216: The 6 Pillars to Be(coming) a Happy Rainmaker with Author Jennifer Gillman

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_03] Lawyers are perfectionists. There have been a lot of studies about that too, and they don't do things halfway. So they plan for the time when they're going to have three months free to train for the marathon and sleep nine hours a night. And that never happens in real legal practice because we're busy and we have to serve our clients, right?

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_03] So we created the 6 Pillars to Becoming a Happy Rainmaker. It's the 6 Pillars work together to create some balance, but we've also figured out how to do all of the activities in point one, just like lawyers bill. So if you're waiting for a client to call you back, instead of doom scrolling, you can choose an activity that actually moves your career and your happiness forward.

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_03] So instead of doom scrolling, you could comment on somebody's LinkedIn post or make a doctor's appointment or do whatever it is that can actually move you forward.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00] Welcome to Ten Golden Rules Growth Strategies for Law Firms Podcast, featuring the latest strategies and techniques to drive traffic to your website and convert that traffic into clients. Now, here's the founder and CEO of 10 Golden Rules, Jay Berkowitz.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01] Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Whatever time this podcast finds you, welcome to the 10 Golden Rules of Growth Strategies for Law Firms Podcast. Now, you might notice a slight change in the title. And for those regular listeners, thank you for being regular listeners. We've got a lot of you. And I really appreciate it.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_01] So we have sort of changed our strategic focus at 10 Golden Rules. We used to call ourselves 10 Golden Rules Internet Marketing for Law Firms. But we do so much more because I'm so involved with so many members of our legal marketing and legal business community that we're always helping people not only with getting more traffic to their website and getting more phone calls and getting more traffic to their Google Maps, etc.

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_01] And we call that attract. We're also helping people get more conversions, getting a higher percentage of the people who call them and contact them to sign up. And we call that convert. And then the final piece we call five star operations. And we do a lot of work with our clients on getting more reviews and more referrals. So we've formally changed our subtitle or our subheading to 10 Golden Rules Growth Strategies for Law Firms.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_01] And the podcast will be obviously called the Growth Strategies for Law Firms Podcast. Anyways, without further ado, we've got a great guest. And Jennifer Darling is one of the very rare two-time guests on the 10 Golden Rules Podcast. So Jennifer, welcome back. Thank you very much. And so you're thinking, what's so great about Jennifer that we couldn't have covered in the first 45 minutes? Well, the great news is Jennifer wrote a book and it's an awesome book.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_01] And Jennifer is a very unique type of recruiter in the legal space. And Jennifer, I hope I get this right. She actually works with candidates who are the young rainmakers, the young partners in firms. And so many law firms want to bring these people on board. But she works with the actual candidates and she helps them position themselves for a great role.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_01] And obviously, so many people are looking for candidates. So Jennifer's got to pull these candidates. But her new book is called The Happy Rainmaker. And it's a business parable with six pillars to becoming a happy rainmaker. And we were talking about this the other day and I said, Jennifer, this is so great. I want you to tell me the whole story, but we're going to record it because I want to learn about it. And I want to become a happier rainmaker. I'm a happy rainmaker. But obviously, it's specific to law firms.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_01] But this becoming a rainmaker, I assume, works for everybody. But first of all, before we get into the book, remind everyone who didn't listen to the last episode, tell us a little bit about your journey. You became an attorney. You became an attorney recruiter. And so tell us your story.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_03] Sure. Well, I'll give you the short version in case some of the people actually listen to the other one. But I really enjoyed being an attorney. Unlike a lot of the other recruiters I run into, a lot of people practice for a very short time or not at all and knew they didn't like it. I practiced for 12 years and I really enjoyed it a lot. But I didn't get a chance to see my older child while he was awake for about two years. And I was going to have another child.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_03] And I was looking for something to do that would bring me closer to home because we had moved out to the suburbs. And I was commuting into the city and give me more predictable hours because we were really testing the nanny's hours a lot. And I really wasn't home during the awake time at all. So I was interviewing for a job with a Japanese pharmaceutical company that was a short drive away from our home instead of a long commute into the city. And would have some better hours.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_03] And I got really close. They got down to three candidates that were the finalists. And they did not choose me. But during that time, another recruiter called me to ask if I would be interested in applying. And I told him, well, I've already been through three rounds. I'm meeting with the general counsel next week. And he said, oh, wow, my guy flamed out in the first round. I probably should have sent you instead. Why don't I take you to lunch and I'll tell you about the other in-house roles I'm working on. So, yeah, that sounds great.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_03] And during lunch, all he did the entire time was try to convince me I wanted to be a recruiter and work at his company. And I had heard that a few times before when other recruiters would call me when I was still practicing law. You know, oh, there's this position. And then later on in the conversation, they would say, you know, you would really like this. We have an opening at our company. And I always liked what I was doing as a practicing lawyer better. And I said, well, you know, that sounds interesting, but I really like the job you were talking about.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_03] Not, you know, I want to keep practicing law. But we had gotten to the point where my practice was very litigation based. And it wasn't really that conducive to having a young family. And we were in the Great Recession. And there wasn't a lot of the proactive advice and counsel and training and drafting work that I really liked the best. It was a lot of litigation when things had gotten really bad. So I said, well, maybe I should give him a try.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_03] He said, if you give me two weeks and you show up to the office and talk to me for two weeks, I promise I will never bother you again if you don't like it. And I'll find you that in-house position. And so I showed up and it never felt like a job. It was meeting people and trying to figure out what was going wrong for them and trying to find them their next opportunity. And it was great for kids. I live in a town where everyone's a stay-at-home mom but me, it feels like sometimes.

