There are, as you no doubt know, a lot of things that “seem like a good idea” but then turn out not to be so amazing.

Or worse, they turn out to be useless, or some kind of waste of time, energy or money.

Have you ever experienced that?

Of course, you have. We all have. And it sucks, especially when it keeps happening again and again.

I’m obsessed with learning how to avoid that phenomenon. And, because my mission in life is helping solo and small firm lawyers dramatically improve their practices, I’m obsessed with showing them (presumably YOU) how to avoid that as well.

A few moments ago I was a guest on a podcast episode that will be released in the future, and I was asked…

“What are some of your best tech tips —maybe something new — that you think small firm lawyers should know about?”

Here’s what I said (more or less).

There are lots of things that you can try to help improve your practice. A lot of them SEEM like good ideas, but what you want to focus on are the ones that have produced amazing results for lots of lawyers, even though they do NOT seem like a good idea.

The things that seem like a good idea are what I call “shiny objects.” But we all know to be wary of shiny objects, so the people who want us to pay attention to them call them something else.

They call their recommendations “low-hanging fruit.” That’s a clever ploy. Because who doesn’t want low-hanging fruit?

Fruit is tasty, and if you can get the tasty result without a lot of work, well that’s fabulous.

Here’s the harsh truth.

The stuff that will make the biggest impact in most solo and small firm lawyers’ lives is not low-hanging, and isn’t shiny, and probably doesn’t seem like a great idea.

My job, if I want to help more lawyers make massive improvements in their practices, is to convince them to adopt some tech options or marketing strategies that they may not be able to easily wrap their heads around.

I’m shooting for something that I understand most “consultants,” gurus or whatever you want to call them are not shooting for.

I’m not shooting for a quick sale, or a quick pat on the back.

I’m trying to help provide lawyers with what I wished someone had provided to me when I was fumbling around with lots of tech options, chasing shiny objects and low-hanging fruit and then discovering (inevitably) that most things that were easy to use or try weren’t all that valuable.

Some of those things were complete disasters.

And later I discovered that some of the people who recommended them were quite aware of the uselessness. But since they made money off of the recommendation it was easy for them to suppress that awareness a bit so they could make the sale.

I hate those people.

Other folks make useless recommendations because they don’t fully understand how to help lots of lawyers make massive improvements. They maybe know what worked for them and assume it will work for everyone else.

I like those folks because they have good intentions. But I don’t recommend you take their advice without checking to make sure it’s right for you.

But, you know who I REALLY like a lot? The rare folks who (1) know a lot about a particular kind of technology or marketing channel, and (2) have the right intention and motivation.

Folks who want to help people because they care about helping, more than they care about making money.

THOSE are the folks I like.

And, fortunately for me, I’ve gotten to know a lot of them over the years. Now, it wasn’t easy for me to figure out who all of them were at times.

But over time I met enough people, and understood who to bring into my inner circle. And who to exclude (i.e.the charlatans and fools).

So how can you find a solid group of folks that you can trust to help you?

Well, how about if I introduce you to my “inner circle”?

Would that help you?

Yes, it almost certainly would. But what you really need isn’t for me to just hand you a list and say “keep this handy.”

What you really need to to meet them in person and get a sense of who they are so you can decide for yourself if you trust them and feel like they have good information that you can benefit from.

So let me tell you how I plan to set things up so that can happen…

(well, I’ve already set it up, actually).

The folks that I suggest you meet in person are basically all of the folks who are coming to speak at my Small Firm Bootcamp in May. If you scroll through that list, you’ll see most of my “inner circle.”

The whole reason I’m doing this 2-day conference is to create the opportunity for those speakers to all be available in one place so that folks like you can meet them in person.

Of course, we have to create some structure. So they will speak about their various topics of expertise.

And of course we want the presentations to be amazing, and not the usual lame, dull powerpoint meanderings you see at a lot of legal conferences (especially ones that are geared towards CLE credits).

These presentations at the Bootcamp will be amazing. And I know this because I’ve been watching these folks do amazing presentations all around the country for years.

Most of the speakers you’ll see charge to do a presentation, and they make good money doing presentations because they are incredibly good.

But they’re not charging me to speak because (1) they want to help me, (2) they enjoy helping lawyers like you, AND (3) most of them know each other and relish the opportunity to come hang out in New Orleans (which some of them haven’t even been to yet but have been dying to visit).

So this is a rare opportunity for you to meet those folks. And I can promise you (no I GUARANTEE) that if you register and come to this Bootcamp, you will make massive improvements in your practice.

Is it easy to come to this conference?

Maybe not. If you live outside of New Orleans you’ll have to book a hotel room, buy a plane ticket and take time off from your practice on a Thursday and Friday.

So, this is not “low-hanging fruit” my friend. And it’s definitely not a shiny object.

But if you want to make big changes in your law practice it’s a rare opportunity.

An opportunity to make a wise investment.

I’ve thought a lot about how to make this investment so amazing that you won’t believe it if I start trying to explain it in detail.

If you want some detail, visit the main page about Bootcamp here.

If you have questions, shoot me an email or book a free 20-minute phone call.

I’ve done a few of these phone calls and I’m happy to do as many more as it takes so that everyone who has questions gets those questions answered.

I’m going to be doing call in a few days with a lawyer from Mexico who’s interested in coming but is worried that this conference will be about software that’s geared for only lawyers in the U.S.

I’ll be explaining to him that this is not a conference about the best software. This is a conference about the best DECISIONS and best OPTIONS for improving your practice.

I don’t have all the answers about the best decisions and best options.

That’s why I’m inviting my posse.

So if you want to come and get amazing insights that will put you on a much better path sign up.

If you sign up and can’t attend because something comes up at the last minute, I’ll give you all your money back.

I will have a waiting list at the end, and I’ll just resell your ticket to someone else. They’ll pay more because by then the “early bird” pricing will have expired.

Now, maybe you’re interested but not quite ready to commit.

Fine, I suggest you start getting some of the benefits of registering now and here’s how you can do that.

Register for the free weekly webinars we are doing from now until May when the Bootcamp happens.

And by registering now you will (1) lock in the early bird discount (currently $850), (2) start learning important things to help grow your practice (for free), (3) get to know the speakers who will be at Bootcamp (because they’ll be doing the weekly webinars), and (4) learn more about the bootcamp and what will happen there so you can feel confident about how much it will help you.

Investing the time to attend as many of the free weekly webinars as you can is a no brainer.

So at least start with that.