Shifting from Marketing Mode to Working Mode is Tough!

I've been in such a fast-paced and time-consuming marketing mode lately that I'm finding it hard to get down to work with the new projects I pulled in during that time. I have enough work to keep me busy full time for about three weeks, but I'm only getting about 4 good hours of work in each day because I start each day with my marketing tasks: attend to the blog, write a post or two, read the day's decisions to look for article ideas, see what prospects I need to follow up with. It's time-consuming and I need to cut back on some of it so I can actually get some work done.

While I realize this intellectually, it's not all that easy to do. My marketing frenzy has been driven by my survival instinct. Like a shark has to move the the water constantly to survive, I have had to be marketing nearly full time. Now that I have actual work to compete with that, it's tough. When I sit down with my work, a part of my brain is gnawing at me, saying "Why aren't you marketing right now? Get out there!" It's as if I'm afraid that I'll start concentrating solely on the work and find out when I come up for air that there are no new projects in the pipeline.

So, how do I get over this uneasiness? I've got to remember that quality work is also a marketing tool, or so says The Greatest American Lawyer.  When I am immersed in an actual project, I'm just engaged in another form of marketing. I'll keep thinking that, anyway, and see if it makes it any easier. I hope so. I don't need the distraction while I'm working.

Don't Even Joke about It. Really.

There were times during the last three years that I kind of used humor to get by. Just cynical humor. Like when I just started and had no clients, I used to call myself "self-unemployed."

One day, my wife mentioned how our house was "starting to come along." We'd been painting here and there, tearing up some floors, other very minor and inexpensive home improvements that were starting to make a big impact. So my wife says, "We're getting this place in shape, hon! It's gonna look good!" To which I cynically responded, "Yeah, we ought to have it all fixed up right around the time we have to sell it."

It really wasn't funny then, back when I still had money in the bank. It's really not funny now.

Bottom line: don't joke about failure, even if grim humor has worked for you in the past. It has a way of becoming self-fulfilling, I think.

Desperate Acts aren't Always Useless Acts

I've had a nice confluence of the real world with the theoretical in the last several weeks.

Hungry for work, I decided to call a lawyer I know to see if he had any ideas where I could pick up some work or who might be looking to hire someone like me. You see, I am at the point where I am simultaneously looking for employment and looking for new clients (more on that in a later post).

I don't even know this lawyer all that well. In fact, I have probably spoken to him less than half a dozen times over six years.

So why did I call him? I knew he liked me. He interviewed me six years ago for a position with a firm he and an old friend were starting. He was solo at the time, his friend was (I believe) leaving a firm, and the two of them were starting up a new firm. He liked me enough, at least, to have me meet together with him and his new partner after he met with me alone. But they never made me an offer.

Then, out of the blue, around a year ago he e-mailed me to see what I was up to and perhaps if I could help him out on a project or two (which never came to fruition). Since then, I've e-mailed him every few months to let him know how things are going and to keep the relationship alive, so I would be on his short list if he needed help.

As I said, this time I called him specifically for advice on where I might pick up some work and/or find a job. He gave me the names of two busy lawyers he knows. I've already completed one contract project for one of them and am started on another. I've been in touch with the second lawyer and we should be meeting soon.

Here's the confluence of the real world with the theoretical world: I opened Carolyn Elefant's Solo by Choice to a random page the other day, and saw one of her marketing tidbits. I don't have it in front of me now, but it boiled down to this: instead of sending out a mass mailing that's likely to get thrown into the wastebasket on receipt, call half a dozen people to see if they can guide you to some work.

I placed my call out of desperation. But it also turns out to have been the sensible thing to do.

Lesson: if you already know some lawyers when you start your practice, keep in touch with them regularly. Seems obvious, so I'll add this caveat. Take extra care to keep in touch with lawyers that like you, whether they like you on a personal level or a professional one. The guy I called? I'd never done a stitch of work for him. He knew me from my resume, three personal meetings, a phone call or two, and a couple of e-mails describing my efforts to gain more business. But we got along very well on a personal level, and it paid off.

I've called to thank him for steering me to these other two lawyers, and you can bet your britches I'll keep this relationship alive. (After all, I like him on a personal level as well.)

The Difference a Check Makes

Image from WikipediaGot a check from a client today. Promptly after invoicing him. For every penny he owed me. A little over $700.

With the exception of a recent check I got from the state for some work done as appointed counsel for indigent criminal defendants lately, it's the largest check I've gotten in months.

I never -- well, not since I was about 25, anyway -- thought I'd be looking at a $700 check like manna from heaven.

