Podcast appearances and mentions of Allison C Williams

Associate bonus compensation is vital in retaining top talent at your law firm and motivating your employees. In order to create a bonus incentive plan, however, you need to have an answer to three specific questions:  What does your business need? 2. What will motivate your associates? 3. What is your M.V.P.? In this episode, we discuss:  The 3 questions to start the process of configuring the bonus compensation plan. Try to create parity between what's expected and what's delivered. How much should be going to the base compensation based on the market. Be sure what will motivate your associates so you can create the right incentive plan. What you are going to create in the future so you have the balance of your profit and your expenses in appropriate ratios Allison C. Williams, Esq. Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law. Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm by 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms. Contacts – Social Media https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist LFM Podcast: Necessity of Growth https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/podcast/2021/03/16/the-necessity-of-growth Snip-Its 00:16:57 (36 Seconds) As your company grows, you might not want to differentiate the types of benefits that you give from person to person, but you might, right? You might want to have a structured bonus plan whereby people get to elect at the beginning of the year what bonus they're going to be pursuing. You can build out your entire budget around if a person hits a budget, a goal so that they are entitled to bonus compensation that it's already paid for by virtue of you starting at the beginning of the year, setting aside the funds that are going to be necessary for that. But the worst thing that you can do is presuppose that the only thing people care about is money.

Do you want to invite in more work? Welcome back to part three of Law Firm KPIs where I'll show you how to improve the ways you serve your clients. Here are three straightforward methods to optimize how you expand your work.   In this episode we discussed: How creating an SKU will help you to not underprice your services. Tracking every client conversation in the past, present, and future. Keeping your clients seeking you out for more opportunities to serve them, as a future goal. How staying connected with your clients correlates with generating more organic referrals.   My Favorite Excerpt From The Episode: TIME: 00:23:18 (33 Seconds)  So sometimes the way that we would involve a client was simply to tell them, You know, this is what my plan is for court. Are you on board with that? And the client says I'd rather pay you to spend time with me, talk me through, etc. Or even there's got to be some compromise. I don't want to just be seen, greeted, and then have you disappear. You can actually start to finagle some, some better results there.   Contacts - Social Media The Crushing Chaos Master Class-   To sign up and get more information about our Legal Sales for Lawyers and Non-Lawyers Online Course Text SALES at 908 292 3524.   Book a Session with our Growth Strategists https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist    Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law. Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms.

Are you really doing the work? Welcome back to part two of Law Firm KPIs, where I'll show you how tracking your metrics will optimize and automate your business. To ensure that you are moving a case from start to finish as efficiently and profitably as possible. In this episode we discussed: How to make sure you're doing the work, and the metrics you need to do so.  How to automate your workload. Monitoring the average hours per case and by subtype Knowing the level of cost per case and case type How to use the utilization rate to fix how much time you really spend doing the work.   My Favorite Excerpt From The Episode: TIME: 00:23:18 (33 Seconds) What a lot of people do, however, is they completely disregard that metric altogether, and they simply go with gut and they say, Well, right now I feel really busy. Sometimes feeling really busy is as a result of being really mentally disorganized and having a lot of thoughts running through your head and a lot of obligations that you don't have effectively managed on a calendar or a task management system or a CRM. And so you're in somewhat of an inner chaos that now makes you feel that you are overloaded on work. And it's times like that that people will go out and hire.   Contacts - Social Media Book: Simple Numbers by Greg Crabtree To sign up and get more information about our Legal Sales for Lawyers and Non-Lawyers Online Course Text SALES at 908 292 3524. Book a Session with our Growth Strategists https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist    Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law. Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms.

Do you want to break free of the revenue rollercoaster that holds back so many law firms? It's a challenging task for those of us who are concerned about the quality of care we can provide for our clients and employees—often neglecting many things that would make the business and everyone's experience with it much better. Here are three categories of KPIs that will help you overcome just that!  In this episode we discussed: Restructuring your thinking around different metrics in order to have recurring revenue in your law firm. Getting out of that feast or famine mindset by creating a series of funnels. Ways of looking at and differentiating leads. Cost per lead versus cost of client acquisition. Operationalizing and optimizing performance in the area of sales in your law firm. How to avoid appointment no-shows.   My Favorite Excerpt From The Episode: TIME: 00:24:26 (33 Seconds) Well, people fail to show up for a lot of reasons. Sometimes it's about how comfortable they are with the person on the phone. Sometimes it's about the fact that they paid or did not pay for the consult. Ding, ding ding. By the way, if you are giving away free consultations, I urge you to stop. I know that there are a couple of practice areas where you are by statute, required to, or by industry, you feel compelled to. However, you tend to get a much higher show-up rate on people that are paying to actually come to the Consult.   Contacts - Social Media Our website: www.lawfirmmentor.net   To sign up and get more information about our Legal Sales for Lawyers and Non-Lawyers Online Course Text SALES at 908 292 3524.   Text Us at 908 292 3524 Text Retreat to know more about the upcoming retreat.   Book a Session with our Growth Strategists https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist    Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law. Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms.

LinkedIn is a golden opportunity for lawyers seeking to uplevel your clientele. Today I'm going to show you that LinkedIn is not just somewhere to find a job or public speaking gigs. You can find clients there, but the way that most lawyers use LinkedIn is counterproductive. Let's discuss some strategies to uplevel your social media performance. In this episode we discussed: 3 Key Strategies You Can Use To Dramatically Improve Your Results On This Platform How To Optimize Your Profile For Search Engines Optimizing Content With Video Marketing How Significant A Page Can Be For You On LinkedIn.   My Favorite Excerpt From The Episode: TIME: 00:12:15 (31 Seconds) Now, I highly recommend results marketing no matter what right? A client, a prospect is going to be much more excited by reading that you were, that you have one more than a dozen trials with verdicts over a million dollars. That's much more impressive than we've represented hundreds of people with great results, right? The more specific the outcome and the more desirable the outcome, the more clarity that a person has that your outcome is also the same as their desired outcome.   Social Media Register for the Immediate Cash Injection Webinar on February 10, 2022! https://bit.ly/LFM-CashNow Video Marketing: The Dawn of Lead Generation Podcast: https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/podcast/2020/05/12/video-marketing-the-dawn-of-lead-generation   Simon Sinek TED Talk: Start with the Why. Simon Sinek TED Talk: Find your Why.   Text MARKETING at 908 292 3524 to sign up for the Online Accelerator Course.   Contact Me: Text Us at 908 292 3524 Text Retreat to know more about the upcoming one. Book a Session with our Growth Strategists https://lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist/    Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law. Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms.

There are a lot of misconceptions that people have about owning a law firm as a business because they focus on just doing well in their practice. The lawyering part you know already, but owning a law firm and knowing the cold hard truths of what it takes to be successful takes an entirely new perspective.  Many people will give you the wrong advice because they don't want to shock you with reality, but not me. In this episode, I want to talk about the cold hard truths of being the owner of a law firm and the journey of transcending the business to become the CEO you envision. In this episode we discuss: Four hard, cold truths about owning a law firm How broke is a state of being, more than it is a reality Why you can't save your way out of being broke The positive results of evolving your thinking and your patterns Why you can't punish your employees that are screwing up The mindset of the employee versus the entrepreneur versus the CEO Why you can't expect the mediocre to evolve into rock stars The value of using an assessment when hiring A common tie between lawyering and self-esteem How committing to being the CEO will mean having to redefine yourself Balancing the energy of being a manager and the energy of being a leader Leadership versus management   Social Media www.LawFirmMentor.net   Contact Me: Text Us at 908 292 3524 Text Retreat to know more about the upcoming one. Book a Session with our Growth Strategists https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist   Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law. Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms.

Owning a business is chaos (I've been there). As a CEO without a full team or the resources to build one, the work can just seem to pile up. Let's chat about my 4-quadrant system that will put your work into the right context so you can get more done, and find a team that connects with you. In this episode I discuss: Using a Four Quadrant System that helps you understand how to put your work in the proper context Identifying which category each task belongs in by asking yourself 3 key questions. How to find the easiest method of organization to avoid dealing with overwhelm. Getting into the habit of training yourself how to use the four-quadrant system.  Making sure that time to complete, urgent Category A item is added to your calendar. Building in buffer time on your calendar to take a deep breath, eat and relax for a moment. My Favorite Excerpt From The Episode: TIME: 00:30:23 (31 Seconds) I'm a big proponent of cleaning off our desk at the end of the week so that all that stuff that's accumulated can go into the categorization, and do so in a way that gives you a release of the stress of, Oh my God, look at all this stuff on my desk. But, assuming that you didn't even get to it, the category D stuff is probably not going to blow up, even if you didn't look at it, right? The category A stuff is the stuff you always want to be, you know, insight and in mind. Right? You don't want to be stressed over it, but you do want to be aware of it.   Social Media www.LawFirmMentor.net   Contact Me: Text Us at 908 292 3524 Text Retreat to know more about the upcoming one. Book a Session with our Growth Strategists https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist   Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law. Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms.  

You have probably heard the saying, “the best time to plant a tree was 50 years ago. The second best time is today.” There is so much truth in this proverb and it applies perfectly to how we handle delays, and negative mindsets in our law firm. Let's chat about how you can approach problem-solving in your business.  In this episode I discuss: Three things to think about when you are approaching problem-solving in your law firm. Developing strategies for how to solve problems. Additional problems caused by delaying solutions. How delay tends to beget more delay. Breaking the habit of hiring with a negative mindset. Recognizing the power that we give to our own ineptitude.   My Favorite Excerpt From The Episode: TIME: 00:08:16 (34 Seconds) So if you start creating rules that you don't enforce, the next thing that happens is people learn from you. Ah, when she says there's a new rule, it really is a conditional rule. It's a rule that exists if I feel like following it, or it's a rule that exists if there's no exigent circumstance or it's a rule that exists, but I can override it if something really important comes up. So the delay in your choice to address that problem has allowed those seeds of miseducation to seep into your team.   Social Media How to Be Decisive Podcast: https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/podcast/2021/08/20/how-to-be-decisive The Seven Strategies to Achieve Rapid Growth in Your Law  Firm in 2022. https://fb.me/e/4Seq24lvW   Contact Me: Text Us at 908 292 3524 Text Retreat to know more about the upcoming one.   Book a Session with our Growth Strategists https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist   Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law. Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms.

Do you have problems maintaining a positive culture in a rapidly growing company? Unfortunately, there can be a lot of dysfunction in a business that expands quickly, especially in situations where the owner is not physically present with the team. In this week's episode of the Law Firm Mentor Podcast, I want to give you some positive cultural idioms that you can use to structure your business. Allowing you to work from anywhere at any time and still give your employees their lane. It's an incredible thing to embolden and empower your team, and by the end of this episode, you'll see how you can even have them performing above and beyond their expectations. Let's eliminate these problems before you feel the need to abandon ship. In this episode we discuss: Creating a positive law firm culture. The importance of including respect and a lack of abdication in the anatomy of your team. Making sure all your employees meet the Attitude, Aptitude, and Fit criteria of your company. Having a person who filters the incoming information. Cultural problems deriving from not having adequate supportive communication.   Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info: The LFM Scorecard https://www.dropbox.com/s/wz5xhyu7awogpet/Culture%20Score%20Card.docx?dl=0 Webinar on January 13th - Seven Strategies to Achieve Rapid Growth in Your Law Firm in 2022: https://bit.ly/LFM-7Strategies Text Us at 908 292 3524 Book a Session with our Growth Strategists Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets 00: 31:09 (36 Seconds) And if you want to be away from your office, whether it's not working or working, you have to create an environment where you as the leader, if you're still going to own the entity and be anything more than a silent shareholder, you as the leader have to be intentional about leadership. So that means while you are off somewhere, you need to have someone on somewhere in your business, and if you're not going to have someone on somewhere, you have to be strategic about placing yourself in different places in order to make sure that your presence is felt.

