RJon Robins: From The Vault
RJon Robins: From The Vault
Bold Moves
Welcome inside the vault. This is a collection of previously unreleased lessons from eight-figure entrepreneurial mastermind RJon Robins. And in case you didn’t see the warning label - this content can be explicit and it is for serious entrepreneurs only.
What do boulders have to do with turning your calendar into a profit-generating tool? In this lesson from 2014, RJon shows why prioritizing the things that truly matter in your business and personal life is key to unlocking your firm's growth potential. Get ready to make bold moves.
Let's go to the vault!
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Welcome inside the vault. This is a collection of previously unreleased lessons from eight-figure entrepreneurial mastermind RJon Robins. And in case you didn't see the warning label, this content can be explicit, and it is for serious entrepreneurs only. In this lesson from 2014, RJon peels back the reality of the time you have to grow your law firm. You have more of it. And less of it than you might think. Let's go to the vault.
Testimonies:Working with RJon is like having a shortcut to future you. Every time I can have an opportunity to spend time with RJon, I try to take it and be a sponge. I thought everyone was crazy. You know, they were running to the front of the stage to see this person. RJon's wearing his crazy shirt. You know, he drinks tiger blood in the morning just for fun, and he's like, breathing down my throat. Sometimes it's terrifying to work with him. It's like he's looking into your soul. But it's, it's growth the whole way.
RJon Robins:I don't purport to have invented this exercise. We've all read about this exercise, we all know about this exercise, but still when you see the exercise, I think it makes a difference. So here's the exercise. The glass, the glass is full, right? Not so fast. This is sand. Actually it's salt. You can get more in there. Now the glass is full, right? No. Now you put in the water, now the glass is full, right? Well, yeah, now I guess you could like stick something between the atoms or the molecules or something, but I don't have that technology available today. We're here to talk about how to plan profits into your, into your calendar. And this is exactly how you have to look at your calendar. You got to put the big stuff in first. Put the headlines in first. Drop the boulders into the river first and then let the river accommodate the boulders. If you don't drop those boulders in, if I just put the water in first and then tried to get the sand or these little rock things in there, it wouldn't have worked. But that's exactly the way most lawyers are taught to manage their calendars. Which is why most lawyers have no idea of what it's like to experience a law firm and a life where you grow by 25 percent a year, 50 percent a year, 100 percent a year, year on year on year and year. I've been growing this firm by almost 100 percent a year every year for the last four or five years since I started doing this calendaring exercise. This is exactly how we do it. You put the boulders in first. The boulders are the things you really want to do with your life. The things that matter. You know, the meeting with the client next Thursday isn't going to matter 20 years from now. Covering that deposition two weeks from now isn't going to really matter 20 years from now. What's going to matter is whether you were at your kid's 10th birthday party. What's going to matter is whether you were there when they scored their first touchdown. What's going to matter is whether you were there when they won the science fair. Those are the things that are going to matter to you 20 years from now. Those are the rocks. Those are the boulders you got to drop in the river and force the rest of your business to accommodate. Now, dropping those things in the river. Putting those boulders on your calendar is scary. It's scary because it's going to make other people uncomfortable. It's scary because it's going to force you to do things you're not used to doing with your marketing systems, with your sales systems, with your factory, with your people, with your physical plant. And it's going to show up in your numbers. And you're not going to be able to hide from it. It's scary stuff. I'm not telling you that it's easy to build a million dollar solo law firm. I'm not saying it's easy to grow your revenues by 25 percent a year, 50 percent a year, 100 percent a year. I'm not saying any of this stuff is easy. I'm saying it's worth it, and I'm telling you this is how it's done. You've got to be in control of your calendar. Your calendar is going to control your life. Causes lead to effects. If you take these actions and put these causes into action, the effects will take care of themselves. I realized yesterday from a lot of the questions that were coming up at the mic, and this is not meant to criticize you because these are the questions you were asking yesterday. Afterwards, Ale and I, and you know, our team, we debriefed and we realized, these are actually a lot of the same questions we asked when we were getting started with this stuff. And I realize a lot of it is because you don't yet know what you don't know about how to manage your calendar. Because you haven't had the experience of managing your calendar. And you keep reverting back to the way you were taught before. Which is exactly backwards. We see this all the time when we're having conversations with prospective clients to interview them about joining our program. You've all had this conversation. The conversation is, "Where are you today? Financially, personally, and professionally.""Where do you want to be in the future? Financially, personally, and professionally." And a lot of you began to answer the question the same way that you're currently managing your calendar. A lot of you began to answer the question by saying,"Well, uh, this is what I can tolerate.""This is what I can put up with.""This is what I can get by on." Which is exactly the opposite of our question. Our question is, "What do you want?" Figure out what you want. And then we can help you figure out how to make it happen. But first you've got to have the courage to figure out what you want. I'm reminded of when I first did this exercise with Eric, and I, you'll notice there's certain people who I've just, I've just worked with them a lot. They've been to Masterminds, they've been to VIP days, and I just, there's certain people that I just know better than others. As you get more involved in our community, I look forward to getting to know all of you better. But basically every time there's an opportunity, he jumps up and he goes for it. Even when he had no money, and