Hire and Empower with Molly McGrath
Molly McGrath
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This podcast is dedicated to providing the key ingredients to transform your employees into a dream team that creates consistent results in every aspect of the business including; team empowerment, leadership, business development, communication hiring, and firing.
As some of the country’s leading staffing & management consultants, we help business owners (Entrepreneurs) and the team that support them (Intrapreneurs) to powerfully connect and work together to grow the business, together.
Available episodes
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1 day ago
162: "Built to Sell: What it takes to BUY & SELL REMARKABLE COMPANIES"
Setting a goal for your business is incredibly important. You want to see the growth in your company scale it to bigger than when it started. Today’s guest can help you with exactly that. Susan Frew is the Business Growth Director and Professional Speaker at Raincatcher. Susan is also the author of Compete on Awesome Not on Price. Susan joins host Molly McGrath to talk about what it takes to buy and sell remarkable companies.
Takeaways:
* Regardless of how long you are planning to exit your business, it’s never too soon to begin planning for it.
* There’s only two ways to exit a business; planned or unplanned, and you want to go with the first option.
* When working on your business plan, you should keep in mind in the future that you plan to sell the company so how can you get there.
* It’s important to walk through the steps of how you will get your business ready to be sold.
* A monthly recurring revenue is going to help any company exponentially in your sale because it proves your company works.
* You want to look at the growth potential of your company, the financial performance and you want to make sure you aren’t too reliant on one customer or employee.
Quote of the Show:
7:51 “Most people don't realize that whatever you can do for a monthly recurring revenue is going to help you exponentially in your sales because now people are like “I can walk in Monday and keep making money right away.””
Links:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanfrewspeaks/
* Website: https://raincatcher.com/free-confidential-valuation
* Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Compete-Awesome-Price-Susan-Frew/dp/1733682414
Ways to Tune In:
* Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.com/Hiring-and-Empowering-Solutions/dp/B08JJSLJ7N
* Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-and-empowering-solutions/id1460184599
* Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIfsDDnEDDkcumTCygHDH
* Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vMTc4MTM2L3Jzcw
* Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/hiring-and-empowering-solutions
* YouTube - https://youtu.be/cClftWIvliI
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Jun 21, 2022
161: Becoming a Subject Matter Expert
Cali Franks is the Programs Attorney at Lawline. She is also a published author. She is a legal problem solver and well versed in counseling clients and making legal jargon easier to understand. Cali joins host Molly McGrath to talk about Lawline’s unique business model.
Takeaways:
* You want to empower your attorneys and lawyers and other members of your legal team. That will help you to retain employees.
* Lawline can provide education for attorneys and it can bring a new insight to lawyers and provide more context to an issue.
* In this tight market, most people will need to be trained and you can’t expect people to show and be experts in what you want right off the bat.
* Having a debriefing session can allow people to really sit down and figure out what more information they might need to know to be an expert.
* Lawline finds the balance between learning from others at your firm and also giving advice to people while hearing their real world cases and how it can be practically solved.
* You want to be able to link to a video that shows you explaining a subject as that shows that you do understand and anyone can access the link.
* SEO keywords are a big way to get new clients as a lot of people will go onto google and look at the first few links, so if you do it properly your content should be first.
Quote of the Show:
12:44 “It's particularly exciting when you see other attorneys that are in your firm, staring back at you with the other screen, to tell you kind of what you need to learn, while also getting great exposure from the 160,000 plus other views subscribers that we have. I think it's a really great, happy medium to find that.”
Links:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/califranks/
* Website: https://www.lawline.com/
Ways to Tune In:
* Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.com/Hiring-and-Empowering-Solutions/dp/B08JJSLJ7N
* Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-and-empowering-solutions/id1460184599
* Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIfsDDnEDDkcumTCygHDH
* Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vMTc4MTM2L3Jzcw
* Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/hiring-and-empowering-solutions
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Jun 16, 2022
160: Be That Lawyer
Steve Fretzin is the President of Fretzin Inc as well as the host of the “Be That Lawyer” podcast. Steve actually isn’t a lawyer by trade but after finding out that lawyers made up the vast majority of his business he decided to work with the legal industry and help them get the results they want. He is also the survivor of a horrible plane crash, which motivated to live everyday. Steve joins host Molly McGrath to talk about how to not sound as sales-y to potential clients.
Takeaways:
* When building up your client list, you need to have the soft skills to talk to them such as relationship building, question, qualifying, and listening.
* Most Attorneys are afraid of coming off too much like a salesperson and that will prevent them from landing more clients.
* You need to be motivated, committed and coachable when it comes to learning how to get more clients.
* It takes time to learn. If you want to become a great lawyer, you need to put the time in and practice over and over again.
* When it comes to learning, paying attention is a key aspect of it. You won’t retain the information if you don’t pay attention.
* If you are not motivated in your business then you won’t be focused, and if you aren’t focused your business will suffer.
* It’s ok to fail at something, as long as you make it a learning experience and figure out why it didn’t work.
Quote of the Show:
12:06: “Learning comes at a cost and part of the cost is paying attention.”
Links:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefretzin/
* Website: https://fretzin.com/
* Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Legal-Business-Development-Rocket-Science-ebook/dp/B09PZHBY6T
Ways to Tune In:
* Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.com/Hiring-and-Empowering-Solutions/dp/B08JJSLJ7N
* Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-and-empowering-solutions/id1460184599
* Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIfsDDnEDDkcumTCygHDH
* Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vMTc4MTM2L3Jzcw
* Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/hiring-and-empowering-solutions
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Jun 14, 2022
159: How Entrepreneurial Law Firms Accept and Manage Money With Dan Lear of Gravity Legal.
Dan heads up marketing and partnerships at Gravity Legal. He is also the host of the “Financially Legal Podcast”. Dan sees the problem that entrepreneurial law firms have and decided that he would launch his own podcast to help them understand how to accept and manage money. Dan joins host Molly McGrath to share his tips on how to run an entrepreneurial law firm.
Takeaways:
* You shouldn’t have to go to your practice management system to manage your clients and practice and then have a separate one for payment. You want to get paid in as few systems as possible.
* There’s technology out there that allows you to transfer money from your operating account to another account without having to write a papercheck.
* Writing out a papercheck and going to the bank to make a deposit is a waste of energy and time for you.
* There is a pushback on the cost of payment processing because it takes up to 3% of revenue, but attorneys often fail to collect on 20 - 40% of what they bill out.
* Consumers are increasingly used to using apps and not using cards or checks to pay, so you need to be able to take all forms of payment.
* It’s harder to scale your company if you are having a person send out invoices rather than having a link to the invoice so someone can pay online.
* To reduce barriers and make it easier for clients, try to have their payment information mesmerized in a system so they don’t have to type out the card information all the time.
Quote of the Show:
10:27 “At a high level firm, one of the pieces of pushback that I often get is the cost of payment processing. I get that 3% of revenue feels like a lot, but what's crazy is lawyers often fail to collect anywhere from 20 to 40 to 50% of what they bill out. So they're super worried about that 3%, but more than happy to let half of their revenue walk out the door.”
Links:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danlear/
* Website: https://www.gravity-legal.com/financiallylegal
Ways to Tune In:
* Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.com/Hiring-and-Empowering-Solutions/dp/B08JJSLJ7N
* Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-and-empowering-solutions/id1460184599
* Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIfsDDnEDDkcumTCygHDH
* Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vMTc4MTM2L3Jzcw
* Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/hiring-and-empowering-solutions
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Jun 9, 2022
158: Raising the Bar for Wellness in the Legal Industry
Gayle Damiano is the Founder of Legal Ease Wellness. After struggling with addiction herself, Gayle has seen the damage it can cause to a persona and their job. She joins host Molly McGrath to talk about the pressures of the legal industry and how to handle it and avoid falling into dangerous habits.
Takeaways:
* The legal industry can be a high stress environment which can lead to people to find a solution for the stress in dangerous ways. It’s best to address these head on rather than avoiding it.
* Attorneys face a crushing amount of work that can lead to a high rate of burnout or addiction as well.
* The legal space is a male dominated industry and that can be difficult on women, which in turn can lead to them getting a bad reputation.
* There are more men now who are willing to admit that they are struggling with depression or addiction because of the stress at work.
* Don’t be afraid to let people see your emotions. It’s ok to be yourself and sharing your pain can be very helpful.
* Sit down with your team and tell them how you are feeling. This will help to build a strong team that can help each other.
* There are so many people doing great things, and it’s important to amplify the those good things and support them.
Quote of the Show:
17:52 “To show vulnerability is a super strength. And to be able to use it in a way that's going to connect you with other human beings and move the ball forward, I say it's a super power.”
Links:
* Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/gayledamiano
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gayledamiano/
* Website: https://www.legaleasewellness.com/
Ways to Tune In:
* Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.com/Hiring-and-Empowering-Solutions/dp/B08JJSLJ7N
* Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-and-empowering-solutions/id1460184599
* Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIfsDDnEDDkcumTCygHDH
* Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vMTc4MTM2L3Jzcw
* Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/hiring-and-empowering-solutions
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Jun 7, 2022
157: How to Negotiate Like a CEO
Jotham Stein is the Principal of the Law Offices at Jotham Stein. He has more than 25 years of experience representing everyone from CEO to lower level employees at a company. He’s also the author of “Negotiate like a CEO”. Jotham encourages every employee to protect yourself in employment wherever you can. Jotham joins host Molly McGrath to talk about how employees can think and negotiate similar to a CEO.
Takeaways:
* The most important thing is to negotiate and think like a CEO. Most CEOs have protective agreements to negotiate with the board to get severance if they get fired.
* You want to think ahead and plan for the worst but hope for the best. Protect yourself if possible.
* There are many companies that are older that have plans for what to give an employee once they are fired, but younger companies don’t have that.
* Go into every situation with your eyes wide open. Find out everything they can about a company so you know what the company is really like.
* If you have leverage, use that to negotiate something to protect yourself in case you don’t stay at the company.
* It costs time, energy and money to hire and train someone. Sometimes managers don’t want someone at a company so they don’t train them properly but if the subordinate is well coached and respected they will go and get a job somewhere else.
* When it comes to the interview process, you want to make sure that you keep your emotions in check as that can be a negative or positive reflection on the person.
Quote of the Show:
5:14 “The most important thing that you can do as the new employee, whether they're at the newbie level where they've just gotten out of college, all the way up to the C-suite level and to the CEO, is to negotiate and think like the CEO.”
Links:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jotham-stein-bb441a5/
* Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Negotiate-Like-CEO-Entrepreneurs-Executives/dp/1895131596#:~:text=A%20lively%2C%20engaging%20read%2C%20Negotiate,t%20get%20taken%20advantage%20of.
Ways to Tune In:
* Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.com/Hiring-and-Empowering-Solutions/dp/B08JJSLJ7N
* Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-and-empowering-solutions/id1460184599
* Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIfsDDnEDDkcumTCygHDH
* Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vMTc4MTM2L3Jzcw
* Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/hiring-and-empowering-solutions
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Jun 2, 2022
156: The 5 Mistakes Employers are making that can Land you In Legal Trouble
Karly Wannos is the Managing Partner of The Wannos Law Firm, PA. She is also the host of “The Employment Experience” podcast, where Karly talks about workplace solutions for HR and businesses. Karly joins host Molly McGrath to talk about properly terminating employees and handling work at will employees.
Takeaways:
* A lot of states are “at will” employment states, which means you can fire an employee at any time for any reason or no reason at all but it can’t be in violation of the law.
* A decrease in pay or failure to promote an employee properly can be used in a retaliation claim by a fired employee.
* In terms of employment cases, it often comes down to a “he said, she said” situation and you can avoid that by having documented evidence.
* When it comes to calling in sick, make sure you actually pick up the phone and call or send an email, do not send a text.
* It is on the employer to provide reasonable accommodations to the employee to do their job if they have a disability.
