Five Star Counsel Podcast

The Five Star Counsel podcast is prepping for a little break while we wrap up season two and prepare for season three, which will focus on the practical implementation of building a modern, high-level legal firm.  As we dive into the day-to-day nuts and bolts, we'll share a range of tools and methods, from budget-friendly to more costly options. We recognize that every firm is different, so we'll provide non-prescriptive guidance and explore various approaches that can be adapted to your practice. Stay tuned for the upcoming season, and let us know your specific concerns and interests by using the Typeform link below. See you in May! https://strohmeyerlaw.typeform.com/to/yNnu98Qg#episode=xxxxx ----  

Our show has tackled client service by framing it around one big question: "What would a firm created by the founders of Disney, Amazon, and Four Seasons look like?"  Today we try to summarize our Five Star Bootcamp by answering that question. Building a law firm requires starting with the business foundations of mission, vision, and values. The mission should be clear and consistent for both employees and clients. The values should guide the behavior of employees and drive the business forward. We need to provide results as a lawyer, but also humanize those results with great service  so that your firm can quickly recover from mistakes and build a strong brand.  Five star service isn't easy, but it will reward you, your employees, your clients, and ultimately, your firm's bottom line. ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

How do you handle client-facing mistakes? As much as we try to avoid them, mistakes are inevitable, even for us perfectionist attorneys. And because they are inevitable, attorneys need to have a plan for how to respond when they happen. My experience working at the Four Seasons provided a great framework for how to deal with mistakes, using "glitch reports" to document errors and review them with our staff at regular meetings. There are three steps that attorneys should take when mistakes happen: apologize and take ownership of the mistake, empathize with the client by acknowledging how the mistake has affected them, and show how you will make it right. It's important to not apologize, but also give clients a concrete plan for how you will correct the mistake and meet their needs. I conclude the episode by repeating the magic phrase I learned at the hotel: "I'm sorry this happened, but there's nothing I can say right now that will undo what has happened. What can we do to make this better?" By following these steps and showing genuine concern for their clients, attorneys can recover from mistakes and continue to provide excellent service. Closing Exercise:  Consider the last client-facing mistake you dealt with. 1. Magic Words: "There's nothing I can say that will undo what happened. What can I do now? 2. What options are there to fix things for your clients? What's in your toolkit? Should you reconsider your processes? Find a PDF worksheet for each episode's exercise on the podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

There's a common misconception and fear we see in attorneys. Attorneys can fall prey to thinking that becasue they're well-paid and well-respected, they don't need to think about making their service better. Many risk-averse, pessimist, perfectionist attorneys simply fear the potential failure that comes with change and growth.   Neither of these is a good reason to avoid thinking about improvement. This episode, we discuss the ways you can approach gradual improvement, how to identify what needs to be improved, and how to get yourself started.    We'll even tell you how you can save a bundle in consulting fees!   Closing Exercise: Ask yourself, "What can we do better?" What do you see out in the world that you've enjoyed? How can you implement or translate that to your own service? When do you ask employees for improvement suggestions? When do you ask clients for improvement suggestions?   Find a PDF worksheet for each episode's exercise on the podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

Now that you have addressed your standards, and you've implemented processes that should lead to those standards being met, how do you make sure your firm is hitting your standards on an ongoing basis?   Standards won't do much for you if they're never being met. I'll walk through the ways you can think about consistency in your service, ways to measure and track consistent service, and even what do when someone is regularly missing the mark or if your standard is just too lofty to begin with.   You'll constantly be testing, measuring, and tweaking your service, with an aim to be as consistent as possible, and to deliver the same high standards, day in and day out.   Closing Exercise: How do you test yourself? We're setting up the secret shopper program.  What could be tested?  How often will you be testing?  What will you do to be sure that people know and execute?  Determine training and scoring methods.   Find a PDF worksheet for each episode's exercise on the podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

Now that we've discussed the components of our firm's service, it's time to think about how we measure successful service. Setting these standards not only helps you track that everything is happening correctly, but helps your employees know if they're doing a good job. Most importantly, it helps ensure a consistent and high-quality experience for your clients.  We'll discuss touchpoints - the places where you and your client actually interact - and how to start measuring there. We'll talk about what to do if you're not hitting your standards, and how to consider adjusting your standards as your business changes. I'll get into some concrete examples that I use in my firm, but you'll really want to come up with your own standards that work for and support your firm's values, vision, and mission (see how it all comes back to those?).  Closing Exercise: What adjectives do you use to describe the delivery of your physical and technical components? Delivery is the adjectives and adverbs used to describe delivery. Let's think of three (I use "Clean, Fast, and Easy," but make these your own).       Now, how can we quantify the delivery so we can measure how it happens? Some examples: How long does it take to respond to an email? How long to get from initial meeting to draft documents?  How long to return a phone call?  How long to get an engagement letter out? Find a PDF worksheet for each episode's exercise on the podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

We've built the pieces of the machine for great service, but now it's time to focus on the fuel - your employees. People are the most important thing in your business, and we can't skimp on it. I break this episode down into two main parts: how to hire and how to train and manage. The most crucial single point is in your hiring process - most law firms hire based on skillset, which, of course, is important, but technically skilled lawyers aren't that tough to find. You want someone who understands, shares, and demonstrates your firm's values right from the get-go. At the least, someone who can get there quickly and naturally.  You don't just want someone who you'd like to have a beer with - that's not a culture fit, that's just a person you like. I'll get into the kind of questions, both technical and personal, that will determine a quality hire. Once you've got the right people, it's like a fleet of Rolls Royces. That's great, but even Rolls Royces need maintenance and tune-ups. This is where your training and management come in. How are they continuing to meet the firm's values and work toward the firm's mission? How you are managing them in a way that upholds the firm's values, works towards your vision, and keeps your employees - your firm's most valuable asset - happy, motivated, and fulfilled? Closing Exercise: How do you know you've got the right people in your firm? How are you delivering the working experience for your employees, and how do you know that they can carry out the firm mission? 1. During your hiring process, what is one behavioral interview question that you can use to evaluate for this? 2. Status check: can your employees recite your Mission and Values? 3. Schedule weekly one on one meetings with your employees. Find a PDF worksheet for each episode's exercise on the podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

