Your beliefs are the biggest factor in how much success you can achieve, and it’s hard for people to adjust their beliefs without help. The people who help you overcome limiting self-beliefs will often make you feel uncomfortable. But if you can’t deal with discomfort you’ll never achieve your biggest dreams. Michael Lewis’ podcast episode about his high school baseball coach , Billy Fitzgerald (about whom he wrote a book called Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life ) Tim Ferriss’ interview with Mi...
May 19, 2020•34 min•Ep. 100
Personal development is important if you want to grow and become "your best self." But there are insidious impediments to personal growth, which are important to recognize. And it's important to learn how to get past those impediments if you want to create a law practice that's fulfilling. More importantly, it's vital for creating a LIFE that you truly enjoy. Resources Mentioned Tim Ferriss’ interview with Michael Lewis – discussed in last episode because it reveals how Michael Lewis discovered ...
May 12, 2020•32 min•Ep. 99
Lawyers, of all modern “knowledge workers,” should be highly adept at gathering key information. Sadly, too many of us lack the search skills we need. Mostly, it’s a problem of insufficient awareness about where to search or how to search using tools that aren’t law-specific. In this episode, you’ll learn how to become more aware, and what exactly to focus your “search awareness” on. Tracers for Legal Professionals - welcome to our new podcast sponsor! Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt , by Micha...
May 05, 2020•28 min•Ep. 98
Show Notes In this episode, you’ll meet Erik Pickering, whose company (Tracers) helps lawyers and investigators turn up vital information that’s often indispensable to the outcome of cases. From doing social media research about jurors or witnesses to finding missing witnesses or missing heirs in probate matters, Tracers is a service that can probably help you more than you might imagine. Tracers for Legal Professionals LexTech Review of Tracers (6 page PDF) Principles ;, by Ray Dalio Register f...
Apr 28, 2020•44 min•Ep. 97
Show Notes You can plan right now to improve your life and practice, and there’s a great way to do that kind of planning. It’s probably not a way of planning that you’re used to, but it’s easy to do and very effective. Especially right now, during this worldwide shutdown of economic activity and social gatherings. Yes, right now is the best time. Download my Vision Quest Brainstorming Guide (discussed in the episode) Register for the upcoming virtual ;) Small Firm Bootcamp . Get my free Tech Res...
Apr 21, 2020•26 min•Ep. 96
The Coronavirus pandemic is obviously a disaster, but it’s also an opportunity if you know how to capitalize on it . I faced a similar situation when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 and I seized an important opportunity (not without a lot of trepidation, mind you). General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www.the8020lawyer.com/ Focus on these essential tech tools for maximum traction in your practice. Take this short l...
Apr 14, 2020•35 min•Ep. 95
Conrad Saam is one of very few legal marketing experts that Ernie trusts. In this episode, Conrad explains what lawyers should and shouldn’t do in this current pandemic crisis. He talks about which practice areas are seeing a boost in activity, and why. Conrad’s company website: Mockingbird Marketing Ernie’s LawFirm Autopilot Slack Group Signup for the (now) 100% Virtual Small Firm Bootcamp Get Ernie’s free Tech Resource Guide for solo and small firm lawyers, which includes recommendations about...
Apr 07, 2020•35 min•Ep. 94
Show Notes Mike Whelan was a family law practitioner who realized that many old ways of practicing law don’t work anymore, which makes lawyers more stressed today than they’ve ever been. He identifies the problem as something called “the churn” in his excellent book: Lawyer Forward . In this episode Ernie asks him about how lawyers can overcome the churn to create profitable and enjoyable practices. Mike Whelan’s Twitter feed . Ernie’s LawFirm Autopilot Slack Group Ernie’s free *Tech Resource Gu...
Mar 31, 2020•50 min•Ep. 93
Family law practitioner Elise Buie has built a paperless practice that is super streamlined and optimized for remote work. She and Ernie share thoughts about how Hurricane Katrina helped motivate lawyers to adopt technology that improved their practices. Listen in and find out why she says that learning to practice virtually not only helps your firm run smoother but also dramatically improves your quality of life. For example, she observed that "it's so much easier to file a difficult brief from...
Mar 24, 2020•57 min•Ep. 92
Here are helpful lessons I learned during the massive social disruption of Hurricane Katrina that are relevant and helpful to you during the Covid-19 situation. The current pandemic is forcing many of us to work from home in isolation. We need to become adept at working remotely and collaborating virtually. Here are 3 vital things that will help you do that better. Twitter ; - sign up for an account and use it to follow high-value information sources like Tim Ferriss’ Twitter list of Covid-19 so...