* You don’t necessarly have to send a rejection letter for legal purposes, but if you do you want to make sure you aren’t during someone away because of discriminatory reasons.
* When hiring people, make sure they understand the potential hire understands what is expected of them in terms of the job hours and what they will do.
Quote of the Show:
8:12 “Documentation is so important and that's because in employment cases, it's a lot of he said, she said.”
Links:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlywannos/
* Website: https://www.karlywannos.com/
* Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1744404
Ways to Tune In:
* Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.com/Hiring-and-Empowering-Solutions/dp/B08JJSLJ7N
* Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-and-empowering-solutions/id1460184599
* Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIfsDDnEDDkcumTCygHDH
* Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vMTc4MTM2L3Jzcw
* Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/hiring-and-empowering-solutions
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May 31, 2022
155: The Subscription Attorney: The Secret Sauce to the Legal Subscription Model
Mathew Kerbis is the Founding Attorney of Subscription Attorney.com. He is also the host of the “Law Subscribed” podcast. Most law firms don’t work on a subscription based model but after working with a few firms, Mathew saw the light and realized that you can make a law practice work based on tiers and subscriptions. Mathew joins host Molly McGrath to talk about how to make a subscription model work in your law firm.
Takeaways:
* Lawyers are considered too expensive for the general public. This comes from the debt from going to law school and when they get out, they charge a large rate to make the most money to pay off the loans.
* A subscription model allows you to scale your business in a better and more efficient way rather than any other model. It allows you to take on more clients with less hires.
* Fostering relationships is a great way to build your business and clients as well. You want to get involved in the community and it’s easier than ever with all the apps now.
* Be nice to everybody and be somebody that people can rely on. Then when people are going to need your services they will be more likely to pay for them.
* You have to be thinking about what your clients are getting out of paying a monthly amount for legal services.
* Anytime you talk with a client, you want to get what they have to say in writing so that you can always go back to it during calls and make it unique to them.
* To make subscription model work perfectly you have to accept payment through debit and credit cards.
Quote of the Show:
6:00 “Lawyers are just too expensive for the general public. And so what could we do about it? The subscription model is a business model that you can scale your clients and your business, unlike any other model.”
Links:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/mathewkerbis
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerbisverse/
* Website: https://subscriptionattorney.com/
* Podcast: https://lawsubscribed.com/
Ways to Tune In:
* Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.com/Hiring-and-Empowering-Solutions/dp/B08JJSLJ7N
* Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-and-empowering-solutions/id1460184599
* Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIfsDDnEDDkcumTCygHDH
* Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vMTc4MTM2L3Jzcw
* Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/hiring-and-empowering-solutions
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May 26, 2022
154: You are a Lawyer, What are you doing with your creativity spark?
Kyla Denanyoh is the Founder and host of the “You Are a Lawyer” podcast. Kyla has a passion for writing and fortune cookies, and used both of those passions to create a podcast where she talks with other lawyers about their jobs and careers. Kyla joins host Molly McGrath to talk about podcasts and how to make your personality shine through in each talk.
Takeaways:
* You have to be consistent and persistent when it comes to podcasting. There is a lot of work going into making a podcast successful and you want to make sure you are prepared to handle it.
* It’s important for people to connect with the “why” they do their job. If you aren’t sure why you are doing what you do, then you aren’t passionate and that affects your work.
* Your education and experience is not devalued if you don’t pass the bar. It is a very complicated exam and you should still hold your head up for taking it.
* Storytelling is a powerful tool and there are so many people out there with great stories that they can share, so it’s important to bring those powerful stories to life
* Most podcasters stop their podcast after 7 episodes as they lose the passion and the drive for it, so plan to power through 7 and go above and beyond.
* You want to make sure that you are learning something new everyday, and you can do that by talking with people on a podcast.
* Reading unleashes a creative side of the brain that allows us to really explore unique options.
Quote of the Show:
13:20 “There's a number of thingsI've since realized that my law school education is not devalued. My brain is certainly not devalued because I haven't passed [the bar exam]. I have a daughter, she's one and a half and I would love to tell her I've never quit, look, mommy did it.”
Links:
* Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/hemphillkay
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyla-hemphill/
* Podcast: https://www.youarealawyer.com/
* Book: https://www.amazon.com/Untamed-Glennon-Doyle-Melton/dp/1984801252/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1653057666&sr=8-1
* https://www.amazon.com/Failing-Up-Risks-Higher-Learning/dp/1250139961
Ways to Tune In:
* Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.com/Hiring-and-Empowering-Solutions/dp/B08JJSLJ7N
* Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-and-empowering-solutions/id1460184599
* Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIfsDDnEDDkcumTCygHDH
* Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vMTc4MTM2L3Jzcw
* Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/hiring-and-empowering-solutions
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May 24, 2022
153 Market to Humans Instead of Robots
John Hinson is the Editorial Director at Spotlight Branding. Companies spend too much of their time and resources focusing on SEO when there are better ways to build up your brand, and John is here to help with that. He joins host Molly McGrath to talk about how to level up your business through marketing and target the right audience.
Takeaways:
* You don’t need to focus on search engine optimization. Spend time on your content and elevating your expertise.
* Tap into your existing network. Smaller companies don’t have the big budgets like bigger companies to spend on ad money and you can quickly fall behind in that space.
* An email list that you create of clients and customers is the most underutilized marketing asset you can have.
* If you do a social media post a day, a blog every month and an email every month that will create a content loop. It makes sure you aren’t forgotten.
* On average, it costs 5 times more to generate business from cold leads than it does to get it from your own list.
* You don’t need to make your emails super complicated. You don’t need to go out and search for articles that aren’t related just to fill it up.
* It is so easy to be forgotten these days. It doesn’t matter how much you change someone’s life, if they haven’t heard from you in 6 months they won’t remember you.
Quote of the Show:
8:26 “Your email list specifically, whether it's you as the lawyer or just what you have collected in your CRM or whatever the case is, is one of your biggest marketing assets and it's probably one of the least used and most underutilized marketing assets that a law firm has.”
Links:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhinson/
* Website: https://spotlightbranding.com
* Book: https://www.amazon.com/Something-About-These-Fields-Hinson/dp/1304622231
* Podcast: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/our-weird-world-1193937
* Playbook: https://spotlightbranding.com/playbook/
Ways to Tune In:
* Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.com/Hiring-and-Empowering-Solutions/dp/B08JJSLJ7N
* Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-and-empowering-solutions/id1460184599
* Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIfsDDnEDDkcumTCygHDH
* Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vMTc4MTM2L3Jzcw
* Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/hiring-and-empowering-solutions
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May 17, 2022
152: Create the Longterm Employee you Want
Christian Hansen is the Founder of TheChristianHansen.com and the author of “The Influence Mindset”. He sees a unique way to get your employee to feel connected to the employer and how to get them to stay for a long period of time. Christian joins host Molly McGrath to talk about how to inspire and mentor people and your employees. Takeaways:
* A problem is not a problem until someone feels something. You need to make sure that employees feel comfortable being open and honest with you.
* You want to envision what your future will be like, and harness that vision and use it to motivate you to keep you going.
* Building a positive relationship with a prospective hire will actually make them want to stay at your company longer.
* Most people don’t know what their purpose or passion is. This doesn’t mean they are flighty but rather that they need help figuring out what they want to do.
* People want to have purpose in their life. If you show yourself a purpose driven employer, people are more likely to join your company.
* Leaders are outfront and upfront with their employees. This will give employees more clarity and they will respect you more.
* Culture at a company is incredibly important. You want to make sure it is a positive work culture and feel happy to go into the office everyday.
Quote of the Show:
8:18 “I think especially in the hiring process there are huge opportunities for [employers] to build and strengthen an impression and build a relationship with a prospective hire that is going to shape the time that they're working for you.”
Links:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clhansen/
* Website: https://www.thechristianhansen.com/
* Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Mindset-Science-Getting-People/dp/1737317508/ref=asc_df_1737317508/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=532384509515&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13045178399447752837&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9002274&hvtargid=pla-1389485415093&psc=1
Ways to Tune In:
* Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.com/Hiring-and-Empowering-Solutions/dp/B08JJSLJ7N
* Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hiring-and-empowering-solutions/id1460184599
* Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIfsDDnEDDkcumTCygHDH
* Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vMTc4MTM2L3Jzcw
* Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/hiring-and-empowering-solutions
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May 10, 2022
151: Be Happy in Both Worlds: You can have a successful career and a happy family
Sarah Ruffi is the Owner at Ruffi Law Offices, S.C. She worked at a law firm where she was miserable and didn’t realize the impact it had on her family until she was given an ultimatum. Now she is happier and spending more time with her family while also balancing a successful career. Sarah joins host Molly McGrath to talk about the importance of balancing these two worlds.
Takeaways:
* It’s important to make sure that you take time for your family as well as your career. You don’t need to sacrifice one for the other.
* Many female attorneys leave the practice of law because they feel as though they are forced to choose between having a career or a family and a life.
* Where focus goes, energy flows. If you only focus on the negative, then negative things will only happen in your life.
* You need to take care of yourself and your family before your career. It’s easy to make yourself the victim but you need to realize how important your happiness is.
* Clients will g…
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May 3, 2022
150: The Case for virtual coworking: build a connected remote culture
Alexander Embiricos is the CEO of Remotion. In this day and age, the vast majority of companies have employees that work remotely whether it is hybrid or fully remote. It can be tricky to figure out how to work alongside these employees but today’s guest aims to change that. Alexander joins host Molly McGrath to talk about how to communicate with remote workers and embrace the remote work culture.
Takeaways:
* Your employees and even your contracts can do even more if you just empower them and believe in them.
* The biggest thing you lose when you let go of the office is people talking to each other outside of work related needs. The human interaction of getting to know someone personally disappears.
* The hardest part about remote working is that it makes creating relationships with your co-workers more difficult than normal.
* You want to continue to support remote workability for your employees. This allows them to work in an environment they are comfortable with and wor…
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Apr 26, 2022
149: Nice Girls Don't Speak Up or Stand Out: How to Make Your Voice Heard, Your Point Known, and Your Presence Felt
Dr. Lois Frankel is the President of Corporate Coaching International, the author of the best-selling book “Nice Girls Don’t Speak Up or Stand Out”, among other books. She’s also an internationally-recognized expert in the field of leadership development for women. Lois sits down with host Molly McGrath to talk about ways women can communicate in the office with their boss and other co-workers..
Takeaways:
* Have people tell you about their upbringing. From that you can tell someone what they need to develop in order to best compliment their behaviors.
* Nice girls are women who act according to how they were raised from their childhood.
* Being nice is necessary for success, but it's not the only thing that can bring you success. Hard work comes with that as well.
* There are different rules for how different are supposed to communicate and those rules keep women from speaking up, which is unfair and unjust.
* You can’t tell women not to get emotional. Before you…
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Apr 19, 2022
148: 7 Steps to Master Anger and Stress!
Joseph Warren provides Elite VIP Coaching for Christian Husbands at blowuprocks.com, the host of the “Broken Catholic Podcast” and the “Your First 100K Podcast”. Clearly a man of many talents! He used to work over 100 hours a week in his early 20’s, which led to great success for him. Joseph joins host Molly McGrath to talk about how to manage your anger and stress.
Takeaways:
* Society teaches men to not be voneral and push all their feelings down. This can lead to explosive outcomes and negatively affect relationships.
* You have to understand the problem to get to the solution. You can’t make headway on an issue if you don’t understand the source of it.
* 7 rocks that can kill us: mental rocks, shame rocks, business rocks, marriage rocks, parenting rocks, fitness rocks, spiritual rocks.
* A common issue when we realize there is a problem that needs to be dealt with, we tend to ignore it. This only makes the issue worse, you need to resolve the issue.
* Ever…
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Apr 12, 2022
147: Nervous your legal contracts don’t cover your Outsourced bases?
