My Success From Scratch

Hello, my name is Priscilla Pelgen. Welcome to My Success From Scratch, the place for law practice marketing for new lawyers. I am a practicing attorney in Kokomo, Indiana. I built and launched my own practice 100% from scratch, LITERALLY, in the worst economy since Jimmy Carter was President. I had no attorney friends, relatives, or connections to show me how the business side of law practice works. It was very rough going at first. Now, I’m living my dream and it was worth every minute of it. I decided to offer my knowledge to others facing similar challenges because I think our profession and the public will be better for it.

Why am I telling you this?

I once believed the practice of law is a “profession,” and I should not question the “conventional” methods of starting and operating a professional law practice recommended by law schools, “experienced” practitioners, and the LPM industry itself. I mistakenly believed business rules were somehow different for lawyers. After my own experiences launching a new practice from scratch without a safety net, I formed a new set of beliefs.

I will never forget the experience of opening my own practice alone. Here’s a short list of the practice building methods I tried starting out.

• I bought legal industry sanctioned practice management books
• Searched out industry gurus for law practice management and marketing advice
• Tried to form friendships with experienced practitioners
• Joined associations, paid dues, AND performed free work, hoping people would see my work product and character, and it would lead to referrals
• Accepted bad referrals from established attorneys because I thought if I “took one for the team,” they would accept and help me later
• Accepted my own bad cases forcing me to work nights, weekends, and miss my children’s events because the “client” waited until the last minute to hire someone to respond, and I didn’t know when the next case was coming through my door
• Registered with my state bar association’s “mentoring program,” which is supposed to connect new lawyers with established lawyers for guidance
• Offered to pay experienced attorneys for answers to my questions
• Offered to work FREE – and more!

Using the conventional methods above left me with no hope, a drained bank account, stressed out and scared to death. I secretly wondered if I was going to ruin my credit and bankrupt my family solely because I wanted to better their lives and mine through becoming a lawyer! What good is a law license if you can’t use it to pay your student loans or earn a living?

I decided the only reasonable answer was to reject every one of those practice-building ideas above. It was a risky idea. But, it was a position I was forced into because I couldn’t find employment as an attorney. I had a family depending on me to live up to my promises and thousands of dollars of student loans to pay.

Next, I began borrowing ideas from the retail industry, modifying them to my practice, and implementing them. I mean, it couldn’t hurt, right? Those two decisions are the best decisions I made! I experienced growth and even recognition, and I was content. The next development occurred after months of reading depressing economic news.

Like many lawyers, I receive our weekly trade publications and read the latest aftermath of:

• The newest law firm layoffs
• More stories about lawyers being unable to find legal jobs, and now
• Law schools being sued for faulty job statistics

As bad as I felt when I started out in this business, I feel worse for our colleagues who are starting a practice now. Country wide economic conditions combined with bar association regulations prohibiting multistate practice and the real consequences of student loan default are uniquely devastating to us as a group because we can be professionally disciplined for the failure to pay. This issue continues to be largely ignored by the ABA, state bar associations, law schools, the student loan lenders, and government.

We all know, nobody really cares if lawyers are not working because almost no one likes lawyers.
The public discriminates against lawyers largely due to two things:

1. Rampant misinformation within the public arena we don’t challenge.
For example,

• What we really do for our clients individually
• How much pro bono work we do for society
• What we really earn given how long it takes us to become lawyers
• The expense of our educations, bar exam preparations (and more)
• What we really earn given how many hours we ACTUALLY WORK in the office as lawyers for EACH “billable hour” charged
• The ridiculous regulatory expenses forced upon us which we are forced to pass onto the public to run a practice, and

2. The actions of a small group of individuals who have no business being lawyers and end up trashing the collective reputation of us all!

An all too common sentiment today is:
An unemployed lawyer is a good thing because there are too many lawyers.

I don’t know about you, but I believe in my American Dream of “ It doesn’t matter where you start out, you can become anything in America if you are willing to work for it,” and I happily went into debt for an education –so I could make a difference, and a living.

I didn’t care about the price my family and I willingly paid to become a lawyer, BUT I do care about having a real opportunity to practice in the profession I chose!

For me, the rubber met the road when I realized the dream I spent years working and sacrificing for –is being undercut by those who should be protecting and defending it, for everyone. After my own frustrating experience trying to operate a law practice using the conventional advice, I began to look at their credentials critically.

You Know What?

None of them built a new practice, as a solo, with no family connections, and using their own money, in this economy. They are not real practicing lawyers trying cases in court, and spending their own money on the marketing and operating expenses of their new firm.

They are either older lawyers who last ran a successful law practice in their memory, or academics selling theoretical “business advice,” with the security of a paycheck from a source other than practicing law like the rest of us!

At first, I did the lawyerly thing…I tried to open up the discussion to the problems really facing lawyers today, and persuade others to address the real problems we face as a profession.

Next, I decided to package what I was doing privately and offer it to others who need it. Unlike our LPM industry and other “gurus,” not only can I show you how to take control of your practice, deliver a legal service you can be proud of, and your clients will love, but I back-it-up with an iron clad, ONE-YEAR, money back guarantee – because unlike those groups, I KNOW you can’t eat good intentions or academic theory.

If you’re ready to leave the academics and “gurus” behind and work with me to create your own American Dream… You can learn more about my coaching programs Here!

If you’re unsure about working with anyone to grow your practice, for whatever reason… Make sure as you go forward into our New Economy, you learn Priscilla’s 11 principles you need to know to grow solo, in her FREE report.

Make 2012 YOUR Year!

Whether you want to take control of your practice, or reach new heights – make this year more powerful than any year before it.

Consider whether the following scenarios sound familiar:

• You know you have the potential to achieve anything and everything you want to in your practice – but you aren’t sure how to define it and you don’t know exactly how to go about it
• You have been unable to get a job as an attorney, your spouse is shouldering the weight of your student loans and expenses, and you don’t know how much longer this can go on
• You often feel stressed out, pressed for time and overwhelmed – and you wonder why other people seem to accomplish more than you do – while still having time to spend with their families or do the things they enjoy

…if these do sound familiar, then Priscilla Pelgen’s Deluxe Coaching is for you. I have compiled some of my best strategies to teach you how to identify and attract your ideal client, unleash your potential, and achieve everything you want to – while growing your practice and balancing your life.

You will learn how to eliminate time and money wasters, differentiate yourself from your competitors rendering them irrelevant, and build a quality practice, you will love.

There is no contract. You may cancel at any time. In fact, I am so sure you will “Succeed” with my system I am giving you an UNHEARD OF ONE-YEAR, MONEY BACK GUARANTEE – YOU MAKE A PROFIT OR I GET NOTHING!

If you’re not happy then I will cheerfully return your money and we’ll still be friends. That’s it.