In this episode, Jim and Tyson have Chris Nicolaysen as a guest. He will tell us his amazing story becoming a lawyer and his journey going solo and building his firm. Also, they will go over the struggles and pros and cons of running a successful multi practice firm.
The Firm: https://www.springslawgroup.com/
About Chris: https://www.springslawgroup.com/bio/estate-planning-family-law-attorney-christopher-m-nicolaysen.cfm
Hacking’s Hack: A simple one. Post pictures of your happy clients, have them in your conference wall. A very powerful tool.
Chris’s Tip: A book. The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy by Jon Gordon
http://www.theenergybus.com/
Tyson’s Tip: A reminder: get you holiday cards out now! Clients and referral partners will appreciate it!
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Transcripts: Chris Nicolaysen: Multi-practice Marketing: A Law Journey
Chris Nicolaysen
I’m of the philosophy that I’m okay trying stuff out for a period of time. But if it doesn’t work, I think you’ve got to ditch it and go try something else. And so ultimately, we stopped the BNI group. And after attending the mastermind, the one thing I really thought was, I think there’s two routes that you can go, you can either go the referral direction, similar to what John Fisher does, or more of the internet based direction, which is more what Jeff price had done. So I’m talking to both of them. I wanted to try one starting off, especially since we were so young and new. And so we’ve really focused on the internet side to start with. And that’s kind of been our push at the moment.
Unknown Speaker
Run your law firm the right way. This is the maximum liar, podcast, podcast, your hosts, Jim hacking, and Tyson metrics. Let’s partner up and maximize your firm.
Jim Hacking
Welcome to the show. You’re back on the maximum lawyer Podcast. I’m Jim hacking.
Tyson Mutrux
And I’m tasting musics. Jimmy we’ve got a fellow little awesome listener, Chris nicolaysen. He is an awesome guest. And Jimmy, if you don’t know what a little is, you’re gonna have to go watch the Tony Kornheiser show or listen to his podcast. He’s a really great listener, he actually gets involved on the Facebook group. He’s pretty awesome.
Jim Hacking
It’s funny that you mentioned Tony Kornheiser, because I know Chris is a big fan. And he’s got quite a traveling history. He’s lived in several places. And for some reason, he’s a national fan. And when we were in Washington, DC, I know he got to go down and meet Tony Kornheiser. And he went to a nationals game. And so we met at at John Fisher’s event, but he has been a listener for a long time. And I’m really glad to have you on the show, Chris.
Chris Nicolaysen
Thanks for having me, guys. I’m really excited to be on today. I just wanted to kind of touch base on that too. Yeah, I’d say going to DC and meeting Kornheiser and being able to go to the next game, probably some of my biggest lifelong dreams. But then also at the same time, I got to be a real fanboy John Fisher’s mastermind by meeting the one and only Jim hacking to,
Jim Hacking
we can all aspire to that.
Tyson Mutrux
Oh, that’s so ridiculous.
Jim Hacking
Before we get into the show, you know, this last weekend was the Chicago mastermind that John did, and none of the three of us were there. It looks like it was a great event. As usual, I’m always bummed to miss them. But man, it’s, it’s just powerful to get together in a group like that. I mean, Chris and I talked for a long time and met his lovely wife. And we had time at dinner, and then at the mastermind itself to talk and it’s just just a great opportunity to get together with fellow like minded lawyers to think about how to improve your firm. And that’s sort of what we’re doing with this podcast. The whole reason we’re doing this is because we liked having these kinds of conversations, Tyson and I, we thought it’d be helpful to share that with the world. And we’ve really gotten together with some pretty neat people. And so it’s great to have Chris on the show.
