Starting & Running a Successful Solo Consulting Practice

great thank you very much Proctor a very excellent introduction the one thing you all should have heard in that introduction is that I am by training and education of the way assure you not by temperament a lawyer a lawyer who's going to help you build a successful business kill me now but seriously I've been doing this for a long time I've been practicing for 35 years of my life 25 of those years I have done nothing but work with entrepreneurs and people like yourself starting small businesses everything from one person consulting firms to some companies that are today on the Inc 500 list of the fastest growing privately owned companies in America as I said I've worked with about 15,000 people just like who have dreams just like you have so I think I have a little bit to say about this and also to I am a solo consulting practice I am a lawyer but a lawyer is a consultant that's basically what I do you come to me for consulting advice in the field of legal compliance and that's basically what you do so for the past 25 years I have been operating a solo consulting practice I work out of my home most of the time I am naked well or in my bunny slippers or my bathrobe you know I work out of my home by the way a little lesson about technology I really am not qualified to talk about technology but whenever you set up a webcam on your computer you know you have to go through the various settings and stuff whatever you do do not select the one that says turn webcam on when a call comes in okay do not select that one okay because that can have very bad repercussions if you work naked I just just trust me I found out okay don't ask me how one other thing I want to get out of the way before we begin our program tonight some of you were thinking about this and I you know I I always like to be very open and honest about how I do business with people you know and I know I mean look let's face it we score is always about being very real about things but let's just be very honest the last time any of you saw anything this big and this purple it was Barney okay let's be very honest about that everybody I love you you I mean from mo from a lawyer right that's coming really great tonight's topic is all about going being a solo basically solo consulting practice or any other kind of personal service business where the the product the service is you not some thing basically we're all going to be talking about we will be doing some legal and tax up but not a whole lot it's mostly about things that I have learned in 25 years of doing this on my own and working with thousands of other people who have it's it's a very practical program okay if you ever doubted that I was a lawyer now you know for sure first we tell you what we're not going to do and then we tell you what we're going to do a couple of disclaimers here first of all I am NOT an employee of score or anything like that I am totally independent so if you if you listen to something I say and you think it's a good idea and you listen to it and you take it to heart and you go home and it absolutely doesn't work for you and you end up losing your business and going bankrupt and your spouse leaves you and your dog pees on your leg and you end up living in a diaper box under the Sikorsky bridge you cannot sue score in fact since I'm a lawyer you really can't sue me either so you're kind of Sol okay in that situation seriously the second disclaimer though is the more important we are going to talk about some legal and tax things here but please none of this that I'm going to be saying tonight is one-on-one advice for that you have to hire an attorney who is admitted to practice in the state which I am and pay him a little bit of money to sit down with you right now I don't know any of you well enough to be able to give you one-on-one advice as to what you should do so while the information I am presenting is relevant and accurate do not take it as something that you should be doing it's just this is just a general program to give you an idea frankly what are the right questions you want to ask your lawyer your account and the other people you're going to work with while you're building a solo can solo consulting practice okay so here's our overview these are the things I'm going to be talking about tonight basic decisions to make before starting your business how to market your consulting practice how to negotiate your consulting contracts business issues for running growing and selling your consulting practice and then we'll wrap it up and I'll tell you some funny stuff okay should you consider consulting just just by a show of hands here how many people here are kind of in transition right now you've come out of corporate America okay quite a few people here that's that's a very common situation how many people here have a consulting business that they've been doing for a while hoping I'll say something to make it better okay quite a few of you people how many people came for the donuts okay that's it okay that's great you know and how many people here are cliff and echo groupies I did I do have a couple you know I always tell people you know there's good news in there's bad news I'm one of the few lawyers in the United States who actually has groupies it's amazing the bad news is they don't look like you that's the problem I'm sorry about that they don't look like the ones and nor is that movie almost famous with that they don't look like that okay should you consider a consulting career let's face it especially if you've worked in corporate America for a while you're you know maybe you got a package maybe you didn't you're kind of in between you're looking at the next phase of your life you're looking at a number of things but geez Louise you have all these years of experience behind you and you want to make use of it you don't want to take the last 20 years of your life and just throw it out the window you've got to feel that somewhere out there there's something there's some people who still need this advice and you want to take advantage of that so if you're between jobs or looking for some extra retirement income a consulting practice is absolutely something you should consider how many people here know what a portfolio career is okay a couple of people that's basically where you do a bunch of stuff different kinds of things but they all drive revenue to your bottom line a very successful way by the way for older people to grow into retirement so for example you might want to do a little consulting on the side you may want to write a couple of books and get royalties like I do you may want to go around and do some paid speaking around the country at conferences that's an example of a portfolio career it's a very good idea because what you're doing there is you're hedging your bets so if the economy goes down the toilet again like it did a few years ago at least something will be driving revenue to your bottom line planning a career is very much like planning an investment portfolio and that's a topic that I probably will do fourscore another day maybe as a sideline business to do on evenings and weekends I say maybe here because in my experience consulting tends to be a 24/7 commitment it's very hard to confine a consulting practice to evenings and weekends and part-time it's very hard to do because if you get one client clients tend not to want you four five ten hours a week they tend to want you for 50 hours a week and for five weeks that tends to be the typical consulting gig so it's very hard to confined I don't really know too many consultants who are able to confine it their practices to evenings and weekends if they're successful at all they end up working 24/7 which is a good problem to have by the way if it happens a lot you can quit your day job and that's what you're looking to do know if an agreement with your present or former employer prohibits you from doing so this is very important especially if you have come out of a big corporation you may have signed an agreement at some point in your career that prohibits you from competing colloquial quote with your former employer and if you do did sign an agreement like that have an attorney look at it before you do anything because you may very well have signed away your life I have seen people who come out of corporate America who have signed a such a broad agreement that they basically can't do any consulting on the side if it's at all related to the work that they were doing for their former employer non-competes are not boilerplate everyone is very specific have an attorney look at it before you do anything if you have any questions at all about what you can and cannot do okay should you work out of your home well I have another whole program by the way which you should be aware of it's called from cubicle to home office it's on my youtube channel just go to youtube.com and type in cliff penico in the search box and you'll find it I have a whole 60-minute program on working out of your home but here are the basics most consulting businesses can be run from a home office in fact I will humbly suggest to you that as a consultant it's very hard to make money unless you cut your overhead expenses to the absolute bone you know the overhead is what kills you when you're when you're working for yourself so a home office is absolutely made for a consulting business you will not get into trouble with the zoning authorities because you're quiet you're working on your computer most of the time or maybe you're on your phone the only time you might get a little into a little trouble is if you see clients in the home I'm going to talk about that in a second if you plan to see clients in your home office however I would strongly suggest you consider renting a small office are you familiar with these executive office suites they exist everywhere they're certainly here in Connecticut and they're in virtually all parts of the country where you can rent an office by month you don't have to commit to a long-term lease and it's got all the furnishings the bookcases and all that stuff you just supply the computer and hook up the phone line they even have like an admin person who works for all the people in the building and take answers your phone and does like that and you just pay by the month that's the ideal solution for a solo consulting practice if you are seeing clients in the home it's very awkward to work out of a home office because number one you're first of all your spouse is not going to like this they're not going to like the idea of clients tripping through the house you might find after the first couple of clients visit your home that certain items family heirlooms antiques and things have gone missing not every client is a good person okay they mess up the house your spouse is going to have a problem with that also too if people if the local kids can't play basketball on the street because they're too busy dodging you know all the cars and if there are people sitting on your lawn you know waiting to see you and there's ten cars in the driveway the zoning people might be child and ask for a visit because you're changing the character of the neighborhood that's what they don't like as long as you're quiet they'll let you run your business out of your home office but if they see you if your so if your business is so visible that it's changing the character of the neighborhood that's when you're going to hear from the local zoning comps