Law Firm Growth Unlocked: Walt Hampton’s Expert Strategies -Ep 42

Hello and welcome to The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast! I’m your host, Darren Wurz. This is Episode 42, and today we’re talking with Walt Hampton, expert business coach and former law firm leader.

Walt is here to share his recipe for evolving from working in your firm to mastering it from above. He’ll cover critical aspects like leveraging strengths, smart delegation, and crafting processes geared towards efficiency and growth.

Beyond the office, Walt emphasizes taking time to reflect and planning for success, as well as the necessity of self-care and balanced routines. Plus, he’ll touch on the power of referrals and the importance of having the right systems in place.

Get set for insights that could revolutionize your practice and life. And if you find this episode valuable, please share, subscribe, and leave us a review. Let’s get started!

Ever wonder how some lawyers seem to have it all figured out? They’ve got the booming business, the free time, and they’re not even breaking a sweat. Want a slice of that sweet, sweet pie? You’re in luck because on Episode 42 of The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast, our man Darren Wurz is chopping it up with Walt Hampton – who’s basically the Yoda of turning law firms into money-making, freedom-giving machines.

Walt’s been in the trenches, leading a law firm for nearly 30 decades, and now he’s dishing out all the juicy secrets on how he flipped the script. Buckle up, because this episode is like a treasure map to bury your old habits and dig up some serious gold for your practice and your life.

Here’s a sneak peek of what Walt and Darren are throwing down:

1. Play to Your Strengths: Keep the ball in your court and pass off the rest to save your sanity and your dollars.

2. Delegation is Your BFF: Get the lowdown on Walt’s genius “pancake recipe” for nailing the delegation game and claim back your time.

3. Goals, Goals, Goals: Sketch out those big dreams, reverse that plan, and get your firm on the highway to success-town.

4. Break the Busy Trap: Learn why stepping away can actually bring you closer to your goals and how to chill strategically.

5. Network Like a Boss: Use the magic of referrals and solid systems to keep those clients rolling in.

Ready to kick your firm into high gear and still have time to Netflix and chill? All you gotta do is hit up Episode 42 with Walt Hampton and let these guys show you the ropes.

🎧 Jump into The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast, and blast off with Episode 42 now. Unleash the lawyer millionaire in you – just press play and start transforming your world!

Are you a law firm owner looking for the secret recipe to take your firm to new heights? Look no further than this latest episode of The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast. Join host Darren Wurz as he sits down with Walt Hampton, a seasoned business coach with a treasure trove of insights that every lawyer entrepreneur needs to hear.

Transitioning from Practitioner to Visionary Leader

Walt Hampton’s story is nothing short of inspirational. After managing a law firm for nearly three decades, Walt transitioned into a role that enables him to coach and guide others through their professional journeys. He shares pearls of wisdom on how law firm owners can shift their mindset from working *in* their business to working *on* their business. This means setting clear, ambitious goals, adopting new business models, and scaling profits by thinking big.

Embrace Your Zone of Excellence

Understanding and playing to your strengths is crucial, and Walt emphasizes the need to focus on what you excel at. By delegating tasks or leveraging AI, lawyers can minimize distractions and stay within their zone of excellence, thus reducing opportunity costs.

Perfect Your Law Firm’s ‘Pancake Recipe

Walt introduces the concept of “pancake recipes” — breaking complex tasks into simple, replicable steps. This metaphor is key to understanding how delegation within a firm can be systematized for efficiency, allowing team members to harness their full potential.

The Art of Delegation for Freedom

One of Walt’s main points revolves around delegation—not just as a tool for operational success, but as a means to achieve personal time and financial freedom. He shares actionable strategies on how lawyering individuals can delegate effectively, set boundaries, and create space for strategic planning and personal growth.

The Millionaire Mission: Structure and Balance

Creating a fulfilling work-life balance isn’t just a dream. Walt shares how, even as a successful lawyer and a single father, he managed to carve out substantial time for his personal and professional passions. He underscores the importance of self-care routines, knowing when to say no, and a nightly shutdown ritual to preserve well-being.