Paige Hulse is the Owner and Lead Attorney at Paige Hulse Law. She is passionate about trademark law and intellectual property. Paige joins host Molly McGrath to talk about how to make yourself stand out in a tough industry and make sure your reputation is in great standing.
Takeaways:
* Stand out in the legal space. Find a way to make yourself different from everyone else who is working in the same field.
* Know your cliente. You want to understand what makes them tick and what they respond well to, and then you can cater your business to them.
* Your reputation is very important. Nothing will make or break your business like having a positive or negative reputation.
* Don’t be afraid to put your neck out there. You need to have your face in meetings for people to recognize you and your business.
* Be careful of the emotional capital that comes with litigating contracts. You need to make sure that every client is emotionally ready for that.
* Ethics should be at the fo…
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Apr 5, 2022
146: A Solution to The Paralegal Associate Attorney Crisis: The Value of Legal Nurse Consultants
Pat Iyer is an author of many books, and she is also the President and Legal Nurse Consultant of the Pat Iyer Group PLLC. She used to supply attorneys with experts and legal nurse consultants in court cases. Pat joins Molly McGrath to talk about her knowledge in the area of legal nursing consulting.
Takeaways:
* In the 1980’s, there was a concept that physicians could talk about nursing care and then the court systems noted that those are two different professions.
* All records used to be hand written so there was a considerable focus on what a piece of paper might say. Legal nurse consultants help with that.
* A legal nurse consultant is more focused on the nuances and finding a way to clear up the information while a paralegal records what they see on the screen.
* Attorneys see the pieces of information that are missing. They want to make sure that they are not caught off guard by any secret information.
* You want to make sure you are able to distinguish the differen…
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Mar 29, 2022
145: Let's Talk Paralegal : Inner Preparation for the Legal Industry
Eda Rosa is the Paralegal at Eda Rosa LLC. She’s also the host of the”Let’s Talk Paralegal” podcast. She sees a lot of inefficiencies in law firms and aims to fix that. Eda sits down with host Molly McGrath to talk about how she wants to change the way attorneys work with paralegals and how to make sure your employees feel respected.
Takeaways:
* Attorneys in general don’t get trained on how to properly use a paralegal. That is something that should be taught more.
* The legal industry is chaotic and you need to make sure you are ready for it. The industry isn’t going to slow down just for you.
* Attorneys are like a parent. They take care of their legal support staff and make sure the bills are paid and the lights remain on, all while being an attorney.
* When you have your own firm, you can decide how the culture is there. You want to make sure the culture is something that people can thrive in.
* You can change the industry so that it doesn’t have to be cra…
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Mar 22, 2022
144: How to Prevent Unintentional Audience Abuse: The Difference Between Presentation & Facilitation
Keith Bailey is the Founder, Facilitator and StoryConnecter at Articulated Intelligence. He has found different ways to make sure that your audience cares about what you are talking about. With the great power of public speaking comes the great responsibility of making sure your audience is invested. He sits down with host Molly McGrath to share his tips on how to keep your audience involved and vested into your speech.
Takeaways:
* The audience always wants the speaker in a podcast or at a conference to succeed. When you use to many “ums” or other filler words, you unintentionally commit “audience abuse”
* Avoid just delivering facts and figures. The audience wants to hear stories, it’s how they connect and relate with the speaker.
* You exclude 80% of the audience if you only do facts and statistics from a powerpoint slide. Take a simple story and tie the data to it.
* You don’t have to share a story that paints you in a bad or embarrassing way to get the audien…
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Mar 15, 2022
143: The Paralegal Bootcamp: The Stress of How to Train…is Finally Over!
Ann Pearson is the Founder and Director of Training And Development at The Paralegal Boot Camp. She’s a rockstar Paralegal and she enjoys training incoming Paralegals and getting them ready for the real world out of law school. She sits down with host Molly McGrath to talk about how to properly train your employees.
Takeaways:
* Training is supposed to be something that changes behavior and adds a new skill. It’s not something that comes from reading off of a powerpoint to someone.
* There are three keys when it comes to training someone and those are mind set, behaviors and skills.
* It’s easier to add skills to an employee than it is to train them to be motivated or ambitious. You need to make sure that employees are flexible and adaptable as well.
* To develop a really good interactive training program, one hour of that takes about 30 hours to make.
* The unemployment rate is under 2% in the paralegal space. People want to only hire experienced employees so they do…
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Mar 8, 2022
142: The Lunch: How to Manage YOU when Stuck in Life and Work
Dan Moulder is the Project and Paralegal Manager at Butler Snow LLP. He’s also the author of “The Lunch: How to Manage You. A Leadership Book for the Rest of Us”. He knows how important it is to make sure that employees feel valued at their work. He sits down with host Molly McGrath to talk about what businesses can do to make their employees feel respected.
Takeaways:
* There are always ways to improve. Take some time to write in a journal about the ways you can improve yourself either in your personal life or work life.
* You need to meet your employees or colleagues where they are. Once you understand their mindset better you know to work with them.
* You have to realize you are in the human to human business. If you don’t treat your employees like actual humans they won’t stay for long.
* The pandemic allowed people to really reevaluate their life and if their job is something they wanted to continue doing.
* Everyone wants to feel connected and respected. Sho…
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Mar 1, 2022
Boosting your Growth - Molly McGrath - Hire And Empower With Molly McGrath Episode # 141
Molly McGrath is the Founder of Hiring and Empowering Solutions. She sits down to talk about the importance of growing your company and some of the challenges that can prevent growth, such as looking at your PNL too much. Listen as she gives out tips on how to successfully grow your business.
Takeaways:
* PNL is killing your growth. People focus all their decision making by what their PNL says but that doesn’t always tell the full story
* The market fluctuates and that can affect how much you pay for an employee. Don’t listen to your colleagues or friends who say they got someone for pennies on the dollar.
* In this market, there’s no place for running your hourly rates and billable hours. You have to think differently as pricing is expensive and you need the money to grow.
* There’s three simple steps to grow your business; Get more customers, increase your average purchase price, and create repeat customers.
* Your time is valuable and you want to make the best us…
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Feb 21, 2022
140: How to Write a Best Selling Book That Changes Lives in as Little as 3 Months!
Writing a book doesn't have to be an overwhelming process. Sara Connell, the founder of Thought Leader Academy, walks us through the process she uses to help entrepreneurs and thought leaders write their books.
A book saved Sara's life seventeen years ago. She was in an abusive job and spiraling into a health crisis when she randomly picked up the book at the airport. Her life changed because of that book, and that's when she realized that she needed to pay it forward.
Sara started down a path to figuring out the fun and easy process for writing a profitable and impactful book.
She looked back at her writing process to see where she got stuck and has built the antidote into the writing process she uses in the Thought Leaders Academy.
Sara says that book sales are like icing on the cake. The book-writing process brings you closer to why you do what you do. It helps clarify your mission and reconnect you to it. It also distinguishes you as a thought leader.
You don't need…
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Feb 15, 2022
139: The Successful Mind - There's Always a Way with David Neagle
It’s hard to get people to realize that the opportunity to accomplish whatever they want is all around when they aren’t trained to see it.
Many of us are making decisions from a place with no way of propelling us forward to the success we want. We just don’t know it. We don’t understand what is holding us back.
David Neagle is here to teach us what a successful mind focuses on and where to recognize opportunities. David is the founder of a multi-million dollar global coaching company. His mission is to teach people to think successfully to experience personal freedom.
David shares his experience with how shifting his attitude, perception, and thoughts about money changed his life and helped him become successful.
David believes that when you understand how to think about money and how to resource money, there's no limit to the amount of money you can make.
We're in a massive period of change and transition. So it's an ideal time to get a competitive advantage because there…
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Feb 8, 2022
138: Fix My Employees!
"How to fix my employees," or some version of that, is the number search term we came across when setting up our SEO. It's also number one when we look at our SEO analytics. However, it's not your employees that need fixing. Instead, your internal systems, or lack of systems, are often the root cause of the frustration for both employees and employers.
Many law firms are on a massive growth path right now, which leads to employees and their attorneys feeling like they are running around with their hair on fire. The team is solid. There's money in the bank and appointments on the calendar, but everyone is just waiting for the other shoe to drop because everything feels chaotic.
Things are falling through the cracks.
Sometimes an employee is underperforming, causing drama, or delegating backup is due to the lack of a plan or clarity about what they should be doing.
When it comes to "fixing" your employees, the number one step is to commit to having a non-negotiable one-hour weekly…
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Feb 1, 2022
137: The Five Marketing Strategies for 2022 and Beyond with Mark Homer
Are you missing out on new clients because you’re stuck in an old way of thinking about your marketing? Mark Homer, CEO of GNGF (Get Noticed Get Found), is here to share his top five marketing strategies for 2022 and beyond.
Mark's full-service marketing agency strives to put the law firm back in law firm marketing.
Mark believes that most law firm business owners are almost accidental entrepreneurs. They started their firm to practice law and then realized at some point along the way they were running a business, which requires finance, operations, HR, and marketing.
Even if you're not spending a dime on marketing, you should track and measure where your leads originate. Are they coming from Google? Are they coming from referral partners?
Do you have a clearly defined intake process? Measuring and tracking leads falls apart when you don’t have a clearly defined intake process. Creating and defining your intake process is a better use of your time and resources in the short te…
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Jan 25, 2022
136: Post-Traumatic Growth, Frustration, and Breakthroughs
Many law firms have experienced growth since the pandemic. The downside to growth is that it is often accompanied by frustration. If you’re feeling that frustration right now, you’re not alone.
I often hear statements like, "Everything's falling apart. Nothing's working." This is just not true. There's probably one area that isn't working. This is typically in relationships, which can lead to emotional explosions. That's why it feels like everything is falling apart.
When you're feeling exhausted, disappointed, frustrated, and challenged - That's when you know you are absolutely on the precipice of a breakthrough. Unfortunately, the tools, mindset, and strategies that got you where you are won't get you to the next level. It's time to take a pause.
Find some celebration and, dare I say, some freaking fun in what you're doing. Take time to clarify what is not working, where you're frustrated, and where you can make some micro-adjustments.
Take a hard look at your calendar. Does…
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Jan 18, 2022
135: From Panic to Profit: How 6 Key Numbers Can Make a 6-Figure Difference in Your Business with Brooke Lively
How do you go from panic to profit in your business? Brooke Lively, Founder and President of Cathedral Capital, is here to share the six key numbers that can make a six-figure difference in your law firm.
Brooke Lively fired her biggest client in 2015. This client was responsible for 94.3% of her business. After that, she lost money for 26 months in a row. Losing money every month led to many sleepless nights, worrying if her company would make it.
Lack of information is the root of anxiety. Brooke realized that to save her company, she would have to start acting as if it were her client. This realization meant that she would have to start making data-driven decisions based on the good, the bad, and the ugly information she had.
In this episode, you will learn to start making more informed data-driven decisions to get your business back on track.
What You Will Learn
* The 6 key numbers you need to know to run a profitable business
* What you REALLY need to know about your cash…
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Jan 11, 2022
134: A How-to Guide to Law Firm Strategic Planning Retreats
How do you create an effective strategic retreat for your law firm? We are diving into the step-by-step planning and process of creating and facilitating strategic retreats that will positively impact your team, your client experience, and your bottom line.
We have received a tremendous number of inquiries via e-mail and our website. Many of you are asking if we have an agenda for hosting a strategic retreat.
Yes, you need an agenda, but there is more to planning your retreat than just creating the agenda. For example, who is facilitating the retreat? What happens after the retreat? How is your plan implanted, managed, and measured? Who's responsible?
In addition to reviewing the responsibilities of the retreat facilitator, you will learn about the roles other team members play in the retreat and how to prepare them to show up.
If you haven't already, commit and give yourself and your team the gift of a quarterly strategic retreat. We've discovered that this is one of the most sign…
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Jan 4, 2022
133: Misconceptions about the Employee Retention Credit: The Government Program That Could Get You $26,000 Per Employee!