and it will not be a pleasant conversation okay let's talk about getting started here are the seven things you need to get started actually need a lot more but these are the basics business cards and stationery duh even in this digital world I think you still need some some dead trees they're a limited liability company LLC LLC's were made for solo consulting businesses now some of you are saying well wait a minute do I even need an LLC can I just be a sole proprietor well the answer is you can be if you want to depending on the type of consulting you do if you're doing anything at all that might get you sued however so let's say for example you're an IT consultant and let's say you go to work for a big company and you totally bite the pooch you do something wrong in their entire system goes down for three days they lose millions of dollars guess who's on the hook for that if it was your fault if it was something you did wrong I would suggest you forming an LLC is a very good idea to try to limit your liability also to a lot of clients especially large corporations will insist that you have an LLC because I think it protects the from liability I have another slide coming up in a minute on that you need some contract forms and that's kind of where I come in as a lawyer I will help you do a suite of contracts I'll tell you in a minute exactly what you need they're a book and ebook or downloadable articles you need some content you want to show people that you're not just a consultant but you're an expert you need to do things to build your credibility I have written 15 books now just hearing that piece of information you know what are you thinking boy 15 books I can't even imagine writing one this guy's written 15 boy he must be really good well they could all be junk too I mean how do you know the books are any good you don't but this effect that I've written 15 books you're not going to question my credibility not going to look at my diploma on the wall too closely are you when you got 15 books out there you know I mean I use books as marketing tools when I walk into a new client for a first time I always give him whether he asks for it or not an autographed copy of one of my books it's a credible icebreaker and any conversation about those well toga parties and my college days you know that are up on Facebook nobody even thinks about that stuff anymore so seriously you want to do things that build credibility these days you can do an e-book for less than $200 by the way if you do it right this is not an expensive proposition like it used to be I seriously jest to suggest that you do it you need a website and you need a LinkedIn profile Facebook Twitter and I'm not so sure depending on what you're doing Facebook and Twitter tend to be B b2c business to consumer social media sites the b2b social media site is LinkedIn and that's the one where you want to be that's where your LinkedIn profile I think is more important because that's where your corporate clients are going to be looking for you they're not going to be looking for you on Facebook they don't want to hear about your wild your wild parties and driving your ATV through the Mojave Desert they don't care about that what they care about is do you look professional and LinkedIn is where you're going to be they expect you to have it you will need some insurance there are two kinds of insurance you need you need some kind of basic liability policy especially if you are seeing clients in the home this is slip and fall insurance this protects you against stuff like that many of your clients will ask that you have this so if you do go into their corporate headquarters and you slip down a flight of stairs and you hurt yourself it will not be their insurance that pays for it they want you to have your own so you are going to need that and then you also need furs and omissions eno insurance this is malpractice insurance this is if you're the IT consultant who causes a virus to get on the client system and wipes out their entire database this is the insurance that would protect you against that you do not need workers compensation insurance in Connecticut or New York if you are the only person in your business if you are a solo if you do not have W two employees you do not need workers comp insurance some clients may want you to get that and they are absolutely wrong about that if a client wants you to have workers comp if it's in their contract make sure you strike that from the contract you do not need the owner of a business is not considered an employee for w-2 and tax purposes okay then last but not least a client and preferably two or more okay let's talk about employee versus independent contractor this is obviously the big legal thing that you have to worry about the whole reason why somebody is hiring you as a 1099 is because they don't want to hire you as an employee why not because if they hire you as an employee well then they got to pay all the dreaded employment taxes FICA futa Medicare all that stuff Medicare going hire now because of Obamacare they don't want to have to pay that you have when you're a 1099 you get to pay all that stuff all they do is write you one check and you deal with all the taxes there's no withholding they also want a relationship that's much more snap on snap off employees have rights whereas I'm 1099 s do not there's a whole bunch of employment laws that apply to employees that do not apply at all to tend to independent contractors so that's the thing so they all want you to be an independent contractor but okay who decides whether you're an employee or an independent contractor believe it or not that is not your decision and that is not your clients decision okay a lot of people think oh I signed an agreement I said I was going to be an independent contractor well guess what it does not matter what your contract says the IRS can rewrite that agreement if they do an audit of your client of your customer and they see that what was really going on was an employment relationship they have the power to disregard that clause in your contract so even though you've been doing everything right you've been withholding you've been paying taxes you've been doing all the right stuff the IRS can come down and say nope you were really an employee and the number of hours you work don't matter either you can be an employee for two hours a week believe it or not that is absolutely possible you know there is such a thing as a part-time employee you do not have to be full-time to be an employee this is just common sense here's the key you are an employee if the client can direct and control your activities the IRS some of you know has 20 criteria that they use that their auditors use when they audit employees versus independent contractors but let me really make it simple for you it all boils down to this one concept if your client can direct and control your activities you while you're working for them you are an employee you are not not not an independent contractor so here's my little example think of this whenever you find yourself in a situation where there's a question about this let's say that that you're working for me okay you know you're doing some stuff I have some kind of online business if I have the power to do the following to you you are an employee you are not an independent contractor hey cliff listen stop what you're doing right now we just got a big order from eBay I want you to help me pack these boxes I want to try to get this order out this afternoon to the UPS Store before before the last UPS pickup happens stop what you're doing help me pack these boxes help me load the truck and then as soon as I get out of here to the UPS Store you can go back and do whatever it was you were doing if I have the power to jerk you around like that from one job to another you are an employee you are not an independent contractor okay take me for example I'm a lawyer if you hire me as your lawyer there is no way anyone is going to say that I'm your employee so if you show it when you call me first of all I'm not in your office I got a lot of other clients that I'm trying to serve and sometimes that's a real big challenge but here's the real reason why I'm not your employee because you cannot tell me to stop doing something for somebody else and work for you although believe me a lot of clients try I will tell you that a lot of clients do try to do that so here's the thing you can certainly give me a deadline you can certainly say hey cliff I need to look at this contract I need it by Friday because I'm having a meeting somebody you can certainly do that but between now and Friday I get to decide which projects I work on at what times that's what makes me an indicated independent contractor is the word independent I have to be able to set my own schedule use my own materials my own equipment I'm the manager of my time if I'm an independent contractor if I'm not then I'm an employee so here's some of the things to watch out for your client wants you to block out a specific time each week Thursday afternoons from 12:00 to 4:00 I don't want you working for anybody else that's an employment relationship that is not independent contractor if they can do that for you working at the clients offices asset never don't get me wrong and can certainly go to meetings at your client's office that will not make you an employee an employee but if you're required to be there at certain times or a certain number of hours per week that's starting to look like an employment relationship to the IRS then last but not least using the clients office space equipment and other resources if you find your clients are inviting you to the company picnic talk to your lawyer that is not something that they do for independent contractors if the relationship starts getting a little too cozy it's time to talk to your lawyer and find out if you're really an independent contractor okay here's another myth okay I get this I get I get a call at least once a week from somebody who calls me up and says cliff I'm not really so sure that I'm an independent contractor I'm working for this company they're my only client and I'm working 50 hours a week the client is a little worried that I might be considered an employee are they right well duh yeah you're working 50 hours a week that means number one you can't work for anybody else the fact that you're working for just one client doesn't matter a whole heck of a lot but the fact that you're working so hard for that client that is a practical matter you can't work for anyone else as an independent contractor you must have the ability to work for multiple clients and if one client is taking up so much of your time that is a practical matter you can't work for other clients that is a sign that you are really an employee and not an independent contractor even if the contract says that you are an independent contractor remember the IRS can always rewrite those things and forming a single-member LLC will not by itself make you an independent contractor for tax purposes a lot of clients want you to form an LLC be they think that somehow they've read somewhere that an LLC cannot be considered an employee for tax purposes I don't know personally where they got that idea I have never seen it I think I've looked at the entire tax code in my career I poked my nose in a lot of places and I have never seen that concept anywhere in the tax code if you a single-member LLC is what they call a disregarded entity for tax