The beautiful thing is that with a new year, we get new opportunities to change the way that we're looking at the world, change what we are doing to bring about new opportunities in the world. I wanted to share with you some of the things that we have coming up here at Law Firm Mentor that is going to help you to do just that. Actually, look at your business differently and create better results than you have already created for yourself. So our first webinar of the year is going to be on Thursday, January 13th, and you're going to find that webinar information in the show notes. You can click on the link to it in our show notes, but it is Seven strategies to Achieve Rapid Growth in your Law Firm in 2022. You have heard me say before, more money, more free time, right? More money comes from marketing and sales, the more free time comes from people and systems. So here at Law Firm Mentor, we help lawyers with marketing, sales, people, and systems. In this episode we discuss: 3 Success principles we've learned from doubling our revenue in a year at Law Firm Mentor. How the quality of the team correlates with the quality of the company. The fact that not every client is your client. Making decisions quickly to get to rapid growth.   Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info: Webinar on January 13th - Seven Strategies to Achieve Rapid Growth in Your Law Firm in 2022: https://bit.ly/LFM-7Strategies Text Us at 908 292 3524 Book a Session with our Growth Strategists Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets 00: 09: 21 (33 Seconds) So teaching is something that I naturally feel I have a gift for. I've been told I have a gift for it and it's something that I personally enjoy. So I want to fill my life, fill my business, fill my time with things that I enjoy, and I also want to be able to use the information that I have, the information that helps lawyers in my own community, my existing clients, as well as lawyers who find Law Firm Mentor and say, Yeah, I want some of that. I want you to have the ability to consume the content in a way that I think is going to be most powerful and effective for you to implement.

I've seen commentary on social media lately where people are presupposing that they deserve the best in terms of acquiring employees and resentment about the fact that they're getting what they feel to be less than what they deserve.    When there's any type of distress in the marketplace is- there's almost always an inherent lack mindset that goes into that level of business development. But if the problem around you is lack, the solution is abundance.    When there's not enough, how do you create more than enough? Tune in and I'll show you! In this episode we discuss: Creating abundance versus falling into a lack mindset in times of economic retraction. Setting the standard for how you show up. Three questions to ask yourself to determine if you deserve the best. The importance of committing yourself to achieve your desired outcome.  Taking responsibility and controlling your attitude when life happens. The impact you're going to create by honoring your commitments.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   The Four Agreements book - by Don Miguel Ruiz Text CONNECT at 908 292 3524 https://lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist/  Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 09: 35 (36 Seconds)  Are you saying to your team, I want you here in business casual and then you're showing up looking raggedy? You know, think about that. Think about how you are showing up for your clients. Are your clients getting the best version of you? Are your clients getting the version of you that that's prim and proper? Are, are your clients getting the version of you, that's smart and tenacious, that's zealous, that's engaged, or are you kind of half assing it or phoning it in? Right? Are you, are you just kind of doing the minimum to get people in the door?   00:17:43 (38 Seconds) So there's a whole lot that goes into the idea of honoring commitments. Your commitments are not just your commitments to, to agreements that you make, but it's also to really the agreement that you make with yourself as to who you're going to be in this world and what you're going to achieve in this world, how much you're going to accomplish, how many people you're going to help. What is the impact you're going to create, right? When we think about that, when we think about am I creating the impact that I want to in this world? Then it becomes a lot easier for you to say to another person, you made a commitment that you were going to show up in this office in a certain way.

Who does what in your law firm? There are many different roles in law firms, and I think most people conceptually understand the distinction between a lawyer and a paralegal and a legal assistant and a file clerk.   There are three categories of behavior required in every law firm, finders, minders and grinders. I'm sure you've heard of these before, but I wanted to give a perceptual frame for them that might be a little different than what you've heard before.   It's so important as a solo law firm owner that you divorce yourself from at least some of these roles.   Tune in to learn how! In this episode we discuss: The roles in a law firm and the three categories that you require, being Grinders, Minders and Finders. Recognizing the characteristics from each category. How solo law firm owners also require some degree of compliance for themselves. The importance of creating enterprise goodwill that will carry your business forward. Being a solo lawyer and its challenges. Considering the time you are spending in each of these categories.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   MasterClass December 8th Text CONNECT at 908 292 3524 https://lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist/   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 19: 02 (38 Seconds)  So I remember I recently had a conversation. Very good friend of mine decided that she was going to phase out of practicing law in the way that she is. She doesn't, she no longer has her law firm open, and we had a lot of conversations about what she wanted to do with it. Did she want to sell it? Did you just want to close it? Like, what? What is the process? And so just kind of being alongside her as she was going through that process, I learned a lot about valuation of law firms. Now, as a matrimonial attorney and family law attorney for many years, I of course knew about valuations of businesses and periodically we would have a client who owned a law firm.

With the holiday season quickly approaching, we here at the Law Firm Mentor have been very busy preparing for a new year! Enjoy this Replay of one of my most favorite, thought provoking episodes.   I have seen quite a bit of commentary in the Law Firm Mentor movement about hiring lately and mental blocks to hiring. I feel many develop those mental blocks to hiring because of the problems that they encounter with employees once they are on-board. So, today I wanted to give you a framework for thinking about the failure of your employees.   We know that getting the wrong people in in the first place is almost always going to ensure that you won't be successful with your employees. But do you have someone who you can remediate or do you need to start the process over again? This framework will help you remove all of the guesswork and make a clear plan.   Tune in! In this episode we discuss: Three reasons that employees fail. The challenge of understanding an employee's job when you haven't performed that job. How attitude influences the ability to fit into a position role and office environment. Understanding the reasons an employee may not comply with your directions without jumping to your own immediate conclusions. How systems can help set the framework for employee success. The importance of training and following up to verify that there is understanding.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Please note this recording references the Crushing Chaos Masterclass the week of May 10th. 00:20:12   Need a link to the next set of classes December 6-14, 2021       https://lawfirmmentor.net/masterclass    Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:16:16 (48 Seconds) Don't take it personally that they're not complying with the rule, because when you go into your feelings and make it about how you're being disrespected or how you're not getting what you desire or how you have told this person over and over again and the person's not doing it, when you start making those stories real in your mind, what tends to happen is you shut down in your problem solving ability and you stop looking for what is the real reason and start assuming that your thoughts about the situation are the real reason why the employee is not complying. So that means you could very easily sternly punish or ultimately terminate someone who is not complying for reasons that could easily have been ameliorated if you had been willing to be open to have a conversation.   00:18:12 (43 Seconds) They haven't learned from you that the way you want it done is non-negotiable. So I don't say this to mean that you need to have a stern corrective conversation where you get your finger out and stick it at them and say this is non-negotiable because I'm the boss. I'm talking about an error of how we systematize. OK, so what is really, really important when we talk about employees is that there be a cultural imperative for how we do things. Even if you have not set that tone, had that conversation reorganized activity around that conversation, your employees are still picking up from the ether how things are happening in this business.

How do you do all of the work that is mounting on your desk when you don't have a full team or lack the resources to be able to assemble a team?    Many lawyers often say to themselves, “I have too much and I'm not yet at the place where I can hire.” Almost invariably that's the wrong assumption, but that's the belief system at that moment.    So I wanted to share with you all a four-quadrant system that I created that helps people to understand how to put their work in the proper context while they have too much work to do.   Tune in to learn more!   In this episode we discuss: Using a Four Quadrant System that helps you understand how to put your work in the proper context. Identifying which category each task belongs in by asking yourself 3 key questions. How to find the easiest method of organization to avoid dealing with overwhelm. Getting into the habit of training yourself how to use the four-quadrant system. Making sure that time to complete urgent, Category A items is added to your calendar. Building in buffer time on your calendar to take a deep breath, eat and relax a moment. Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   www.LawFirmMentor.net Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 30: 23 (31 Seconds)  I'm a big proponent of cleaning off our desk at the end of the week so that all that stuff that's accumulated can go into the categorization, and do so in a way that gives you a release of the stress of, Oh my God, look at all this stuff on my desk. But, assuming that you didn't even get to it, the category D stuff is probably not going to blow up, even if you didn't look at it, right? The category A stuff is the stuff you always want to be, you know, in sight and in mind. Right? You don't want to be stressed over it, but you do want to be aware of it.

In today's episode I talk about law firm scholarships. Recently, I remember seeing a post where someone raised the question about how to create a law firm scholarship. This individual had seen a lot about them and thought, “Hey, this seems like a really cool idea, and I want to help our local high school community.” So, in essence this scholarship would be a philanthropic tool used to help this person's small town. I loved that idea!    I'd like to share with that person and then ultimately share with you guys some of the thoughts around these scholarships and how to use them for the greatest good in your law firm.   Tune in to learn more about creating impactful law firm scholarships! In this episode we discuss: Creating a law firm scholarship. How creating a scholarship can impact SEO, driving traffic to your website. Partnering with local high schools and community colleges to promote your scholarship. The benefit of being highlighted as a provider of an asset to the local or national community. Considering the rules for your scholarship and the demographic profile required for applicants. Determining how to verify compliance to the guidelines for spending the scholarship money. Sharing your presentation of the scholarship on social media and everywhere possible.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   www.LawFirmMentor.net Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 08: 45 (36 Seconds)  Now, unfortunately, higher education is notoriously bad at promoting all the different available options or scholarships for students. In fact, I remember at one point in time I was helping my cousin. She's now a young woman in her late 20s, but I remember I was helping her to apply to go to college. And one of the things that was astounding to me was the fact that there was an entire service dedicated to helping high school students learn what scholarships were available. And I said, well, wouldn't we get that information when she gets into the different colleges? And the answer was yes and no.

Today I am talking about crushing the chaos in your client communications. I want to direct your attention to the idea of automating as many of your client communications as possible. I realize that automating client communications can be a cringe-worthy topic for many lawyers. There is a belief system that says, “Hey, I can't automate communications! There's a relationship component that's really where those increased referrals come from.”    Yes, client communication gives you an opportunity to be a rock star, but lawyers are learning that there's a differentiation that comes from having a really solid communications process for your clients.   Tune in to find out exactly what the difference is. In this episode we discuss: Automating as many of your client communications as possible. How creating a drip campaign is an opportunity for you to eliminate confusion for your clients.  Instilling more confidence in your clients by building processes, systems, and structure. Adding personal connection in a way that doesn't require personal activity. Ensuring that you are communicating with your client. Adding value by overdelivering through additional support materials and education to possibly generate additional or future work.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   www.LawFirmMentor.net Client Avatar Podcast – Who Are Your Clients?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l7MI7JUL_4    How To Deal with Difficult Clients Podcast – Keep Your Difficult Clients?   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx8kqWXE3cI    Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 21: 27 (31 Seconds)  You know, whatever it is that you do, I want you to be thinking about your communications with your client as a way of doing three things. One, helping them to feel so supported by the level of education, information, guidance, and support you're offering that you're offering something in excess of what is minimally required by your retainer agreement. OK? You should always be looking to overdeliver for the value you're charging a client. Second, think about it as a way to generate more work from the existing client, right? 

In today's episode, I'm talking about firing your family from your law firm.  I know I have talked about the need for us to really have very clear boundaries with those that we employ so that we can get optimal performance out of our team, and how that is particularly necessary when you have family members in your law firm. Today, I want to expound upon that a little bit because I know that there are several people out there who started off their law firm not having a whole lot of revenue, not having a whole lot of clients. As a result, they had their spouse, or another family member, come into their law firm to provide some much-needed assistance.    I don't want to say that working with family never works. There is definitely a positive element to having family members in your law firm. But I want to talk about, in particular, the challenge of firing your family because so many people I know are contemplating that, and/or have already gone down that road- and there have been ripple effects.  In this episode we discuss: The challenge associated with having family work in your law firm. Setting boundaries when you add another person to your culture. Risking a claim if you treat employees differently. How different circumstances can determine the manner in which you fire someone. Remaining in the context of the employer when terminating a relative.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   www.LawFirmMentor.net https://lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist/  Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 03:00 (48 Seconds)  The reality is, if your mom screws something up, it is going to be more challenging for another employee who might be inclined normally to come to you as the saving grace and say, Hey boss, I wanted to let you know that the new girl in aisle four has just messed up X, Y, Z. She's probably not going to say that if the new girl is your mom right, or if it is, if the relationship is the other way around. If you have had mom here for years and someone comes in, that person is going to have a different attitude toward your relatives than they might have toward just any other employee. And this doesn't have to be inherently bad, but it tends to be... not universal. But it tends to be that when somebody comes into a workplace, they are always looking for the hierarchy, right?

