Aug 18, 2012

Get Rich Quick!

     From a website:
This is Brian Mittman and I want to ask you few questions…Is your practice feeling the effects of “TORT” REFORM, ATTORNEY BASHING, the Stalled Economy, HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT, FISCAL UNCERTAINTY? Is your practice SUFFERING a DROP in Client Flow? Are your Revenues FLAT or worse…declining? ...
Good news is: Nancy Cavey and I are hosting a NEW 2-DAY workshop experience called “7 Figure SSD Practice Blueprint” intended ONLY for lawyers who SERIOUSLY desire to take advantage of (and profit from) an aging workforce and the current downturn in the economy by adding (or improving) their social security disability profit center. ...
And it’s NOT about how much you know about substantive SSD law or how long you’ve been practicing. Once you hear the STRATEGIES Nancy and I reveal during this seminar, your practice and your financial future will SOAR as you’ve always dreamed. ...
Here are just some of the powerful strategies you’ll discover at this “one-time-only” event this September:
  • Why almost everything you’ve been told about SSD is DEAD WRONG
  • CAUTIONARY RED FLAGS you MUST correct BEFORE EVER considering a SSD Practice
  • How to double your profits with the same amount of time, money and energy you’re putting into your practice now
  • Marketing secrets to attract quality SSD clients without breaking the bank on advertising
  • A simple (Yet Powerful) strategy which Positions you as the SSD expert in your area
  • How to positively influence the minds of your clients, and instantly increase client engagement rates
  • The exact clients to target (and which to avoid!) which will help you sustain a lucrative SSD practice
  • The basics of SSD law and how to manage claims in a way that is cost-effective and less time consuming for you and your staff.
  • Easy ways to automate and systematize your firm to enjoy a steady income stream which feels virtually effortless and runs on autopilot
  • Effective marketing strategies designed to attract a consistent flow of new prospects each and every month
  • How to obtain the income levels you desire without sacrificing your personal and family life. ...
      Why would I post this? Because it's so absurd! If these folks have the secret to easy riches why would they share them with others? Why wouldn't they just keep expanding? Why would they need such a ridiculously lurid come-on to get people to cough up $1,000 to listen to them?
     The reality is that there are enormous barriers to entry into Social Security practice and serious risks once you get there. The money isn't that wonderful and it's unstable in the best of times and these are not the best of times. Unless you really want to help people, you're likely to find Social Security practice unfulfilling.
     As I've said before, if you think representing Social Security claimants is the fast track to wealth, consider the fact that it's rare for a Social Security employee to leave employment with the agency to begin a Social Security practice. If it were easy, wouldn't Social Security employees be leaving en masse? If you still think it's easy, come join us and see if she still feel the same way in a couple of years.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Charles, we've been over this before.

You know attorneys don't leave to do what you do? Because associates get paid crap and are made by their partners/owners to drive all over kingdom come to do the cases. There's money being made, it just stays with the owners of these firms.

More folks would hang their own shingle. However, with rep payments the way they are, many folks who would like to start their own SS practice find it difficult to do so because they would have to sustain their business for over a year before they ever got any significant revenue.

So there it is. Besides the lucky few who could slide into a small practice and share revenues, attorneys who want to jump into private SS practice are stuck working like dogs as an associate for a large firm with the (unrealistic) hopes of being cut into the profits one day, or they can start their own firm and keep it operational for over a year before they ever see any real revenue. Revenue -- profit for a new business always takes some time, but how many businesses are expected to run for over a year without revenue??

Anonymous said...

Mining the miners...

Anonymous said...

Charles, you are right. I left SSA (early out retirement) to start a one-person social security law practice. I'm finding that lots of people need my help, but about half need help with overpayments, CDR cessations, etc, which aren't contingency cases. These folks can't afford to pay me anywhere near the time spent dealing with SSA, particularly the local Field Offices, but they need someone to double-check SSA's actions. I figure this is a way to "give back", but I still need income to keep the doors open. It's not as easy as it seems.

Anonymous said...

I think you are taking the advert too seriously. This is nothing but a way for some attornies to get rich quick at the expense of the thousands of law students who may have just graduated or graduated last year and whom are still seeking employment.

The advert's claims are not a statement about the practice. They are more akin to claims of a secret that "dermatologists and doctors don't want you to know about!"

Anonymous said...

I feel this article was about me. I have worked for big SSD law firms (1 rhymes w/ Blender) and am thinking about starting my own. Charles is right. You HAVE to like helping disabled people. If you are looking only to make tons of dough, not the practice for you (see other practices like corporate law, criminal defense, etc.).

What I love about the practice are 2 things - 1. The contingency basis really makes the SSD practioner screen quality claimants 2. The direct fee makes it easier than most practices to collect fees.

Really like any business, it's all how you treat your clients and obtain clients. The big firms have spent lots of cash on advertising (see Blender). But really, it's a risk either way for any solo practioner or small firm. There is money to be made obviously in SSD law.

But if you're in it SOLELY for the money, you are in the wrong business.