Mar 18, 2020•27 min•Ep. 91
David Sparks is a solo business lawyer in Orange County, California. He’s been a frequent speaker at bar association conferences around the country, including the ABA TECHSHOW, where he helps lawyers learn to better harness the power of technology to make their practices run more smoothly, with less effort. David is a well-known speaker, author, and podcaster (i.e. Mac Power Users , Automators ;, and Focussed ; podcasts). He loves jazz and is looking forward to participating in the Small Firm Bo...
Mar 17, 2020•31 min•Ep. 90
How would your best accountant friend recommend you streamline your law firm's management of bookkeeping, accounting, and general finances? Listen & find out... Show Notes Amanda Aguillard has been a Certified Public Accountant since 2001. She holds a Masters Degree in Taxation from the University of Denver, and loves helping small law firms (and other small businesses) improve their financial data handling and accounting (especially by harnessing useful technologies). Aguillard Accounting -...
Mar 10, 2020•36 min•Ep. 89
Ernie interviews Mark Homer about effective marketing for small law firms, and how he helps his lawyer clients get better noticed and found, online and offline. Show Notes Mark Homer’s GNGF website (GNGF stands for “get noticed, get found”) Online Law Practice Strategies: How to Turn Clicks Into Clients , by Mark Homer (the book we discussed in the episode) GNGF.tv ; - Live interviews, updates, and Q&A on everything law firm marketing or the business side of running a law firm. Airs every ot...
Mar 03, 2020•52 min•Ep. 88
What is a "personal brand?" You are a personal brand, so you should understand what it means and how to strengthen your brand in powerful and tasteful ways. Show Notes Mike Kim’s website Brand You podcast (Mike shares weekly insights about personal branding here) General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www.the8020lawyer.com/ Focus on these essential tech tools for maximum traction in your practice. Take this short law practice ...
Feb 25, 2020•46 min•Ep. 87
Getting clients by sending a monthly email is effective and much easier than attending networking lunches. That's what business attorney Erica Pero discovered. Show Notes Erica Pero’s website Erica Pero’s sample January Email Newsletter (compiled in Mailchimp) LFA Podcast #81 with John Rafferty Private Facebook group for Email Referral Marketing General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www.the8020lawyer.com/ Focus on these essen...
Feb 18, 2020•31 min•Ep. 86
To create a better practice you should leverage technology. Here are my top tech recommendations for simplifying, automating and outsourcing your way to freedom. Show Notes Here’s my a link to download my top tech recommendations , and here’s my best overall advice: After having worked for over a decade with hundreds of lawyers in all kinds of practices, I’ve zeroed in on three essential elements for making any kind of law practice run a LOT smoother. 1. Simplicity The simpler your practice is, ...
Feb 11, 2020•29 min•Ep. 85
There are tech companies that take advantage of lawyers by first cleverly gaining their trust. I'll explain how they do this and reveal one of the scoundrels. Show Notes Blog post: Problems with Findlaw? ReadWise ; - app for reviewing Kindle highlights and other articles Link to register for free webinar series General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www.the8020lawyer.com/ Focus on these essential tech tools for maximum tractio...
Feb 04, 2020•31 min•Ep. 84
The key to avoiding “seemingly good options” that are not actually useful is understanding the tradeoffs in every decision involving technology choice you face. Show Notes Link to register for free webinar series General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www.the8020lawyer.com/ Focus on these essential tech tools for maximum traction in your practice. Take this short law practice assessment to identify your main strengths & we...
Jan 28, 2020•29 min•Ep. 83
Figuring out how to effectively create systems can be tricky. Ernie addresses a solo lawyer’s question why she might be having trouble creating systems. Podcast Episode Show notes: Atomic Habits , by James Clear The Artist’s Way , by Julia Cameron Brian Koppleman’s podcast (the episode where he talks about doing the 3 daily pages practice that he learned from reading The Artist’s Way) General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www...
Jan 21, 2020•32 min•Ep. 82
Referral marketing is powerful. And done by email it’s also ridiculously easy as business attorney John Rafferty discovered. Learn how he cracked the code. Episode Show notes: John Rafferty’s biography ; John’s simple template for sending a monthly referral marketing email that gets astonishing results. MailerLite ; - free email for 2,000 or fewer recipients (this is the service that John uses). ConvertKit ; - the email service that Ernie uses and recommends (pricing starts at $29/month for 1,00...
