Why am I doing this?

[I recommend you print out this email and spend some quiet time reading it]

A few things have happened recently to make me question why I have decided to use my creativity, my sales and marketing skills, my compassion, love, energy and care to educate and inspire lawyers.

There are plenty of ways to make money. I'm VERY creative and a great marketer. And, frankly my coaches and mentors have told me I'm giving away WAY TOO MUCH of myself in all of this.

Then a colleague forwarded me an email that made me want to throw up my hands and walk away from all of it.

The emailer questioned my motives because he signed up for my free e-newsletter and in it I was plugging my free 2-month membership in my Practice Management and Marketing Mastermind.

And that, he said, made the hair on his neck stand-up.

WTF? If you don't know email shorthand it stands for something that ends with a four letter-word and I'll let you figure out which one.

He completely ignored the tons of great and FREE information I've given on marketing, sales, and general business.

If you've missed any of my messages, you can read back issues here on my blog.

Why do you think I'm sending this free e-newsletter everyday?

Is it so that you'll sign-up for my paid membership programs and products I'm creating? 

Heck yes! But, that wouldn't be nearly enough to give me the energy I need to keep me going so I can run multiple businesses, and raise my kids while supporting two households (yes, I support my ex-husband). If you have no idea what I'm talking about regarding the energy I need - you'd better listen to my call with Michael Gerber from last month; he explains it MUCH better than I ever could.

Here's why I'm doing it:

Our business model sucks! It doesn't serve us and it definitely doesn't serve our clients.

I have a vision of reframing the model so that we can serve our clients with care, compassion and love, and truly make a difference in the lives of our clients and their families while at the same time making a great living and spending time with our own families.

I became a lawyer because I wanted to solve people's problems, be a trusted family advisor, and make a difference in the lives of the people I worked with.

That's what I thought a lawyer was.

When I was growing up, my dad had a lot of lawyers in his life and they were trusted advisors to him helping him to make good decisions and oftentimes stepping in to make things right after he'd made a bad decision. 

I became a lawyer thinking that's what it would be like.

But then I graduated law school, went to work for a big law firm and was rudely awakened. I found out that we didn't have relationships with our clients; we entered into transactions.

We drafted documents, clients signed them and went on their way.

I thought it was just the big firm life and decided I'd start my own firm. I hung out my shingle imagining the relationships I'd have with my clients only to find out that our business model has devolved us glorified document sellers looking for the next great document we can sell our clients so that we can generate more revenue for our firms - can you say IRA Trust? Natalie Choate did.

I heard a lot of attorneys talking about the relationship they had with their clients, but what I found out was that relationship meant they'd customized the documents. But, when it came right down to it, it was still about the documents. I discovered that VERY FEW lawyers were actually having any kind of a relationship with their clients.

And, I was as guilty as the next guy. I felt horrible everytime I talked to my clients about relationship and then sold them an expensive set of documents I knew were unlikely to really help their family at the time of their death.

What do I mean when I say the documents were unlikely to help the family? Well, does this sound familiar to you at all?

Clients come in and meet with us, we prepare some documents, the client signs the documents (often not understanding what they've signed), they go on their way checking off "done" on their to-do list, stick the documents on a shelf, and never look at them again. 

In MOST (not all) cases, they don't hear from their lawyer ever again and if they do, it's to sell them the latest and greatest document that won't ever get updated and so won't likely when their family needs it anyway. 

And the lawyer? Well, we've moved onto the next client, not necessarily because we don't want to have a relationship with our clients, but because we have to focus all of our mental and emotional energy on keeping the pipeline full lest we starve.

The clients life changes, their assets change, and the law changes, but the documents they spent thousands of dollars on? They stay the same. And in many (if not most) cases, the documents were boiler plate documents that didn't really reflect the clients desires - I'm so freakin' tired of seeing trusts that REQUIRE me to split assets after the first death when there is NO legitimate reason to do so other than that's what the boiler plate form said to do and the lawyer didn't care enough or know enough to consider anything other than the mandatory funding that was built into their document software. 

And, in many, many, many cases the lawyer never made sure the assets were titled properly and so the family has to deal with a nightmare at death to the lack of funding.

And, don't tell me this doesn't happen as the "I don't have an obligation to fund my clients' plans because they always do what I say and make sure their assets are transferred" crowd insists - my in-laws died with an unfunded plan and a letter in their EP binder that said "congratulations on your estate plan, now go transfer your assets." At the time, I thought the law firm who they had worked with had committed malpractice (I was in law school) and only after going into law practice learned it's not mal-practice, it's common practice.

(And, listen, I'm not condemning you for not transferring your clients assets; I understand how hard it is to ensure this is done properly. Imagine how hard it is for the clients!)

Then, something happens to the client. And, the family locates the documents only to find that the lawyer has moved, died, or gone out of business. Or, if the lawyer is still in business couldn't possibly remember their departed loved one as that person met with them hundreds or in today's day of the 20,000 client office thousands of clients ago.

So, the family brings the outdated plan to another attorney for an administration that may or may not be done properly and is unlikely to really reflect the wishes of the decedent anyway.

Is this why you want to law school? I don't think so!

Think back. Why did you go? If you are like me, it was because you wanted to help people and knew that being a lawyer meant empowerment, it meant helping people solve their problems. At least that's what it meant for me. 

And, I became an estate planning lawyer because I thought it meant being a trusted advisor helping clients throughout theirlife and caring for their family at death. What I found out, is that it means preparing documents that are likely not to work when the client dies anyway.

So, I come back to the first thing I said: I realized shortly after getting into my own practice that our business model sucks! And, it doesn't only suck for us, it sucks for our clients too.

So, this gets us back to why am I doing this?

I'm doing this - the Family Wealth Planning Institute and Law Business Secrets - because I've found the way to inspire people to action, plan for them with efficiency, compassion and caring, and serve them for life in a way that is emotionally AND financially profitable for both the client AND the lawyer.

And, now I want to share that with you in a way that is emotionally and financially profitable for me and for you as well.

Am I crazy? It's quite possible. And I've got to tell you, right now it feels like an uphill battle.

The question for you is why are you reading this?

If it's because I've struck a chord, then you are welcome to be here. Join the Family Wealth Planning Institute Inner Circle and my Law Business Secrets Practice Management and Marketing Mastermind. If you are a member already, participate in the online Google group if you can figure out how to get in (sorry it's so confusing, we are working on it).

If you think I'm full of **it or I'm just in this for the money or you realize you are just in this for the money, what I want you to do right now is this: take your mouse and move your cursor over to that link on the bottom of my email that says unsubscribe and click it right now. 

That way you won't get my emails anymore. I don't want you on my list. I realize now I made a big mistake in my outreach strategy. I've been much too kind and inclusive. 

The fact of the matter is that I only want you participating in my programs, reading my emails, and buying my products if you share my vision. I'm sorry I haven't been clear with you about what that vision is - this message is the first step towards rectifying that. 

Oh, and if you are not a kind person (and you know if you aren't) you should unsubscribe too. I have a strict policy that you MUST treat my team with dignity and respect and if you can't do that when there are mistakes (as there will be considering I'm revolutionizing an industry here), then you should also get off my list right now. 

If you are still on my list tomorrow, I'll be sending you a gift for your support. If you aren't, good luck and best wishes for the future.

Dedicated to YOU Loving Your Practice,

~ Alexis