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October 2008You'll Never Walk Alone*Alvah Parker is a practice advisor and coach for those attorneys who want to build a profitable and fulfilling practice and still have time for other parts of their lives. Alvah's Value Program identifies the strengths, values and behavioral style of each client. Armed with this knowledge the attorney will be able to create a practice that truly reflects who he/she is. Using what comes naturally to them makes it easier for them to make more money in less time thus leaving more time for other parts of their lives. With her background in sales and marketing Alvah is able to guide her clients to a way of doing business that suits their particular style. Her clients learn to develop business, manage time, hire and direct staff, and control cash flow using their strengths, values and behavioral style. For further information, visit her website. * Title of a song from Carousel by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein Using song titles is just my way of expressing my love of music and musical theater. Each time I come up with a title I rediscover a song I love. Special Offer for OctoberI am happy to announce that I am adding a new assessment to my practice. Many of you have taken the DISC behavioral assessment which measures observable behavior. The new assessment is called Workplace MotivatorsTM. Here is a description of the assessment and a special offer this month: The Workplace MotivatorsTM The Workplace MotivatorsTM assessment measures your responses in each of six attitudes. The computerized report shows each of six attitudes compared to a recently validated national average. You are provided with information on the WHY of your actions which, with application, can positively impact your life. "Valuing" Your Life and Others Once you are aware of the dominant attitudes contributing passion and purpose to your life, you will be able to clarify what drives your actions, as well as what causes conflict. For example, if you are currently questioning whether you are in the right career, knowing your attitudes will help you decide. If you are currently feeling bored or anxious in your current position, it can also provide clues to help you make your current career more satisfying. In addition, applying an understanding of attitudes to your relationships with others will deepen your appreciation of them and clarify the "why" of your interactions.
Results and Benefits of the Workplace MotivatorsTM
The Workplace MotivatorsTM report is a valuable tool for maximizing both your personal and professional life. For the month of October I am offering the Workplace Motivators Assessment taken online in the comfort of your home or office plus a 45 minute debrief with me by telephone to help you to understand fully how you can apply your motivators to your current situation for the total cost $125 (normally $150). That means you will receive:
To order the Workplace Motivator Assessment and 45 minute debrief, send an email to asparker@asparker.com. If you have any questions about the assessment, feel free to call me at 781-598-0388. Be sure to look at all my offers for attorneys. Table of Contents
Welcome
WelcomeRoad to Success is an email newsletter written for those who want to find new ways to approach their work and personal life so that their whole life is more fulfilling and productive. I write this newsletter on topics that I find challenging in my own work-life. As Lily Tomlin says, "The road to success is always under construction." I welcome your ideas and hints too. My vision for this newsletter is that it will be a means for us to learn from each other. While I'd love it if you read every word I write, I know that you are busy, so you skim. To help you do that I plan to keep this paragraph and the one above constant. If you are skimming, just jump to paragraphs three and beyond. What a month October has been! It is hard to ignore all of the news! I am trying to though because I know I can only impact my own life and business so what's the use of worrying about it. Hope that you are weathering the news overload in good spirits and feeling positive about your future. Whether you are practicing solo or part of a law firm, it is important to monitor what you are bringing into the firm. It is one way to measure your value to the firm. That means you are clear about the hours you work, the hours you bill, and the money that gets collected. If you work for a large firm you can be sure someone is monitoring your numbers. You'll want to know what they know! If you work for yourself or a small firm, one way to see your own growth is to monitor the numbers yourself. I hope you find the article helpful. November promises to be another month of news activity. Hope you can maintain a focus on your practice and its financials during a busy month.
