.png)
The Renegade Lawyer Podcast
I am more convinced than ever that nothing that traditional bar organizations are doing is going to move the needle on the sad stats on lawyer happiness ...
The root cause of all lawyers' problems is financial stress. Financial stress holds you back from getting the right people on the bus, running the right systems, and being able to only do work for clients you want to work with. Financial stress keeps you in the office on nights and weekends, often doing work you hate for people you don't like, and doing that work alone.
(Yes, you have permission to do only work you like doing and doing it with people you like working with.)
The money stress is not because the lawyers are bad lawyers or bad people. In fact, most lawyers are good at the lawyering part and they are good people.
The money stress is caused by the general lack of both business skills and an entrepreneurial mindset.
Thus, good lawyers who are good people get caught up and slowed down in bringing their gifts to the world. Their families, teams, clients, and communities are not well-served because you can't serve others at your top level when you are constantly worrying about money.
We can blame the law schools and the elites of the profession who are running bar organizations, but to blame anyone else for your own woes is a loser's game. It is, in itself, a restrictive, narrow, mindset that will keep you from ever seeing, let alone experiencing, a better future.
Lawyers need to be in rooms with other entrepreneurs. They need to hang with people who won't tell you that your dreams are too big or that "they" or "the system "won't allow you to achieve them. They need to be in rooms where people will be in their ear telling them that their dreams are too small.
Get in better rooms. That would be the first step.
Second step, ignore every piece of advice any general organized bar is giving about how to make your firm or your life better.
The Renegade Lawyer Podcast
Ep. 176 - Renegade Lawyer Marketing (Audio Book) Chapter 14: I Anoint You, King
In Chapter 14 of Renegade Lawyer Marketing, Ben Glass flips the narrative on what it means to serve others as a lawyer. You’ll learn why “serving the client” isn’t about self-sacrifice—and why owning your power (and profit) is the first step to building a thriving practice and life.
This chapter is a must-listen for any lawyer struggling with guilt around making money, turning away bad clients, or rejecting toxic industry norms. Ben shares:
- Why cash flow is your first obligation—not bar committees or bad clients
- The mindset shift that transformed his stress into strategic control
- How BB&T’s John Allison taught his team to think like owners
- Why lawyers must stop using “service” as an excuse to undercharge or overgive
- The moment Ben walked away from a salaried job—and faced the real stress of going solo
- A personal story of cash flow pressure, 9 kids, and bold decisions
If you’ve ever felt conflicted about charging what you’re worth or saying no, this one’s for you.
🗓️ Join Ben and hundreds of entrepreneurial lawyers at the next Great Legal Marketing Summit
📘 Grab the book or listen from the beginning
Ben Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury and long-term disability insurance attorney in Fairfax, VA. Since 2005, Ben Glass and Great Legal Marketing have been helping solo and small firm lawyers make more money, get more clients and still get home in time for dinner. We call this TheGLMTribe.com
What Makes The GLM Tribe Special?
In short, we are the only organization within the "business builder for lawyers" space that is led by two practicing lawyers.
One thing we're sure you've noticed is that despite the variety of options within our space, no one else is mixing
the actual practice of law with business building in the way that we are.
There are no other organizations who understand the highs and lows of running a small law firm and are engaged in talking to real clients. That is what sets GLM apart from every other organization, and it is why we have had loyal members that have been with us for two-decades.
Hey everyone, this is Ben. Welcome back to the Renegade Lawyer Podcast. We're back to the audio version of Renegade Lawyer Marketing Book. We're at Chapter 14,. I Anoint you, king. Thanks for your patience. I've been away for a couple of weeks, one a full-on vacation, and then two. Sandy and I were hosting two of the grandkids at our house for Camp Mimi. Surrounding that were our two in-person mastermind groups, so that was another four days off the calendar. Those are great meetings. If you are ever interested in checking out our mastermind program, just reach out to me. Find me on LinkedIn, I'll tell you all about it. It is a really great two days that we get to spend with some of the most entrepreneurial lawyers in the country and we solve each other's problems and look for opportunities for each other. Okay, chapter 14 of Renegade Lawyer Marketing. I Anoint you, king.
Speaker 1:Most people believe it or not, don't think it's proper to consider yourself king. It's not, after all, what we lawyers are supposed to do. Right, we were built to serve the legal needs of others at our own sacrifice. That's what they tell you in law school. That's what they tell you in the profession. Even today, as I go to Virginia State Bar sponsored events. That's most of what you hear. You signed up for it. It's going to be miserable, but that's what you went to law school for. I don't exaggerate much. Back to the book.
Speaker 1:I often hear lawyers at regular lawyer seminars talk about serving their client. You'll hear people say they went to law school to serve others. When Brian, my son, graduated from law school, former justice of the United States Supreme Court, sandra Day O'Connor told the graduates they are now going to be serving a new master. I told him that was BS. Enough of that. You deserve to be king. You have a highly anticipated skill set that you use to help others achieve their goals. To be king, you need your mind set straight about the word service. Sadly, I've heard some lawyers tell tales of marching straight to the poorhouse based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what serving the client actually means in real life.
Speaker 1:I'm a huge fan of John Allison, who built BB&T Bank, previously known as the Branch Backing and Trust Company. Finding BB&T's principles on the internet is well worth the time. The book I Am, john Galt has an excellent chapter on John Allison's mindset. Even if you're not an Ayn Rand fan, I am an Ayn Rand fan and I have shelves and shelves of books, both the books she authored. Commentary pro and against. I've studied it. If you want to disagree with me about Ayn Rand, come prepared. But even if you're not an Ayn Rand fanned, this book is worth reading. Allison, a Christian, built BB&T on Rand's philosophy of objectivism. Rand was an atheist and it's interesting to read how Allison dealt with that.