Referral Marketing and System Infrastructure

Generating business doesn’t have to be an uphill battle. Walt stresses the importance of having solid referral marketing strategies, particularly for estate planning and corporate layers. However, as Darren Wurz points out, the infrastructure must be in place to handle the influx of leads your marketing strategies will bring.

Your Operations Manual: Blueprint for Success

No successful law firm runs on the fly. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) and an operations manual are not just about managing tasks — they’re the blueprint for business freedom. Implementing these systems ensures that every team member knows their role, liberating you from the weeds of day-to-day operations.

Connect with Walt Hampton

Ready to embark on your millionaire mission? Walt’s expertise is just a click away. Visit Walt at [Summit Success](http://www.summitsuccess.com) or reach out directly via email at walt@summitsuccess.com.

Join The Lawyer Millionaire Community

If this episode has sparked a flame within you, don’t let it go out. Share “Episode 42 – Walt Hampton.mp3” with your network, subscribe to The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast for more empowering content, and please consider leaving a review—we thrive on your support.

Optimize your law firm’s potential today by listening in to the wisdom Walt Hampton shares in this episode. Growth, freedom, and wealth are not just within reach; with the right mindset and tools, they’re just the starting point.

Listen to the full Episode 42 – Walt Hampton here:

Remember, your legacy starts with the decisions you make today. Equip yourself with the strategies that transform mere practitioners into visionary leaders and millionaire lawyers.

Resources:

Wurz Financial Services

Connect with Darren Wurz:

Connect with Walt Hampton:

Email: walt@walthampton.com
Linkedin: Walt Hampton
Facebook: Walt Hampton
Instagram: Walt Hampton
Youtube: Walt Hampton
Website: Summit Success

About our guest:

Walt Hampton, J.D. is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Summit Success International, a global personal and professional development firm; and the Acquisitions Director at Summit Press Publishers, a premier publisher of expert positioning books.Walt is a business coach, management consultant, leadership trainer and motivational speaker.

He is the bestselling author of Journeys on the Edge: Living a Life That Matters, named a Top 10 Non-Fiction Book and a two-time recipient of the North American Book Awards; as well as the author of The Power Principles of Time Mastery: Do Less, Make More, Have Fun.

A 1984 graduate of The Cornell Law School, Walt was managing partner of a law firm for nearly 30 years with a practice focused on commercial litigation and criminal defense.

He was trained as a Results Coach by Robbins Research International and worked directly for Tony Robbins as one of Tony’s elite-level certified business coaches.

Walt’s passions are high-altitude mountaineering, ultra-distance running, blue-water sailing & adventure photography.

He and his wife, the publisher Ann Sheybani, reside in Intervale, New Hampshire.

Transcript:

Darren Wurz [00:00:00]:
Do you want to double your profit next year? Are you looking to orient your financial strategies towards growth while also maintaining your peace of mind? Then you’re in the right place. Hello, and welcome to the Lawyer Millionaire podcast, a show dedicated to empowering law firm owners to build extraordinary wealth and secure their financial legacies. I’m your host, Darren and wirts, financial planner for law firm owners. Today I have the privilege to introduce Walt Hampton, founder and CEO of Summit Success International. Not only is Walt an accomplished business coach, leadership trainer, and motivational speaker, he also has an extensive experience in the legal field, having been the managing partner of a law firm for nearly 30 years. And did I mention his adventures in high altitude mountaineering and ultra distance running? Walt, welcome to the show.

Walt Hampton [00:00:57]:
The one thing you left out was the fact that we share the same hairstylist. Yes. Thank you for the warm welcome. It’s so good to be with you.

Darren Wurz [00:01:09]:
Indeed, indeed. It’s great to have you here, and your energy is infectious. So I’m excited. You’ve cheered me up already.

Walt Hampton [00:01:18]:
Excellent. Well, I’m just thrilled to have an opportunity to spend some time with you and share some good stuff with your audience. So thank you for having me.

Darren Wurz [00:01:28]:
Yeah. Fantastic. Well, let’s start with you and your background. You were the managing partner of a law firm for nearly 30 years. Tell us about your background and experience there and how you came to where you are today.