Tyson Mutrux
Absolutely. Chris, how are you? So you and I were talking a little bit off the edge about your background, people have got to hear this. So talk about your background and how you got to become
Chris Nicolaysen
an attorney. So guys, I’m originally from a small town in Ohio. I’m the oldest of four children. I’m the only member of my family to attend any higher education. So when I College, met my wife whenever I was about 19. And then we moved to Idaho. And then after that, we were there for a few years and then moved to Las Vegas, Nevada for about five years, had our two daughters. And then during that time I received an undergrad in communications, which who knows what that gets you these days, but it got me a nice certificate on the wall. At the time I needed to support my family and the communications degree didn’t really pay. So I ended up still working in retail. I opened up the Banana Republic at the Venetian worked at Caesar’s Palace and some other places. And then we had a chance we moved to Portland, Oregon for a bit and worked at a store there, moved to Long Island, New York. And then after that moved back to Vegas again for about five years. And then we had a chance to buy into a dry cleaning business here in Colorado Springs, and came up and tried that for a bit I realized that that was outside of our scope of what we could do together as a family. And then I finally decided to look into something that I really enjoyed doing because during that time, I was a substitute teacher for quite a bit. And so I went and got my teaching degree and taught elementary school for about three years and also substitute taught during that time. My wife ended up becoming a music teacher at the same school that we were at. And then we were both actually non renewed or told to not come back during the exact same year. And we both kind of looked at each other and said we never wanted anybody to kind of have that control over us again. And so I ended up going you know taking the LSAT going into law school because the one thing they can’t take away from me now is everything that I’ve got inside my head. And so that kind of led me to go into law school, which in itself was a don’t journey there, I ended up taking the LSAT twice ended up the school I got into was actually out in Toledo, Ohio. So my wife and my kids stayed here because I had two daughters in school. And then after that, I was able to transfer back to the University of Denver to finish out my last two years.
Jim Hacking
That’s quite a story. I can’t imagine leaving your wife and children you must have really wanted to be a lawyer. And I think that message of not wanting to be dependent on other people to have that control over your ability to make an income. I think that’s, that’s really important. And I think that’s what drives a lot of us and our listeners. What happened next after he finished law school was Zoo.
Chris Nicolaysen
So once I finished law school I So during my three year of law school, I was able to clerked for a local judge here in town. And then at the same time, found a small boutique firm actually up in a small town that I drove about half an hour to, but their primary area of practice was family law. And so under that, I got to attend hearings and help, you know, prepare cases and pleadings and everything else. And then so I stayed on after passing the bar for about six months. And then I went to go work for one of the larger firms here in downtown Colorado Springs, just because at that point, I have the basis for family law. But I needed kind of more case experience at that point. And so there I was probably running about anywhere between 40 to 60 cases at a time, I did that for about a year, and then ultimately approached my the managing partner, and told her that, you know, I’m just I’m not an associate attorney. At that point in time I was about, I think I was about 40 years old. And I was just at a point in my life where I knew I needed to change. And so about two years ago, I told her I wasn’t an associate and decided to hang my own shingle at that point in time. Alright, so
Tyson Mutrux
Chris, talk about the new firm, that you started the name of the firm and everything you
Chris Nicolaysen
do. So I was out on my own for about a year. And then I felt that I was entitled, I mean, I know you just partnered up a while back. So I felt for myself that I was kept as a solo. And so I had two friends slash colleagues that I had worked with at that larger firm. One of them I had known for about 10 years, the other one for the time that we had worked there, and ended up forming a new law firm with them called the springs Law Group. And part of the reason that we chose that name was not only because we live in Colorado Springs, but also because we really wanted something that could be transitional through time, something that in the long run that could either be sold or that could be used with other associates. And that would really represent the city and the area that we live in. Our firm consists of the three of us, as the attorneys, and then we just actually hired my wife on as the office manager. And then my myself and the female partner, we both do family law. And then my the other male partner, he does personal injury. And we use family law as the basis or groundwork to kind of float to us until we can get some, you know, some of the pie cases going,
Jim Hacking
Chris, I love your website. I love the name of your law firm. I think you guys are really doing a great job marketing. And I think that the website looks great looks like it’s optimized for mobile and you and your partner’s look happy. What is it like practicing in Colorado Springs, tell us a little bit about your market and sort of how you view your positioning in Colorado Springs.