In today's episode I talk about law firm retreats. For me, this is a fun topic because I love talking about what we can do to up-level our law firms.    Even though I spend a lot of time talking about solving the problems of our law firms, I know that there are plenty of people who listen to this podcast and already have a fully systematized law firm. These firms aren't necessarily perfect or running at top speed, but they're established enough for law firm owners to feel comfortable enough to begin planning how to take their firms to the next level.     I've been asked recently how to create a law firm retreat, who should be involved, and how to make it a great experience. So, that's what I'll cover today. In this episode we discuss: How retreats can up-level your firm. Being very clear on the purpose of your retreat. Make your retreat an experience to re-energizing of themselves and their community. Choosing wisely a location for your team to have a nice experience. How important is it to keep people engaged, active, and participating during the retreat. The facilitator you are going to bring depends on what you choose to convey.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   www.LawFirmMentor.net Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 09: 44 (38 Seconds)  But one of the challenges that we encountered as of March of 2020 when we could no longer have live retreats at least immediately, we were legally barred from having live retreats. Now there's some logistical challenges with us having live retreats is that we had to move ourselves on to having a virtual experience. And a lot of people, after they started using Zoom for the first time, a lot of lawyers were not using Zoom, except for the occasional meeting here or there, but they certainly didn't live on Zoom. It became a real struggle to try to tell someone that you're going to have a good experience when you sit on a virtual platform for hours, and hours, and hours on end.

This episode is dedicated to the topic of success. It was originally recorded and published in May 2021, so if you're new to my podcast, I'm bringing this one back just for you.    Several of us as solo and small law firm attorneys want success, and we all have these grandiose thoughts about what success looks like. But then, we see people that we perceive to be successful who are not living that for themselves. Instead, they are working 80-90 hours a week. They're exhausted, moody, or may even have health problems. They may have just a negative disposition about life. We begin to think that you can't experience both success and freedom.   Sometimes we're pursuing success and sometimes we're pursuing rest and relaxation, as if those two things run counter to each other. But I want to give you a framework today to actually see success very differently so that you'll be able to create success easier, faster and with more ease along the path. In this episode we discuss: The power of envisioning success to create what your very own success looks like for you. How success looks different for different people. Planning for the reality of your successful dream life. How ‘Acting As If' embodies being, doing and having the lifestyle you desire. Identifying what you can change in your belief cycle to help focus on desired outcomes. Agreeing not to stop the process when you hit your terror barrier. Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   https://lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist/    Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets 00:02:45 (49 Seconds) So what does it mean to get to that easy way of creating success? Well, this is going to sound really, really, really offensive. So please promise me that you're going to stick around for a couple of minutes after I say this. Don't tune me out right away. But the easiest way to create success is simply to create the vision. Now, whenever I tell lawyers that all you have to do is envision what your success will look like, I get a lot of eye rolls, I get a lot of tuning out. I get kind of the blank stare. So I want to tell you what I mean by that, and why it's so important that that's where we start.   00:09:13 (36 Seconds) You start creating all of the excuses, all of the rationalizations as to why you can't have what you want before you actually seek what you want. So it's important that you actually seek what you want first and hold firm to that vision and let your energy go behind what you want so that that's what expands in your life. OK, after you've created the vision, the next thing is, the part that's not so sexy is creating the plan. You have to plan the eventuality that you're going to have this life.

Today we are sharing a previously recorded episode that is just as timely as it was when it was first recorded. In it I wanted to talk about the need for growth and how it ties into the subject of intake.   You want more clients and more money, which means you need to grow.   However, growth is often destabilizing.   How can you and your law firm successfully work through the ‘growing pains'? Stay tuned to find out!   In this episode we discuss: How growth can be destabilizing, yet necessary. 5 principles of why we need to grow. The necessity of having a CEO and the CEO's responsibilities. How opportunity is the fuel that propels a business forward. The money math of growing and investing in your business while experiencing inflation. How clearing clutter removes energy, making room for new energy. Why growth can trigger a fear of abandonment. How growth can help to overcome entrepreneurial burnout. Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Allison references that the scheduler will be in the show notes to reach out and schedule time to speak with a member of our team.   https://go.oncehub.com/LawFirmMentor   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:43:44 Allison Williams (50 Seconds) The fifth reason why growth is a necessity in business is that most entrepreneurs do not burn out from doing more. They burn out from accomplishing less. Ok, hear me when I say this, I'm going to say it again, because I think it's one of the most profound things that you can come to terms with as a law firm owner. Most entrepreneurs don't burn out from doing more. They burn out from accomplishing less. Ok, think about that for a moment. It's not really that we are tired, that we are kind of chasing our tails, if you will. A lot of people don't mind putting in the work if they're getting somewhere. It's that emotionally deflating feeling of putting in the work year over year over year without having that return on the investment of your time, that you're putting in, and what you're getting out is a few pennies more.

Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Melissa Houston, chartered professional accountant, a CPA, a financial strategist for CEOs, columnist for Forbes.com, and the host of the Business Society Podcast.    Melissa helps successful business owners increase their profit margins without having to increase revenue so that they keep more money in their pocket while increasing their personal wealth.    As business owners, we have to be very mindful of getting the information that we need from a source that we trust, but also in a way that we are able to use it. We're expected to be badass in business the way that we are badass in law. But the reality is finance is an entire industry and none of us should feel bad about ourselves because we don't know what we don't know, right?    Melissa Houston is a reliable source to inform, tune in to learn more!  In this episode we discuss: The importance of knowing your numbers as a law firm owner. The value of financial coaching. Why profit is far more important than revenue. How as a business owner, having more control over the wealth that you're creating. Understanding your money mindset and creating financial goals. Getting clear on what you want your money to do for you. A five-step money framework. Your responsibility to check in on the financial health of your business.   Guest Bio:   Melissa Houston is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). a Financial Strategist for CEOs, a columnist at Forbes.com, and the host of The Business Society podcast. Melissa helps successful business owners increase their profit margins without having to increase revenue so that they keep more money in their pocket while increasing their personal wealth.    Melissa has over 20 years of business experience with large and small  corporations, government, and not-for-profit industries while specializing in Internal Controls, corporate accounting, budgets, financial reporting, corporate & personal tax, audit, and SR&ED. Melissa enjoys helping business owners build their businesses by increasing their financial management skills. Your numbers are telling you a story - make sure you are listening to it.    Melissa's passion is helping business owners go from 6-figure to 7-figure businesses and achieving their personal financial dreams.    When Melissa isn't helping entrepreneurs become better CEO's of their business, she can be found at the cottage with her husband Jamie, two teen children, and three dogs.   Contact info:   Five-Step Roadmap to Biz Finance Freedom is available on the Website   Website: www.melissahoustoncpa.com Forbes Contributions: www.forbes.com/sites/melissahouston/ ?sh=4de028d25ee8  Email: info@)melissahoustoncpa.com  Twitter: /melissahcpa  Facebook: /melissa.houston.1420354  lnstagram: /melissahoustoncpa/  Linkedln: /melissahcpa   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 20: 14 (30. Seconds)  And I especially see it with my clients that are lawyers as well is that when they come to me, there's a lot of shame and a lot of, you know, just feeling bad about themselves because they're like, I'm such a smart person. How do I not understand how to manage my money, right? And it's not that you're not smart. It's because, you know, your life centered around becoming a lawyer. I'm pretty sure nobody taught you how to run a business when you're trying to study for the bar exam, right?

Is it October already? Seeing as the holidays are quickly approaching, it seemed appropriate to replay an episode from December 2020.   This episode is one that I think you're going to get plenty of value out of because even though the topic is sabbatical, and you may or may not have even thought about the possibility, let alone the desire of taking a sabbatical.    Freedom to be able to take a sabbatical implicates a lot of different moving pieces in a law firm. I want to go over some of the key things that you have to do in order to achieve that sabbatical so that whether you want to have one for yourself or not, you can step freely away from your business for an extended amount of time knowing that the business will still run without you. In this episode we discuss:   Contemplating the possibility of being able to take time away from your law firm.   A list of specific things you absolutely need in place to be able to have your firm run without you and continue to generate income. Understanding your marketing approach and your client avatar. Having a successful intake process in place. The importance of having clearly defined roles for who does what. Managing money and reporting systems.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler:  https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor    Snippets   00:39:43 Now, if you personally are struggling with taking time away from your law firm and you really want to get to a place where you can even just take an extended vacation more than a week away, you have to get these things lined up. And there's a very specific way that you can do this that does not involve stress or agita. It involves directing your attention to different activity than those that you're currently doing. Because at the end of the day, we are the product of our choices. You don't like the result you have in your law firm, you can make a different choice and we can help you do that.

In today's episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with John Hinson of Spotlight Branding. We had a really great conversation about marketing, but not from your usual perspective.    I think a lot of times when we, as law firm owners, want to solve a problem, we literally want to press a button and poof our marketing works, or we want to hire someone that we can just hand them a check and say, here, you go do the marketing thing while I go practice law - and that's how my business will grow. But John actually teaches and promotes a way of being more strategic with your marketing, fixing things that are kinks in your funnel.    I can't wait for you to apply some of these gems to your own business! Stay tuned! In this episode we discuss: Marketing, but not from the usual perspective. Fixing the problems in your marketing funnels. Ways of being more strategic with your marketing to save more time and money. Getting people from cold to warm and finally be interested in your business. Generating business from current and past clients by nurturing the relationship.  Creating a consistent marketing ecosystem that does much more to generate leads.   Guest Bio:   John Hinson is an author, podcast host, and Marketing Manager at Spotlight Branding and has spent the last  several years helping law firms grow by maximizing their referrals and attracting the right kind of clients. He is the  host of The Law Firm Marketing Minute and Center Stage, two popular podcasts dedicated to helping lawyers and  other white-collar professionals overcome marketing and business development challenges that they face while  running their own firm.    He is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and small business owners build marketing systems and internal  processes that help their businesses run smoothly and achieve their growth goals.    John received his Master's degree from East Carolina University. In his free time, he has written and published  more than 15 books on lesser known historical events and built a website documenting over 200 waterfalls along  the Appalachian Mountains.    Contact info:   John Hinson  - SpotlightBranding.com/solo – Free Resources   Website URL: www.spotlightbranding.com   Email: john@spotlightbranding.com   Phone Number: 17046432238   Facebook url: https://www.facebook.com/spotlightbranding   Twitter Username: @SpotlightLawyer   LinkedIn url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2379244/   YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPWwPRr0bqxZgflPgkgcebg   Instagram username: @SpotlightLawyer Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:17:59 (43 Seconds)  John Hinson: And just, it makes it so that people understand, OK, this you're the lawyer for the job. This is what you cover. This is how you can help. And we've seen that just doing that, that simple little strategy right there. You know, our clients come back to us. Every email they send out multiple requests for new business or repeat business or referrals or anything like that every single month. Allison Williams: Yeah. Well, I think what you're saying right here is just pure gold because I think a lot of lawyers don't start the process of content marketing because they think, OK, great. Now I have to sit down and download my brain and write a legal treatise, and they want to put five thousand details in. And I always say less is more here, right? You're not, you're not speaking to a judge, you're speaking to a person who just needs to know that you know what you're talking about.

In today's episode I'm talking about law firm PTSD - which can be defined as that very tricky, undiagnosed mental health disorder that is seen when we are dealing with a new employee who's come into our company and is still suffering the effects of their residuals from their previous employer.    Now I know a lot of you have had experiences where you bring in a new employee and you're really excited to work with them as soon as they come in. But pretty soon in the process, you start to see some pretty unnerving behaviors, right? You start to see that the person is really jumpy or highly defensive, or the person seems to be terrified of doing anything without asking 15 different ways if they're doing the right thing.    I want you to consider that there are a lot of things that can cause that level of distress in a person. We're going to talk about what some of those are. But for the most part, I want you to just give yourselves the gift of saying that how these people move in the world, what their experience is when they first come into your business is something that you can respond to in a way that gives them a better experience and increases the likelihood that they will stay with you as an employee.   In this episode we discuss: Strategies to deal with a new employee who's come into your company still suffering the effects of their residuals from a previous employer. Shifting some of those feelings of PTSD. Giving your new employee time to adapt and heal. The importance of not taking anything personally. How having a positive mindset will help you work with any PTSD law firm employee.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info: Book The Four Agreements- Don Miguel Ruiz Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 15: 30 (38 Seconds)  Well, the one thing you would never want to do is to break that person's spirit, if you will, by becoming Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, right? You don't want to be one person all day, every day, and then as soon as that one person is tired of it and frustrated with whatever the employee did, you snap and you become someone else. Because that lack of consistency is going to say to them that the problem is much worse than they believed it to be, that whatever they have going on, they're now at greater risk.