Walt Hampton [00:01:43]:
So I came out of Cornell Law School in 1984 and went the traditional route of going to the big firm. And it was a great firm. Loved the firm, loved the people. But my dad had built his medical practice from scratch, and so I had this entrepreneurial thing that was just part of my DNA. And even with a partnership offer in my hand, I decided I wanted to go out and begin my own firm. And so about four years after joining the big firm, I founded what was then known as Hampton Law offices. And my background had been as a trial lawyer. And we created, in suburban Hartford, the suburbs of Hartford, what was probably the first boutique litigation firm that did sophisticated, multiparty, multi district litigation. And I built it from there over many, many years, and we did great work. And I loved it.

Darren Wurz [00:02:47]:
Yeah, that’s fantastic. And I love that you have that entrepreneurial drive, and now you can help other law firm owners who are similarly minded. Was there a moment when you realized that you wanted to do something different than practicing law and get into coaching?

Walt Hampton [00:03:03]:
Well, I loved litigation. I was good at litigation. But I love creative work and collaborative work. And coaching is that I get to use all of my skills, knowledge, background, experience, now working collaboratively with lawyers from all around the world. And that’s really fun to build stuff. And I loved your introduction, Darren, because I think we as lawyers, have the greatest profession on the planet. We get to help people in their time of greatest need. We get to do justice. We get to change laws. We literally get to change the world if we think about it like that. And so we have this amazing gig. And what’s frustrating for me, because I went through this, is that way too many of us get stuck in what I refer to as expensive indentured servitudes rather than having the wealth and the freedom that we deserve in this work. And we do.

Darren Wurz [00:04:04]:
Yeah, I love that. In your work. Now, as a coach to law firm owners, is there a key struggle or a key problem that you’re really focused on helping them overcome?

Walt Hampton [00:04:18]:
Well, there are lots of keys, but I think a key is that we go into a law practice. That’s how we think about our work. Many of us, I’m a lawyer, I have a law practice. A huge mindset shift is seeing what you’re doing as a business. And if you can begin with that in mind, that you’re actually running a business. And when you’re running a business where everything is running like a business shortage, you’re in that CEO role where perhaps you’re casting the vision for the firm. Perhaps you’re doing that stuff that really lights you up, but you’re not stuck worrying about the toner cartridges or whether you’re going to get the FedEx carrier on time for the brief that needs to be filed or the other stuff that mires so many of us in the day to day work of being a lawyer in a small or medium.

Darren Wurz [00:05:18]:
Sized firm, you’ve hit the nail on the head. And so many attorneys, law firm owners are struggling to make that transition from working in their business to working on their business. What advice do you have for them? Or how do they move or start to move more into that CEO role and more into that leadership position?

Walt Hampton [00:04:04]:
First of all, probably by listening to your podcast, because I’m serious about that. Because I don’t think there are a lot of people talking in our world about building a business, building a profitable business, even thinking about two xing one’s profits or more. I’ll give you an example. I started working with an employment lawyers and he was doing okay. He was about, he had a bigger vision of it and he didn’t want to do it the old fashioned way. And we created a recurring revenue model that helped serve unions that took his gross from 400 to 1.21.3 million over the course of 18 months. And that was because he had the audacity to think about business modeling in a completely different way. And so number one is giving yourself the permission to listen to podcasts like yours to be curious about what different business models might be out there. So that’s number one. Number two is beginning to set really clear business goals. One of the things we do as lawyers is we look in the rear view mirror all the time. Oh, that was a bad quarter. Oh, 2022 wasn’t as good as 2021. Rather than be future casting, and we do this when we go on vacation, we know where we’re going. We ought to have that same future direction with our businesses. Where do I want my business to be at the end of 2024? Let’s get clear on that, and then let’s drive there.

Darren Wurz [00:07:31]:
Yeah, I love that. Thinking about the future, that’s such a critical aspect, and it’s so important to think big and expand your horizons. We can get so stuck in the status quo and so stuck in where we are. There’s a psychological term for that. I forget exactly what it is, but it’s a common behavioral, psychological thing for human beings. We get used to our surroundings, and if we’ve had some failure, maybe we’ve lost some clients or we’ve lost some business, and all of a sudden our thinking is shrinking. We’re getting smaller and smaller. Instead of waking up and saying, okay, wait a minute. There’s a whole huge new opportunity out here, a whole new direction that I could go in.