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_03] And it was flexible enough pre-COVID when nobody worked from home. I could work from home for the day if I had to for parent-teacher conferences or being, you know, involved at the school or seeing a little league game or whatever. Or I could work at the office where it was quiet. And so it did give me the flexibility to be an involved parent but also to still have a job. And that was great. But as my kids got older, I was spending more time at the office and I had more time to focus.

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_03] And I realized that the business model of a typical recruiting agency, they weren't doing anything wrong. They were just trying to fill openings for a law firm that called them. And if I got you on the phone and I was looking for a fourth-year real estate associate and that's what you were, I was supposed to convince you to go to the firm that was looking. And that's just not in my DNA. I had, you know, I would say, Jay, what's going wrong at your firm? Yeah, that sounds awful.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_03] The firm I was going to talk to you about is just as bad. You're not going to like it. So let's put that to the side and talk about what you would like. And the guy who owned the recruiting firm said, you can only do that for partners who are moving with their own clients. They get to choose where they go. Everyone else can only go where there's a posted opening, where there's a need, where there's extra work. They're the only ones who can proactively choose where they're going to go. So I was like, okay, fine.

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_03] Now I work with only partners who have their own clients. That's what I'm going to do. So he said, you're going to just call partners? Yes. You're going to call partners. Really? Like, well, what are they going to do? It's not illegal to call people on the phone. I mean, they could be rude and make me feel bad. They could hurt my feelings. They could hang up. They could tell me not to call again. But like, what could really happen? And I did that.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_01] An attorney calling an attorney, right? It's not like if someone like myself calls who's trying to sell a product, even though you're trying to sell a service.

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_03] Some of them weren't that happy to hear from me. And I did learn that a lot of them have many layers to get through before you get to talk to them. And when they finally answer the phone, it's what? So it wasn't the best way to find partner candidates, but I did find some and place them. And then I had his attention. And he said, OK, I get it. This model works. You could do this. So I'll pay for that database that you're paying out of pocket for now. Great.

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_03] And now I want to brand and advertise and scale it and grow it. And he said, oh, no, we have to keep this very quiet because we're working for the law firms. We can't tell them we're stealing their rainmakers. We can't talk about this at all. And after a while, that was just very frustrating because I had a vision of how I could help more people.

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_03] I really thought that there are a lot of issues with the legal industry, mental health and wellness problems that could be solved if the feel was different. So I thought if every rainmaker was really happy and satisfied, there would be a trickle down effect. So we used to say we could change the legal industry one happy rainmaker at a time.

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_01] I love it. So then you went on your own, right?

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. And I'm definitely a reluctant business owner. I was an English major. I specialized in the Victorian novel. I went straight to law school, straight to big firms. I didn't have a business background. I had never thought I wanted to be an entrepreneur. And I love it.

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_01] It's like my friend Charlie Mann's podcast is called They Don't Teach You This at Law School.

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_03] They don't teach you a lot of stuff in law school that would be really useful to know.

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_01] So he started, he starts out his podcast. He asked me the question. So Jay, what don't they teach you at law school that people need to know? You like all of us, I think there's not a lot of maybe today it's different. There wasn't a lot of courses on entrepreneurialism.

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_03] Well, forget that there aren't even courses on how if you develop your own business and have your own clients, you have more control over your career. They said stuff like, keep your head down, do a good job. The partners you work for are like your clients. If you do a good job and become an expert, eventually clients will find you. That's like people who stay home and watch Netflix alone thinking they're going to find love that way. Clients are not going to find you. They don't know where you are.