purposes and other purposes so if you're in a single if you're a one-person LLC I don't think that that will protect them from urine if you're being considered an employee but you know what don't tell them about it this is their problem not yours you know so if they want you to form an LLC form an LLC it's good for there are a number of other good reasons to form an LLC which we can talk about separately it doesn't cost out that much Lillian cost a couple hundred dollars in most states to set up an LLC and frankly you should have one anyway it makes you look more official it makes you look more serious you know cliff any co attorney at law that sounds like a little guy right you know cliffs legal services LLC is starting to sound a lot bigger and legal services LLC sounds a whole lot bigger doesn't it sometimes you form an LLC for optical reasons so you look a lot bigger than you really are okay the biggest question I know a lot of you guys have how do you price your services my lesson here is don't give your client too good a deal by far and away the biggest mistake that all consultants make and you make it you make it at least once is you're starting out you're panicked you're afraid you're not going to get any business and so you price yourself for twenty bucks an hour when your nearest competitor is charging $200 an hour that is too good a deal for people and it hurts yourself it really does my little rule of thumb here is you should find out what your competition charges don't be afraid call them pretend to be a client I have done this I have called other lawyers under an assumed name just to find to say I need help forming a corporation or buying a franchise or all the other things that I do for folks just like curiosity what would your fees be for something like that just because I want to make sure I want to find out what their fees are not everybody puts their fees up on their website like I do sometimes you got to find out you got a little homework have your spouse do this call them pretending to be a client it's absolutely perfectly fair game nothing illegal immoral or thing about it find out what they're doing and then when you know what their competition is doing give your clients a discount but no more than ten or twenty percent no more any more than that you're leaving too much money on the table okay never underpriced yourself this is like this is one of my biggest lessons first of all people are not nice if they know what you with it what you're what they're doing and if they know that you don't know what you're doing they will take advantage of you what they'll say to you is something like well gee mr. Renick oh I you know I hear what you're saying fifty dollars an hour is what you want to charge me but I got to be very honest with you I can get this kind of service anywhere in Fairfield County Connecticut for $30 an hour I'll do you a favor just because you're new you're starting out you want to have a client that you want to talk about I'll let you do this for me for $40 an hour as a favor this once meantime your nearest competition is at $100 an hour right you are being taken advantage of here and people will do that with you if they sense that you don't know what you're doing if you underpriced yourself what's going to happen is you're going to end up working 90 hours a week for $30,000 a year which I know about you I don't think anybody can live in this part of the country on thirty thousand dollars a year you're going to end up you're going to end up exhausted you're going to be heating up you hating your clients and your life when it's really your fault because you weren't courageous enough to stand up for what you're worth I always believe overcharge a little bit don't be afraid to overcharge if you if you go too high if you make a mistake and you go too high that's an easy fix because you can always discount you can always say well gee I'm usually $500 an hour but I'll be very honest I'd that you're a nice company I see a lot of long-term relationship here a lot of projects each year this is just a one-off thing for this first project I'll do it for $400 an hour but then you know if you like the first job that I do and you want me to do more for you then we got to go to my $500 standard rate meanwhile what the client doesn't know is that all your competitions at $300 an hour you're now you're taking the tables and you're turning them you're reversing them on the client always when you doubt always go high because if you overshoot you can always discount whereas and some of you guys know this if you shoot too low it's very hard to raise your prices when I try to raise my hourly rate by five dollars an hour my clients squeal like stuck pigs they do they think I stab him with a knife what do you five dollars more per hour what am I getting for that well you're getting me you know inflation you know stuff like that nah man I think I can't handle that I just can't have that you show me you're a fortune 500 corporation I think you can handle a $5 an hour increase in my face seriously raising prices is very hard to justify it's a very hard thing to do and your clients will definitely object here are the three biggest mistakes consultants make by far we talked about the first underpricing themselves especially at the beginning selling too soon you know when you're in a meeting trying to sell your consulting services keep your mouth shut don't talk ask lots of questions find out what the client's needs are find out what their fears and passions are I have a video up on YouTube on my youtube channel where I talk about how to sell I talk about how it's not needs and wants it's fears and passions we're not going to go into that here but until you know what your client is specifically looking for you shouldn't be talking about anything that's in your portfolio your little bag of tricks keep your mouth shut the biggest mistake all salespeople make not just consultants is they start talking too soon about what's in their inventory when they really should be listening during the first half of a sales meeting you should be doing less than 20% of the total talking the other person should be doing the vast bulk of it only when you know what they're looking for do you then open email I can help you with that I know how to do that project or I know someone who can great the let's set the third thing staying inside the box and not taking on projects that require a learning curve or stretch do not become a prisoner of your resume or your marketing materials your marketing can serials say you do a B C D and E but there's a whole lot of other stuff you can do you just haven't done it yet don't watch yourself in a lot of consultants make that mistake and we'll talk about that when we talk about the marketing stuff a lot of a lot of consultants box themselves in this stuff when people say that you're a facilities manager that creates a very specific image in somebody's mind and they're going down a checklist of okay I got five projects here but none of them are things that a facilities manager would do so I'm not going to hire this person in what they don't know is that three of those five things you could probably do so when you when you market yourself be a little fuzzy by all means tell people who you are but don't be so specific that you end up locking yourself out of other opportunities that can come up if I have time at into the talk I'll give you a very graphic example of how that works okay so now you've got a consulting practice your setup you got the seven things you need now it's time to start marketing marketing is the key to success in any small business especially in consulting consulting is a personal service business people do not buy your services they buy you why do I do all these talks well I like talking I like speaking I'm kind of a ham I was one of those college drama guys I was best actor in my high school drama club three out of four years the only reason I didn't make it my fourth year they did a musical and I can't dance worth crap as you can see so so people don't buy your services the reason I do these talks is to get out in front of people and to let them see clinical hey these guys cool he's a lawyer but he's actually kind of a nice guy he tells jokes I think I could deal with him you know must face it most lawyers don't we don't humanize ourselves at all we do not people are scared to talk to lawyers right because you think we're judging you you screwed up ah hey look you know people call me I take the exact opposite approach hey you need a lawyer great that's what I'm here for really I'm glad you screwed up don't say it that way I'm saying hey listen I mean if you know if you haven't screwed up in your life you don't need a lawyer right I'm perfectly happy this is what I do I help people get out of that situation that's what I do I'm happy when people people call me sometimes clients that I haven't heard from in years you know cliff I'm I'm sorry I haven't called you and so what are you apologizing for you have a lawyer in five years that's pretty damn good that's a pretty good track record I'm worried about where you're calling me now you know what the heck's what the heck's happened how much of how much of your body has the wolf eaten up that I'm more worried about that okay your marketing strategy has four pillars remember the key to a personal service business is the word personal people have to see you you got to get out in front of people you can't hide behind the phone and wait for the phone to ring because it just doesn't happen that way you got to get out there and make that phone ring it will not happen unless you do it okay number one your involvement in organizations and trade groups specifically your personal interaction with clients and referral sources including your elevator pitch your public speaking strategy and your firm website and LinkedIn profile let's talk about each of these now real quick organizations and trade groups okay biggest mistake that people make here they join organizations of people that look like that when a young lawyer passes the Bar Association the first thing he does he joins every Bar Association out there what's wrong with that well of course he wants education he wants support there's other good things you get out of those but he's sitting around with a bunch of lawyers how much business is he going to get from other lawyers lawyers do not refer people to other lawyers let me tell you about that I'm one of the few that does believe it or not you want to join organizations where there's lots of clients so I so if you're a small business lawyer and you have the option of joining a Bar Association or joining score I think you'd be better off to any score quite frankly cuz you're going to see a lot of people start a small business that's exactly the kind of people you want to reach out to go with the clients and customers are look for as few competitors as possible look for organizations where there aren't a whole lot of people like you you know so for example you know if you're a realtor join a couple of organizations where they're not about real estate you know where you might feel find some people if everybody sooner or later buys or sells their houses right you know find a couple of organizations where there's lots of other people who may be buying or selling a house but there's another thing going on with the organization and that's why you're there look for a low flake ratio this is cliff this is a personal