Walt Hampton [00:08:20]:
Absolutely. Early on in my law firm building, I had amazing assistant. Her name was Rosemary, and she lasted about six months. And one day she came into me and she said, walt, you’re like a hamster on a wheel. And that was not a compliment, and that was a wake up call for me, because that was true. I was a hamster on a wheel. One of the things I’ve already alluded to is we get caught in the weeds of our business day in and day out, and it’s very hard to step back. And I think it’s incredibly important we can talk about what that looks like. Stepping back, stepping out, and beginning to plan as you would for a business as an executive coach. I’m supposed to say, challenge the other challenge. No, it’s a problem. The other problem that lawyers have is that there’s this kind of lawyer way of doing things. We all drive the same late model car, wear the same suits, we belong to the same clubs. And if you begin to think kind of outside that box, it’s uncomfortable. You alluded to that a while ago. So it’s very for any human being to step outside their comfort zone. But even though we’re capable of really precision thinking, as lawyers, we all often leverage that ability with respect to our own businesses.

Darren Wurz [00:09:56]:
Yeah. And I see it in real time. I’m sure you see it with clients. You’re working with certain clients who they’ve been kind of stuck for a long time. How do we begin to try and get unstuck and try to start broadening those horizons?

Walt Hampton [00:09:55]:
So one thing is we actually have to stop those of us who have had kids and you’re raising kids and you’re afraid they’re going to get lost in the woods. If you get lost, stay exactly where you are, go and hug a tree. We actually have to stop the madness for a bit and step back and step out. So at least quarterly, I’ll take a day away from the business, and at least annually, three or four days to step out of the business and to look back at the previous period. And we do a very simple debrief process. It’s two questions. Did well, do differently? What went well? We want to do more of that. What would we do differently going ahead and that. Stopping long enough to think and to then begin to plan. And then we can talk, if you want, about what project planning looks like into the future. But the first step is that idea of just stopping and getting clarity again, dreaming, daring to dream again about what life could be, because a lot of us get so. I’ve seen way too many lawyers literally die at their desks because they don’t have the imagination to create real freedom for themselves.

Darren Wurz [00:11:47]:
Yeah, I can just imagine people as you’re saying that, thinking, oh, my goodness, taking a whole day once a quarter and not doing any work. That might strike some panic in some people.

Walt Hampton [00:12:02]:
When I was running my law firm, I would take anywhere from, please, if you’re driving, don’t go off the road, anywhere from eight to twelve weeks, a year off from my practice.

Darren Wurz [00:12:17]:
Wow.

Walt Hampton [00:12:18]:
And we had a significantly successful practice with a lovely team. But anywhere. I’m a high altitude mountaineer, and that means I disappear for long periods of time to remote places in the world where there is no communication. And so, like, 28 days in the Arctic in May, I remember having a conversation with Judge Dyer. In my later years, I did criminal defense, which I loved because it disturbed more of my short attention span that civil litigation didn’t. But I was about to go to the Arctic on this long expedition, and there was this case that kept on going on and on and on. And I thought, I’m going to settle this thing today.

Darren Wurz [00:13:06]:
We’re going to take it.

Walt Hampton [00:13:07]:
We’re going to take it to plea.

Darren Wurz [00:13:08]:
It’s going to be done.

Walt Hampton [00:11:45]:
I’m going to be fine. I can go away. And it didn’t lay down. So I go out into open court, and I said, your honor, he said, in this matter. Attorney no, I need a continuance. He said, this matter has been on my docket. It has been on my docket way too long. A week on a plane the next day for four weeks. I looked at him, I said, judge Steyer, attorney Hampton is going away. Third person attorney Hampton is going away for one of his notoriously long mountain climbing expeditions. I need at least four and a half weeks.

Darren Wurz [00:13:50]:
Oh, wow.

Walt Hampton [00:13:52]:
He looked at me. He had the gavel in his hand. I thought he was going to come over the bench. He slams the gavel down. He says, five weeks. Attorney Hampton.

Darren Wurz [00:14:05]:
Oh, wow.