that's why his firm is doing so well today. But anyway, the first time that I, I sent Eric and his wife out to figure out how much it costs to live the way they want to live, I made them get a realtor. I made them go car shopping. I made them go interview private schools for their kids. I made them, you know, go off and figure out how do you want to live? And he came back and he basically went to houses in the neighborhood he was already living in, went to the same car dealer that he got his current car from and just got like a different color or something. I mean, basically he was planning to make small adjustments to the life he already had. Right? And you see this happening all the time with lawyers with their budget, where we say, "Okay, well, let's budget the life you want to live." And before you know it, they've just essentially budgeted the exact same life they currently have. They're going to spend the same money on housing. They're going to spend the same money on food. They're going to spend the same money on domestic help. They're going to spend the same money on staff. They're going to invest the same money on coaching or mentoring or advisory, whatever. And yet they think that somehow they're going to get a different result. And that's not the way it works. So we sent Eric back out a second time. This time with no calculator. And we said, "Don't tell the realtor how much you want to spend. Just go find the house you want to buy.""Go find the car you want to drive.""Go figure out the way you want to live, and then figure out the number behind it." I think he has a very realistic plan to have a $7 million firm in the next four or five years. But that's not the first number he came back with. The first number he came back with was like, I don't know,$500,000...$600,000, which was like three times what he had before. But that's what he could see. So I have an exercise I want each of you to do at some point in the next couple of days. You can do it here in the hotel. And that is, and you can even do it during the break if you want, from this stage. The exercise is typically done on a set of stairs. And what you do is you go to the bottom of the set of stairs and you describe the room. You describe the floor. You describe the walls. You describe the ceiling. You describe the carpeting. You describe the wallpaper. You describe the chandeliers. You describe the, gold...uh, whatever that is on the ceiling. I forgot what that's called. You know, you describe everything from the perspective standing at the bottom of the staircase. And then you go about midway up the staircase and you describe the room again. In writing, or you know, with a digital recorder, or in writing. And then you go all the way to the top of the staircase and you describe the room again. You describe the floor. You describe the ceiling. You describe the walls. You describe the carpeting. You describe the wallpaper. You describe the chandeliers. The whole thing. Right? And then, you go all the way back down to the bottom, And you look at your description. The original description you made. And you're going to realize that original description was written by a person who was very ignorant. Because from the first vantage point you only saw the room from one perspective. But by putting yourself in the second position, and putting yourself in this third position, by giving yourself the opportunity to have that second vantage point and this third vantage point. When you go back to the first position, you realize, man, now you can see all kinds of things you didn't see before. Now, things become obvious to you that before were not obvious to you. And it's the same thing with growing your law firm.
Narrator:If this episode is resonating with you, click the link in the show notes below to learn more about the upcoming five week business plan boot camp. Yes, this is a free virtual boot camp, which means seats are limited in order to provide personal attention and laser coaching. Click the link below and turn this podcast episode into an actionable business plan to grow your law firm. And now, back to the show.
RJon Robins:If you've never had a$250,000 law firm, you have no idea what it's like to run a $250,000 law firm. You need to surround yourself with a lot of people who have been there, done that, and gone beyond. So they can call back instructions to you to tell you what it's like, what you should look out for, and what you're missing. If you've never run a half a million dollar law firm, you don't have any idea what it's like to run a $500,000 law firm. You need to surround yourself with people who know what it's like to run a $500,000 law firm, who can tell you what you're missing, and call back instructions to you, and give you guidance, and give you ideas, and tell you what, what you're going to experience. Just like a parent tells a kid, and tries to give a kid guidance to tell them what to expect the first time they go to a school dance. The first time they go to a new school. The first time they play a game. The first time they have any experience. Not because the kid is stupid, but because the kid just hasn't had that experience yet. And if you have a $500,000 law firm or you've ever had a million dollar law firm, you've got to do the same thing. The point I'm making is you've got to make bold moves. And, you know, bold moves don't have to involve heroic efforts of firemen running into burning buildings. Bold moves don't have to involve, you know, Atticus Finch standing up for the little guy to the big guy. Bold moves can be simple things like taking out a colored pencil and making a commitment by putting something on your calendar that I will accomplish X or Y or Z by this date. And by putting that accomplishment on the calendar as something that's going to get done. It forces you to now realign and rearrange everything else about your life. Even if it makes other people uncomfortable. Even if it makes you uncomfortable. Especially if it makes you uncomfortable. You've got to get uncomfortable. You've got to get over this idea. You got to get over this middle class mindset idea that life is supposed to be comfortable. Life is not supposed to be comfortable. The natural world is not a comfortable place to live. Animals in the woods are not comfortable. Trees that are growing out of the soil are not comfortable. Birds that are flying in the air are not comfortable. Nothing in the natural world is supposed to be comfortable. Everything is supposed to be about growth and change and development. And growth and change and development is by its nature, an uncomfortable experience. If you're comfortable, it means you're dying.
Narrator:Thanks for listening. Tune in next week for more lessons From The Vault.
