By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach Recently, there has been a lot of buzz about the concept of “quiet quitting”. You may have seen conversations on LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok or even some articles online or on news outlets. Many employers are experiencing this concept and there has been a lot of debate about exactly who is to blame and what, if anything, can be done about it. What is Quiet Quitting? So, what is it exactly? “Quiet quitting” is a term to describe employees who are not outright quitting their jobs, but who may be essentially “quitting” in other ways. …
Estate Planning Attorneys – Stop Sending Your Clients Drafts!
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach At just about every single Ultimate Level event that we hold, the issue of sending clients drafts of their estate planning documents comes up. There’s always at least one, but usually several, attorneys that have a regular practice (or as part of their estate planning process) to send clients drafts of their estate planning documents prior to signing them. It is to no surprise that these attorneys then also complain about some (or all!) of the following challenges: Trouble reaching clients to get them to move forward An enormous amount of questions Hours of…
Strength in Numbers
By Bert A. Cooper, CES Can a solo Financial Advisor effectively offer all the expertise their clients deserve? While we’d all like to think we’re exceptional at what we do, the real answer is no. The most successful Advisors are those with a team behind them. I saw a growing need among clients for comprehensive wealth management and my vision was to build a cohesive team that consisted of specialists who offered these services exceptionally well. In order to make this vision a reality I had to make a series of important strategic decisions. I knew from the start I…
Top 6 Strategies for Managing Interruptions in the Workplace
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach According to a study, the average time spent per day by employees being interrupted and trying to refocus is 2.1 hours. Interruptions at the workplace is estimated to cost businesses in the U.S. over half a trillion dollars each year! While interruptions at the workplace are inevitable, it doesn’t mean that they cannot be minimized or reduced. Below are what I consider to be the top ten strategies for managing (and reducing) the amount of interruptions at the workplace. Strategy #1: Evaluate (and change) your physical workspace. One of the biggest eye-openers for me…
Top 9 Mistakes Attorneys Make Bonusing Support Staff
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach The concept of financial bonuses is not unknown to most people. It is highly used in a lot of sales and marketing industries. Even in the legal world, many lawyers have, at some time or another when working for a firm, received some kind of bonus. However, the concept of bonusing non-attorneys is relatively new, particularly for the estate planning lawyer world. Attorney and Ultimate Estate Planner President, Philip Kavesh, did not consider or implement the idea of a formal staff bonus system until about 12 years ago. He, as well as the attorneys…
Are You a Helicopter Boss? How Micromanaging is Killing Your Practice
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach You may have heard of the term “helicopter parent”. It’s a term used to describe that parenting style where they “hover overhead”, like helicopters, over everything that their child is doing, overseeing and trying to control and supervise all aspects of their lives. This type of style can also be found in the workplace. A helicopter boss, whether it’s the attorney business owner or perhaps an office manager or other person in some type of supervisory role over others, is someone whose management style is similar to this parenting style. It’s someone who is…
Having Disconnects and Conflicts in the Office Right Now?
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach With everything going on in the world right now, it is safe to say that most people are under much more stress than usual. From dealing with concerns around the pandemic and working in a post-pandemic world, managing the constantly barrage of headlines, politics and war, to feeling a whole spectrum of emotions about all the change and heaviness that has happened in past couple of years. Business owners and employees with young children are having to juggle their own set of challenges trying to navigate care and schooling for their children, while we…
How Do You Properly Compensate (and Incentivize) Associate Attorneys?
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law One of the biggest mistakes I see attorneys that own their own practices make is failing to properly incentivize associate attorneys. The primary way I have done this successfully for many years is through monthly bonuses. Whereas attorney bonuses are usually purely discretionary and undefined in advance as to their amount and frequency, the bonus system that I have developed is based on a clearly defined formula. By utilizing monthly bonuses, you will not only make your associate attorneys…
Conduct a Successful 2022 “Kick-Off” Meeting with Your Firm
By Philip J. Kavesh, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CFP®, ChFC, California State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law I’ve found that the best way to ensure a successful new year is to start off with a big stride in the right direction, by holding a firm “kick-off” meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to establish clearly defined goals for the year, outline the implementation process and get everyone on board, excited and motivated! It also provides an action checklist that you and your firm can periodically refer back to during the year, so you stay on…
6 Signs You (or Your Staff) Are Burning Out – – And How to Fix It!
By Kristina Schneider, Practice Success Coach Burnout is real and it’s affecting businesses all over the world. Whether you’re an estate planning professional who owns your own practice or not or perhaps you’re a support staff (employee), it is important that you are aware of the signs of burnout and do what you can right now to make necessary corrections to resolve the issue. If you don’t, your own physical and mental health will be dramatically affected and possibly your business (or employment), which will then impact your personal life as well. What Is Burnout? Before I get into the…