Your
career
is
yours.
It’s
not
your
firm’s.
It’s
not
your
boss’s.
It’s
yours.
And
because
it’s
yours,
it’s
your
responsibility
to
invest
in
it.
Some
of
you
are
fortunate
to
have
firms
that
will
cover
the
costs
of
your
marketing
efforts.
Some
may
provide
you
with
a
marketing
budget.
Many
don’t.
And
with
all
your
expenses,
including
student
loans,
it’s
hard
to
imagine
reaching
into
your
pocket
to
pay
for
marketing
efforts
you
believe
your
firm
should.
And
yes,
if
your
firm
doesn’t
pay
for
your
marketing
efforts,
it’s
unfortunate,
but
it
doesn’t
excuse
you
from
paying
for
it
yourself.
And
what
I
suggest
is
setting
aside
$1,000
a
year
for
coffee.
You
heard
me
right.
Coffee.
One
of
the
most
inexpensive
in-person
business
development
activities
you
can
do
is
meet
someone
for
coffee
at
your
local
coffee
shop.
It’s
also
the
least
disruptive
to
your
schedule
and
others.
This
is
what
I
recommend
when
I
speak
to
lawyers
about
business
development:
Twice
a
week,
50
weeks
of
the
year,
meet
someone
for
coffee
near
your
offices.
That’s
a
hundred
coffee
meetings
a
year.
Order
a
small
black
coffee
or
tea
and
offer
to
pay
for
the
other
person’s
coffee.
Sometimes
they’ll
pay
for
their
coffee.
Sometimes
they’ll
insist
on
paying
for
yours,
too.
With
the
tip,
you’ll
average
about
$10
per
coffee
meet
for
two
cups
of
coffee.
For
100
coffee
meetings,
that’s
about
$1,000
a
year.
Meeting
for
coffee
twice
weekly
over
a
year
results
in
more
one-on-one
sessions
than
most
lawyers
have
annually.
A
common
retort
to
my
proposal
is,
“I
don’t
know
100
people
to
have
coffee
with
in
my
area.”
My
response
is
that
you
would
be
surprised.
Think
about
law
school
classmates.
Lawyers
from
the
bar
associations
to
which
you
belong.
Co-counsel.
Opposing
counsel.
Folks
you’ve
met
on
LinkedIn
or
Facebook.
You
will
easily
have
enough
coffee
partners
to
meet
throughout
the
year.
And
you’ll
continue
to
know
enough
people
to
keep
doing
this
exercise
year
after
year
(and,
yes,
from
time
to
time,
you’ll
meet
the
same
person
more
than
once
to
maintain
that
relationship).
In
10
years,
that
is
a
thousand
coffee
meetings.
A
thousand
times
you
shared
with
others
what
your
firm
does.
A
thousand
times
to
get
to
know
someone
so
they
see
you
as
someone
they
know,
like,
and
trust.
A
thousand
times
to
develop
your
interpersonal
skills
—
speaking
with
others,
listening,
maintaining
eye
contact,
and
making
a
connection.
This
will
lead
to
dividends.
How
can
it
not?
The
rainmakers,
those
at
firms
who
bring
in
the
most
business,
take
the
time
to
meet
with
others,
get
to
know
them,
listen
to
them,
and
develop
bonds
with
them.
That
will
never
happen
simply
by
sitting
at
your
desk
working
on
your
matters.
Online
contacts
and
relationships
are
fine,
but
take
the
time
to
meet
others
in
person
for
coffee
and
build
your
network,
which
will
lead
to
valuable
referrals.
Frank
Ramos
is
a
partner
at
Goldberg
Segalla
in
Miami,
where
he
practices
commercial
litigation,
products,
and
catastrophic
personal
injury. You
can
follow
him
on
LinkedIn,
where
he
has
about
80,000
followers.