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The Retreat 2019 Shelby Timmins— It’s All A Façade! The truth behind life in law.

It’s All A Facade! The Truth Behind Life In Law

Shelby Timmins

This is a image of Lawyer Shelby Timmins

Author Kiarah Grace Kelly

The title of Shelby’s presentation might cause you to think she wanted to gather us all to tell us about the moments she’s had to fake it. What Shelby delivered was one of the most real, genuine and moving presentations I’ve ever been lucky enough to see. Shelby took us through some of her most challenging moments and some of her wins too. I’ve decided to deviate from my usual ‘recap’ Retreat blogging and instead talk about the lessons we can take, and the moments that impacted me the most, from the truly remarkable woman that is Shelby Timmins. 

 

Shelby Timmins' Truths, As Told By Her To Us

  • Listen to your Mumma;
  • No workplace should ever try to keep you from the people that need you;
  • Always ‘have a crack’;
  • Look to the people around you, they are the best of you;
  • Shelby has known heartache;
  • Make friends with people who can still do the splits at 40;
  • Laugh;
  • Laugh some more;
  • Don’t swear in the presence of your children, they’ll repeat it in the most inconvenient times;
  • If anyone ever asks you ‘why the hell would you risk it all?’ That’s exactly when you risk it all;
  • Cook, cook as much as you can;
  • Know who is the better half;
  • Find a love that will make you move to Oxford and leave everything else behind;
  • Always google your date after the date;
  • An aerodynamicist is a person who plays with formulas to make planes and cars;
  • You can create a life in law that suits you;
  • Hold the ones you love close, and then a little bit closer again. 
And what are THE takeaways that Shelby says we should take away from her presentation?
  1. Hold your people close. Back them. Love them.
  2. It’s okay not to be okay, your goals will still be there when you’re ready for them.
  3. Let your hair down. It’s good for the soul. 

Wow. All I can say is thank you Shelby, you are so very inspiring and such a beautiful example of how we all can be we we need to be.

Thank you to our partners for helping us bring The Retreat 2019 (a law conference like no other!) to you!

PLATINUM PARTNER

Our platinum partner Automio are thrilled to a part of the Club Retreat 2019. If you have been wanting to find out more about Automio’s combination of legal automation software and world-class training to scale your law firm to 7 figures you can book in a demo session with Business Development Manager, Mike Mullins here.

Automio love working with entrepreneurial lawyers just like you to help you scale up your law firm. And the final ‘Automio bedazzle’ we have for you is a special offer for you on Automio’s ‘Scale Up Springboard Training Program.’ 

If you enrol in Scale Up by 5pm AEDT 12 November you will get these fabulous free bonuses:

– A new, high-converting law firm website OR have our fabulous copywriter write high-converting copy for your firm’s website. 

 – A bonus small group VIP Event with Claudia King in Sydney before the 2 day Intensive. 

 – Up to $500 off your travel to the Sydney Intensive paid for

You can learn more about this offer at the Automio booth!

Kiarah Grace Kelly

Kiarah Grace Kelly

Blogger and Happy Lawyer

Hi! I am Kiarah Grace Kelly, I have just finished a dual Bachelors degree in Law and Government and International Relations at Griffith University on the Gold Coast. I tested my legal toes in the water at a boutique Gold Coast law firm before starting as a Law Graduate at Brisbane Family Law Centre in November 2018. I’ve just been admitted here in Queensland which makes me a Brand New Lawyer or #babylawyer as the BFLC gang likes to say. My sole practice area is Family Law.

I’m looking forward to writing about and sharing with you all that I can at this crazy-exciting but daunting stage of my career. I think there’s a need to talk about our experiences as early career lawyers so that we can all lean on each other as much as we can.

I would love to connect with you on Linkedin and Instagram!

The Retreat 2019 Royal Reed— Kindness as the new KPI

Kindness as the new KPI: A simple way to measure success may be just as effective by returning to the principle of kindness.

Royal Reed

This is an image of lawyer Royal Reed.

Author Hannah Trotter

The witty and engaging Royal Reed took the stage this afternoon with no slideshow, no sales pitch, no formal presentation and I have to say, I think this might be one of my favourite sessions of the day. 

Royal shared with us her experiences in law in one of the most hilarious and delightful presentations you can imagine and I sense no live blogger could do it justice – I will try though! 

Growing up in Taiwan, Royal used to dream in the bathroom mirror that she could speak English. As she grew up, she found herself living in New Zealand with the opportunity to begin her law studies. This is just where Royal says her challenges began. 

As she progressed in her studies, Royal felt as though she didn’t belong. Royal was met with unkindness and very little acceptance from her peers and the industry as a whole. She was told she didn’t belong in the room. 

As Royal began looking for positions post study, these challenges persisted but she found her passion assisting Chinese families migrating to New Zealand. 

When Royal landed her first job, she was pregnant and once again she was told she didn’t belong in the room. 

Royal was bringing in thousands of clients and still her colleagues, who were not working nearly as hard were being promoted and welcomed by senior staff into the fold. 

