex-
actly how you’re currently spending it, and a time log is an excellent
tool for determining this. For the next week, jot down each activity
you engage in all day long, including the time you start and the
time you stop. Be as detailed as possible. At the end of the week, go
through your time log and categorize your activities to determine
what percentage of each day you’re spending on which activities.

Take Control of Your Email
Are you a slave to your email, checking it obsessively throughout
the day to make sure you’re not missing anything? Take control of
your inbox, and save yourself untold time and distraction: establish
a schedule for checking your email a few set times each day. Let
everyone know you’ll check your mail and respond to them on this
schedule. You’ll be astonished at how much more productive you
become, not to mention how little you miss.

Learn the Value of Your Time
Have you placed a dollar value on your time? If not here’s how to
do it: determine your ideal annual compensation. Then, divide this
figure by the number of hours you’re available to work. This is the
value of one hour of your time. If you’re working on a task that does
not require a law license and can be delegated for less than your
hourly rate, delegate it.

Teach Your Employees to
Stop Wasting Your Time
Your employees don’t mean to waste your time, but countless in-
terruptions throughout your day add up to a huge drain on your
productivity. Come up with a plan to minimize these interruptions.
Have regular staff meetings so that employees can ask questions and
get answers. Plan “stand-up” meetings with key staff throughout
the week to keep work flowing, increase productivity, and maintain
everyone’s focus.

Encourage Your Team Members
to Keep a Time Log
If you have kept a time log for a week, you know how revealing and
useful it can be. Encourage your employees to track their activities
for a week, too. They might be surprised to see how little time they
actually spend on work-related projects, and how many distractions
they contend with during the workday. A word of advice: make sure
you approach this as a self-discovery tool, rather than a fault-find-
ing mission.
First Things First
How do you greet each workday… focused or frazzled? If it’s the
latter, try this: Before you leave the office in the evening, write down
the two or three most important items to accomplish the next day.
When you arrive in the morning, tackle this short list before you
do anything else. Make this a habit, and you’ll revolutionize your
productivity.

Be a Spectator
When you’re stuck in the daily grind, it’s impossible to have any kind
of perspective on how things are really going, or where your business
is headed. That’s why it’s important to make time on a regular basis to
step back and be a spectator. As much as possible, stand in the shoes of
a prospective client—or even a potential purchaser of your firm—and
take an objective look at what is working and what needs to change.
Then, act on what you see.

Make Time for Strategy
Attorneys tend to be consumed by tactical work: scrambling to
answer everyone else’s questions and rushing to put out fires, al-
ways controlled by their practice, their employees, their life—rather
than the other way around. If you want to take control, you need
to engage in strategic work, and that means making time to ask
some questions of your own. Questions like, why am I an attorney?
What do I want my practice to look like? Who are my ideal clients?
What must my firm look, act, and feel like to attract my ideal cli-

ents and compete successfully? If you don’t make time for strategy,
you’ll never create your ideal firm. Instead, you’ll forever be rushing
around putting out other peoples’ fires.

Become an Effective Delegator
Here’s an idea for your next strategy session: take a look at all the
tasks in your firm, and make a list of everything that does not re-
quire the direct attention of an attorney/owner. Then, delegate
everything on this list to a team member. Don’t just assign items to
random employees; the key is a delegation system that ensures each
task is accomplished by someone who is properly trained.
Defeat the Tyranny of Tradition
When things have been done the same way for years, it’s easy to as-
sume that’s the way they have to be done. Consider the final signing
in an estate planning firm—there’s no legal or ethical mandate that
an attorney be present when a client signs a will or trust. It’s just
that lawyers have traditionally handled the final signing. Truth is,
a well-trained paralegal is more than capable of handling this task,
and making this shift increases efficiency and often results in hap-
pier clients and employees.
Habit and tradition are not good reasons to keep doing things. Try
to look at each function within your firm with fresh eyes, and see if
there’s a better way to do it.

Focus on the “Why,” Not
Just the “How”
It’s easy to get wrapped up in the mechanics of getting things done.
But have you ever asked why your firm does things a certain way? If
not, now’s the time to start. The more you ask “why,” the more like-
ly you are to uncover fresh, innovative, and efficient ways to serve
your clients.

