By Don Lane. March 2014

Transcription

1 Working For Yourself in Pre- Settlement Lawsuit Funding By Don Lane When you start your new business in the pre-settlement lawsuit funding arena, you might want to follow in the footsteps of someone who knows how it s done. A s we observe the economies of countries around the world that continue to falter, then seem to get better only to fall back again into a no-growth mode, people have decided to be the ones who decide their own future, not someone else. PEOPLE WILL GO WHERE THEY PERCEIVE THE OPPORTUNITIES TO BE THE BEST In the March 21, 2013 issue of the Business Insider, it was predicted that by the year 2020, a full 40% of the work force or 60 million people would be self-employed. As one of my college professors once said, people will go where they perceive the opportunities to be the best. The idea of working for yourself can seem scary and daunting but people do it for many different reasons. Some will start their own business because they ve been terminated by a company and cannot find suitable employment. Others will start a business just because they feel that they can be a success in that occupation or profession and it feels right for them to do this.

2 Whatever the reason is for going out on your own, you should take a few tips, practices, procedures, and ideas into consideration. Before you go out on your own, ask yourself a few questions: 1. Can I work on my own or do I need other people around me to feel secure? 2. Am I ready to be the one who determines my future or do I need somebody to tell me what to do? 3. Can I keep myself motivated in a somewhat isolated environment? 4. Can I go for extended periods without people interaction and then interact with several different types and groups or individuals? 5. Am I capable of doing all the different jobs that are needed in a small business, from president, to sales director, to marketer, relationship-builder dealmaker, bookkeeper, and janitor? 6. Do I have enough funding to get by for several months (or possibly more) until I am established or should I work part time for a while? 7. Have I researched the kind of business I m about to go into, and do I know where to get additional help, advice, training, or coaching in order to push forward in growing my chosen business? You should also discuss these questions with your spouse and a friend who will give you an honest opinion. If the answer is yes to all these questions, you are probably ready to go out on your own! THE ECONOMY AND THE CASH FLOW BUSINESS It is inevitable that many parts of the economy will be affected when the unemployment rate goes up and sales orders slow down for both the manufacturing side of the economy and the retail side. IN THE PAST FEW YEARS MANY INDIVIDUALS HAVE DECIDED TO BE THEIR OWN BOSS The cash flow business tends to reflect the economy as a whole. When the economy is robust, the cash flow business tends to be on an upward swing as well. When the economy slows down, many areas in cash flow also tend to work at a more sluggish pace. In the past few years many individuals have decided to be their own boss and have joined the ranks of the self-employed. This has occurred even though the economy has been rather flat and not a lot of new growth has been seen over the past few years. Presuming you have answered the previous seven questions positively, you are ready to embark on an exciting journey with your own company.

3 TAKING THE FIRST NEW BUSINESS STEPS Now you have decided to open your own business. Along with that decision comes the responsibility of being your own boss. What is the first thing you should do now that you are your own boss? Well, by all means, jump up and down, wave your arms and yell so everyone hears that you are in charge of you. OK, now you are the only person in your company. As you get started, you need to begin taking baby steps and not try to rush right out to try to do everything at once. First, start telling every family member and friend what you now do. Share this news by developing an elevator speech about your business. This speech summarizes your business in 60 seconds. Not everyone will understand what you do with just this elevator speech, which is good because it gives you the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the cash flow industry by giving them more information. Now you are ready to get this new endeavor to start producing some income. This is the point where you need to decide on some items that can be both simple and difficult. 1. Do you work out of your house or find an office? 2. Choose business cards and stationery 3. Pick a name for your business 4. Do you join groups, and if so, which ones? 5. How do you make networking group meetings work for you? 6. What can you do with marketing and advertising your new company? These are definite areas you need to tackle and decide on a plan of action before your new company starts to get noticed. First, do you work out of your house or find an office? This is usually a function of your bank account and how noisy your house is. If you don t have the money for an outside office and you can work out of a room away from all the noise then the decision is simple. As we said above, these decisions can be simple or difficult, depending on the circumstances. Choosing a business card is very important because it sets the tone for your business every time you hand it out. You want the card to look professional. You also don t want to tie yourself into just one cash flow specialty in case you decide to bring in a second one. For instance, choosing a name like Mountain View Funding indicates you can work with people to get them capital but you leave the specifics to your discussion stage. You want to put all your contact information on your card, and you definitely need to include your address. Make certain your

4 address sounds professional. By the way, you can get a website name reservation without putting it up on the internet right away for just a few dollars per month and this saves the name you want. And remember, addresses such as [email protected] will always be a whole lot more professional than [email protected]. ONE OF THE BEST NETWORKING GROUPS IS THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Joining networking groups will allow you to spread the word about what your new business does and how it can help the people you talk to or their referrals. One of the best networking groups is the Chamber of Commerce since they usually are one of the largest business groups in a local community, and they have bi-weekly and monthly membership meetings that are strictly for networking. A TIGHT BUDGET DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN ELIMINATE MARKETING ALTOGETHER Also, search for paralegal groups if you are going into lawsuit funding since they give you direct access to the local law offices. Choosing a marketing and advertising program for a new company is usually easy because your budget is probably tight anyway. However, a tight budget does not mean you can eliminate marketing altogether. It just means that you need to be creative when spending your limited dollars. Don t forget, your business card is a form of marketing, too, so leave it everywhere. And if you place ads in the local tabloids make sure you only pay for the zip codes that are going to be productive. For instance, you would not put an ad for lawsuit funding in the Beverly Hills zip code, but you do place them in lower income areas where the people really need funding. As your company grows and the marketing and advertising budget grows along with it, you will need to: Get website presence. A website that is nothing more than a business card will not get you new business. Almost every lawsuitfunding client will ask to see your website. As your company gains strength and momentum, you need to look at social media outlets like LinkedIn and the business page of Facebook. There are many different types of social media outlets you can use, and all of them are set up for different types of responses. Of course, the ultimate response you always want is a new lawsuit-funding prospect. As you explore the many types of social media available you will find that at some point, some of these outlets will save you money and time.

5 For instance, you can use Constant Contact for sending notifications to your clients. ONE LAST THOUGHT Over the years, we have been working with attorneys and paralegals and we have noticed a few things that have worked well to keep the cases flowing. Once you have helped a client (and this means you have helped the attorney as well), it is a great time to cement your relationship with that law office. You can do this simply with a note (e.g. via Send Out Cards) to the attorney and paralegal expressing your gratitude in being able to help that client of theirs. clients. They are the ones who take the almost daily calls from those desperate clients asking them to tell the attorney to settle their case because they need money now. Once they see you have helped one of those clients and the person stops calling, you will be on their referral list for future clients. These relationships tend to go on for years, and once you have built them up, referrals tend to come in consistently. Work with them, help them, and above all, thank them for sending clients your way! The paralegals are usually the people who work with troubled and financially strapped Don and Paula Lane own Condor International Financial Services and Desert Funding. Their websites are and They can be reached at and at (330) , and by e-fax at Their addresses are [email protected] and [email protected]