How one lawyer uses Joe’s Goals
The surest way to be more productive, to be more consistent, and to accomplish what you’ve set for yourself is to track. Track, track, track. Track in detail. Track daily. Dieters know this, businesses know this, and Joe’s Goals users know this.
James Gross is a Lawyer and Joe’s Goals user who tracks his productivity daily. I asked him if he could write up a quick summary of his efforts so other users can get ideas from his example:
I am the managing partner of Thyden, Gross and Callahan, a law firm with 8 lawyers and 3 staff in Chevy Chase, Maryland. We practice in Maryland, DC and Virginia. That’s a lot to keep track of so I use checklists a lot. I have set up Joe’s Goals to track the activities the make money for me.
First is marketing activities. I write three blogs and an email newsletter, all of which generate new leads. So those goals are called:
- Answer Desk
- Divorce Blog
- Father’s Rights Blog
- Newsletter
Second, is my Simplified Contact Management System. I need a way to track whether my marketing activities are paying off. I have tried several other systems but I find all of them have too many bells and whistles for what I need. So I made up my own simple system using Joe’s Goals. These goals are called:
- Leads
- New Cases
This tells me if my marketing activities are paying off. Each telephone call or email from a prospective client gets a checkmark. When I collect a retainer, I put a checkmark in New Cases. I can see each week how many leads and how many new cases I got.
Finally, I produce these financial reports every day. With the computer it only takes a few seconds. This is how we count the money we are making.
- Hours & Dollars
- Key Numbers
- Four Billable Hours
The first is a tally of dollars for the work we are doing for the month that has not yet been billed. The second is a summary of our bank accounts, loans, daily hits on our website and financial condition of the firm. The last is my daily goal for billable hours. Oh, and I have, one more Joe’s Goal, which is Exercise. That one helps me keep all the other goals in perspective.
[…] But Joe’s Goals is a tool for those “putting a habit in place” goals - flossing nightly, working out three times a week, blogging daily, and so forth. Pretty simple - ticks are for achieved, crosses for not achieved; smiley faces are for “positive” habits, frowny faces for “negative” habits such as giving up fast food. There’s also a log book you can fill in. (And apparently even lawyers are using it for professional goals). […]