In her first performance review, Royal was made to feel like her job was a privilege and her reward was a venetian blind so she had privacy to breast feed (hardly a reward for someone bringing in so much business and working insane overtime).  Again, Royal was not welcome into the room. 

Royal concluded that she would never be taken seriously and so she began her own firm. 

It took a long time before Royal found people who would work with her but as she did, she made a conscious effort to create a work atmosphere where people are welcome. With an emphasis on building relationships with every one of her employees, Royal has successfully been running her firm of 20 people for the past 14 years. 

“We can only manage this if we support one another”. Royal has taken on to treat every person she encounters with kindness, to place value on them and to build relationships. Her nurturing of her employees inspires their pride in delivering the servives they offer. 

Royal is so proud of the accomplishments of her firm and her employees. 

Her emphasis has become on relationship and consciously not letting money or success drive her. 

Royal spoke with such eloquence and humility that I have never felt more confident in saying that this is 100% a room she belongs in. 

Thank you for your insight Royal, we have so much to learn from you. 

 

Thank you to our partners for helping us bring The Retreat 2019 (a law conference like no other!) to you!

PLATINUM PARTNER

Our platinum partner Automio are thrilled to a part of the Club Retreat 2019. If you have been wanting to find out more about Automio’s combination of legal automation software and world-class training to scale your law firm to 7 figures you can book in a demo session with Business Development Manager, Mike Mullins here.

Automio love working with entrepreneurial lawyers just like you to help you scale up your law firm. And the final ‘Automio bedazzle’ we have for you is a special offer for you on Automio’s ‘Scale Up Springboard Training Program.’ 

If you enrol in Scale Up by 5pm AEDT 12 November you will get these fabulous free bonuses:

– A new, high-converting law firm website OR have our fabulous copywriter write high-converting copy for your firm’s website. 

 – A bonus small group VIP Event with Claudia King in Sydney before the 2 day Intensive. 

 – Up to $500 off your travel to the Sydney Intensive paid for

You can learn more about this offer at the Automio booth!

Hannah Trotter

Hannah Trotter

Blogger and Happy Law Student 

Hi there! I’m Hannah and I am a law student currently in my third year at Queensland University of Technology. I graduated high-school in 2014 completely clueless about who I was, what I wanted and how I intended to get there. To many people’s surprise (including my own) I moved from my family farm on the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane to start my law degree in 2016.

Following my first year I commenced work as the Receptionist at Brisbane Family Law Centre. Having worked with this amazing team for nearly 2 years, I have been given a learning opportunity that goes beyond lectures and tutorials by providing a practical experience of the world of Law. My experience as part of the BFLC team has taught me that a Law career does not have to fit into a traditional box which has ignited a new passion for my studies as well as my future career in the legal profession.

In the meantime, I’ll stick to writing musicals, drinking coffee and playing board games.

I would love to connect with you on Linkedin and Instagram!

The Retreat 2019 Mel Telecican— Scaling Reputation – Overcoming Distrust In The Marketplace.

Scaling Reputation- Overcoming Distrust In The Market

Mel Telecican

Mel Telecican ​

Author Kiarah Grace Kelly

When I saw that Mel Telecican featured on the program for the Retreat 2019, I couldn’t help but to have a little #happydance. Mel is a marketer by trade and uses her tips and tricks to help us lawyers use our reputation, at scale, to spread the word about the good work us lawyers do. 

"The First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers"

Mel began by reminding us that, when you dig down deep, the law is a profession deeply trusted by the public. Put simply and when taken broadly, we do good. But, on the surface, do lawyers have a PR problem? 

Mel asked us to recall all of the unpleasant moments where we’ve had all the unhelpful feedback from potential clients, current clients, a grumpy uncle, the public at large (eek!) and where lawyers are deemed the bad guy. Mel used an example in her life where she was chatting with a recently divorced friend and she told her “the only winners were the lawyers.” It’s a tough wrap, indeed.

But why the doom and gloom? Whilst we may spend our time in a distrusted profession, we don’t need to take that sitting down. Mel talked us through how to rise above the distrust and then build a reputation that stands out. 

The Good, The Bad (and then some more of the good)...

Banking, money, royal commissions. Wait, did you just skip to another blog? 

Mel told us all about how, in the banking industry, rankings are often published all about trust. Banking regulators keep a tabs of complaints from consumers and then compile a list of the worst offenders. This posed the question- is the banking industry all bad? Who features at the better end of those worst offenders lists? Are those banks just the ‘not so bad?’

The most trusted bank in Australia in recent years is the Bendigo Bank. What sets them apart? Mel, after showing us some examples from their socials, explained that the Bendigo Bank had gone very public with their policy not to invest in, or back, thermal energy products. Bendigo Bank also made waves by intervening in a community dispute in Bendigo where one side was accused of being Islamophobic. Importantly, Mel says, Bendigo Bank was living their values and their brand benefitted hugely.