Did you know that you might be eligible for the Employee Retention Credit (ERC)? Are you missing out on money that is available to you?
The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is something that not many people have studied and understood. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation and bad advice floating around. Determining if you qualify isn't typical accounting work because you're taking the tax law and analyzing that based on the facts of each client that you work with to decide whether or not they qualify. There is some gray area, and there is legal work involved.
Adam Williams, Esq., Founder of Rust Belt Law, guides us through some of the confusion and misconceptions about the Employee Retention Credit (ERC).
According to Adam, his firm's biggest challenge in selling these services to other people, including law firms, is convincing them that this is real because it seems too good to be true. Unlike the PPP and many other programs, you can spend the money however you want. The…
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Dec 28, 2021
132: What It's Like to Grow Up with an Entrepreneur - An Interview with my 19 Year Old
What is it like to grow up in the home of an entrepreneur? Aidan Hall shares his first-hand experience growing up with his entrepreneurial mom Molly.
Having a conversation with your kids about what it means and looks like to grow up in an entrepreneurial home is the place to start.
Keep your communication lines open with your kids. Encourage them to give you feedback and check in with them consistently and often. When they are courageous enough to speak their truth or share their perspective, don't get defensive, use it as a weapon against them, or make them feel like they're in trouble. Instead, treat them like your board of advisors.
Working from home makes it even harder to separate your work and home life. The lines get blurred, and it's easy to get wrapped up in emails or work situations that keep you from being present. Empower your children to hold you accountable when it's time to be present for your family.
Be mindful and aware of the example you are setting for your kids.…
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Dec 21, 2021
131: What Getting SOX for Christmas Has to do with Your Business Results
Have you been disappointed when you've opened up a gift only to find that it was socks? They weren't even cool socks, just plain dull socks. Where are you feeling let down in your business and finding socks instead of the outcomes that you truly desired?
When you're not clear on what you want and don't ask for what you truly desire, you're going to wind up with F'n socks. Then you're really going to feel sad and frustrated.
You get to choose what you want, but you have to be willing to do the work to create it. So start looking at the habits you need to develop to create what you desire.
Courageous conversations and clear communication are also needed to achieve what you desire in your life and your business.
Put in your request for what you want with clarity and precision. Make certain that the energy you're bringing to it is well-managed and coming from the place of a visionary. Then start chipping away at your list.
Get clear on what you want and start asking for it. Stop settl…
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Dec 14, 2021
130: The Misconception of Job Titles, The 4 Key Functions, and EOS Accountability Chart
It's time to start shifting your outdated way of thinking about job titles and positions and begin anchoring to key functions that will drive the growth of your law firm.
Chad Sinness is a professional Entrepreneurial Operating Systems (EOS) implementor. He works with small businesses to help them achieve vision, traction, and healthy leadership skills.
The goal of implementing EOS is not always about making more money. It can also be implemented to help you get clarity in your life and your business.
EOS uses an accountability chart rather than a traditional organizational chart with job titles. The accountability chart used in EOS focuses on function. By focusing on function, we can eliminate titles and the ego that goes along with some of those titles.
Chad shares the four key functions that should be included on the accountability chart.
We also discuss the differences between implementors and integrators and why your business can't function without an integrator.
What You Wi…
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Dec 7, 2021
129: The How and Why of Attorney Podcasting with Elise Buie
Why should attorneys podcast? Family law attorney and podcaster Elise Buie is talking with us about the impact that podcasting has had on her family law practice, as well as her personal development.
Elise started her virtual practice so she would be able to have more work-life integration. She focused on bringing women back into the workforce who were lawyers and moms and sought better work-life integration.
Elise started the Maximum Mom podcast in 2020. She serves an audience who understands the challenging trifecta of being a mom, an attorney, and an entrepreneur.
The podcast has been a platform for Elise to share her message about work-life integration. It has also created new connections and opportunities for her.
In this episode, Elise shares some tips for getting started and how she views her success. Authenticity is a recurring theme in this conversation. You’ll hear how it is a requirement for being successful in your law practice, as well as podcasting.
What You Will L…
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Nov 30, 2021
128: The Influence Mindset: The Art & Science of Getting People to Choose You with Christian Hansen
Your success is based on your ability to influence people to choose you. How do you design a brand experience that helps you stand out from your competition? Christian Hansen is here to help us capture attention, establish credibility, and cultivate influence.
Your success is not determined by how smart, capable, qualified, or passionate you are about helping people. Ultimately, your success boils down to how you influence somebody to choose you over someone else. If you sound like everyone else, then you're not going to be successful, no matter your qualifications.
Prospects are often experiencing something that's called “choice overload” when they are shopping for an attorney.
"Choice overload" occurs when our brain becomes overwhelmed in trying to decide where to go or what to do. This overload leads to stress and frustration. Crafting a message that speaks to the heart and emotions will be the first thing that helps you stand out from the crowd. Most of your competition is t…
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Nov 23, 2021
127: Results Driven Data Literacy with Matt Cowell
This episode is not about your CRM. It's about creating a culture of data literacy within your law firm, from the C-Suite down to the receptionist. Everyone in your organization should understand the importance of getting good data. There is a transformation happening in the corporate world. We are quickly reaching the point where data literacy and skills are no longer optional.
Matt Cowell, CEO of Quanthub, shares his insight on how we can up-skill our data literacy. He also takes the overwhelm out of where and how to begin if you haven't started yet.
The ultimate goal of creating a data literacy transformation within your law firms is that the owner isn’t the only one asking questions about data.
It becomes layers deep in the organization where everyone contributes to making data-driven decisions because that's just how the organization operates. Now everyone's asking questions and answering these questions with the data that they have available. Then the organization's efficien…
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Nov 16, 2021
126: The Person Answering Your Phones is the Make or Break of your Calendar, Conversions, & Revenue
The person answering the phone in your law firm is the make or break of your calendar, conversions, and revenue. Period.
You must be intentional about managing the experience, the conversation, and the narrative when a client or potential client calls your law office. You are losing money when you’re not managing this experience.
Suppose the person answering the phone doesn't go above and beyond to create a fantastic experience. In that case, your job as an attorney or paralegal is irrelevant because you won't have any meetings. This person is your Director of First Impressions. They are the strongest salesperson in your firm.
We are reviewing reporting weekly, and the conversion rates are night and day when the phone experience is managed well.
Even when using an outsourced service, you still must design the process and manage the experience. For example, the person answering the phone for the service needs to make people feel acknowledged, understood, and heard. Their job is to…
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Nov 2, 2021
125: Why Only Focusing on Revenue is Harming Your Law Firm Growth with Lydia Desnoyers
Revenue isn't the only number you should measure in your law firm.
You think you're reaching your revenue goals until it's time to run payroll, and then you don't have enough money, or you didn't consider quarterly taxes. Now what?
Our guest, Lydia Desnoyers, is a CPA and founder of DesCPA Business Advisory, LLC. She offers expertise in small business accounting, management consulting, tax, start-ups, entrepreneurship, Sarbanes-Oxley Act issues, white-collar criminal investigation, forensic accounting, fraud, identity theft, IRS resolutions, and more.
When it comes to finances, many attorneys, even the most successful ones, feel shame or embarrassment when talking about their financials, often because they don’t understand the numbers. Attorneys are skilled at practicing law, but many fail to run their firms as a business.
Lydia takes a holistic approach to accounting and advising her clients. There are many different factors and things that can be tracked to measure the firm's o…
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Oct 26, 2021
124: How to Spot Low Accountability Behavior and Plug the Leaks
A lack of accountability creates chaos and crisis, which leads to frustration, mistrust within your organization, and poor results. Learn five signs to help you identify low accountability leaks and how to plug them up in this episode.
Accountability starts with culture. As a leader, it is also your job to empower your employees to hold you accountable to attend meetings and follow processes. Empower your team members with responsibility, authority, and permission to do their jobs.
Accountability is a two-way street. Leaks begin to disappear with transparency. High-accountability employees don't hide, get defensive, make excuses, or justify. Instead, they want to share data and results because they aren't scared of it. As the leader, when you anchor to the data, reports, and job descriptions, there's no reason to be defensive.
As the leader, it is also your job to show up for scheduled meetings. If it doesn't seem important to you, it won't be critical to your team.
What You Will L…
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Oct 19, 2021
123: The Tsunami of the 2021 Employee Resignation with Leslie McIntyre-Tavella of Culpeo HR
The is no "going back to normal." That work-life that we had before March 2020 is now in the past, and people are forever changing how we're going to work in the future.
Leslie McIntyre-Tavella shares what she has learned about retaining employees and attracting new ones in her 35 years in the staffing industry.
She is the Founder of Culpeo HR and has recently published Framing Success: 20 Essential Lessons for Achieving Entrepreneurial Greatness from a Self-Made Multimillionaire.
In the past year and a half, employees have had a chance to get a glimpse behind the corporate curtain. Now employees recognize what their companies really stand for and how much they really care about them.
The first thing you need to do as a business owner or leader is simple. You need to actually talk to your employees and treat them like humans. Contrary to what you might believe, it isn't about the money. It's all about recognition and value.
Talk with your people. Build a referral program. Empower…
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Oct 12, 2021
121: Unresolved Chronic Stress & Unoptimized Leaders with Wylie McGraw
Wylie McGraw is here to teach us what unresolved chronic stress is, how it impacts our performance, and what we can do about it. Who you are and how you operate in your life directly affect those around you. When you are optimized and operating at a high level, your life is better, and so are theirs.
Chronic stresses are those unresolved things that you have carried your entire life from your life experiences. They create undetectable patterns of doubt, fear, and cautiousness that impact your ability to perform and hold back your actual potential.
When something is continuously reoccurring repeatedly, that means you have unresolved chronic stresses. They have not been addressed or eradicated. Until you get to the core of why those things are happening, you will continue to experience them.
When we start going into the self-awareness aspect and digging deep into finding out that what we carry around, we see that what we carry creates the situations and scenarios around us. When you f…
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Oct 5, 2021
120: The Value of Difficult Conversations in the Workplace with Kelly Beattie
Are you avoiding the difficult conversations you should be having? For example, how do you have difficult conversations with friends and family in the workplace that don't turn into a blowup?
Kelly Beattie, President and Lead Trainer at FirstStar Consulting Group, is here to help us get the outcomes we want from these uncomfortable conversations.
What is the value of having these conversations? When you're talking about ROI in difficult conversations, the value is in efficiency. There is so much unproductive time around the conversations that you are avoiding. That conversation is happening somewhere, and it's usually around the water cooler. It begins to erode productivity. Fostering a culture that supports direct communication in real-time creates more productive teams.
When we continue to stuff our feelings, we erode our ability to be resilient. This leads to a state of self-doubt. It becomes even more critical to have these conversations when friends or family are involved to av…
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Sep 21, 2021
119: Five Ways to Make Business Miracles Happen
What miracle do you need to create in your business this week? The good news is that you're already making miracles. There is evidence of this everywhere in your law firm and your team.
Tension, stakes, and consequences are often catalysts for miracles. If you've heard me say at once, you've heard me say it a million times, “Fear, chaos, tragedy, and a breakdown is a beautiful opportunity for action.”
Failure to plan is the catalyst for crisis. So the first thing I invite you to do is get out of "crisis mode."
Listen to the episode for insight and strategies to help you incorporate these five steps into your practice so making miracles becomes fun.
Adopt the strategies in this episode into your daily practices, so they become regular habits. Then, when the time comes that you need a miracle, you will view it as a challenge, but without all of the anxiety that is usually attached.
Accountability is a beautiful miracle worker. Send an email to me at molly@hiringandempowering.com…
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Sep 14, 2021
118: When is the Time to be Working on Your Law Firm Exit Strategy with Tom Hannon
When should you start thinking about your law firm exit strategy? Tom Hannon, a serial entrepreneur, shares his insight and experience from selling multiple businesses.
