In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Chris Earley discuss:
- Treating consistency as the real competitive edge
- Building trust through authenticity over achievement
- Matching platforms to where your audience already lives
- Playing the long game of value before promotion
Key Takeaways:
- Showing up every day with content is not a tactic but the game itself. One post a day over time compounds into trust, visibility, and separation. Most lawyers will not endure the discipline, which is precisely why it works.
- Audiences respond more to struggle, growth, and honesty than polished wins. Sharing mistakes, personal history, and lessons humanizes the professional brand. Credibility grows faster when vulnerability comes before accomplishment.
- Effective content starts by knowing who you serve and where they spend their attention. B2B audiences tend to gather on LinkedIn, while B2C clients live elsewhere. Posting everywhere is fine, but focus belongs where attention already flows.
- Education, insight, and generosity must outweigh direct selling over time. Promotion works only after value has been delivered consistently and visibly. Your brand strengthens when service leads and asks follow.
“I think the practitioner should be posting, if you really want to get serious, once a day on LinkedIn… One post. Can you do that for a year and stick with that? I’ve done that for like four or five years, and the flywheel just expands.” — Chris Earley
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About Chris Earley: Christopher Earley is a Boston-based personal injury attorney and founder of Earley Law Group Injury Lawyers, where he has devoted nearly two decades to advocating for injury victims and standing up to powerful insurance companies. He holds a J.D. from New England Law (2004) and is admitted to practice in Massachusetts. Chris is also an accomplished author of multiple consumer guides, a legal columnist for the American Bar Association and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, and a frequent speaker on law firm business topics. His work has earned recognition, including multiple Massachusetts Super Lawyer honors. Beyond law, he serves his community through youth sports coaching and local partnerships, all while emphasizing clear communication, client education, and relentless advocacy.
Connect with Chris Earley:
Website: https://www.chrisearley.com/
Justia Lawyers: https://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/christopher-earley-1335943
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisEarleyLaw
Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisearleylaw
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Law-Offices-of-Christopher-Earley-104980886333/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earleylawgroupinjurylawyers/
Connect with Steve Fretzin:
LinkedIn: Steve Fretzin
Twitter: @stevefretzin
Instagram: @fretzinsteve
Facebook: Fretzin, Inc.
Website: Fretzin.com
Email: [email protected]
Book: Legal Business Development Isn’t Rocket Science and more!
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Call Steve directly at 847-602-6911
Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You’re the expert. Your podcast will prove it.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Chris Earley [00:00]
You do one thing a day, one content creation, or create one piece of content once a day, every day, 365, for this year, you will leap frog everybody else. I literally can guarantee it.
Narrator [00:16]
You’re listening to be that lawyer, life changing strategies and resources for growing a successful law practice. Each episode your host, author and lawyer coach, Steve Fretzin, will take a deeper dive helping you grow your law practice in less time with greater results. Now here’s your host, Steve Fretzin.
Steve Fretzin [00:38]
Hey everybody, Steve Fretzin, and welcome back to be that lawyer. This is the show for you. If you’re a motivated, ambitious lawyer looking to take things to the next level. If you’re not, stop listening. We don’t want you here. You don’t belong here. I’m just kidding. We love everybody. We love our lawyers. Ultimately, though, our hope is to help you be that lawyer, confident, organized in a skilled Rainmaker. So this is one of many ways that I try to contribute to the wonderful legal industry that I’ve been adopted into. I’ve got five books on Amazon. The most recent one be that lawyer 101 top Rainmaker, secrets to growing a successful law practice. I’m writing for above the law. You can check out my monthly articles there, and this podcast also is an above the law and Attorney at work. So you’re going to want to look at look at, look for us in those two publications, YouTube, blah, blah, blah and all that good stuff. We’re all over the place. That’s not important. What’s important is, I’ve got a killer guest here. Chris, how you doing my man, good. See. How are you today? Oh, feel like I’m just shot out of a cannon. I I did a good thing. I had lunch and I didn’t eat it all. If I eat it off. I wouldn’t not be shot out of a cannon. I would be, you know, plopping out of the bottom of the barrel or something. But I’m feeling really good.
