Going it on Your Own

Welcome to part one of my very first blog.  While I had lots of ideas about what I was going to write about, I thought I would use my first blog to describe the events of my last few days, which for most of us was the Victoria Day long weekend.

On Friday morning I commenced what was a relatively short but action-packed process for starting my new solo law practice.  The first order of business was determining what needed to be done and in which order.  It seemed obvious that, other than drawing upon my experience in years of practice, I would need two other very important things – clients and computers.  Given that I love technology, I didn’t have to worry about sourcing computers, printers, webcams, iPhones or iPads, because I already had the “latest and greatest”.  That meant I had to focus on getting clients, or marketing.

For most businesses, all you need to do is decide that you’re going to market and then decide upon the approaches that you’re going to take to do so.  Generally speaking, businesses market both directly and in a general manner.  Direct marketing is achieved by developing relationships with clients and contacts, while general marketing is achieved by advertising and social media.

I decided that I would tackle the direct marketing and leave the social media to the experts.  Fortunately, I am blessed to have amazing and incredibly talented friends and family.

My brother-in-law Roger got right to work on my website.  That you’re reading this blog today is a testament to his skills and dedication to his family.  Thank you Roger, I’m sure you had better things to do on this long weekend (for instance enjoying the Canucks taking a 3-1 series lead over the Sharks).  If you ever need a lawyer, I know where you can find a good one!

A good website needs both content and images, so I got right to work on writing content.  I posted my first article on the “Multimedia” page and, now, my first blog.  While I like to think that I can write a “mean article”, everyone knows that the editor is the most important person in the process.  Again, I drew upon my family to help with this.

My wife Karen, who is also a lawyer and a big part of why my practice has been and will be successful, has been writing case summaries for Quicklaw for the past few years.  Quicklaw is an electronic legal research database that provides court decisions from all levels, news reports, statutes, journals, and other legal commentary.  She has also written various chapters for Halsbury’s Laws of Canada, which is a comprehensive legal encyclopaedia, so she knows a thing or two about the law and writing.  For more information about Karen, see her bio on our “About Us” page.

The other thing that a good website needs is photographs, both of lawyers and of meaningful landmarks.  Once again, I was able to draw upon a friend and fellow Leafs fan to handle this part.  While I had asked Jeff, an amateur photographer, to simply take a couple of head shots of Karen and me and to let us use a few of his many incredible shots of the local area, , he decided to up the ante.

First, he called upon his friend Marion, who is a professional photographer and an amazing person, to come over to our house on a long weekend to photograph us.  Marion not only took some great photos of us but she rounded up my two youngest children and took pictures of them as well. I still can’t believe she got them to co-operate!  Marion, you are amazing and we thank you!  The pictures haven’t yet been posted because they were only taken a few hours ago!

Jeff has already sent me some amazing images for the website, and will be sending more in the days to come.  Jeff, I can’t thank you enough for everything that you’ve done, you are really a great friend!

Check again in a day or so and you’ll see some of Marion and Jeff’s handiwork.

Rounding out the social media aspect of my marketing plan are my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.  Please click on the icons on this page to connect to those accounts.  In the days to come our Facebook page and YouTube channel should be up and running so, once again, keep checking in regularly!

Coming soon:  Going it on Your Own – Part 2

~ Steve