thing now if you look this up online you will never see it anyway this is a cliff entacle thing every organization has a flake ratio the flake ratio is the ratio of flaky people to total population that's the rate ratio how many crazy nutty people are there in this organization that you don't want a part of in your life at all if there's a lot of them stay away every organ some organizations have higher flake ratios than others I will share with you that when I first came to Connecticut and started practicing you know out of my house I joined a local Venture Group I won't mention names but at the very first meeting that I went of this venture group they sat me next to somebody whose dream business was to create an all-nude Broadway musical based on the novel Madame Bovary that was the longest lunch I have ever had in my life without a question I wanted nothing to do with this person this person was nuts okay if you see a lot of people like that in an organisation get the hell out because I'll tell you when we talk about social media people judge you by the company you keep if I look on your Facebook page and I see a bunch of Yahoo's guess what I think you're a Yahoo too it's guilt by association people and that's just human nature by the way don't hate people for that human nature roll up your sleeves by the way if you're going to join an organization to don't join it just for the purpose of getting business you know get involved roll up your sleeves join organizations you believe in you know don't just join an organization to get business you're an organization where you really care what people see your passion for whatever the organization's purpose is that will sell you much more effectively than hi I'm cliff Emeco I sell insurance I hate that don't you hate that you go into a networking group the first person it's always a guy - so where's a y-chromosome hi I'm so-and-so I sell life insurance yeah you and 10,000 other people dude you know guess what you're not gonna get any business out of this whatsoever yeah by the way a great technique by the way for networking groups don't give them your card when someone says you know you have a card no really you read that you know I I don't know I do have one but to be honest with you I really don't know you well enough yet to know how I can help you so I'd rather not just give away a card you know yeah they're cheap I don't really care about that but I really only want to spend time with people I feel I can really help so let's talk a little bit if I find I can help you then I will certainly give you my car but right now we're not at that stage yet seriously it blows people away they don't expect that you don't want my card no I know once you guys what you really think it is cause you're Yahoo but what you're Willy are saying to yourself but no the way you say it is don't tell don't insult people but seriously tell them you know I really don't know how I can help you is yet until I can do that you know I don't really think that this is appropriate cuz let's face it you Handa you go to these networking groups you hand out all these cards what do you do when you get home you throw them right out in the trash right that's a waste don't do that business cards aren't that expensive but you don't want to waste a mean personal networking okay in your elevator pitch okay big mistake the consultants make hi I'm cliff Enoch oh I'm a small business lawyer what have I just told you nothing nothing at all you have no idea what a small business lawyer does do you well you have some guests I start by form businesses I work with businesses that kind of stuff but beyond that you haven't a clue what I do here's the thing about it when you talk to people don't tell se them what you are tell them how you make their lives better who do you serve every bit remember this is a service business and as Bob Dylan once famously saying you have to serve somebody remember that song you have to serve somebody everybody's got to serve somebody who do you serve what do you care about whose lives do you care about enough that you want to make them better in some way better faster cheaper whatever what do you care about that's the first question I ask a consulting class who do you care about what is it we talk about your fees no I want to know who do you care about who you serving here who's your customer you know and how do you make their lives better faster cheaper or whatever that's what I want to know okay get your customers talking about fears and passions what turns them on what keeps them awake at night easiest thing in the world to do these are the three things that we like to talk about more than anything else in the world when you get together with your friends after work when you go to family Thanksgiving dinner what do you spend 95% of your time talking about the things that turn you on the things that get you excited and the things that keep you awake at night the things that worry you get them talking this makes people like you believe it or not social psychologists tell us that we are attracted or not attracted to certain people based on how much we think they empathize or or at least they sympathize or empathize with our fears and passions when you meet somebody at a cocktail party or a networking group and they don't share or at least empathize with your fears and passions what's the takeaway well a nice person but really I don't get them they're there no I just I just don't understand them you'll hate him but you just don't understand them either whereas when you come away from some meeting with someone where they clearly understand who you are and they and they at least express an interest in your fears and passions it's much easier to like that person isn't it in fact social psychologists tell us that this is how we pick our friends and lovers by the way on a superficial level opposites do attract our friends and lovers may not look anything at all like us but deeper down it's very hard to fall in love with someone who does not share or at least empathize with your fears and passions dig a little deeper the fears and passions have to be aligned your elevator pitch okay let's talk about this don't say who you are hi I'm cliff fennec oh I sell life insurance that's that that's a that's a conversation stopper talk about who your clients are how you improve their lives talk about your competitive advantage and then tell them a compelling story to help them remember you dirty little secret when you're in a networking group five minutes after you've had that conversation with somebody and you talk to them for ten minutes that person is totally forgotten who you are they have your card they might remember place the name of the card but they really don't remember you you have to be memorable that is the key here I'll give you an example here are two elevator pitches for two different businesses it's actual business a business I ran back in the 1990s both are a hundred percent accurate but I guarantee you're going to like one more than the other elevator pitch number one hi I'm cliff Eneco I'm president of bionics corporation we are a career legal career management firm specializing in the legal vertical we're a career management firm specializing in the legal vertical I said it twice you still haven't a clue what I'm talking about right ok now second elevator pitch for the same company hi I'm cliff Eneco I'm president of bionics corporation we are the leading publisher of books audio tapes and seminars for lawyers and other members of the legal community to help them with their career management issues we're not helping them practice law we're helping them get jobs keep them and attract clients one of our seminar one of our books the legal job interview how to win the law related job in any market was the book most frequently stolen from law libraries around the country according to a recent law librarian survey now that one was a lot longer obviously right which would you like better though the second one told you who I was right we're a publishing company we deal with the legal career issues of lawyers right and I made it very clear I told you how we distinguish ourselves from all other law book companies we're not teaching people how to practice law we're teaching something else and I told you that cute story and I'm very proud by the way that is actually a real book I wrote it for five years running in the 1990s I wrote the book that was most frequently stolen from law libraries around the country now that doesn't say much about the ethics of my profession ladies and gentlemen but isn't that great dust jacket copy you know I wanted that survey you know I wanted that on the back of all my books I mean how bad can this book be it people are stealing it it's amazing people will remember that story I have met people who haven't seen me in years you say you're the guy that wrote that book that was stolen from libraries right they remember that that sticks in their head be memorable that's very important when you're doing personal marketing okay public speaking always volunteer to make it local organization meetings when I was first starting my practice as a publication I won't mention so it's called the something County business journal in the back they have a column called the agenda and it's nothing more than a listing of meetings every county every town in the US has a publication like this it lists all the local business meetings that are happening that week that month that whatever I got the list and of course they always tell you who the program director is and what the phone number is I went down that list I called everyone I called every number and I said hi I'm cliff any comb a new lawyer in town I see have an organization of managerial accountants I'd love to speak to your lunch group at some point here are a couple of topics I think might be of interest to your your-your-your lunch group how many times do you think I got rejected doing this answer not once was I rejected the usual response was Wow how'd you hear about us yeah we do you think we're on anybody's radar screen right let me tell you something these organizations are volunteer organizations these people that work for them are volunteers right the program director has a full-time job they're working 90 hours a week their biggest problem is Who am I going to have to speak to our lunch meeting this month was not terrible you call out of the blue and you volunteer that is manna from heaven very rarely will they say no really I mean other one problem you will have you will dine out a lot on their expense you'll get a lot of free food here and that is bad for your waistline take a good look at me ladies and gentlemen I did not look like this when I started this marketing program okay you know seriously when you're eating lunch when you're doing two or three talks a week for various business groups you're going to gain 30 pounds do not lose your gym membership whatever you do you got to keep that sucker up secondly talk about yourself when you're up there speaking I'm not talking about how I practice law and here's what I do and what I don't that's a waste of time you don't care I'm talking about you your problems your fears your passions and how that how we can address those that's what we're talking about use lots of stories illustrations people remember stories but don't offend I remember one time I was on a pro I was program chair for the local bar association and we paid serious money to have