If you have zoom fatigue, raise your hand.
My guess is that everyone has their hand raised. I know I do. Everyone is fed up with taking meetings on their screens, and so when something is voluntary, you’re going to opt out of it. I get it.
But what are you building if you don’t show up?
Continue Reading What are you Building if you Don’t Show up?
There’s no quick fix for relationship development. But there ARE some quick things you can do today to advance either the first step in your relationship with someone or the next step. When you think of networking and relationship building as a series of smaller actions that you can take to help weave the fabric of stronger relationships, it stops feeling so overwhelming and starts feeling like something you can build into your everyday schedule. So whether you’ve got five minutes or an hour, you can strengthen your network today:
Continue Reading 5 Quick Tips to Build Better Business Relationships
One of my favorite running jokes is “How do you know someone has run a marathon?”
“Don’t worry, they’ll tell you!”
And, we will.
But truthfully, if you’re a runner, you already know this – running has so many parallels to other areas of your life. I won’t get into them all here, lest I lose you, dear reader. Just trust me. And training and running for a marathon will teach you things about yourself that are irreplaceable. I’m embarking on my second training cycle at the moment and feeling every emotion imaginable. Fear, excitement, exhaustion (is exhaustion an emotion? I suspect all of us can identify with it after being in a pandemic), the list goes on.
Continue Reading Three Ways Marathon Running Can Prepare You for Business Development
As a lawyer, in addition to the network of clients and potential clients that you’ve built, you’ve also built a network of referral sources. This may be formal or informal (or more likely, both). One of the most overlooked opportunities for further developing your relationships with these sources of referrals is content – not only does it help you to get to know these sources better, but it also provides you with collateral that you can use with your primary client/potential client networks.
Continue Reading 3 Ways to Use Content to Create Relationships with Your Referral Network
I’ll tell you a secret – the pandemic may not be over, but you can still be networking. Even when networking is primarily done in a virtual way, the substance of it has not changed; only the platform.
So what does that mean when it comes to networking?
Continue Reading 7 of My Favorite Networking Tips – Yes, Even in a Pandemic
This afternoon, I had a lovely chat with my friend, Brian Gorman, who is part of a mastermind group that I’ve been working with this year. Here’s what Brian, who is also a coach, says on his website about change, which is something I think we can agree we’ve all had more than enough of in the past year.
Continue Reading Lawyers: Two Networking Questions You May Be Missing
Two years ago, we were talking about the skills that young lawyers are seeking to hone as they in order to become successful, experienced lawyers, and it’s starting to become hard to believe that one of those was in-person presentation skills. While I absolutely believe that we’re going to get back to being face-to-face at some point in the future, in the meantime, it’s necessary for all of us to consider how we can improve our virtual presentation skills. We may think that if we’re skilled presenters already, that we’re ready for our zoom debuts, but it can be a different skillset – so let’s look at four ways to translate your in-person skills to an online world, and some bonus tips for presenting in a virtual environment.
Continue Reading Four Ways to Improve your Online Presentation Skills for a Virtual World
Unless you’re new here (and if you are, welcome!), you’ll know that I often say that networking happens everywhere. So what happens when your “everywhere” gets slimmed down during a pandemic, and even when you ARE out and about, your (hopefully) smiling, open and friendly face is hidden behind a mask?
We adapt!
I know how much lawyers love change, and how much change you’ve already embraced in 2020, but this is the year to throw out old systems, test new ideas and see what works and what you feel comfortable with. The GOOD news is that we’re not changing what has always been true about how you get new work – by doing good work in the first place, and then through word of mouth. For lawyers, we’re in a people business, and that’s not going to change no matter how much technology we add into the mix. What IS going to change is the how.
Continue Reading Networking Happens Everywhere – the Quarantine Edition
It’s true – running an organization that is built on in-person personal relationships has it’s challenges. But what doesn’t have its challenges in 2020, right?
A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about how lawyers and law firms can leverage their referral networks to achieve more value, whether these networks are formal or informal (I happen to run a formal one). There’s no reason that this has to stop because in-person events have been put on pause; in fact, many of our members have said they’ve never felt their membership has been more valuable than it has been this year. In part, that’s due to the historical relationships that they’ve built over many years. But we’re welcoming new firms too. And it’s possible to forge new relationships and create new business – it simply takes a little creativity.
Continue Reading Leveraging Your Referral Network for More Value…During a Pandemic
Last week, I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with LexBlog’s Bob Ambrogi on “This Week in Legal Blogging,” their new Facebook Live interview series. Bob and I discussed the ILN, running a legal network during a pandemic, and the eleven years that I’ve spent blogging here on Zen (how did that happen??). Two of his questions touched on tips for bloggers who were either getting started in legal blogging, or looking to focus or amplify their efforts, so I wanted to share them here with you! These are my six tips for legal bloggers:
Continue Reading Six Tips for Legal Bloggers