Chris Nicolaysen
So we’re the second largest city in all of Colorado, but we have a really small town feel. I feel like there’s a lot of military bases out here we have Fort Carson, the Air Force Base, we have Peterson and Schriever. And so a lot of military in town. And additionally, obviously the civilians as well. But we have to be up on not only the regular law in Colorado, but also on how to handle military with deployments and things like that. But at the same time from a firm marketing standpoint, and kind of growth standpoint, our positioning, it’s interesting because one of the hard things for us starting out is we did not come to the new firm to springs Law Group. With a lot of cases, we came basically pretty flat. And by doing that it’s one where we really made a push and felt like we had to figure out how do we become known in the community. And one of the things that I had done and kind of prior to coming into spring blog group on my own and then that transition into it is I was in a BNI group for a period of time. But the thing that I love not only about your guys’s podcast but about the Facebook group that you have to I posted out on that group and wanted to see if my experience even with a group like that was some Miller to what others that have had, because I wanted to figure out how can I get known in the community and thought that that would be a good way to do it. I had met some really good people through there. But honestly, the feedback reflected what I was going through where I wasn’t getting any return on my investment. So I’m of the philosophy that I’m okay trying stuff out for a period of time. But if it doesn’t work, I think you’ve got to ditch it and go try something else. And so ultimately, we stopped the BNI group. And after attending the mastermind, this past September, the one thing I really thought was, I think there’s two routes that you can go, you can either go the referral direction, similar to what John Fisher does, or more of the internet based direction, which is more what Seth price had done. So I’m talking to both of them. I wanted to try one starting off, especially since we were so young and new. And so we’ve really focused on the internet side to start with. And that’s kind of been our push at the moment. I’m curious, Chris, have you noticed a difference in the clientele that’s referred to you, as opposed to the ones that find on the internet? You know, and we’ve just started getting the push from our internet clients, because of not only the reviews that we’ve got, but the blogging that we’ve got? I do believe, you know, it’s an interesting question, Tyson, because I think in part, we’ve had both good and bad referrals. And one of the questions I had asked at the mastermind was, do we take that clients or what we would consider a bad potential clients, just because somebody referred it, and everybody in my group basically just, you know, stood up and said, shame to me. And you know, it’s like, no, you absolutely do not. And you’ve got to let the person that’s referring them know that they’re sending you junk. And so, for us, it’s been a real push of trying to figure out how do we respectfully say, No, we’re not the right fit for you, and still honor our relationship with the people that are referring, and then at the same time with our internet base, people that are finding us on Google, how do we then, you know, honor those people and have systems in place that can ultimately help them become actual true clients?
Jim Hacking
They know that you swung into action right after the mastermind. And I know one of the things is this project that you have going on with your partners where you’re basically blogging once a day. Can you talk to our listeners a little bit about that?
