Your career is yours. It’s not your firm’s. It’s not your boss’s. It’s yours. And because it’s yours, it’s your responsibility to invest in it. Some of you are fortunate to have firms that will cover the costs of your marketing efforts. Some may provide you with a marketing budget. Many don’t. And with all your expenses, including student loans, it’s hard to imagine reaching into your pocket to pay for marketing efforts you believe your firm should. And yes, if your firm doesn’t pay for your marketing efforts, it’s unfortunate, but it doesn’t excuse you from paying for it yourself. And what I suggest is setting aside $1,000 a year for coffee. You heard me right. Coffee.
One of the most inexpensive in-person business development activities you can do is meet someone for coffee at your local coffee shop. It’s also the least disruptive to your schedule and others. This is what I recommend when I speak to lawyers about business development:
Twice a week, 50 weeks of the year, meet someone for coffee near your offices. That’s a hundred coffee meetings a year. Order a small black coffee or tea and offer to pay for the other person’s coffee. Sometimes they’ll pay for their coffee. Sometimes they’ll insist on paying for yours, too. With the tip, you’ll average about $10 per coffee meet for two cups of coffee. For 100 coffee meetings, that’s about $1,000 a year. Meeting for coffee twice weekly over a year results in more one-on-one sessions than most lawyers have annually.
A common retort to my proposal is, “I don’t know 100 people to have coffee with in my area.” My response is that you would be surprised. Think about law school classmates. Lawyers from the bar associations to which you belong. Co-counsel. Opposing counsel. Folks you’ve met on LinkedIn or Facebook. You will easily have enough coffee partners to meet throughout the year. And you’ll continue to know enough people to keep doing this exercise year after year (and, yes, from time to time, you’ll meet the same person more than once to maintain that relationship).
In 10 years, that is a thousand coffee meetings. A thousand times you shared with others what your firm does. A thousand times to get to know someone so they see you as someone they know, like, and trust. A thousand times to develop your interpersonal skills — speaking with others, listening, maintaining eye contact, and making a connection. This will lead to dividends. How can it not?
The rainmakers, those at firms who bring in the most business, take the time to meet with others, get to know them, listen to them, and develop bonds with them. That will never happen simply by sitting at your desk working on your matters. Online contacts and relationships are fine, but take the time to meet others in person for coffee and build your network, which will lead to valuable referrals.
Frank Ramos is a partner at Goldberg Segalla in Miami, where he practices commercial litigation, products, and catastrophic personal injury. You can follow him on LinkedIn, where he has about 80,000 followers.
The post Let’s Grab Coffee: How Investing $1,000 A Year In Yourself Will Supercharge Your Career appeared first on Above the Law.
Your career is yours. It’s not your firm’s. It’s not your boss’s. It’s yours. And because it’s yours, it’s your responsibility to invest in it. Some of you are fortunate to have firms that will cover the costs of your marketing efforts. Some may provide you with a marketing budget. Many don’t. And with all your expenses, including student loans, it’s hard to imagine reaching into your pocket to pay for marketing efforts you believe your firm should. And yes, if your firm doesn’t pay for your marketing efforts, it’s unfortunate, but it doesn’t excuse you from paying for it yourself. And what I suggest is setting aside $1,000 a year for coffee. You heard me right. Coffee.
One of the most inexpensive in-person business development activities you can do is meet someone for coffee at your local coffee shop. It’s also the least disruptive to your schedule and others. This is what I recommend when I speak to lawyers about business development:
Twice a week, 50 weeks of the year, meet someone for coffee near your offices. That’s a hundred coffee meetings a year. Order a small black coffee or tea and offer to pay for the other person’s coffee. Sometimes they’ll pay for their coffee. Sometimes they’ll insist on paying for yours, too. With the tip, you’ll average about $10 per coffee meet for two cups of coffee. For 100 coffee meetings, that’s about $1,000 a year. Meeting for coffee twice weekly over a year results in more one-on-one sessions than most lawyers have annually.
A common retort to my proposal is, “I don’t know 100 people to have coffee with in my area.” My response is that you would be surprised. Think about law school classmates. Lawyers from the bar associations to which you belong. Co-counsel. Opposing counsel. Folks you’ve met on LinkedIn or Facebook. You will easily have enough coffee partners to meet throughout the year. And you’ll continue to know enough people to keep doing this exercise year after year (and, yes, from time to time, you’ll meet the same person more than once to maintain that relationship).
In 10 years, that is a thousand coffee meetings. A thousand times you shared with others what your firm does. A thousand times to get to know someone so they see you as someone they know, like, and trust. A thousand times to develop your interpersonal skills — speaking with others, listening, maintaining eye contact, and making a connection. This will lead to dividends. How can it not?
The rainmakers, those at firms who bring in the most business, take the time to meet with others, get to know them, listen to them, and develop bonds with them. That will never happen simply by sitting at your desk working on your matters. Online contacts and relationships are fine, but take the time to meet others in person for coffee and build your network, which will lead to valuable referrals.
Frank Ramos is a partner at Goldberg Segalla in Miami, where he practices commercial litigation, products, and catastrophic personal injury. You can follow him on LinkedIn, where he has about 80,000 followers.