Have you progressed beyond the dark ages of stodgy, antiquated law practice? If you're listening to this show, I bet you have, but has your service delivery fully embraced the current experience economy? What does that even mean? Our guest, Joe Pine, is here to explain. Joe is a distinguished author, speaker, and management advisor. We focus our talk largely around his influential book, The Experience Economy, and what that means for law firm owners. As our economy has shifted from a simple commodity-based one to a much more refined experience-based economy, our offerings and service delivery must change. Joe explains the five tenets that should guide your offerings in the modern economy. You should be: 1. Robust 2. Cohesive 3. Personal 4. Engaging 5. Transformative  That final step, transformation, is crucial. You need to be defining the outcome of the experience and how you change your clients' situations. Joe explains each step in detail, and gives examples of how you can employ each one in your firm.  Find Joe at https://strategichorizons.com/, on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joepine/, or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/joepine. ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!  

Now that we've laid the groundwork for building great service, and talked about how to avoid pitfalls, we should really define the scale that we're grading service on. We are, after all, the Five Star Counsel Podcast! So what makes a "Five Star" experience? I'll give some detailed examples of what goes into an exemplary, five star experience for a law firm, and even work backwards to talk about the ways firms earn less than great reviews. All of this is setting the stage for the next few episodes, where we'll dive deep into the service component of a law business, and get into the nitty-gritty of service delivery. ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

Before we dive deeper into what service is, let's take a look at what service ISN'T. I like to classify these distractions, marketing ploys, and wow-factor missteps as Red Herrings. This is something that you give to your client that doesn't actually move the needle for them.   Your law firm isn't a procurement agent, so don't buy stuff for clients that they didn't need as a part of your service. The misconception we've got to address here is that great service means great gifts, or over the top moments of shock and surprise. Or that you have to wow a big client with fancy touches and palatial offices. It's just not true.   I'll walk through a handful of common red herrings that come up in the legal field, and differentiate service from marketing (marketing is okay too!) from flat-out wasted money and time.   Closing exercise: Examine your firm's red herrings and eliminate the things that aren't moving the needle for your clients or your bottom line.   Find a PDF worksheet for each episode's exercise on the podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

What does it mean to have "your process"? How do you make sure that everyone on your team knows what to do, and when to do it? We're getting in the weeds on how to set up your practice so you know what's happening with all of your clients, at a glance. The reason we're spending the time on this is to make sure that everybody on your team knows where every client is at their particular stage in the process. Most of us will have many more than just one client, and we need to be able to know who is responsible for what and that person needs to know what happens next in our process. Your process is indelibly tied to service - it creates a framework for repeatable, predictable service for each client and a failsafe to keep things from slipping through the cracks. Closing Exercise: What is your firm's process? How are you going to manage the forest? Detail out your actual stages and who is responsible for each within each practice area of your firm. Find a copy of John's stages on this episode's podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

Five Star Counsel recorded live from Clio Cloud Con 2022 in Nashville, TN! We'll be talking with experts and execs in the legal community about what's next and how it will shape the future of client service. We were joined by Clio's VP of Financial Services, Ben Brideaux to chat about what he sees happening in the payment space around legal services.  I think most attorneys know that getting clients to pay and handling those payments is a challenge. But largely, payments are an afterthought in client service. If we want to meet the client where they are, payment is part of that - 65% of clients want online payments and 72% want payment plans! Ben shares how Clio and the modern legal industry at large are making payments more frictionless, simple, and giving everyone more choice. Find Ben on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/benbrideaux/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

Now that we've defined our firm's mission, vision, and values, we need to really hone in on exactly HOW we help our clients and how we measure it. How exactly do we move the needle for our clients and define success? As customers grow more savvy, the legal industry is not immune - potential clients have problems, and they want to know that this expensive work is going to solve them. It's not enough to assure a client that you do mysterious shadowy work for them, bill them for it, and that they'll be better off in the end. You need to spell out where they are, the problems you're going to solve, and what success looks like. I'll discuss how expert status and the idea of Value Over Replacement Professional (VoRP) plays into this, and ways you can turn a potentially unknown and vague conclusion into a clear path of value for your client. I know you probably can't guarantee a particular outcome for your client as an attorney, but you CAN spell out what your client's journey from problem to potential solution looks like. You can even guarantee your work, even if you can guarantee a legal outcome.  Closing Exercise: Define your needle and your guarantee.  1. What problems do your clients come to you to solve? Where do your clients get stuck in the process? And how can you help them get past those problems more easily?  2. How will people know if you've succeeded? Have you defined "success"? 3. We've created the Estate Score so people know what we've accomplished. What kind of qualitative/quantitative, concrete value increase can you demonstrate to your client? 4. Even if you can't guarantee an outcome, can you guarantee your work? Your service? Your client's satisfaction? Find a PDF worksheet for each episode's exercise on the podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