Chris Nicolaysen
Absolutely. So one of the big challenges that I was given at the mastermind was our John had told me that our website looked pretty bland, and it had no content, no personality. So one is we had a new website created right after the mastermind through Foster. But then we one of the other things we had to do, even though we got the host, now we needed the content. And again, I believe in trying something. So it was a commitment. And so we’re on the commitment right now. And we took John’s challenge of the 45 days of content. We’re currently on day 38. And in checking, you know, ranking sites, like SEMrush, and Moz, and things like that, I’ve seen a tick up in where we’re ranking organically, as of late, I’ve actually used from one of your prior guests, I think it’s William Ed, who suggested answer the public, we’ve been using that quite a bit to help come up with content, you know, topic areas. And using that. And then with the three of us, we just we’ve been just divvying out the work. Now, there’s been a disparity in the family law versus the personal injury side, because there’s the two to one ratio. So what we’ve now done as of late is we’ve had actually myself and the female partner, we each do family law blog. And then the other male partner, he does personal injury, that blog. But we’ve also recently hired an off site blogger recommended by John Fisher as well, who’s done some really nice work for us as of late, but we need to keep that traction going. And I feel like it’s one of those things that we’re slowly in that process of developing a habit of having some good content come out there and giving us a push, you know, you
Tyson Mutrux
bring up an interesting issue whenever it comes to marketing, multiple practice areas. Do you find it difficult, trying to market the the two different practice areas? Or is it pretty easy, since there’s three different partners and just talk a little bit about that, if you can, I don’t know if it’s
Chris Nicolaysen
difficult necessarily. I think it’s hard in the sense. I say from a review standpoint, slash, you know, maybe an identity standpoint at times, because of the two to one ratio. But in everything that we do, and everything that we write, we try to become, I’d say one big unit. So what are we we are a family law and personal injury firm. I know you guys and I truly believe that the riches are in the niches, but it’s one of those things where in marketing, you know, my partner, the other male partner, he’s done Personal Injury now on both sides, probably for about 10 to 12 years. And so it’s that expertise that if I feel like if we can hone it in correctly, and really focus in on You know what areas of personal injury he does, we can be very, very successful in that area. And then myself and our other partner with both of us tag teaming on the Family Law side, I think it really helps us, you know, show that we’re, you know, we’re formidable within family law. We’re educated within the family law realm, but we know what we’re doing. And people can trust us. And based on our reviews, too, they can take a look at those. And we really refer people over to those, if they’re having questions about, you know, Hey, who are you guys? I haven’t heard of you before. And so we tell them, you know, go take a look at our reviews. If you have any questions after that, come and sit down with us. We’re more than happy to chat with you for a bit.
Jim Hacking
Chris, when we were in DC, did you talk to Seth? Or have you given any thought to having separate websites?
Chris Nicolaysen
I actually, that’s interesting. You bring that up? Because I saw a post this past week, from one of the mastermind participants who had set up a I guess it was a Google My Business website. I thought about it. But the issue for us was that we had just entered into the contract with foster at the time, I think it may be something we’re probably going to pursue down the road. And so it’s just not probably right now something in our purview. I feel like I’m trying to baby step everything at the moment, and just try to become, I guess, really good at one thing and get the momentum moving. And so for us right now, it’s just been more of a focus on the reviews and the content, at least to get started. And then I think down the road, there may be more of a push to have those separate sites, because I’ve seen what that does. And it’s It’s awe inspiring. It’s some really good stuff.
Tyson Mutrux
Chris, I guess, did you bring new clients into the new firm later? Did you all or not bring new clients Joe bring clients to the new firm? Did you already had your own? How did you get new clients? I have a lot of those types of questions where whenever you bring three different people together, how are you able to meld those those clients into the one firm? Do you have one database? I guess? Let me rephrase it. Whenever did you bring clients to the new firm? And if so how did you help meld those together?
Chris Nicolaysen
So we each brought some clients with us to the new firm, I wouldn’t say it was a it was a gigantic amount of clients, but we each have some. And so I still say we’re still in the process of trying to build our client database, the way we melted, it was obviously there were letters sent out to each of the clients. Um, they came from the prior firm for the other two. And then with me, they came from my, my solo firm, we use Clio as our CRM, and we you know, and it was an easy way to kind of integrate all of their information into that. And then it was one I felt like it was a pretty seamless transition based upon that there weren’t any real big changes, because the main point of contact for any of our clients was still us. And so we were the still the people, though, that communicated with them that prep them for hearings that showed up to hearings and things like that. So there wasn’t any piece of customer service that was lost right there. And then for any new clients, then coming in, it was a little bit of a learning process, because I got more of the entrepreneur mindset, I would say. And then it’s about with the other two partners, kind of them figuring out where they fall in that line from moving from employees to entrepreneurs in that regard, and where they’re at. And so then we not only with Clio, we had also purchased a another internet software called Lexa cotta, which we use as our pre boarding software, which integrates with Clio. But that’s a nice way for us where we can have touches with our new clients, even before they come in. So they get you know, an email regarding their contacts coming in, what their date is, you know, they get the intake form online that they can fill out, they get a reminder about their appointment. And then they also get a follow up. Thank you email that’s all systematized in that sense. So that’s one of our starts in regards to the kind of the beginning phase of the systems for them.
