Nick Augustine: Escaping the Billable Hour Trap with Authentic Content and Smart Delegation

In a world where lawyers are drowning in billable hours and generic marketing, this episode breaks down how to build an authentic brand, escape time traps through delegation, and use content strategically instead of reactively. Discover how small shifts in mindset and marketing execution can unlock both growth and a better life outside the office.

In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Nick Augustine discuss:

• The Ferris Bueller mindset and lawyer work-life balance
• Authentic branding vs. “monkey see, monkey do” legal marketing
• Choosing the right content format based on personality and strengths
• Consistency, LinkedIn, and the rise (and risk) of AI-generated content
• Outsourcing, ego, and overcoming limiting niches in law firm growth

Key Takeaways:

• Many lawyers run so fast on the billable-hour treadmill that they never stop to question whether their practice is actually supporting the life they want, rather than consuming it.
• Copying what “successful” peers appear to be doing is a trap; real differentiation comes from leaning into what genuinely makes you unique instead of being a polished imitator.
• The most effective marketing channel is the one you’ll willingly stick with—whether that’s writing, podcasting, answering Q&A, or being the “behind-the-curtain” expert with a bit of mystique.
• Consistent, thoughtful content can cut through the noise on platforms like LinkedIn, especially when it’s clearly human and not just generic AI output churned out to check a box.
• Over-niching and letting ego dictate who you serve and how can cap your growth; expanding your perspective beyond one industry, geography, or format can unlock far more opportunity.

“Outsourcing… it helps people begin to understand that they have put themselves in a limiting box where they’re limited financially by time versus dollars with hourly billers.” —  Nick Augustine

Check out my new show, Be That Lawyer Coaches Corner, and get the strategies I use with my clients to win more business and love your career again.

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About Nick Augustine: Nick Augustine is the founder of Lone Star Content Marketing, where he helps law firms grow through strategic, story-driven content that attracts and converts the right clients. With a background in journalism and digital marketing, he brings a clear, conversational style to complex legal topics—making them accessible without losing their depth or authority. Nick has worked with attorneys across the U.S. to build content systems that generate consistent leads, strengthen brand positioning, and support long-term growth. He is also a frequent podcast guest and educator, sharing practical insights on content strategy, SEO, and ethical marketing for legal professionals.

Connect with Nick Augustine:

Website: https://lonestarcontentmarketing.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickaugustinetx/

Connect with Steve Fretzin:

LinkedIn: Steve Fretzin

Twitter: @stevefretzin

Instagram: @fretzinsteve

Facebook: Fretzin, Inc.

Website: Fretzin.com

Email: Steve@Fretzin.com

Book: Legal Business Development Isn’t Rocket Science and more!

YouTube: Steve Fretzin

Call Steve directly at 847-602-6911

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You’re the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Steve Fretzin  [00:00]

Hey everybody, before we get to the show, really big announcement for you. This is one of the most important things I’ve done in nearly two decades of working exclusively in the legal industry. It is the be that lawyer community, and it’s officially live today. This is a global platform designed to help lawyers become rainmakers, grow their law practices and take control of their careers. And it’s built for individuals just like you who want more. And it’s also for law firms who want to bring real business development coaching and training to their teams with a strong return on investment. Inside you’re going to find a massive library of content, practical courses, live events and direct engagement with rainmakers from around the world who are there to answer your questions and help you grow. Membership is only 699, per lawyer. It discounts available for groups, and for a limited time, April 15 to April 30, you will get that deal as a founding member at that special rate I just mentioned, you have two weeks take action. Be that lawyer.com/community I’ll say it again. Be that lawyer.com/community to sign up today. Hope to see you there. And by the way, enjoy the show.

 

Speaker 1  [01:11]

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, we’ll 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  [01:34]

Steve Fretzin, and welcome to the be that lawyer podcast. We are rocking and rolling just over 600 episodes. Nick, I think you might be 601, all right, now, so that’s, I can’t tell you if the it’s as honorable as 500 or 600 but I think you’re right there on the cusp. That sound right?

 

[01:50]

It sounds good. I’m happy to be here. All right.

