I spent a recent evening rewatching one of my favorite movies, Apollo 13. As someone who grew up wanting to be an astronaut, I am usually sucked into the story, holding my breath as the drama unfolds. This time, however, I was captivated not by the crew, but by the team on the ground.
When things are falling apart, and nobody really knows if the crew can be saved, lead flight director Gene Kranz urges everyone to be calm,
Continue Reading “What do we got on the spacecraft that’s good?”
Continue Reading Is There A Place for Lawyers In Public Life?
I always knew that someday I would leave Wisconsin. My husband’s work demanded it. But when that day came, I found myself completely overwhelmed by the job search/joining a new bar process even though I had spent months preparing for the move.
Now that I have settled into my new job/home/life and have had time to reflect on the experience, I’ve put together the following list of the top ten things that helped me smoothly transition to a new
Continue Reading 10 Tips for Lawyers Moving Across State Lines
It’s a rainy, made-for-tea kind of day, and the start of another work from home week thanks to the global corona virus pandemic.
I am fortunate that the virus has not really impacted my work life. I typically work out of my home office, except when I visit my clients for in-person strategy sessions and video/photo shoots. I have learned A LOT about how to be productive in a non-traditional work environment over the past two years, and I
Continue Reading What Working From Home Has Taught Me
I’m currently being inundated with emails and snail mail from a company desperate to sell me a plaque I can hang on my wall, which will entitle me to proclaim myself to be something like the Most Awesomest Attorney EVER! It’s tempting because I’m well aware of my awesomeness and would like others to know about my awesomeness as well, but any award you have to pay to accept is not an award worth having.
I’m constantly amazed at
Continue Reading Don’t Get Scammed This Awards Season
If you are a young associate or a solo practitioner, you are probably sick of hearing you need to network your way to being a successful lawyer. As if you had time to do that, or if you have time, knew where to start! It turns out the reason nobody seems to be able to explain exactly when or how to develop into a rainmaker is because the people who are good at this sort of thing think it
Continue Reading Four Life Hacks for Networking Your Way to a Bigger Book of Business
On March 9, I am joining forces with Amanda Sexton from FocusWorks Marketing for a workshop on blogging and podcasting for lawyers. The event is being hosted by the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Institute for Continuing Legal Education. Attendees will walk away from this seminar with the tools they need to start blogging or podcasting to promote their firm. This includes a brand strategy, target audience assessment, and content creation calendar. Click here for details and registration.
People in general, and lawyers especially, like to know how things work. We all worry that “kids these days” don’t know that the food on their plates isn’t magically generated by the grocery store. We watch videos on YouTube of people sawing common household items in half just to see what is inside. And as lawyers, we know that the evidence we can gather will make or break our cases. Figuring out how stuff works is just something we
Continue Reading Don’t Settle for Snake Oil: Learn Where Your Clients Come From
Many attorneys do not realize they have access to the digital exhaust potential and current clients have spewed into the world, but every firm that has a standard intake form, maintains a website or posts on social media holds a treasure trove of this information, which is often referred to as “big data.” Big data is a catch-all description of a large data set that can be analyzed to reveal patterns, trends or otherwise hidden information.1 Attorneys who understand
Continue Reading How to Use BIG DATA to Get More Bang Out of Your Legal Marketing Buck
Last fall I was a guest on “The Bold Sidebar” podcast with Attorney Jeff Horn. We talked a lot about tailoring and measuring your marketing efforts, and a little bit about the Green Bay Packers. You can listen to the episode here or here.
Continue Reading Introvert. NFL Team Owner. Attorney.
1. Lighting!The two photos in this post were taken a minute apart. I didn’t change my make-up and I’m not using a filter in either picture. Shutting a curtain that was letting in a lot of light behind me, and turning on my desk lamp made a world of difference.2. Elevate the camera.Raising the camera up so it is a little bit higher than your eyes helps you looked more poised (and skinnier!).3. Clean up the background.I prefer the
Continue Reading Lights, Camera, Action!
When people tell me they don’t know what to write about I tell them to write something they would like to read.I took my own advice this year as chair of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Nonresident Lawyers Division’s communications committee. The NRLD has a blog, but it doesn’t have much content. I challenged myself to come up with some blog topics, and landed on legal-themed travel destinations. It’s a topic I would read about, and something an NRLD
Continue Reading Write Something You Would Read
Everything in our lives is going online, and that includes meetings and conferences. After suffering through one annual meeting, and enjoying another, I feel like I have some insights to share with anyone who is preparing for their first virtual conference. Map Out A Schedule I can’t sit at my desk and watch a livestream all day. It’s physically and mentally impossible for me. Going forward, I’m only attending the portions of a conference that I need or want to attend.
Continue Reading Making The Most Of A Virtual Conference