In today's episode I'm asking you all “who are your clients”?   I've gotten a lot of questions recently about how to serve clients, take care of oneself and family, while creating financial wealth? It's almost like the idea of helping people who are poor is so foreign to the legal profession that people who want to do that work also assume that what comes along with the legal profession is affluence, abundance, financial success. It's not true, but that's the perception.   This leads to the thought that, “if I do anything outside of what's customarily done in the legal profession, if I go outside of serving the rich, I really can't make myself money,” and that is absolutely false.   Tune in and I'll explain why.   In this episode we discuss: Differences selling to the affluent versus those that on the face of it can't afford your services. Strategies to be financially successful while still giving back to your community. Putting your mask on first while building your success. How the obligation to give as a condition of your receiving, is emotional manipulation. The Universal Law of Reciprocity and having expectations for something in return when giving to others. Systematizing your business to be more efficient to be able to reach your financial goals.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   LawFirmMentor.net/Avatar LawFirmMentor.net/Masterclass Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 22: 02 (36 Seconds)  I wanted the person to see how the belief system was not a healthy one. Right. So we talked about self-interest in the fact that all people are driven to help other people out of self-motivation, right? Even when you are genuinely thinking about other people as you are standing at the soup kitchen or as you are leaving an extra-generous tip or as you are dropping off clothes to the Goodwill right. You're doing that for someone else, but do not believe that you are not also doing it for yourself.

As we continue coming off of the high of our one-hundredth episode, today I'm bringing you a throwback to one of our most popular episodes.    This episode is entitled “It Has to Be Me and Other Myths in Law Firms”.  This is definitely one of my favorite episodes, and obviously you guys share the same sentiment because this is our most downloaded episode!    I think this episode continues to get more traction because the message really resonates with lawyers that believe that they started off in business with the mindset of ‘it has to be me, I have to be the smartest, I have to be the most capable, I have to be the most diligent, the most on top of things'. And then at some point, most importantly, in that evolution of growing from practice owner to business owner, the law firm owner recognizes that in order to create a sustainable business that isn't built on the back of the owner, it really does require expertise beyond the owner.    Enjoy this flashback and let us know if any of your favorite myths were busted in today's episode! In this episode we discuss:   Adjusting your belief system about who is supposed to do what in your law firm.   Clients hiring you as the lawyer versus hiring the law firm. How your marketing message can be shifted to direct a client to a better or different option. How ego can drive how you decide to create and structure your business. How hiring additional attorneys can enhance your law firm's skill set and strengths. Letting go of the fear of having another person do some of the work.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:15:42 - About 50 Seconds OK, what I said to her was this, I believe lawyer that you believe this, that people come for you, and I believe that many people do come to a law firm for you. But I also believe that because you believe this, that you structure your business in a certain way. You communicate about your law firm in a certain way. Your marketing messages are characterized in this certain way. You speak to your clients about their cases in a certain way. You hire people to facilitate work in your law firm with this certain way in mind. Listen, people want what they want, until you show them that there is something better for them to want. So here's an example of that.   00:15:45 – About 57 Seconds If you have a desire for something greater than yourself and you are driven toward that ego gratifying activity, that's what makes brilliant trial lawyers. Right? I don't know any of them that do it for their health or do it for... Some of them do it for the contribution, but right there, there's also a very real ego component that goes along with it. So you have that desire to create. And as you create in your business and as you create in your profession, your ego is stroked. Ok. The ego stroking that comes from being the lawyer is a certain amount. It is a much bigger ego stroke to have a large entity of other people who are also exceptional, doing things alongside you, and only have that opportunity because you created what you created.

Having just come off of the high of our 100th episode, I thought it would be fun to share a quick throwback to our very first episode.    I want you to recognize that we have always been committed to bringing you top quality information and strategies that you can use in your law firm right now to grow from a solopreneur to a company that ultimately can run without you.    My very first episode was really a raw, uncut version of me, unfiltered with one of my favorite people in the world who owns Blue Shark Digital, which is a marketing company specific to lawyers created by a very successful lawyer - Mr. Seth Price.    I hope you enjoy taking this trip down memory lane with me! In this episode we discuss: What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? How the novice marketing lawyer can vet an SEO company SEO as the backbone of business branding What is content marketing Google's shifting algorithm as relates to blogging basics for law firms Intake processes that increase conversions in law firms Differentiating intake talent attributes for contingency-based practices verses revenue-based practices Sustaining energy and enthusiasm in intake personnel The “right” customer service mindset and experience for powerful intake conversations   Guest Bio: An accomplished attorney and transformational thought leader, Seth Price is a founding partner and the business backbone of Price Benowitz LLP as well as the founder and CEO of BluShark Digital. Seth took a two-person law firm and scaled to 36 lawyers in less than a decade. Now Seth has taken the same digital power that built the firm to create a best in class digital agency focused on the legal sector in BluShark Digital.   Seth has been a frequent lecturer and moderator at some of the largest and most influential law conferences in the United States, speaking on the tools and strategies law firms can use to align their business development with changing consumer habits. He has spoken on topics including but not limited to, how to build a firm, ethics, best practices for firm operations, search engine optimization (SEO), and digital marketing as a whole.   Contact info:   Email – Seth@BluSharkDigital.com   Website – https://blusharkdigital.com/    To learn more about Blu Shark Digital, like/follow/share at https://www.facebook.com/blusharkdigital/   For a Free Consultation with Seth's Team, call (202) 871-1554   To speak directly with Seth, call his cell phone at (347) 661-9999   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor      Snippets   [00:02:56] And I also knew that he would give top quality information, not only because his marketing company services my law firm, but in particular because the information that I find he shares is easily digestible. It's something that you can use even before you hire your own digital marketing company if your budget is not yet at that place where you're ready to hire one. And I also feel that he's very relatable because like me, he has also gone through the process of using the strategies that he teaches in his own business. So there's a little bit more authenticity tried and tested truth to what he's sharing because he's done it before.   

Today is our 100th podcast episode! I am so excited about this milestone and I wanted to mark this occasion by talking about manifestation.   Unfortunately for so many people, what stops them from making real strides and scalable growth in a law firm is the fact that they are often mired down in decisions.    There's so many things coming at you, so when your energy, your time, your attention, your focus is stratified over a lot of different activities, it is really challenging to not fall prey to decision fatigue.   Recently, I talked about how to be decisive. I wanted to share with you a prime example of what being decisive means, and how critically important and valuable this life-changing skill is.    Thank you to all our listeners for being with us on this amazing journey. I hope you enjoy this 100th episode! In this episode we discuss: How amazing your life can be when you learn the skill of being decisive. Creating what you desire when you have a thought that continues to come to your mind. Allowing yourself to feel and think what you desire without judgment.  Giving yourself permission to speak your desire out loud. Recognizing that you can recover from a bad decision. Solidifying in your mind that you are creating something by writing it down. Getting the right team assembled to assist and advise in the process of materializing your desires. Trusting your instincts and your inner voice.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   What If It's Possible? Crushing Chaos with Law Firm Mentor Podcast https://lawfirmmentor.net/2021/06/25/what-if-its-possible/   How To Be Decisive? Crushing Chaos with Law Firm Mentor Podcast https://lawfirmmentor.net/2021/08/20/how-to-be-decisive/   Four Transplants and a Microphone Podcast https://player.fm/series/4-transplants-and-a-microphone   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:07:09 (33 Seconds)  But because I didn't have society's definition of a family, I didn't feel entitled to a house. So honestly, I was kind of waiting for me to just magically arrive at a family and there's a whole host of reasons why that's not happening, either, which we're not going to talk about today. But I said, finally, you know, I can't delay making the best financial decision for myself because I don't have the appearance of the family that society says I'm supposed to have in order to buy my house. So I just went out and said, Yeah, now's the time, and I decided what I wanted and I ultimately bought a house.

In today's episode, I talk about a recent weather event that we experienced. Hurricane Ida ravaged New Orleans. Our thoughts and our prayers are with Louisiana and everyone that was affected in the South. But Hurricane Ida also made its way up to the East Coast.    As a result of massive change in our climate, we have seen a significant uptick in weather events across the country. When Hurricane Ida became Tropical Storm Ida and hit New Jersey, many people that I am personally connected to were adversely affected.    So, I wanted to record this episode to really talk about some of the higher-level strategic thoughts that a CEO of a law firm should really have in their mind for these types of events. Stay tuned for more! In this episode we discuss: Higher-level strategic planning around natural disasters in your business. Developing the mindset of a law firm owner. Considering the care that your team members need during weather events. Checking in on everyone's physical and emotional wellness. Knowing your business numbers and your business insurance policies in order to maintain your business and financial security. Having a recovery plan for potential decreased productivity and declining sales.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info: Send a screenshot from the review to this  phone number:  908 292 3524 Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets 00: 15: 25 (34 Seconds)  Because again, as a leader, like as, as a person, of course, you want to know that they're OK because you care about them as a person, but as a leader, you want to make sure that they are OK to ensure that, that they are really functioning the way that you want them to function, right? So this is not so that this is not a situation where someone is not expressing that they're not OK. And then you're thinking, OK, everything's hunky-dory and we're going to go back to business as usual and then that person just can't perform.

Today I talk about one of my favorite topics, Your Budget is NOT your Bible. Now, I know the title alone may be triggering for some people. So, I'm going to explain to you what I mean by this topic. I'm also going to give a shout out to all of our financial people out there in the world that keep us financially stable through budgeting and sound financial decision-making - no matter whether we are investing it or whether we are saving it.   Oftentimes, not universally, financial people tend to be somewhat of an anomaly in terms of the financial evolution and growth of a law firm. And that's not because financial people don't know how to manage money, but because they often think inside the box.   Tune in to see how I can shift your perspective! In this episode we discuss: Having a healthy respect for your numbers while your firm is growing. 3 – key critical thoughts to create freedom, success and a highly scalable law firm. How good decision making based on a financial plan will help you create a successful business. Better planning by knowing the very basics of where your money is spent. The differentiation between investment and expense, and different types of ROI. Identifying shiny object syndrome while at the same time being open to opportunities. Creating a life that you will enjoy by conscientiously investing in yourself. Cultivating faith in yourself is key.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info: Textphone number:  908 292 3524   How to Be Decisive – The Crushing Chaos with Law Firm Mentor Podcast https://lawfirmmentor.net/2021/08/20/how-to-be-decisive/   Moshe Amsel - The Crushing Chaos with Law Firm Mentor Podcast https://lawfirmmentor.net/2021/01/12/crushing-the-challenge-of-change-in-the-legal-industry-with-moshe-amsel/    Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 07: 24 (32 Seconds)  But I do want you to consider that you need to have a financial plan as a part of your business so that you can make decisions in the future. One of the things that we talked about in a recent podcast episode, we talked about the idea of how to become decisive. And one of the real challenges with being decisive is lack of information. Right? So if you don't know what information is going to educate your decision and you don't know the information that you need to know, and typically information comes at you and you don't have a way of categorizing that in your mind.

In today's episode, I'm talking about letting others fail. This is my favorite topic, actually, of all the things that we talk about involving people- the idea of training and cultivating a culture of people that know how to do things without you. It's such a challenging topic for most law firm owners, current/former clients, and even for people that have approached me online.    Many believe  there's no freedom in owning a law firm because there's so much stress and agita that's involved in actually having people work for you. Countless law firm owners decide they don't want to grow because in the past their employees did not perform the way that they wanted. As a result, they have made up their minds that there is no way for them to have a law firm that runs without them because they always either get the wrong employee, or they  just don't know how to train and manage and cultivate high performance in their teams.   I have solutions for you, stay tuned! In this episode we discuss: High performance from the perspective of failure. How to be a safety net for someone who is learning without taking over the task. Changing your mindset of trying for perfection. Learning lessons from the failures in your journey to success. The idea that you can enhance your law firm's reputation by hiring someone that is better at lawyering than you, rather than being intimidated to do so.  Being supportive, believing in your employees and delegating responsibility to them. Being ok with letting a person fail. Allowing people to demonstrate their value.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Textphone number:  908 292 3524   Podcast: Parenting Your Baby Lawyers. https://lawfirmmentor.net/2021/08/31/parenting-your-baby-lawyers/    Snippets   00:01:42 (38 seconds) Now, I know a lot of people are triggered by the idea of failure, and a lot of times we associate failure as a personal failing, meaning there's something wrong about me, either I'm wrong or I'm not good enough or there's something about me that is broken that led to this failure, even when all circumstances outside of yourself are pointing to your just not having mastered the different strategies that are involved in whatever it was that you failed at. But we take it personally when we fail and then as a result, we embed in our DNA a mindset that says failure is bad. Failure is wrong.

