Client Service, Innovation, Law Office Economics, Marketing, Practice of Law Client Service, Innovation, Law Office Economics, Marketing, Practice of Law

The Mobile Lawyer 2.0

It has been a long while since I've been so WOW'd by a business model as I've been this morning.  Simply put, this is the BEST template I've seen for building a home-based practice from, of all people, a physician.  Dr. Jay Parkinson, MD is building a web-based medical practice.  From his website:

  • I AM A NEW KIND OF PHYSICIAN.
  • I strictly make house calls either at your home or work. 
  • Once you become my patient and I've personally met you, we can also e-visit by video chat, IM and email for certain problems and follow-ups.
  • I'm based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  My fees are very reasonable.
  • I'm extremely accessible.  Contact me by phone, email, IM, text, or video chat.  Mon-Fri 8AM-5PM.  24/7 for emergencies.
  • I specialize in young adults age 18 to 40 without traditional health insurance.
  • When you need more than I provide, I make sure you wisely spend your money and pay the lowest price for the highest quality.
  • I've gathered costs for NYC specialists, medications, x-rays, MRIs, ER visits, blood tests, etc...just like a Google price search.
  • I mix the service of an old-time, small town doctor with the latest technology to keep you and your bank account healthyl

How much for this service?  According to the "How it Works" on his site, his fee is "far less than your yearly coffee budget but a little more than your Netflix."  His web site also provides "Real Life Examples" that describe, in plain English, how you'd use his service.  Oh, and he's blogging, too.

Lawyers, if you are looking for a real dose of inspiration (or a glimpse to the future of mobile practice) you HAVE to check this Parkinson's site and business model.  Simply brilliant.  Great idea, great web site, amazing copy.  If I were still practicing, I'd steal it in a heartbeat.  Look at it now.

Via: Zoli's Blog.

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Innovation, Marketing Innovation, Marketing

Lose Your Receptionst's Desk?

Via Brand Autopsy comes a pointer to the Building Better Restaurants Blog's Top Ten Reasons to Take a Sledgehammer to Your Host Stand.  I think a lot of these are also good reasons to rethink/redesign/remove your receptionist's desk:

  1. It accumulates clutter that is an eyesore.
  2. It does not have any functional utility for the guest.
  3. It allows staff to “hide” from the guest.
  4. It forces the guest to come to you, and not the other way around.
  5. It becomes a hub for business other than the business of the guest.
  6. It becomes a leaning tool and not a Hosting [verb] tool.
  7. It will force you to talk to your guests and actually “Host” [verb] the guest experience.
  8. It will force more physical contact with the guest and thereby a more meaningful greeting.
  9. It will allow the guest to take in the whole “show” as they enter and immediately be caught up in the experience more.
  10. Because you don’t have one at your house when you host people there!
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Innovation Innovation

Dis[is the]place to be Creative

My friend Scott Ginsberg has another great post on building your own creative environment.  The best tip:

Make a list of five alternate environments for your creative success.Perhaps your art is more conducive to the park, the bus station orsitting in a public square. If so, great! Experiment by displacing yourself regularly.

Onceyou’ve narrowed your list down to a few options, visit them regularly.Learn to incorporate various components of creative stimulation intoyour “portable creative environment.”

That way you can thrive anywhere!

As someone who has been on the road a lot lately, I'm going to give it a try.

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Client Service, Innovation Client Service, Innovation

Youth Plus Inexperience Equal Success

I ran across a paper published by my friend Betha L. Whitlow, the director of the Visual Resources Collection at Washington University, titled "The Shock of the New: Using Youth and Inexperience as Tools for Success."  In the paper (link to Word document), Betha argues that newcomers to her field of Visual Resources should view their youth and inexperience as distinct advantages to be leveraged, not handicaps to be overcome: 

[Because] there are still many people at your institution who are unable to letgo of the previous culture, thus limiting their ability to move forwardand offer your institution a new and highly productive perspective ... [i]t is my belief that by the very nature of being a [young] Visual Resources professional, you are uniquely positioned to be at the forefront of changes in the culture of your institution. With just a little bit of a brave and diplomatic push forward, [you] can embody the new role of the resource provider, promote interdisciplinary teaching and learning, be the model of the flexible professional, and tread the fine line between providing access to solid yet technologically innovative resources.