Start Asking the Right Questions
You can’t find the right answers until you start asking the right
questions. When it comes to transforming your law firm, the first
step in figuring out which strategic questions to ask is to envision

your firm as you want it to be. Then, take a look at your firm as it is
now. When you see the gap between your current practice and your
dream law firm, you’ll not only know what questions to ask, you’ll
also be able to see the answers.

Craft Your Story
Building your perfect law firm starts with crafting its story. Right
away, set aside some time away from life’s distractions to examine
what you want for your business, and how you want your business
to serve your life. Then, write down the story of your future firm
in full, rich detail: what the office will look like, how it will feel to
16 Top 100 E-Myth Attorney Tips work there, to be a client there, how it will serve the community,
everything you can think of… It’s this story that will motivate you
as you bring your vision to life.

Create an Organizational Chart
Do you have a plan for how each and every task gets done with-
in your law firm—and that ensures you’re not doing everything? If
not, you need to create an organizational chart. This written chart
matches personalities with talents and maps out which appropriate-
ly trained team member is responsible for which task. Your organi-
zational chart lets you keep tabs on who is responsible for what, and
helps your firm run smoothly and efficiently.

Get Your Files in Order
Think of your past, present, and future as huge filing cabinets.
Now, consider what happens when you misfile your past experi-
ences. Take a bad experience and place it in the cabinet labeled “fu-
ture” rather than in the “past” cabinet where it belongs, and it has
the potential to paralyze you. Don’t let the failures and rejections
of your past haunt you because of a simple filing error.

Choose to Be Motivated by Change
Change is inevitable—you can’t avoid it, but you can control how
you respond to it. The future of American legal practice is in tran-
sition, and if you choose to be motivated by the changes we see all
around us, you can find inspiration around every corner.

Answer This One Question…
What are your natural strengths and talents? It’s a question many
of us have never considered. Here’s a promise: if you take the time
to answer this question and then delegate everything that is not one
of your natural strengths and talents, you’ll have the recipe for a
thriving firm.

Let Yourself Off the Hook
Most of us have bought into the conventional wisdom that we
should spend our time trying to improve the areas in which we per-
form poorly. We devote our energy to “self-improvement,” then we
wonder why we feel drained and demoralized. Truth is, it’s far more
productive to capitalize on our strengths than to work on our weak-
nesses. When we spend time performing tasks that represent our
innate talents, we feel energized and focused, and we get more done.

Find Your Strengths
A huge key to increasing your productivity is to work on your
strengths—those things that are part of your natural wiring and
at which you excel. But what if you’re not sure what your strengths
are? Here are two tests that have helped Academy Members identify
their natural strengths and talents: The first is the Kolbe A Index—
it’s a 36-question test you can take online for about $50. The second
test is found in the book StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath.

Educate Everyone in Your Firm
on Their Financial Impact
You know that every person in your firm—from partner to parale-
gal—has a daily impact on the financial picture of your business.
The question is, do they know it? If they don’t, it’s your responsibil-
ity to teach each of your employees exactly how much power they
have to make their workplace a success.

Know What Kind of Profit
Your Firm Produces
The fact that your firm is producing a profit means that something is
going right. Unfortunately, it does not necessarily mean your firm is
doing everything it needs to do to continue producing a profit. There
are two kinds of profit—intentional and accidental. You can’t take
credit for accidental profit. Ultimately, only intentional profit really
matters, because you can replicate it over and over again.

Stop Trading Time for Dollars
Are you on the law firm treadmill, telling yourself that if you can
just get a few more cases and work a few more hours, all your finan-
cial problems will magically disappear? This just isn’t true! Even if
you do get those extra cases and crank out those additional hours,
you’re simply sacrificing yourself for a few extra dollars—and you’re
headed for burnout. Ready for a breakthrough? Make the shift to
“lawyer as entrepreneur” and realize that you can create a firm that
operates as a separate entity from you; liberating you to have a bal-
anced life and financial freedom.

Give Your Firm a Financial Check-Up
How do you know if your firm is really doing well, financially speak-
ing? A good accountant can use certain benchmarks or financial
ratios to determine how your firm measures up to others in your
practice area. If your numbers are off, you can adjust accordingly.
In fact, the Academy has synthesized information over the years to
create a set of financial metrics for estate planning attorneys to use.