Five Star Counsel recorded live from Clio Cloud Con 2022 in Nashville, TN! We'll be talking with experts and execs in the legal community about what's next and how it will shape the future of client service. We were joined by data guru and Clio's in-house Decision Scientist, Nika Kabiri, who walked us through The Top 6 Factors Clients Use When Hiring a Firm, as determined while collecting data for this year's Legal Trends Report. Nika used client feedback and data metrics to order the six factors thusly: 1. Reviews - These matter most by far. Specificity and authenticity in the review is most valuable, and total numbers of reviews may scale based on practice area, geography, etc. 2. Geography/proximity to clients - This makes sense, especially where particular jurisdictions are a factor. 3. Responsiveness - People hate uncertainty, and you can minimize it with communication, by prioritizing returning calls and emails, and systematizing your responses.  4. Billing type - Alternative billing structures like flat fee or subscription may remove uncertainty and open doors for certain clients. 5. Schedule availability - Flexibility in meeting hours and allowing virtual can be a factor for some.  6. Commercial office space - Almost completely negligible, and did not make a significant impact to potential clients. Find Nika on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikakabiri/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

Your Mission is your guidance for your future clients as to you act for them. This will guide *their* decision to reach out and hire you and your practice. The idea that your firm can do anything really means your firm can do nothing - you won't stand out. You need to know what you do best, and so do employees and clients. It helps you stand out and build towards your goal. No matter the size, style, or area of practice of your firm, you will benefit from a clear and explicit mission visible to your clients. Your mission should be front and center on your web page on your home page and for my website you'll see it's right there as the first thing in bold text. We'll talk about what should go into your mission, share some disparate examples from Four Seasons and McDonalds, and share my "top 3 in the city" philosophy on specialization. Closing Exercise: What's your mission? Finish this sentence. We help [targeted clients] [solve targeted problem]. What's the mountaintop that you're actually helping clients to get to?  What pain point(s) do you address? How does your firm solve that problem?  Who are your clients?  Find a PDF worksheet for each episode's exercise on the podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper!

Five Star Counsel recorded live from Clio Cloud Con 2022 in Nashville, TN! We'll be talking with experts and execs in the legal community about what's next and how it will shape the future of client service. We were very excited to be joined by Clio Co-Founder and CEO Jack Newton for a dive into his latest  We define and make distinctions between client service and experience and discuss how to make your service delivery CREATE the experience you want your clients to have.  Jack pulls lessons from his earlier workshop session at ClioCon and gives concrete tips and examples of the ways service can work for the experience you want your firm to deliver.  We discuss how process is related to and dictates your client's experience and journey. We talk about annoyance mapping and how it can help remove friction points from your service. We lastly get into how iteration, experimenting, and a willingness to fail on small levels can be a key to your success. Find materials from Jack's workshop at https://community.clio.com/ and find Jack on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbnewton/ or Twitter at https://twitter.com/jack_newton    

Five Star Counsel is live from Clio Cloud Con 2022 in Nashville, TN! We'll be talking with experts and execs in the legal community about what's next and how it will shape the future of client service. We'll start the week by welcoming Joshua Lenon, Lawyer in Residence at Clio, to discuss the 2022 Legal Trends Report. We'll get a deep dive into the survey and Clio usage data collected around work/life balance, and stats on flexible, expanded work hours and workdays. Firms leaning into a self-managed workday will likely be the most successful in hiring and retaining great staff. Office use has dropped dramatically, never having returned to 2019 levels. Law firms are becoming a state of mind, less a physical place. They also found higher level of satisfaction from firms using cloud-based legal management software, Clio or otherwise. Lawyers delegating more and less time being business managers. Lastly we discuss how clients and lawyers prefer to handle payments in today's market, and how a preference for flat fees, clear budgets, and subscription models may present opportunities for your firm.

When we think about the three-legged stool that makes up each of our practices, we think about the owners (which is probably you listening to this podcast right now), our employees (the staff who helps us build this), and our clients (the people we are serving) We first talked about our vision, which is what guides us as the owners of the practice in what we're building. VALUES are what our employees will use to guide their actions on a daily basis. Think of values as how you build culture - culture is how you consistently act, and values are the basis of your culture and provide guidance to your employees when you are not there. Occasionally your employees are going to be in situations where you haven't specifically prepped them for. The values should guide them in making the right decision every time or at least a close- enough-to-right decision that the client gets what they need until your employee can get a better answer. These are simple maxims that guide your firm's behavior and help make good choices. Let's not confuse the firm's values with your own personal values. Personal values may be occasionally at odds with your firm's (or with any job, or work in general). Closing Exercise: Values are the shorthand for how your firm behaves. What are they?  Write two sentences about what that means Include two examples of what that looks like in practice.  Find a PDF worksheet for each episode's exercise on our podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join John and Five Star Counsel at Clio Cloud Con on October 10-11th in Nashville, TN! Click this link to save $300 on your registration! http://www.eventbrite.com/e/177608530897/?discount=Five-Star-Counsel-Podcast

The first three modules of the Five Star Bootcamp address three core building blocks for your firm's success - your firm's VISION, VALUES, and MISSION. This episode covers your firm's VISION. Your Vision is guidance for you, the owner. What are you building towards? This will guide your behavior as you build your practice, even if it's just a practice inside a larger firm.  This may seem very obvious and fluffy, but we're here to set out where you, as the leader of your practice, are going. That practice may be one person, it may be 100. But we need to get down in writing what your ideal, successful firm should look like.  We want to detail what your firm's mountaintop is, but not why are you're trying to get there. You'll have whatever exterior goals you want (work less, more money, etc), but you as the owner wouldn't share that with the employees because it doesn't serve the firm. You wouldn't tell a prospective employee that the firm exists so I can work less. As the leader of your practice, your job is to align the resources available to get to that mountaintop. This is what you're building towards, and why you're making the particular choices you make. Exercise: What does your ideal firm look like, in your words? 1. How many employees? 2. Expert or volume practice? 3. Expert status? 4. What is your goal for the practice (even if you're inside a larger practice?) 5. Whom do you serve, and how do you serve them? 6. What don't you do? Find a PDF worksheet for each episode's exercise on our podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join John and Five Star Counsel at Clio Cloud Con on October 10-11th in Nashville, TN! Click this link to save $300 on your registration! http://www.eventbrite.com/e/177608530897/?discount=Five-Star-Counsel-Podcast