Jim Hacking
Chris, I really respect the fact that you guys have made these investments with a good website with good software. Good case management software, good client follow up. I think a lot of that might come from your, like you said, an entrepreneurial background, opening up a store at the Venetian. Can you talk a little bit about how your experience in retail and your pre law school experience has infused your law practice?
Chris Nicolaysen
Yeah, so for me, it’s just been about my I remember, whenever I was a kid, my mom looked at me once and she said, I don’t really care what you do just as long as you work hard. And so I guess that’s what it always was. for me. I wasn’t ever really given a lot of direction, but it was just to go to work and to figure out how to support my family and, and try to work hard. And the interesting thing so about any retail you’re always given planograms are things that kind of specifically lay out exactly how the clothing is supposed to look. Well. Sometimes your store isn’t built that way. And you have to make changes to it. You have to switch things up a little bit. And then you end up You’re also working, you know, those stores. I mean, there were six managers. And so we had to work within groups to figure out how do we best facilitate this. And so it was those actions where I learned to really become part of the team and appreciate how vital and important a team can be. My partners will tell you that I’m a team guy, I believe in the importance of the team and how much power it can have. I think with that momentum, it can really, you know, snowball into something great. And I’ve seen, you know, really amazing things with, you know, both in the retail world, whenever I’ve waited tables in the past, you know, friendships I’ve made, but just also really great results coming from that, you know, whenever we’re shooting for goals and retail and looking at what our last year numbers are, and trying to hit those, you know, and we’re, we’re making up games or bingo or other things like that, to try to figure out how do we now hit this goal today. And you know, everybody gets on board, we’ve got buy in from everybody, it’s some pretty magical stuff in those regards. And so it’s those pieces of one just showing up to work. And number two, truly believing in the team aspect of whatever we’re doing, that have really kind of helped shape the kind of, I guess, not only attorney that I am but also the type of business owner that I am.
Tyson Mutrux
Do you man, I think one of my favorite parts about this podcast is hearing the different stories and how different experiences actually shape how a person views things. And Chris with you, the whole retail aspect is really interesting to me. So do you will set up your your offices, or your office the way you would like a retail shop? Do you think about it from that perspective? You know, the client comes in here, they sit there, that kind of thing? You think about all that?
Chris Nicolaysen
So I wish I could say yes, but we’re actually in an office share right now. And so that’s part of kind of one of the big asks, or questions I’ve got for you, too, is after, you know, we’re getting ready to finally get your one. And one of our things has been we’ve you know, we’ve kind of floated above water just a bit here during year one, we’ve had the ability to, you know, get some good, you know, items in place in regards to the vlogging and the reviews and things like that. But then the other thing for us is is I don’t think the systems are there yet Tyson the way I exactly want them to be for how you know, we get that potential client that walks through the door. And then how we move them to that next phase of when their client and then especially to what happens to them at that end phase and how we stay in contact with them there yet. So I know that’s one of the weaknesses where that we currently have. But it’s also one of those areas that I know of, and that I want to definitely work on in 2018 quite a bit.
Jim Hacking
What’s your plan for doing that, Chris?
Chris Nicolaysen
So for us right now, that’s my I don’t know exactly what the plan is. So I guess if it were a struggle that I’m having is how do we get started? Or what’s your lovely, you know, is the best way to develop and get started on systems? I know you guys both talk systems quite a bit. I feel like it’s one of those things that maybe it’s just something we just need to jump into. But I don’t know if it’s you know, what phase do we started with it or kind of where’s the best starting point for a young law firm in getting solid system started.