Chris Earley [01:45]
Good to see you, man. Happy New Year.
Steve Fretzin [01:50]
Yeah, we, we were, we were together on stage at pimcon with our friend Chris Earley a number of months ago, and that was, that was just a first class experience. I am so impressed by not only Chris, but the pimcon experience and the number of valuable guests they had on the keynote speaker Nikki Glaser, give me a break. She spent 10 minutes just ragging on attorneys. That was kind of uncomfortable and fun as a non attorney. About it as an attorney.
Chris Earley [02:15]
Not awkward at all. No, okay, oh, man, she came in, pretty serious, but no, it was super It was great to meet you. I thought, I can do that. We crushed that panel, like legit, and we gave such good content. Because, you know, we’ve, we’ve learned a lot through the years. We’re sharing some good stuff. So it was really good to see you, be with you up on stage, great event. So it was really cool to be with you there.
Steve Fretzin [02:36]
Yeah, man, amazing, amazing. And we’ve got a lot to cover today, so I’m going to jump in so people aren’t waiting too long. But Gary vanderchuck, Man, this guy came out of nowhere, and it’s just been, he’s been an absolute, like superstar for a lot of it’s 10 years, or something like that. But it’s his quote is the biggest thing I can tell you, is that you have to make as much content as possible. So welcome to the show, and welcome back, Chris. And then also, why that quote? That’s kind of an interesting one.
Chris Earley [03:03]
No, I appreciate thanks for having me again. It’s really good to chop it up with you again. So Gary Vaynerchuk is a guy I sort of am inspired by, because he’s a guy that just gets stuff done, and frankly, he’ll out work practically anybody. And so he served this overnight, you know, 15 year success, or he started from nothing, but like, it’s the guy or the gal that just slowly Steve, like, over time, sticks with it and creates that LinkedIn post every day, that YouTube video, you know, three week, whatever that consistency. The reason why I shared that quote is that I think in today’s day and age, it’s getting harder to acquire cases, it’s getting more expensive. I heard recently in a podcast, John Morgan is allegedly going to double his market. His marketing spend next or this year until those are 26 Yeah. So we have to really be nimble and creative and figure, you know, we’re not going to take down John Morgan. But what can we do? You know, with sweat equity, right? We don’t have the ability to overspend these. You know, whale sized law firms like daily repetitions. I think Gary Vaynerchuk is proof of it, proof of concept. It truly does work. So that’s kind of where I’m coming at with that.
Steve Fretzin [04:05]
Yeah. And I think for a lot of attorneys that don’t have massive budgets, or don’t want to continue to throw massive budgets at things, I think, you know, they need to lean into business development and leveraging relationships. They need to think about what they can be doing differently to create content and utilize social media differently and better than they had in the past, or just to do it at all, for some of the folks out there who are just hesitant to use it at all, and I think we’re going to probably take a deep dive into that. But before, let’s take a step backwards. Chris Earley, CEO of early Law Group, Injury Lawyers, give us a little history on you then or two, and then we’ll jump in, because I think we’ve got a lot of marketing chatter to talk about today, and a deeper dive into social media in particular.