And another example? The Queensland Police Service. If you have even the quickest of squizzes at the QPS socials, you’ll see the brand of humour that has become uniquely theirs. My favourite take away from this portion of Mel’s presentation is the power in QPS’s humour. Mel pointed out that, due to the popularity of QPS’s funnier posts, when they really needed to get their message across, in times of danger or tragedy, they had the audience there waiting.

The Crucial Stuff

So what do we need to do to build one of these brands that makes people watch, but more importantly, think. Here are my key takeaways-

  1. To start, remember this: you have to start somewhere. Mel reminded us that, when Clarissa started on this crazy journey that we’re all now on, it was a stand-alone blog called ‘the Happy Family Lawyer.’ So, start somewhere;

  2. When things get tough on this personal branding mission that we’re all now on, tell yourself over and over; that without a personal brand, you’re one person, sitting at a desk, trying to convince one person at a time to pick up what you’re putting down. With a strong personal brand, and an audience, you can do it at scale;

  3. You have to be a ‘good friend’ to your audience- real, visible, you must tell your story and be in control of your narrative;
  4. Once you’re able to control your narrative, you must ‘pepper’ your services throughout your branding.

The example of the charity-

Mel reminded us that even the most trusted organisations there are, charities, require all the strategy and planning as any business would. Charities lead with their values, contribute to the betterment of our society and have all the assets of emotion to draw an audience. However as a warning to us, a charity, despite all its trust, can be unsuccessful if they don’t capitalise on their opportunity to tell the world their values. It’s not enough to do the work. 

My key takeaways from Mel’s presentation? Tell stories. Be visible. No matter your wins, you can’t use them at their best if there is no one listening. 

Thank you to our partners for helping us bring The Retreat 2019 (a law conference like no other!) to you!

PLATINUM PARTNER

Our platinum partner Automio are thrilled to a part of the Club Retreat 2019. If you have been wanting to find out more about Automio’s combination of legal automation software and world-class training to scale your law firm to 7 figures you can book in a demo session with Business Development Manager, Mike Mullins here.

Automio love working with entrepreneurial lawyers just like you to help you scale up your law firm. And the final ‘Automio bedazzle’ we have for you is a special offer for you on Automio’s ‘Scale Up Springboard Training Program.’ 

If you enrol in Scale Up by 5pm AEDT 12 November you will get these fabulous free bonuses:

– A new, high-converting law firm website OR have our fabulous copywriter write high-converting copy for your firm’s website. 

 – A bonus small group VIP Event with Claudia King in Sydney before the 2 day Intensive. 

 – Up to $500 off your travel to the Sydney Intensive paid for

You can learn more about this offer at the Automio booth!

Kiarah Grace Kelly

Kiarah Grace Kelly

Blogger and Happy Lawyer

Hi! I am Kiarah Grace Kelly, I have just finished a dual Bachelors degree in Law and Government and International Relations at Griffith University on the Gold Coast. I tested my legal toes in the water at a boutique Gold Coast law firm before starting as a Law Graduate at Brisbane Family Law Centre in November 2018. I’ve just been admitted here in Queensland which makes me a Brand New Lawyer or #babylawyer as the BFLC gang likes to say. My sole practice area is Family Law.

I’m looking forward to writing about and sharing with you all that I can at this crazy-exciting but daunting stage of my career. I think there’s a need to talk about our experiences as early career lawyers so that we can all lean on each other as much as we can.

I would love to connect with you on Linkedin and Instagram!

The Retreat 2019 Lynda Mckie – The Barefoot Investor & The Bindi Patch

The Barefoot Investor & The Bindi Patch

Lynda McKie

This is a image of Lynda Mckie

Author Hannah Trotter

Continuing our afternoon of powerhouse women speakers, Senior Private Wealth Adviser Lynda McKie is here sharing why she doesn’t hate the Barefoot Investor like most financial planners, but reminds us to beware the bindi patches if we are going to leave our shoes behind! 

The Triangle Happiness

In the last 15 years, there has been 40 surveys conducted to come up with the following 3 contributors for happiness. 

These are: 

  1. Strong Relationships;
  2. A Sense of Purpose; and
  3. Financial Security. 

What we’ve learned is that you can’t have one or two of these – you need all three so that no element is left in isolation. 

“True and lasting success is knowing deep in your bones you have the freedom to tread your own path in life and the ability to protect those you love.” 

1. Strong Relationships

In the Barefoot Investor, Scott encourages a weekly date night. Getting together with your significant other in a relaxed environment to talk about, an apparently taboo topic, money! 

In a survey of 3,000 Australians, 33% say they have never spoken about money with anyone! Not their loved ones, friends, an adviser – no one! 

When we speak about money, we become motivated to learn more about money. 

87% of couples who say their marriages are great also say they set long term goals around money. 

So in summary, no bindi patches in Scott’s date night and the strong relationships and conversation about money it encourages. 

2. Financial Security

They say well-being rises until we reach about $100,000 in income – then suddenly, it plateaus. 