Young professionals, take this advice to heart.  There are plenty of things you don't know, and even more things you'll never know.  Get used to it.  Use your ignorance to your benefit.  The most significant advantage you possess over those who've come before you is that you don't believe what they do.  Because you've never "always done it that way," you're free to do it differently.  Question the business model.  Deliver products (yes, products) and services your elders would never consider.  Embrace technology.  Innovate.  Revel in your inexperience.  You have but one opportunity to start from scratch.  Don't waste it.

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Innovation Innovation

Idea Market X

The tenth Idea Market takes place Monday.  We are going to be doing some cool things, including working on personal mission statements and learning how to give better presentations by using children's books.  If you'd like to come, sign up here.

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Innovation, Marketing Innovation, Marketing

Get Your Clients Home Free

The Springwise Blog has a story on a pilot program in Minneapolis (where I'll be next week) called Get Home Free.  Here's how it works:

Launched in eleven Minneapolis suburbs this month, Get Home Freeis a flat rate, prepaid cab card that gets its holder home safely.Mainly targeted at teenagers and college students, the concept'sinitiators are aiming to help out kids who are stuck with car trouble,have been drinking, or whose ride home has fallen through. Cardholdersplace a call to the Get Home Free hot line, and a car is immediatelydispatched to bring them home, no questions asked.

If your firm is looking for a image-boosting promotion, this one just might work -- especially if you regularly represent clients accused of DUI.  Having your firms name and number on the back of each card isn't a bad idea either.

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Books, Innovation Books, Innovation

BlawgWorld 2007

I am honored to be one of the bloggers featured in BlawgWorld 2007, the one-of-a-kind e-book from my friends at Technolawyer that collects the best posts from the best writers in the legal blogosphere. If you'd like to download your own copy for free, you can do so here (pdf).  Enjoy!

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Innovation, Law Office Economics Innovation, Law Office Economics

Remind Yourself It is Your Money You're Not Earning

Just got back from the American Immigration Lawyer's Association annual convention.  I presented twice there, hosted an Idea Market and an Idea Gallery (more on those later) and hung out with a bunch of cool immigration law practitioners.

One tip I shared at a round table discussion that really resonated with a practitioner who had a mountain of accounts receivables is this one:

Every month, when you print out your bills and your accounts receivable statement, clip a family photo to the top of the stack.  Whenever you are tempted to write down a bill or not try to collect on one, look at your family before you make the decision.  While there are dozens of great reasons to reduce a bill or not collect upon an amount owed, every dollar you don't collect is a dollar your family doesn't get to spend on something important, or you don't get to donate to a worthy cause. 

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Innovation Innovation

Boise Idea Market on June 8th

I'm going to be in Boise, Idaho next Friday to speak on innovation to a group of Idaho lawyers.  While I'm there, I'm going to be hosting an Idea Market with Steve Nipper and Tac Anderson for a group of entrepreneurs and technology folks.  Here are the details from Steve's Blog:

I’m thrilled to announce the Boise Idea Market. It is something I’m putting together with Tac Anderson (TechBoise) and Matt Homann (http://www.realBIGthinking.com). I’m really looking forward to it.

What is an Idea Market™? Think brainstorming + collaboration +networking + happy hour. The brain child of innovation consultant,retreat facilitator and conference planner Matt Homann, an Idea Marketis part think tank, part focus group and part social club. At the IdeaMarket, attendees bring their business challenges, questions and (ofcourse) ideas, and share them with some of the most creative andgenerous people in the community as they participate in fun exercisesdesigned to cram the most innovation into a two-hour collaborativeexperience.

Who Should Come: If you are a blogger, entrepreneur, speaker,consultant, designer, webmaster, writer, artist, salesperson, ortechnologist, you’ll enjoy the Boise Idea Market. We only ask that yoube passionate about sharing ideas and helping others. Everything elsewill take care of itself.

When: Friday, June 8, 2007 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Where: Louie’s Pizza & Italian Restaurant, 620 W Idaho St, Boise, ID 83702-5930

Cost: $10.00 (to cover pizza & soda & tip)

How To Attend: We’ll have room for around 35 people for the Idea Market. We’ll use Renkoo to handle the invite process. Email me (snipper@gmail.com) and I’ll send you an invite.

Powered by ScribeFire.

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Innovation, Personal Info Innovation, Personal Info

Explaining XPLANE.

As I wrote the other day, I have joined XPLANE as a full time consultant.  I want to thank everyone who has reached out to me to offer me their congratulations and support.  I also want to answer several of the questions I've received, and figured it was far easier to do in a blog post.  So here goes:

WHAT IS XPLANE?  XPLANE (Wikipedia Entry) is one of the pioneers in Visual Thinking, which is the process of distilling complex processes and concepts into easy-to-understand and visually striking XPLANATIONS.  In short, XPLANE helps companies improve their business communication.  XPLANE has offices in St. Louis, Portland and Madrid.