this guy fly out from California but one of the big firms in Los Angeles to talk about some new development in the law I think it was the Americans with Disabilities Act back in the early nineties I came every which one it was he was like the leading expert on this statute so he paid like a couple of thousand dollars to have him come and speak to our bar had a huge crowd about 500 lawyers in this room right so this guy gets up there like we had for them before EMC like an awfully nice guy right he gets up there and he tells the absolute worst dirty joke not only was it filthy but it wasn't funny what's wrong with that well first of all not appropriate for a legal meeting right a Bar Association meeting also true I will share with you that the vast majority of people in that audience were female ladies how do you react when someone tells a dirty joke not good right this guy I mean you could hear a pin drop during his entire truck me and the other organizers were kind of sinking under the table with this guy be very careful do not offend and it's very hard now people are much more sensitive than they used to be it's much easier to offend people than they used to be but here's my key for public speaking and this is the first thing first time I ever spoke publicly it was a local bar association thing I was a young lawyer six years out of six months out of law school I was speaking for one of my partners the partner as I was leaving the door as I was leaving the office to go do the talk he said cliff just remember one thing if you can't keep them awake you can't teach them nothing and that is the best advice anyone will ever give you no matter how these days people's attention spans are shrinking like this these days I can't do a straight PowerPoint anymore I got to be a circus act I got to stand on my head to a breakdance routine and whistle Dixie ten times that's what people want to see you've got to be entertaining infotainment market a man edutainment those are all new words learn what they mean you got to be colorful if you have a choice between colorful and being deep choose the colorful every time okay last but not least on marketing your website and LinkedIn profile what should appear there what you do in plain English take a look at some point at my website at clinica the worst offenders here are lawyers okay take a look at my website for my law practice which is cliff any cocom what you'll see your website should only have information that is relevant to your clients lawyers are the worst offenders here show me a law firm website and I will show you a website where there's where 90% of the stuff up there has is totally useless and will not get that from a single dollar worth of business first of all the first thing that the lawyer puts up there is his photo or her photo let me share something with you folks most lawyers should not put their photos on their websites but many of them do because let's face there's two reasons for that number one do people really care if their lawyers are good-looking or butt ugly do you care really what your lawyer looks like well maybe if you're on trial for your life you might care a little bit maybe criminal defense lawyers have to be a certain you know macho kind of person to seduce a jury or whatever but it's set for that I don't think you really care also too many many lawyers have faces that would frighten small children I will tell you that right now seriously you know definitely have your shot professionally taken and seriously if if you are well if you do not think of yourself as particularly good there's no law that says you have to have your photo up there there's none whatsoever you know when I design my website I did four things first of all I do have my photo up there not because of my law practice a lot of people look at my website because they want to hire me as a speaker and people who hire speakers do want to know what you look like so I do have the photo there for that reason but then I say I don't say what I worried small business lawyer do not appear anywhere on my website what I say is hi if you have a start-up or growing business here are some of the things I can do to help you and I have a bunch of bullets forming corporation forming limited liability company drafting contract you hear a lot of repetition in there I do that deliberately because I've learned that's how people search for things people don't look for a small business lawyer they look for lawyer to draft contract so let's bullet number one draft contracts if we're lawyer to form an LLC form LLC I'm doing SEO here by doing this by saying what I do as opposed to what I am I'm getting a better SEO presence online by doing that okay then the second thing I have I have a little paragraph of things that I don't do and that's just to manage my own time I don't do litigation I don't do patents I don't want to waste your time I don't want to waste my time either if you have a pass on patent a patent filed I cannot help you and I want you to know that up front then the third thing I have up there and there are lawyers in this state who think that I am the Antichrist because I do this I put my fee structure up on my website I put it there most of the things I do are flat fee I tell you what the flat fees are they're right there and I honor why because I've learned there are only two things that people care about when they hire a lawyer can you do the job and can I afford you and people are afraid to talk to lawyers about phase they hate asking about money they think we're somehow above that not true we are the worst when it comes to stuff like that so what's on my website other than my photo what I do for folks and how much I charge and then at the very bottom the fourth thing and this was just a lucky accident at the very end I couldn't think of how to end it basically I want to have a call to action I wanted to say you love questions call me you know my contact information so I put down at the very bottom still have questions question mark call me dot dot dot I don't bite seriously I cannot tell you how many times people have called me to say when I saw that lay out that tag line at the end of year I knew that you were the lawyer I wanted to work with because let's face it we don't humanize ourselves that statement humanized it made you laugh a lawyer making your left I am inviting you in call me I'm not gonna bite your head off call me you know I want you to do that you know that's the whole thing so that's my website I'm not saying every website should look like mine but that's how you do your website there shouldn't be anything there that your clients don't care about LinkedIn what I could do a whole course on LinkedIn but we're not going to talk about that but here are the two basic rules for LinkedIn watch out who you admit into your your profile I'm very careful with my LinkedIn profile I do not let every I do not let the world in there it should be on my LinkedIn profile I have to have worked with you and known you for at least two to three years seriously now that may be too restrictive but I frankly I want people to know that when they see somebody in my LinkedIn profile that person's good that's what I want to know this person is as good as I am or at least I think they are I want them to know that again if I go on your LinkedIn profile and I see you with a bunch of Yahoo's I'm going to think that you're a Yahoo to guilt by association also remember social media is two ways if you want to have friends you must be a friend you know if I'm going to go on my LinkedIn profile and ask you to buy copies of my new book you also have the right to go on my LinkedIn profile and ask me to sponsor your next 5k run for cancer or something like that okay let's talk about your consulting contracts ok real quickly most larger clients you don't have to worry about this you want you to client a contract form for them they have their form of contract it's usually 30 40 pages long they will want you to sign that just remember nothing is standard these contracts can be ago she ated these aren't like bank loan documents you can negotiate these have a lawyer look at them after two or three times you probably won't need the lawyer anymore because the same issues keep cropping up over and over again but the first couple of times have a lawyer look at them for smaller and midsize clients you will need your own suite of contracts though some allow smaller clients do not have contract forms of their own they will expect you to do them to have a set of contracts and actually I have a service where for a flat fee I will prepare a suite of consulting contracts it's about five hundred dollars that I will do a confident here the contracts you need a confidentiality and non-disclosure a short form two three page consulting agreement a subcontractor agreement for when you bring on subcontractors and a statement of work let's talk about the statement of work first the statement of work is not a legal document it is just a business stuff it is a checklist sometimes it's just one page and sometimes it's in bullet form and here's what needs to be their description of services timetable for completion list of deliverables the clients responsibilities what they are expected to produce and give you list of subcontractors if you're subcontracting any of the work out the locations where the services are to be provided are you working out of your home are you expected to be in their office three days a week and then any special terms and conditions that are unique to the contract the statement of work is an exhibit you prepare it and then you slap it on to your standard form contract as Exhibit A the contract always stays the same but the exhibit a changes with each new client and each new project that you take on as for the as for the contract itself okay believe it or not I can live with a lot of ambiguity in a consulting contract as long as three things are crystal clear I can live with I can live with a sloppy contract as long as three things are crystal clear what services are you going to perform how much money will you be paid and most importantly when will payment be due especially number three you do you have no idea how many contracts I see that are very clear on the first two but when it comes to that third thing things get a little vague and you do not want to vague contract you want to know exactly what day hour and minute you are going to get your payment or your legally title to collect your payment you do not want any ambiguity there yes 30 days after I send you my invoice yes honor before June 30th 2015 the client wants you to sign a contract saying you'll be paid upon completion no don't agree to that why when is it when is when is completion was the project complete I work with a lot of web developers here when is a web did when is a website completed never it's never done there's always little tweaks and punch lists stuff that has to be done if you let that language in your contract the client can drag you on for months and you can't do a thing about it because the contract doesn't say when you're entitled to payment never ever sign a contract that says you get paid when you're in the client is satisfied that is absolutely no no because clients are never satisfied and then also no upon client acceptance I do not like acceptance clauses when it comes to stuff like that I want to see a fixed date if you want you can say payment is due upon client acceptance but in no event later than 90 