Tyson Mutrux
Jimmy if you don’t mind me jumping in here, I I think it all really comes down to the basics. And this is gonna sound so redundant. If you’ve listened all the podcasts, that you as a civil attorney, you need to sit down with your other partner that does family law. And you will need to map out from point A to point Z, every single step every single one, and it may be time consuming. And you need to do it chronologically two. So on week one, we do this, this and this on week two, we do this, this and this week three until the case is done. Your Personal Injury Attorney partner needs to do the exact same thing. And you will can probably have similarities when it comes to the intake process when it comes to the answering the phone when it comes to calendaring. Those could all be identical. But your your cases are going to be handled drastically different. And until you’ve mapped out from point A to point Z, you can’t do anything else, you have to actually sit down and map it out. And I’ve shown Jimmy mine before I took one of those little moleskin books and wrote out page after page, what you do from point A to point Z that’s how I initially started and then I put it down on a piece of paper and then went from there. That’s how you need to do it. You need to start from there and then go and then once you’ve actually got the those pieces in place, then you start adding four forms to it. And then you add a start adding call scripts. You start adding all these things at once you have the bones down but you until you have the bones down you cannot do anything else. Jimmy anything to add to that.
Jim Hacking
I would look for low hanging fruit and things that you do the most of so if there are certain types of family law cases that take up 50% of your time, and I would I would focus on those first I wouldn’t just do an overall shotgun approach. I would try to be very laser focused and say, Okay, our bread and butter or child custody cases in a child custody case these things need to happen. And just think of an ideal client experience from start to finish, like, what are the touches? What are the? What are the successes, what are the things that we can do to make this as, as painless for our clients as possible? And then and then focus on the big things first, and then like Tyson said, go down to the little things.
Tyson Mutrux
Gotcha. Thanks. And Chris, I’ll be honest with you, I, my law partner and I are sort of, we’re not struggling with it, it’s just something we need to do. We are still in the process of melding our firm’s together, it’s, it is not an easy process. It’s a time consuming process. It’s kind of grueling, and he and I actually have an appointment scheduled to actually sit down and go and make sure that my points are the things that I absolutely want on every case are implemented. And he’ll have the same thing. And so we were we have to actually just do that. And we’ve got the meeting scheduled, we’re gonna be doing it next week. And it’ll just, it’s just kind of like a zipper approach anyway, we’re we’re sort of getting them all put together into one actual system, instead of having two different systems because we are firm theirs was asking is because we he has his cases, and I have my cases. And then we have our cases, because anything that we brought to the firm, prior to May 1 Are our own cases, we’re working those and we’re sort of digesting those out. And anything may 1 and on are part of the new firm. And so that’s whether it’s for us, we knew this was going to be a long process we were looking at, right around six to nine months before we’re fully integrated more, we’re ahead of schedule, but that’s why I was asking you because it’s not an easy thing. So that’s why we’re, where we’re headed down that route. That’s what you need to do with your partner, because your financial partner probably has different systems, and you do that she brought to the firm. And you’ll just need to make it consistent, especially as you add staff, if you’re doing things one way, and she’s doing it another way, that’s just terrible for your staff, because they’re gonna hate it, they’re gonna hate one of you, because they’re gonna like one of your systems and not the other ones and switching back and forth, it’s just gonna be a pain in the ass for him. So I would definitely as you add more people as you begin to grill, get those systems in place. Absolutely.
Jim Hacking
One of the other things that I’ve learned from Tyson I don’t know if you touched on it yet Tyson I don’t think he did is that Tyson is really good about making systems easier by recording what people are doing. So if if you do have paralegals to do things, or if you find yourself doing things, or just sort of recording it as you do it, and then transcribing it and making it into a script or workflow.