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_01] I like those rom-coms though.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah.

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_02] Awesome.

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_01] So look, why don't we get into the new book? And first of all, what generated the concept of like, hey, I could write a book and what was the genesis of it?

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_03] So I've read The Go-Giver probably 50 to 100 times. I bring the original one on every plane ride I ever take because it fits in a carry-on. You can read it in one sitting and it's a business parable, not a textbook. So I enjoy the story. I like the characters and I get a different layer from it every time.

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_03] And I've been fortunate enough to now know Bob Berg and have gone to a number of masterminds with him.

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_01] Great.

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_03] I always thought that he would probably think I was a crazy lunatic fan and get a restraining order. But now I would consider him a friend. So I had always had in the back of my mind, like the business parable is a very effective tool, but especially for lawyers who have to read very dense material all day. It's nice to be able to read something that feels like fiction, like a story. I always enjoy a story better than having to go through a textbook.

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_03] And I told the story of Bob Biglaw, Sam Solo, and Susie Small Law when I was a member of BNI. And there were a lot of non-lawyers in the room. And I was trying to explain to them what a legal recruiter even does and what lawyers do and why they might be unhappy doing it. So every time I had time for my own presentation, I would tell another part of the story of Bob and Sam and Susie until it became like an ongoing saga.

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_03] And I always used to think, like, I wonder the way that the Go-Giver series is, we're introduced to a number of characters. They focus on one and then there's another volume. We focus on the next character. Maybe we could focus on what it's like to be a big law lawyer, what it's like to be a small law lawyer, and what it's like to be a solo practitioner.

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_03] And I started with Biglaw because the majority of the candidates I currently work with are usually at a midsize or larger law firm or wanting to go to one. And you mentioned that I like to work with rainmakers who are younger. We don't discriminate on the basis of age. We discriminate on the basis of whether they're feeling entrepreneurial and have their own clients.

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_03] So sometimes I help people who are nearing the end of their career and don't want to participate in the mandatory retirement rules that their firm has or are looking for some succession planning for the more junior people at their office and join another firm in order to have those resources. But you're right.

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_03] A lot of times it's people who are feeling a little bit stifled that are doing really great work, billing a ton of hours and bringing in a lot of revenue through their own clients, but they're not getting the leadership positions at their firm that they would like to have, or they're not getting the resources they need to serve their clients or something is feeling like a lot of friction. And a lot of them feel like they have to give up everything else outside of their career in order to be successful.

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_03] So they give up being happy. And we always say you don't have to choose between being successful and happy if you're doing the right thing in the right place. So if you actually want to be a lawyer and you work at the right law firm or in the right position, it feels more fun. It gets to the point where we can remove the friction and make it fun to practice law again.

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_03] And we hope that the trickle down effect helps all the other people on the hallway and in the building.

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_01] So your firm, the cleverly titled Gilman Strategic Group, it took me a while to wrap my head around this. You don't work with firms who are looking to recruit attorneys. You won't look with attorneys who are looking partners who are looking to become rainmakers in other firms. You work with the candidate, not the firm.

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_03] We work with the candidate, not the firm. We have very friendly relationships with a number of firms because they want to tell us what their strategic vision is for the year, what their priorities are, what's changed in their numbers or their geographic location, different things like that. So I often have conversations with lawyers. They seek us out, but we don't accept retainers.

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_03] We don't agree to work on any particular positions, but we agree to hear them out and to keep an eye out. If I'm working with a candidate that I think would be a good fit for a particular firm, I'm more than happy to make the introduction, but I want to do a lot of happiness work with that candidate to figure out what's going wrong. And some of it is, can we fix it where they are? Can we learn how to make a business case to ask for what it is that you need at your current firm?

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_03] And is it something that can be fixed or is it systemic and structural at your firm and not something that can be fixed? And I don't want to move people just for the sake of moving them. That would be a way to make more money than I do now, but not a way to sleep better at night. You know, it's, it's uncomfortable and you have to take a little bit of a risk when you move firms. And if the place where you already work could be the right place for you, isn't it easier to just fix things where they are? So we do a lot of conversation about that.

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_03] And sometimes, you know, the compensation system doesn't fit your strengths or the firm is moving in a different direction or you don't trust management or they can't get enough associates or they don't have a Chicago office and you gave away $5 million in work last year. I mean, sometimes there's a reason that you have to leave your firm, but sometimes just learning how to express what you're looking for and why it's going to help the firm is a way to be able to stay.