days after something specific you can do that put an outside date on it okay whoo there we go okay here are some other Travis trouble spots in the contract warranties always try to disclaim warranties I mean don't get me wrong it's perfectly okay to say in a contract I will do the work to the best of my professional ability and in accordance with industry standards that's perfectly okay but don't ever guarantee results in fact I think you should go the other way in all my retainer letters and all my contracts I always have a little less anything that says I do not guarantee that you will achieve a specific result even if you tell me what it is I cannot guarantee results I can only guarantee that I'll do the work to my best even if I even if I spend a thousand hours and form the best corporation in the world for you I cannot guarantee that you will not be sued I don't know I can't predict that no one can predict that be very careful because managing clients expectations is what the contract is all about a limitation of liability Clause always includes always include a clause in your agreement that says that even if I do screw up even if I do blow the pooch I am only liable for whatever it is you paid me all I have to do is give you your money back and you can't sue me you can't take my house away from me always throw that clause in there some people like to limit it to a hundred bucks or something like that I don't like that the courts really don't like that but if you put a clause in there that says in the event that I really do screw up my only obligation is to give you your money back most courts will enforce that and at least it note you know at least what the maximum amount of your liability is going to be here's a tough one assignment of rights and work product you're doing work for a client you're creating some deliverable for them and the client puts a clause in your contract that says that you will you hereby assign to the client all of your rights to this work product okay well let me tell you something when you do that what you're doing is you're selling that work product to them that means you cannot use it for anybody else in your consulting practice that's what that means so be very careful first of all if a client insists on that kind of language I always put language in there saying provided that client pays all amounts do to me in full I will assign make sure you get paid and then also exclude tools and materials and work product created for other clients the specific language that I use for this any work that you do for other clients they don't have any rights to and any materials that you use like templates and forms that you use for all of your clients generally should be carved out of that I mean I use forms and templates all the time when I draft contracts you know the specific contract that I do for a client I'm probably not going to use that for anybody else but the template I'm using over and over again I don't want the client to have rights to that template here are some other trouble spots insurance most clients these days are going to want you not just to have insurance but insurance in specific amounts we talked about this general liability errors and omissions does anybody here know what a waiver of subrogation is this is something you have to talk to your insurance company about when you when something bad happens let's say that you do to a project for somebody and you do make a mistake the client Sue's you and your insurance company pays the liability okay well in most insurance policies is a clause called subrogation that says that at that point they take over and they get whatever rights you had to sue somebody else so let's say for example you had a subcontractor and the subcontractor was the one who blew it you your insurance pays the liability the client is paid off but now under that subrogation clause your insurance company it now wants to go after the subcontractor the person who really screwed up what a waiver of subrogation clause says is that the insurance company cannot do that once the insurance company pays out they can't assume nobody that's what a waiver of subrogation because some insurers will not let you sign a waiver of subrogation clause before you sign a waiver of subrogation clause it'll usually say waiver of subrogation talk to your insurance company find out what you can and cannot do non-compete clauses never sign them really seriously I'm actually nobody no consultant should ever sign a client say that I will not work for you know another company in the same industry for two years that's ridiculous you should never sign it if anybody asks you to sign that go running to an attorney immediately because you need help that can block you out of doing business non-solicitation clauses though are a different matter a non Cilician patient clause is something that says for a period for as long as we're working together and for a period of two years you will not solicit business from any of our customers employees you won't hire way our employees those are okay those the courts are much more likely to enforce as opposed to a naked non-compete that says you won't compete with them those are okay but be very careful try to limit it so for example some non solicitation clauses that I see will say you shall not solicit or accept business from one of our customers so let's say for example you do work for a company one of the customers sees you they think you're great and now three weeks later the customer calls you and says hey we bumped into each other when you were doing that job for XYZ Corp we really like your work we want to hire you if you sign the clause saying you will not solicit or accept business you can't say you cannot have that conversation you have to hang up if that's what you told them that you were that's what you told the company you would do so be very careful this little these things get very language specific there they are there these are not boilerplate terms and conditions get a lawyer to help you assignment and subcontracting clauses make very clear that you're allowed to subcontract if you have to if you get sick or something like that you can't complete a job make sure that the client allows you to subcontract as long as the cus up contractor is reasonably acceptable to them most clients what you do that and then the governing law the choice of forum you do not want to be dragged to California in the event that you have a lawsuit with one of your clients don't assume the governing law clause I mean most companies want to have that be in their home territory of course because they want to litigate on their home turf but there our ways you can negotiate that language don't ever assume that anything is boilerplate okay subcontract here are the important provisions that need to be there you want to be sure you are very clear who's going to do what's let's say for example you're an IT consultant you're doing this work for a company but the client also wants some web design you're not a web designer so you bring in my friend over here who's a web designer as a subcontractor and the two of you are going to work together you want to be very clear in the subcontract who's going to do what does the subcontractor get to contact the client directly or only through you let me tell you what your little secret about subcontractors they all want to steal your clients right you bring in a subcontractor inevitably the client likes them better than they like you and their and that's if the subcontractor is a nasty person they're going to try to go behind your back we call that circumvention you want to have some language in there like and let that what says that you know for a period of one year the subcontractor will not solicit business from any client or any person that you introduced to them that's very common and then last but not least we call this the monkey in the middle clause make sure there's a clause in there that says the subcontract it's paid only when you actually receive money you don't want to be in a situation where you owe your subcontractor money but the client owes money to you that's called the monkey in the middle problem and remember that game from childhood the monkey in the middle was not an enviable place to be and this is not that it's the same here so the clauses you need in your sub contracts also - another thing to watch out for here watch out for the inadvertent partnership okay Moe Larry and curly come to my office they're working on a project together you got to use the Three Stooges okay it's just it's there's a federal law you got to use the features Moe Larry and curly you know I hire a firm Moe Larry and curly come over they're doing this job for me they're all working together they're all yelling and screaming slapping each other and all this stuff I think they're partners right so something bad happens I don't know who to sue I don't know who screwed up so I sue all three of them and then they all come back with lawyers saying wait a minute we weren't partners Moe was the real guy you contracted with we're Larry and curly are just subcontractors well guess what folks I didn't know nothing about that they didn't say nothing about that so guess what the law says I can treat them as partners I can sue all of them even though it was Moe who really screwed up so be careful make sure whenever you're doing work with a subcontractor that you disclose to the client that you are subcontracting this is not this trail over here is not my partner this person here is my subcontractor make sure the client knows that okay otherwise the two of you could be liable for each other's screw-ups that's well that's what partners are all about all for one one for all we all go down together you do not want to be in that situation with somebody you barely know okay what happens when clients don't pay stop work immediately this is the probably the fourth biggest thing the consultants make mistakes on the minute you have a problem or collecting their receivable stop working stop digging that hole big receivables problems almost always start out as small ones that get out of hand okay with the minute you see a client is paying late stop talk to the client work something out but don't keep working keep making that bill bigger and bigger and bigger okay because the longer it goes on the less likely it is you're going to get paid work out a payment schedule or a reduction in the amounts owed and always put a clause in your client that says I call it the two strikes you're out clause if you have failed to make payments on time twice within 12-month period I have the right to terminate the relationship and good luck that's a clause that should be in all your contracts mediation arbitration small claims court I have some stuff on my website if you want to know about small claims court but here's a great trick by the way if the question that people always like to ask is can I go medieval can I go postal the answer is you really can't there's federal laws that say you can't do that it's called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that restricts how you can collect debts and stuff like that but here's a Jerry little trick and I really I think I'm okay saying it on video I think it's such a cute a client of mine actually does this and it's absolutely brilliant if you ever get a client that owes you a significant amount of money and you know the client is never going to pay you you know here's a great trick right the debt