Answered: How to progress fast
Written by Sam Abeysekera on September 16, 2021
What do female partners, founders, and senior lawyers need to do to progress fast?
Here's the master key…
-- Generate the right clients.
Let’s unpack this a bit….What does this mean? And how do you do it?
It means this…
If you don’t generate clients, you're stuck with the work that either walks through the "door" or work that gets "dumped" on you or no work at all. There is no predictability, no control, and no safety net.
But, when you generate clients, it is the #1 factor in higher compensation, more autonomy, promotion, and greater control over your time. Not bad.
Even if you eventually go out on your own or want leverage to progress at your firm or elsewhere, when you have a book of business, you get on the inside track of your law firm.
So now let's look at how this can be done....fast.
To generate clients, there are essentially two major components, and both are required.
#1 The external ingredients for your market - i.e. the best building blocks for your target client type
#2 The internal conflicts in your own mind
One without the other will leave you short.
What are the external ingredients for your specific area?
First, we want to apply the 80/20 rule to ensure you get the result you desire with ease.
For example, it may be that one of the platforms, like Linked In, has the highest ROI when the best Linked In strategies are applied. If so, we focus on this and maybe one or two other of the best platforms, but that's it.
This is counterintuitive to most people in a culture where more is considered better. But life shows us often that the opposite is true - less is more. Example -- if you focus on conferences as a method, you will likely spend enormous amounts of time preparing, flying, and/or zooming. However, conferences often show up with a low short-term ROI and even in the long-term in some cases - so you might be building a task for yourself when there are more straightforward ways to reliably get clients month after month, year after year.
Instead, we want to use the best methods for generating clients fast, with low effort, and once those methods are honed well for your area, we can delegate those dialed-in processes to other people in your team.
This is how you stop wondering where your next client will come from, stop being fearful of marketing and build a prospecting machine...
A machine that serves you, rather than the other way around.
What do we mean by internal conflicts?
If you’re not confident pitching to prospects, it will affect you and your success. This is why we take the time to address this.
Because I could show you the best methods in the world, but it will still be difficult if you’re not in the mental space to execute them.
Now to clarify, we’re not talking about seeing a therapist! But we are talking about freeing yourself from self-doubt, imposter syndrome, mental fatigue, and not knowing how to assert yourself authentically in the moment.
The true imposter here is the doubt.
The goal is that your experience of the law will be in joy/enjoyed. To achieve this, we look for the mental barriers that are stopping us - see them with clarity - and sometimes that's enough to help them disperse their darkness as simply as turning on a light.
In summary...
If I had to codify what we're talking about, it really boils down to this:
Best strategy “hardware” + Best mental “software” = Best and fastest progress!
Sam Abeysekera
Sam is dedicated to empowering female partners and founders in the legal industry to break through barriers and redefine success. As the lawyer's advocate, she equips her clients with strategies to become seasoned rainmakers and thrive within the dynamics of law firm culture, all while maintaining balance and authenticity.