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_03] And then we do a lot of happiness work, like what's good about the firm that you want to replicate and what else are we looking for? And not just the one thing that's making you feel like you wanted to talk to me, but let's get a perfect firm as long as we're looking right.

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_01] I love it. So one last question before we get into the six pillars of becoming a happy rainmaker, because I'm sure people are on the edge of their seat. And I am too. How did you get the book done? Because people ask me this all the time. And it's great because having a book is awesome for your business. Like the book over my shoulder here, The 10 Golden Rules of Online Marketing, moved me from marketing jobs to having my own business for the last 23 years. Inc. 5000, back-to-back years, by the way.

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_01] I always try and slide that in. But, you know, really amazing career entrepreneurial journey from essentially writing The 10 Golden Rules of Online Marketing book and presentation. So how did you get it done?

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_03] I did have a lot of help. I found a publisher very carefully, somebody that would help me with the whole project and chunk it down for me and give me deadlines. Because I had some ideas about, oh, yeah, it'd be great to write a book. I have this story in my mind. I was an English major. I'm a pretty good writer. But I like to be around people. And I don't like to sit in my office staring at a blank screen for six months.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_03] So I needed to have a little help with the how do we structure it? How can we outline it? How can we do whatever? And you have a deadline, this chapter, that chapter, this edit, that edit. You get, you know, like there was a very, very strict schedule. And there were times that I had to forego doing some fun stuff with my family and friends. Other people were going to the barbecue or going swimming.

[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_03] And I was like doing a line edit. But it was once they took the bigger project and made it smaller. And I had a publisher who had actually worked on a book with a friend of mine that I had purchased. And I didn't know that that was the publisher. And I enjoyed reading the book. And I liked the quality of the paper. And I thought, you know, everything came together well.

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_03] It just made it a little bit easier. But there are a lot of ways I didn't do it. But I know that some people are using AI to assist them with that. And there are a lot of different ways of going about it. I was self-published. I mean, it's not like a huge publisher wanted to sell a million copies. We were number one in one of the Amazon categories for a couple of books.

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_01] Congrats.

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_03] But it's about it. Oh, that's right.

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_01] You're an Amazon number one.

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_03] It was on Best Seller.

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_01] That's me too.

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_03] We have all the photos of it.

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_01] I've got two screenshots, two books. Hit number one.

[00:20:58] [SPEAKER_03] But I would say that you have to know what kind of person you are and what you respond to best. So I need accountability. And I knew that somebody else had to know what the schedule was. And they had to know if I was meeting the deadlines. And there had to be some kind of consequence for it. We wanted to release the book at a particular time. And we knew that if we went too far over the deadline, that wasn't going to be a possibility. So that was going to be the consequence for us.

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_03] And it kept me very honest. My whole team knew what the deadlines were and what was going on. And I had Zoom meetings with the publishing company on a regular basis. And I had to send them my edits. And we had to go over it. And it would be very easy to tell if I hadn't taken the time to do it.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_01] So I got my first book done because I was speaking at a conference called eBay Live. Back when eBay was the biggest thing going. And they had like 4,000 people at this conference. And so as a speaker, they sent me a note. And they said, if you would like to sell your book in the bookstore, we're going to have a bookstore on premise. And so I said, okay, I'd like to sell my book in the bookstore. So I had about, I don't know, about 10 weeks to get the book self-completed and self-published.

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_01] And super quick story after I spoke, I said, well, my book is going to be launching in the bookstore. And so a whole bunch of people followed me there. And one of my idols, Seth Godin, was there signing autographs. And so he was done. And then all these people were coming to buy my book. And then I kind of had to kick Seth Godin out of the seat. One other funny thing. I don't know if you've experienced this. The first time someone asked you to sign your book, I didn't know what to sign.

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_02] Right. I was like, what do you mean? Just my name? Am I supposed to write a note? What page am I supposed to sign it on? I wasn't expecting that. Yeah.

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_01] So now we can prepare anyone who you motivated to create their, to get their book done and gave them the methodology. Now they know in advance, they got to figure out what to sign. So I signed Jay Berkowitz and I'd always gotten autographs from sports athletes. So I just signed Jay Berkowitz number 10, like 10 golden rules.

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_02] Oh, nice.

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_01] I think I got slightly more creative over the years. All right. So now let's get into it. The Happy Rainmaker, six business parable, six pillars. To becoming a happy rainmaker. So you want to just start with number one or do you want to explain? Sure.

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_03] Well, let me explain just a little bit. I really deal with a lot of highly successful lawyers who are miserable because a lot of times they believe that in order to be highly successful, they have to give up sleeping and having interpersonal relationships. They don't see their family.