The power of money to affect our well-being lies in its capacity to alleviate stress. People can actually achieve normal levels of well-being on a low income provided they remain in control of their finances. 

Financial Security comes from being in control and confident about our finances. 

The Art of Conscious Spending

Conscious spending is not about sticking to a tight budget. Rather, it’s like a keto diet. 

When we are consciously eating, we think about what we consume, we savour it, take our time and enjoy it and do not consume without thought. 

It should be similar with spending. 

We need to:

  1. Consider what’s important to us;
  2. Spend $$ on the stuff we love; and
  3. CUT THE WASTE! (Sorry Lynda, no more shoes!)

If you want financial freedom, we need to take charge. We need to feel confident that we are on track to achieve our goals. Money doesn’t lead to well-being, it’s the sense of control that helps us get there. 

The book sounds easy, but it’s not!

It is challenging to continue the maintenance of a new pattern behaviour, we need to see results. Similar to my gym membership, I’ve signed the papers, paid the subscription and been at least twice in the last few months, and yet, I can’t understand why my body doesn’t look completely different. 

When it comes to finances, Lynda says long term strategies take at least 7 years to show you significant benefit. There’s no short term path. 

Present bias is the tendency of people to give stronger weight to payoffs that are closer than trade-offs that are further away.  

In the moment, it’s hard to stay on track. 

‘No one is born smart with money – we have to learn to be savy.’ This is more about our behaviour than our brains. 

The three take homes from Lynda’s session are:

1. there’s no quick fixes – this is a long term strategy;

2. get support – we are working against our own behavioral tendencies here; 

3. talk more – we need to open the dialogue about money! 

Thanks Lynda! Beware the bindis friends! 

Thank you to our partners for helping us bring The Retreat 2019 (a law conference like no other!) to you!

PLATINUM PARTNER

Our platinum partner Automio are thrilled to a part of the Club Retreat 2019. If you have been wanting to find out more about Automio’s combination of legal automation software and world-class training to scale your law firm to 7 figures you can book in a demo session with Business Development Manager, Mike Mullins here.

Automio love working with entrepreneurial lawyers just like you to help you scale up your law firm. And the final ‘Automio bedazzle’ we have for you is a special offer for you on Automio’s ‘Scale Up Springboard Training Program.’ 

If you enrol in Scale Up by 5pm AEDT 12 November you will get these fabulous free bonuses:

– A new, high-converting law firm website OR have our fabulous copywriter write high-converting copy for your firm’s website. 

 – A bonus small group VIP Event with Claudia King in Sydney before the 2 day Intensive. 

 – Up to $500 off your travel to the Sydney Intensive paid for

You can learn more about this offer at the Automio booth!

Hannah Trotter

Hannah Trotter

Blogger and Happy Law Student 

Hi there! I’m Hannah and I am a law student currently in my third year at Queensland University of Technology. I graduated high-school in 2014 completely clueless about who I was, what I wanted and how I intended to get there. To many people’s surprise (including my own) I moved from my family farm on the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane to start my law degree in 2016.

Following my first year I commenced work as the Receptionist at Brisbane Family Law Centre. Having worked with this amazing team for nearly 2 years, I have been given a learning opportunity that goes beyond lectures and tutorials by providing a practical experience of the world of Law. My experience as part of the BFLC team has taught me that a Law career does not have to fit into a traditional box which has ignited a new passion for my studies as well as my future career in the legal profession.

In the meantime, I’ll stick to writing musicals, drinking coffee and playing board games.

I would love to connect with you on Linkedin and Instagram!

The Retreat 2019 John Knight— What the great legal businesses are doing right now! [From profit to strategy]

 What the great legal businesses are doing right now!
 [From profit to strategy] 

John Knight

This is an image of John Knight Director of Business DEPOT

Author Hannah Trotter

As the founder and managing director of Business Depot, John Knight gets to see people starting out in their businesses and closing their businesses. He sees the mistakes they make and the things that work. This experience makes John the perfect professional to be sharing with us today 9 things great legal businesses are doing now and how we can do the same. 

1 - Point of Difference

Working out your point of difference starts by understanding why it is people choose you. Once we understand this point of difference, we need to get talking about it!

It seems that lawyers are not often great when it comes to marketing and branding. Lawyers can be such skilled professionals but don’t know how to share or market those skills. Consumers are targeting the businesses they want to work with – that is, they’re making conscious decisions about the services they use. It’s imperative to be communicating your point of difference to ensure you are retaining your ideal clients. 

The thing with your point of difference is it can be a human (YOU!) or it can be the service your provide. Nowadays, businesses’ are becoming more specialised and focused and that seems to be a great contributor to their success. 

So! Be DIFFERENT! Be REMARKABLE! Be REMEMBERABLE!

The successful businesses are investing their energy in this and they are putting themselves well above their competitors.  

2 - Embracing the Cloud!

Let’s talk technology! 

Now is the ideal time to start embracing the Cloud! It can be terrifying putting your data in the Cloud but as a smaller operator, you have the opportunity to move towards this where bigger organisations are not able to do. 

