Not long ago on the Lawyerist Lab discussion board there was a whole string of discussion regarding how lawyers answer their phones.

As usual when lawyers talk about things like this, I was surprised to hear how many lawyers are answering their own phone when they are in the office or having calls directly transferred to them.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised though because I used to do it too when I was first in practice and didn’t know any better.

I felt overwhelmed by all there was to do in the early years of my business (even when i didn’t have a whole lot of clients) and yet when the phone rang, I lunged for it like a teenage girl waiting for her suitor to call.  (It could be a client or even better, a prospect!)

Little did I realize how answering my own phone was the worst thing I could possibly do.

It’s counter-intuitive in a way.  I thought I HAD to answer my phone to be a responsive lawyer.  In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. Make these small changes and watch your life (and bank account) improve, dramatically.

1. Have Your Phone Answered With a Smile By Someone Other Than You

Whatever you do, do not let your phone be answered by someone barking “law offices” into the phone upon pick up.  Make sure whoever answers is smiling when they do.

If you have to use voicemail, make your voicemail smile.  Add something quirky or different. So that you come across as a different kind of lawyer right off the bat.  Unless you enjoy being stereotyped in the same bucket as all the other lawyers.

Call Ruby and Total Attorneys both have great services.  (And if you mention I sent you, each of them will likely give you a free test out period.)  I believe Total Attorneys can even schedule appointment for you, which is really important because as you will see below, you want all your phone calls to be scheduled.

2.  Never Take an Unscheduled Call (Except In Case of Emergency)

When you allow the phone to interrupt you and your day even for a few minutes of the time, you will often find yourself at the end of the day wondering why it feels as if you did not get anything done. (a Microsoft study indicated that it can take as much as 15 minutes to get back on task after an interruption and then it often takes longer to get the task completed.  Add up those 15 minutes and you can lose a whole lot of day.)

So, set yourself up so that everything is scheduled. Use time blocking and hire a scheduling assistant to schedule your calls.  Or, if you are more of the virtual type use TimeDriver, Genbook, or BookFresh.

3. Do Better Work & Get More Love

When you stop allowing your phone to interrupt you throughout the day, you are going to get so much more work done and be far more productive.  That means your family is going to be giving you a lot more love because you are going to be home in time for dinner.

Plus, your prospects are going to love you a whole lot more because you are going to be more in demand than if they can get you on the phone right when they call. When’s the last time you got your surgeon on the phone when you called with a question before surgery?

And, your clients are going to love you because you are going to establish right from the first meeting that the reason you don’t take unscheduled calls is because when you are focused on their matter, you are focused and doing great work for them and refuse to be interrupted. When you DO get on the phone, you’ll always be on time (no more annoying phone tag!) and prepared for the call.  You’ll become the responsive lawyer everyone loves.

Finally, you’ll be doing better work.  And ultimately, that’s what it’s all about.

So stop answering your phone and feel the love.

Over the past several months, I’ve done some personal soul-searching about my business and my life.

And I had to look at why I was serving lawyers and whether continuing to do so is the best use of my time, energy and resources.

I made the decision that it was, but only if I was willing to move beyond my safe 2nd stage business and build a business that would radically
and completely change the way legal services are provided to families and small business owners throughout the US and Canada.

To do that, I recognized I’d have to deconstruct my business – release what wasn’t working and re-build on what is and was.

It’s been a difficult process and it’s far from over. But, it’s given me a lot of compassion for those of you who are not satisfied with the old paradigm and are having to deconstruct and reconstruct your law practices to create something truly meaningful.

I wrote about the three stages of the entrepreneurial roadmap on my personal blog a couple of weeks ago and saw that it can help you here too.

So, this week’s Law Business Revolution blog applies the entrepreneurial roadmap to the business of practicing law.

The Law Firm Entrepreneurial Map

The three stages of the entrepreneurial map, as it applies to your law practice transforming into a business.

Stage 1: The True Solo

Stage 1 is all about brand new-ness. It’s about the idea, the vision, and just getting started and getting it done. It’s about figuring out your revenue model (where the money comes from) and getting on the road to freedom.

Generally speaking, you are probably working alone or with a partner. There is no team support or perhaps one person helping youout on a part time basis. (When I first started, I rented office space from other lawyers and my sister sat across the desk from me, helping me out. Within about
three months, I brought in my first part-time employee.)

You have no systems. And probably just one revenue stream, which will be your main service offering. You may be taking anything
that walks through the door just to make your bills.