 

Steve Fretzin  [01:52]

And there’s something about 600 I don’t know. It’s got a nice ring to it. It’s not 500 but it’s just it. I was looking up something about podcasting as a podcaster than the host of law talk radio. You know, it’s really about, can you get past three episodes? Can you get past 20 episodes? Like, if you do that, you’re already, like, in the top 5% of all podcasts, just because people just can’t seem to stick with it long enough. Is that kind of well, I started

 

Nick Augustine  [02:17]

when nobody was doing them, so no one knew what it was. So they’re like, what is it? Law Talk Radio. I’m gonna be on the radio. I remember one of the justices running for just forget her name, but she was like, so excited. I’m like, It’s internet radio. It’s a podcast. And everyone’s like, I have no idea it’s called Radio.

 

Steve Fretzin  [02:34]

Yeah, right. Well, it is radio. It’s just a different channel that it streams on. But, yeah, fantastic, man. Let’s jump in. We’ve got your quote of the show, and here it is. And I love it because, you know, we got to promote Chicago, my home ground here. Life moves pretty fast, and if you don’t stop and look around, you just might miss it. And that’s the good old fashioned Ferris Bueller, that wonderful movie from the 80s.

 

Nick Augustine  [02:55]

So one of those shows that, if it’s on, I will watch the whole way through. And just, yeah,

 

Steve Fretzin  [02:59]

you can’t bet I didn’t say anything with Shawshank. I’m a Shawshank guy. Yeah, Shawshank brothers was my one. His brothers, yeah,

 

Nick Augustine  [03:05]

growing up like it was on WGN all the time. You know, you just wait long enough

 

Steve Fretzin  [03:09]

and it’ll pop on, yep, yep. Just a few edits in there, a few a few words skipped. Fantastic. Nick. Thanks for being on the show again, coming back again, and tell us a little bit about that quote. Why do you like that versus all the other quotes you could have chosen,

 

Nick Augustine  [03:22]

oh man, because it means something to me so much more now that I’m old, not really old. I’m 50, but I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing for more than 20 years now, and you don’t realize it until you hit that mark that like, years click by and you’re like, wait, what? Yep, it

 

Steve Fretzin  [03:38]

just happens. You don’t stop around. Like, just have to take and I think lawyers fall into this trap, maybe more than anyone, is that they’re just moving at such a rate of billable hour and of constant hustle and under constant stress that it’s hard to just stop and look around and realize like, hey, there’s a whole world here. And that’s why these this show and what I do and what you do are so important, because we’re trying to allow lawyers to delegate or to work on things that help them live a better life. I mean, when you have more leads coming in and you spend less time getting them, or you create better content, or you have a better process for business development, you can get bring in more and less time. That’s all time that you could be spending with family or going to, you know, travel, or going to shows or doing what you want.

 

Nick Augustine  [04:21]

Absolutely, I remember that movie. I think it was War of the Roses. And I think it was George Clooney, his character, who’s narrating and talking about the senior partner at a firm who’s on an oxygen thing and like another, like, all this life saving stuff, and he’s like, he is 900 years old. He’s billed 7 million billable hours, done 700,000 trials. And I’m going, what that man, you’re missing the point. I saw another thing about this in this whole program about like, Tell me your wealth life, what’s your rich law? And a lot of people miss out on the point of. Of not needing to be somewhere, right? And early in the morning, not having anyone control your time, being your own boss. And yeah, and I think for me, because I had late kindergarten growing up, I had my mornings free to myself that was kind of stuck in the Yeah, from there on in.

 

Steve Fretzin  [05:18]

But this is what be that lawyer is all about. I was talking to a lawyer this morning and and he wants to go from a half a million to 1,000,002 three. And I said, Hey, man, this is what be that lawyer is like, we’re all about. You know, are you the guy that’s being talked about as the individual bringing in business and living a good life and doing all the right things versus ranking away as a service partner day in and day out? That is not that lawyer. That’s the lawyer that I’m trying to, like, connect with and say, Hey, maybe there’s a different path for you, for longevity in your career. Hey, Nick man, I so appreciate you coming back again. Owner of Lone Star content marketing, host of legal talk or law talk radio, 20 years. I mean, give us how you came to be and how you found yourself in the legal space. Sure.