Today's episode is dedicated to the topic of efficiency. Now, before you tune out and say, “Oh, my God, she talks about Crushing Chaos all the time! Do we really have to go there again?”I'm not going to go there on my own.    I brought in a special guest who is a productivity coach. I learned about the role of a Productivity Coach some time ago. When Mridu, our special guest, approached me and we talked about her coming on the show, I was really intrigued by her particular perspective! Stay tuned because she has a simple and easy framework that we're going to end the show with! In this episode we discuss: Seeing positive changes by taking control of demands and distractions at home and at work. Recognizing that willpower alone as a superpower isn't enough to get it all done. Developing the non-negotiable habit of a Professional Power Hour to begin your day. Building back your confidence by being organized and productive in small chunks of time.  Putting timeframes and being realistic about what can get done on the To-Do List each day. The power in controlling your thoughts. Intentionally scheduling buffer time to prepare or de-stress before or after a meeting. Applying a 4-Step framework to successfully identify, schedule, systematize and complete a task or project.   Guest Bio: Ready to get control of all your demands? Then you need Mridu Parikh on speed dial.    Mridu (Mri-thu) is The Stress Squasher. As a productivity coach, speaker, and founder of Life Is Organized, she has taught thousands of women business owners simple ways to wake up with a plan… take control of their distractions… and drop overwhelm with ease. Results include a 300% increase in billable time, 10 hours a week saved on emails, and multiple pant sizes shed through new routines.    Mridu is the author of the Amazon bestseller, Accomplish It, and the host of the Productivity on Purpose podcast. Her techniques on mastering tasks and habits have been featured in The Huffington Post, US News & World Report, and Real Simple, as well as her own column in The Tennessean.    When she's not wrangling a list or schedule, you can usually find this former professional organizer turned productivity pro with her two teens and one husband in Nashville enjoying a Malbec. Get Mridu's FREE resources on beating distractions, procrastination, and stress - www.lifeisorganized.com/resources   Contact info:   Company name: Life Is Organized   Website URL: www.lifeisorganized.com   Email: mridu@lifeisorganized.com   Phone number: 19176995495   Facebook url: https://www.facebook.com/LifeIsOrganized   Twitter Username: lifeisorganized   LinkedIn url: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mridu-parikh/   Instagram username: lifeisorganizsed   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets (00.10:38) (55 seconds) Allison Williams: And, you know, when you, when you start talking about the idea of training your brain, I think that's one of the things we talk about a lot when we start going into thought work and the fact that our thoughts are something that we can control. And I don't think a lot of people realize that. So we kind of go into that it must be this way because I thought that way before not realizing that we actually have control over that. Mridu Parikh: Absolutely. Now, I think if there was one takeaway, I would say for all entrepreneurs is we have fallen into this, this belief that, that we have no control. Right? That we live in a world that we're always on the receiving end, where we're always reacting. And the truth is, you have the ability to retrain yourself. And when you do, your perception in your industry, in your business, by your clients, by your family members is going to be so much more empowered and strong and positive when you are in control, right? Like both at work and at home.

Today I'm talking about buying attorney awards. Many of us are familiar with some of the big organizations that give out “awards” to attorneys. We know about Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers of America, and the growing cottage industry around different types of awards. Some awards can be bought while others cannot.    So, I've decided to give you some frame of reference for thinking about attorney awards and whether or not it's worth your investment to get them. If you do choose to get them, I'll show you how you can use them effectively in your business.  In this episode we discuss: Different types of awards available to purchase. How our need for connectivity can be used effectively in marketing. Using awards effectively in your marketing efforts to promote your business. Using your website as a home base and driving people there through your marketing activity. Sharing news of the award whether it was purchase or bestowed upon you.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info: Youtube video: Should you buy yourself an award?   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qApbIOJg_Vw   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 03: 10 (36 Seconds)  Now, what's interesting about it is that the criteria for selection are usually very vague. It's usually like you have to have been nominated by someone in your community and you have to have the trial skills or the verdicts or the settlements or the reputation in the community or something like that that would justify you being chosen. And my very best friend, as she was in a partnership with two older gentlemen, both of whom are now deceased, and she shared with me that both of them had actually gotten the awards after they had died.

In this episode I talk about constant feedback. Constant feedback refers to being in a state of giving people your perspective on how they are doing on an ongoing basis.    A few of you may remember when I requested your feedback in an episode called “Pivot The Annual Review”. In that episode I remember explaining that when you give the annual review, the annual review is a reciprocal process - You are reviewing your employee, and your employee is reviewing you- and how that should not be your only time to give them feedback. An employee should not be hearing for the first time in an annual review that their performance is less than satisfactory in some critical area. But then one might ask, "well, then how frequently should I be giving negative feedback? Do I meet with them once a month or do I pull them aside once a quarter? How do I do this?"   Tune in to find out what I recommend! In this episode we discuss: In this episode we discuss: Being in a state of persistent negative feedback. Differentiating feedback about the behavior versus it being about the person. People's different reactions to negative feedback based on past experiences and related punishments. How creating a culture of constant feedback helps people to improve and can also provide validation that they're doing a good job. Developing a new framework for the delivery of feedback. Presenting negative feedback as a growth opportunity.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 12: 29 (31 Seconds)  And one of the areas where it's really challenging for business owners not to take things personally is when we have to give negative feedback. Because most of us don't like inflicting pain for a living. Even our most aggressive litigators, Right? We might have a kill... Kill the opponent type of attitude when we're in the courtroom. We're going for the jugular. Most of us don't want to bring that back to our office.

In this episode, I'm going to be talking about parenting your baby lawyers. Yes, I know that the term "Baby Lawyers” can be considered controversial, even offensive to some new lawyers. And if you are offended by that term, please know that I use the term, not with any level of condescension.    A baby lawyer simply means the individual does not yet have the knowledge, skill, or context that a seasoned practitioner naturally acquires over years of practicing law. There's a lot that goes into lawyering! Part of the reason why I think the term baby lawyer is so accurate is that if you think about the lifespan of an infant, when you give birth or when you or your spouse gives birth to a child, a new infant comes into your household and that child is being developed, cultivated, it's soaking up everything that you have to give him or her so that they can become a member of society. In this episode we discuss: Having “baby lawyers” learn as quickly as possible. Training and developing an associate. How you are experiencing the perceived shortcomings of your young attorney. The challenge of teaching nuance to a young attorney. Risks associated with developing “baby lawyers” in your firm. Levels of guidance, structure, and responsibility that you will have to have toward a younger attorney. Allowing space for being themselves and how it will help their growth. Challenges faced when parenting a “baby lawyer”.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00: 09: 02 (46 Seconds)  I'm not a big proponent of kind of drowning the baby on the first day or letting the baby sit in the corner sheltered in a bubble for years before you start giving them things to do. There needs to be a balance there. But what tends to happen is that the lawyer who owns the law firm, and has hired on the baby lawyer, starts to get triggered by the baby lawyer being, frankly, a baby. So what do I mean by that? What I mean is that when we hire people for our businesses, there is often a significant fear that the person we hired is not going to be good enough, not going to do justice for our clients, not going to get good results, not going to make us look good.

In this episode, we're going to talk about when your bills are paid. Yes, you read that correctly. What do you do when all of your bills are paid and you have a comfortable life? How do you keep yourself motivated? This topic is actually coming up because I've talked to a couple of lawyers recently who have been interested in joining the Law Firm Mentor community.  We are always looking for the right type of client for this community but, there is a certain type of solo and small law firm attorney we're looking for. In essence, it includes people who are looking to grow their businesses. There can be several end goals achieved when you are looking to grow your business, but in order to get there having a solid growth strategy is key.   In this episode we discuss: Keeping yourself motivated when money isn't the main goal. Struggling to push yourself to achieve economic goals. Precepts about the idea of being financially satiated. How it is healthy to have multiple streams of motivation. The difference between extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info: LAW FIRM MENTOR MOVEMENT FREE GROUP ON FACEBOOK  https://www.facebook.com/groups/LawFirmMentorMovement Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Snippets 00: 01: 52 (38 Seconds)  So the first thing I always ask people when I have a growth strategy call with them is what is it that you want? And if the first thing that comes up is I want to triple the number of people that I serve or I want to be able to open offices in the central and southern part of my state because I want to have a much bigger reach and a greater impact. Those things are just as valid as I want to make an extra five hundred thousand dollars this year. I want to put an extra million dollars in my pocket. I want to dramatically increase my retirement investments, right? So everybody has a slightly different purpose and a slightly different aim. And that's OK.

Today I'm going to talk about how to tap into inspiration. I wanted to cover this topic because I know many people are wondering “Is this all there is?”. There is confusion about where we stand in life and a lot of that really does derive from a lack of inspiration. Therefore, I am going to give you three strategies for how to tap into your inspiration - because at the heart of your inspiration you will find your purpose in life.  In this episode we discuss: Three strategies for how to tap into your inspiration. Being intentional in your search for inspiration. How doing things that are unusual for you can help you see new possibilities in your life. The importance of mental health in every lawyer's life. Accepting that it's ok to not be ok. Allowing yourself to dream out loud.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   The Crush Chaos Podcast- What if it's Possible? https://buff.ly/3deiido   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:20:14 (32 seconds) We start to pull back and we start to pull away and so a lot of that is inconsistent. I'm all in, I can't believe this is wonderful, and then, oh, wait. I'm falling back and we see the fall back as that it's a sign that we shouldn't be doing it in the first place or that it is a sign that we weren't capable enough in the first place and what it really is, is that it is a sign that you are exactly where you should be, right. When you are in your happy, in your zone, moving forward, making advancements, that's where you are designed to be, right.

In today's episode, we're going to talk about the importance of being decisive. More than a few of our guests recognize the power of decision, but I think many lawyers struggle with knowing how to be decisive. Therefore, I'd like to provide a framework to help you to learn how to be decisive in your day-to-day lives.    In this episode we discuss: The importance of being decisive. A three-step process for creating a framework for being decisive in your life. Considering who you are and what fits you when making a decision. How to prevent the problem of information overload. Accepting the possibility of being wrong when decision making. The educational value of making a wrong decision. Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info: Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Snippets 00: 01: 21 (30 Seconds)  So the first thing is recognizing that the power is in the decision because a decision is what moves things forward in life, always, right? We, we don't, we don't get the goals accomplished that we have set for ourselves without making a choice. We don't create the relationship that we desire, we don't create the business that we desire, we don't make the money that we require, we don't move ourselves forward in life until we decide to do something.

Description: Today we're going to talk about work without you. The idea that you don't have to be the focal point at the work of your business may be a hard concept for some lawyers to grasp.  You may love lawyering so much that you might want to stay in the actual doing of the work. However, there are many lawyers that possess the desire to have more for themselves. That desire often leads to wanting more than just day-to-day practice of law. Wanting more than day-to-day practice of law evolves into a management role, which then leads to something else that may not include you working in your law firm at all.  So today, I want to share some strategies that  will help you to get out of doing the work in your law firm so that you can actually create a business that does not require you. In this episode we discuss: How you don't have to be the focal point at the work of your business. Strategies that will help you design a system to assign work to others. Using technology to automate work tasks. The art of delegation. How building a workflow allows people to work independently. Getting your team to own their role in your business. Having a key question for when decision fatigue happens. Encouraging employees to think for themselves.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Choosing your Practice Management Software Podcast  https://buff.ly/3wz3bSx   Snippets   00: 40 (42 Seconds)  It's all about the idea that you don't have to be the focal point at the work of your business and I know a lot of lawyers struggle with that concept. They think that because they are the one that started the business and you started as a practicing lawyer, that your role, your highest and best use is as a lawyer. And for some of you, that may be what you want to create, right? You might love lawyering so much that you might want to stay in the actual doing of the work. But for a lot of lawyers, there is a desire to not just have more for themselves. That's often why they left someone else's law firm and started on their own. Or they knew they never wanted to work for someone, so they hung a shingle right out of law school.