Chris Nicolaysen
That’s perfect. In 2018, one of my big goals is to get systems in place, and try to make life a little bit easier for everybody. If we can take out the ability to, you know, think about the simple stuff, I think that will make the hard things a lot easier in the long run,
Jim Hacking
where it’s weird to see yourself, you and your firm, say three years from now, ideally, what would what would your firm look like? What would your practice look like? And what do you think you would be spending most of your time on?
Chris Nicolaysen
So for in about three years, what I’d like to do is have probably about two or three, family law Associates, a marketing person specifically directed towards marketing, and, you know, maybe about three or four paralegals to help not only with the family law side, but designated family or paralegals for the personal injury side as well. My personal injury, the personal injury attorney here, he definitely is one who says like, I don’t really want to do a lot with the business, he would attest with that he likes doing the law side of it, and he goes, Just give me if I could just have a slew of paralegals to help me that would be great. And then I can handle a lot of cases. But for myself, I actually would prefer to take a step back. And you know, from the law side of it, and just work more on the business side of it. And, you know, post events post, you know, team building events within the firm itself. So have a firm that’s maybe what I would call it a small to midsize firm at that point. And but really work on community and just the general environment within the firm, and then figuring out to within the actual community of Colorado Springs. How do we get known how do we work that aspect of it, albeit isn’t working with something like Annika is community marketing aspect of it and working with a marketing director on those pieces of it. But my goal would be to step aside and maybe selectively take, you know, a small range of cases, but more be more of a supervisor and help kind of from a think tank area in that regard. In three years.
Tyson Mutrux
I think Jimmy knows what questions coming next. Chris? Why have you not stepped aside from the day to day legal stuff and just started doing that?
Chris Nicolaysen
That’s a good question. I’m right now I think most of the business is just trying to keep our heads above water at the moment. And so once I feel like we’re there, and maybe it’s my own fear of being able to let go of that aspect of it, but I get excited I think and honestly I just I don’t know if we’re there yet. And it may be something where based on our caseload right now that the other partner could handle almost every single one of the family law cases where I could do everything else from the business side of it, and just the marketing side of it, but I just made it’s my own fear. I guess, in that sense of taking that job. I’m not sure.
Jim Hacking
Chris, are you taking time out of your workweek, like setting aside specific time where you’re able to do that kind of work that sort of higher level working out, there’s so much the legal work,
Chris Nicolaysen
Jim, it’s sporadic right now, I don’t know if it’s exactly designated, I’d say a lot of that would come on the weekends, to where I’m doing things like that, you know, I remember listening to a Facebook group where I was talking to, I think it was Nicole Abood and I was talking about, you know, pondering about doing videos, and I think she had posted on there, stop talking about it and just do it. And so that weekend, I had shot, you know, a few videos, I ended up myself and I put them up. So we’ve got three of them up there. And so anytime that I spend, it’s usually on the weekends, and it would be spent towards the blogging side or towards trying to figure out how we’re going to keep the reviews moving, you know, and then next year, my next big push on the keep doing it side is going to be not only the systems, but from the marketing side, it would be probably the videos, and then to take those, I’ve actually gone out based on your guys’s recommendations and bought some lighting and some other things like that. So that’s my next big push is to work that aspect of it, but trying to find the time. Time has a value. And it can be it can be a little difficult at times, but it’s a passion of mine. I mean, I can tell you guys too, and I don’t know about both of you, man, but I feel like I, you know, eat, sleep and drink this business all the time. You know, my partners will tell you, you can’t go probably more than 15 minutes without me somehow talking about the business in one form or another.
Jim Hacking
I would encourage you, I think it’d be very empowering Chris, to set aside even if it’s just two hours a week figuring out when the slowest time in the office is just to have that dedicated time to focus on your firm. I think having that set aside at the same time putting it on your calendar as important as a court date. I think that’ll be really empowering for you.
