Members of three EPiC peer groups, which convene in person on a quarterly basis, met in August for two days of focused analysis, reflection and brainstorming. Each group worked together to solve problems and better their own—and each others’—practices.
We can confidently say that Q3 was a home run, given the average meeting score: 9.26 out of 10! Another smashing success to add to the books.
Q3 brought one group to Seattle, another to Portland, OR, and the third to Great Falls, MT.
While each group dynamic is unique, one thing they all share is a commitment to push each other to reach new levels of success. This quarter produced fruitful discussion on a variety of relevant topics affecting both the estate planning industry as a whole and members on an individual basis.
But EPiC is about more than just work, work, work. Typically there is a group outing or two during the two-day session. Here are a couple of shots from our groups in Seattle and Great Falls, enjoying their spectacular surroundings!
Great Falls GroupHarbor Tour in SeattleRay’s Boathouse in Seattle
EPiC Peer Groups will host a 1-day peer group simulation so that interested candidates can experience the solution firsthand. There is no charge for participating. We limit participation to make the session manageable and productive. The date of the session is Tuesday, June 7, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. CST. The session will be presented via Zoom meeting.
The simulation will be presented within a workshop environment, aimed at inspiring you to get started on your personal and practice goals for the next 12 months.
Tom Fafinski will lead a discussion on how to drive marketing, sales and client retention results, building lead dashboards, and sales and marketing metrics.
Nathan W. Nelson J.D. LL.M will lead a conversation on measuring and tracking productivity, production processes, financial metrics and financial dashboards.
We will discuss technology solutions that may help to streamline your processes and improve your practice.
We will conclude with the cornerstone of peer groups: collaboration with fellow members and professional facilitators about your practice’s deepest needs, questions and concerns.
Take home solutions that will help you achieve your personal and professional goals—and expand your professional network in the process.
EPiC is a peer group membership organization for estate planning attorneys. Each group is comprised of practices that are in similar stages of development. In a small-group setting with attorneys in a comparable financial position, participants are encouraged to share what they’ve learned that works (and doesn’t work) for their firm while supporting each other in an environment of honest discussion.
If you decide you want to participate in the solution after experiencing it on June 7, we will determine which group is the right fit for you—one in which members are from firms of similar size, revenue, employees and not within your geographic area of competition. Nearly all members have reported a significant gain in revenue, profit and/or efficiency—a multiple of their monthly membership fee investment.
Would you like to participate in this simulation at no charge? Please register here.
During our Q3 Meeting in August, we enjoyed a night on the lake with 3 of our groups (2 pictured here). Thanks, WealthCounsel, for joining us in sponsoring the night out. We had a blast!
At the conclusion of quarterly meetings, we ask each member to score the meeting. The average score for 2021-Q2 Meetings was 9.59, up from an average score of 9.21 for Q1 Meetings!
“We are all in the same boat in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.”—G.K. Chesterton
“Birds of a feather flock together.”—John Minsheu, 1599
“None of us is as smart as all of us.”—Ken Blanchard
“Surround yourself with people who can make you better.” ― Jim Kerr
“If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”—Isaac Newton
These quotes all describe the characteristics of participating in a peer group solution. A business owner participates in a peer group because it’s lonely at the top. If you are like most of our participants, there is a strong likelihood that no one in your office is situated similarly, and you may feel like there is nowhere to go to fight the isolation or receive objective input on your ideas. But you don’t have to go it alone.
Rather, you should “surround yourself with good people; surround yourself with positivity and people who are going to challenge you to make you better.”—Ali Krieger.
A business leader peer group (sometimes referred to as a mastermind group) does just that. It involves assembling 6-14 business owners, on average, who are similarly situated, to meet on a regular basis in a secure and confidential environment.
Similarly situated means that the member businesses share the same range of revenues, number of employees, level of experience, business sophistication and other similar factors. The purpose of meeting is to propel individual and organizational professional development by providing advice, support, sharing, accountability and collaboration.
Groups meet at a regular interval, normally monthly or quarterly. Some peer groups involve members from other industries and each member has exclusivity within their niche. Other peer groups are geographically diverse and involve members from the same industry—none of whom compete directly with each other.
In the book The Power of Peer Groups by Leon Shapiro and Leo Bottary, the authors describe how peer groups operate by comparing it to the 1957 classic film “12 Angry Men.” This jury room drama tells the story of 12 jurors directed to dictate the fate of a criminal defendant. The initial jury vote had all jurors but #8 voting not guilty. Juror #8 argues that a passing train would have made it difficult for the witness to hear the murder threat. His argument is successful in turning juror #5 and #11.