Oddly, this check has buoyed my spirits. Not because the $700 is going to make or break my practice. But because the client paid promptly and has already given me a second project that will pay more.

Your Pedigree -- What It's Good for, and What It Isn't

I like to make fun of lawyers who went to big-time law schools, mostly because (1) I did not, and therefore probably have a chip on my shoulder I am unwilling to admit, and (2) from what I can gather from my friends who went to schools like Cal (Boalt), Michigan, Stanford, etc., their education prepared them more for running a political campaign than practicing law. I had one colleague in a BigLaw firm who used to joke that I taught him torts, but he really wasn't stretching it too far.

Anyway, let's run down my pedigree first, so you can see that it has little to do with success or failure as a solo; at least, little to do with my success or failure as a solo. Perhaps it has greater impact for others.

In any event, this is me (again, deliberately vague to preserve my anonymity):

• Graduated from an elite undergraduate institution in the early 80s with an engineering degree.
• Took my degree and became an officer in the Marine Corps for several years.
• Got out of the USMC and did a few jobs while I applied to law school.
• Finished in the top 3% at a highly-regarded regional law school. (I don't think "highly regarded regional law school" is an oxymoron.)
• Went to work out of law school at a huge international firm (1000+ lawyers), then left for a "small" 400-lawyer firm after a few years.
• In-house general counsel for a privately held company. Then . . .
• Starving Solo.

Note that the prestigious undergrad education, top 3%, prestigious "ticket punching" law firms, and responsibility for all legal matters of a substantial privately held company all amounted to a hill of beans when it came time to go solo, because (1) none of these things taught me anything about how to do it, and (2) there was no way for me to I couldn't figure out how to parlay these credentials in the solo world.

As far as using this background in my marketing, it may have actually hurt me. You see, I was in BigLaw in some big cities. I now live in a much less urban area about an hour and a half outside the nearest large city, and I don't think the lawyers around here think too much of those kind of firms. Which doesn't exactly increase the odds of referrals. And clients -- at least real people -- really couldn't care less where you went to school.

This is Harder than I Thought

I'm not talking about launching and sustaining a solo practice. I'm talking about blogging about my turnaround efforts while still maintaining my anonymity.

To describe my efforts with any specificity would probably give away my area of practice. Combined with the fact that I have a professional blog addressing that area of practice, finding out my area of practice would allow one to substantially narrow the field of who The Starving Solo really is.

As if you care. As if there are thousands of people are out there figuring out how to unmask me.

Anyway, I badly want to blog about some recent efforts that may bear fruit, but the actual posts have to wait until I figure the best way to post without risking my unmasking.

Thanks for the Well Wishes

This blog hasn't attracted many readers, but I have received very nice comments and/or e-mails from several people, including a few bloggers on my "Solos Doing It Right" blogroll. All have wished me well in turning around my practice, and I am very grateful for their thoughts.

I had been a little worried that people who saw this blog might think it is satire or write it off as the rantings of a bitter failure, but these comments tell me it is being received as I intended: serious reflections from a solo who has tried hard yet finds himself on the brink of failure.

So thanks for the well wishes, everyone, and know that you have mine, as well.

This is obviously not the job for me.

I'm not talking about the one I have now. I'm talking about the one that San Diego law firm Scholefield & Associates, a boutique construction law firm, is trying to fill.

They're looking for an associate to do client development, and just client development. They're not even looking for an experienced attorney. A brand new lawyer who might have more fun schmoozing potential clients instead of actually practicing law is just what they're looking for.

An excerpt from their website:

You will join and actively participate in client trade groups. This may involve securing speaking engagements for firm attorneys. You can expect to represent the firm in client events such as

• Monthly meetings
• Fundraisers
• Golf tournaments
• Trade group dinners
• Trade group social functions
• Skeet and trap shooting events
• Educational seminars, etc.

A good golf game is a plus, as is an interest in outdoor activities such as fishing, hunting or motorcycles. You will be spending some time outside of the office, including some evenings and weekends attending and participating in client and trade group events. No extended out of the area travel is expected. Unlike a conventional associate position, your job performance will NOT be based on billable hours. You will be measured on your ability to effectively introduce our firm's services to key clients. This is a challenging opportunity for the right person. You will find that this position is unique to the law firm business model. [My emphasis.]

Unique, indeed! Leave it to California, eh?

Oh, and that $100,000 you spent on law school? Well, it won't go to waste. Again, from their website:

You will not let your law school education go to waste as you must be admitted to practice in California, and may be expected to advise clients and attend hearings.

Cool.

Hey, you know, I could use one of these guys. If I had money to hire one, I'd consider it!