Crushing Chaos with Law Firm Mentor Allison C Williams, Esq.

A lot of times, we’re told that the way to grow a business is by growing your revenue or cutting your expenses. And while those are both key components, there are ways to generate greater health for your business by increasing the amount on the bottom line - in ways we’re not taught to think about. 
 
My guest today is someone who thinks and focuses her practice on helping small law firms scale their businesses using sound financial policies. Her name is Danielle Hendon, and she is the founder and CEO of 4 Corners CFO, LLC. With more than a decade of experience working in corporate finance and accounting, and a passion for people that rivals her love of numbers, Danielle brings the benefit of big business financial analysis to entrepreneurs on a scale that fits both their company AND their budget.
 
In this episode, we discuss:
Ways to generate greater health for your business by increasing the amount on the bottom line How to plan - and ultimately fund - your growth before you get there Your time is worth more for your growth than you’d like to pay a bookkeeper Looking at the bottom line is going to be the key indicator of the health of your business.    
Contacts - Social Media
Danielle Hendon Website: https://4cornerscfo.com/
 
Snip-Its
00:14:48 (36 Seconds) 
So there's a couple of different types of profit margin, one being that net profit margin, which just like we talked about earlier, net income is going to drive your net profit margin. That is, after all the expenses, you want that number to be 10 to 15%. That's the ideal range for a business to run a net profit. And that gives you what you need to put back into the business to continue to grow and scale the way that you want to. The gross profit margin that I mentioned just a minute ago is going to be your revenue minus the costs that go into providing that Revenue service.
 
Allison Bio:
Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.

Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm by 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.
In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms.
Contacts
https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist
 

I'm a huge proponent of welcoming guests who don’t just sell a service but are tailored to the small law firm experience.

And as a recovering attorney, speaker, and Founder and Chief Podcast Strategist of LawPods — Robert Ingalls fits the mold.

Having worked with premier law firms including McGuire Woods, Blank Rome and The Law Offices of John T. Orcutt, LawPods helps busy attorneys create world-class podcast content that boosts SEO, builds relationships and drives revenue.
In this episode we discuss:
Challenges lawyers face in a highly regulated profession. How we might be resistant to putting ourselves out there if we have not been a public speaker. How can we deal with the potential conflicts that arise from having your message out there. Speaking to your ideal clients. How to cross-market various clips that you will create from a podcast. The three P's of podcasting that are helpful when you want to start a podcast.  
Contacts – Social Media
Website: https://www.lawpods.com
robert@lawpods.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lawpods
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lawpods
 
About Robert Ingalls
Robert Ingalls is a recovering attorney, professional speaker and the founder of LawPods, one of the first podcast production agencies for law firms. At LawPods, Robert and his team help some of the premier law firms in the world launch and grow branded podcasts that build relationships and drive revenue. 
Robert's path to Podcast Producer to the Am Law 100 was anything but direct. For years he battles anxiety from the pressure, long hours and constant conflict of a litigation career. When he was finally ready to throw in the towel, he had no idea what to do next. With no business/marketing background and only a love for podcasts he discovered while creating a podcast for his law firm, Robert decided to see if lawyers would pay him to help them launch podcasts. With very few takers in the early days, Robert spent two years in a corporate banking gig, grinding nights and weekends to finally bring LawPods to life. 
 
Snip-Its
00:19:36 (36 Seconds) 
So you referenced earlier this, this idea of using the podcast in different places and you just hearken back to it. So when someone is kind of thinking through a podcast as a portion of their marketing plan, right, they're going to have the podcast as kind of the pillar content, and then that content is going to go out to different places. How do you take it and alter it so it fits different platforms so you know where it's going to get the most bang for your buck? Like where is it in the line of, of, of a, I guess, nurturing from point of initial awareness to the point of sale where you're really getting your most bang for your buck.
 
Allison Bio:
Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.

Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm by 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.
In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.

This is one of those topics that comes straight from the well of what I do here at Law Firm Mentor; coaching lawyers on how to look at things from a different perspective.
Oftentimes, it’s a little tweak in the way we approach something that can bring traction. 
Other times, we have to do something grandiose; something far different than what we were doing before. Because the most power tends to come when we are being ourselves and doing what we already know — just a little bit differently — that can make a dramatic change. 
In this episode we discuss:
3 key strategies for how to get out of your comfort zone that will lead you to grow. The risk of comfort is the notion that growth feeds itself. The main goal is what will compel you to do the work that will lead to growth. How your lifestyle will grow and evolve with inflation. Staying in your comfort zone will never satisfy your true purpose.  
Allison Bio:
Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.

Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm by 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.
In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms.
Contacts – Social Media
https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist
Snip-Its
00:08:36 (30 Seconds) 
But growing doesn't mean growing your body count. Growing can mean growing your revenue. It can mean growing your free time. It can mean growing both. Usually, for lawyers, it is growing both. It can mean growing your reach, right? You could be taking on clients all across the United States, even all across the world, depending on what you do for a living.  So growing just means that you want more of something than you currently have. And that is a very real human instinct.