Another juror deduces that one of the witnesses was not wearing prescription glasses during the identification process, converting more jurors to voting not guilty. One juror reveals his personal prejudices toward the defendant, causing others to question their initial vote. Eventually, all jurors are convinced, through peer collaboration, analysis and discussion, to vote not guilty. It is a wonderful demonstration of how peer groups operate.
The concept of business leaders meeting to help each other was originally written by Napoleon Hill in his books, The Law of Success and Think and Grow Rich, dating back to 1925 and 1937, respectively. Hill’s work was based upon a decades-long study of industry leader Andrew Carnegie’s formula for achieving success.
Carnegie actually commissioned Hill’s works, which involved interviews of over 500 American millionaires and successful businesspersons. Hill’s books discussed how the peer group solution was utilized by Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Theodore Roosevelt, JP Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Charles Schwab, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. Hill defined the solution as a “coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.”
Hill argued, “No two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible, intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind.”
Many great leaders and achievers throughout history surrounded themselves with like-minded, trusted advisors who helped them become successful through their collaboration.
There are other examples of mastermind groups throughout history:
The Inklings—successful writers/poets like C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, and Charles Williams
The Junto— twelve members including and created by Benjamin Franklin
Sunday Night Supper—a mastermind group credited for guiding the U.S. through the Cold War, including Robert Lovett, Averell Harriman, Chip Bohlen, Joe and Stewart Alsop, Frank Wiser and George Kennan
National Automobile Dealers Association—since 1917, Toyota dealership general managers attend “20 Group” for two days, three times a year, to share data and best practices, and help each other process issues they are facing
If you are interested in pursuing the peer group solution with other estate planning law firms from around the country (with geographic exclusivity), email tom@virtuslaw.com.
By Thomas M. Fafinski. Originally published in WealthCounsel Quarterly.
“If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” —Sir Isaac Newton
Does your law firm have a legacy plan? Most law firms are created in the same way that plumbers and electricians start their businesses, but rarely do law firms mature into a business warranting a legacy plan.
Like plumbers and electricians, in-demand and skilled professionals decide to establish their own company, initially doing much of the skilled work themselves. Sometimes they take their customer relationships from a prior employer and sometimes they just create a customer base through advertising, marketing and referrals.
The plumber or electrician buys tools and equipment to leverage their effort and make themselves more productive. With just a few tools, they achieve financial rewards measured by a return in investment. Eventually, the plumber or electrician hires and trains an unskilled worker because they understand the benefits of being able to leverage their own knowledge, talent and skills.
Sooner or later the apprentice becomes so skilled that they start working independently, and the plumber or electrician graduates from owning a job to really becoming an entrepreneur.
With the addition of other skill and talent, they are finally learning and understanding the benefits associated with having someone else performing the skilled labor. It works so well for the entrepreneur, that they decide to hire another unskilled apprentice worker and a skilled worker. They are off to the races now; as time passes, the plumber/electrician becomes an entrepreneur because they are no longer performing any of the labor associated with their craft.
Meanwhile, the lawyer is perfectly willing to hire administrative assistants and other professionals in order to experience some of the benefits of leverage. As it turns out, though, this seems to be more about making the lawyer’s job easier and gaining more independence than it is a real investment in the business of law. All too often, the lawyer’s journey as an entrepreneur ends at this beginning stage, sometimes even before hiring a professional with equal or superior skills. Only a small percentage of law firms will mature beyond this point.
Ironically, the entrepreneur is confronted with business succession and legacy issues and seeks the counsel of lawyers to consider a succession plan. Most of the counsel is somewhat hypocritical because the lawyer, who started their practice in much the same way as a plumber or electrician, has done little with respect to planning for their own business succession.
Why is it that lawyers constantly provide counsel on this important issue of business succession, but rarely embrace the important concepts themselves?
There is a progression of development for a law firm from a legacy planning perspective. Initially, the stage-one law firm is a one-lawyer practice or partnership of solo practitioners who, more or less, own their own jobs. They practice independently while sharing legal strategies and, perhaps, even collaborating on a few clients.
Stage-one law firms embrace technology and the assistance of non-lawyers to carry out important functions of their law firm. Stage-one law firms almost never create a legacy plan because theirs is not a business that can be sustained without their involvement.
Many of these firms will progress to stage two and become a legitimate business.
A stage-two firm has systems in place that touch upon each of the three core functions of a the business of the law firm: (1) production; (2) sales and marketing; and (3) finance and administration.