In this episode, I talk about why your Facebook ads may not be working anymore. I've had a lot of questions about Facebook ads lately, because in our community in particular, we are a proponent of both online and offline strategies for growing your law firm.  Many people have an audience on Facebook already - either because they started a page when they first opened their law firm, or because they're just familiar there so they have other lawyer contacts who referred them cases from having met them on social media. It's a comfortable place to get started and a lot of people are asking “How do I decide what is ‘good spend', a good investment of time, energy, and resources, on Facebook?”    Tune in to learn more!   In this episode we discuss: New evolving changes in the online marketing landscape. The iOS updates requiring opt-in for data sharing when using Facebook.  How first-party data works and how it helps. Using lead magnets to gather first-party data. The impact of technological challenges we'll be facing with data privacy.  Reverse engineering your funnel from the bottoms up to know how many clients you need.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor:   Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     How to choose your online marketing provider   https://lawfirmmentor.net/online-marketing-companies/    https://bit.ly/LFM-SEOvet     Snippets   00: 02:15 (26 Seconds)  So, I wanted to share with you some, some new developments, new-ish, the marketing world has been dealing with it for a little bit of time now, that may have impacted the success of your Facebook ads so that you show a little bit of grace to your providers if they are not delivering the same types of results, the same cost per click, the same cost per-lead that they were able to deliver even this time last year.

In this episode, I talk about annual reviews. This topic might be cringy to many people because the idea reminds lawyers of sitting down to be evaluated or critiqued. While that is undoubtedly the customary way of doing an annual review, I want to give you a framework for actually thinking about annual reviews differently.    Law firm owners are not only trying to create the right culture and create sustainability in business, but they are also trying to create a value proposition for retaining promising talents. And a big part of employee retention is about meeting the needs of employees and the firm's needs contemporaneously.   Tune in to today's episode to learn more.   In this episode we discuss: Meeting the needs of both the employee and the firm. Building a culture in your law firm. The importance of changing our point of view regarding the annual review. 9 Questions to ask in an annual review that will get the best qualitative answers. How every time you approach your employees, you're having a sales conversation. Differentiating needs over opportunities while communicating with your employees. Building employee loyalty by meeting their needs. Reaffirming that value systems are in alignment with what your law firm has as a value system that will give you both a win-win.   Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contacts  Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Free resource: https://lawfirmmentor.net/getting-prospects-to-yes/   Snip-Its 32:32 (26 sec) I don't want you to think about that as a loss, like, oh my God. I just found out that my employees are not happy. They don't want to do what we're practicing here. I'm going to lose this person even though this person is good at what they do. Because the reality is, if someone is not satisfied in the work that they do, they're a risk. They're a risk to the quality that they will bring to your law firm. They're a risk to the clients that they will serve. They're a risk to you. And that's the last thing that you want, right? You want to free that person, not fire that person.

In this episode, I cover the topic of dealing with data overwhelm. Many people struggle with being productive and not being overwhelmed. However, when the business starts to grow, the very first experience many law firm owners experience is a feeling of overwhelm.    Data overwhelm feeling occurs when firm owners have to fit too many work tasks and detail in a confined schedule. The surface never goes away even when they tack on more hours and work more on their jobs.    Tune in to today's episode to learn more about strategies that law firm owners can employ to deal with data overwhelm.  In this episode we discuss:   Strategies to manage the data that comes into your mind. Reducing the number of distractions by addressing your work environment. Making your mind more effective and thus making your energy, your emotions, and your success in business more effective. How to organize and structure your email. Training yourself to use your calendar to block scheduled work time. Allison's Bio:    Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Snip-Its 00: 04:05 (45 Seconds)  OK, so the thing that we have to be thinking about is that when we have too much information in our mind and our mind is kind of bouncing around from thought to thought, activity to activity, plan to plan. Our mind gets tired, but also our emotions get tired. So we start to not have enough energy at the end of the day, not because we were out doing backbreaking work, it might have been sitting at a desk all day but if your mind was overextended and thus it was expending energy all day, every day for the purpose of getting you to a place, of working through whatever is in your mind. Then what tends to happen is there's stress that builds up from having all of those things on your list of things to do.

In this episode, I talk about creating a virtual community for your law firm. Many individuals have made adaptations to go virtual during the pandemic. This fact proposes various positive benefits for law firm owners.    Virtual communities present how we stay connected as people, although we're not physically working with each other. Many lawyers are interested in the idea of creating virtual law firms. Therefore, it's essential for law firm owners to learn how to master their work communications in a way that builds a solid collective culture in their businesses, even when it's virtual or a hybrid of office and virtual.    Tune in to today's episode to find out!    In this episode we discuss:   How to master your work communications in a way that builds a strong collective culture. 3 Key Strategies to create your Virtual Community at work. Encouraging people to engage in light chatter through an app, helping you to start the day in a positive way. Helping your employees be successful at home, encouraging them to have their own workspace in a specific location. The importance of regular check-in meetings with someone in the management of the business. Sustaining a quality business while working virtually. How important is it to create engagement with and between your team. Encouraging your employees to take time off will reduce stress and make them happier. Allison's Bio:    Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Snip-Its 00:09:22 (38 Seconds) Remember, we learned about llamas through talking to this employee, right? So like, there's little things that you don't really think matter. And they might seem kind of like, why does that why, why take additional time for that? But it really does create cohesion between people. They feel closer to each other, actually, when they are intentional about communicating with each other, and communicating about something positive sets the tone so that over the course of time, everyone's message has gotten increasingly more positive and everyone has gotten more excited about the things that we are learning about each other and sharing with each other through that channel.

In today's episode, I talk about leaving one's ego at the courthouse. It is an essential topic for law firm owners who desire to expand their business. Many lawyers decide to become solo law firm owners due to the poor management from their previous law firm.    Therefore, I'm excited to share exclusive insight into the difference between being an adversarial lawyer and a managerial role in a law firm. There is a different personality, a different set of skills and a different set of communication strategies that you're going to use as a litigator versus a manager. The same principle could apply to transactional attorneys.    A positive work environment can help to maximize your profit by having highly engaged and highly successful employees on your team.    Tune in to learn more!   In this episode we discuss: The discord of the adversarial lawyer position versus the different energy of the managerial role. The shift in perspective between being a manager and being a CEO. How strong egos can be a necessity in the practice of law and can get a bad rap. Having the ability to shift fluidly between the energy stances of lawyer, manager and CEO. Releasing the attachment to being right.   Allison's Bio:  Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info: Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Snip-Its 00:03:57 (50  Seconds) There are a lot of people that flee bad bosses and not just bad bosses, but they flee the type of bossing, the type of managing that they receive in the majority of law firms. Because so many lawyers haven't learned the strategy. they just kind of stay in the tepid experience of managing from the perspective of just a lighter version of the adversarial posture that they have outside the office. Or worse, there are some lawyers that recognize that they have to be highly adversarial when they're dealing with adverse parties outside of the office. And so when they come to the office, they just kind of become these weak shrimps if you will. Kind of like roll over and say, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm not having any more difficult conversations. I have to do that all day, every day. I don't want to do that when I get to the office.

In this episode, I talk about meetings that matter. Many lawyers are anti-meetings, including my past-self. I wasn't too fond of the idea of having meetings unless they were necessary. I firmly believed that a meeting was a waste of time and productivity.  However, in the present, I see meetings as opportunities for teams to collaborate, preventing future issues in businesses. It doesn't mean that you will need to have a meeting anytime your team wants to communicate something.  Tune in to today's episode to find out how you can have high productivity meetings that can help you sustain the business's forward movement and avoid potential chaos.   In this episode we discuss: Having meetings to get the work of the business done and propel the business forward. The impact building a work community has on work satisfaction. Using a weekly meeting to discuss the big issues and to reassess. Having less frequent all-firm meetings to inspire and share a company vision. How problem-solving meetings should be a group effort to identify & improve on the issue without any finger pointing or casting blame. Conducting a weekly MICS meeting with department heads and what MICS stands for.   Allison's Bio:  Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info: Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snip-Its 00:05:37 (31 Seconds) People who are members of the team can be just as strong an incentive, if not an even stronger incentive for a person to stay, than whatever lack of management, skill and prowess that you may have at this time as you're growing and learning. So there are three strategies I want to give you. Three meetings that you need to have in order to make sure that you are preventing problems in the future and at the same time cohesively building your office culture. 00:14:34 (27 Seconds) Problem solving together without blame. Right. So this is very, very important. Typically, when you bring the whole firm together, you do not want to start asking questions of people who screwed up the such and such. And how is this going to get better in the future? You want problem solving to be from a place of how are we all going to be in this together? Right. How are we going to make this better? How are we going to solve this issue? And typically, these would be issues where there isn't an identifiable problem person. Right?

In this episode, I cover the topic of whether or not some personalities are too fragile to work in a law firm. In other words, I want to help you hire employees with suitable personalities for your organization. After my conversation with a client who raised an issue about a particularly sensitive employee in their law firm, this topic came to me.  I describe various types of personalities that I often see in a law firm as Employee Avatars. The big issue here is how to train your employees effectively while allowing them to be their best selves in your law firm. Tune in to today's episode to find out more.   In this episode we discuss: Are some personalities too sensitive to work in a law firm? The scattered, the moody and the church mouse employee avatars. Thinking about which type you are most like and your response to each type. An interesting exercise that may cast a reflection of your own behavior. How our past experiences help to trigger our responses to these different types of employees.   Allison's Bio:  Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info: Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Snip-Its 00:14:59  (36 Seconds) So when you see that behavior, you recognize those strains deep, deep inside you and you say, I would have loved to have someone show me grace when I was scattered. I would have loved to have somebody understand when I was in a bad mood. But you weren't allowed that. And so first, because you're not consciously aware of this, I should have noted that earlier, when we see these behaviors and we see them as reflected in ourselves, we oftentimes are not seeing that at a conscious level. We're seeing that at a subconscious level. So we oftentimes are not aware that this is a behavior that we have within us that's actually triggering us in the first place.

In this episode, I share a conversation with an extraordinary guest, Joey Vitale. Joey is a trademark attorney, and he's also known as the brand legitimizer for online entrepreneurs, emerging thought leaders and creators. His approach to systematize a law firm is unique and highly valuable to learn from. He successfully cut down the client work to five hours a month or less.  We cover several topics in this episode, including lawyer mental health, business systemization, and Joey's great lessons along his journey from a litigating attorney to a business owner.  Tune in to find out! In this episode we discuss: Taking time to think about and seek a vision for what type of lawyer you want to be.  The need for setting specific goals and understanding what meeting them looks like. The value in systematizing and dialing in the focus on the type of work your firm does. Getting to the point of letting go of being involved in everything. The power of entrusting members of your team to take ownership of their work. Accepting the fact that mistakes will be made, and mistakes can be fixed. Learning to stay out of the way and allowing your team to function without you. Guest Bio:  Joey Vitale is a trademark attorney (also known as a “brand legitimizer”) for online entrepreneurs, emerging thought leaders, and course creators. With his law firm and his courses, Joey helps online business owners call legal dibs on their brand name and signature methods so they never have to worry about losing their brand overnight. Joey has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and has spoken all over the country to help business owners stay safe and thriving.  Company name: Indie Law Website: www.indielaw.com Email: joey@indielaw.com Phone number: +13143301470  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joeycvitale  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeycvitale/ Twitter Username: @joeycvitale  Instagram username: @joeycvitale   Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info: Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor    Snip-Its 00:27:27 (56 Seconds) Joey Vitale: But it's so much more to me than just like I value time because that gives me time back. I really do think that the. And I heard someone say this, especially in a law firm setting, the the more your law firm depends on you, the less your law firm is worth. Yeah. Allison Williams: Yeah, absolutely, Joey Vitale: And I have really taken that to heart because it's it's not just bragging rights about, oh, I only work this much for my business. It's no, this is a really good sign that my business is in good shape. If I can if I can step away from it, if certain people in my team can step away from it for weeks at a time and everything is still running. Allison Williams: Yeah. And the interesting thing about that is that the fact that we talk about CEOs and when we talk about CEOs in the context of a law firm, I think a lot of lawyers think of that is, I'm the head manager. They don't, they don't really distinguish that. There's a layer on top of being a manager, like a true CEO is not managing. A true CEO is leading.

