Where have you gone Five by Five?
If you are wondering when I'll have another of those great 5x5's, wonder no more. Beginning Monday, the series restarts with five intellectual property bloggers answering the question: What five ways would you change IP law?
For you non-IP people (like me), the topic seems a bit dry, but I've read most of the responses already and they are great! See you then!
What is your Innovation Budget?
I've recently subscribed to Report 103, a weekly e-mail newsletter from jpb.com, an innovation company. I found this great idea in their October 12, 2004 edition:
Give everyone in a medium to large company an innovation budget. Each person's budget would be based on their position in the company. Regular staff might get 2000 Euro/year; middle managers 5000; senior managers 10,000; and so on). Innovation budgets are to be used exclusively for developing ideas.
If an idea results in an RoI (return on idea), the idea owner receives an increased innovation budget based on a percentage of the RoI. Thus, innovative people get an ever larger pool with which to innovate.
Moreover, staff can form teams with each person contributing a part of their innovation budget towards implementing an idea. If the result is a positive RoI, each contributor receives an innovation budget increase based on the percentage of their budgetary contribution.
Finally, people can buy and sell ideas with their innovation budgets. If you have a great idea which you do not or cannot implement, you can sell the idea to a colleague who is interested in implementing it. The colleague then transfers part of her innovation budget to you.
Alternatively, if you have a great idea, but insufficient budget to implement it, you can sell stakes in your idea to colleagues.
Over time, the company's most innovative people will amass substantial innovation budgets. These people can then become idea investors, providing innovation-budget-equity based investments in employees' ideas; particularly big ideas which an individual employee would not have the budget to implement.
The beauty of the system is that it allows people to grow based upon their innovative strengths. People who are strong on creativity and ideas but weak on implementation, can sell their ideas in order to amass an increasing innovation budget.
People who are stronger on implementation, on the other hand, can buy ideas or co-operate on ideas in order to amass increasing innovation budgets.
Only those people who want nothing to do with innovation will see their budgets stagnate. But such people are usually rather boring. So we need not worry about them, need we?
Still trying to figure out how this can work in a law firm environment. Maybe my Innovation Assistant could help.
Help Wanted - Innovation Assistant
I need help. Since I started reading blogs (and writing this one), I've been bombarded on a daily basis with hundreds of incredible ideas from the coolest people on the planet. While I've been doing my best to share them with you while implementing some into my practice, I've found that the demands of my actual job are cutting into my time to innovate and think about new things.
Therefore, I've decided I need to hire an Innovation Assistant -- a combination personal assistant, brainstorming partner, and project manager -- to help me get some amazing and innovative projects off of my "to do someday" list and into the real world.
So here is the deal: I want anyone who is interested to write me an e-mail describing what you think an Innovation Assistant should do -- and then telling me why you should get the job. I'll pay the ideal candidate well, and they will be able to work virtually from home 10-20 hours per week.
Stupd Client Quotes
Great new website/blog called Clientcopia that collects stupid client quotes (mainly from the design industry). From the site:
There's no getting around it. At some point in your career, your patience will be tested with a stupid client who is so clueless that you'll question your sanity, career choice, and the future of mankind.
You may have dealt with one already, one that just stuns you like a deer in headlights. Dumbfounded to utter anything but an "uhhh…". Some clients have no concept of reality. They make up their mind, just to change it again to an even more hideous decision. And will end up blaming you for the mess. Can we honestly blame the client? Sure we can...
Clientcopia was created to give you an escape. Take joy in knowing you are not alone.
We all feel your pain...
Some pretty funny stuff here. Check it out.
Try to be Bob
Genius Hugh MacLeod has another gem (I've collected so many, I might add them to my garage sale). Hugh writes about his favorite cab driver, but he could be writing about any service professional he uses:
About once a week, I have to catch the late train home. Bob the cab driver always meets me the station and drives me to my house.