Heather Moulder is a lawyer leadership and business coach, and she helps lawyers ditch stress, overthinking and imposter syndrome. 
You’re probably thinking, “My goodness, that’s a lot,” but… it really isn’t. 
It’s about learning how to manage your mind and emotions, and create a successful pathway toward the life you desire. 
As a former big law partner, public speaker and host of the Life and Law podcast, Heather helps lawyers to become happily successful in law - and in life. 
And today, she joins me to talk about mindset blocks; how to manage your mind and a way to think about what you’re doing in a way that eliminates stress. 
In this episode we discuss:
How to low stress to be more effective in your life and in your business. Having a successful mindset is empowering yourself to make better choices for yourself. How to stop overanalyzing,  start making decisions and take action. There are processes like exercises that you can use to get your mind back in control. Heather's Contact:
https://www.coursecorrectioncoaching.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermoulder/ Life and Law Podcast Snip-Its
00:31:11 (34 Seconds) 
"And I, and I ask myself, okay, what can I do? What do I want to do? How do I choose, how do I choose to believe, you know, in moving forward in this moment? Do I, do I know I can handle it if the worst happens? Yes. I may not know all the answers, but I'll figure it out. I figured stuff out like this before. I mean, there are ways you can approach it. That massively take that stress down. And so it's not that you, I guess 100% ditch stress, but you kind of do because you view it so differently that it doesn't impact you in the same way in such a negative way."

We are joined today by entrepreneur, attorney, C.E.O, and innovator Matt Spiegel. Matt is an attorney, founder, and CEO of Lawmatics.  Matt shares how a bar grievance filed against him is what led to founding Lawmatics. Matt also shares why automation is necessary for your law firm's growth and providing star treatment for your clients. This is a great episode you don't want to miss.
In this episode we discuss:
The areas of aspects of practice management software and legal automation. How to get a better client experience with automation software. Asking yourself as a law firm owner the right questions about how and what to automate. How to get into the numbers of your law firm with Lawmatics. The only way to get analytics and good reporting on where your leads are coming from are to have some automation.  
About Matt Spiegel:
Matt Spiegel is an attorney and serial entrepreneur in the legal-tech space. He is Founder and CEO of Lawmatics, the #1 automation platform for law firms, offering legal client intake, CRM, marketing automation, billing, and much more, all in one easy-to-use software. With Lawmatics, law firms streamline their operations, impress clients, and win more business. Prior to Lawmatics, Matt worked as a criminal defense attorney for six years and founded MyCase, a legal practice management software company that has grown into one of the most widely used cloud-based law practice management systems. It was then acquired by AppFolio in 2012, where he remained as a General Manager for three more years.
In 2015, Spiegel founded ExpoGuru, an event marketing management software. Later in 2015 he became the CEO of Cammy, a global consumer tech company with headquarters in Sydney, Australia. In 2017, he decided that it was the right time to go back in the legal software industry with Lawmatics.
He is a golf enthusiast and passionate about making an impact on advancing the practice of law. He can't wait to continue reaching audiences in all consumer-driven practice areas; legal professionals wanting to build and scale a profitable law firm!
Contacts – Social Media
Matt Spiegel’s Contact:
Matt@lawmatics.com
www.lawmatics.com
Allison Bio:
Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.

Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm by 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.
In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms.
Contacts – Social Media
https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist
Snip-Its
00:07:57 (32 Seconds)
But, but the catalyst was, it was actually, to be honest wit

A lot of business owners have misconceptions around lines of credit and debt. Credit and debit are a necessary part of growing a business. Once debt has been accumulated, it is important to create a system to repay your debt. I will be going over all the ins and outs of taking accumulating debt to grow your business in this episode. 
In today's episode we discuss:
Debt is an advance that affords an opportunity to invest in your business that will give you a greater return.  How to use debt and learn how to use it effectively. Recognizing that there is a great distinction between credit card debt and a line of credit. Creating a schedule of repayment as soon as there is any money on the credit card. Allison Bio:
Allison C. Williams, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.

Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest-growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm by 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest-growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.
In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers. She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money. Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining, and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications, and money management in law firms.
Contacts – Social Media
https://www.lawfirmmentor.net/speak-with-a-growth-strategist
Snip-Its
00:06:56 (32 Seconds)
Now, increasing the line of credit gives you a benefit of decreasing your income to debt ratio, right? So if I have a card and it has a 9000 credit limit and I have spent $3,000, I've used 33% of my credit. However, if I get them to increase that credit limit to 10,000, my credit utilization rate goes down to only 30%. So I've done nothing other than secure more credit, but that will typically trigger an increase in my FICO score, my credit score.