When you’re using the Cloud, we remove human error, data is stored in one place, it improves accessibility, efficiency but more so, it becomes more accurate! 

Embrace it! 

 

3 - Know Your Numbers!

John encouraged us to have a chat with our fellow retreat attendees about what our favourite numbers to track are. 

As John plucks people from the crowd to share, it’s astonishing how different the numbers we prioritise really are. Attendees shared the importance of tracking retention after appointments, tracking their debtors, or client’s through the door. 

John encourages us to split our profits into divisions and to consider profits, income, costs of sales and fixed expenses when doing so. 

Knowing your numbers also comes back to cash in bank. We have to ask ourselves where has the cash gone? 

The four most common places cash goes:

  1. Significant over drawings;
  2. Significant business loan payments;
  3. Capital improvements/new assets;
  4. Prior year tax payments.

Remember! We have more control over what we spend than what we earn.  

4 - Structure For The Future

We need to make conscious decisions about the structures we choose and the futures of those. John discussed Everett Assignments, Incorporation, Partnerships of Discretionary Trusts, and Independent Contractors. 

There’s no time like the present to get some advice on your business structure and what it means for your future. 

5 - Giving Offshore a Go

When we go offshore, we allow our team more time for higher value work but the benefits go beyond this! The attention and time you invest into getting the processes and systems right for someone to use offshore is more valuable than the offshore resource itself. 

This doesn’t just have to be offshore resource, technology is allowing us the same benefits. 

 

6 - Empowering Their Teams

Successful businesses focus on people first but this doesn’t just mean customers, it means our team! 

We need empowered and engaged team members to achieve the goals of our businesses.

John used the below analogy:

“Everyone on the bus, everyone facing the front, somewhere to drive, and someone at the wheel.”

We need our team to be on board the bus, inspired by the driver to keep it moving in the direction of the vision of the business. 

That comes from good leadership. The best business have good culture and leadership. They are working to a common and known goal. 

This comes from sharing the numbers with the team and encouraging them to have accountability. When our whole team understands the goals, they are driven to achieve them. 

7 - Eyes Wide Open

Great businesses are continuously looking for what’s next – what else? 

We need to keep our eyes open to the world – what are those around us doing? 

But! It’s not just being aware of the world around us, we need to keep our eyes open to what’s happening in our businesses. 

Be aware of waste and inefficiencies. Do the processes work? Do we have the right team members? Are they in the right roles? Do we have excess subscriptions we don’t need? 

8 - Peak Mindset

We are talking peak and not necessarily growth. 

Peak isn’t about MORE it’s about being the BEST you can be. 

This comes back to us as individuals just as much as it does as businesses. 

As business owners, we can often become stressed, anxious and the rates of mental ill-health is astonishing. Remember – we need to get into the habit of taking care of ourselves and ‘putting our own air masks on first’. 

9 - Succession on the Mind

We need to be constantly thinking about what is next and, in some ways, who is next. 

Great businesses are nurturing young entrepreneurs.  They are giving them the opportunity to earn equity, to align their interests and they are having the discussions about succession. 

“Great partnerships pave the way to the future”

My key takeaway from John’s session was that ‘better is better than more’. 

John encouraged us to give ourselves permission to focus on being better than getting more. 

How much stuff do we have that takes up space, wastes time, creates inefficiencies, and distracts you from building value? When we spend time thinking MORE MORE MORE, we forget to focus on being better! 

Thank you to our partners for helping us bring The Retreat 2019 (a law conference like no other!) to you!

THIS SESSION WAS SPONSORED BY

Bronwyn and Belinda, two of the #radboss ladies from Lacuna Legal Providers will be with us over the 2 days at the Retreat. Now these ladies are cleaver- they provide ‘back of house support to solo and small law firms aka YOU!!

Lacuna Legal Providers have a special offer for all attendees of the Club Retreat 2019 to sign up for a practice management or BD profile check in at 2 hours for the price of 1! At the end of the session you will get 10 tips on how you can improve your practice. More details will be shared on the flyer at the Retreat.

PLATINUM PARTNER

Hannah Trotter

Hannah Trotter

Blogger and Happy Law Student 

Hi there! I’m Hannah and I am a law student currently in my third year at Queensland University of Technology. I graduated high-school in 2014 completely clueless about who I was, what I wanted and how I intended to get there. To many people’s surprise (including my own) I moved from my family farm on the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane to start my law degree in 2016.

Following my first year I commenced work as the Receptionist at Brisbane Family Law Centre. Having worked with this amazing team for nearly 2 years, I have been given a learning opportunity that goes beyond lectures and tutorials by providing a practical experience of the world of Law. My experience as part of the BFLC team has taught me that a Law career does not have to fit into a traditional box which has ignited a new passion for my studies as well as my future career in the legal profession.

In the meantime, I’ll stick to writing musicals, drinking coffee and playing board games.

I would love to connect with you on Linkedin and Instagram!