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_01] They're optional. Come on.

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_03] They don't have friends. They don't have hobbies. We all know that 85-year-old lawyer that hasn't retired yet because they have nothing to retire to. And a lot of times the lawyers that have reached equity partnership and have the big corner office and have the big book of business have nothing else, which is sort of tragic, right?

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_01] And the other thing is the biggest problem a lot of them tell me is the young lawyers don't know how to be rainmakers.

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. So a lot of firms express that they would like to have more people that are interested in business development. But, of course, they're not actually teaching their young lawyers how to do business development. And a lot of law schools are letting the students graduate thinking that just being really good at your craft of being a lawyer is the way to do it.

[00:24:35] [SPEAKER_03] And then we also, I don't know how many of the people listening know about the 2016 study on mental health and wellness in the legal profession or the open letter called Big Law Killed My Husband that the Sidley and Austin widow wrote. I mean, suicide and anxiety and depression and alcohol abuse and all of those things are factors.

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_03] And we've put a lot of time and effort into it as an industry and it's not getting any better. There's a 2026 study that is about to be released. And I hear some of the numbers got worse, even though 10 years of effort has been made and real effort. Right. And then the lawyers who don't have any of those mental health issues often have physical health issues. That 47 year old who has a fatal heart attack in the office in front of everyone.

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_03] There are a lot of stories like that are really tragic. And I think it's because your body can only deal without sleep and healthy food and exercise for that many years. Right. So I think 47 is the magic year because it's most lawyers graduate from law school at 25. And that's how long your body can live without any care. And, you know, I would talk to lawyers.

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_01] I shouldn't laugh. Yeah.

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_03] I'm definitely going to I'm going to take care of this next year. I just don't have time right now. I'm very busy right now. But as soon as I can get ready, I'm going to sleep nine hours a night, work out two hours a day, meditate for an hour, become an organic vegan and train for the marathon. And then I'm going to do business development activity every day. I'm going to I'm definitely doing all this stuff. But lawyers are perfectionists. There have been a lot of studies about that, too.

[00:26:28] [SPEAKER_03] And they don't do things halfway. So they plan for the time when they're going to have three months free to train for the marathon and sleep nine hours a night. And that never happens in real legal practice because we're busy and we have to serve our clients. Right. So we created the six pillars to becoming a happy rainmaker. It's the six pillars work together to create some balance.

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_03] But we've also figured out how to do all of the activities in point one, just like lawyers bill. So if you're waiting for a client to call you back, instead of doom scrolling, you can choose an activity that actually moves your career and your happiness forward. So instead of doom scrolling, you could comment on somebody's LinkedIn post or make a doctor's appointment or do whatever it is that can actually move you forward.

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_03] And because we put it in the way that they understand their point one little bits of time and we gave there's a workbook that goes with the book. There's a way to track everything. I mean, somebody said we should come up with an app for your phone. But, you know, it's really just a matter of trying to add very small things and just test them like a scientist and say, does this small thing help me? Did I enjoy it? Will I do it again? Maybe I'll try a different small thing.

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_03] So pillar one is care for yourself. We always say it's first because you have to be alive to do the other ones. And there are a lot of tragic stories of lawyers who did not survive. So care for yourself includes getting some sleep, getting some movement, getting some healthy food as often as you can. Right. Not the night before trial, not when you're closing a deal and everybody had to stay up overnight, but usually.

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_03] And it doesn't mean getting nine hours of sleep. It means trying to get 10 extra minutes tonight, trying to find a time to make up for it over the weekend, trying to fit a little bit in and also taking care of your health, making those doctor's appointments. And we opened the book with my cancer story. You know, I was going to cancel a test that the doctor said I had to have because there was no history in my family. Why do I have to go? I'm closing a deal. It's really important.

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_03] It's an emergency. Can't do it. And the upshot of it is the deal got closed anyway. And I had early stage cancer and it was treatable and I'm fine now. But had I waited.

[00:28:56] [SPEAKER_01] Thank goodness. I didn't know that story.

[00:28:58] [SPEAKER_03] Had I waited, it could have been much worse. And, you know, the deal still would have closed the same way. So, you know, you can usually fit things in and even if clients are not so happy that they have to wait an hour, if you tell them it's because you have to take your stress test or you have to get your root canal done or whatever it is, usually they can wait an hour because sometimes the emergency is how they feel about it and not a true emergency.