off call them up and say I forgive the debt you know what it's quite clear you're never going to pay me here Joe I'm forgiving the debt and send them a letter certified mail saying this is to confirm that I am forgiving the amount that you owe me in the amount of fifteen thousand but I am NOT going to you know we're not gonna do business ever again but I am forgiving this debt you don't know what to me have fun have a nice life yours very truly whatever okay send it by certified mail the client of course home thank you thank you thank you then wait till January and send them a 1099 Mis C ten a nine miss like you know why because you only think about tax law if you forgive a debt that's income to the debtor if so what forgives my mortgage just like someone put that money in my pocket and the IRS recognizes this so you send them a 1099 so now when you start going to get your money back but now they gotta pay taxes to the IRS and you send a copy of that sucker to the IRS again it's all there you set him a letter by certified mail you forgave the debt he didn't question it you got him justice you know the world is junk the world is just we call that the old 1099 trick oh here we go Harry let's keep going okay growing your practice here I refer to this as the 24/7 when you are a consultant you are selling your time at the end of the day you're not really selling services you're selling your time and there's only 24 hours in a day seven days a week consulting is a non scalable business that means in order to grow your business you have to add people and spend more money okay hiring training employees interns do you want to be a manager rather than a doer this is the question you have to be I'm wrestling with this right now somebody asked me just at dinner tonight you know cliff are you still doing all this crap yourself and the answer is yes because I don't want to grow a firm I just don't want to be a manager I'm perfectly happy practicing law I don't really want to grow a firm and become a manager I'm being responsible for in my students and my interns and my young lawyers mistakes I don't want that and I'm perfectly some people want to build an empire that's great but keep in mind that the more you hire people the more you're going to end up supervising them and being a manager and being less the professional that you want to be and then also a big problem you have is making sure your employees don't steal your clients okay that's that's something else too inevitably once you once you delegate too much to an employee the client gets to view them as their lawyer consultant whatever and you have lost the client okay selling your practice exit strategy every business has an exit strategy what's yours going to be I'm going to work till I drop I'm going to work till I'm 90 serious I have people people tell me that the nice thing about being a consultant you can work as long as you functioning brain cells so in my case I still got a couple of years left that I can do okay but it there may come a time when you want to sell it when it comes time make sure you sell the assets of your business don't sell them your LLC sell them the assets of the business that way they don't assume any liabilities other than ones that they specifically agree to assume they will want it that way and and now you will be asked to sign a non-compete by the way so make sure that that language is very carefully drafted expect a royalty arrangement for a personal service business people are not going to pay you $300,000 what's good at what they're going to do instead is they're going to say something like this they're going to say here's the deal cliff I'm going to pay your 25,000 upfront then what you're going to do is you're going to give me your client list we're going to make this an exhibit to the contract and any business that I get from your clients for the next five years I will give you 25% of the gross production or twenty percent usually fifteen twenty twenty-five percent that's called a royalty I'm getting a royalty on your sales from my clients for the next five years any new business that you bring in that's yours you get to keep it I don't get a piece of it but anything that comes from my client list these people that you would not have known about if you had not bought my practice I will get fifteen twenty twenty five percent of the gross for a period of usually it's three to five years why do you do it that way because that gives you an incentive to hang around and make sure that that person that the person keeps your clients the canet the Medical Association here in our state has told me that when an old doctor retires and sells out to a younger doctor how many of the patients do you think leave at during the first two years what percent you may want to guess close sixty percent in this state and will mention what that is but you know other states may be different but on average when a young doctor sells out to a younger doctor 60% of the patients change doctors in the next two years right you definitely want to make sure that old doctor hangs around and manages if I'm not young doctor I want to make I'm putting a quarter of a million dollars into this practice you know for equipment and stuff I want to make sure that old doctor hangs around and helps and then the last thing is when you sell your practice always ask for a tail on your errors and omissions policy that's a clause that says that they will in if you if you made a mistake before you sold your practice they will still cover you even if the lawsuit is bought is brought three to five years later that's called a tail always make sure you have a tail on your ëno is malpractice coverage think of it as malpractice coverage the same as a lawyer has okay we're almost done here's what we've covered okay all the things that we've talked about here are some excellent books that will help you if you are starting a solo consulting practice you will notice they have two very very good things in common and this is indeed what I look like some of you will see if you look at the photo on my website I do look like that when I lose about 50 60 pounds it's not quite fraud yet but it's heading in that but it is heading in that direction this one is a little bit I did use a little bit of a wide-angle thing I'm really not a PowerPoint person but this is all my contact information with Muslim of my websites and that is it that's really all I have to say thank you ladies and gentlemen you've been very patient and you've just been a wonderful audience thank you very much for the public record four seconds left to go on the timer okay so those of you think I don't look at the timer there you go okay of the book sure you bet okay these are two of my best cells seriously go to Amazon and click on cliff enik oh that's what I go by I've written 15 books some are for lawyers some are for a regular folks but these are two of my best sellers if you know anybody by the way who sells on ebay this has become the Bible for eBay sellers eBay actually endorses this book recommends this book to their new sellers it's the best book on tax and legal issues for people who sell at retail online for what that's worth it's okay so any questions at all that I can answer either on legal topics or not was that good well that's rare madam do I have any advice for women on how to do this okay first of all I don't really think that women and men sell all that differently the real the real difference is how do you add value to the customer's life when you're selling to someone you know I don't think there's a male and a female way of selling there are some people who are more more comfortable with female consultant so for example if I'm selling to a client lawfirm let's say that has predominantly female partners I will bring a female colleague to that meeting because I want them to know that that I'm female friendly but that would be one reason for example but that's I really don't think it depends on the services that you're providing I will tell you when it comes to web designers there are two kinds of web designers and there really is I think a sexual difference between them there's there's one kind that really is great at design they can make the pages just look beautiful and pop and they know everything there is to know about colors but the sites are slow and clunky and they don't work very well then there's the second type of web designer who really understands how to make things flow and they'll have a site move quickly and go from page to page and page but they just don't have a sense of designs of the site looks butt-ugly I do find that there is a male-female correlation very often between those two kinds of web designers I'm just just that one particular group you know the females tend to be more on the design side and the guys tend to be better with the technology but that's not a stereotype that's just one example for example so if I'm looking for a web designer I always have to ask myself you know what am I looking for and I might be a little prejudiced toward the female if I'm looking on looking at the design side just because I think that they'll do a better job yes the whole question the question you're asking is is it better to have employees or independent contractors in certain environments and really it's a tough thing I always say did you ever read Machiavelli the Prince you know the book of political strategy the Renaissance guy and one of his chapters he talks about military and he says you know if you really want to protect your city you must make sure to have troops of your own never rely on mercenaries he says because mercenaries have a nasty habit of going with whoever pays them the most they have no loyalties these are just hired swords or hired guns you know so that would be the best advice I think comes from Machiavelli there I think if you're really trying to build a brand and grow a successful I see a lot of young people today doing what I call virtual companies where there are no employees it's just you know there's a CEO and then there's a bunch of people all work in 1099 part-time well first of all those people have to watch out about the employee versus independent contractor thing you know if you're working 20 hours a week you know at set times for this company you are not an independent contractor you're an employee the IRS is eyes but also too they have to ask yourself what's the value here you know I mean someone's working for me and they're working for you know they're living on Red Bull they're working 80 hours a week but all of a sudden they get a full-time job boom they're going to be gone and guess what they own 20% of my company because that's what I offered them when they came on board I have a little problem with the virtual company I don't think you can run a company with a hundred percent independent contractors and although that does not stop a lot of big companies from trying it certainly doesn't any other questions sir what industry is not shrinking right now I mean seriously I mean we're going to a Turley virtual world you know by the way I have another youtube video up on my youtube channel which you want to look at it's when I recorded just recently called the Four Horsemen of Corporate America as in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse what is it more famine pestilence and death right seriously it's it's actually one of my most requested talk and I have it up on my youtube channel about four megatrends that are driving