 

Nick Augustine  [06:00]

Well, when I was graduating law school, I had no interest in practicing law. In fact, I knew when I was about my third year, one of my friends who he had a long train ride from Joliet, which might be affected his personality. But he was like, man, after second year, he’s like, we paid tuition for two years in a row. We have to stay doing this. We’re stuck in here now. Like, and it was, I don’t know, for me, I was the kid who came from the family where it was law, medicine or psychology were my options, and I would have my head lopped off and get cut from the trust and everything else if I didn’t do what my parents said. So I was like going to law school. Here I go, and I knew I wanted to do something different with it. And so when I had the opportunity to go to Los Angeles and work in entertainment management with my friends who had a band. That was my thing. I was like, I’m gonna be like this, you know, entertainment superstar. I’m like, I know Paris Hilton. I can actually get somewhere with that. The thing is, I wasn’t there long enough to capitalize on it, but there’s a lot of options. I knew, like, I did not. I worked at some firms that were good, but I had been at some angry firms too, with people punching holes in walls, and it’s like, Man, I don’t want to be like these people. They work way too hard and they’re too angry.

 

Steve Fretzin  [07:08]

Yeah, well, again, it’s, you know, everyone’s on a different path. And you know, our goal is to try to just help the legal industry, help the legal community live better lives, and and all of that. And so, you know, the conversation today, I think is really important for lawyers who may think that business development is the only path to building a successful law practice. When you and I think both would agree that it’s important part of the story. But there’s this whole other element in the attention economy that we’re now in around creating content and utilizing it to separate yourself from the pack, and I’d love to hear your take on why lawyers don’t see that as a valuable or an important aspect of their development, as as a thought leader or as a lawyer that looks to grow a brand. So first,

 

Nick Augustine  [07:57]

the problem is Monkey see, monkey do, and I’ve seen that in every major city, county doesn’t matter. Everyone’s looking at someone else, thinking their neighbor is doing well, oh, they’ve got this elementary feature. I’ll adopt that, because they appear so many people are so good at the appearance of success that they forget what success is on their own, and they don’t tap into what the question of what makes you special. And I always thought when I was young that I would determine my brand and how people saw me. And then I realized that it were. It was all the different things that about me that I wasn’t affecting or trying to change. It was just me being me, who what was that was my brand, and what people remembered about me or liked about me. So you can try to be what you think the best lawyer is, you know, like you look at someone who has, you know, someone you look up to, and you’re like, I’m gonna do everything that they do. And you’re failing because you’re just being a poser and you’re not doing what you should do for yourself. That makes you special, that people will naturally connect to.

 

Steve Fretzin  [09:08]

I mean, I like the idea of emulating successful people to understand what they’re doing and take in that information, to figure out if it’s for you. But if somebody is a top podcaster and they have the personality and the just the enjoyment, pure enjoyment of it, and you’re like an introvert that is not comfortable with any of that, then don’t do that. Don’t be that a podcaster, right? Maybe you’re an incredible writer, or maybe there’s some stuff you could do being, you know, interviewed, or maybe there’s things that you can do that on the back end that are going to just like putting out great content about the changes of laws or the how, you know, how are you expressing yourself on posts? Yeah, you got to do

 

Nick Augustine  [09:47]

you or be the guy who is that, someone behind the curtain that is tall and doesn’t speak much, and they’re like, I’ve never seen Mr. So and So, Is he real or not? And everyone else is there in the front. Lines and that the air of mystique. So if you’re not a good speaker,

 

Steve Fretzin  [10:03]

do that, yeah. Well, let me ask you that directly, you’re working with all different kinds of law firms and lawyers, and how do you help them? Or how should they figure out what should be their direction? Because there’s 100 directions to go. There’s going to be one or two that are good for an individual, how do you take them through that exercise to get them to so they understand and people listening? Could do that go through that exercise without you to sort of figure out this is for me or not for me, right?

 

Nick Augustine  [10:31]

So it’s how do you know that you’re like, stuck in what you’re doing, and how do you know you’re happy or not, because by all the objective criteria against which you measure yourself and your path. The numbers may look good, everything on paper looks good, but you find yourself getting really annoyed. You’re getting annoyed at your partners. You’re thinking, you know it. Are you really angry that bill isn’t billing as much as will? Are you really that annoyed that you know Craig has a legal assistant who is bothering the other No, you’re annoyed at yourself. There’s an internal problem, some crisis of confidence, internally that you’re looking at everyone, and all of a sudden everything is annoying you, and you’re not quite sure why. And that usually signifies an internal problem or dilemma, which we are so trained to push down and shut off because we’ve got clients on the phone. People are billing, and that’s one of the problems with law. Is we are so busy we don’t have time to stop and reflect on things. And if we do have time, we’re in bigger panic mode, because that means we’re going out of business, you know. So it’s almost until you walk away from it for a length of time. Can you see the same thing with the relationship when you’re in it, you don’t see it when you step away, you can see the things that were annoying you, and some of those things come out in like mental health. But again, that’s an area that people don’t want to tread into and like they certainly don’t want to talk about that.