We're thrilled to be starting our 7-week bootcamp for your firm's service, all based on the grand unifying theory of Five Star Counsel.   This first module is a high-level overview of our approach to client service, why great service crucial in today's legal market, and how to think of your firm as a three-legged stool - something we'll be incorporating in every future episode.   Most small/solo firm owners know they have room to improve their service, but determining how and where to begin is tough. John explains how we can look to amazing service companies like Four Seasons or Disney or Zappos for *inspiration*, but we shouldn't be blindly copying their tactics.    You don't need to go above and beyond for every client or dazzle them with unexpected delights and services. You are hired to solve your client's problem, and you need to focus your firm on doing that in the most attentive, effective, thoughtful, communicative, and consistent way possible.    We'll end every module with a brief exercise to help you incorporate the lessons and reflect on your firm's current status and goals.   This week, John asks you to write down the three biggest areas where your firm can improve service.   If John could give you a magic wand, what are the top three things you would change about the service your firm delivers right now?   Now answer that from the position of your employees.   Last, answer from the viewpoint of your clients.   Find a PDF worksheet for each episode's exercise on our podcast page at https://strohmeyerlaw.libsyn.com/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join John and Five Star Counsel at Clio Cloud Con on October 10-11th in Nashville, TN! Click this link to save $300 on your registration! http://www.eventbrite.com/e/177608530897/?discount=Five-Star-Counsel-Podcast

We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Service guru Lee Cockerell sat with us for a freewheeling chat about his service career and what we can learn from his time at Disney and beyond. ----- Lee Cockerell is a customer service icon, and I was thrilled to have him join our show. Lee served as the Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney World Resort for ten years. This means he ran 20 resort hotels with over 24,000 Guest rooms, 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, 5 golf courses, a shopping village & nighttime entertainment complex - pretty much every aspect of the resort you can imagine. Now, Lee clearly isn't an attorney, and his focus has never been in the legal field, but so much of what he does is at the heart of what I preach here: a holistic take on service that involves your clients, your staff, and your executives. We discuss how a *little* something extra can go a long way with your clients, but over-the-top gift giving is a wasteful distraction. We talk about the mistaken idea that customer service is a department. It's not just there to answer problems. It's how we deliver, and limiting it to just problem resolution means that we're doing nothing when everything goes right. Lee's got decades of experience, and an easygoing way of discussing and thinking about integrated service techniques. He understands the true value that service can bring a company and how happy customers make for easier business and bigger bottom lines. All of this can and should be translated to you, and your firm's overall approach to service. Find Lee at https://www.leecockerell.com or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/leecockerell ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

As you know, we've been on a little break while we put together the next season of the show, and we're super excited to share a sneak preview of what you can expect when we have our new episodes at the end of September.    Season 2 will be different than what you're used to. We won't have any guest interviews, and no cheeky diversions (well, maybe a few).  This is going to be a 7-week bootcamp for your firm's service, all based on the grand unifying theory of Five Star Counsel.   John will get into the basic outline and what to expect this season - it's exciting stuff! See you when we get back from the beach... ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join John and Five Star Counsel at Clio Cloud Con on October 10-11th in Nashville, TN! Click this link to save $300 on your registration! http://www.eventbrite.com/e/177608530897/?discount=Five-Star-Counsel-Podcast

We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Mike Whelan sat with us to discuss expert status, what it can mean to you, and how to market it. ----- We know that attorneys are respected (and paid) for having knowledge of the law. But as a lawyer, you have a defining choice to make: create your market value as either an exceptional technical expert or as an accessible relationship builder. Today, we focus on the former choice, and how to make sure folks *know* you're the expert. Lawyer Forward's Mike Whelan joins us once again to unpack the various, often contradictory, ideas about being an expert that we as lawyers are constantly being told. We discuss where to draw your lines, where to focus your time and effort, the VORL (Value Over Replacement Lawyer) model, and ways to focus your expertise into products. Find Mike on Twitter or LinkedIn ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Ask a question and we'll answer on the show! Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using Text Expander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Billie Tarascio joined us with a boatload of incredible tips for supercharging your intake process. ---- Is your intake process getting your firm the results it needs? Is your intake process creating barriers for potential clients? Could it be refined or totally reworked? This week, we're joined by Billie Tarascio, successful attorney and co-author of Tiger Tactics: Powerful Strategies for Winning Law Firms. Billie is a master of the intake process, and gives us a really insightful breakdown of her own intake process, making things easier for the clients, the employees, and the owners. We talk about how to work backwards from the total volume your firm needs to succeed, in order to create and perfect your process. We also discuss running sales and specials on consultations, creating referral programs, optimizing your advertising spending, reframing your intake team as "advocates," and much more. Billie even challenges me on my own approach to intake - it's a great chat full of actionable tips for your firm. Find Billie at https://modernlawpractice.com/ or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billie-tarascio-62322bb/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using Text Expander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Check out our chat with Jonathan Stark about how (and why) to ditch the billable hour pricing format in your firm. ---- What could your business be like if you were no longer chained to the billable hour? Do you think your business model is even feasible without the billable hour? Does making the leap away from hourly billing sound terrifying? Stupid? Suicidal? Jonathan Stark is a former software developer who is on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He wrote Hourly Billing Is Nuts, hosts of the Ditching Hourly podcast, and writes a daily newsletter on pricing for independent professionals. We've talked about the importance of being an expert, and how it's less risky than being a generalist, and we expand on that this week, and how offering fixed prices positions you as the expert who's seen this before.  This helps you differentiate yourself and your work, and avoid a race to be the cheapest option to a client.  We'll also talk about the three important questions you need to every new potential clients to answer  Why this?  Why now?  Why me? This only scratches the surface of our discussion - I'm a big fan of Jonathan's work and I really hope you stay with us til the end - this chat could literally change the way you run your business. Take Jonathan's free six-day email bootcamp here: https://jonathanstark.com/vpb and get on his mailing list. I am! Follow Jonathan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonathanstark FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using Text Expander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander  