Walt Hampton [00:13:49]:
So it’s a great little story. But I also, because I’m not alone in this, and I don’t know whether we talked about this before, but I was a single dad raising three young boys on my own for a dozen years while I managed my law firm. And I made a commitment that I would be home for them in the middle of the afternoon to help them with their homework and get dinner going. And in that dozen years, I never got any significant pushback from colleagues or courts around what I needed as a dad. And I think part of it was we did great work. We did honest work. I said exactly what I needed in terms of boundaries. But I was able to create a life that allowed me to be a dad and to have fun. Sometimes we tell ourselves stories as lawyers of what’s not possible, and we became lawyers so that we could have control over our lives, not to lose it.

Darren Wurz [00:15:18]:
Yeah, absolutely. All right, well, let’s talk more about the specifics of becoming more successful in scaling your practice. What are some strategies that you have found effective in helping your clients to achieve more of that time and financial freedom that you were talking about and also minimizing their stress.

Walt Hampton [00:15:17]:
So, first of all, every time management, productivity, and leadership book will tell you you need to carve out some time for you on a daily basis. So you have to be grounded, you have to be healthy, you have to be well, which means that you need time for you and that sounds counterproductive. How am I going to grow and scale my practice? Well, you’re not going to grow and scale your practice unless you’re well grounded yourself. That means your emotional life, your physical life, your psychological life, your spiritual life. You need to have a good grounding, which means you need to have great morning disciplines, morning practices that allow you to start that day productively. The second thing is we’ve talked about having this meta idea about where you’re going. But once you’ve created a plan for where you want to go in a quarter or a year, then reverse engineering that, to have a plan for your weeks, for your days, so that you are following those plans and within those days, structuring your days so that you’re staying resourceful, working in what we call block time, taking time out during the day, learning to be a good delegator, learning to say no because no is a full sentence. Having a ritual about the end of the day. A lot of people talk about having a morning routine. You ought to have an evening routine, too, because you ought to have a shutdown so that you can rest and recharge and rejuvenate, going to come back at it the next day and then the day, recognizing what your zone of genius is, what your zone of excellence is, what you love to do and delegate the rest.

Darren Wurz [00:17:46]:
That is hard for many people, and I’m sure you’ve run into that when working with people. I love, by the way, the suggestion to have an end of day routine. I have a great morning routine. I get up at five, I read, I have my coffee. But an end of day routine, that is really a fantastic concept.

Walt Hampton [00:18:10]:
At 06:00 p.m.. I review my plan for the day. The next day, do a last check to see whether there’s any emergent stuff in the email inbox. And I have a practice where I close the laptop and that’s it for the day.

Darren Wurz [00:18:28]:
Wow.

Walt Hampton [00:18:29]:
It’s done. I don’t go back into social media. I don’t go back into email because I have a wonderful partner. I have a lovely home. I have stuff that I want to read and think about and create. And you got to do that if you want to stay resourceful, to go the distance. And we do challenging work. As an endurance athlete, I know that it’s axiomatic that I have to rest because resting is part of getting stronger.

Darren Wurz [00:19:04]:
Yeah, great stuff. I love that. This seems just so very serene and peaceful to have that. As you’re describing it, as you’re describing your end of day routine there. You mentioned delegating. Let’s talk about that for a minute. What are some obstacles that prevent law firm owners from effectively delegating tasks to their employees, and how can they overcome those?

Walt Hampton [00:17:43]:
Okay, where to dive into this? So, first of all, I think it’s understanding, first, what you like to do, what you do well. What is fun for you as a lawyers, and once you’ve identified that and you recognize the value of that to your firm, understanding, number one, that the most pernicious cost, the most dangerous cost for any business, for any entrepreneur, for any professional, is opportunity cost. If I’m working and my hourly rate is $500 an hour, $600 an hour, and I begin to get engaged in work that apricot do at $100 an hour, I am burning $400 an hour away. I’m throwing it away. Yeah, opportunity cost is huge. And so recognizing one’s zone of excellence, that place where you really like to do your work, recognizing that not staying in that work is costing you an extraordinary amount of money, and then making the conscious decision of who should help you. Or now with AI, what AI can help you. So many times, lawyers will say, oh, my God, I have so much to do. I don’t know how to get it done. Wrong question. Question is, who should get it done or what AI should take over for this to get it done, not how am I going to get it done? It’s who else is going to do this? Because anytime you’re feeling that friction, anytime you’re feeling that stress, it means it’s not in your zone of genius, and it ought to go onto somebody else’s plate.