Chris Earley [04:45]
Just super quick cliff notes version. I started practice out of law school. I couldn’t get a job, so I hung a shingle, started doing pi work, and slowly, methodically grew my firm. Now it’s more of a it’s a business instead of kind of a law practice, or really you. That’s why I like conversations with, you know, guys like you, people in the industry, right, who talk about the business of lockers as a business first and foremost. So how can we run a better business? That’s my passion as I drive and live up my business. But yeah, that’s where I’m at today. It’s sort of a 20 year odyssey of slowly figuring things out, like I was just sharing with you today. It’s a Friday. I’m not working, you know, in or on my business, I volunteer with my wife and food pantry. That lights me up, right? And, yeah, I did put that on social because I’m not, you know, I’m a businessman. I have to be authentic and show Hey, like my wife and I volunteer, like, on a consistent basis. That’s social media, right? And, but that’s legit social media. You have a photo of me reading my book to my kids. That’s an asset. So I’m trying to work with what I have right every single day and doing those hard reps. But I think social media is a massive opportunity for the taking. I’m no expert at it, but I’m pretty good about putting out content every day. And then I think, like Gary Vaynerchuk preaches, you sort of have this flywheel that gets bigger and faster, and you’re like, holy crap, that’s a lot of content I did, right? So it’s the beginning of the brand. It’s a brand new year. What can the practitioner do to generate more activity on social media? Because not going anywhere the more you delay and posting, you’re falling behind so well, I would Yeah, I would argue one LinkedIn post.
Steve Fretzin [06:16]
Chris, you’re either playing the game or you’re sitting on the sidelines. I’ve said that a number of times, and I think there’s just so many lawyers in big law and below who, you know, they’ve got the name of the firm behind them, or they’ve got, you know, they’ve got enough clients, or they’ve got all these things they’re not, I just feel like they’re missing the boat on what it’s all about, what I mean, what is it all about? Is it just about business development and just getting business or is there something more to branding and why lawyers should consider being active and authentic online.
Chris Earley [06:48]
Because that’s the only way you’re going to be competitive. Because, frankly, I think the longer you you know, sit on the sidelines, you are going to get decimated. Because these private money is coming into law, these firms are being acquired by other firms, right assembly it into other firms. So, like, you have to compete, even if you’re crushing, if you’re doing social at a high level, you’re still, it’s still a hard slog, the hell so, yeah, it’s not getting any easier. And I, like you, I’m a student of this industry, and things are happening rapidly. There’s a prime opportunity to get on. I think, you know, the practitioner should be posting if you really want to get serious, once a day on LinkedIn. And I saw it from Gary Vaynerchuk. He probably would say three times on LinkedIn, but that’s a little bit savage one post. Can you do that for a year and stick with that? I’ve done that for like, four or five years, and, like, the flywheel just expands, right? And so LinkedIn is my room, but Instagram is there? Maybe that’s your room. YouTube, find a channel and really do well, like, I think you have to post everywhere every day. Well, let’s Yeah, and I think there’s also something to be said about, why are you doing it? And competitiveness is a good reason why. I think it’s also important to know who your buyers are and who your connectors are. Because if LinkedIn is your jam, and I know for me it is for sure, yeah, yeah, it’s great. But look, if you’re in personal injury, if you’re in criminal if you’re in a family and you’re dealing with more B to C type of work, and you know that you’re seeing a lot of other lawyers on tick tock and Instagram and Facebook, and you’re not there, maybe there’s a reason they’re there, right?
Steve Fretzin [08:17]
So what are you doing to to stay active and put yourself out there.
Chris Earley [08:21]
All right, so I am who I am online. I don’t put, you know, put my ass and create this, this, this facade. So I’m very vulnerable, like, almost to a fault on social media. Steve, I talk about how screwed up I am, how I’m just like all of us, like trying and trying and trying, and that resonates like people on LinkedIn don’t care about your $5 million settlement, they’re gonna, like, scroll, boring, yeah, but like little, it’s the little thing. It’s like, oh, early, you know, once again, is volunteering the community like the dude must be a somewhat decent dude if he’s doing that right, right in the cold. So little things like that. But the authenticity, and I think, you know, I’m very intentional on LinkedIn, like you, I want to get in front of lawyers, right? But I’ve also got clients and former clients on LinkedIn. So it’s like this ocean, this blue ocean that’s getting a little bit more redder each year. It’s getting a little more more competitive, but, yeah, that’s what we’re showing up for. But then you know, if I posting on LinkedIn, that’s definitely gonna go up on, definitely Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Tiktok, like multi mode, like multi media here, right? And you just have to, like, keep freaking hitting post. And I would urge Steve the practitioner, when you’re not sure if you should post them, like, I’m uncomfortable, that’s when you post, because that’s when you’re getting uncomfortable. And you’re probably gonna, you know you’re the algorithm will reward you because you’re being different, and people are gonna sort of stop for a second. Sort of stop for a second on your content and likely engage. So when you’re not distributor, post or something, or hell encourages.