My Best, Money Money*Law Practice Management - Two Critical Measurements for Your PracticeMany of my clients tell me that sometimes when they are working on a case they feel an internal conflict between billing the client for the actual hours necessary to do the job and billing a more reasonable number of hours. That tug happens most frequently with a new attorney or a more seasoned one who is doing something for the first time. Some of my clients tell me they automatically reduce the number of hours billed and bill what seems reasonable to them. Others bill part of the hours to the client and the rest of their time to administrative costs. Still others go ahead and bill the client for the actual number of hours worked. No matter what you do there are risks to each choice. By reducing the numbers of hours you bill you are reducing your earnings. Some might work extra hours to make up the difference but there is still a cost to you. If you bill the time to administration, you at least are aware that you worked those hours but you are still reducing your earnings. Finally if you go ahead and bill the client, there is the possibility of losing the client, getting a complaint, or having a billing issue. Is there a way to minimize the number of times you feel the tension? If you work on similar cases week after week you will get proficient at the work. You reach a point where you know the billable hours are justifiable and you bill them accordingly. Choosing to limit your practice area to one to three specialties means you get familiar with the procedures. It will be rare then that you have to bill your client or administration for your learning. Recently I was asked to speak at a meeting of solo lawyers. Many of them were very recent law school graduates but one had been in practice about 2 years. This more seasoned attorney said that while she worked she wrote down how many hours she spent on a particular case, how many hours she billed to the case, and how many hours she wrote off. Later she could compare the number of dollars she collected to the number of dollars she billed. She also knew the total number of hours she wrote off and number she actually billed so she knew what percent of her working hours she was doing her case work. She even went so far as to calculate how much she actually earned per hour! What she had created on her own were two critical measurements for any lawyer. Realization - the dollars collected compared to the number of dollars billed and Utilization - number of hours billed compared to the number of hours worked. Each of these measures is a percentage so for example if you bill $1000 but collect only $800 you have an 80% realization. If you work 50 hours in a week and bill 25 you have 50% utilization. Managing these numbers is important to the profitability of the practice. To be profitable a firm needs between an 80 to 90% utilization and a 95%+ realization. Working to get your numbers to these levels will improve the financial health of your firm. Monitoring the financial numbers of your practice is critical to the success of your firm. These two critical measurements can indicate an approaching problem before it turns into a crisis. What numbers are you watching and how frequently do you check on them? Take Action
Our government is working to resolve a real problem with cash flow. Is cash flow a problem for your practice? I help my clients to have a profitable and fulfilling practice by helping them to monitor their cash flow so it never becomes a problem. Need some help? Call me at 781-598-0388. * Song from the musical Cabaret by John Kander and Fred Ebb
Some Say*Quotes
Thomas Alva Edison
Dale Carnegie
Aristotle
Katherine Graham
Orison Swett Marden
Warren Buffett
Mack R. Douglas
Louis Pasteur *Title of a song from Once on This Island by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty
"Good News"*What's New?1. Jobdig.com - Several of my articles have been published on this website. The latest was from the August issue of Road to Success, Where Did We Go Right - 3 Surprisingly Simple Ways to Bullet Proof Your Career. If you missed it you can find it here. 2. Would you pick your Blackberry over your spouse? - Read this article about a survey done by Sheraton Hotel chain with lots of information about how and where people use their Blackberries. 35% said they would pick their Blackberry over their spouse. For more interesting information about how people use their Blackberries, read this article. 3. Why It's Not Selfish To Take Care of Yourself - This Harvard Business Publishing blog article gives some data that shows why taking care of yourself is important to those who depend on you. If you are someone who puts him/herself last, be sure to read this article. 4. Simple ways to donate - No Money involved! - The hunger site and the breast cancer site are two websites that allow you to make a donation with the click of your mouse. The hunger site donates a cup of food to the hungry each time you click. The breast cancer site donates one mammogram for each click. No money is involved here. The advertisers pay everything. All it takes is a minute to click. You are allowed to make the donation to each site once every day. 5. Change of Address - At the end of this newsletter you will see a link for unsubscribing. To change your address unsubscribe your old address and re-subscribe at http://www.asparker.com/samples.html with your new address. 6. Not receiving your newsletter regularly? - Many subscribers have a limited amount of email space provided to them. When you reach the limit you can no longer receive email. Another problem may be sp*m filters. Make sure that asparker@asparker.com appears in your address book to insure delivery. If you do not receive your copy of Road to Success or Parker's Points one month one of these may be the reason why. I never resend the newsletter. I now publish the most current issue on my website http://www.asparker.com/rtslawnew.html * Song title from the musical Good News by Ray Henderson, B.G. Deserve, Lew Brown, Ann Morrison, Linda Michele, Michael Gruber, Wayne Bryan
About Alvah ParkerAlvah Parker is a Practice Advisor and Career Coach. An award winning Account Executive and Sales Manager for AT&T, Alvah has successfully coached clients to define and achieve their goals. At AT&T, as a SCORE counselor and as a Practice Advisor, Alvah uses her business knowledge to help her clients develop a business and/or career plan. Alvah specializes in working with attorneys who want to build a profitable and fulfilling practice as well as people in transition who are interested in exploring new career options. Her coaching helps her clients to get clear about their personal vision. From that they design a plan and strategy for the future based on that vision. Alvah coaches her clients over the telephone. This means she can be reached from anywhere in the world. You can reach Alvah at 781-598-0388 or asparker@asparker.com.
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