In this episode, I introduce the guidance on choosing suitable practice management software for law firm owners. Technology affords us privileges, and we want to use it effectively. But many lawyers get so overwhelmed when choosing a practice management software due to their personal preference and a large quantity of available software in the market. They often encounter loss of income, time and frustration.  Tune in to learn more about the process of choosing effective practice management software for law firm owners.   In this episode we discuss: Choosing the right software when it takes so much time to review and decide. Knowing your priorities and what is needed in your particular law firm. Considering 3 main areas and what features are needed for each. The importance of calendar integration for both scheduling and billing. Accepting that one piece of software may not be able to meet all your needs. Having your practice management and accounting software integrate to avoid double data entry. The importance of having a plan for introducing and adopting new software. Knowing your firm's tolerance for change and the anticipated level of resistance. Making sure you know who is responsible for exporting data out of the old software and importing into the new, and in a manner that will minimize downtime.   Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contacts – Social Media Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snip-Its 00:19:10 (51 Seconds) Most small firms have a multitude of different software, and sometimes the assumption is that you just don't know all the things that your software can do. But the reality is, even when you know what they can do, sometimes you just don't like it. Right? You love everything about the software except the task management or you love everything about the software except the financial accounting side. It's OK to find a good enough solution, and with software, almost invariably the solutions will be good enough. There are some people that will say, Oh yeah, I love everything about this piece of software. It does everything that I need. I have no questions. I have no needs outside of this. But typically, when a person says that, that is an indication that they have less sophistication and knowledge about all the things that are possible with all the software that they could be looking into.  

In this episode, I cover the topic of advancing your law firm through acquiring a partner. Many law firm owners start solo. Their goal is to own their law firm, chart a path, and be the one in control. However, when the business grows to the point where firm owners want to either expand the business by adding a partner or step up a partner.  Tune in to today's episode to learn about the reality of partnership and considerations that firm owners must have to add partners to their firm successfully.   In this episode we discuss: Considering the differentiation between a partner and a CEO. Clarifying in writing the terms and understanding of the partnership. Understanding the sense of value each have for what they bring to the firm. The benefit in the blending of strengths and weaknesses. The danger of setting a path and criteria within your firm to becoming a partner.   Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.   Contacts – Social Media Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snip-Its 00:27:54 (31 Seconds) …Before we consider reducing to writing the criteria that we have for partnership, we want to make sure that we build in a subjective component so that no one ends up feeling that they are absolutely entitled to be a partner when they meet certain criteria, and that when we check the box of those criteria that they are presumed to be entitled to be made partner because we know that oftentimes our desires change or circumstances change and we don't want anyone to be left with that negative feeling.

In today's episode, I cover the topic of adding a new practice area to your law firm. Covid-19 had various impacts on law firms, both positive and negative. Many legal professions were in retraction. However, many legal firms exploded in growth as a result of the legal ramification of quarantine. So a significant number of lawyers are contemplating seizing upon those opportunities by adding different practice areas, but they simply don't know where to start. Tune in and find out about three criteria that law firm owners need to consider before adding a new practice area!   In this episode we discuss: The impact covid has had on the legal profession and society, both positive and negative. Considering the investment of time, education and dollars necessary when adding a new practice area. If and when it's appropriate to bring in someone else to help cultivate a new practice area. Why you want a rising star if you hire someone for your new department. The importance of talking about money up front when bringing a person on.   Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contacts – Social Media Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Reference:  The Science of Getting Rich (Wallace D. Wattles, 2016)    Snip-Its 00:16:46  (38 Seconds) There are some highly, highly entrepreneurial lawyers out there that are on a wing and a prayer will bring in a person, bring in a department and make it work. Right. So I'm not saying that it can't happen, but what tends to happen is if you don't know the practice area and the metrics and the numbers, you're often relying upon this new person and whatever their skill set is and whatever their knowledge base is in order to get you there. And so if talking to the person yields you numbers that don't make sense or don't leave you enough profit to really be able to monetize and grow the department, then what ends up happening is you bring in struggle to your business.   00:22:54  (30 Seconds) But when you're adding a new practice area, just by way of summary, we always want to make sure that unless it's your passion and you've got plenty of time and money, that you're not the one doing the work, that you're going to add a rising star to your practice in order to get that work done. And most importantly, that you're going to have conversations with people about joining your firm, talking about money first so you don't waste your time, you don't waste their time. And ultimately, you can get to a place of saying this is a viable solution before you start getting into the weeds of what it looks like.

In this episode, I cover the topic of giving free legal advice. I'm sure we all have received the felicitation that we roll our eyes at but somehow feel compelled to address. This request can come in many different forms from various sources. It could be from an old friend who is hardly keeping in touch with you or even from family members.  We all know the frustration that arises when the question occurs since we are put into a position where we have to choose: either risk harming a relationship if we decline to answer, or we decide to accept and bear with the feeling of resentful ourselves. So today, I'd love to share four response strategies to the free legal advice request.  Tune in and find out how you can respond when people ask you to lawyer for free!   In this episode we discuss: Different approaches to telling someone you don't give free legal advice. The legality of giving advise outside of your practice area. Overcoming the fear of declining to give free advice. How providing free advice once, can set an unwanted precedence for the future.   Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contacts – Social Media Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snip-Its 00:21:18 (24 Seconds PLUS 29 Seconds) When you bastardize your service and you reduce your value to nothing more than something that can easily be given away at any given time without any level of investment from another person, you're not just saying to the person to whom you give the free legal advice that it's not worth much, that you're not worth much, but you're telling the universe you're not worth much. ……. 00:22:16  So our goal is to get you into a place where you can with firmness, with confidence, with a level of certainty that defies any level of question mark in your mind, say to any person who asks, you know, I give legal advice for a living. That is how I make my earnings. If you would like to come back to my office for a consultation, I'm more than happy to engage in that type of business transaction with you in my office.

Today's episode is all about TikTok, one of those social media platforms that have become ever-elusive and popular. A lot of us have been enjoying it, especially since quarantine. However, many lawyers have been asking the question of whether TikTok is the right platform for them. It might seem inappropriate for many of us, who consider ourselves a little bit older, a little bit wiser, maybe even a little bit conservative regarding how we present ourselves to the world. However, since TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms out there, I think we would be remiss if we didn't consider whether or not it can benefit us from a marketing perspective in our law firms. So I want to give you today four things to think about as to why it might be something that you want to get into. Tune in and find out more!   In this episode, we discuss:   Why you might consider getting into TikTok.   The accelerated pace of change created by the pandemic and the proliferation of video. Consumer trends towards consuming shorter snippets of content. How quick and easy TikTok is to share a lot of information in small bites. The much better ROI that can be achieved on TikTok. How TikTok is a perfect place to reach millennials if they are your target market. That TikTok makes it easy to drive traffic to your website to learn more about you. Designing your marketing to stand out in a way that works for you.   Allison's Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contacts – Social Media Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor   Link to Mark Bullock's podcast episode – Mentioned at 00:03:05 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/video-marketing-the-dawn-of-lead-generation/id1497474051?i=1000474306488 Referenced: https://videosocials.net/    Snip-Its 00:09:23 (46 Seconds) But the more that you can start to proliferate your digital imprint with information, the more you can get yourself out there to be consumed by other people without spending money for that, the greater likelihood that when you do start spending money, the marketers will be able to drive people to your website and to be able to make you more well known in the digital space by virtue of what you have already created. Right. So they're actually going to market something. They're not just marketing you, the human, you, the lawyer, but they're going to market what you have already started to create. So with places like TikTok, you are at an advantage in that you can start where a lot of law firms are probably too afraid to go at this point.

This week, I'm going to talk about a question of what stops people from stepping into the changes that they know they need to make. Many of us don't even try as we are so mired in the notion that we haven't figured out how, that we fear that we're going to start and that we're going to fail. The fear of failure is a genuine human fear. But it also is a fear that is disproportionately found in success-oriented people.  "What If It's Possible?" -  tune in now to find out how to overcome the fear of failure!    In this episode, we discuss: The fear of failure commonly found in success-oriented people. Asking ‘Can I?' followed by “Should I?” But what about “What If It's Possible?' Concerns over appearing selfish when success becomes a benefit to you. Knowing that if you made it to becoming a lawyer, you can absolutely grow your law firm.   Allison's Bio:  Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info: Contact Law Firm Mentor Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets: 00:21:41 OK, now that's my particular story. We all have a story. We all at some point went through some iteration of that story in order to get where we are right now. But here's the thing. The beautiful thing about being a lawyer and starting a law firm is that if you have the balls to start a law firm, you have the balls to grow it into something amazing. So I want you to ask yourself the question. What if it's possible for me? And then I'm going to answer the question for you.

When I talk about ethics, I am talking about not just the existence of ethics, but the fact that lawyers hide behind their ethics as a means of staying small. We all know who those people are. There are those skeptical lawyers out there with an assumptive belief that other lawyers who are finding success are doing something wrong and inappropriate, rather than ask themselves the hard question of, if it's working for you, could it work for me too?    A lot of times lawyers hide behind their ethics and this episode is dedicated to the topic of stop hiding behind your ethics.   There are several ways that this happens, tune in now to hear them!   In this episode we discuss: How common it is for lawyers to attribute someone else's success to unethical behavior. Just because you fail at something doesn't mean you can't figure it out and master it. Recognizing when ethics is used as a scapegoat for what actually is fear. How instinct is not valid for lawyers when talking about ethics. How some rules of professional conduct must be reconsidered and changed with the times.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:21:59 (47 Seconds) Because whenever we default to something not being allowed instead of asking ourselves how we get to it being permissible, how we get to the way we can do this so it is permissible, so it is ethical. When we allow ourselves to stop with a knee jerk reaction of something being an instinctual no for us. When we live in the instinctual no, we cut off the opportunities to make our lives better. We cut off the opportunities to grow as a business and as a person. We cut off the opportunities to create more economic abundance, more freedom of time, more pleasure in the work we do, to serve different and better clients in order to be better lawyers that ultimately will be better for society.

Find out the top three problems small law firms and most small businesses face when trying to grow their business with Coach and Attorney, Allison C. Williams. Allison Williams own Williams Law Group, a multi-million dollar law firm specializing in matrimonial and family law, with an emphasis on complex Child Welfare matters which she scaled by 856% in four years. Masterclass: https://lawfirmmentor.net/masterclass Prospects to Yes: https://lawfirmmentor.net/getting-prospects-to-yes Digital Marketing Masters Podcast: https://hookseo.com/podcast

Jennifer Katrulya, is a Partner at Citrin Cooperman and is considered a pioneer of the outsourced/virtual CFO, advisory, and accounting services space. She is credited with helping hundreds of companies in all phases of growth implement best practices and position themselves for profitable and successful ROI at exit. Jennifer is a nationally recognized strategic and operations advisor for high-growth technology, service-based, and healthcare companies who are committed to choosing to achieve results over making excuses. In today's episode, Jenifer talks about exit strategy for law firms that the owners do not want to own anymore, whether that's because they want to retire or they want to sell the firm and recoup all of that value that they put in by building their highly systematized law firm. Even if you are at the start of your journey of owning a business, it is important to plan what you need to do in order to maximise your economic value so that when you leave, you don't leave with nothing.  Tune in for a lot of interesting stories,  strategic planning and exit strategy tips for the firm owners that you can implement right away. In this episode we discuss: The importance of billing processes and making it easy for your clients to pay. Consistency being king in marketing. The advantage firms had that were prepared to go digital and embrace technology when covid presented the challenge of having to work remotely. Addressing the pros and cons of the new hybrid workplace as things begin to normalize. The necessity of looking into the future as you plan to grow or exit your business. The added value of a business not dependent on the owner for its continued success. What's involved in the valuation of a law firm and preparing to sell. The transition scenario once the sales transaction is completed. Guest Bio:  Jennifer Katrulya has spent the last 20+ years helping clients create and execute the strategic and operational plans needed to scale quickly, secure funding, provide critical reporting and communications to company stakeholders, increase market share, and position for a successful exit. Also nationally recognized as a “pioneer” and thought leader in the areas of outsourced accounting and technology services, Jennifer helps companies leverage Citrin Cooperman's rapidly growing BPO services group of exceptional controllers, bookkeepers, and technology specialists. The team at Citrin Cooperman takes on the day-to-day accounting functions for clients, allowing them to focus on growing the company. Jennifer has often been called a “power connector,” based on her proven track record of bringing the right people and companies together to help drive business growth and success, both in specific business deals and in the formation of winning strategic alliances. Her experience ranges from bringing early-stage companies and funding sources together, to connecting C-Level executives in Fortune 500 companies.   Allison Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.  Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms. Guest contact information:  Company name: Citrin Cooperman and Company Website URL: https://www.citrincooperman.com/ Email: jkatrulya@citrincooperman.com Phone number: 12034176440 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/649637742295820 Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenKatSocial LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenkat/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenkatsocial/    Snippets  00:18:14  (53 Seconds) Allison: Yeah. So if we're looking at trying to find the buyer, you know, one of the things that you have to talk about with potential sources, potential purchasers, is how you have maximized the value. So if you're working with a law firm client and they really want to maximize the value of their law firm, where do you tell them to start? Jennifer: First, I want to document it. So we actually work to create a pitch. This is, this is what we do. This is our team. This is how we handle each of the best practice areas of our firm. It makes us an ironclad business to purchase and a really secure and successful purchase you as a buyer could make. And it's making sure that you can then again have meetings with and date the potential buyer of your firm, do your presentation. Make sure that in ongoing relationships, you have to just be polished and bring your A game to each of those relationships and make them super excited.

