What You Can Learn From Dan Smith, Who Will Teach You Guitar

Lawyers in small firms need their marketing to be active. You need to find a way to make that phone ring.

Dan Smith will teach you guitar. I found out that he will teach you guitar at my dry cleaners. Then it was reinforced at the Chinese restaurant. Then again at the corner bodega. And then yet again at the coffee shop. On an average day, me and a significant portion of the millions of other people who live or work in Manhattan will see a “Dan Smith Will Teach You Guitar” flier multiple times. His fliers are EVERYWHERE. When it comes to self-promotion, he is the Kim Kardashian of guitar teachers. Or rather, Kim Kardashian is the Dan Smith of [whatever it is she does].

Because of his ever-present fliers, all of which picture Dan staring at you with his guitar, Dan Smith is, to put it lightly, an object of ridicule in New York. He’s a normal-looking guy — not a model — and yet he has seen fit to plaster the city with hundreds if not thousands of pictures of himself. That takes a certain amount of chutzpah.

But you know what? If someone asked me if I knew of anyone who could teach them guitar, his would be the first name that sprang to mind. I might laugh a bit as I passed along his name, but he’s been teaching guitar since I first moved to New York over ten years ago, so I’m reasonably confident Dan Smith can in fact teach you guitar. Even if during those ten years he doesn’t seem to have aged.

I haven’t conducted any studies, but I imagine that the vast majority of us who leap from the Biglaw nest into SmallLaw either weren’t able to bring clients or weren’t able to bring as many clients as we had planned. Out of necessity we have to reel in more, and the quicker the better. “Make that phone ring,” as a colleague of mine says.

It’s pretty obvious where I’m going here. I’m not saying you have to blanket your city with hundreds of fliers, but you can’t be afraid to put yourself out there. A single email blast telling everyone you’re open for business just isn’t going to cut it. Just like when you write you use active voice instead of passive, your marketing needs to be active. Homemade YouTube videos shared on Facebook, LinkedIn posts, periodic newsletters to everyone who has ever given you a business card, or even, yes, putting up fliers. Anything you can do for free or low-cost is great. Soon after I started my practice I put up some business cards at Washington Sports Club, and I actually got a few calls. (But didn’t get any from the neighborhood coffee shop. Probably should have made my card more hipster-friendly. Maybe included a picture wearing Warby Parkers.)

The hope is that after awhile, your satisfied clients will tell similarly-situated people about you, and a network of referrals will develop that will (hopefully) be self-sustaining. How long that will take is anybody’s guess. But it will likely be years, not months. Until that ball gets rolling, you cannot be too embarrassed to promote yourself. And don’t worry about what your frenemies think, especially the ones still in Biglaw. They’re not paying your bills.

I don’t know Dan Smith — I barely have time for my life as it is, I can’t imagine adding in guitar lessons — but from what I’ve read, it’s evident he loves playing guitar. I’d be willing to bet it doesn’t bother him that people make fun of him and his ever-present fliers. He’s carved out a career for himself doing what he loves, and he’s done it all on his own. How many people can say that?

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Gary J. Ross opened his own practice, Jackson Ross PLLC, in 2013 after several years in Biglaw and the federal government. Gary handles corporate and compliance matters for investment funds, small businesses, and non-profits, occasionally dabbling in litigation. You can reach Gary by email at Gary.Ross@JacksonRossLaw.com.

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