You are probably charging hourly or very low flat fees.

Many (most?) lawyers remain in Stage 1 indefinitely. You may feel frustrated, tired (or exhausted), and as if you are not making as much of an impact (or money) as you’d like.

Stage 2: Enterprising Entrepreneur

When you get tired of doing it all alone, you’ll bring on some team. That’s one of the major signs you’ve made it beyond Stage 1.

You’ll also begin to realize that there’s a pattern to what you do and how you do it.  Yep, you’ve got systems and processes.

You are still working pretty hard, but you begin spending more time working on your business instead of always in your business.

And you may begin to realize that you can’t take everything that comes through the door – you have to narrow your focus to serving one market or just providing services in one practice area.

Financially, you are doing okay. You know how you make money in your business and you are constantly surprised by how much money it takes to make money.  You’d probably like to keep a bit more than you are.

While you have some team support, you are the one managing the team, for the most part. You dream of the day you get to spend all your time doing the parts of your business you really love and let go of the rest.

Stage 3: Legacy Builder

When you hit Stage 3, your work will continue, even if you aren’t there to do it. You spend your time primarily working either on the business or in the business, but not both.

You are clear on who you serve and what you do for them.

If you got sick, took a long vacation or the long permanent vacation, your business would continue.

You’ve got documented systems and process, a team, and other leaders in the company besides just yourself.

The transition from Stage 2 to Stage 3 will be harder than you expect, at least that’s my experience so far.  But, it will be well worth it.

If you try to make this transition too quickly and without the right people in place, the whole thing will blow up in your face.

No matter where you are today and how far it seems you have to go on the journey, if you are in business for yourself, stop for a minute and celebrate.

You are working for yourself. You are in control of your destiny.  You are on the road to freedom.

In most of us, there exists a Type-A overachiever who would work 24 hours a day fighting on behalf of our clients, if we let that part of us take over. We like to win, we like to be the best and we are willing to sacrifice to make that happen. It’s what got us through law school, after all. At least that’s the case for me.

But somewhere along the way, I woke up and realized this is the one life I’ve got (at least that I’ll remember) and I’d better make it a great one or I’m going to look back years from now and be full of regret.

Apparently, that wake-up call hasn’t come for Scott Greenfield, a criminal defense lawyer in NY, who calls those of us who want more out of life the “Slackoisie” because apparently we are slackers if we want to have a life and a law firm.

Before I rebut the substance of Scott’s argument, I’ve got to take a minute to comment about Scott’s statement that I am full of disgustingly sweet goo and utterly devoid of substance. I LOVE it. Thank you, Scott.

I love being sweet and, as for the utterly devoid of substance … well, I don’t pull this out there very often, but I DID graduate first in my class from Georgetown Law and worked at Munger, Tolles & Olson for three years before starting my own firm. I DID build my law firm into a 7-figure law firm in only three years by creating a brand new business model and I DID sell that law firm and I DO now help hundreds of lawyers around the United States become the lawyers they’ve always wanted to be and love their business again while enjoying work/life balance.

So, you can say what you want about me, but maybe come up with something better than utterly devoid of substance.

The fact of the matter is that guys like Scott Greenfield are stuck in an old paradigm. A paradigm based on a broken business model. Yes, under the old paradigm, work/life balance is NOT possible. I discovered this myself working first for a big law firm and then after starting my own firm and building it the way the “successful” lawyers told me I should and realizing it was going to stick me with insane hours and not really make a difference in my clients’ lives.

Unfortunately, outdated lawyers who want to justify their misery must resort to name calling of anyone who longs for something more and knows that it’s possible to have it all without compromising client well-being. They whine that instead of embodying “professionalism, responsibility and duty,” the desire for work- life balance is nothing more than a quest for “the magic bullet that will enable[you] to achieve success in the absence of inconvenient effort.”

Lawyers are under more stress than ever, many turning to drugs and alcohol to deal with it. While it’s true there is no magic bullet to success, it can happen much more quickly and easily than Greenfield and his brethren would like you to believe. It’s going to take you a huge amount of effort, but you are going to put in the effort one way or another, so why not put it in bucking the norm and creating something new and unique that will allow you to have it all and take great care of your clients while you do it.

At the end of the day it comes down to this: Clients are far better served by a lawyer who uses technology to the max, has learned how to systematize their practice, and utilizes a team to support her clients than by a lawyer who stuck in the old, broken model. And, yes, it’s quite likely this lawyer will be found on Twitter and be enjoying a very nice work/life balance.