Today we're going to talk about keeping difficult clients. This is probably somewhat outside of the normal thought process, because a lot of people talk about firing the difficult client and keeping your sanity.    I certainly am a proponent of defining what constitutes what you will and won't accept from your clients, but I do think that there is often not enough attention paid to the aspect of keeping difficult clients. That is something that can actually make you more successful in business and in life.    Tune in to learn more!   In this episode we discuss: Remembering that a difficult client isn't about us, but what's going on inside them. Learning not to take it personally when a client acts out. How difficult clients can help us become more effective leaders more able to manage crises. How the ability to work with difficult clients expands the number of people you can service. The power of reframing a situation to provide a client a different way of thinking about their issue. The importance of having a plan to share that gives a client a sense of confidence. The fact that a difficult, demanding client that requires more attention can be more lucrative.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Episode 47 with Elise Buie: https://buff.ly/3jIJRxD   Snippets   00:23:33 (33 Seconds) Now, there are definitely times where you should let people go when they are a high risk for grievance or malpractice. But that doesn't mean that if somebody is difficult, your first and only instinct should be to let them go because there's opportunity with your difficult people in your growth, as a leader, as a person, with your standing in the challenge to make more. And if you have that as a backdrop and you understand that, then helping your clients with a reframe and with planning ahead becomes a lot easier.  

On this episode I talk about the undesirable of letting people go. I don't go into all the logistics of how to let people go, because one of the things that I always recommend is that you need to have an employment lawyer on your team of advisers for your law firm.    Lawyers are not cheap. But here's the thing, even if you just start a relationship with an employment lawyer where they're not on retainer, per say, but they give you some initial guidance about what to do to get yourself structured and get yourself consistently implementing procedures that are going to reduce risk. It takes so much stress out of the process of making the decision to let someone go in a way that reduces risk.   Tune in to learn more!   In this episode we discuss: Forming a relationship with an employment attorney for peace of mind and risk reduction. How having to fire someone is not a personal failure. The different needs of a business based on its specific culture and stage of growth. Preparing rights and responsibilities of the termination in writing. The importance of being aware of the laws that pertain in your specific state. Hiring and firing people of a protected class.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:04:22 (42 Seconds) And I put myself through so much torture trying to hold on to someone because I cared more about the way that I was going to feel about myself when I let this person go, then I cared about what was ultimately best for my business. So I rationalized not terminating someone. And I know that I'm not alone in engaging in that behavior because I hear it from you guys all the time that you don't like to fire people. You see it as a personal failure when you have to, and as a result, you don't elect to. So the very first thing, the very first mindset strategy we're going to talk about when we talk about successful termination is that bad employees fire themselves.

This episode is about one of my favorite topics, which is money. Money is such a wonderful gift that we have that we can create in our businesses. We as business owners don't fully appreciate all that money opens us up to. One of the things that recently spurred me to record this podcast was that I was watching an exchange on Facebook. I was in a Facebook group, and the question was posed, how do you compensate associates? And there were probably 70 or so responses on the thread by the time I saw it. Of those 70, there had to be at least 50 different ways of attorney compensation. I always hate to see those questions to some degree, because, when you cherry pick, this is how I compensate a particular person. There's a lot that's left out of that discussion, including things such as how you compensate other people in your office.   Tune in to hear my thoughts on this and more!   In this episode we discuss: Difficult business decisions regarding compensation. The value of money and ways that it makes life better in law firms. Weighing the cost benefit of buying experience. Money as a great stress reliever. How reliable and sufficient cash flow can help avoid temptation of trust account violations. The impact of persistent economic distress on the attorney client relationship.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ's Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:20:31 (73 Seconds) OK, so the more that we focus on bringing money into not just our possession but into a systematic way of consistently generating predictable recurring revenue in our business, the less stress we have. Right. If I know I'm going to have a thousand dollars next week, I can make plans with that thousand dollars. If I know I'm going to have fifty thousand dollars next week, I can make plans for that fifty thousand dollars. If I have no idea whether it's going to be a one thousand dollar week or a fifty thousand dollar week, all that I can do is hope and pray and opt not to spend money and make sure I have as much available credit as possible while I'm biting my fingernails, praying for the fifty thousand dollar week. And that over time creates emotional, physical, psychological and intellectual stress that erodes your energy, your creativity and your ability to show up as your best self for your clients. You are a better lawyer when you are reducing stress in your life in all areas. And money is one of those great, great stress reducers.   00:17:32 (45 Seconds) So one of the things that you have to think about with buying better talent is what are you buying? Right. You're not just buying more legal work, you're buying contribution toward your culture. And if you are designing a law firm in a way that is sustainable, you need people who can deal with ethical challenges and who can deal with challenging clients and who can deal with emotionally laden problems in a way that someone with 10 years of life experience from adulthood or from from when they became a practicing attorney really doesn't have. So in other words, there's a place for all of it. But you get to actually afford that talent when you have the money generated in your business in order to create it.  

I know a lot of people have struggled with the idea of growing in a business, not so much because they personally don't want to grow or see the benefits of it, but because they know it's going to cause interpersonal issues either in their romantic relationship or in their friendships.    So I wanted to talk to you about that topic and share some strategies that you can use to have success both professionally and personally.  I also share a little story about what prompted my personal interaction with this topic so that you know that this is something that most people will encounter on their journey to growing the law firm of their desires.   Tune in now!   In this episode we discuss: Trusted friends and advisors that may not fully understand the changes occurring in you and your business as you grow. How the paycheck mindset and lack mindset holds you back from growth and scalability. Coming to the realization that money is not a finite resource. The power the spousal relationship can have over financial decisions. The artificial ceiling on your business you may have created. The risk of staying in mediocrity versus the motivation created by taking a risk outside of your comfort level.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:15:33 (51 Seconds) So that's the first thing that you have to understand conceptually. And when you talk to people outside of your immediate world, if you if you talk to your spouse, your friends, your business colleagues, your employees, when you start talking about the ways that money is not a finite resource that is depleted by spending it, but rather is increased by investing it, when you start to move your mindset into the thinking of earning capacity rather than the paycheck, that's where the foundation of everything that you need to do, in order to create a sustainably high quality, profitable business that can run without you. That then becomes the educational piece that is typically missing.

In this episode we're going to talk about employees. I have seen so much commentary in the Law Firm Mentor Movement about hiring lately and mental blocks to hiring. I think a lot of people develop mental blocks to hiring because of the problems they encounter with employees once they are on board.    So I wanted to give you a framework for thinking about the failure of your employees, the people that you have brought in that have been what you consider to be nightmares.    I talk through some of the things that will correlate with an employee failing so that when you think about once somebody is in your office, once you've hired them, do you have someone who you can remediate or do you need to start the process over again? A lot of people have a hard time firing, not necessarily even because of how distasteful or uncomfortable it is to fire someone, but because they are so uncertain about whether they're making the right decision that they perseverate over all of the things that they could have done, should have done, would have done, would have liked to do in the, in the role of managing that employee.Tune in to learn more!   In this episode we discuss: Three reasons that employees fail. The challenge of understanding an employee’s job when you haven’t performed that job. How attitude influences the ability to fit into a position role and office environment. Understanding the reasons an employee may not comply with your directions without jumping to your own immediate conclusions. How systems can help set the framework for employee success. The importance of training and following up to verify that there is understanding.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.      https://lawfirmmentor.net/masterclass    Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:16:16 (48 Seconds) Don't take it personally that they're not complying with the rule, because when you go into your feelings and make it about how you're being disrespected or how you're not getting what you desire or how you have told this person over and over again and the person's not doing it, when you start making those stories real in your mind, what tends to happen is you shut down in your problem solving ability and you stop looking for what is the real reason and start assuming that your thoughts about the situation are the real reason why the employee is not complying. So that means you could very easily sternly punish or ultimately terminate someone who is not complying for reasons that could easily have been ameliorated if you had been willing to be open to have a conversation.   00:18:12 (43 Seconds) They haven't learned from you that the way you want it done is non-negotiable. So I don't say this to mean that you need to have a stern corrective conversation where you get your finger out and stick it at them and say this is non-negotiable because I'm the boss. I'm talking about an error of how we systematize. OK, so what is really, really important when we talk about employees is that there be a cultural imperative for how we do things. Even if you have not set that tone, had that conversation reorganized activity around that conversation, your employees are still picking up from the ether how things are happening in this business.  

We all want success. We visualize the life that we'll have when we are making enough money and are spending ample amounts of free time, whether it's on a beach or at our kids school or just relaxing. We all have these grandiose thoughts about what success looks like. Then we see people we perceive to be successful who are not living that for themselves. They are working 80 hours a week. They're exhausted. They may have health problems. We think we can either be a great parent or successful, creating these binary choices around the idea that we can only have so much of a good thing. What we really desire is antithetical to what we truly want for ourselves.   Sometimes we're pursuing success and sometimes we're pursuing rest and relaxation, as if those two things run counter to each other. Today, however, I want to give you a framework to actually see success very differently so that you'll be able to create success easier, faster and with more ease along the path.   In this episode we discuss: The power of envisioning success to create what your very own success looks like for you. How success looks different for different people. Planning for the reality of your successful dream life. How ‘Acting As If’ embodies being, doing and having the lifestyle you desire. Identifying what you can change in your belief cycle to help focus on desired outcomes. Agreeing not to stop the process when you hit your terror barrier.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:02:45 (49 Seconds) So what does it mean to get to that easy way of creating success? Well, this is going to sound really, really, really offensive. So please promise me that you're going to stick around for a couple of minutes after I say this. Don't tune me out right away. But the easiest way to create success is simply to create the vision. Now, whenever I tell lawyers that all you have to do is envision what your success will look like, I get a lot of eye rolls, I get a lot of tuning out. I get kind of the blank stare. So I want to tell you what I mean by that, and why it's so important that that's where we start.   00:09:13 (36 Seconds) You start creating all of the excuses, all of the rationalizations as to why you can't have what you want before you actually seek what you want. So it's important that you actually seek what you want first and hold firm to that vision and let your energy go behind what you want so that that's what expands in your life. OK, after you've created the vision, the next thing is, the part that's not so sexy is creating the plan. You have to plan the eventuality that you're going to have this life.  

A lot of us have had compelling events in our lives that have caused us to become the people that we are today. Sometimes those stories are replete with positive, exciting, really engaging stories. Other times they are downright scary. Things that we don't like to talk about. There are also aspects of our story that we know could inspire someone, but we're just not ready yet to go full throttle and market our story. Some people believe that you are exploiting your tragedy or your family by virtue of disclosing things that could very much be your drivers for success.    This episode is dedicated to the topic of marketing your story. I give you an example from my personal life, because this is something that I personally had to grapple with. I ultimately made the decision not to use my story to market my law firm, but not so much because I am now resistant to doing that. I've kind of gotten to a place where I'm actually very much at peace with my story.    There's five strategies I want you to consider before you decide whether or not you're going to market your story and how.    Tune in now!   In this episode we discuss: Coming to terms with your own personal story. Deciding if you’re going to market your story. Giving thought to knowing your story.  Determining your boundaries in advance to avoid any negative or unintended outcomes. How if this opens unhealed wounds for you, don’t resist considering therapy to help heal. The usefulness of seeking out resources to help identify, understand and come to terms with your story. Telling your story in a manner that is relatable and touches on a human need.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:18:35 (37 seconds) So you want to make sure that you're not just picking a story, i.e. I had something happen and now X, without that causal link in between. Because it's often the causal link that is the most powerful part of your story. That's the part of your story where people say, huh. Oh, wow, I didn't know that. OK, so that part of your story that really gets people to understand, because something happened, now you're in this place. That is oftentimes where people will draw the greatest connectivity to you because they went through something similar.