Steve Fretzin [09:47]
Let’s but here’s the sorry, so let’s be honest in real for a minute. It’s yeah, some people want to post. They get it that it’s important and it’s authentic, and it’s what keeps you relevant. And in front of people, they don’t know what. To post they don’t know where to start. So I think it would be helpful for you and I to collaborate on two or three, four tips to help people to just get started, to just like you’re saying, post once a day. And I can just tell you, there’s 75% of my audience has probably been like, holy crap. I’m happy and lucky if I do once a week, right? Yeah. So I think we have to take it down a notch and really think about like, yeah. All right. So where should you post? We just talked about that, B to B, B to C. Who are you looking at? Target. Okay, then what are you posting? Like, where do you start with? Where, what to post?
Chris Earley [10:32]
Great question, right? So I think you get better with time. So when you’re just starting out, trying to get some traction, trying to create good habits, golden habits for 20,026 I would post about your struggles. Like, man, when I started my law practice, I couldn’t get the phone ring. When I applied to law school, I couldn’t get an acceptance, like, being human first, right? Not like, about your settlements, or like, this or that. And then you get some credibility. Then if you had an idea about you can, like, maybe a post, yeah, hey, congrats. Big announcement. We just hired, you know, a new team member that that’s good. That’s not as interesting. Not as interesting to people. But I The well is only so deep, so I have to come up with content. But I would urge the practitioner from Ace, from a starting point, out of the blocks, your struggles, and how you got over that, and how you got over hard things, because we’re all struggling with stuff, all of us, and that’s inspiring.
Steve Fretzin [11:21]
You just made me think of something so at the end of every show and you were involved in this, I asked, What’s Chris’s big mistake? And guess what? In you know, another 15 minutes, I’m going to ask you that question, okay, and you’re going to tell me about a big mistake that you made in your life and your career, how it impacted you, and how you came out better and stronger and faster the other side, because you had to go through that hardship. Here’s a thought I haven’t leveraged. You know, the 100 of those mistakes from people on the show, those should be social posts outside of the podcast, just the video of me asking the question them answering, being vulnerable and saying how what they learn and how they mean that that’s a great example. I think that I just came up with because of you, something that should be shared, and specifically should be shared, not just the podcast, but that particular segment is right in line with that authenticity and the vulnerability that you’re saying attracts people to want to watch or read or listen.
Chris Earley [12:20]
I love it, because what you do, you tag, you know, Joe Smith, whoever you had on the show. You can tag him on LinkedIn. So maybe get in front of Joe’s. Oh, yeah. Audience, so you’re really, I know you.
Steve Fretzin [12:30]
Definitely got a tag the person. You always got to tag the person that’s in the video or.
Chris Earley [12:34]
In the right thing. You see that 100 times, 100 times you just you have 100 pieces of content. Let’s not limit it to LinkedIn, maybe you know this or that, whatever platform. Oh, yeah, but I think that’s the Gary V lesson is like one equals like nine. Yeah, that’s right, like one thing and.
Steve Fretzin [12:49]
Really, well, that’s why you and I love podcasting so much, because we get the written, the audio, the visual, the video, right? I’ve got this book behind me that was created from the podcast. So, you know, I’m not suggesting everybody should do a podcast, but I am suggesting that we need to consider, you know, a, who your audience is, b, what social media platform you like, and what makes sense, what? How are you going to get started? So you’re saying, start off with something where you’re vulnerable and authentic, which I love, right? Sharing something tell stories. Stories are great, Yep, absolutely. And then it’s about content creation, and then how you’re repurposing it, right? Isn’t that where a lot of the content can come from?