WHY XPLANE? Since I returned to St. Louis over a year ago, I have been spending many of my Thursday afternoons at XPLANE's Visual Thinking School, a weekly design and thinking exercise conducted primarily for internal XPLANE personnel.  I was invited by XPLANE CEO Dave Gray to attend, and found myself intrigued by the way XPLANE used drawing and visuals to communicate complex business processes.  At the same time, XPLANE folks started coming to my Idea Markets, where I began to incorporate many visual thinking and drawing exercises and found it startling how much more effective a little "out of comfort zone" drawing could be than simply a verbal-based exercise.  After several months of VTS, Dave asked me why I didn't work for XPLANE.  Surprised by the question, I began to consider it.  Six months later, and after a trip to visit the Portland office, I'm here.

WHAT WILL I DO?  My official title is "Consultant," though that really doesn't describe what I'll be doing.  Part of XPLANE's unique process is pairing up a consultant/facilitator (me) with an artist/concept designer (the people with real talent), and going to a client's office for a day-long discovery session.  Instead of taking written notes, the artist will actually use live drawing to help visualize the client's story, audience, goals and needs.  By combining this live-sketching with a number of brainstorming and drawing, XPLANE is able to elicit a far more complete picture (literally!) of what the client wants to communicate.  Here's an overview of the process.

My role is to be the consultant/facilitator in the client sessions.  In addition, I will work within XPLANE to expand the consulting practice and further develop the  process for multiple client scenarios -- not just those that need an XPLANE "product" delivered at the end of the engagement.  Finally, I am going to work on a "visual thinking module" that will bring the benefits of visual thinking to workshops, conferences and retreats. 

In short, I get to do the same kinds of things I was doing before, but within a really cool organization, with amazingly talented people, and for much larger clients.

XPLANE will also begin to sponsor the Idea Markets.  More on that soon.

WHAT ABOUT THIS BLOG?  I will keep the [non]billable hour going.  I am working on a redesign, and you will see some cool new things in the next 90 days. I am also going to be re-purposing much of the older content in ways to make it more accessible to newer readers.

WHAT ABOUT LEXTHINK?  Dennis, JoAnna and I will be having a sit down soon to figure out what's next.  We have too many cool things planned for LexThink to let it go.  Stay tuned.

WHAT ELSE?  If you have any more questions, shoot me an email at homann@gmail.com or mhomann@xplane.com, and I'd be happy to answer them.  I am so excited to be working for XPLANE.  I have spent most of my working life as an entrepreneur, and to find an employer where the entrepreneurial spirit is part of the fabric of the organization is really cool.  Thanks for all your support!

Matt

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Innovation, Practice of Law Innovation, Practice of Law

Raise the Roof or Lower the Ceiling?

I found something interesting in a study titled The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing People Use (via Science Daily -- my new favorite RSS subscription):

“When a person is in a space with a 10-foot ceiling, they will tend to think more freely, more abstractly,” said Meyers-Levy. “They might process more abstract connections between objects in a room, whereas a person in a room with an 8-foot ceiling will be more likely to focus on specifics.”

The research demonstrates that variations in ceiling height can evoke concepts that, in turn, affect how consumers process information. The authors theorized that when reasonably salient, a higher versus a lower ceiling can stimulate the concepts of freedom versus confinement, respectively. This causes people to engage in either more free-form, abstract thinking or more detail-specific thought. Thus, depending on what the task at hand requires, the consequences of the ceiling could be positive or negative.

If you are designing your next office or workspace, should you build in different ceiling types and plan to do different kinds of work in each one?  For lawyers, should you take your depositions in low-ceilinged rooms?

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Innovation, Resolutions/Goals, Web & Tech Innovation, Resolutions/Goals, Web & Tech

An Unreasonable Request

I am a big fan of making Unreasonable Requests -- requests that I don't expect a "Yes" answer to, but that I make nonetheless.

I'm going to be sharing several on this blog over the following months.  Here's the first:

I need someone to redesign my blog.  I've got quite a few projects I'm working on, and need to incorporate them in a new, non-template based site.  I know what I want, but don't have the HTML and CSS chops to do it myself.  In exchange (in addition to ample credit) I will work with you to make your business better -- and I promise you'll find the trade more than fair.

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