Jan 14, 2020•49 min•Ep. 81
In this episode I talk with Maddy Martin of Smith.ai about why their services are especially beneficial to solo and small firm lawyers. For many attorneys affordability is the primary motivation for signing up. (i.e. plans start at $70/month). But the more you research Smith.ai the more reasons you’ll discover for giving it a try. For example, they can make outbound calls for you— everything from routine appointment reminders to bill payment calls when your invoices have gone unpaid. Click here ...
Jan 07, 2020•35 min•Ep. 80
Working on your business requires focus, and I recommend you focus on simple text automation and basic outsourcing using these tools/services: TextExpander ; - subscription service provides the ability to trigger text macros in any text input field, email or word processing area. If you can’t leverage TextExpander it’s because you aren’t working on your business enough. FancyHands ; - subscription service provides 5 tasks per month at the entry level. If you can’t figure out how to outsource 5 b...
Dec 31, 2019•40 min•Ep. 79
There are 3 levels of automation. You need to progress through these levels to fully harness the power of the 12 most essential tools that will transform your practice. Episode Show notes: There are 12 Automation Essentials (see my YouTube video if you want a visual refresher), and here are links to the topics discussed in the episode Styles ; in Word Processing - Training by LawTech Partners ( Adriana Linares ) [Templates in Word Processing]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_(word_process...
Dec 24, 2019•35 min•Ep. 78
What do grifters, con-artists and magicians know about persuasion that lawyers don’t know, but should? Listen and find out. Here are show notes for this episode: Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion , by Robert Cialdini This 5-star Amazon review gives a nice summary of the six principles in the book. The One Sentence Persuasion Course - 27 Words to Make the World Do Your Bidding , by Blair Warren Forbidden Keys to Persuasion , by Blair Warren General Resources Learn to use technology to reduc...
Dec 17, 2019•24 min•Ep. 77
The fundamentals of running any kind of business apply to running a law practice, but where can you learn those fundamentals most easily and conveniently? Here are show notes for this episode: The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business , by Josh Kaufman General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www.the8020lawyer.com/ Focus on these essential tech tools for maximum traction in your practice. Take this short law practice assessme...
Dec 10, 2019•27 min•Ep. 76
This episode features two recommendations: a new course on how to get referrals more easily, and how to drastically improve your negotiation skills. Here are links to the resources mentioned in this episode: Never Split The Difference , by Chris Voss TED Talk by Chris Voss ( 12 mins ) Sign Up for my Dec 6th Webinar on *How to Create a Referrals-by-Email Marketing System* ( that takes only 30 minutes per month to execute ) General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain fr...
Dec 03, 2019•15 min•Ep. 75
Todd Smith left a big Texas firm to start a solo appellate practice, and provides insights into the benefits and challenges of making that shift. Here are links to the resources mentioned in this episode: Todd Smith’s firm website Westlaw ; - legal research used by Todd Microsoft 365 - word processing and email used by Todd Lawmatics ; - CRM used by Todd to onboard new clients and send template emails General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resou...
Nov 26, 2019•43 min•Ep. 74
Here are the resources mentioned in this episode: Recording of Webinar with Ernie: Uplevel Your Practice in 2020 My New Course: The Trusted Lawyer - A Simple "Referral Marketing by Email" System E-Myth Revisited , Michael Gerber The 80/20 Rule , ( podcast episode & show notes ) The 3 R’s of Referral Marketing , ( blog post ) Mike Kim’s 2-part email template (for getting referrals via regular emails) Mike Kim’s BrandYou podcast episode 202 ( where he explains how to use the emails to start an...
Nov 19, 2019•38 min•Ep. 73
Automation can change your practice in astonishing ways, but too many lawyers are stymied in trying to leverage its power. The key to fully harnessing the power of automation is learning how to pay attention to opportunities to automate. Once you start seeing the many opportunities to make work happen automatically you’ll become exponentially more efficient, and way less stressed out. General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www...
Nov 12, 2019•20 min•Ep. 72
If you want to simplify your practice you need to be realistic. It’s important to work from a plan as much as possible, so you can keep the overall process in mind easily. If you want the blueprint/framework I created you can click here to download it now . And below I’ve listed the various resources that I mentioned: Free to Focus , by Michael Hyatt (includes discussion of mapping out your ideal week) Typography for Lawyers , by Matthew Butterick (step-by-step guidance on how to set up template...
Nov 05, 2019•23 min•Ep. 71