 

Steve Fretzin  [11:58]

Yeah, I mean, the exercise I put lawyers through when we start working together is, I call it the two one hit, and it’s what are the two things business development wise, that are gonna that’s the lowest hanging fruit, less, least amount of effort, greatest return. So if you have a stable of 50 or 100 clients, and you’re not tapping them for business, upsell, cross sell, introductions like, why are you going out and networking and meeting strangers? So let’s go there. Cross marketing being another one. Development of strategic partners could be another one. And then I’m like, All right, so you have these two great ways of developing business, and then what’s the marketing? What’s the branding? What’s going to help you bring out your personality or bring out your expertise, or bring out things in a way that are is that posting on LinkedIn? Is that speaking? Is it writing? Is it podcasting? Is it creating video? Let’s figure out what one thing you can do on the marketing front that you enjoy, that where your audience is right, and how are you going to start slowly building momentum to build the brand around, around you as the business? Yes, well, and

 

Nick Augustine  [13:00]

it’s what you think is fun. If you find it enjoyable, you’ll continue to do that. I have one of my clients and is a bankruptcy attorney in Highland Park. He loves Avvo. He loves answering those questions. We use those questions to sort his bankruptcy podcast. Boom. We both enjoy doing it. We continue doing it. If it’s a drag and you hate it and it’s annoying and you’re like, I really wish I didn’t have this on my calendar, you’re gonna regret it. You’re not gonna do as good of a job. But if it’s just fun and everyone’s having fun with it, that’s what some of the best, like family lawyers, are, the people who are just they love the drama of all the things, and they love the tea. You know, it’s interesting, like, it’s whatever your psychology kind of like meshes with what’s the

 

Steve Fretzin  [13:42]

counter argument to? Why bother you? You go on LinkedIn, and it’s just a disaster of a mess, of a pile of heaping crap, of junk that’s put on there, and everybody’s posting what their you know, their firm retreat is doing, and their super lawyer, and they’re this, and they’re that it’s all seemingly self promotional and a waste of time. You’ve got podcasts that aren’t very good, poor editing or sound quality. You have videos that don’t do anything like how do you argue to you know, this is worth this is a worthwhile exercise, either to do it yourself or outsource it to someone

 

Nick Augustine  [14:19]

like you, the experience, because it’s gonna matter to someone, and that person that it’s gonna matter to is gonna tell you, and it’s the reason that you do what you do, and that only is something that comes with experience. I remember being a young lawyer, people who I was working for would tell me that they had this breakthrough moment with a client, where it’s like they said, This is why I do this work. This is why I put up with all the everything else. And so many times I’ve wanted to hang it up, run away and just be done. But I keep doing it because through all these folks like, there’s someone that’s gonna their life is gonna change. You know, it’s kind of like when you give advice to people, you know, you become a dispenser of wisdom, or at least. You’re supposed to at some point, and you just don’t know who’s gonna like, that’s what have I said randomly to random people that they’re like, Oh yeah, I remember that guy said this one time, and he was right. And it’s like, you just don’t know. So, you know, it’s like, my parents always taught me, like, Whatever you do, you’ve got to share wisdom and pull people up, you know?

 

Steve Fretzin  [15:18]

So, yeah, I have a lot of lawyers that feel that LinkedIn like I just explained, is kind of a huge waste of time, and my job is to try to get them to understand that’s why we need you in there. We need you in there with a strategy and with content that isn’t a waste of time, that’s educating, that’s informing, that’s drawing out your authenticity. And so I’ll just shout out to my buddy, Noah. He started doing these posts and kind of clarifying the law, and not only did he get, like, a ridiculous amount of like, likes and comments and shares, but it got picked up. Like he reported from, you know, a major publication found him and said, Hey, I’m loving your post. You know, Can I interview you, or can we add, you know, a quote of yours to this article? So it’s just about, you know, like a lot of things in life, you know, how can we find the silver lining that where we can make a difference and get the feedback like, Hey, you’re doing a great job, or this inspired me, or this matters to me, versus it just being again, a great cloudy mass, yeah, yeah.