Bob’s got what Seth Godin calls “The Free Prize”. He's got what Tom Peters calls “The Wow! Factor”. He's got something I like that no other cab driver has. It might be his jovial manner, it might be I like the fact his car is colored red. It might be the fact that he's very reliable. The reason doesn't matter so much. Regardless, Bob gets my business 100% of the time. When he can't make it I let his brother pick me up instead, but that doesn't happen too often. I call no other cab service but Bob's. There are a lot of cab companies where I live. Cab driving is a pretty commodified business. But I call Bob. Every time. I like Bob.
The minute he pisses me off for whatever reason I’ll find another cab driver I like just as much.
Don't forget that last sentence when you are dealing with clients. The biggest mistake lawyers make is to overestimate their client's loyalty and tolerance for inattention.
Take a Clarity Retreat
Evelyn Rodriguez has a great post titled Accelerating Elusive Aha! Moments in which she talks about taking a "clarity retreat" to help her solve problems. Evelyn is kind enough to share the creative process she uses on her retreats. Her tips:
1. Stay Open. Ask the questions, but let go of the answers. You might think you have a solution in mind, but don't cling to it. You'll be surprised at how much more brilliant your breakthrough will be if you just let go of your fixation that you won't come up with anything better than your so-so, blah(yawn) solution that's your back-up plan. Kill the back-up plan.
2. No-Hassle Beauty. Go somewhere simple that doesn't require a lot of pre-planning. No hassle = low-stress. This is not the time to go on a worldwind tour of Europe. Guy Kawasaki gave away a great retreat location if you live in the Bay Area in his new book, The Art of the Start. (I'm not telling in a public forum, though you can email me.) Ideally stay close to home to avoid air travel; somewhere quiet, typically in nature; and somewhere you'd enjoy being. Ideas can range from day hiking from a base camp/lodge; kayaking along a gentle river or sheltered bay; cross-country skiing hut-to-hut; soaking the gentle sunbeams on the beach as you watch the tide come in; or chilling out on the veranda sipping wine in Napa Valley. Twice I've gone on backpacking trips - but this may require too much preparation if you don't regularly backpack.
3. Treat yourself. Re-treat yourself over and over. Make sure you are eating well (if you're packing and making your own food, make it as simple to prepare as possible so it doesn't feel like an ordeal...unless you adore cooking...) and sleeping well.4. Bring a journal. Only journal if you don't have to force the words on paper - only when and if you're a conduit to your heart without filtering it through your head. Carry the journal wherever possible. You never know when you might want to sketch or write a poem or something seems important to jot down - leave the option open. Don't worry if you never even crack it open. That may just be what's needed especially if you do journal alot now. On one multi-day backpack trip to Grand Canyon, I didn't write a single word. I thought I had "wasted" the retreat time. Nope, it turned out I needed a break from journaling as well. I was overwhelmed with ideas when I returned back home including the entire outline for a book.
5. Avoid email, cellphone and even blogging. Really retreat. Don't listen to news, radio, or pick up the paper. If you are weak (as I am), you may need to go somewhere where it is impossible to stay in touch - you'd be surprised, even in Bay Area you can drive two miles outside of I-280 and be out of cellphone range and in the beauty of nature.6. Go alone. With practice you can go with others that are also seeking time to be more contemplative, but the tendency is to be drawn to go sight-see, chat, and otherwise be distracted.
7. Focus on Being Present. I used to be pretty restless and extremely prone to boredom. If you don't want to "do nothing" that's fine. Fully engage with what you are doing. Anything that captures your attention fully - whether that's because you enjoy it intensely or to let your mind wander would be deadly (whitewater-kayaking comes to mind for me). Limit your time reading - and when you do, make it inspirational instead of intellectual. The entire idea is to rest your mind. So whatever you are doing, really do it and nothing else. Be nowhere else that moment. See the glint of the water splashing on the stone, feel the caress of the wind playing through the aspen trees, note the firmness and the give as the autumn leaves crunch under your footfall, gaze at the crystal moon lying on your back against the meadow grass, admire the depth of the sheer vertical vermillion canyon walls echoing your call.
Evelyn's blog Crossroads Dispatches continually has great posts like this one. I'm going to schedule a clarity retreat for three days next week. I'll let you know how it goes.