Darren Wurz [00:21:26]:
Yeah.

Walt Hampton [00:21:25]:
And then when you make that decision, decide who that. Who is going to be. Let’s just go with that thread for a minute and then figure out what your pancake recipe is for that. This comes from one of my clients. He had a son, Bruno. And I’m teaching this guy all of the ideas around delegation, and he wasn’t getting it. I said, bruno likes to cook, right? He’s six years old. Yeah. He makes pancakes. I said, I bet you had to break that down into little tiny steps for Bruno. Yeah. Like, where’s the pan and where’s the pancake mix? And here’s the stool to stand on, but you got the measuring cup. So we all have pancake recipes for stuff. We all for everything we do, understanding that, then we can find the right who and sit down and walk them through it while you’re running a video or audio doing it. And so you’re teaching it like my client taught it to his son, Bruno. You’re teaching how to make pancakes, and it’s being memorialized?

Darren Wurz [00:22:48]:
Yeah.

Walt Hampton [00:22:49]:
The person who’s learning that can go back to the video or the audio, and they are delegated the responsibility of updating the pancake recipe, because if things have been left out or missed or things change, and then if there’s a new pancake baker who comes in, there’s an already extant delegation library around how to open a file, how to close a file, how to get you ready for a deposition, how to get your trial exhibits squared away. There are pancake recipes for all of that. And so you memorialize them and allow the person who is doing them to update that, and it’s off your plate.

Darren Wurz [00:23:38]:
Yeah.

Walt Hampton [00:22:46]:
The objections are these, Darren? Well, no one can do it as well as I can. That’s correct. Probably true. But in this world of AI, they do it better than you. But we don’t have to go down that rabbit hole. But 80% of me, if I’m staying in my zone of excellence, it is just fine. Just fine. Done is better than perfect. I’m not incurring the Opportunity cost.

Darren Wurz [00:24:14]:
Yeah.

Walt Hampton [00:24:15]:
I do debriefs with everything. So someone does a project, the associate, the Paris, sits down with me, I do a debrief. I do it in the same way we do my own debriefs. Here’s what you did really well. Here’s what I might do differently the next time, and here’s what done really well. Go forth.

Darren Wurz [00:24:37]:
Yeah. And the truth is, that really mean delegation is such a critical component, you’re not going to be able to achieve that time freedom and financial freedom that you really want unless you’re able to start stepping into that and delegating those tasks.

Walt Hampton [00:24:57]:
Absolutely. And when you surround yourself with good people and you allow them, I hate the word empower, because that connotes someone has the power and someone doesn’t. But when you allow them to step into their own power and efficacy, many times they will dazzle you. I think I have amazing ideas, Derek. In fact, I think my ideas are just the best ideas in the world. And then sometimes my director of operations will come to me and she says.

Darren Wurz [00:25:29]:
I know you want to accomplish this.

Walt Hampton [00:24:13]:
But how about we do it that way? And I go, that’s amazing, and it’s even better. And so having a team that you allow to support you, and I would even take it one step further, because this is part of our culture. My senior team is directed to protect my zone of genius. So checking email is way outside my pay grade. Calendaring. I think I made an exception with you. I think you and I did this together. I didn’t tell anybody. But calendaring is not something I do. Yeah, I do not do those tasks. It takes way too much time to check my email, and that’s scary for most lawyers.

Darren Wurz [00:26:24]:
And in my experience, the time is one thing, but the mental energy is really the big thing for me, at least in checking emails. You see this huge long list. I read once somewhere that your email inbox is everyone else’s to do list for you.

Walt Hampton [00:26:45]:
I love that. In my teaching, I have a variant is someone else’s agenda for your day. Yeah, you set an agenda for your day, which most of us don’t. But if you set an agenda for your day and you spend those first productive hours of your day on your agenda rather than on someone else’s agenda, wow. Magic starts to happen.

Darren Wurz [00:27:10]:
Yeah. Game changer, for sure.