We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Paul Kortman details out the process for turning your inbound leads into actionable data in this super-valuable chat. ---- Not all leads are created equal. What if you could use technology and data to qualify, predict, and automatically parse out the bad from the good from the great potential clients? With a combination of human sense, digital data, and a little bit of setup, you can have a powerful, time-saving system for scoring your leads. Friend of the show and automation expert Paul Kortman returns to explain the concept of lead scoring, and how lawyers can use their existing client management systems and marketing platforms to create valuable analytics.  Find Paul at https://connex.digital or @namtroK on Twitter. FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055

We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Molly McGrath joined us to deliver A TON of invaluable tips for hiring the perfect addition to your firm. Great employees + a great fit = great service. ---- Do you want to know how to make your job postings pop? How do you weed through a sea of applicants and land that dream employee? How do we make the hiring process better and easier for law firms? Our guest this week is Molly McGrath of Hiring & Empowering Solutions. For nearly 25 years, she's coached and consulted law firms to get the best results from their hiring efforts. Molly gives us a ridiculous number of tips and tricks to level up your hiring & interviewing game. Seriously, it might be a record for a Five Star Counsel episode. We cover how to approach the job posting itself, what information to put out there, how to set expectations on the interview process, and ultimately how to attract the ideal new employee for your firm. Learn more about Hiring and Empowering at https://hiringandempowering.com/ and find Molly on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HireAndEmpower and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-hallmcgrath/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. We talked to entrepreneur David Heinemeier Hansson about how to *sanely* grow and manage your firm. ---- Do you find yourself slogging through the days and weeks, buried in work? Are you frustrated at your current growth? Is your company culture simply some version of “Work hard. Bill hours. Make money?” Are you happy with that? Our guest this week is a brilliant entrepreneur, David Heinemeier Hansson. David is the cofounder of Basecamp & HEY, creator of Ruby on Rails, author of “It Doesn't Have To Be Crazy At Work”, race car driver, and the list goes on. But this conversation is really rooted in lessons from his book and his experience with Basecamp and work culture. We tackle the mindset of modern firms that there just aren't enough hours in the week. You don't need more time. You don't need to work MORE. You need to work better and you need to have a mission. You need to understand why you're truly even doing this work, and at what point you're satisfied. David walks us through his growth strategies and mindsets that led to his success, and lessons from many different companies. If growth is what you want, it doesn't need to happen all at once, or even at a constant rate. Find David at https://dhh.dk/ or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/dhh ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Check out our great Season 1 chat with Maddy Martin about getting your paying clients in front of the expert (you) as quickly as possible. ---- Great client service requires making the client's process as easy and efficient as possible. We should aim to minimize the time it takes for prospective clients to go from first contact to face-to-face expertise from you. Our friend Maddy Martin of Smith AI joins us to discuss the ways to increase that "speed to expert," and why it benefits both you and the client. Find Maddy on Twitter or LinkedIn. ---- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055  

We're on a brief break while we gear up for Season 2 of FSC, but we still want to give you something to think about (or revisit) in the mean time, especially if you missed it the first time around. Check out our crucial Season 1 chat with Adam Anderson about growth stages in your business. --- If you want to effectively grow, scale, and improve your business effectively, you need to understand where your business lies in the growth continuum from scrappy startup to mature, thriving company.  Adam Anderson of Hook Security has an amazing take on this spectrum, broken into The Four Stages of Business. We share that today, so you can plug your own firm in, make the right growth moves, and determine the next profit levers to pull. Find Adam on YouTube, Twitter at https://twitter.com/AdamAndersonCEO or at www.AdamAndersonCEO.com ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper!  

It's Five Star Counsel's 100th episode! We're amazed and thrilled to have shared the last 100 shows with you. We've had truly incredible guests, and we hope you've learned a whole lot along with us.  We've used our time thus far to talk through John's big ideas on service, get inspiration and guidance from smart people in the legal field, and continue our quest to help imagine the kind of firm the founders of Amazon, Disney, and Four Seasons would build. We'll recap some of our favorite episodes, and main guideposts, and then give a preview of what to expect from the show going forward. We can't wait for you to join us. In the mean time, we'll be replaying our favorites over the summer before resuming new episodes in the fall. Stay tuned!    