Understand the Difference Between
a “Business” and a “Practice”
Strictly speaking, a law “practice” and a law “business” are not syn-
onymous. Here’s the difference: a practice can’t function without the
attorney. A business, on the other hand, relies on a well-trained staff,
plus a carefully crafted set of systems. Which would you rather own?

Anticipate Your Clients’ Future Needs
If your law firm is to continue to grow and thrive, it has to keep pace
with your clients’ changing needs and demands. How do you antic-
ipate which services your clients will want in the future and, more
importantly, what they’ll be willing to pay for? It’s not hard—a great
way to find out is to ask your existing clients a set of well-framed
questions. Send out a questionnaire or invite a group of clients in
for a lunch discussion; you might be surprised at the valuable feed-
back you’ll get.

A Three-Step Method for Staying
on Top of Your Business
Want to make sure goals are accomplished, tasks are completed,
and your business stays on track? Here’s a three-step game plan:
First, identify the goal you want to accomplish. Then, break that
goal down into the individual steps that need to be accomplished.
Finally –and this is where many businesses drop the ball—set up a
system for tracking each step and evaluating performance.

Stop Trying to Manage People
Part of your job as law firm owner is making sure that your business
operates efficiently and effectively. But managing people is probably
one of the most frustrating things you’re tasked with each day. That’s
because people are nearly impossible to manage. So, stop trying to
manage people, and understand that the way to get things done is
to create processes and systems that work. In other words, give your
employees a proven, step-by-step written blueprint for how to get
things done; then, together, you can manage the workflow.

Create a Staff with a Vested
Interest in Your Firm’s Success
Wouldn’t it be great if each of your employees thought like an own-
er of the firm? One way to do this is to match their personalities
and talents to their jobs. This lets your team members know that
you value them, and it also puts them in positions where they’ll be
engaged and energized. When your employees know their jobs are
key to your firm’s success, they’re more likely to perform with pride,
loyalty, efficiency, and innovation.

Implement a Hiring System
Do you have a specific process for bringing people on board? If not,
you should. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself hiring a new employee for
all the wrong reasons, like that great feeling you have about him… or
the fact that she really reminds you of your college roommate… or that
you’re under a huge time crunch and just need someone—anyone—to
fill a vacant position. Your hiring system should map out, in writing,
your firm’s process for soliciting and interviewing candidates, admin-
istering tests, and performing reference and background checks.

Have a New Hire? Follow Up!
After you’ve hired a new employee, take the time to monitor her pro-
gress and make sure she’s a good fit for your firm. Don’t make the
mistake of showing your new hire to her desk, giving her a list of
responsibilities, and abandoning her to her own devices. Now is the
time when coaching and feedback are most effective.

Develop a New Hire Questionnaire
Develop a set of questions for each of your new employees to answer at
the end of each workday for the first four weeks they’re with you. Con-
sider asking questions like: “Did you understand what was expected
of you today?” “Were you able to complete your work today?” “What
challenges did you face?”
Having a new employee send you a daily report with the answers
to your new hire questionnaire will accomplish two things: it will
help you make sure he is adjusting well, and it will let you know
whether he’s able to follow instructions and whether he’s comforta-
ble reporting his activities.

Help Your Clients Bond With Your Firm
Here at the Academy, we talk a lot about the value of delegating

work that does not specifically require an attorney or that does not
fulfill your highest and best purpose. This is an obvious benefit for
you, but did you know that it’s also a plus for your clients? When
you let well-trained team members handle appropriate matters,
your clients get to bond with your firm, not just with you. Then,
when a client has a question or an issue that a team member can
handle, he feels comfortable talking to the appropriate employee.
This means he doesn’t have to wait until you’re available, and your
firm is able to provide top-notch, efficient service.

Take Client Service to the Next Level
How do you want your clients to feel each and every time they leave
your office? Most likely, you want them to feel listened to, taken care Top 100 E-Myth Attorney Tips 21
of, and like their needs have been met. And, like no other attorney in
your community could possibly take care of them the way you do. This
should be the level of client service each of your employees strives for.

