Setting goals is one of the most powerful tools that when used properly will get your firm moving in the right direction.

Goal Setting

 The best way to set goals is to do quarterly ones. You can do yearly goals as well to get a bigger picture, but a lot can happen in a year. So, it’s best to have a seperate goal for each quarter and at the end of each one you can adjust the next quarterly goal.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Specific - It needs to be clear what you’re trying to achieve.
Measurable - You need to have a metric that you can use to see when you’ve achieved your goal.
Attainable - It has to be possible to achieve. Don’t choose a goal that will set you up for failure.
Relevant - It needs to be a goal that makes sense with what you’re trying to achieve.
Timely - There needs to be an end point that will motivate you to reach your goal.

Point of a Goal

 The purpose of a goal is not to hit it, but to aim for it. That will give you...

The Secret to Successful Leaders and Businesses

The key is in how you communicate.
Everyone knows what they do and many know how, but few know why. The why is what speaks to people.

“People don’t buy what you do, people buy why you do it” - Simon Sinek

When you tell people what you do and how you do it, they’re not inspired, they’re not driven to buy your product or use your service. However, when you tell them why you do what you do and then you give the what and how, they will be more likely to get on board with you.

“The Golden Circle”

Most people communicate from the outside in (what, how, why). However, the inspiring and successful leaders communicate from the inside out (why, how, what).
The “why” is what makes people and companies successful.

“The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.” - Simon Sinek

...

Time

Time is so precious to us, but are we doing everything we can to maximize it?

We can maximize our time in two ways:

1. Strategy
2. Mindset

Maximizing Time Through Strategy

1. Your best asset is your calendar. Schedule everything into your calendar. Of course meetings and events go on the calendar, but the regular day to day work needs to go on there as well. Otherwise the time we thought we had gets drowned in the interruptions and random things that usually come up. Make a time for everything. Decide on a time that you’re available to talk and tell your employees that you can answer questions between this and this time. By doing that, you can answer everyone’s questions and not have to deal with interruptions for the rest of the day.
2. Take an inventory of how you spend your time. If you are aware of how long you spend on each task, you can then see if that time is being used correctly. If you time how long you use your email throughout the day, you may find out...

We’re all here because of our dreams. We dreamed of doing better, it’s why we became entrepreneurs. 

The question is, have you dreamed properly? If we dream properly then our chances of succeeding are significantly higher.

The Dreaming Recipe

1. Take 15 minutes to sit by yourself and close your eyes. Once your mind has
calmed down think about

• What will make you happy?
• What would you like to achieve?
• What things do you want to have?
• What experiences do you want?
• How do you want to spend your time?
• How do you want to spend your money?

Once you have the answers to these questions, put them together to form your dream.

2. Now you need to envision yourself achieving your dream.

• What does it feel like?
• What does it look like?

If possible experience the moment. 
For example, if it’s a specific car you want, go take that car for a test drive. Savor the feeling of driving that car. Pay attention to the feel of the leather seats and the new car
...

In episode 16 we learned the basics of the Profit First system and now we will do a Profit First deep dive. With these steps you’ll learn how to manage your money to create a healthy business.

One Time Setup

 When you first start there are three steps to setting up the Profit First system and you only have to do it once.

Step #1

Set up five bank accounts.

You and/or your accountant will most likely have some resistance to this. You may be worried about:

• Cost
• Paperwork
• Excess Bookkeeping

Don’t worry about the cost because there are different ways you can get the fees waived.

• Some banks don’t have fees
• Some will waive the fees if you have a certain amount in the account
• Some will waive the fees if you use multiple services from them

Change. You will have resistance because this is a big change, but don’t skip this step because it’s the whole point of this system.

The five accounts are split into:

1. Income - all deposits will go here...

By creating a great client experience, your clients will become your best salespeople.
When clients are happy with their experience, they will on their own compliment you and your firm to all their friends. Not only that, when they hear about someone with a similar issue that they had, your name will be the first thing out of their mouth.
To accomplish that we need a well structured process for our clients, but how do we go about doing that?

Creating a Stellar Client Experience

There are five steps to take to make the perfect client experience.

1. Personal Conversation

• What brings them there?
• Did they work with an attorney before?
• What are their values?
• What are their concerns?
• What are their goals?
• What are their short term and long term outcomes they hope for?

2. Aligning Your Values

• You both should share similar core values.
• You want to work with someone who is on the same page as you.

3. Your History and Mission

• People resonate with stories.
• Being able to connect will...

Is your firm struggling with cash? Are you not bringing home enough money?
If the answer is yes, then it’s time to implement the Profit First system (from the book Profit First by Mike Michalowicz).

Owner’s Pay v.s. Profit

Before we get into anything let’s define Owner’s Pay and Profit.

Owner’s Pay is your salary for working.

Profit is what the firm made after all expenses were paid.

The Problem

What is causing this cash problem?

The root of the problem is human nature.

Mike Michalowicz likes to call what we do “bank balanced accounting” and that is where we naturally look at our bank accounts each morning and one of three things will happen:

1. The account is negative and now you have to get it to positive before you get a penalty.
2. There is little money in the bank, so you try to get extra work so you can get the money you know you’ll need.
3. There is plenty of cash and what happens next is called Parkinson’s Law.
   ...

Our lives revolve around money and we don’t always make the right decisions about how to handle our money.

There was a time many years ago that I did not handle my money correctly and I went through bankruptcy. All my money was going to child support and religious school tuition (a part of the legalized divorce agreement), so to survive I took out loans. In the end I couldn’t pay them off and I couldn’t get more loans, so I went through bankruptcy.

There was no way I would allow that to happen again. I analyzed my situation and where I went wrong, so I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. I want to share my knowledge of debt with you, so that you won’t make the same mistakes I did.

What makes debt bad?

1. Affordability. If you can’t afford to pay off your debt.
2. It shortens the decision cycle. It allows you to make the decision to purchase something much faster, not giving you the proper amount of time you normally would have taken to think the...

Do your taxes pile up to impossible numbers? Are you not taking home the amount of money you should be?

Why is that?

There are a lot of things that contribute to this, for example:

• Your top line number
• Revenue v.s. Profit
• Taxes
• Bank balance
• Cash Flow
• Accounts receivable
• Contingency cases
• Bookkeeping software v.s. Spreadsheet

Your Top line Number

Everyone has a top line number they want their firm to achieve. You’ll aim for that number, but that number on its own is irrelevant. You have all your expenses you need to take into consideration.

Revenue v.s. Profit

The difference between these two is that

Revenue = the amount of money you make before any expenses

Profit = the money you take home after all expenses are paid

So, the revenue number (like your top line number) is irrelevant. All it means is that you’re getting clients. If you’re expenses are twice the amount of your revenue, then that’s a problem.

What you need to be looking at is your...

It’s important to understand marketing before you start marketing or getting someone else to market for your firm.

We’re going to get into the very basics and work our way through the different concepts of marketing.

What is marketing?

Marketing is the progression of a prospect on the journey from unaware to a promoter.

These are the steps the prospect will take on their journey:

• Aware - when they first discover you/your firm and that there is a solution to their problem

• Engage - they can engage by going to your website, calling you, etc.

• Subscribe - subscribe to your email list or a different offer you have out there

• Convert - they become a customer by exchanging value. That could be paying for the initial consultation or it could be they give you their contact information in exchange for knowledge (like a workshop)

• Excite - get them excited about the promise you’re giving them

• Ascend - once their happy with you and what you can provide them they...