Walt Hampton [00:27:14]:
Game changer.

Darren Wurz [00:27:15]:
So we talked about business goals. We talked about having big goals for the year. And so, as we’re going through getting 2024 started, what tips or advice would you like listeners to take away from today? Law firm owners who are trying to make that two x vision for 2024. What are some practical takeaways that you’d like to leave us with?

Walt Hampton [00:27:40]:
Well, two X sounds great, and it’s absolutely achievable, but you actually have to sit down and know what two X is. You have to know what that number is, you actually have to focus on that number, and then you need to reverse engineer the activities that will get you to two X. And so part of what needs to happen, and I don’t care whether it’s end of Q one, end of Q two, whatever, quarter, and certainly on a biannual and annual basis, sitting down and doing that planning process, mapping that out, getting clear on the target, reverse engineering. I’ll give you a very micro. If you had a criminal defense practice and you knew that for a DUI, you charged $5,000 for a DUI and you wanted to make $100,000 in the quarter, well, all you need to do is some simple math, and then you need to reverse engineer. Okay, how do I market such that I get the leads, such that I get the case? It’s just math. It’s so long as you sit down and do it and plan it out all the way back to what I need to do to get those leads.

Darren Wurz [00:29:07]:
Assistance.

Walt Hampton [00:29:08]:
Do I need to get that are reliable? For me, it was a referral marketing, because I represented good suburban kids who got into trouble. They did not get their lawyers from Kiwanis, placemats, or little league billboards. They went to their estate planning lawyers and their corporate lawyers and said, would you recommend understanding your business legion in such a way that you then have a reliable, predictable way to generate the target that you’ve described and then working that plan consistently?

Darren Wurz [00:29:49]:
And the middle part is so critical, because if you bring in twice the leads, okay, you got to have the infrastructure there to deal with that. Right. And to actually create the business from that.

Walt Hampton [00:30:03]:
Yes. And the systems and the processes having. So I’ve alluded to this a number of times, a law firm that is going to be. There’s a reason that the 17 year old making the burger at Mickey D’s in San Francisco is the same burger that you get in Paris. And that’s because there is an Sop that tells you how many seconds on each side of the burger it needs to get burnt. Sops having a standard operating procedure that becomes an operations manual that I could use if you called me up and said, hey, Walt, I know you’re probably wanting to go travel to Alaska, but could you cover for me for a week? I could come in and open your operating manual and know how you answer the phone, how you open a file, how you communicate, how you close a file. If I had that, that’s a ticket to freedom. And you can build that one delegation process at a time.

Darren Wurz [00:31:05]:
Yeah, absolutely. Great stuff, Walt. Thank you so much for sharing all of your insights with us. Unfortunately, we’re out of time here. I’d love to keep going. Absolutely. But I’ve got one more question for you real quickly. If you would share with us, what is your millionaire mission? And what I mean by that is, what is your big purpose behind what you do?

Walt Hampton [00:31:29]:
I’ve already alluded to it. I think we have really important work to do in the world, and I am driven by the fact that we have the opportunity to do that work and have rich, full, and deeply satisfying lives. And I want your listeners, I want my colleagues, I want the people I serve to wake up every single day looking forward to this amazing work that they get to do. That’s what fuels great.

Darren Wurz [00:31:56]:
Great. I love it. Well, Walt, I imagine people may have questions or want to learn more about you, and how can they find you?

Walt Hampton [00:32:05]:
Well, they can go to our website, which is summit success. Summit success. They can email me at. Walt at summit success.

Darren Wurz [00:32:18]:
Awesome. Well, that brings us to the end of another enriching episode. A big thanks to Walt for sharing his invaluable experience with us today, and of course, our gratitude to you, our listeners, for tuning in and investing in your future. If you found this episode helpful, please take a moment to share it with your colleagues and friends who might also benefit. Your sharing helps us reach more law firm owners. Don’t forget to subscribe to our show so you never miss an episode, and if you could leave us a review, it would be much appreciated. For more information to learn how we help law firm owners like you create extraordinary wealth, please visit visit thelawyermillionaire.com. I’m your host, Darren Wurz.

Darren Wurz [00:32:59]:
Thanks for joining us today, and I’ll see you next time.