Social Meeja – What a Luddite Has Learnt So Far… Lesson #3 – Choose people wisely, you need people with unusual talents

Hello.  More of my thoughts about grappling with the social meeja minefield.

I have set up Adapt Law to sell my conveyancing webinars and courses.  Really.  I have. 

So, it’s all plain sailing from there?  Well, no.  let me tell you some of the things I have learnt about social meeja and the people that you need around you – especially when you can’t do it all yourself.

I thought that I just needed other lawyers and people with quite specific skills around me – maybe marketing and help with social meeja. Right?

Wrong.  I have discovered that I need people with a wide range of skills and talents around me. What is interesting is that, in most cases, I did not know that I needed them until I met them. Who knew?

The people you have around you are everything – choose wisely

Trial and error. Patience. Trust.  You need the first two to finally get you to people you trust.  It is easy to waste money on your social meeja budget.  Don’t. Think about who is around you first and do not be afraid to ask for help and support. Ask yourself some questions:

Will they get things done for me and not expect me to do it all myself? I learnt this years ago from the incomparable Operations Director, David Porte.  (Looking into a bag of smashed pieces of plastic): ‘Lorraine.  I’m not sure that this Dictaphone ended up in this many pieces because you ‘dropped’ it.  It looks like it might have been thrown’.  And by the end of the day, with no fuss or fanfare, a new Dictaphone appeared on the desk.

So – find people who can be more ‘David Porte’.

Can I rely on my friends? To many, Prof Peter Lyons is one of the best advocacy and skills trainers in the country. To me he is a friend, supplier of wine and unerring supporter.  Has Peter shared his IT skills with me? No (only those how know him will know how funny that statement is).  Is he a property lawyer?  No.  is Peter even on Linked In?  No.  Has he phoned me every week for two years since I started this journey to offer me advice and encouragement?  Absolutely he has.  And that is why he is so important.  Go to his website – if you want advocacy, litigation or skills training, you will not find better than Peter and Chris Taylor - https://www.cpdtraining.net/.  And find a friend like Peter.

Can people in professions other than mine help me?

Yes.  In addition to producing excellent comedy shows (This is Your laugh https://www.thisisyourlaugh.co.uk/ and the Comedy Auction to name but two), Dave Allison produced and edited my first webinars. They look fantastic and take pride of place on my website. But he has also been generous enough to follow my company on Twitter; I don’t know if anything will come of it, but we will have some fun along the way. (By the way, if you want us to produce your own bespoke webinar content, Dave and I will be happy to do it). 

I decided to do the unthinkable. I posted the dog and daughter photo as advised by the @Musicalgeisha herself, Rowena Morgan (her day job is in marketing at the Law Society. I know. With a Twitter name like that.).  ‘It will make people know you better’, she said.  ‘It will work. I promise’, said Rowena. And she was right.

Be prepared to open your mind to others helping you.  Ask for advice.  Have a go with a good idea.  Don’t worry if it does not work – you will learn something. 

As someone who produces motivational posters has no doubt said:

‘You will learn from what you were brave enough to do. You will learn nothing if you don’t try’.

(I just made that up.  I might put it on a coaster and a tea towel).