Tyson Mutrux
I couldn’t agree more, Jim, because something that Jim and I have, I think struggle I think Jim has struggled with this is that is actually getting our in our roles is actually stepping outside of the day to day operations and getting more into to running operations. And it was it’s been very, very difficult for me because I love trying cases. And so that’s, luckily I’ve got a law partner that is very supportive. And so we are going to start trying cases as teams and not as Hey, you’re the trial attorney, you’re the trial attorney on this case. And so that’s going to help quite a bit. We are evolving in our firm as well to allow us to actually have someone it’ll be me actually doing that sort of outside of the actual day to day operations of the thing. So we can grow as a firm. So just looking forward, you may want to have someone that sounds like it’s probably going to be you designated to do that, and then create a plan on getting out of the firm and actually running the firm by it looks like we are up against the time here. So Jimmy, do you want to get to your hack of the week?
Jim Hacking
Chris, it’s really been great having you on the show. I love talking to the newer attorneys, the people who’ve been out a little bit less, I think it’s really empowering and energizing to be able to talk to you guys like you. And it was great meeting you up in DC. Like I said, my hack of the week is a pretty simple one. But you know, on our firm, website and our Facebook page, we post a lot of pictures of our clients after their immigration interviews. And they’re all usually pretty happy because we don’t put up the pictures of the people who get denied. But I went ahead and I downloaded all those photos to Walgreens and we have a wall in our office that now has about 100 photos of clients after a happy decision that immigration. And so I think that that is a very powerful tool to have in our office. Whenever I walk into the conference room, which is where we keep the photos, people are usually waiting for us and they’re usually standing looking at that picture. Sometimes they find people that they know sometimes they find the people that referred them. And more importantly, it’s something for them to aspire to to have their picture up on the wall. And I think it’s a quiet endorsement. And I think it also shows that we know what we’re talking about. I think a lot of people really get a lot out of it. So I would encourage you, if you have the kind of practice that allows you to take pictures of your clients and that they are happy at the end of the day. And I think that that’s something that’s really powerful.
Tyson Mutrux
Very good. There’s a personal injury attorney that does something very similar to that, Jimmy. So that’s that’s very good. Before Chris, before we get to your tip of the week, I do want to remind everyone to go to the Facebook page requested join there, get involved in the in the conversation. We have a lot of great conversations going on there. And then also, make sure if you liked this podcast, go to iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts give us a five star review. Chris, you got a tip of the week.
Chris Nicolaysen
I do. My tip of the week is going to be a book. It’s called the Energy bus by John Gordon, the simple little parable but it’s one that really focuses on positive energy and and keeping your life moving forward, create envision, and the big thing I really like about it is what John calls the energy vampires. And basically getting the energy vampires out of your life people are, you know, clients or team that, you know, team members or what have you that are, you know, sucking away your vision and not keeping the bus moving forward. And so yeah, the energy bus by John Gordon, I highly recommend it.
Tyson Mutrux
It’s a good one. My tip is actually just a reminder, really get your holiday cards, Christmas cards, whatever you want to call them out. Now, it’s about that time. So by the time this podcast releases, you’re going to be right at your outer limits on when they should go out. So you want want to make sure you will get your holiday cards out so that people get them they see them, I send them to clients, to send them to clients and to referral partners, they will greatly appreciate it. Just so you know, they do appreciate it. I had a client last year, he won Christmas card last year as for my firm, so he he actually called me I thought it was so funny. He loved it so much. So make sure you get your holiday cards out. So, guys, it’s been a great podcast, Chris, I actually wish we could go another hour because this is I think it’s a really good one. So thanks for coming on.
Chris Nicolaysen
Thanks for having me. It’s Keep up the good work. I really appreciate what you’re doing. It’s really helped give me a lot of guidance, especially as a younger attorney, and you guys have really helped me what I would say run my law firm the right way. So thank you quite a bit. Thanks, Chris. Fantastic. Thank