Idea Garage Sale -- Follow Up
I've pretty much cleaned out my "idea closet" with my garage sale and I hope that everyone found something worth taking. Reader (and friend) Yvonne Divita added this comment to one of the garage sale posts:
This 'idea garage sale' is a winner. It deserves a blog of its own...with several authors...with encouragement for input...I see some marvelous things coming out of it. Your cookbook reference to generating ideas is another great way to get the mind thinking "out of the box"...let's find a way to start thinking "out of the book" because we too often rely on books to instruct us on how to do business. (as a writer it pains me to say that, but it's true.) So, what kind of "out of the book" ideas can we come up with? I'll start...first, get comfortable in your own space. You can't begin a business if you're still struggling to fit yourself into the space society tries to assign you. Create your own space, and fill it with your energy and your expectations. Watch how fast it fills up with useful 'stuff.'
Any interest out there?
ActiveWords in the NYT!
ActiveWords got a great write-up in the New York Times on October 3. I still don't use the program as much as I should, but still find it to be a great time saver. Congrats, Buzz!
Idea Garage Sale - Cookbooks
I love cookbooks, though I'm only a fair cook. The best things about cookbooks is they give you some great ideas of what to make for dinner -- leaving the execution of the recipe to you. Here are some of my "Idea Cookbooks" I've accumulated. I hope they help you cook up some tasty ideas of your own.
Idea Garage Sale - Building Materials for Building the Perfect Firm
Here are some "building materials" I've accumulated as I've worked on building my perfect firm. Some are extras, some were the wrong size and didn't fit, and some are just taking up extra space in my garage. I'd love to sell the whole truckload at once, but will consider any fair offer. Just one thing -- you have to come here and pick them up.
The Office
The Staff
Outsourcing
The Business
The Advertising
Idea Garage Sale - Unattributed Leftovers
Here are a bunch of ideas I've had lying around. I'm sure I've bought them from somewhere, but I can't remember where. If I've taken them (or stolen them) from you, I apologize for not giving you credit.
Weekly Free Time -- Give employees an hour of "quiet time" every week -- when the phones aren't answered and meetings aren't scheduled -- to think, read a book, or just relax.
Incorporate Design -- Hire a graphic design artist (with no legal portfolio) to review the format and design of every piece of mail and every type of document that goes out to customers. Also, find the best interior designer in your town and ask them for one hour of time to give you tips on making your office more inviting and less intimidating. Go to the most expensive and most popular stores and restaurants in your neighborhood. Look at how they are designed. Look at the people in them. These people are comfortable in those environments. If you want those types of people to be your clients, make your environment similar.
Commit to Clients, Send a Report Card-- Prepare a list of client commitments and stick to them. Include returning phone calls within a specified period of time. Send the commitments to clients with every bill. Offer discounts if you don't live up to any of your commitments. Give clients a small discount if they send back a "Report Card" with their payment. Make it look like the ones kids got in the fifties. Follow up with them on any grade they give below an "A."
The Monthly Status -- Get a boilerplate monthly status report saved in every client's file with their address, etc. Send it every month and tell them what happened on their case that month.
Find Spaces to Collaborate, Not Just to Meet -- Look for space in your office where you can have a comfortable conversation with a client, partner, or staff member. Having a white board or other brainstorming tool would be a big plus. Make it a fun place to think.
Create a Firm Master To-Do List -- This list isn't for client matters, but for firm matters. Make marketing and firm development high priorities. Make sure everyone has access to the list and place at least one item on the calendar each week to make sure it gets done.
Fund a Local "Genius Grant" -- Find the biggest problem in your community and have a competition to solve it. Involve the schools and retirement homes. Give a prize for the best solution. Make sure everyone knows your firm sponsored the competition. Set aside another part of the prize money to go toward funding the solution.
Start an Exclusive Client Club -- Come up with an unprecedented level of service and benefits (at a premium price) and offer it only to your best three customers. Tell them they can invite others to join the club, but they must "vouch" for the new prospect. Wait ten years, then retire.
