Not long ago, I was asked to make a presentation at a state bar's Law Practice Management Committee luncheon. Topic? Getting clients, of course. When we opened things up for questions, a gentleman in the back said, “You make it sound like the only way to get clients is to specialize!” Ummm.

Last month, Apple unveiled its new iPhone X to much fanfare. Perhaps what created the most fanfare was its price. It starts at $999 — hundreds more than the older iPhone 7 and the brand-new iPhone 8.  You don’t need a Ph.D. in Economics to understand the logic behind Apple’s pricing strategy. It’s simple. Apple hopes that for many, owning a high-priced phone will become a status symbol, much like owning a luxury car. In short, having an iPhone X broadcasts prestige, prominence and stature.

Yes, it’s already mid-October. No, you’re not the only one asking, “How did that happen?” The holidays are right around the corner, and they seem to come earlier each year. One question I often get at this time of year is, “Are holiday marketing efforts worth it?” The answer is, yes and no. The holidays give you an excellent opportunity to strengthen client relationships and stay top-of-mind. But marketing materials that are too salesy often fall flat or, worse, are a complete turnoff. Holiday cards are not brochures.

Do you know what separates the most successful law firms from the rest? How they spend 10 percent of their time, according to the Thomson Reuters 2016 State of U.S. Small Law Firms Study. Inefficient allocation of your time has a direct impact on law firm success. How can you adopt time-saving routines and improve your time management so you can spend more time on money generating activity and find work-life balance?

Self-employed lawyers rely heavily on their ability to propel their businesses forward — more so than lawyers employed by others or partners of large firms. Fail to keep the engines going and your practice will close. Too much propulsion, however, and you might have the opposite problem: a practice thriving beyond your capacity to handle it. Fear of success holds many of us back from fulfilling our true potential in solo and small firm practice.

Basically, Google is the internet these days. Nobody says, “Go search this on the internet.” They say, “Google it.” Google's goal is to deliver to the searcher — you, me and your potential client — the most relevant content as quickly as possible. And now searchers can get just about all the information they want about you and your business without even clicking over to your website. In fact, today, 34 percent of searches made on Google get no clicks whatsoever.

Figuring out what to write about on my blogs is a challenge I face every week, especially with our firm's patent blog. (I practice intellectual property, but not patent law.) I worry that my posts won’t be helpful or interesting enough to be worth reading, and therefore won’t do anything to help the law firm or my reputation. At Content Marketing World, I always come away with inspiration and practical information to apply to my marketing. At this year's conference, I was reminded that my audience is always telling me what content they’re looking for — if I take the time to look.

Last week in New Orleans, I had the privilege of attending my first Clio Cloud Conference. Though I could talk about the presenters and programs all day, the overall theme that stuck was far more interesting than any one session. I came away with a sense of how limitless the possibilities are in the legal profession today, and of how any barriers in front of us can be not just broken, but blasted.

Most law schools don’t offer courses in branding, so how do you go about establishing a personal brand for your law practice and make your expertise visible? Here’s a checklist that can help get you started.

You’re an unstoppable legal machine. You churn through a hundred pages of briefs and legal research every day. You’re running two phones, a tablet, a laptop and a portable fax machine off a light pole at the airport. Your inbox is an email volcano. You’ve heard of people who go for zero inbox but you figure they’re urban myths like Bigfoot. Your productivity is relentless. Which is great for the bottom line. When your billable hours are like a red-hot furnace propelling your firm's success train at 100 mph down a track that leads to profit, it might be hard to see how backing off the throttle will get you there faster.