Why do we attend legal conferences? What makes a great conference? Where do we find the most value? How can we make the most of legal conferences and how do we make the mediocre ones better? After a couple recent conferences, I got to talking with friend of the show, Mike Whelan, about what makes bad conferences bad, and makes great conferences great. We all know that designed learning sessions can sometimes be a waste, and the current CLE system is pretty broken. Sometimes it's hard to even remember why you're at a conference in the first place!  But networking and community are still a huge value source from conferences, especially post-pandemic lockdown. Making and strengthening your connections, gaining knowledge, and learning together with colleagues makes the shared experience even more valuable. Mike and I discuss how and why conferences are succeeding and failing, and what organizers and attendees can do to ensure all the effort is worthwhile.  Find Mike on Twitter or LinkedIn or at https://www.lawyerforward.com. ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

Where should we be looking for inspiration when improving service in our firms? If you've been listening for a while, you know, I've spent a lot of time talking about my time with the Four Seasons Hotels, but of course it's not the only place you can get high-end experiences. This week, we're bringing you a conversation between me and Ernie Svenson, otherwise known as Ernie the Attorney.  Ernie spent the first part of his career as a commercial litigator and a large New Orleans firm. He left in 2006 to start a low overhead paperless solo practice. In 2009, he created Law Firm Autopilot and made helping his lawyers build their own practices his full-time mission. But even before he became "Ernie the Attorney," he was "Ernie the Waiter" at the high-end restaurant Commander's Palace in New Orleans. Commander's Palace is one of my favorite restaurants and he and I talk about the things that happened there and the things that we can take into our own practices to use to structure things in order to make it easy for owners, employees, and guests to get the best service possible. We shared this conversation between our two podcasts, Ernie's being Law Firm Autopilot, which you should definitely check out! Find Ernie at https://ernietheattorney.net, on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernieattorney or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ernieattorney. ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander  

Does customer service ever feel extraneous to you? Does it seem like too much effort and too lofty a goal for your busy work week? How can you achieve amazing service and why should you bother? Our guest this week is Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations, and an award winning author, speaker, and consultant on customer service. Shep and I have a really fun back-to-basics conversation about customer service in the legal field. Shep has consulted for firms huge and small, and has so much great insight on how you can achieve a high level of service in your own business.  More importantly, we discuss WHY you should focus on service delivery, namely that your service is being compared to great brands in peoples' everyday lives, not just other law firms. You need to rise to a higher level of service than you may realize, and making your service delivery AMAZING might be easier than you think. Shep and I are largely aligned in our approach to client service, but we differ enough to make this a fun chat. Find Shep at https://hyken.com and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Hyken and LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/shephyken ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

Are you a believer of the old idea that "the customer is always right?" What happens when that rule comes into conflict with a trusted employee? Is there room for a better, more holistic approach to your firm's service? Our guest this week, Stephanie Everett, is here to advocate for a people-focused, not just client-focused, approach to running your firm and serving your clients. Stephanie is the VP of Community Success at Lawyerist and runs her own law firm consulting and growth coaching firm. Stephanie and I discuss what it means to be people-focused and how many firm owners and managers often miss the mark by putting their employees second. Your employees are a truly valuable resource, and understanding their goals and needs is crucial to your firm's success. This doesn't mean you're ignoring your clients' needs; rather, it's about finding the right balance between all three legs of the stool: owners, employees, and clients, and aligning your values with your employees.  Find Stephanie and Lawyerist at the following links: https://www.facebook.com/stephanie.everett.79 https://www.facebook.com/Lawyerist https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanieaeverett/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/lawyerist-media-llc/ https://twitter.com/StephAEverett https://twitter.com/lawyerist ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

How do you interact with your clients? Is it a clinical, business-only relationship? Could you be more empathetic with your clients? Should you? What is the true value of empathy with your client, both to the client and your business? Our guest this week is Jordan Furlong of Law Twenty One. Jordan is a legal sector analyst and advisor who's deeply invested in a better future for the legal profession and the society it serves. Jordan joins me for a fantastic and lofty conversation about the ways that attorneys are trained to approach clients, care about them and their needs, and view their role in their clients' lives.  Lawyers are trained to be emotionally divorced practitioners of the law. We're trained not to display empathy for our clients, and to remain neutral and professionally distant. Empathy is often even seen as irrelevant or a waste of time.  But Jordan argues that we should let those empathetic conversations be our guide as counselors and build trust with the client. We are both a problem solver and anxiety reducer for our clients.  We discuss ideas on how we can teach the next wave of attorneys to re-think empathy and a general willingness to do things differently. We discuss the value of failure, and how it's hard to accept failure in the legal field, even when innovating. It takes courage to be willing to fail, and taking small risks is the only way forward.  This is a great chat, and we could all get a lot out of approaching our work this way. Find Jordan at https://www.law21.ca or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jordan_law21. ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander  

When's the last time you looked at your website's privacy policy? Do you even have one? Are you automating tedious tasks like this? Our guest this week is Donata Stroink-Skillrud, founder of Termageddon, a company that automates the creation of Privacy Policies, Terms of Service and more, and keeps those automatically updated on your site as your website and regulations change. We talk about how Termageddon helps to cover your bases legally-speaking, and why you, as a firm owner of any size, should even care. But more broadly, we have a great conversation about how attorneys should be using technology to automate and create iterative processes for their practices.  We want to automate the least valuable and most annoying work, but also as a safety net to ensure high-level service and ensure your firm's standards are consistently met. Check out Termageddon's very cool privacy bill tracker here: https://termageddon.com/us-privacy-bill-tracker/ Find Donata on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DonataSkillrud or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/donata-stroink-skillrud/ ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