For the most part, the effort in each of these categories should be equal in terms of effort and importance. Each aspect of the business should have policies and procedures that track performance, permit leverage of time and talent, and generate the opportunity to scale the business of the law firm.
While most stage-one law firms believe that production of legal work product is the most important aspect of the business of the law firm, a stage-two law firm will concede that sales and marketing or finance and administration is at least as important as production. With much hard work, a stage-two law firm will create some repeatable and scalable systems that yield a return unrelated to their personal and individual contribution.
Practicing law in a stage-two firm can be really fun and exciting as there is a real collaboration of peers—not just the founding lawyers. Skilled associates, partners and administrators become far more involved in the business of the law firm.
What keeps this stage-two law firm from being a stage-three law firm? A stage-three law firm will treat each core function of the business of the law firm with equal regard and import. It is at this junction that the firm is no longer dependent upon its founders to be its key contributors, nor that the firm’s identity revolve around their contributions and personalities.
The stage-three law firm has owners that are more investors than individual contributors. Stage-three law firms find practice leaders in each major production area, quite like a manufacturing firm would with respect to different product offerings. Stage-three law firms have a strong administration team, including a managing partner and firm administrator or manager.
Metrics are tracked for financial performance and evaluation of production team members. Trends are analyzed and predictive indicators considered so that the ship can be steered away from glaciers and toward blue-ocean opportunities.
Founders should never be integral to more than one of the core aspects of firm operation to be a stage-two or stage-three law firm.
If they are performing one important function, it should be the aspect of the business of the law firm that they enjoy the most and there needs to be a succession plan for the founder exiting that role. If they are integral to more than one of these three aspects they are, by definition, unable to be just an investor. Very few of these practices will ever mature into a stage-three law firm.
A stage-three practice operates largely without the regular monitoring of its owners. Want to create a legacy with your practice? You have to be a late stage-two or stage-three practice first. How do you accelerate the accumulation of the wisdom necessary to become a stage-two or stage-three law firm?
I built my first stage-two law firm in the late 1990s. Struggling to accelerate real and sustainable growth, I joined a business leader peer/mastermind group in 2002. My peer group consisted of members from a wide variety of industries, including trucking, accounting, finance, banking, management consulting, trades, manufacturing, parts distribution, real estate development, etc.
I cobbled together the skills necessary to create processes and systems so that my law firm became efficient, repeatable and scalable, eventually able to sell my law firm in 2005 at stage two. Thereafter, I worked for the buyer while becoming a facilitator of other peer groups. Eventually, five years after selling my prior law firm, I jointly formed Virtus Law.
Most of the business characteristics of Virtus Law [note the brand that initiates a conversation with our client about the firm being focused on its customers and not its founders] come from the peer groups I have facilitated and participated in. My team has created a brand and ramped revenue up to 7 figures in about 3 years, while not seeking to transfer even one client from my former firm.
Photo by Rolled Alloys Specialty Metal Supplier on Pexels.com
We have established key predictive indicators by measuring certain metrics and establishing systems and procedures relating to the three core business operations of our firm—finance and administration, production, sales and marketing. Sounds a lot like a manufacturing company, doesn’t it?
With the help of our peer groups, we have adopted the same philosophies our clients have implemented to create a real business. We have multiple practice leaders, an independent office administrator and a sales and marketing engine that generates 7 figures of legal service sales year after year.
We wanted to take our firm to the stage-three level of being an investable business. As a result, we have layered our non-industry peer group experiences with an industry-only peer group. The power of peer groups is further amplified with an industry niche format. It’s like a peer group on steroids.
Desirous of accelerating our own performance, my partner, Nathan Nelson, and I agreed to facilitate a law firm-only peer group pilot program for WealthCounsel members. The original format had two-day, in-depth quarterly meetings among members who would be competitors if they were nearby geographically. There is an initial lift by addressing some low-hanging fruit, too.
“We had the best month we have ever had last month and I attribute peer groups as a large contributing factor,” says Lora H. of North Carolina.
Thomas F. of Massachusetts explains, “My Peer Group was comprised of several similarly situated but non-competitive estate planning attorneys from across the country who share a common desire to increase the cash flow and improve the efficiency of our offices and ultimately be the best lawyers we can be.
I received actionable feedback from my fellow members as well as from Tom and Nate to help me achieve the goals I have set for my practice, and appreciate the fact that they will hold me accountable to meeting those goals as we go forward. If you are an established estate planning attorney and want to achieve better results for your practice, I strongly recommend you consider the Peer Group solution!”