Chris Earley [13:28]
Absolutely, 100% I’m a big fan of use what you got. So I do little things. My name’s early, so my slogan call early before it’s too late. We splatter that on billboards, on social here, they’re everywhere. I just use what I have, because I can’t compete with these gorilla firms that are just outspending me left and right. Like, or am I trying to so what can the practitioner leverage? Okay, like you got a name, you could spin off a slogan you have. I think it comes down to desire. Like I’m willing to do the ugly work of doing the daily posts. But again, you really do get better at that, like your muscles get stronger. You know what resonates? You know it doesn’t. You know what a dud post is going to be. You know what a good post will be. But just, I would share stories about your because they’re gonna it’s mostly lawyers right on this call. You know your struggles. Maybe you you come from your maybe came you’re an immigrant from. Your parents are immigrants, and you had to, you know, your parents had to bust their ass or get you into school. 100% that’s social media fire. Okay? Because there’s so many people are going to resonate with that. The struggle and your successes. It’s not all about doom and gloom. Like, oh man, everything’s crappy, hey. Like, this is how I got over and this is how life is really good now, but I had to go through that stuff, and you’re teaching people be a giver. Like, give, almost maniacally. Just give, give, give, and don’t seek out anything in return.
Steve Fretzin [14:46]
Well, but even giving relates to social because I’m I can say I’m super lawyer. I’m badass lawyer, I’m the best dancing lawyer, whatever you know, award I win. Okay, ultimately, what do people want out of. With that lawyer. They want interesting information, authenticity. They want education. They want to learn something about the law. Maybe they didn’t know yesterday. They want to see that a case just went around this the Illinois Supreme Court and what the judgment was, and why that matters. Like that’s what I think people are not recognizing, is that it’s this education, information, authenticity, that all work together to get you to become a thought leader, to be interesting and then interested, right? For people that stick with you, yeah.
Chris Earley [15:29]
That’s a good word. Why are you interesting? Or are you interested? Right? It’s like, it’s about you. Is about other people. I was just writing some notes when you’re talking, I like to share how I get business people think I’m crazy because I have competitors in Boston. I know I’m reading those posts, but I don’t really. But I don’t really care, because I like my odds of working average bear, but even if somebody works in yellow power too, but share be almost again. Like, just so generous. Like, this is how I get case. This is how I started this. We talked about mistakes, really. These are mistakes I made. I wouldn’t do these things again. Do some things just like I get personal. I post pictures of my wife, my kids and our efforts in the community to bolster the community. My wife and I have similar backgrounds. Grew up around addiction. We’re very, sort of very sober and humble on being grateful for we have. And so I think that comes off. I hope it comes across in my social stuff, like this girl, this guy, early isn’t a fraud. He’s not pounding his chest, right? He’s like, he’s just like, me struggling. We’re just trying to figure this stuff out, basically, you know.
Steve Fretzin [16:30]
Yeah, well, and I think that’s the big takeaway, is that, you know, we’ve got to, you know, consider the importance of playing in the game and getting active. And 2026, should be your year, everybody. I mean, you, you maybe blew off last year. Let’s make this year stick. So to get started, you know, or we have, or who’s our audience, find the platform, maybe think, start thinking about creating content something we haven’t talked about yet that I think is great is, you know, the availability and use of AI. I mean, I would say, you know, I’m not going to make up a number, but if I did it, say, you know, 50% of the posts online on LinkedIn right now have something to do with AI. Now I talk into AI. I talk to chat GPT. I tell it about the concept of what I want the post to say and why, and give it all my information. It then crafts the language and gives me something that’s almost ready to put up. Okay, yeah, that’s still my post. That’s still me. It’s still in my voice and still authentic. That’s one way. Another way is to just say, hey, you know, there’s 10 Ways to do X, Y, Z, and employment law. There’s 10 problems that you know people are finding where, you know, dealing with employees. And you could have aI just come up with those 10 posts, and potentially you have 10 days or 10 weeks of content, just review it, make sure it’s online, and sounds in your voice give AI direction, right? Things to add to that, Chris.