Eighty percent of businesses never sell because the entrepreneur, or the person who started the business, is not thinking about the buyer. Start thinking about selling your business when you start it. If you haven't already started thinking about your exit strategy, now is the time to start planning and preparing.
The mistake that most entrepreneurs make is that they aren’t prepared to sell their businesses.
This conversation with Tom Hannon will help you get into the mindset to prepare to sell your law practice. Learn where to focus your energy to begin creating a business that you can sell when an opportunity comes up, or in the event that you have unexpected life-changing circumstances.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
* What makes your law firm attractive to potential buyers
* How to start planting see…
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Sep 7, 2021
117: Employees, Stop Saying "I couldn't get to it."
A vicious cycle is created when you say, "I couldn't get to it."
Learn how a little bit of over-communication and information can get rid of drama and completely transform your day in the office.
What is really happening when you can’t get to something? How can you respond in a way that will instill faith in your ability to manage projects and priorities?
It starts with information and over-communication. Lack of information and communication creates drama, trauma, angry clients, and frustration for bosses and employees.
When deadlines are missed, your response should come from a place of deep curiosity, awareness, ownership, and that you are on a fact-finding mission to find the root cause and a solution to the problem. Business owners want to see information and proposed solutions.
You have a choice in how you communicate and ask for help. It starts with taking ownership.
What You Will Learn in this Episode
* How to respond in a way that instills confidence in you
* Why…
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Aug 31, 2021
116: How to Make Informed Business Decisions
Today I'm giving you a framework to help you and your employees make informed business decisions. When you have a strategy or a plan, you feel empowered, and less freaked out about making a decision.
The top business areas where we see people getting jammed up are with people, processes, production, profitability, and lastly, marketing.
I'm going to help you make business decisions from a place of responding rather than reacting. We are taking the emotion out of decision-making and replacing it with a process.
Steps to Making Informed Business Decisions
* Name the issue where you need to make a decision
* Make a pro/con list, starting with the pros
* Put an appointment on your calendar for one week out as the day you will make your decision
* Keep notes throughout the week as you think about the decision you. need to make
* Identify the energy, emotions, time, and money output currently associated with what you are analyzing
* Make the decision and trust yourself
After…
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Aug 24, 2021
115: How Your CSC is Your Practice's Best Marketing Differentiator with John Strohmeyer
What kind of client experience is your front-of-house staff creating? Attorney John Strohmeyer gives us tips and strategies to create exceptional client experiences that are simple and inexpensive to implement.
John Strohmeyer spent four years working for the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts between college and law school, so he knows what it takes to create a remarkable client experience.
Attorneys often forget that their client service coordinators and receptionists are an essential part of their sales teams. The client journey begins long before they ever meet the attorney.
Clients are coming to you for solutions. Therefore, helping your clients achieve their primary objective as easily as possible should be the focus of your client experience.
What would a law firm built by the founders of Disney, Four Seasons, Amazon, and Zappos look like? This is the big question that John seeks to answer in his Five Star Counsel podcast.
Your client experience starts as soon as a potential c…
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Aug 17, 2021
114: Six Triggers That are Crushing Your Confidence with Michele Molitor
Why are some people confident and others aren’t?
Where does confidence come from? Can you recognize these six triggers of imposter syndrome that are crushing your confidence?
Michele Molitor has been a professional coach for 20 years.
She shares how getting fired from a tech company in 2000 led to her career in coaching. She also tells us why Rapid Transformational Therapy was so profoundly transformational in her own experience.
Michelle also helps us recognize the six triggers crushing our confidence and negatively impacting how we show up in the world. When we can identify these triggers, we can start shifting what we believe about ourselves.
What You Will Learn in this Episode
* What is Rapid Transformational Therapy
* How messages we receive as children affect our internal programming
* How are bodies tell us there is a problem
* Why you need to be mindful of your energy
* How the six triggers of imposter syndrome impact what we believe about ourselves
Links and…
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Aug 10, 2021
113: The Truth About Your Role in the Firm
Your role as the attorney is to model the behavior you want to see standardized throughout your entire practice. The truth about your role in the law firm is that you must be disciplined in meeting deadlines, responding to emails, and communicating with your staff.
The behavior of the attorney/owner/founder sets the tone of the firm—everyone in the firm models their behavior.
If you’re not keeping your word with employees, not honoring your calendar, or not responding to emails, you can’t be mad at your employees when they start modeling your behavior. They will never care more than you care.
Whether your name is on the wall or you're an associate, now is the time to take a good hard look in the mirror at your behavior.
If you are an associate, now is the perfect time to step up your game and see what you can do to take things off your primary attorney’s plate.
Communication is a two-way street. Everyone in the firm is playing a role in what is happening or not happening.…
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Aug 3, 2021
112: Past Performance is not an Indicator of Your Future Success with Ryan Englin
What if your emphasis was on hiring better people, the ones that will fit your culture, the ones that are going to have a sense of belonging, the ones you could engage and motivate? Ryan Englin, CEO, and founder of Core Matters, helps us focus on hiring better people faster to hire less.
Ryan believes that there are two types of resumes out there. The first is written by someone who doesn't know how to write a resume because they haven't done it in years. A professional resume writer writes the other. You can't trust either one of them.
The best employees almost always aren't looking for work. When you find them fully employed, they're engaged, they're productive. And then a friend taps them on the shoulder and says, “Hey, you should go check this place out.” Well, that's not someone who's got a polished resume. They don't need it!
One of the hardest things to do as a leader or owner is to take a look in the mirror and say, "I might be the problem." When you say that you don't h…
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Jul 20, 2021
111: The Meeting After the Meeting is the Real Problem
The meeting AFTER the meeting is the real problem, and you all know what I'm talking about. The meeting after the meeting is a breeding ground for drama, and you must stop it. Learn what steps to take to get you and your team productively addressing difficult conversations head-on.
Team meetings get expensive, so they need to be efficient, effective, and impactful.
If you’re finding yourself in these water cooler meetings after the meeting, one of the books I would highly highly recommend reading is The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. Read it as a team and discuss it.
Steps to Ending the Meeting the Meeting After the Meeting
* Give each other permission to have difficult conversations
* Publicly thank those who raise difficult issues or unpopular opinions in real-time
* Permit people to communicate bad news
* Learn to recognize phrases that signal a “meeting after the meeting” so you can stop them
* Assess your tonality and ask your team members to…
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Jun 22, 2021
110: Smart Systematic Selling with Theophan McKenzie
"Sales" is a dirty word in the legal space, but selling is how you get clients. The good news is that selling doesn't have to feel gross.
Theophan McKenzie is an executive sales coach. He uses observation, motivation, and developmental feedback as "anchor points" for a firm foundation of coaching executives, business owners, co-founders of startups, and others. He also trains sales teams on a non-traditional method that allows the salesperson to be perceived as more of a trusted adviser than a salesperson.
We are talking about how to sell without focusing on features and benefits or trying to overcome objections. Theophan also reveals that he is never closing.
We learn how to set a meeting agenda so that you aren’t giving any legal advice in your initial consultation. Theophan tells us why you should consider having a non-attorney salesperson.
Did you know that there's a way that you can have a conversation with a prospective client that you can put them in a position to buy from…
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Jun 15, 2021
109: How to Take Your Mind from Burdened to Brilliant with Claire E. Parsons, Esq.
It's ridiculous that we should suffer when we're doing something important for other people. However, as entrepreneurs and attorneys, we accept that overwhelm, stress, and feeling spread too thin just comes with the job. This feeling of overwhelm is not something that you should tolerate and accept.
Claire E. Parsons, Esq. is sharing how to take your mind from burden to brilliance so you can better serve your clients and your community.
When you're going to keep going into battle for clients or helping them with risky situations, you need to stabilize yourself.
Claire is very intentional with how she talks about meditation. She guides us through how she incorporated her mediation practice into her law practice, what shifted after she started meditating, and the evolution of her brilliantlegalmind.com blog.
Starting your meditation practice does not require a large time commitment. Claire began her meditation practice slowly, sitting only for a couple of minutes.
Mindfulness is rea…
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Jun 8, 2021
108: 2021 Buying Behavior of Clients & Referral Sources with Josh Elledge
Josh Elledge from UpMyInfluence.com works with businesses and business professionals to help build their reputations and authority. He is sharing practices you can immediately put into place to start growing your authority and influence.
Consumers have never been more sophisticated, savvy, and skeptical than they are today. Josh is giving us insight into how consumers and businesses are making their buying decisions.
Learn how to start building authority and growing your influence today with acts of service. Start by doing nice things for content producers. Where you plant your seeds is not necessarily where you reap your harvest, but there will eventually be a harvest to reap.
Josh also shares what needs to be on your website to make it your number one salesperson and how to start building relationships with frictionless offers.
Apply to be a guest on Josh’s podcast at https://upmyinfluence.com/podcast-application/
E-mail Molly at Molly@hiringandempowering.com to apply to be a…
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Jun 1, 2021
107: Quick! I Need to be a Leader in 30 Days with Brad Dude
Is it possible to go from feeling like a babysitter to a leader in 30 days?
Many lawyers and small entrepreneurs struggle with leadership. Being good at the technical aspects of their work does not guarantee they have the experience or skills to lead and develop their teams. Training and coaching are necessary to develop these skills.
Brad Dude is here sharing his insight and experience from spending the past forty years in the field of international development, training, and consulting.
Many of the law firms we work with experienced tremendous growth during the pandemic. Growth brings new challenges for leading employees virtually because anytime that the attorney is spending "managing" or doing administrative tasks is taking away from the business's bottom line.
Brad explains how our natural temperament impacts our interactions and shares his basic model for categorizing these temperaments.
Did you know there is also an organizational temperament?
Brad has a free tool to help…
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May 25, 2021
106: How to Let Your Client Services Coordinator Take Your Intake Initial Consult and Close Process
We are walking through the initial consult to close process with the dynamic duo of Peter Gilbert, Founding Attorney of HighPoint Law Offices, and Loren Frasco, Client Services Director.
Lauren shares how she uses a 15-20 minute initial client triage call to start to develop the client relationship while getting basic information and determining if the client will be a good fit for the firm. She also uses this call to set expectations for the in-person meeting that comes next in the process.
Then we dive into how the in-person initial consult meeting is structured and the critical role Lauren plays in keeping the process moving forward.
We also discuss the challenges that some attorneys and client services coordinators face when quoting fees because they don't view themselves as "salespeople."
Listen through for tips at the end to help you enroll your client services coordinator and other team members into having more client interaction.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
03:43…
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May 18, 2021
105: How to Leverage Your Employees to Market with Jordan Ostroff, Esq.
Jordan Ostroff is an attorney that created the marketing company he couldn’t find when he was looking for help to market his law firm. Jordan is the founder of Legalease Marketing.
Now he works with attorneys across the country to create a marketing plan that makes sense to attract their ideal clients. They also build customer relationship management systems (CRMs).
In this episode, Jordan teaches us how to get our law firm employees to think like marketers and create a win-win-win for them, the firm, and clients.
Your employees have the potential to be one of your most significant marketing assets. Learn how to empower them to share stories and create a consistently great client experience that will lead to more referrals.
Jordan shares how you can incorporate questions, examples, and stories from your employees into your marketing in a way that doesn't feel like "marketing."
You might hear some background noise in this episode because Jordan took time out from marketing and ne…
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May 11, 2021
104: Why Employees Don't Want Your Lousy Law Firm Job
I am fully aware that today's topic will offend quite a few lawyers and law firm owners. Listen, I don't like delivering this news any more than you all like hearing it. It's just the brutal truth.