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_03] And then the second pillar is build business because it's so important to be able to have your own clients so that you can have some control over your own career. And having a sense of control makes people enjoy their careers so much more, knowing that, you know, sometimes I'll be driving to an event. Oh, why am I doing this? I'm so tired. I'm not in the mood. And then I say to myself, I'm the boss. I signed up for this voluntarily. I decided to go. I could turn around right now.

[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_03] I don't have to answer to anyone. I don't have to go. And once I think about it and I'm like, I decided to do this and I have full autonomy to decide whether I'm actually going to go, I always feel better about it.

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_03] The lawyers that are service partners that are on somebody else's conference call, on somebody else's deadline, choosing to, you know, not being able to be the one who makes a choice of who's on the team or what's happening or what the schedule is, aren't going to be able to fit the other things they want into their lives, as well as the rainmakers who are bringing a second source of revenue into the firm.

[00:30:30] [SPEAKER_03] So if you're billing time and you're bringing in clients that other people are working on too, you can cut back on some of those hours after a while. So you're not billing 3,000 hours a year because you're bringing in other kinds of revenue. And you can decide that we're not having meetings on Thursday evenings because that's when I coach Little League. And you can set your own boundaries because you're so important to what's going on at the firm that people are actually afraid for you to leave.

[00:30:59] [SPEAKER_03] So the rainmakers at law firms generally get treated better because they bring in two forms of revenue and we don't want to lose them.

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER_01] And for the reminder, by the way, because I have to I'm going to the season opener of the Bar Association tonight. And I might have been when I was looking at my keys, I might have been thinking, ah, do I really need to go? Thank you. I need to go.

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_03] And then the other pillars are set boundaries and plan intentionally. Pillar three and four kind of work together. You have to decide what's important to you. Do you want to be the Little League coach on Thursday nights? Then that's your boundary. You have to experiment a little and you have to over communicate at first if you've never set boundaries at work before. But generally, unless you're saying I only work on Tuesdays for one hour and then the rest of the week I'm off.

[00:31:54] [SPEAKER_03] If you set some reasonable boundaries, some most people are willing to live with them unless it's a true emergency. But you have to hold your boundaries once you set them. You can't say I coach Little League on Thursday, but every Thursday I see you in your office when Little League is happening. Because after a while, no one takes you seriously. And plan intentionally, I like to say, take out your calendar. When's your next vacation?

[00:32:20] [SPEAKER_03] Maybe it can't be on Monday because you have a lot of meetings scheduled already and a lot of court appearances or client work. But if you schedule it six months from now, you can schedule around it. But then when the judge asks you, oh, are you available this day? No, I'm sorry, Your Honor. I'm not available that week. And you'd be surprised. That works pretty well.

[00:32:42] [SPEAKER_01] It's so important to pre-plan your vacations and block them. Because my calendar gets full relatively quickly. And three or four months out, I'm pretty good. But this month and next month, I'm already slammed. I couldn't take a week off.

[00:32:56] [SPEAKER_03] So I'm sure that you might not even be able to find a day to take off because you've probably populated your calendar. And we can put a lot of things on the calendar. Like if I want to try and get in shape, I'm not going to work out for two hours a day, seven days a week. That's not really realistic. But if I know I can work out on the weekend, maybe I can pick two times during the week where I'm going to take a walk for 15 minutes. Or we give a whole list of things.

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_03] If you work on the 16th floor, you can get off on 15 and climb one flight of stairs. And sometimes you feel like, look at me. I climbed a flight of stairs. That was great. Maybe tomorrow I'll do that too. And sometimes it causes you to remember that you have a bad knee. And that's unpleasant. And you don't want to climb the stairs tomorrow. You want to choose a different activity. It's not about failing. It's not about judging yourself. It's about trying to work in a little bit of healthy.

[00:33:53] [SPEAKER_03] And so it's not about going organic vegan. It's about maybe ordering the side salad with your burger instead of the fries. It's about sometimes making a healthy choice.

[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_01] You're a spoilsport. All right. Filler number five.

[00:34:06] [SPEAKER_03] Filler five is learn continuously. Because it keeps you fresh. It keeps you excited about your career. And it keeps you useful to your clients. And it allows you to pivot if your area of law ever becomes less interesting to you or there's something about it that makes it not a good place to practice anymore. You can always pivot. So we always say everybody has to take CLE every year.

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_03] But a lot of times people wait until the deadline gets a little closer and they just take whatever fits their schedule. You should look at it for the whole year and say, what do I want to learn about this year? What are some of the issues that my clients are facing? How can I work CLE that I have to take anyway that's mandatory into making me more valuable to my clients?

[00:34:52] [SPEAKER_01] I love it.