Chris Earley [17:43]
I Yes, and I do it all. Yes. Do it all the time. Yes. But here’s the cool thing about when you have a big like, you have a ton of content. You have a big, you know, universe of content. So I will play my greatest hits more than once, and there’s no shame in the game, right? If I have a post on LinkedIn that got, you know, 500 likes or whatever like, I may run that again in six months. If I’m dry I don’t have any content, I’ll maybe tweak it if I need to. Says not, there’s no harm. There’s nothing wrong about doing that. It doesn’t have to be like, original content each and every post, right? But, like, now I’m getting really granular. I have, like, a spreadsheet. This is what I posted, so I have inspiration, right? Because, like, once, because I think you need to find your corner of LinkedIn or Instagram or YouTube, like your corner, right? Who’s your audience? I’m talking to lawyers who are struggling, who are just, like, scaling their firms. They’re growing maybe they’re in law school. They have dreams of being a law firm owner. That’s my audience. So I think, and what I try to do with my podcast and with social is like, you and I are having a beer at the bar, and we’re just shooting it together, right? It’s not like formal, it’s like, kind of casual speak, right? It’s still professional, but still, like, just, we’re just, we’re having a good time just just shooting it between our general selves. That’s why I like to look at my social media conversations. I’m just talking to you, Steve, one on one of my posts that has helped me. But I think again, the more you do this, the better you get. And that’s why Vaynerchuk is a crazy success. Is he stuck with it when no one knew his name, no one watched it. He got four YouTube video views, but he kept going. You know, I would encourage practitioners, Steve, you know, I work the hell out of YouTube, right? I would make sure this is going to get a little in the weeds that your social channels are feeding in through, like a Zapier connection, or some connection into Google My Business. So every time we’re posting on social, our content is funneling into our Google My Business Profile. That’s little, a little technical thing that I love it wishing you a few years ago, yeah, yeah.
Steve Fretzin [19:39]
With proven SEO and digital marketing strategies that drive actual clients to your firm. Rankings.io. Prides itself on proof, not promises. Mentality. The best firms hire rankings.io. When they want rankings, traffic and cases, other law firm marketing agencies can’t deliver. Get more rankings, get cases and schedule a free consultation at rankings. Dot. IO today. Hey everybody. It’s Steve fretzen as the you know, I’m the host of the be that lawyer podcast, and if you’re serious about growing your law practice, let’s talk. I’ve coached hundreds of attorneys to build bigger books of business without selling, chasing or wasting time. This isn’t a sales pitch. It’s a real 30 minute strategy session to explore what’s possible for you in your practice, just head over to fretzin.com and grab a time that works for you. And let’s make this your breakout year. Couple other thoughts, I would say maybe, you know, personal posts, I’m taking Pilates and the importance of health in my life, and wellness and being flexible and, you know, and taking care of your muscles, okay? And maybe I’ll relate that back to my business in some way. But it’s personal, right? It’s, I’m talking about something I do personally. Maybe that’s 10 or 20, 30% of my posts are, you know, me fishing with my son. I always try to, I don’t want it to be Facebook. LinkedIn is not Facebook. Nobody wants it to be so I’m gonna, if I show a picture of my food, or if I show up, you know, my son playing guitar or anything, I’m always going to relate it back to the business and, yeah, that leads to the second part, which I think 60% of your posts should be educational. They should be giving and helpful to the community solution that you’re trying to serve. Okay, so I’m talking about how to write a business plan for 2026 and I’m posting about it with a link to an article. That’s the stuff that you need to consider. The majority of your posts should be. But by the way, then there’s the other thing. I was like, Hey, I’m running pure advisory groups for highly sophisticated rainmakers, and it’s called the rainmakers roundtable, and blah, blah, blah. And here’s a link if you want to check it out now that’s me selling my stuff directly. But you know what? It’s also helpful to throw a testimonial in there and let people know that this thing is available, and somebody joins because of it. They win, I win, and everybody wins. So I think there has to be, there’s going to be some. And again, as a lawyer, you need to figure out what your ratio should be and what your content should be, but I think the majority of it should be useful and helpful to the world that you’re around that’s around you.