Understand What Systems Are,
and Why You Need Them
At the Academy, we believe you should have a system for any task
that happens within your firm on even a semi-regular basis. At its
core, a system says, “this is what we do, and these are the steps in-
volved in doing it our firm’s way.” So, systems are not only key to en-
suring that your firm runs efficiently and effectively, they’re also an
essential part of establishing a distinctive personality for your firm.

Understand What Happens
Without Systems
With great systems in place, everything that happens within the
four walls of your law firm happens efficiently, predictably, and in
your firm’s signature way. Without great systems, each employee is
left to do things his or her own way. At best, this means that your
firm lacks a coherent identity. At worst, it means that chaos reigns.

Learn How to Effectively
Delegate Tasks
If you cringe when someone mentions the word “delegation,” chanc-
es are you’ve never learned how to effectively delegate a task. Here

are the steps for delegating a task and getting the results you want:
1. Define precisely the task you want to delegate.
2. Make sure your employee understands what you’ve delegated.
3. Explain why the task needs to be done the way you want it done.
4. Spend time teaching how it is to be done.
5. Make sure your employee understands exactly what’s expected.
6. Set a deadline for the task to be completed, or for a progress report.
7. Follow up and check on the employee’s progress.
8. Get an agreement on a deadline for completion of the task.
Understand the Value of
Effective Delegation
Becoming an effective delegator is a multi-step process that requires
an up-front investment of time on your part… so, how does this
help you free up your time? When you delegate work to an em-
ployee who knows precisely what’s expected and how to do it, you
end up with work that actually gets done, the right way, by some-
one other than you! And once you have well-trained employees and
solid systems, this happens over and over again. In the long run,
you reap the rewards in the form of time to spend working on your
business, and not just in your business.

Marketing Should Never
Be an Emergency
In our experience, nobody seems to have a system for the lifeblood of
their firm—marketing. Instead, most income-generating activities
are done no more than a week or two in advance, when you’re sud-
denly scrambling around for cash because the pipeline that should
be filled with qualified prospects has somehow run bone-dry.
Your marketing should be systematized and planned out at least

a year in advance. Your plan should be in writing, on a calendar,
and everyone in the firm should be aware of the plan and know
their part.

Understand that Marketing

Is a Numbers Game
It’s important to put some thought into your marketing strategy—a
well-balanced, carefully executed plan can help you maximize your
client acquisition dollars. But bottom line, marketing is a numbers
game. The more people who attend one of your seminars, read your
marketing materials, or otherwise come into contact with you be-
cause of your marketing efforts, the more clients you’ll ultimately
have by the end of the year. It all boils down to numbers.

Diversify—It Works for Marketing, Too
For your marketing system to really produce results, it has to in-
clude a mix of different activities that suit your personality, your
staff, and your marketing budget. You can’t just pick one marketing
method and stick with it.

Keep Your Word
People don’t trust lawyers. They don’t assume that we’ll be straight-
forward with them, or even that we’ll extend them basic courtesies
like returning their phone calls quickly. Use this negative stereo-
type to your advantage, and wow your clients simply by keeping
your word. If you say you’re going to do something—do it. This
alone will set you apart from countless competitors.

Get a Mentor
When you’re trying to reach a goal, there always seems to be a gap
between your intentions and your actions. Sometimes, you can be
so blinded by your good intentions that you don’t see your actions
for what they are: less than perfect. That’s where a mentor can
make all the difference—having someone to hold you accountable
for reaching your goals is a reality check. It forces you to either
keep moving or admit that you’re stagnating.

Stop Talking. Start Listening.

If you’re getting plenty of initial consults, but failing to convert
prospects into clients, the problem could be that you’re talking too
much. The client should do most of the talking in an initial consult.
It’s your job to listen carefully, ask great questions, and then listen
some more. You’re more likely to be hired if you can demonstrate
that you are an effective counselor. And you can’t be an effective
counselor if you don’t uncover your client’s true problems and is-
sues and delve into them.