We are experiencing a crazy time in legal recruiting and legal staffing right now. It's like there is an "awakening" with employees that has occurred since the pandemic. The quality of questions candidates are asking us is extraordinary.
If you think you're going to have to hire at all in 2021, my recommendation is you start that process now because it's very tight. Your failure to plan cannot become a hiring crisis. Don't put yourself in that position.
What do you bring to the table? Why would an employee want a job with your law firm? These are the two questions we are asking daily of the firms we coach because you need to be clear on these in today's competitive market.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
1:28 What employees are looking for in companies
4:12 What attorneys need to u…
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May 6, 2021
103: Explanations for Your Employee Job Dissatisfaction and Disengagement
What are you doing to keep your employees satisfied and engaged, so they don't get poached? We have never seen anything like the current situation in the recruiting space in the legal industry. It's incredibly tight it is right now, and it is an employee market.
What does that mean for you as a law firm owner? It would be best to make sure that you are spending time checking in and over-communicating with your employees.
Toward Q3 and Q4 of 2020, we had a tremendous amount of employees that were out there looking for jobs. Now it's come to a screeching halt.
From the employee's perspective, many factors might result in job dissatisfaction, including poor working conditions, feeling overworked, no scope of promotion or career advancement, and lack of recognition.
It's critical right now that you take the time to understand where your people are and making sure to implement employee growth plans every quarter.
If you don't have a process or a system, reach out to me, I'll be happy t…
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Apr 27, 2021
102: The Pandemic Inflated Paralegal - What You Need to Know NOW with Jaclyn Foster
The pandemic has significantly inflated the role of paralegals. In this episode, Jaclyn Foster is with us to discuss how that is impacting law firms across the country.
Jaclyn Foster started her business during the middle of the pandemic when paralegals and legal staff alike were getting furloughed, laid off, or started working from home.
She specializes in finding 1099 senior-level paralegals nationwide, in all practice areas, to support growth in transition phase firms.
The paralegal staffing world is night and day compared to what it was pre-pandemic. Firms need to understand this to maintain their staffing growth.
Jaclyn’s clients have seen significant benefits and cost savings from going the contract route. Retention, turnover rates, payroll costs, and unproductive hours have decreased.
The paralegal job description and the view of the paralegal are changing because they've demanded attention from the American Bar Association to differentiate them from your legal assistant.…
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Apr 20, 2021
101: How to Stop Making Decisions Based on Fear and Fire in Your Business with Terha Watterson
Are you ready for some insider tips to activate and get you to the next level today in your health, relationships, and work performance? Learn how to stop making decisions based on fear and fire in your business.
Your brain chemistry is impacting your reactions to situations that come up during the day. Do you react from a place of fear and panic or a power?
Many people think that their day starts with their morning. However, what happens the last hour before you go to bed can change your morning and your entire day.
Learn how to conserve your mental energy. Don't waste your energy thinking about menial things in the morning. Start thinking about how you want your day to flow.
Moving your body in the morning will get you in a place of flow with power. We choose to operate from a place of power or react from a place of fear and panic.
Text "activate" to (970) 829-2345 to join the 20-day challenge
What You Will Learn in this Episode
* Why you need to move your body to make bette…
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Apr 13, 2021
100: Are Your Firm Core Values a Lie?
Are Your Firm Core Values a Lie?
We are picking up on a conversation about core values that started in the episode with Rick Girard last week. Give it a listen if you haven’t already.
I've been anchoring to this concept of clarifying your core values in conversations that I'm having with law firms. I'm finding that most of them aren't clear on their core values as a firm.
I’ve seen firms confuse core values with mission and vision statements.
I often hear firms say that “Family First” is a core value. They put it in their employee manual and on their website. Family First is not really a core value when you’re getting frustrated with an employee leaving at 5:30 every day to get their kid to soccer practice.
You can use tests like the Kolbe and Strength Finders to clue you in to your team's core values.
It's much easier to hire the right people when you are clear on your core values, and you communicate them during the hiring process.
What You Will Learn in this Episode…
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Apr 6, 2021
99: All Company Issues are People Issues in Disguise with Rick Girard
Any problems that you have within your business come down to people. We are talking about hiring the right people for the job in this episode with Rick Girard.
Rick Girard is a business builder, hiring expert, and author of Healing Career Wounds.
The number one problem is always going to be you. It starts with you. If you're the company leader or the person who's hiring, it's your responsibility to ensure that the new hire will be successful.
According to Rick, the first thing you need to figure out is your values and hire people who align well with those values. Those are the people that are going to do well because they want to be there.
He also advises that we focus less on years of experience and take a closer look at the individual’s capacity to do the job, transferable skills, and the ability to grow.
Provide somebody a path for growth or success, and they're going to thrive.
What You Will Learn in this Episode
* How to write a better job description
* What is the mo…
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Mar 30, 2021
98: You Are the One Responsible
I feel like the responsibility is all on me. Does this sound familiar?
People often get defensive and have a clouded mindset about the concept of responsibility. What would happen if you could shift your team's attitude about stepping up and taking responsibility?
What if responsibility created a sense of ownership rather than victimhood? Responsibility doesn't need to breed resentment.
Start looking at your responsibilities as freedom. When you know what you're responsible for, you know how to interact with all of the moving pieces and how you should best respond.
If you are leading a team, you are responsible. It's your job to show up with proposed solutions to problems and make sure that your team is doing what is needed.
As an employee, you are responsible. Don't leave everything up to the "boss." As an employee, you can take responsibility by asking for clarification on your responsibilities and asking what decisions and actions you have the authority to make.
As a business…
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Mar 23, 2021
97: When it's a Suggestion, Not a Direction
We are shifting away from the victim mindset around responsibility in today’s episode.
As entrepreneurs, we are one-hundred percent responsible as leaders. If you're leading a team, you are accountable for owning it.
As the owner of your business, nobody will care as much or work as hard as you do, so stop complaining about it.
Start looking at responsibility as freedom. It's an absolute honor that you're an entrepreneur, and you get to run the show for your business. You get to carry out your vision and values. You get to make your business what you want it to be.
Establish clear responsibilities and create systems to stop resenting your responsibility and the people who work with you.
We often gloss over the energy that we bring to our responsibilities and how we perform our tasks. Are you just “checking boxes” on tasks that need to be done, or are you bringing a sense of ownership and responsibility to those tasks?
It's time to stop being reactive instead of responsive.…
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Mar 16, 2021
96: How to Teach Your Employees to Get Better at Money with George Grombacher
George Grombacher is the founder and Chief Community Officer of Money Alignment Academy. Money Alignment Academy is an online financial wellness resource. George is on a mission to help people get better at money because he wants them to live the lives they want to live.
You need to get started now if your goal is to achieve financial security and long-term prosperity. Start by being intentional and doing little things to begin positioning yourself for long-term success.
Creating money alignment requires that you have a good understanding of your history with money and that you're intentional about where you want to go with it in the future.
Are you allocating your most critical financial resources, time, attention, and money to align with the person you want to be in the future?
Developing the right mindset around money is key to your success. You have to understand that you are worthy of financial prosperity.
As an employer, you can significantly impact a person's life by givin…
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Mar 9, 2021
95: The Employee Review MUST Die: How to Transform Employee Reviews into Team-Centric Growth Plans
It’s time to get rid of the employee review and start transforming your team with employee growth plans.
Creating employee growth plans will help you develop an empowered team that comes to you with proposed solutions rather than problems. When your employees start acting like valued members of an empowered team, rather than
Conducting quarterly empowering growth plans versus employee performance reviews shifts both you and your employees' mindset and language. Your employees start acting like valued members of an empowered team instead of employees that are just watching the clock and collecting a paycheck.
It starts with your interviewing process. Be clear on expectations and KPIs from the start. Your goal is always to grow your employees up.
Putting an employee growth plan in place will help your team respond rather than react based on emotions and the current drama.
As an entrepreneur, you've got to be clear, transparent, and vulnerable with your team.
In addition to quarte…
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Mar 2, 2021
94: The Truth about E-mail Communication Ping Pong
Communication Ping Pong is sucking money, energy, and time from your law firm.
It usually occurs with voicemails and e-mail. The ping pong starts with a comment, an opinion, or an observation that becomes misunderstood or misinterpreted by the recipient.
The ping pong is endless. It's not helpful, and it's not productive. It leads to confusion, chaos, and drama.
In this episode, you will learn two approaches to shutting down the ping pong. What do you do when you see the ping pong beginning? We also cover some proactive practices you can implement to keep it from starting.
It's easy to miscommunicate or misinterpret an e-mail, text, or slack message when you don't hear the tone. There are phrases you can avoid using in your e-mail that imply a negative or accusatory tone.
When you get into more than two communications, that’s when people get sloppy and reckless in their communication. It’s when people start getting defensive.
When you reign in the ping pong, show up responsib…
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Feb 23, 2021
93: Stop Adding Power to the Confusion in Your Law Firm
Confusion is the breeding ground for chaos and drama. It is wreaking havoc in every area of your law firm and causing frustration for everyone it touches.
In this episode, you will learn how to stop the confusion and enter into every interaction with a new awareness of creating clarity.
Start by making clarity a core value of your organization and commit to practicing it in every conversation and interaction. This will eliminate the chaos and confusion.
Clarity is such a beautiful thing. It will transform your employees, client experience, processes, and the way you run your practice. People will start showing up and taking responsibility for their communication, as well as their listening.
Asking clients and employees to reflect on what they are hearing and listing their next steps is one way to ensure clarity. It causes you to be present and take responsibility for the way you're leading and giving direction.
Listen to the next episode to learn how to create clarity in your e-ma…
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Feb 16, 2021
92: Your Advisors are Killing Your Hiring Process
Has your law firm ever lost a phenomenal candidate because everyone involved in the hiring process wasn’t on the same page?
It’s time to stop the revolving door and take an honest look at your hiring process. Who is involved in the process? How are they showing up? How are they treating job candidates?
Hiring is sales. We have to sell your firm. We have to sell your culture, especially in the legal space. It's an employees market right now.
Potential employees are interviewing you as much as you are interviewing them. They're interviewing your firm. They're interviewing your culture. They're interviewing your core values first and foremost.
Is everyone in the firm practicing those core values when they are interacting with candidates and new employees?
Before you do any hiring within your practice, make sure everybody is on the same page around core values, pay, and hiring processes.
Begin with a full analysis and a full review of your hiring process.
What You Will Learn in…
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Feb 9, 2021
91: IOLTA Accounting Reinvented with Paul Garibian
What is keeping your attorney up at 2 a.m.? It’s probably worrying about accounting and reconciling their IOLTA account.
Paul Garibian is here to talk about how Nota will help you reconcile your IOLTA account in real-time. It closes the loop between your bank account, checkbook, and client ledger. This tool sits at the intersection of the legal and financial industries.
Nota’s mission is to reduce the burden of accounting and compliance on attorneys so they can focus on their practice. They have partnered with solo and small law firms to design the tool needed for that community.
You no longer need to be a CPA to understand trust accounting. Nota has revolutionized and radically simplified this somewhat ambiguous process. They have made it so simple for an attorney to tag transactions directly in their bank account they can do it from their smartphone.
Nota provides a paper trail, along with checks and balances, that gives you the peace of mind that everything is being accounte…
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Feb 2, 2021
90: How to Future Proof Your Law Firm with Moshe Rosenblum-Amsel
How do you future proof your law firm?
The pandemic accelerated this massive shift to use technology to work remotely in the legal industry. So much of the work is tied to the court and in-person meetings that it was just never thought of as something that could happen remotely.
Moshe Amsel wants to help lawyers be relevant tomorrow, and that is going to require embracing the new direction legal work is heading. It's going to require you to embrace alternative fee arrangements, remote staffing, and alternative payment solutions. It will require you to embrace all new technologies that can automate things that were previously done manually.
You're going to have to rethink how you make money, which will require you to take a holistic view of the business.