Are you comfortable with your online presence? Can you effectively separate your business and personal personas? Should they be the same? What are the Rules and guidelines for playing online, especially on Twitter? Our guest this week is attorney Ruth Carter of Carter Law and GeekLawFirm.com. Ruth's practice covers IP, social media and internet law, and they have a great set of best practices to help you avoid the pitfalls that are so easy to slip into online. We'll talk about their very unique terms of service for receiving cold email requests, and simple ways you can protect your personal and professional brands while still maintaining your natural personality and humor.  No matter how frequently you're putting yourself out there online, these are great tips and steps to keep in mind to keep yourself safe and sane. Find Ruth at http://www.GeekLawFirm.com, on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rbcarter or LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthcarter.  ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

John is back, delivering some fun, quick-hitting tips, tackling a host of great listener questions. How do you respond to clients who want to go to the front of the line and skip your normal intake process? How to respond when you've screwed up? You mentioning Disney and Four Seasons makes sense when discussing service, but why do you include Amazon? Do you have any tips on creating internal training materials? How often do you follow up with potential clients after an initial contact/call? How rigid or flexible do I need to be with clients who ask for payment plans? What are the top three things a new attorney should have figured out before starting solo? What's up with all the Legos?!   As we mention at the end of the episode, if you have questions for our next Q&A episode, please send those our way at john@fivestarcounsel.com or on any of our social channels! ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

Do you come from a non-legal professional background? Wonder how you can build a practice that draws from that knowledge you have? Our guest this week is Boyd Shepherd, founder of Legal Dental. Boyd started his career as a dentist, and eventually transitioned to practicing law, focusing his specialty on helping dental professionals with their particular legal issues. Sitting in the Venn diagram overlap of attorneys and dental practice, he's found a successful niche practice, and has launched a repository of information and related paid courses designed exclusively for the dental profession. Boyd tells us how he's structured his online courses as part of the LegalDental.com Law Library, and how that's making it easier to better engage with his specific clientele. This is not just a great bonus income stream, but one that cements Boyd as an expert in his particular niche. Ultimately, this is a great case study on how you can come from a wildly different professional background, deeply specialize, and thrive as an attorney. Find Boyd at https://www.legaldental.com, email him at boyd@legaldental.com, or give him a call at 832-788-4100.  ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

This week, we're once again taking a look back at the last nine episodes of the show, recapping the main points, and adding a little more perspective and discussion. We've had such great guests, and want to really sink these lessons and takeaways in, and give you a chance to hear the main points on any episodes you might have missed. 81. The Art of Email Delegation w/ Lizzy Brooks 82. Email Delegation for Attorneys w/ Maddy Martin, Jess Birken, and Tyson Mutrux 83. Finding Your Email Solutions w/ Jess Birken 84. Delivering Real Value with Subscriptions w/ Jonathan Tobin 85. Going Solo and Thriving with Your Practice w/ Carolyn Elefant 86. Tech Trends You Shouldn't Spend Money On (Yet) w/ Jess Birken and Jared Correia 87. Building the Data-Driven Law Firm w/ Ed Walters 88. FSC Live from ABA TECHSHOW! 89. The Consumerization of Legal w/ Kim Bennett As we mention at the end of the episode, if you have questions for our upcoming Q&A, please send those our way at john@fivestarcounsel.com or on any of our social channels! ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

Do you understand what legal consumers actually want? What level of service they need? What potential clients are afraid of? What can we, as attorneys, learn from other non-legal industries?  Our guest this week is Kim Bennett. Kim is the founder of K Bennett Law LLC, a boutique subscription legal services law firm that helps small businesses protect their brands and grow profitable and sustainable 7-figure organizations. We discuss how to get out of the lawyer mindset and look at your practice from the outside. We have a lot to learn from other industries, and the potential for growth is tremendous. We discuss how the legal industry is stuck in a mode where we act as a scolding parent to our confused and petulant clients, instead of anticipating their needs and understanding their concerns.  We need to find ways to focus on what the clients are actually looking for and meeting clients where they are, and let that transform our approach to legal services.  Find Kim at https://www.kbennettlaw.com, Atlanta Legal Tech, https://www.fidulegal.com/ or on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kybennett/) or Twitter (http://twitter.com/kbennettlaw). ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

In March 2022, I attended the fabulous ABA Tech Show in Chicago, and I had a chance to hear from some amazing speakers, and even chat with a few for our show. I asked our guests the same four questions: Describe the topic you're talking about at the conference Give me one takeaway from your session Tell me one thing you've learned here at ABA Techshow And lastly, what's one of the biggest distractions facing lawyers today? I spoke with some familiar names, and a few new guests: Gyi Tsakalakis, Jeannine Lambert, Ivy Grey, Jon Tobin, Jacqueline Schafer, Josh Weaver, Ann-Marie Rabago, Maddy Martin, and Bob Ambrogi. The answers I got were pretty fantastic, and I want to share them with you here this week.    ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander  

How often do you make decisions based on a limited sample size? A hunch? A loose smattering of options and outcomes you've experienced? It's time you start making your business and legal decisions based on hard data. Our guest this week, Ed Walters, is the founder and CEO of Fastcase, a legal intelligence company, and author of the book Data-Driven Law. He joins to tell us how to get started and go from anecdotes to anec-data. We discuss how you can start using data that's currently available to start making better-informed decisions, win more cases, and attract more clients. Data can even provide a new class of legal services, growing the entire market for legal services, and reduce the risk your firm and clients take. We even discuss what AI is likely to bring to the practice of law. This is a fascinating interview, and one that could change the way you practice, for the better. Find Ed at www.fastcase.com, www.docketalarm.com, or Twitter at https://twitter.com/EJWalters ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

