Reflection and Reality

As I reflect upon the close of the 2009 calendar year and the recent memories of family yuletide, it reminds me of the feelings I had a year ago just three months after the crash in September, 2008. It's nice to put 2009 behind us and being December was our best month of the year, gives me hope for 2010. The full reality is it's a new year and we start at zero. What will we be doing this year to take ourselves to a new level? Over the past several weeks, I have found myself reevaluating employees' strength and identifying where they are best-suited. I find myself too quickly trying to "blame them" for struggles they currently have. Upon reflection, I realize the struggles employees have stem from a lack of them working within their skill set or a failure of expectations. We evaluated each employee over the last several weeks of 2009 and repositioned people into their skill set so they can work more naturally without having to feel like they're failing on a daily basis. The three elements to look at with employees are attitudes, skills, and knowledge. If they have a great attitude but are still struggling then look for their skill set. See if it is a skill set necessary for the job they are asked to perform. If they have the skills set but just are not doing it properly, then it is likely a knowledge issue. Focus on getting them the knowledge they need to do their job properly. If their attitude is poor, work with them to improve it, or, and if not corrected, consider replacing them since a poor attitude was the greatest loss of the skill sets and has the greatest impact on your firm's success.

The second preparation for the New Year was ensuring that I had budgets in place. Running a law practice without budgets is like getting up in the morning and not knowing what you're doing. It is critical in these early weeks of January we take the time to identify your revenue goals for the year and your expense goals. Profit is made by either increasing revenues or decreasing expenses. I recommend you use your 2009 numbers plus 20 percent for revenue budgets. Your expense numbers, examine them. If they are more than your revenue numbers, you must reduce them. Let me restate that. You MUST reduce them! This must be the year you get off the “hamster wheel” and start putting yourself first. It's just like the oxygen mask on an airplane, you must put your own on first. You're not good to your employees, or your family, if you're not financially well yourself. I wish all of you a prosperous, focused and happy 2010. I look forward to growing with you.

A Letter From an MPS MIT and Medicaid Case Worker

Friends,

I got word of an application approval today! It came in an odd way. The decision maker at our state Medicaid office called to tell me that the property in my client's MIT was available for her care.

He went on to quote from the MIT. "The trust says that the income of the trust shall be paid for the benefit of the income beneficiaries and the lifetime principal of the trust shall be paid for the benefit of the lifetime principal beneficiaries."

He then went on to say that the trust names “Jane” as the lifetime beneficiary.
While I tried to get my computer (which was acting up) to bring up the document, he re-read the relevant sections out loud twice. On the second rereading he dropped his voice and said, "oh', I see what you are saying. You are right."

He had been stonewalling me for 12 months. He would not answer my phone calls, nor respond to questions. My cynical suspicion is that he was waiting for our penalty period and Medicaid annuity to run out so he could spring the bad news on me when I no longer had time to react to the problem.

Once again, the MPS process wins in the end.

~ Very Happy MPS Attorney

PS. Hey new members... this stuff really does work.
PPS. I was gracious in victory.

Profit Practice Program Reminder

The 20% credit that we gave you last Christmas will expire soon! DON'T let your hesitation cost you AGAIN. If your practice is not 100% what you thought it could be, our Profit Practice ProgramTM will show you how to make it happen before the year ends. Cash in on your 20% before you lose IT.

The MPS Profit Practice Program™ Schedule:

December 2, 3, 4 in Phoenix, A.Z.

Crowne Plaza Phoenix Airport
"The Place to Meet"
4300 E. Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85034
Telephone 602-273-7778 Facsimile 602-286-1109
Client's block of rooms will be held until 3:00pm on 11/01/2009.

10x Guarantee

Give us 3 days, we'll make you profitable.
If after attending the first day of any MPS event you do not believe you can generate ten times the event cost, you may return the event material and MPS will pay $100.00 toward your flight change fee and relieve you of your obligation to pay the program tuition outlined on your registration form. Materials, fees charged on your registration form are not refundable. If you (1) leave the program with any MPS material, (2) fail to notify the MPS event coordinator of your exercise of the guarantee at the end of the first day, or (3) return for the second day of the event program, you acknowledge the program is worth its cost and waive the 10X guarantee and agree to pay all charges set forth on your registration form.