Moshe believes that action creates clarity. He has designed the Law Firm Growth Summit to create greater access to the information in a format that makes sense for business owners, the law firm owners, and not just for attorneys. Th…
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Jan 26, 2021
89: How to Uncover Hidden Profit Opportunities for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses with Ben McAdam
Where is profit hiding in your business? Ben McAdam shares his framework for five places to uncover hidden profit opportunities for small to medium-sized business owners.
Attorneys learn how to be great attorneys but nothing about actually running a business. Ben's approach is a meld of strategic finance and accounting with business coaching.
He encourages us to start by looking within our financial reports for more revenue opportunities.
Treat your Profit and Loss report as a dashboard for your business. Know your numbers and anchor to your numbers because the numbers don’t lie.
Schedule regular accountability meetings with your accountant, so you know the numbers and where to make adjustments.
Look for opportunities to decrease expenses while increasing investment in products, services, or employees showing a good return.
Ben’s 5 point framework consists of reviewing costs, raising prices, increasing order size, recurring revenue, and productivity.
What You Will Learn in t…
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Jan 19, 2021
88: What's the New Paradigm in the Middle of a Pandemic with Nicole Wipp?
Nicole Wipp is a rockstar attorney and business consultant. Nicole shares how she uses her business model to create personal and professional freedom in multiple businesses. We get into how she sets up systems, hires employees, and manages expectations to make it all possible.
Nicole also works with business owners to create more freedom in their businesses by teaching them how to extricate themselves from the day to day grind. Learn how she uses the Kolbe assessment as a cornerstone of her business and how it has helped free her from the things she should not be doing in her own business.
As a proactive leader, it is your job to have difficult conversations. If you're putting your head in the sand and avoiding difficult conversations, don't think that your team doesn't know it. Strong leadership is crucial to implementing the paradigm shift.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
* Where to look to start cutting your expenses
* What is the Kolbe Assessment, and how you to use…
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Jan 12, 2021
87: Attorney, Your Clients Want to Hear This with Laurie Josey
Most people don't think about estate or Medicaid planning until they need it. At that point, they are easily overwhelmed with confusion, noise, and wrong information. As an attorney, it's your job to tell people what you do and how you can help them. You can't help people if they don't know what you do.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that estate planning is just for rich people, and Medicaid planning is for the poor.
Laurie Josey shares the traumatic experience she and her siblings endured when they were forced to navigate the unfamiliar territory of Medicaid and to find care for a parent with Alzheimer's.
Laurie didn't know how significant her mother's Alzheimer's was until all hell broke loose. Last December, she got a phone call that her stepdad had gone into the hospital for some heart issues. Within the first two hours of arriving home, Laurie realized that her mom couldn't function without him.
Who was going to care for their mother? Where could they turn to get good ad…
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Jan 5, 2021
86: Leveraging the Power of Podcasting to Grow Your Authority with Jen Edds
How can you use podcasting to build your authority in your area of expertise?
Podcasting gives you the opportunity to share what you know while reaching people wherever they are in the world, whenever they want to listen. You can go almost anywhere your listener goes and they will gladly take you along.
I’m sharing a little about my podcasting journey and how working with Jen Edds from The Brassy Broadcasting Company helped me get started.
We talk about how hearing someone’s voice can resonate much more deeply with us than reading words on a page. Podcasting is a dynamic way to share your expertise while also sharing your human side.
And you don’t even have to have a podcast to leverage the power of podcasting. Jen shares how being a guest can be an easy way to dip your toe into the podcasting pool and what you need to get started.
What You Will Learn in this Episode
* Why now is the perfect time to get started
* Where to find ideas for topics and episodes
* Ideas for…
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Dec 29, 2020
85: Where Will Your Law Firm be in 66 Days?
Where will your law firm be in 66 days? Do you know? Do you have a plan?
In our 25 years of coaching law firms, we've discovered the danger of anchoring to six, and twelve-month goals is that you always feel like you have more than enough time.
We have the firms that we work with operate in 66-day sprints.
Imagine implementing systems and processes in two months that produce a consistent cash flow and give you more time than ever to focus on what inspires you.
You can do that on your own. However, in our experience, we’ve found that if you don’t have weekly accountability and no consequences, you will let yourself off the hook.
Just shifting your mindset from a lawyer or a law firm to a business mindset will make all that difference. When you have the framework set up to set you up for success, you win.
It’s tough to do this alone. Ask for help.
Know your numbers. Know what you want in 66 days. Please share it with us. What You Will Learn in this Episode
* Why you need…
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Dec 22, 2020
84: What Firms Will be Left Standing in 2021?
How is it that some firms manage to grow even while facing adversity?
The law firms that will be left standing in 2021 have an unwavering framework and a structure within their firm.
Strategy, a clear path, and staying in action have helped successful law firms survive during times of uncertainty and achieve growth.
The unflappable firms focus on their goals and how every team member fills their role to contribute. They are also unapologetic in holding all team members accountable.
Your people, processes, production, and profit are where you need to focus your energy and efforts vigilantly. These are the four legs of your business.
In this episode, we are looking at the three weekly meetings that must be incorporated into the framework of your weekly schedule to keep you focused.
You've also got to know your numbers. Email me if you need help with what that means for you and your firm.
In addition to weekly meetings, you need to get quarterly strategic retreats on your calendar.…
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Dec 15, 2020
83: How to Get Your Law Firm Passion Project from Ideation to Launch with Olga Galanter
Olga Galanter joins us to share how she turned her estate planning "competitors" into referral sources. She also shares the "why" behind her website's unconventional strategy and intentional design that basically says "Don't call us."
We also learn how Olga launched her passion project Law Practice Academy in 60 days during the pandemic. The Law Practice Academy was created to help attorneys practice law effectively and grow their law firms.
How to Go from "This Will Never Work" to "This IS Working!"
1. Set aside time.
2. I will work on this on Friday….EVEN if the office is on FIRE!
3. Give yourself permission to tell everyone NO until the product is launched.
4. Be willing to give up two weekends and a few nights to build your dreams.
The 8 Steps to Launch a Product in Your Law Firm
1. R & D--- know the gap you need to fill and your audience.
2. Chart your processes out with pen and paper.
3. Determine what processes can be automated.
4. Review your systems and processes…
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Dec 8, 2020
82: Creating Freedom, Autonomy, and Reoccurring Revenue In your Law Firm with Brett Trembly
Are you holding yourself back? Brett Trembly took a different approach to grow his law firm business. He hired an outside business manager, and then he followed through on the business plan. Working with a strict business manager is hard work. Brett stuck it out, and now he is running a million-dollar law firm.
Part of running a successful business is allowing others that are better than you to do their part. By trying to control the entirety of your business, you might be doing more harm than good.
We dig into Brett's hiring philosophy. He is living proof that it works!
“If you care and are wanting to help people, you will start to get out of the way." -Brett Trembly
What You Will Learn in This Episode
* How to create a breakout business
* How to get over yourself so your business can thrive
* When it's time to hire a new business manager
* Why you should hire people better than you
* How to use fear to motivate you as a business owner
Links and Resources
Hiring & E…
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Dec 1, 2020
81: How your Client Services Coordinator can lead the firm from Panic to Pivot with JoAnn Radtke
JoAnn Radtke shares how the attorney and team have pivoted and implemented creative new ways to continue to serve their clients and bring in new business during the pandemic.
JoAnn is the Client Services Coordinator, Professional Law Firm Administrator, and wearer of many other hats at the Estate Planning Law Group of Georgia. She isn’t a fan of change, but she also doesn’t want to be left in the dust.
We dive into how they are using Zoom to conduct client meetings, the "drive-up" process for signing meetings, and how starting each morning with a virtual team meeting has kept them connected.
There's a learning curve with any change. Sometimes the attorneys are afraid of that learning curve or that they won’t be perfect. You have to fight through that fear and realize that you getter every time you do it.
If what you try doesn’t work out the first time, figure out a different way to do it. What’s most important is that you are showing up for people when they need you.
Wha…
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Nov 24, 2020
80: Creating a Value-Add Product That Differentiates Your Law Firm with Robyn Sechler
Robyn Sechler joins us to discuss how she created a value-add product for estate planning and elder law clients.
Our conversation touches on the importance of how recording and tracking memories can benefit you and your clients. Through her touching story, we learn how Robyn came about this impactful idea.
What are your family's values? Are they heirlooms?
Whenever a family member passes away, some valuables must be distributed amongst the bereaved. By implementing Robyn's system, there is no more argument about grandma's pictures, but dialogue as to who gets what from grandma herself.
Robyn organizationally digitizes memories that way, everyone in the family can experience the past times of being with a loved one by helping families to secure, store, share, and organize family photos.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
* How the digital age can help your estate planning
* Marketing strategies for the value you can provide your clients
* Ways to create value in your…
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Nov 17, 2020
79: Why your Employees Quit and Go to Work with your Competition with Jessica Schmitz
What do you look at in your hiring process? Are you willing to invest in your employees?
In today’s episode, we sit down with Jessica Schmitz, the founder of Fund Ease. Jessica is a former water skier that started working with a small mom and pop firm. With the help of her former bosses, she grew into the female entrepreneur she is today.
How is that, you ask? Her former employers invested in her knowledge of funding and how their business worked.
When you are working with new employees, are you starting with heart and treating them like humans?
By starting with heart and treating employees like humans, you create a space for your employee to understand how the process works at your business. They feel comfortable asking questions, and during the process of training your employee, they get to know how you work, and you get to learn their style of working.
When you treat your employees like humans, they are more likely to stick around.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
* Ho…
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Nov 10, 2020
78: Your Hiring Process is Killing Your Law Firm with Hammad Syed
Your law firm is missing out when hiring based solely on experience. Stop hiring people from their resume. Hire from the human side and give people a chance.
Finding people with experience that are a good fit for a firm is a challenge right now, particularly in family law.
Hammad Syed shares how he used his passion and resourcefulness to hit the ground running when he was hired by a family law practice, but lacked experience in that area.
He also shares a real-life story where his flexibility and resourcefulness were exactly what he needed to best serve his client.
All of the experience in the world doesn’t matter if your employee is arrogant, rigid, or doesn’t operate with the client’s best interest at heart.
You’re hiring human beings. Even the most experienced employees will need time, attention, and feedback if you want them to succeed.
What are you missing out by hiring based solely on experience? What You Will Learn in this Episode
* What to look for beyond the r…
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Nov 3, 2020
77: How to Transcend Uncertainty Fatigue
Many of us suffer from "uncertainty fatigue" as we try to navigate the stress, anxiety, and uncertainty of the pandemic, election, and our businesses.
You are always operating in uncertainty, regardless of your area of law practice. It's just the nature of being in business.
Start looking for the good and the things that you can control.
Stop anchoring in certainty, absolutes, and structure. Anchor yourself in the uncertainty. Your business will always be changing. You’ve weathered uncertainty before in your business.
Stop focusing on the uncertainty and start looking for the good and the things that you can control.
Become the “uncertainty strategist” for your team and your clients.
Get your team together and write down everything that you all feel uncertain about so you can name it. Next, write down all of the things that make your clients feel uncertain.
Be mindful of the energy that you are bringing into your team.
It's time to step up and be an out front and upfront…
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Oct 27, 2020
76: The Key to Managing Remote Teams with Jason Treu
Managing remote teams has never been more critical than it is right now. For remote teams to be successful, they need to operate in a culture built on trust, collaboration, and teamwork. They need to know the rules and expectations from the beginning.
When you put people first, higher production and KPIs will follow. This isn't just feel-good stuff. There is data to support it.
According to a 2019 Harvard study done by Marcus Buckingham, when you have high trust with a manager or leader on the team, your employee engagement goes up eight times, which is a proxy for performance.
Teamwork must be a strategic priority. Heading into the fourth quarter is the perfect time to stop, take an honest look at the culture in your law firm, and reset for 2021.