If you spend any amount of time online, you're getting bombarded with every new tech invention that's out there, but should you be investing any of your time as a lawyer in getting these new technologies invested and integrated in your business? I've brought back Jess Birken and Jared Correia, because they both have strong thoughts on how and when we should be integrating new tech. We tackle how lawyers should approach the metaverse, VR/AR, NFTs, Crypto, Web3, and subscriptions. It was fun sitting down with two frequent guests on the podcast and really letting loose on what we think about a lot of the tech trends that are out there, but might not be ready for prime time for lawyers just yet. Find Jess on Twitter @JessBirken or at https://hackyourpractice.lawyer Find Jared at RedCaveLegal.com and subscribe to The Legal Toolkit Podcast. ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

Are you toying with the idea of going solo, but scared to take the leap? How do you know when it's time? How do you know where to start? How you do effectively serve your clients and run a business by yourself? Our guest this week is Carolyn Elefant, and she's a guru for lawyers ready to start their own practice. She's the author of "Solo By Choice," which is being re-pressed and founder of MyShingle.com, a resource guide for solo attorneys. Carolyn and I dive into our respective journeys into going solo and breaking out of the big firm paradigms. Going solo is about creating something that custom fits your strengths and goals, and at the same time creating a better, more dedicated client experience and better access to justice. We talk about a range of challenges, like how to create frictionless client experiences, getting the ideal client to self-select, and controlling your own hours, pricing, and sanity. We also cover the tools and systems we use to stay successful - virtual assistants, tech tools, and a great team. Ultimately, it's all about the freedom to create the kind of practice you want, and the myriad ways you can shape that and be set up for success. Find Carolyn at https://myshingle.com or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/carolynelefant ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

Could you be making more money with a subscription service? Possibly, but how do you create one tailored to your client base? How do we make sure we're delivering value for subscribing clients? Our guest this week is Jon Tobin, founder of Counsel For Creators, where he helps creative businesses on legal matters involving intellectual property, technology, or the arts. Counsel for Creators is centered around an affordable subscription program, with more specific legal services offered from there. We know that subscription-style legal services can work in a large variety of practice areas, but how do we actually deliver value for those subscribing clients? How do we price it right and set it up to make sense for the firm? It's not just mailbox money - you need to make it worthwhile for everyone. Jon has a ton of experience and success in the subscription world, and he shares a lot of tips and lessons he's learned along the way. Find Jon at https://counselforcreators.com/, on Instagram @counselforcreators, or Twitter at https://twitter.com/jontobinla  ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

How many hours a week are you spending on your email? Think about it. Is that time spent really your highest and best use? How are you going to find YOUR email solution? If you've been listening to the last two episodes, I think you know that you should be thinking about outsourcing your inbox. But there are still so many questions about how to really put this in place without dropping the ball in the meantime. You have doubts that you can really hand off your possibly most important communication channel. In this, part 3 of our series on outsourcing email, I sit with attorney Jess Birken to have a fun, expansive discussion of the challenges of handing off your email to an assistant, how to get started, and how to ensure that you're even more productive and responsive to clients, colleagues, and your own team. Find Jess on Twitter @JessBirken or at https://hackyourpractice.lawyer ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

How do lawyers get started with an email-focused assistant? How do we overcome the biggest personal mental roadblocks to handing off those reins? What's stopping YOU from doing this today?   This week's episode is a little different than normal - it's episode two in our three-episode series on outsourcing email. I took part in a panel discussion hosted by our friend Maddy Martin at Smith AI, focused on how to integrate a virtual email assistant. I'm joined by attorneys Jess Birken and Tyson Mutrux.   Our discussion gets to the heart of the unique challenges attorneys face with regards to email and communication in general. It's tough to let go of that control, but as we discuss in last week's episode, the benefits are tremendous.   Our panel discusses how to ensure consistency with an assistant, how to find, train, and get started with your assistant, and even how to address confidentiality and security issues.   I'm a fan of everyone involved here, and I think our discussion is very worthy of your time. Let's get to it. Find Maddy on Twitter or LinkedIn. Find Jess on Twitter @JessBirken or at https://hackyourpractice.lawyer Find Tyson on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lawyertyson or LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tysonmutrux ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

Are you spending half your day replying to emails? Are you staring at a big red number in the thousands on your email app? How can you possibly get your emails under control and even off your plate? Emails are robbing you of your valuable time, and though it sounds impossible, you really can delegate and hand most of that work off to an assistant. This episode is the first in a three-part series of episodes focused on email delegation. To get us started, our guest this week is Lizzy Brooks, the founder of Virtually Brooks, a virtual assistant agency that specializes in taking all that email work off your plate. We discuss the art of email delegation, and the challenges many folks find in getting started. It may be hard to let go of that control, especially when you're being addressed directly in an email, but the fact is, so much of email is task-related, and really can be outsourced. It takes a little time to get set up, and for your assistant to learn your voice and your business, but the amount you can save could be hours a day. We discuss how to get started, the processes and procedures you need in place, and how to tailor an email assistant to you, so you can be focused on your highest and best use. Find Lizzy at https://www.virtuallybrooks.com/ or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizzy-brooks/. ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander

It's time for our listeners to get their burning questions answered! John delivers some fun, quick-hitting tips, tackling a host of great listener questions ranging from tech tools to gifting to Web3 to John's penchant for The Dillinger Escape Plan. As we mention at the end of the episode, if you have questions for our next Q&A episode, please send those our way at john@fivestarcounsel.com or on any of our social channels! ----- FiveStarCounsel.com Get our FREE client service whitepaper! Join the Five Star Counsellors FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575616019297055 Here's a link for you to get 20% off your first year of using TextExpander! - https://fivestarcounsel.com/textexpander