The Retreat 2019 Claudia King— How To Make Seven Figures At Your Law Firm

 How To Make Seven Figures At Your Law Firm

Claudia King

Author Kiarah Grace Kelly

Claudia was introduced to us as the Retreat 2019’s second speaker. Claudia is described as a fashion and branding superstar and is a self-confessed diva- Claudia doesn’t like to be told what to do. Claudia spoke to us about scale, figures, and how to make it all happen!

Who is Claudia King?

Claudia is the bright-orange-clad, Forbes listed, tech firm founder here to teach us all how to scale a law firm to seven figures. Claudia shared that earlier in her ‘law land’ life she at times struggled with all that comes with it- Claudia worried each month whether she’d billed enough, she felt that she had to take on every client that walked in the door, she also felt that despite all of this, she wasn’t contributing as much as she could. Does that sound familiar?

 

Claudia looked to the experts around her for help, she wanted to make more, but work less. These ‘experts’ told her it was impossible, consultant after consultant said that the key to a successful law firm was to- network, build referral systems, hire lots of lawyers, set astronomical billing targets for those lawyers. Rinse. Repeat.

Inspiringly, Claudia refused to fit the mould. In my favourite takeaway from her presentation Claudia said- “nothing motivates me more than someone shitting all over my goals.” And so, just like that, the fun started from there. Claudia created her own plan; to develop a scalable, profitable, online solution to her client’s problems. Claudia vowed to use this solution to scale her law firm in a way no consultant could ever foresee.

How do you scale your law firm?

Queen of the ‘model’, Claudia introduced us to the incentives, forces and then the mechanisms that will allow us to sclae our law firms. 

Why scale your law firm?

Claudia’s incentives for scaling are brave and bold, I think they’re something we can all relate to as well. Claudia’s three incentives? Money, freedom, impact. Claudia encourages us to really dig deep, to think about what makes us tick and then we might feel better about making them happen. It might be your family, passions, politics that make you crave money, freedom, impact- whatever it is for you, Claudia calls for us to grab it with two hands. My take home from this portion of Claudia’s presentation is that money doesn’t need to be a dirty word, the reality is that with money we can do what we love.

What will scale your law firm?

There are three things to make the above happen- promotions, productising and performance. 

But, how do you scale your law firm?

Claudia has, through trial and error, (and over the course of founding New Zealand’s first legal tech product to getting a mention from Forbes) determined the nine key steps to scaling your law firm. They are-

 

  1. Amplify your authority;
  2. Tell your target- you can master this by focusing on one traffic source at a time;
  3. Build your brand- otherwise, how do you drive people to what you really do. Do you have a website and a stack of products but no giant, flashing, neon sign pointing to it? Let your neon sign be your brand;
  4. Make your model;
  5. Design your solution;
  6. Leverage your automation- if you’ve not automated yet, how can you (Claudia says it’s okay to start small, at one time her one and only piece of automation was her contact form);
  7. Work your strengths;
  8. Hire your team- and let them work your weaknesses! Remember: your team is those at work and at home, Claudia used the example of making sure you’re not spending your only, precious hours to reset in the laundry;
  9. Standardise your systems – this must include your self-care systems!

The Sweet Spots

Claudia generously went on to explain the key things to implement right now(!) to get you on your way to scaling your law firm.

Claudia tells us that we should pick a number that will motivate you, and know it! Claudia spends much of her time talking all things #sevenfigures, a lot of Claudia’s work is all about helping law firms hit the million dollar mark. From that flows the numbers- to be a million dollar firm, you need to hit $80,000 months and $20,000 weeks.

If you want to get started, Claudia has (amazingly) prepared a scale up workbook for us all to enjoy, let’s get to it at the link below!

http://discover.autom.io/workbook 

Thank you to our partners for helping us bring The Retreat 2019 (a law conference like no other!) to you!

THIS SESSION WAS SPONSORED BY

Joining us all the way from WA is the lovely Sarah from the team at LawCPD. Something us lawyers always need are those CPD points and our friends over at LawCPD have made it super easy for us. All their programs are online and available anywhere at anytime! How simple is that!! 

As a partner of the Club Retreat, LawCPD is offering all attendees their first online CPD course – worth 1 CPD point – for free! LawCPD’s online courses offer lawyers a fulfilling learning experience with every course packed full of informative and interactive legal content. 

Keep making the best of your law life with this great #clubretreat offer. You can access your first CPD point for free today by heading over to the LawCPD website here.

PLATINUM PARTNER

Kiarah Grace Kelly

Kiarah Grace Kelly

Blogger and Happy Lawyer

Hi! I am Kiarah Grace Kelly, I have just finished a dual Bachelors degree in Law and Government and International Relations at Griffith University on the Gold Coast. I tested my legal toes in the water at a boutique Gold Coast law firm before starting as a Law Graduate at Brisbane Family Law Centre in November 2018. I’ve just been admitted here in Queensland which makes me a Brand New Lawyer or #babylawyer as the BFLC gang likes to say. My sole practice area is Family Law.