Rewrite all of your Firm Documents -- Every week, pick one of your "standard" forms (like retainer agreement) and give it to a sixth grader. Ask them if they understand it. Then rewrite it from scratch.
Offer Gift Certificates -- Find some kind of work you do and prepare gift certificates. Send a notice to your clients telling them the certificates are available for the holidays. In an estate planning practice, encourage clients to give the certificates to young couples who've just married or had children and might need a simple will. The certificate could be for a will, or even a "free" consultation.
Open Ended Billing -- Send a bill with no amount on the bottom. Make sure you communicate all you've done for the client, then let them decide how much it was worth.
Open All Night -- Find employees who want to work second and third shifts and experiment with one or two days a month where the firm never closes. Advertise these days, and find out how many people who've never had time to meet with a lawyer come calling!
Find the Smartest People -- Ask everyone you know for the names of the smartest people they know. Invite those people to an exclusive dinner and offer to pay them for one hour each month of their advice -- on anything.
Give Books -- Go to your local school or library and donate several books on a topic that complements one of your primary practice area. For instance, if you do divorce work, give the school several books about how children can best deal with divorce; or give the local library several volumes on divorce for adults. Get your name in the front of each book and get your picture in the paper.
Garage Sale - GMail
Reader Steve Nipper offered up a G-Mail invite in the comments to a previous post. I've got a few setting around too. First five people to leave comments get 'em.
Idea Garage Sale - Day 1
For day one of my garage sale, I've collected some blog posts. Twenty-five cents each, or five for a dollar. If you want to buy them all, the price is negotiable.
The "Whole Enchilada" -- Marketing to Hispanics.
Colorful Details make copy more believable.
Five tips for effective growth.
A dozen habits of successful professionals.
Where are you most productive?
Is this how you listen to your clients?
That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for some more great deals!
Idea Garage Sale - Used Bookmarks, Cheap!
Bookmarks for sale. These bookmarks are gently used and are in fine working condition. I've grouped them as best I can. Make your best offer!
Billable Hour Remainders
ABA Commission on Billable Hours Report
The New Law Firm Economy -- Billable Hours and Professional Responsibility
Looking Beyond the Billable Hour
Step Away from the Billable Hour
The short, unhappy history of how lawyers bill their clients.
The Billable Hour: Putting a Wedge Between Client and Counsel
Toys for the Kids
Used Sports Equipment
Cool Things Defying Catagorization
Non-Legal Sites with Interesting Ideas for Lawyers
Technology Extras
Web Design Stuff
Training and Seminars
Idea Garage Sale.
I've been spending the last two weeks doing some housekeeping around the office: closing files, throwing stuff away, reviewing every open file, and generally organizing the stuff I have sitting around. One of the things I've noticed is how easy it is to accumulate things on the computer. For instance, I have over two-hundred items in my "to blog" folder on Bloglines alone. Add to that the hundreds of articles and web sites I've book-marked over the last four years and you start to get the picture of some of the electronic cobwebs in my office.
I have finally recognized that I have too many ideas sitting around cluttering things up. For the next week, I'm going to have an "Idea Garage Sale" on this blog. I'll be throwing up tons of links, blurbs, and thoughts that I've found laying around for you to take if you want. If there is anything left at the end of next week, it will get shipped off to Goodwill.
And as for my fellow bloggers, I know you are in the same predicament as I am. Everyone knows that when the whole neighborhood has a garage sale, more people show up to buy and more stuff gets sold, so join me and have your own Idea Garage Sale, too.
Enjoy your shopping!
Quote of the Week
"I've found my niche. If you're wondering why I'm not there, there was this little hole in the bottom..." John Croll (Thanks to Tom Asacker at acleareye.com).
Cuban's Rules for Success
Mark Cuban writes about the twelve factors of success in his blog. Read the post for all twelve. My favorite is:
11. Pigs Get Fat, Hogs Get Slaughtered. This is one I got from my partner Todd Wagner. He is right on. Sometimes you have to go for the jugular, but more often than not, the biggest mistake people make are getting too greedy. Every good deal has a win win solution. There is nothing I hate more than someone who tries to squeeze every last penny out of the deal. They often raise the aggrevation level to the point where it’s not worth doing the deal. They also raise the dislike level to the point where even if a deal gets done, you look for ways to never do business with that person or company again.Business happens over years and years. Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.