[00:34:54] [SPEAKER_03] And, you know, you can listen to a podcast or read a newsletter. There are a lot of things you can work into those point one activities. And the last one is create a legacy. What do you want to be known for now? So that's a little bit about you, your online presence. You would be an expert in that. But what do you want to leave behind? What do you want?

[00:35:15] [SPEAKER_03] And for the partners that are getting closer to retirement age, what is a meaningful retirement look like so that you're not hanging around the office at 85 when you just can't think of something else to do?

[00:35:29] [SPEAKER_01] By the way, for that 85-year-old guy, just give him a pickleball racket. That'll solve it.

[00:35:35] [SPEAKER_03] There are genuinely some 85-year-olds that are still sharp and excited about their practice. But I see a lot of times that there are partners who have given up having a personal life outside of the law firm and they're completely identified by being a law firm partner and can't think of something better to do.

[00:35:54] [SPEAKER_03] So I really think this is the one time that we can help everyone in the legal profession because the law students can be reading about this and planning their careers. The six pillars apply to everyone at every stage of their career. And law firms will actually see a lot of benefit because they're not trying to burn out their associates. It's not intentional.

[00:36:22] [SPEAKER_03] But you have to think of yourself as a law firm inside of a larger law firm and look out for yourself. You have to make sure you become the best lawyer you can be. You do your own business development. You set your own boundaries. You learn on your own. All of those things. But becoming a miniature rainmaker is only going to help your firm.

[00:36:42] [SPEAKER_03] So if firms have people who manage to set boundaries and plan intentionally and take care of themselves and do their business development such that they stay at the firm and become very lucrative sources of revenue, that helps the firm too.

[00:37:01] [SPEAKER_01] That's awesome. All right. So now I'm going to open the fourth window. I forget what they call it when an actor actually talks to the screen as the actor and not the character. And I'm going to share a tip from podcasting. And Jennifer, I'm going to ask you this. And then we're going to produce some social media content. And here's a tip for podcasters is you want to make sure you carve out some nice little 60 second chunks. So I'm going to introduce the book.

[00:37:30] [SPEAKER_01] And then you're going to list the six pillars. And we're going to get it in in 60 seconds. And now you all have seen the fourth window, the fourth screen or whatever you call it. Okay. Jennifer Darling, your exciting new book, The Happy Rainmaker. What are the six pillars to becoming a happy rainmaker?

[00:37:49] [SPEAKER_03] Care for yourself, build business, set boundaries, plan intentionally, learn continuously, and create a legacy.

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_01] What's the most important pillar for someone who's young and they're starting out in their career and they want to become a rainmaker?

[00:38:09] [SPEAKER_03] I think that it's a toss up between pillar one and pillar two. But for somebody who's young and their body can take a little abuse and a little lack of sleep for a while, I would say start with build business because you'll be miles ahead of all of your peers. And build business doesn't mean go and pitch Apple and Microsoft. It means keep up with the people you know from law school and college and develop relationships with the more junior people at the client because maybe they leave and they go somewhere else.

[00:38:39] [SPEAKER_03] I mean, it really is relationship building. You're not pitching at that time.

[00:38:45] [SPEAKER_01] Jennifer, your book, The Happy Rainmaker, has six pillars to becoming a happy rainmaker. Talk about someone who's at the later stage of their career. And they're a rainmaker, but they're not a happy rainmaker. What's one of the things they should do immediately to change the trajectory?

[00:39:04] [SPEAKER_03] I think immediately they should close their door to the office, sit quietly in their chair and think about just brainstorm. What would I like to do if all of a sudden I won the lottery or I had a week off or something happened? Sometimes they can't remember what they enjoy doing when they're not working. And so a lot of it is trying to figure out, do I want to play pickleball? Do I want to see my kids? Do I want to volunteer at a charity?

[00:39:34] [SPEAKER_03] Do I, you know, whatever it is that you think would make you happy? And then pull out your calendar and start blocking off a little bit of time to try it. And you might have to try a few different things. Sometimes they say go back to what you liked in childhood before you were working. If you really enjoyed art or sports or whatever, maybe try a few things and see what you want to do.

[00:39:56] [SPEAKER_03] But you and one of the things that people don't really realize is lack of sleep causes so many other problems. If they could work in 15 minutes extra sleep every night, it might improve their outlook and help them to think of something they would enjoy.