Chris Earley [22:07]
I can’t agree more. Back to Vaynerchuk for a second. He talks about jab, jab, punch, like, give, give. Then, oh, by the way, yeah, I’m a coach for lawyers, right? And because, like, frets, and isn’t all about frets, and he’s giving you value, give me value, and then, oh yeah, yeah, he’s talking about this. He’s a coach, that’s right. He’s works with masterminds. So, like, that’s but you’ve earned the right to say that, as opposed to, like, I’m frets and I’m doing this. Like, everyone’s okay.
Steve Fretzin [22:31]
Just sell, sell, sell, sell. That’s where your LinkedIn thing, like, yeah, are gonna shut you down.
Chris Earley [22:37]
The algorithm is gonna, is gonna shut you down, because everyone’s scrolling past yourself. I would encourage everyone. Would encourage everyone, if you’d like follow me, just scroll some stuff. I don’t have this figured out. There’s guys and gals crush get much better than me, but I have found my voice at least. So if follow me on LinkedIn and just look at my post and just see if that resonates with you, but.
Steve Fretzin [22:56]
I think you just did it there. You just gave, gave, gave, and then you said, Follow me, right? So you’re practicing, yeah? Thank you, Mayor, Chris.
Chris Earley [23:04]
You know what I mean. Like, he who gives wins, right? Like, legit, like, Yeah, but once all you got to sprinkle in, like, Yeah, this is what I like to do, Steve, I like to have a post. Like, here’s something I’m writing about. Like, and then, dot, dot, dot, dot. A line under that. Hey, my name is Chris Earley. I’m a personal engineer in Boston. I love referrals. I’d love to talk with you if you’re going to business like I am. So it’s like, and then one day I did that, I got, like, literally, two referrals from attorneys in different states. So like, I do, jab, jab, punch, right? I will, like, I have to drop in that. I would love your referrals, right? And we are all in business here. But I think the more we focus on propping each other up and elevating with value other people within the community, you’ve earned the right to throw the punch that, hey, by the way, like this is what I’m looking for, if you’re.
Steve Fretzin [23:52]
Something, to just wrap a bow around this. Chris, as we as we get closer to the end of our time, it’s use AI be authentic. You know, all those things that we just shared, and I think the last thing that you mentioned, or the thing you mentioned earlier, was like, be consistent. Like, you can’t just do this one and done and, you know, throw it against the wall, or random acts of marketing, all those things we say, you know, commit to once a week and do it, you know, until you can get to the point where it becomes a habit and then move to twice a week, right yeah, and right now, between AI, the use of VAs software, I mean, whatever it might be like you, there’s a lot of ways to do this. It doesn’t have to just be you sitting down trying to crank out something for an hour and figure it out. But I think that consistency and consistency is easier when you actually create content. You’re writing an article, you’re speaking, you’re doing PowerPoints, you’re doing a podcast, that kind of stuff.
Chris Earley [24:46]
I’ll be blunt. I said this on stage with you and pincon, most people aren’t going to do the work. If I’m being totally brutally honest with you audience, if you will actually do that those things, it’s for the guy or the gal that’s sort of savage is like, No, I’m willing. I’m not hungry. I want to do this. I think. Opportunity and opening for my social but you know, there’s you could look you could guess, like, I reached out two months ago. Hey, can be on your podcast? Sure. Then you reach out to me this week. Hey, you want to come back? I’m like, sure you have to ask for opportunities. So like, reach out to podcast guests. Then you get SEO value, get backlinks your website in the show notes, like these little things compound with Google with social. The more you post on social, Google is picking up on that. Google Now is indexing and reading Instagram, right? If you do a search yourself, you find some of your Instagram posts in your in the algorithm, in the in the search results. So this is this monster, this animal trying to feed as much as possible. You do one thing a day, one content creation, or create one piece of content once a day, every day. 365, for this year, you will leap frog everybody else. I literally can guarantee it.