I’m looking forward to writing about and sharing with you all that I can at this crazy-exciting but daunting stage of my career. I think there’s a need to talk about our experiences as early career lawyers so that we can all lean on each other as much as we can.

I would love to connect with you on Linkedin and Instagram!

The Retreat 2019 Matthew Hickey— Why finding your voice matters! Understanding how to use your voice (and how others use theirs) can make you a more effective lawyer and person.

Why finding your voice matters! Understanding how to use your voice (and how others use theirs) can make you a more effective lawyer and person. 

This is an image of Matthew Hickey

Matthew Hickey

Author Hannah Trotter

It’s my very first retreat and the minute I heard it was opening with Matthew Hickey, I knew I was in for something outstanding! I’m a big fan, can you tell? Enter the man himself – Barrister, Singer, Songwriter, one of the original Ten Tenors and potentially my personal hero. (I put my hand up very quickly to write this blog!)

Matthew launches this ‘legal retreat like no other’ with a few unexpected questions. In a room full of legal professions, he asks who of the room have done singing lessons, and to my surprise, a huge number of hands are launched into their air.

With some common ground there, Matthew begins to introduce himself. Despite being from Ipswich (where Matthew says his heart still belongs) he learned from a young age that he was a little different from his fellow Ipswich school peers. While they adorned themselves in rugby uniforms, Matthew was interested in a different type of costume.

From Jean Valjean to the Sun God with gold painted nipples, Matthew shows us some never-before seen pictures of himself as young musical theatre extraordinaire.

We are given a behind the scenes look at Matthew Hickey’s music career, which somehow consists of pissing off a stage of Eurovision contestants, scaling the stairs at the famous Abbey Road Recording Studio, and having his face appear on an olive oil bottle – I mean, the guy is a proper big deal.

Drawing the similarities between his life in the music industry and now his life in law, we are taken on his journey from Ipswich schoolboy to Eurovision star. As a man who once wore musical theatre costumes and now appears in barristers’ robes – Matthew credits his journey to finding his voice.

As lawyers, we focus heavily on written work and style. We spend hours editing our correspondence, emails – you name it and we will scrutinise over it – but sometimes we lose sight when it comes to spoken work and even more challengingly, verbal style.

Verbal style consists of two aspects – the mental and the physical. What are we trying to communicate (the intention) and almost more importantly, how are we trying to communicate it (the manifestation).

“When intention matches manifestation, we find effective communication.”

Matthew acknowledges that this is something that requires purposeful thought and unfortunately society does not place a great deal of importance on it.

“Learning to communicate is like learning how to sing”. Thankfully, we have the man himself here today to teach a room full of lawyers how to get a little musical.

When we turn our minds to who we are speaking to, we make an active choice to connect the intention with the manifestation. Like singers, we manipulate our breath to convey not only the content of our message, but the pitch, rhythm, and timbre that speaks much louder than the words we use.  

 

For a second, as Matthew explains the technical aspects of singing, he loses me. I’m not sure what my diaphragm feels like but as that thought enters my head, Matthew interprets it and has everyone standing, heads between our legs, breathing with our diaphragms like professionals.  As people begin to feel the muscles used to push out air and get a sense of their breath flowing through their lungs, Matthew reminds us that we are all capable of the basic art of expressing ourselves. 

The Take Home

The key thing I learned from Matthew today is that if we are not feeling heard, or we are not being heard in the way we wish to be, we need to consider the way we are using our bodies and our voices to communicate our message.  

Then! It happens! The thing everyone told me would happen, but I couldn’t understand it until it unfolded before me. A FLASH MOB! All around me, attendees in wigs launch into a choreographed masterpiece and the retreats message is communicated loud and clear – we all have it in us to live our #bestlawlife.

And as if things couldn’t get any better – Matthew comes back for an encore and puts all those singing techniques into practice. One standing ovation later, the retreat is off to a marvellous start!  

Thank you to our partners for helping us bring The Retreat 2019 (a law conference like no other!) to you!

THIS SESSION WAS SPONSORED BY

Joining us all the way from WA is the lovely Sarah from the team at LawCPD. Something us lawyers always need are those CPD points and our friends over at LawCPD have made it super easy for us. All their programs are online and available anywhere at anytime! How simple is that!! 

As a partner of the Club Retreat, LawCPD is offering all attendees their first online CPD course – worth 1 CPD point – for free! LawCPD’s online courses offer lawyers a fulfilling learning experience with every course packed full of informative and interactive legal content. 

Keep making the best of your law life with this great #clubretreat offer. You can access your first CPD point for free today by heading over to the LawCPD website here.

PLATINUM PARTNER

Hannah Trotter

Hannah Trotter

Blogger and Happy Law Student 

Hi there! I’m Hannah and I am a law student currently in my third year at Queensland University of Technology. I graduated high-school in 2014 completely clueless about who I was, what I wanted and how I intended to get there. To many people’s surprise (including my own) I moved from my family farm on the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane to start my law degree in 2016.

