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SCARY GOOD GROWTH Why Doubling Your Business Feels Spooky at First
It’s October again, which means I have to make the obligatory remarks about “Happy Halloween,” don’t eat too much sugar, and all that stuff.
That’s not spooky. It’s just real.
Another thing about Halloween is that everyone loves to dress up in costumes. Think about it. It’s the time of year you get to wear clothes or present yourself in ways that aren’t normal. That reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Henry David Thoreau: “I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes. If there is not a new [person], how can the new clothes be made to fit?” Doubling your business and your income isn’t about outward appearances. It’s not about dressing up or acting fancy. It happens from the inside out. So, rethink who you want to be and how you want to live your life. Rethink the relationship you want with your staff and clients of your firm. Rethink what you’re willing to continue to tolerate and what you’re no longer willing to accept. Rethink your standards. Just like it can feel weird to walk around wearing a Batman costume (for example), it may feel weird at first walking around wearing the clothes of a new you. The old you may have worn the clothes of a person who put up with a lot of inconveniences the new you no longer needs to.
Now that that’s over with, let’s talk about what Halloween has to do with helping you have a more successful business and double, triple, or even quadruple your personal income. Halloween is when people dress up in costumes and celebrate things that are spooky. The dictionary defines spooky as strange, unsettling, and frightening in a way that suggests the supernatural. You know what else is strange, unsettling, and frightening in a way that suggests the supernatural? Doubling your business in 12–18 months; doubling your total owner benefits, i.e., the income you earn from the business in the next 12–18 months. It’s spooky because it meets the definition. It’s strange. If it weren’t strange, you would already be doing it. It’s also unsettling for a lot of people. It’s unsettling to have twice as much gross revenue or disposable income in such a short amount of time. It’s unsettling to suddenly find yourself without many of the excuses you may have become comfortable using to avoid going outside your comfort zone. Spooky suggests the supernatural. When your business and income double in just 18 months, some will say it was supernatural, mystical. That it was by luck. It happened because of forces outside your control. In other words, they’re going to say you just got lucky. But is it really luck when you have a plan, when you show up day in and day out and execute that plan? Is it really luck when it’s predictable and happens pretty much exactly as predicted? Is it really luck when you walk into a room and meet hundreds and hundreds of other law firm owners who have done it over and over again?
Make no mistake about it. Doubling your business is going to be spooky. But that’s nothing to fear.
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MEET SARAH PHILLIPS
MEMBERS PAYING IT FORWARD
Sarah Phillips, co-founder and attorney of Phillips Law in New Orleans, leads a firm focused on criminal defense and personal injury alongside her husband, Brad. They joined How To Manage A Small Law Firm in 2023, after more than a decade in business on their own, because they were looking for direction.
mount, so much so that he stopped sharing how much he was struggling. The final straw was when his father passed away, and they had to shut down for a month, dropping to $600 in revenue. They reached a breaking point and knew they couldn’t carry the load alone anymore. When they started at How To Manage, they dove headfirst into as many workshops as they could attend, which gave them a brand new blueprint for success. “There isn’t one time during the week that I don’t think about the workshops because they introduced culture (your values, your ideals, what you look for in a person) we still use to this day.” Flash forward to 2025, and they’ve hired a superstar staff and changed their client avatar. This has allowed Brad to be the lawyer he’s always dreamed of and Sarah to move part-time to focus on marketing and being a mom. Since joining HTM, their firm’s gross revenue has gone from $215,000 to a projected $800,000
this year. Better still, the financial workshops they’ve taken have helped them put systems in place so they pay themselves consistently, and avoid the “feast-or-famine” cycles they’d felt shackled to for years on their own. They didn’t just improve their systems and increase their revenue and profit; HTM helped them think about their family’s future and allowed them to spend more time together. They’re planning vacations and “me time”, and they know the firm will thrive even when they step away. When asked for her best advice, Sarah immediately said, “Attend the workshops! Even if you don’t think you need them yet. The skills and systems you learn will save you stress, money, and costly mistakes. I attribute most of our progress in the last couple of years to our commitment to attending almost every single live event that HTM offers.”
“Whenever you are a husband-and-wife team, you both have what you think is the best solution. And you’re lawyers, so it’s ‘mine’s the best answer,” she said with a laugh. “HTM became that mediator in the middle.” Sarah and Brad were overwhelmed with unprofitable public defender contracts that took them away from higher-paying clients who could sustain them. As solo practitioners, they wore many hats, and hiring additional employees seemed out of reach. When Sarah stepped back to care for their young children, Brad felt the pressure
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
90- LOOK
10/18–10/19
Live Quarterly Meeting (San Diego, CA)
10/29
HTM Town Hall (Internal)
“My name is Kristina Pa in San Francisco. We he assets, and legacies thr “I joined How To Manag quarter of this year, my I also hired a housekeep so afraid of hiring some
10/31
Happy Halloween!