Steve Fretzin [25:49]
All right, man, all good stuff. Let’s talk it. Let’s get it through Chris’s big mistake. What do you got for me?
Chris Earley [25:54]
I was, I will give the Cliff Notes version. The picture behind me is me reading my memoir about me overcoming anger. I was an angry lawyer for way too long, so you’ve forgot therapy. So if you’re angry, if you’re mad at the world, I would encourage you to get some help some way, and be a happier lawyer, because this profession will like you to a pulp. If you’re miserable and ungrateful, life is too short to be unhappy.
Steve Fretzin [26:18]
Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. And I think that goes if you’re overweight, get some help. If you’re not sleeping, you need to get some help, like it’s don’t muscle through it the way people do. There’s coaches, there’s therapists, there’s programs, there’s all kinds of ways to overcome things. No one is alone. We all have communities that can help us. So thanks so much, Chris. This is great. Let’s thank our favorite sponsor. It’s Chris. Chris Earley, over at rankings, io, and, of course, our other friend, Sonya, over at law, her podcast, amazing, amazing sponsors of the show, Chris, people want to get in touch with you. They’re in Boston. They want to hang out with you. They want to use you for their case. Best way to reach you?
Chris Earley [26:55]
Well, I first want to be consistent and give value. Encourage the listener to subscribe to my email newsletter. I send out every Friday to about 1100 lawyers throughout the US. It’s called practice tip of the week.com practice tip of the week.com I will share with you all the things that are working not working my practice as I grow my firm and scale it, I have my podcast guests on that of those recordings. So but yeah, just reach out to me. Pretty easy to find on social. Definitely connect with me on LinkedIn. I’d love to talk with you. Then we could set up a zoom to chat. But let’s just help each other out. But I hope you just take something from this conversation Steve and I just had, and like, do the work. Do that ugly work.
Steve Fretzin [27:34]
Do something. I mean, you know, don’t just let another year slip by where you’re just, you know, you’re letting everybody you know, lap you. I mean, yeah, the world is changing, right? I mean, we’ve got the potential for mass issue with AI and layoffs down the road. And I think the people that start setting themselves up to not to put fear into people, but to just be honest, this happened in 2008 and no one saw it coming. This one we see coming. I mean, it’s been predicted, and people need to start realizing you are your brand. So Right? So people need to start.
Chris Earley [28:04]
Absolutely serious about build your brand. One thing every day to build your brand. There you go, and you’ll win every day.
Steve Fretzin [28:10]
There’s our other quote of the show. There we go. Chris, thanks so much, man. I appreciate you. I appreciate coming back and sharing your wisdom and having it out with me a little bit today. And thank you. My father. Lawyers should do the thing. Do the be that lawyer.
Chris Earley [28:22]
Doing good work. You’re an asset to community. Don’t stop what you’re doing. Keep going, Man.
Steve Fretzin [28:26]
I have no Yeah, I have nothing but get up and go with me every day, every day. So even after half a sandwich, thank you Chris and thank you everybody for hanging out with Chris and I for 30 you know, building the brand, demonstrating thought leadership, authenticity. Do a little every day. I mean, so many takeaways that you guys need to take to heart. I know if you’re listening to the show, it’s because you care about yourself, your practice and your future. So take to heart the things that you learn and take action and be that lawyer. Everybody. Thanks. Take care. Everybody. Be safe. Be well. Talk again soon.
Narrator [29:02]
Thanks for listening to be that loyal, life changing strategies and resources for growing a successful law practice. Visit Steve’s website. Fredson.com for additional information and to stay up to date on the latest legal business development and marketing trends. For more information and important links about today’s episode. Check out today’s show notes.