If you are a lawyer reading this post, think about Cuban's advice in the context of your relationships with your clients. Do you really need to turn your copy machine into a profit center? Does every single minute of time spent thinking about a client's case need to show up on the bill? Several days ago a client complained to me about her previous attorney. She said that she would call the attorney to find out when the project he was working for her on would be done (it was already several weeks overdue), and she would get billed for the phone call! The $37.50 per call did not matter to the client financially, but she became so aggravated she not only switched lawyers, but tells everyone she knows about her experience.
Great Excerpts from Business Books
I love reading business books. I find they often give me great ideas I can incorporate into my practice. The people over at 800-CEO-READ have started an Excerpt Blog with -- you guessed it -- excerpts from some books they sell. It has an RSS feed too! Check it out.
Highland, Illinois Real Estate
Warning, rant ahead.
I've been blackballed by the Highland, Illinois realtors! I've been doing the deeds for a local title company. It was a nice bit of business for my firm, and the title company enjoyed working with us because we provided the deeds and other work to them much more quickly then the attorney who used to do the work -- resulting in fewer cancelled closings and happier customers.
However, once the local realtors found out I was doing the deeds, they went to the title company and said (allegedly), "If Matt Homann continues to do the deeds, we'll use a different title company." The reason? Because I've told people that, if they have a willing buyer, I can do their real estate sales documents and advise them through the closing for far less than the 6% commission our local realtors charge. Apparently not happy with their commission on 99% of the real estate transactions in a growing real estate market that happen here without any lawyers at all, the realtors are threatened by me helping my home-selling clients (who already have a buyer!) with their transaction.
The funny thing is that the realtors could build so much more good will by encouraging sellers with willing buyers to bypass the real estate system and see an attorney! If a realtor told me how to save thousands of dollars on my transaction, I'd recommend that realtor to everyone I knew. And if a realtor referred clients to me, I'd reciprocate, and send a lot of business their way.
I've not decided how to respond, if at all, to the realtors. Some friends and collegues have urged me to sue, but I don't think I'm up for that. However, I do know this, when I sell my house soon, don't look for a realtor's sign in the front yard.
Real Estate Lawyers -- Pay Attention!
Two from Michele Miller in the same day! Michele links to this white paper authored by Real Living, a growing nationwide real estate company. The paper is a must-read for any real estate lawyer. Here are some excerpts:
Historically, consumers relied on real estate professionals for almost all information concerning the buying and selling of a home - a transaction model which positioned real estate professionals primarily as information disseminators. According to Real Living, women now rely on the Internet to gather information upfront, often before contacting a real estate agent. However, women who are short on time and long on needs place a high value on the agent to guide them through the home buying process once they have used the Internet to educate themselves and narrow down their home search criteria. This shift in behavior now positions real estate professionals as negotiators, time-savers and efficiency experts - demanding that brokers and agents find new, innovative ways to serve consumer needs for convenience and control.Real Living advises that brokers and agents of the future must fully integrate technology into their normal course of business in order to maintain a competitive edge with today's increasingly connected consumer. Key suggestions outlined in the white paper include:* Offer anywhere, anytime access to robust listing information (such as property details, virtual tours and mapping) to drive efficiency, convenience and control for consumers
* Deliver online customer communication, comparables and transaction forms to add value to the agent-consumer relationship.
* Leverage the Web as a real-time-marketing medium to provide home buyers with immediate access to all homes available for sale on the market.
* Target female decision makers through integrated, robust Internet marketing strategies supplemented by traditional advertising mediums such as print, radio and television.
* Meet consumer needs for efficiency and convenience by serving as a source for one-stop-shopping referrals for related services such as mortgage, title, relocation and home warranty services.
These tips are not only for real estate agents. This is sound advice for lawyers too.