Speaker 1:Allison prided himself on teaching BB&T employees how to think. He believed that all his employees needed to be self-guided missiles and to achieve that they had to be superbly trained. In Allison's mind, the goal of training his employees well was not to serve clients. The goal was to create superior long-term results for the owners and shareholders of BB&T. The owners, he said, provided the capital. Thus they took on the risk, just like our lawyer owners do. So they have the right to receive economic rewards for that risk. That old saw.
Speaker 1:Open quote we serve our clients close quote. Whether or not you're the owner of a firm, this applies to you. The firm you own or work for must make a profit before it provides legal services to anyone. We'll be going deep this year at the Great Legal Marketing Summit in October out near Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia. If not signed up, go to glmsummitcom. Dan Kennedy is going to be there. I'm going to be there. Probably most importantly, it's going to be hundreds of lawyers who are running solo and small firm practices, who are entrepreneurs, and this is what we talk about at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:But what about the serving the clients part? Don't you have to serve them? Must your doors be open to everyone? Doesn't that come first? Nope, client satisfaction, allison says, is an essential means to the goal of wealth creation for the owner. You serve clients well because that's how you make money. You don't serve in the self-sacrificial way of putting their interests above yours, because they need you and your talents. Now go back and read that last line carefully or listen to it again. You do good work because this is what you are paid to do and the reason you're running a law practice is to make money.
Speaker 1:As we are recording this podcast, I've just finished up an article about money and finance for the Great Legal Marketing Journal from a visionary's standpoint, and we're making this point. I'm making this point in the article. So if you're not a member, you don't get the journal. Reach out to me and we can help you fix that. If you have no money, you have no business. You have no business. You have no ability to serve anyone, deserving or not. Now, that's an important distinction in my view. It's important because it helps with decision-making.
Speaker 1:How many files do you have right now in your office that are sucking the lifeblood out of your firm? Why are they even there? To some, I know, this sounds harsh and even cruel and contrary to everything they've been taught about the profession. I suggest that developing a solid philosophy and living by its principles is the only way to live and to run a business. Every time I go against my own philosophy and, believe me, it happens from time to time I make a mistake.
Speaker 1:The firm you own or work for must make a profit before it provides legal services to anyone. That's got to be rule number one. You need rules. We have rules in our office for case non-acceptance too close to the statute of limitations. Another lawyer handled it. The case has already been filed, the case was not accepted because of philosophical differences about the type of case, and so on. We even have rules about stereotypes of people we won't accept, no matter how good their case are, and so on. We even have rules about stereotypes of people we won't accept, no matter how good their case are Cruel, harsh, but necessary for your ability to thrive. And thriving is what life is supposed to be about.
Speaker 1:Now back to kingship. Glm is good at teaching you the things you need to do to help you achieve that royal status in the eyes of the marketplace, but you have to believe that you deserve to be king. That's why we do so much mindset work, convincing you that it's all right to talk in terms of dominating your market, being perceived as being the best and deserving all that comes with being the best. By the way, look for my recent interview on this podcast with Kaylee Kennedy, because we go deep on that subject as well. I'm not talking about being entitled to be king just because you have a law license. Nothing in your past outside of mutually agreed upon contracts you have entered into entitles you to anything in life.
Speaker 1:Another big mistake lawyers make I'm a lawyer. I shouldn't have to do this. Clients should just come to me. I shouldn't have to compete. I shouldn't have to advertise. That's just rejecting reality. Let's think about this Cash coming to you is everything. If there's no cash or not enough of it, then everything in your life will suffer. The stress of crappy cash flow can lead to the destruction of your marriage, your relationship with your kids and your physical and mental health. Hey, I've been there.
Speaker 1:In 1995, shortly after signing a mortgage on a big house for my then four kids and a dog eventually nine kids and a bunch of dogs I walked out of a law firm that was paying me a salary because I didn't like the commute, didn't like the marketing they were doing and didn't like what I saw as their future. I thought working there was stressful, always chasing deadlines, working on shitty cases other people accepted and dealing with big time Northern Virginia traffic every day and on weekends. But it turned out to be nothing like the stress of starting a law firm from scratch. Kings go to work to make money. That's number one on our goals list.
Speaker 1:Every day, money-making kings ignore the looks of the elite who try to guilt you into taking more shitty cases, serving on more bar committees usually a waste of time and not doing enough pro bono work, usually in an area of law that you're not qualified even to practice in. Talk about adding more stress to your life. This is renegade thinking. Nothing else works without adequate cash flow. The king gets more cash flow than the hoi polloi, and that's not only okay, but it is essential to fulfilling our obligations as attorneys. Think about that. Your obligation as an attorney is to make money, because the legal services you provide are going to be better if you are not stressed out about money.
Speaker 1:I do think that we serve one of the most vital roles in our society the effective functioning of a system of laws and justice that protects agreements people have made with each other, provides compensation for injuries caused by carelessness and protects us from bad guys while protecting the good guys from governmental overreach. Our profession is a wonderful profession, but you'll do better at it, enjoy it more and be able to help more people if you have adequate cash flow. So I hereby anoint you king, act like one. Your family, employees and clients will be better for it, and if not you, then who? All righty?
Speaker 1:So next time it'll be chapter 15, chapter called Just Like Heart Rate Training. That's interesting because I did some recording this Heart rate training this morning. I'm going to teach you a little bit about it. I'll teach you how running a law practice is just like heart rate training. Okay, until next time. Thanks for listening. Leave a comment, leave a rating, reach out to me if you have a question. You got a great guest or you'd like to be a guest on the podcast. Love to hear from you.