the corporate job market right now it's not a very exciting talk I will warn you you might have some liquor handy when you listen to this one that's not so much this one this is one of the better ones but seriously if you really want to know what's going on in the economy today that's one YouTube video that I would refer you to the question is you come from a commercial banking background you have a military background that tells me - a lot about you I would think that you what you want to do is you want to go out and consult the banks but don't not necessarily on the operations or whatever it was that you were doing for your former or your current employer yeah but coming from a military background you also have a lot of credibility which you may not recognize you have in training and development and incurring and instilling discipline in people a lot of organizations have trouble with discipline now because let's face it they did away with the draft 50 years ago or 45 years ago a lot of people don't have a military background and the military gives you many things but one of the things it gives you is organizational discipline show me someone who's been in the military and I will show you a very very good worker and a very loyal worker and a very hardworking person all right by teaching those kinds of skills especially to companies that have a lot of younger workers I think that's an area now that's HR that's not something that you've historically done but because of your background I think you'd have a very strong credit but that's an example / example by the way what I meant by not being limited to what's on your resume and not being a prisoner your resume use a little creativity you have a lot to teach people more than just the specifics technical things that you did when you were working for your former employer in fact if I if I can bore you for about five minutes I want to share a story with you there's good news and there's bad news here about consulting the good news is even in this crappy economy there is there are tons of jobs available for good consultants there's a ton of work available for good consultants there is that's the good news but here's the bad news very little of that work is stuff that's on your resume right now today the kind of things the kind of jobs the companies need done are going to be at an angle to the stuff that you have done historically and that what appears on your resume maybe a small angle may be enough to saengil okay that's where it's going to be sooner or later if you if you're successful and you pitch a company and they like you I guarantee sooner or later you're going to have this conversation the person is going to say to you you know what Joe I like you I really think you're taking a very nice view of this I really like the way you handle yourself here listen I got this little job over here it's a frugal Framus that's just a made-up word it's a frugal Framus project I do have a budget for it but I don't wanna put any of my full timers on it we're looking for someone from outside the organization to do it can you help us with this because really we could use some help you want to get this job done quickly whatever the frugal Framus is I guarantee it is something you yourself it is relevant to your field it is something you kind of know about but it's not on your resume it's not something you've ever actually done okay here's how a loser handles that situation oh well I'm gonna I don't I don't Jackie Gleason The Honeymooners 1950 anima I don't I just don't know anything frugal framers I kind of know I just I've never done it I don't know anybody else who does I'm sorry I just this isn't this isn't something I'm comfortable with that's how well and at that point of course the interview is over the only reason you were in that person's office was because they wanted to get that frugal framers project in somebody's hands right here's how a winner handles is want to pick you at the front row here just because you well so I know you too I know you don't buy but let's go straight now look him straight in the eye say Bruegel Framus yep I can help you with that smile I contact do not show fear do not show fear because they can spot they're like Rottweilers they can spot they can smell fear guarantee if you do this the response is going to be really you know about frugal Framus because let me see what's happening here this guy has been trying for months to get this frugal promise project off his desk right he's interviewed dozens of people no one feels comfortable with it and you know why cuz nobody knows how to do frugal Fannie's there's nobody out there who's done this crap before nobody what that tells you you know as much as all of your competent competitors you know as much as anybody who's out there remember the line I don't remember where it's from it's from the Bible in the land of the blind the one-eyed person is king you ever hear that face this is that situation okay you know as much as anybody else so why shouldn't you get the gig and do it and become the frugal framers expert no seriously here's me because I guarantee so we could do here's what you do right you say yes the guy's like well how much do you charge remember you're going to have some learning time in here this is not something you've done before so make sure your price high do not under price this job otherwise you really will be cheating yourself then when you get me to get the deal get the deal get the handshake on the elevator going down to the lobby that's when you go holy crap what did I just do what I did too and let's face it you're going to go out you're going to go home you're going to buy frugal Framus for dummies you'll learn how to do it it's not rocket science it is in your field it's something you should know how to do this is how you learn people you know you weren't born knowing the things that you did how to do things that you know how to do today you know how to do these things because someone gave you a frugal Framus and you had to figure it out okay that's how you learn I'm just saying keep it up this is how opportunities come in the real world when you're out there pitching consulting stuff throw your net widely see what comes in like any good fisherman or Fisher person does you know sooner or later someone's going to throw you a frugal Framus say yes figure out how to do it and let it take you where it's going to take you because it might just take you to someplace really really fantastic I love telling that story not just about me but because it's exactly how this world works you can go out there pitching a B C D and E for years but if everybody's asking for F then F is what you should be doing figure out how to do it editor your arsenal and make it happen because that's it's not about what you can do it's about what the world wants learn how to do it ma'am you were dying to ask your question before the the real question you're asking the question is basically there's something you really want to do but it requires certain education certain training and you're not likely to get a job offer unless you have those letters after your name well you kind of answered the question yourself which is if you don't have the letters after your name you're not likely to get that kind of you're not going to get that kind of work you can want to be a patent lawyer as much as you want to be but if you don't have a law degree it's not you're not going to get anywhere in from an engineering degree on top of it you're not going to be much good even if you have a law degree I wouldn't be a very good patent lawyer so the yes the question is you decide if the opportunity is worth it or not I'm kind of wrestling with this truth with this myself out let me give you an example I have a lot of people at least once a week I get a call from somebody who wants me to trademark their company name okay I don't usually do trademark filings from my clients they tend to be very complicated very icky I've been referring these people to a local trademark lawyer Raschi to trademark lawyers for many years but every week now I'm starting to get two three calls like this so I'm kind of wondering now how long and how difficult would it be for me to learn enough trademark law that I could do a basic trademark registration you know is it worth is the investment of time worth the additional money that I would get by picking up that new skillset you know and possibly take on the bigger risk of a malpractice case if I really screw up one of my first few jobs that's the that's the trade off you know is the money worth it is it worth the years of training be very careful the world is changing so rapidly you can spend five years of your life training for something that no one's going to want in five years here's my best advice do you know how to code software okay seriously there are schools in New York City they are called coding academies they're privately run and basically all they do is they teach you how to code different types of software you know either the Microsoft stuff the Android stuff you sign for different programs Apple stuff depending on what you're interested in and they teach you all the various programming languages how to do different things you know in whatever programming language you sign up for the typical course is six to eight weeks the typical cost is usually two to three thousand dollars its total immersion you will do nothing else with your life for the six to eight weeks but learn a specific programming language but let me tell you they're great their placement rate on graduation 100 percent for the hot you know the new startups in Silicon Alley in Manhattan they all get there people from these coding academies the best advice I can give any young person in high school today is whatever you learn whatever you major in whatever learn how to code software mark Andreus and the guy who founded Netscape back in the 90s said in 10 years everything is going to be software and the people who will be will be able to survive and grow are the people who know how to run that software and how to make those machines sing anybody else is going to be run by those machines the machine is going to be the boss ok that's a very hard I mean that's a very cold message but I think he's right in a lot of ways learn spend six to eight weeks of your life learning how to code there's a cartoon in this mix in a New Yorker by the way I always read the cartoons in The New Yorker it shows this guy who's kind of like he's in a hospital bed he's on life support and there's this doctor hovering over him who's obviously giving him bad news and he says we're sorry mister so-and-so but your liver transplant got taken by somebody who knew how to code funny but that's the world we're looking into listen the library wants us out of here in 15 minutes I have some things to do I got to get all these wires off me I'll hang around for a few minutes I have any specific questions you don't want the IRS to know about I'll be more than happy to do that but otherwise thank you very much guys you've been a great crowd and you know where to reach me if you have any other questions all right

Channel: Cliff Ennico

Views: 119,488

Rating: 4.8949342 out of 5

Keywords: Business, Consultant (Industry), Training, Coaching, consulting, 1099, independent contractor vs. employee, home office, marketing a consulting practice

Id: 2YF0_N7DuwA

Length: 79min 47sec (4787 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 07 2015