Each group member either adopted or considered adopting a policy and procedure manual to create leverage and scale. They worked from a common draft that we disseminated and were able to modify language rather than having to reinvent the wheel. Every member shared best practices relating to each function of law firm operations.
Each group established and measured important metrics to benchmark against future performance. Each member identified key predictive indicators of enhanced performance.
Professionally facilitated by Tom Fafinski and Nathan Nelson, both practicing attorneys, the peer groups share best practices and seek assistance with regard to implementation of systems, policies, procedures and service offerings. There is a healthy amount of accountability and support for initiatives they undertake or that are fundamental components of success in private practice.
Many attorneys rapidly shift from one issue to the next without ever developing or otherwise acquiring key systems; the peer group accountability and focus keeps this issue in check.
“My group challenged me to meet new centers of influence. I scheduled a learning session with [those] that I have never presented to. We had over 20 people attend these two sessions and one resulted in a referral of a matter that will [result in fees of] over $50,000. I attribute this matter to my participation in peer groups.
We have had great growth in our business because it has made me accountable to others for commitments I have made and has forced me to leverage my partner and systems,” remarks Keith T. in Montana.
The peer group/mastermind solution provides a forum to address lead nurturing and referral generation systems, client conversion (measure, track and train), scaling production, increasing team leadership, and bolstering other business skills.
You should consider applying the same principles used to develop a legacy plan for your clients to your business.
Make this the time that you turn your attention to the fundamental business practices necessary to be successful. In order to accomplish this, you will need to adopt sound business practices, like sharing best practices, measuring important metrics, identifying key predictive indicators, and creating repeatable processes for leverage and scale.
The power of peer groups accelerates your progress toward establishing a sound legacy plan. If you are a stage-one law firm, take your firm well into stage two. If you are already at stage two, go deeper into stage two and migrate into stage three. If you are a stage-three law firm, hone your efficiency and become even more profitable. To see if you qualify, email tom@virtuslaw.com.
From my years of being involved with estate and business law firms, I have concluded that there are 4 stages of maturity for any estate and business law firm:
Launch – The issues associated with the launching of a solo practice include determinations relating to location, niche, equipment and initial staffing. The peer group solution is not appropriate for the launch phase. We suggest a 1 on 1 coaching relationship to excel in the launch.
Primary Driver – All three major managerial functions of the law firm business (sales/marketing, finance/administration and production) are led by the ownership of the firm. This requires time, energy and effort by the owner. It is a necessary phase where the owner is controlling the growth of the firm, establishing processes and benchmarks. The issues in this phase are particularly time intensive and short-cuts are welcome. This is an excellent time to join a peer group so as to accelerate through the phase in the shortest possible time-frame. You benefit by adopting policies, procedures and processes of others and modifying them to your desired parameters. You are building out the sales/marketing, finance/administration and production aspects of your firm to your comfort all under the guidance of experience attorneys who have been there and done that. This is a phase that you want to run through so that you have a real business and not just owning your job.
Business operator – Begin to form a team so that one or more of the major managerial functions of the business are being led by someone other than the founder(s). The objective in this phase is to refine policies, procedures and processes, institute key predictive indicators, dashboards, benchmarking against industry norms and engage in group strategic planning. Many owners will choose to remain in this stage for an extended period as they enjoy leading one of the major functions of the business. Peer to peer learning with facilitation from experience lawyers (not consultants or coaches who never practice law) is an excellent solution for improving efficiency, profitability, attaining better personal life balance and growing healthy revenue. It also acts as a short cut if your desire is to move to an enterprise leader.
Enterprise Leader – every major function of the business (sales/marketing, finance/administration and production) are led by employees of the firm reporting to owners. The issues at this stage involve managing the firm by dashboards and other gauges. You are assembling, training and guiding the management team to succeed you. Your participation in the firm daily activities is determined by your preferences – 90% or more of what you do is enjoyable to you and the time and energy you spend on your practice is based upon your desired activity. At this stage, you have a readily saleable law firm. Peer to peer learning is an excellent solution for accelerating the migration to a true enterprise leader and working through the issues of empowering others, delegation and monitoring. Succession and Exit are also areas of concern. Succession involves passing the torch to other members of your firm and exit references a sale or retirement from the firm. Preparing the firm for sale or retirement poses its own challenges and the peer to peer learning group provides a path for navigating this stage.
What stage is your law firm in? How can you get deeper within your stage or even move from one stage to the next? Email me for a discussion. tfafinski@virtuslaw.com