Have a System for Client Meetings
When you start a client meeting, do you know what’s going to hap-
pen in advance, or are you just winging it? Wing it, and you run the
risk of wasting your time as well as your clients’. Here’s a simple way
to make sure everyone is on the same page from the outset:
1. Start by confirming the amount of time allotted for the meeting.
2. Briefly set forth the agenda (“Here’s what we’ll talk about, Mr.
and Mrs. Client; I’m sure you’ll have questions and I’ll have
questions, too.”)
3. Make sure you have an outcome agreed to up front (“After we’re
finished talking through everyone’s questions, we’ll figure out
what plan works best for you, Mr. and Mrs. Client. And then
you’ll make a decision: yes, we want to get started or no, we’re
not ready yet.”)
This system helps streamline your client meetings by keeping every-
one focused, and the take-it-or-leave-it approach helps to ensure
that you never, ever have to compete on price.

Use Your Time on Your Terms
Do you use your time on your own terms, or do you let other people
commandeer your schedule? Increase your efficiency by using your
assistant or receptionist as a gatekeeper, and make your time avail-
able to clients, vendors, and even employees in the way that best
meets your needs and furthers the goals you’ve set for your firm.
Schedule staff meetings, designate specific times of day for return-
ing phone calls and checking e-mail, and prioritize who gets what
level of access to you.

Stop Taking Unscheduled Phone Calls
Taking unscheduled phone calls can be an enormous drain on your
personal productivity. It disrupts your workday and interrupts your
concentration. It also teaches other people that you don’t place a
premium on your time, so they don’t have to value it either.
Stop taking unscheduled phone calls. Designate a few times each

day to return calls, and start scheduling important calls. Not only
will you see your productivity skyrocket, those around you will be-
gin to respect your time for the precious resource it is.
Understand the Difference Between
Public and Private Marketing
Your marketing system should include a balance of public and pri-
vate marketing strategies. Public marketing includes activities like
direct mail campaigns, newspaper ads, and public seminars. It’s
higher cost, and it’s designed to reach a large number of prospects
at one time.
Private marketing, on the other hand, happens when you’re intro-

duced to a group and endorsed by someone else. Think lunch and
learns, presentations to local charities, and other activities designed
to develop longer-term relationships. Private marketing is more
cost-effective and requires a little more legwork.

Keep Your Fees Healthy
When was the last time you assessed your firm’s fees and increased
them to keep pace with your costs? If you’re not looking at your fee
structure each year, it’s likely your fees aren’t healthy. And without
healthy fees, it’s hard to maintain a healthy, thriving firm.

THE AMERICAN ACADEMY
OF ESTATE PLANNING ATTORNEYS
Are you overwhelmed? Don’t panic just yet—you don’t have to fig-
ure this out your own.
For the past twenty years, the American Academy of Estate Plan-
ning Attorneys has coached hundreds of attorneys from all over
the United States as they transformed their practices into thriving
business enterprises.
Academy Members belong to a community of attorneys with access

to an extensive range of support and benefits. For example, new
Members receive assistance in assessing their current practice and
envisioning their ideal firm, down to the most minute details.
They’re also given access to—and help in implementing—the Acad-

emy’s comprehensive practice management program known as the
“11 Essential Systems” as well as one-on-one coaching with a Practice
Building Consultant to implement the systems, set short- and long-
term goals, and remain accountable for achieving them. Members
have access to cutting-edge technology; a responsive legal education
department staffed with top legal minds; and a nationwide network
of colleagues, many of whom are at the forefront of their field.
And this is just the beginning. The Academy is committed to giving

its Members the support they need to offer unparalleled services to
their clients.
CONCLUSION
The American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys was founded
in 1993 by two successful San Diego estate planning attorneys, Rob-
ert Armstrong and Sanford M. Fisch. Robert and Sandy envisioned

a better way to practice law, so they created it. The Academy was
born of their desire to share the valuable lessons they’d learned in
transforming their practice into a flourishing, dynamic business.
Over the past two decades, the Academy has helped hundreds of
attorneys transform their lives and their legal practices.
The Academy thrives on seeing our Members’ lives change as prov-

en systems help them predictably generate more revenue, provide a
work/life balance, and serve clients in an unparalleled way. We con-
tinually look for new and innovative ways to serve our Members,
from capitalizing on the latest technology to helping them broaden
the scope of their practices. Our goal is to reignite your passion for
what you do and have it enrich every part of your life.
If you’re ready to learn more about how we can help you, please
contact us at info@aaepa.com or call (800) 846-1555. Top 100 E-Myth Attorney Tips 27

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Know Where You’re Going…

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