11/11
Veterans Day/Business Plan Boot Camp starts – Group A
11/12–11/14
Workshopalooza (Hollywood, FL) • Double Your Business with Other People’s Cash • G.A.S. Calls Workshop • Bring Your Brand Promise to Life • Big Firm Benefits, Small Firm Budget • Intro to Mindset • Speak To Sell • KPIs: Measure What Matters • Advanced Business Plan
“My husband and I set a personal goal when w summer. We have two small kids, and we wante get familiar with “It seemed like an unreachable goal at the time, but we Hawaii. We were able to afford it, and I now h
“It’s empowering to know that by taking deliberat enjoy
11/24–11/28
HTM Closed for Thanksgiving
KRISTI
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Raul’s Paternity Leave Is More Than Just Time Off WHAT’S NEW WITH ME AND MY OWN
Becoming a father has been Raul Longoria’s lifelong dream. After he and his wife tried to conceive for the better part of three years, they began to feel it was not in the cards for them. Then, one day in January, when there were enough little signs, they decided to get a pregnancy test. Their dream was finally coming true. By the time you read this, Raul will already be on paternity leave. All of us at How To Manage are genuinely excited for him to become a dad. Since Raul shared his news with us, he’s told us how much it’s meant to him that he’s received encouragement from everyone on the team he’s interacted with; not pressure or unsolicited advice, but genuine reassurance from his colleagues that he is ready for this new chapter.
Though he’s worked at many companies before, where it was like pulling teeth to get a week off and they never really cared about you as a person, he didn’t even need to ask us for the time. His team was already planning how to cover him for three months with no work-related interruptions while he spends this time with his growing family. Raul is more than just an employee; he’s a human being. Your employees are human beings too. They have dreams and aspirations that make them want to jump out of bed in the morning and drive them to show up fully at work and in life. The way you build a team of ‘A’ players is by finding out what they really want for themselves, what motivates them, and then figure out how you can make their goals align with yours. When you treat your staff like human beings, celebrate their wins, and
support and encourage their dreams, you will be impressed by what they can help you achieve. As Raul readies himself for the firsts, the diaper changes, and the moments of bonding he’ll remember for a lifetime, he’ll know his team has his back. When he returns, he’ll come back as a father and professional who remains motivated to pour back into the workplace that poured into him. What dreams are your staff working towards, and what are you doing to help them come true?
-DAY KBACK
ark, founder of Park Legacy Law Firm elp families protect their loved ones, rough thoughtful estate planning.
CONTACT US If you know a law firm owner who’s drowning, burning out, broke, and still somehow telling
ge last October, and by the end of the second y firm had already hit last year’s total revenue number. per after the mindset workshop in February. I used to be eone, but I don’t even think twice about it anymore.
themselves this is just “how it is,” do them a favor. Send them here. They don’t need more sacrifice. They need to learn how to build a real business. We can help with that.
we first signed up to go to South Korea for two months during the ed them to visit our home country, spend time with their grandparents, h the culture, and learn the language. e’re getting closer. In August, we took three weeks off to visit Korea, Japan, and have a team in place that can take care of the business while I’m away. te actions, I can grow my business, support my family, and still make time to the experiences that matter most.”
INA PARK PARK LEGACY LAW FIRM
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3109 Grand Ave. #188 Miami, FL 33133 888‑765‑7460 HowToManage.com
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
Raul got the support he needed for his life’s next step without even having to ask. Find out how on Pg. 3.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
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The Real Transformation You Need This Halloween 2 The Workshops That Created a Superstar Team Calendar of Events
The Mindset Shift Helping Kristina’s Family Dreams Come True
3 Building Teams by Backing Dreams 4 The Hidden Cost of Overthinking in Your Law Firm
Before working with entrepreneurs and law firm owners, I served as a Navy officer navigating ships across the globe. Out on the water, they teach you that when another ship is heading your way for a potential collision, you must take swift action. Waiting too long could prove fatal, but if you act early enough — even if the action you take is the “wrong” action — you can avoid the catastrophe. SUBSTANTIVE TIP/TOOL OF THE MONTH Why Early Action Beats Perfection Every Time
As a part of my job, I walk firm owners all the way through what will happen if a decision fails. Generally, the consequences of trying out a new marketing campaign, bringing on a new employee, attending a meeting they’re anxious about, or any other fears are inconsequential. I recommend this practice for any business owner feeling stressed or overwhelmed by a new decision. Once you see the worst-case scenario isn’t so bad, it’s easier to try something new. I used this idea at a point in my career where I felt stuck. I was working at a job I didn’t like and I decided to start studying for the LSAT. It was a terrifying decision, but I asked myself, “what’s the worst thing that could happen?” I did well on the test, but ... figured out along the way that I actually didn’t want to become a lawyer. I ended up finishing my master’s degree remotely instead, and that decision led to a job with a nonprofit I loved that introduced me to coaching. I had no idea studying for a test would open the doors that led me to working with How To Manage. If I hadn’t taken that action, I wouldn’t be doing this today. As you make decisions in your firm, consider the worst-case scenario; if it’s inconsequential, go for it. Don’t wait for it to be perfect; act now. If you can’t get out of your own way or find yourself paralyzed by fear, lean on your C-suite to help you. That’s what we’re here for! Action doesn’t have to be perfect to open up new doors if you act early enough.
In business, early, imperfect actions can save opportunities.
Working with entrepreneurs, especially lawyers, I found that they’re often trained to wait to act until all their ducks are in a row, so they can make sure their actions are the “right” ones. But this kind of perfectionist thinking can actually cause opportunities to sail past us. Waiting too long on business decisions can really hurt your firm.
It could be fear of hiring; it could be missing the chance to get a marketing message out there because the copy doesn’t sound perfect.
–Jonathan Sullivan
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