Following my first year I commenced work as the Receptionist at Brisbane Family Law Centre. Having worked with this amazing team for nearly 2 years, I have been given a learning opportunity that goes beyond lectures and tutorials by providing a practical experience of the world of Law. My experience as part of the BFLC team has taught me that a Law career does not have to fit into a traditional box which has ignited a new passion for my studies as well as my future career in the legal profession.

In the meantime, I’ll stick to writing musicals, drinking coffee and playing board games.

I would love to connect with you on Linkedin and Instagram!

A legal conference with a Conga line? And 3 reasons why you should join us. By Sarah Follent

A legal conference with a Conga line? And 3 reasons why you should join us.

Author Sarah Follent

I suspect you might be asking, what do you mean that there is a legal conference with a Conga line? Well, this is a thing and it is happening again this year. The annual Club Retreat is back for 2019 and let me assure you it will be bigger, brighter and better than ever! 

Over the past 2 years I have had the pleasure of assisting my boss and friend Clarissa Rayward in designing and co-ordinating a legal conference like no other in what we like to call The Club Retreat! This is no usual legal conference- gone are the heavy papers, black and white powerpoints and branded water bottles! Instead you can be assured of relevant topics on all aspects of running a modern legal practice from experts in and outside the profession. Think ‘TEDX’ for lawyers- our presenters are hand-picked to both inspire and educate through speech. 

Here are my 3 reasons why you should join us and what I have observed and learnt from running this event alongside Clarissa, plus the amazing lawyers around the country who have joined us.

1. The community and friendships you will make.

For 2 days you will be surrounded and supported by a group of wonderful, like-minded people in a safe collective, exploring ideas of change and innovation in your career. (Fear not, this will actually go beyond the Retreat!)

The people who attend our event are at the heart of why we have the community in ‘Happy Lawyer Happy Life.’ Lawyer or not you are welcome to join us for 2 days of colour, unique education and motivation where you will be inspired to live your best life in and outside of the law. 

2. The diverse array of knowledge and experience shared by presenters will have you looking at things differently, thinking 'out' outside the box and implementing your ideas faster.

It is common for us to think that architects and designers are paid to be creative thinkers, but CEOs, lawyers and business owners are not. Well here is a *truth bomb* for you… This is not the case at all. 

As a designer and creative thinker I believe that it is a common mis-conception that we are born with ‘creative genes.’ Now I know, you are probably like ‘easy for you to say you are a creative!’ But what I have observed from working alongside lawyers across the county in The Club is that there are so many cool, creative and courageous legal professionals out there challenging the norm of what a lawyer is and what a lawyer does. You guys are great at applying ‘practicality’ to some of life’s most challenging times and from what I have seen once a good dose of ‘creative confidence’ is applied, something really wonderful happens to both the legal process and outcome. 

The Club Retreat allows you to see that creative potential and innovation lies everywhere in the things we get to do each day.  

3. You will have fun, join that Conga line and leave the 2 days feeling inspired to innovate.

I believe that The Club Retreat is a great way to show you how to take the ‘seriousness’ out of the mundane day-to-day that comes with life in the law and apply fun, colour and energy whilst keeping the importance of what lawyers do intact.

You will be given a safe and inclusive space to start penning your ideas and dreams to bring them to life. I give you my word that Clarissa and the presenters will show you how to effortlessly dance between your creative potential and the pragmatism of the business world and life as a lawyer. (At this point you will be jumping off your chair and joining the visionary that is Ann-Maree David in that Conga line we promised!) 

There will be a lot of confronting and thought provoking moments over the 2 days but you will leave feeling a sense of support, inspiration and motivation to keep doing the things you love both in and outside of the law. 

On Sunday 30 non-member ‘early, early bird’ Retreat tickets hit the Happy Lawyer Shop Floor and now is your chance to join us!

These tickets are now available but only for this week!

You can learn more about The Club Retreat here or purchase your *extra special* tickets available at a super special price here

So join us in Kingscliff on the 8th and 9th of November for 2 days of business, law and life learning designed to help you be the best lawyer you can be. 

This is a image of Sarah Follent

Sarah Follent

Design & Creative Director | Co-Creator | Legal Designer | Blogger | Co-ordinator 

Hello! I am Sarah a fun, vibrant and colourful woman. I have an effervescent love of life, colour and energy which is reflected in all I do. 

I am a creative, designer, entrepreneur and co-creator. It is actually really hard for me to put into words what I do each day (many will agree) but I will give it a crack.

I currently work in a number of different capacities, relying on my skills in creativity and innovation as well as my experience in coordination and business to be as versatile and adaptable as possible.

Most days you will find me designing and co-creating alongside my friend (and boss) Clarissa Rayward on all things Happy Lawyer Happy LifeThe Happy Family LawyerBrisbane Family Law Centre & our soon to launch project Amicably.

Let’s be friends! I would love to connect with you on Linkedin and Instagram!

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