[00:40:16] [SPEAKER_01] Jennifer, this was lots of fun and congratulations. And I hope a lot of people pick up the Happy Rainmaker. Now, as you know, because you've been through this before and we're going to do it one more time. We have these quick one-liners that we always ask at the end of every 10 Golden Rules Growth Strategies for Law Firms podcast. And the first one is, and you're obviously a great resource for people because you've got a book written, produced, published and out there in the world.

[00:40:43] [SPEAKER_01] What productivity hacks can you share with folks? What apps or strategies do you use to be more effective?

[00:40:51] [SPEAKER_03] I think you have to know yourself and the way that you work. So I need accountability. If I know I have, I actually talk to an accountability buddy most mornings at 830 in the morning for a half hour. And we have similar businesses and we go back and forth and she'll say, what should I be asking you about tomorrow? And a lot of times it's the end of the night and I'm going to finish and I'm like, oh, Ann's going to ask me if I did this thing or not. And it causes me to do it.

[00:41:20] [SPEAKER_03] But some people work differently. And I've got one of those timers to do the 25 minute with the five minutes off. I try to do that sometimes if I'm trying to do some deeper work. I try to really save time on my calendar for the work I have to get done too. And I work much better with accountability. So I will tell somebody, this is what I'm doing. Ask me about it.

[00:41:48] [SPEAKER_03] And I'll be embarrassed if they ask and I haven't done it.

[00:41:52] [SPEAKER_01] In addition to The Happy Rainmaker, what's the best business book?

[00:41:57] [SPEAKER_03] There's so many excellent ones, but I always go back to the original Go-Giver with the red cover.

[00:42:04] [SPEAKER_01] That's right. You love it. You're sitting there and as you mentioned, you shouldn't be doom scrolling. But you are and you're just waiting for a meeting to start. And one of the blogs, podcasts or books or webinars or YouTubes that you subscribe to comes across your feed. What do you stop everything and listen to or read?

[00:42:23] [SPEAKER_03] Well, I try to follow the legal industry and know everything that's happening to help my candidates. So I'm always reading Law360 and Law.com and anything that's coming out from The American Lawyer. And there are some really great studies coming from like Patrick Krill and Jordana Confino. And those are the kind of things that I'm always keeping an eye on. But I like a lot of mindset and mental health and wellness stuff, too.

[00:42:51] [SPEAKER_03] So there are a bunch of podcasts that I wish I had more time for, but I try and listen to the snippets I can get to.

[00:42:59] [SPEAKER_01] So that's great. And the good news is we all put out the snippets now, too. The second last question. If someone heard your story and knows someone who's a rainmaker, but they're not happy or someone who needs to become a rainmaker in order to move their career forward. What's the best introduction we can send to Jennifer Gilman?

[00:43:22] [SPEAKER_03] I'm always happy to speak with any lawyer and try and give them some guidance. But the paying part of our business does focus on trying to find the exact right, perfect fit law firm for experienced lawyers who have their own clients. They're not always partners. Sometimes they're stuck at an associate or counsel title at their firm, but they should have a different title at a different firm. And sometimes they're not getting credit for some work that should be theirs and the clients will follow them.

[00:43:51] [SPEAKER_03] But those are our best introductions. And always the people who believe that it's possible to be successful and happy at the same time and want it for themselves and are willing to be entrepreneurial enough to do some brainstorming with us and figure out how to make it happen.

[00:44:10] [SPEAKER_01] And the last question is a two parter. The first part is where can we get in touch with you? And the second part is where can we find the book, The Happy Rainmaker?

[00:44:20] [SPEAKER_03] We've got a website we like, GilmanStrategicGroup.com. And I put out a lot of content on my personal LinkedIn page. So you can follow me. It's Jennifer Gilman, Law Firm Matchmaker, if you're looking for it. And you can get the book right on Amazon and help our sales, help us get back to a bestseller status again. It was a very exciting day when we were number one. We have it in every, we have Kindle and Audible and all of the things.

[00:44:48] [SPEAKER_03] So there's a way for everybody to work it in. And it's meant to be consumed in one sitting, just like the original Go-Giver. I call it the Go-Giver for lawyers. So it's only about 110 pages.

[00:45:00] [SPEAKER_01] Awesome. Jennifer, this was a lot of fun. It was motivational. It reminded me of a lot of things I need to do. So thank you so much for your time and congratulations on the book and good luck.

[00:45:10] [SPEAKER_03] Thank you so much for having me. And I feel very honored to have been back a second time. Thank you.

[00:45:19] [SPEAKER_00] Thank you for listening to the 10 Golden Rules of Internet Marketing for Law Firms podcast. Please send questions and comments to podcast at 10goldenrules.com. That is podcast at 10goldenrules.com.