What are you doing to create a collaborative culture and build trust? Jason shares why he created Cards Against Mundanity and how he uses this exercise as a tool to create empathy in building successful teams. What You Will Learn in this…
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Oct 6, 2020
75: Creating Your New Now: Saving 2020 with Liz Wendling
It’s the end of 2020 and we are all feeling a bit worn out. Are you using external forces to conjure up excuses?
In today's episode, I am so excited to be talking with Liz Wendling about excuses and getting things done in the present. We discuss how to save 2020 for you by figuring out what will help you thrive at the end of the year.
What do you want to accomplish by the end of the year?
Determine what boulder is in the way of you reaching your goal and figure out if you can move it, go around it, or if there is deep work that needs to be done to remove it. Mindset is the first boulder we face when we sabotage ourselves. Start there.
It’s easy for attorneys to get caught up in the company's everyday hustle and bustle. They start acting like robots that are treating clients all the same.
Massive changes are not always necessary for your practice. Sometimes it is the consistency of the small tweaks that make a drastic change over time. Liz and I discuss how to build trust wit…
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Sep 29, 2020
74: Four Things to Do Now to Slay the Next Four Months
2020 is either going to be the year that crippled us or shifted us and our businesses.
It’s that time of year again. We all feel it. It’s not the cool autumn breeze. It's the pressure of the year-end sprint.
In this episode, we focus on which one of those describes you and what you can do to skyrocket your success 2020 and beyond. I will introduce four impactful, yet simple things that can be implemented into daily life.
This approach will help our teams have clear, concise, non-negotiable calls to action that will help us tackle the end of the year. We can go into 2021 feeling as if we have been successful. And if we have not fulfilled our goals, we are certainly on the path.
Together, we will learn how to grow from this year that has challenged so many of us.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
* How to avoid getting paralyzed by social media
* Why you need a weekly meeting to establish clear expectations for the team
* How to anchor to your goals so you actually…
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Sep 22, 2020
73: My Employee Has Hit Their Full Capacity. Now What?
Every person has the ability to reach their full potential – including your employees.
In today’s episode, we learn how to maximize your employee’s full capacity. This episode is all about targeting your employee’s genius zone. Where do they thrive? Are they good with clients and CRMs? If so, perhaps that is where they should stay.
Why would you remove someone that is doing a magnificent job in their position? By learning to meet people where they are, we can make our business grow and most importantly, keep ourselves and our customers happy.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
* The importance of meeting people in their genius zone
* How not to diminish your employee’s value
* Why complexity is the enemy of profitability
* The value proposition and how it can change your communication with your employee
* Find what is working for you and your employee and optimize it
Links and Resources
Hiring & Empowering Solutions on Facebook
www.hiringandempowering.com…
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Sep 15, 2020
72: Exhausted and Exhausting Law Firms
Are you showing up to work exhausted and draining the energy from your team?
You’re not alone. I have been meeting with clients experiencing the same phenomenon.
There is a domino effect that happens when we show up exhausted. Our exhaustion drains our teams. The light slowly disappears from their eyes when we ask them about current or upcoming tasks.
Lawyers and entrepreneurs are obedient to their calendars. Our calendars, amongst other things, can be the root cause of a lot of anxiety.
It doesn’t have to be this way. In this episode, we are getting to some of the root causes of anxiety that are leading you and your team to complete exhaustion and giving you solutions on how to re-energize yourself and your team.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
* Why you have to take back your truth and start speaking it
* How to navigate a balanced calendar
* What is “thought loading” and how can it can help you find clarity
* Finding your recipe for success
* How hold…
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Sep 9, 2020
71: Winning More. How to Negotiate and Renegotiate with Your Outsourced Vendors, Technology Services Suppliers with Christine McKay
You’re at the car dealership, what negotiation tactic do you use?
In this episode, the women explore what it is to negotiate, how to negotiate, and what matters when negotiating with Christine McKay.
Christine lets the listeners in on why clarity is such a prominent tool while negotiating.
We also introduce the negotiator’s mantra of what do you want, why do you want it, and how important is it.
Perhaps you are not asking for something in the right way, learn how you ask for something matters.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
* How to take back your power
* Clarity around what you want
* What do you want, why do you want it, and how important is it?
* Don’t get distracted by the Bells and Whistles
* Meeting people where they are and how to grow together
Links and Resources
Hiring & Empowering Solutions on Facebook
www.hiringandempowering.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-hall
About Christine McKay
Christine McKay is a mother of three with her Harvar…
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Sep 1, 2020
70: The Power of Gratitude with Tina Torres
Tina Torres is an Amazon best selling author with her recent gratitude journal, and co-host of The Angel and Tina Morning Show with Angel Tuccy.
Tina's life came crashing down about 18 months ago. She finalized her divorce after being married for 20 years in a very toxic abusive relationship. Then she became an empty nester when her youngest of three boys decided to join the United States Army. She also lost her six-figure job.
Tina fell into a deep depression when she moved from Atlanta to North Carolina and felt alone, betrayed, and not needed.
The power of gratitude completely changed Tina’s life.
She started writing three new things that she was grateful for every single day for 90 days and pulled herself out of the darkness. Within six months, she relaunched her coaching company.
In December, Tina wrote her gratitude journal. It's a 365 day morning and nighttime journal. Every morning you get a scripture, and every evening you get an inspiring quote.
Tina challenges you to…
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Aug 25, 2020
69: Why in the World Would a Law Firm Need a CEO with Chris Carroll
Chris Carroll, CEO at Copenbarger and Copenbarger LLP, shares insight into how hiring a CEO or administrator will help you grow your practice and serve your current clients better.
The more managing of people and processes you have to do, the less you're doing what you were called into law to do. If you want to grow your practice, do what you do best and hire somebody else to manage the other parts of it.
Maybe you don’t need a CEO, but you need a law firm administrator. Look within the firm to see if you have someone that you could develop for that role
Hire with the mindset that you are replacing yourself. You have to believe that replacing yourself doesn’t mean that you don't have a job anymore. It means that you get to move on to the next bigger and better thing.
We also discuss the difference between giving your staff permission and giving them the authority to make a decision. Even in making wrong decisions, you learn something. Without the wrong decisions, sometimes you…
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Aug 18, 2020
68: Permission to Stop Practicing Law with Wendy Witt
Wendy Witt, the CEO behind Million Dollar Attorney®, walks us through the process she went through in giving herself permission to stop practicing law and pursue her passion.
At one point in her career, Wendy found herself in a law firm that was not a good fit. It was to the point where it was causing health problems, and she needed to get out of there but didn't know how.
How do you get off the hamster wheel when you know that the firm or the work you're doing isn't aligned with your purpose? How do you ask for help?
It can be tough to see alternatives when you're feeling trapped. There is a better way to be happy and be who you are, and actually, make more money than when you're sitting in your car and dreading walking into work every morning. It's ok to say, "I'm done.”
You're going to have more power, be more productive, and help more people when you're happy.
What You Will Learn in this Episode
* Why your happiness metric is the most critical measurement
* How to put…
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Aug 11, 2020
67: The Impact of Your Thinking
Is your mindset sabotaging your results? Are you limiting yourself? We are diving into how to shift your mindset and start using language to create the results you want.
You're responsible for the energy you leave in the room because it impacts the thinking, and the thinking is impacting your firm's results. Do you recognize what language is signaling limiting beliefs from you or your employees? Are you using limiting language?
Employees want growth and expansion and to be a part of something that alive and innovative.
If you are not fostering an environment of innovation and creation, your employees will leave. You've got to give them confidence that you will remain in business because you're always up-leveling, leveraging, and redefining your firm.
Start getting the results you want when you change your stinkin’ thinking about your employees, clients, referral sources, and vendors.
What You Will Learn in this Episode
* Words and language that signal a defeating mindset…
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Aug 4, 2020
66: Take Command with Paul Gowin
Paul Gowin helps business leaders and their teams transform high potential into high performance. Paul shares how he has worked through his early childhood trauma and rebuilt his life from a foundational level. He also gives us the framework he uses to help clients take command of their lives.
The only thing you've ever been in control of is your attitude and perspective, and hope is not a plan of action.
Paul has synthesized many different fields of study to create his Take Command framework. He presents this framework in a way that goes beyond empowerment and self-confidence. It goes into taking command of your life, your relationships, and your business.
In this episode, we go deeper into Paul's 3 Step Process to Create Momentum:
* Abandon the frustration on the outcome and ask what you learned
* Celebrate the learning, not the outcome
* Take inspired action
What You Will Learn in this Episode
* How our language impacts our thoughts and actions
* The shift you create…
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Jul 28, 2020
65: Leave Your Marketing Coordinator Alone. Here's Why.
The ability to build relationships and trust with clients, with the community, and with other professionals is key to your success. The person with the power to cultivate these relationships should not be stuck in an office behind a desk.
Dedicating time for your marketing person to get out in the community and talk to people is imperative to getting new clients.
When Director of Community Outreach Christina Durington had time to get out and engage in conversations with the local community, she learned that there was a lot of misinformation and confusion around Medicaid qualifications.
She was also surprised to learn that hospitals and healthcare facilities were unaware of the work that her firm does to help clients navigate the Medicaid process.
In her first day out, Christina discovered multiple opportunities to create programming and content that added value to hospitals and other service providers that they could partner with to help their community.
From the questions she was…
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Jul 21, 2020
64: Why your CLIENTS want you to please just follow the damn system!
Your success is dependent on having systems and processes because your clients want to know what to expect on the journey.
Elder Law Attorney Jeffrey Bellomo shares how systems, processes, and creating a guidebook for clients have created an exceptional client experience, leading to more client referrals.
Your practice shouldn’t feel like the Wild Wild West. Whether it’s client attraction, retention, or service, you need systems and processes for everything.
Put yourself in the place of your client. Tell them what to expect at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the process. Your client will never get mad at you for over-communicating with them.
One of the keys to successfully implementing processes and systems is to find a team member who will buy-in and have them hold you accountable. When you permit them to hold you responsible, it will change your life.
In this episode, we also learn why Jeffrey is willing to share so much of himself on social media and how it affect…
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Jul 14, 2020
63: Quit Doing the Big Firm, Little Firm Mentality with Jaclyn Foster
Are you hiding behind your desk, stuck in the mentality of big firm v. small firm?
Jaclyn Foster joins the podcast for a discussion about shifting from the "small firm" mindset to a more growth-oriented entrepreneurial mindset.
Jaclyn has dedicated her entire paralegal career and her company to serving small law firms and solo practitioners. She has developed a deep recognition of the common challenges these firms face and built her agency around helping them.
She is passionate about creating solutions for smaller firms and solo practices to compete with the big firms while remaining approachable to their clients.
What You Will Learn in this Episode
* What is REALLY holding you back from growing your law practice
* How the image you are projecting on your websites impacts the perception of potential employees
* How small law firms can compete with larger firms by being tactical and resourceful in the people they are hiring
* Why you have to start delegating and trustin…
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Jul 7, 2020
62: Nothing is Natural. It's All Experiential with Jim Miskell
Jim Miskell shares how staying anchored to his purpose, being present, and being personable have helped him adapt to new ways of serving his clients in his law practice. It doesn't always feel natural, but he and his staff are committed to showing up, figuring it out, and creating an exceptional experience for their clients.
For the past decade, Jim has been in private practice and now specializes in wills, trusts, estate planning, and elder law. His specialization in this complicated and often overlooked area of the law allows him to make sure clients receive individual advice and guidance they need for their own estate planning needs.
It doesn't matter if you're in a conference room or on a Zoom call, your number one job is to be present for your client. It's more important to show up than to show up perfect and polished.
In This Episode You Will Learn:
* Which tools Jim is using to communicate with clients
* Why you have to know your process
* How to manage expectations fo…
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