 

Nick Augustine  [16:21]

And with LinkedIn, I think that there’s so many people on there and it’s, whatever it’s, your LinkedIn is going to be your experience. Mine has been pretty good. I got good people on there, but there’s, I’m starting to see more lawyers who listen about you should be doing content, and they’re like, oh, okay, I’m gonna go to my AI and like, Hey, give me some content, you know, and you can tell when something is well thought and when it’s I mean, if it’s helpful, information about their practice area and AI put it together. And I know that, like it is what it is. But a lot of time, I’m seeing a lot of commercials on TV and images on social media, and particularly LinkedIn, which are obviously, very obviously, AI generated, and I’m working on an article this morning on how it’s distracting from the underlying message. It’s like, you learned AI, good for you, but I’m not listening to what you’re saying. But it’s

 

Steve Fretzin  [17:10]

gonna just like, with everything in our world, like it’s gonna matter more that human, a human is involved. Like, I’m my wife was joking. So I’m on with AT and T and there it’s a computer. Ai talking to me, of course, on AT and T, I’m never going to get too human. And I basically started screaming at the phone. I knew it was just for my own purpose, not for there was nobody going to do anything for me. And my wife heard me from like, another side of the house, and she’s like, I heard you scream. I’m like, Yeah, that’s AT and T, like, there’s, there’s just, like, we want to speak with a human that can help us solve a problem or help us resolve something they wanted to, like, reset my internet. That’s not what I needed. I needed a totally separate thing than what it was going to do for me. And I think AI in social media and everything is the same way that we’re looking for the connection and the authenticity from you, and if AI can help bring that out, then use it, if it’s, if it’s just to get a bunch of content put on that that is not you and not authentic, then we’re going to know, we’re going to know pretty quickly that it’s just noise.

 

Nick Augustine  [18:12]

Yeah, absolutely. And the thing is, another thing is that we don’t realize our own value. Sometimes, like you, we are all taught to have this internal dialog of like, okay, I think I’m good at what I do, but then there’s other people, so I’m going to be really humble about everything. And there may be people out there and other people’s opinions of us is not really our business, but there are some people out there, for every person who maybe thinks that we are not worth it. There are just as many out there and more who think that we are so worth it and our value, we never really see what those other people see in us. So, you

 

Steve Fretzin  [18:51]

know, there’s not, and I don’t know that anybody can say they’ve ever heard me talk about myself and how wonderful I think I am, or how incredible I think I am, that’s so against my, you know, honestly, the way I was beat up on a regular basis by my lawyer father that like getting compliments is, like, almost tough for me, and my son’s the same way, like I try to compliment him and, but, I mean, I think, I think I had to grow up and be humble. And, but that being said, Do I like? Do I like when other people have read a testimonial or seen a video of a client of mine talking about me. I still feel a little uncomfortable with hearing that and seeing that, but I know that it’s valuable for other lawyers to see what their peers are going through and what’s happening and the change and transformation. I just I think what you’re saying, though Nick is aligned with that, that it’s really about, maybe we want to start getting more more content of what our clients are saying and feeling about us, and we’re able in a position to maybe share that as is a humble brag, versus something where we’re just thumping our chests

 

Nick Augustine  [19:55]

right and blame it on the marketing guy who says they say, I need to get. More Google reviews. Blame it on me. Blame it on you. Blame it on whoever. We need to get more Google reviews. I am the worst. I only have four. I’ve been 20 years. I’ve I don’t like asking people, or I ask them and they’re like, oh, just write something. I’m like, you know, come on. But yeah, it’s, it’s hard to learn how to be gracious as well and just say thank you. You know, we always try to disclaim it away of, Oh, it’s nothing, or, you know, whatever, but, yeah, the other thing too is it’s longevity is what speaks as well, the fact that you’ve been doing what you’re doing as long as you’ve been doing right there in the just because of that, you know, people will assume you’re obviously doing something well, or you’re just independently wealthy, and this is your hobby, yeah.

 

Steve Fretzin  [20:44]

Well, in content too, like we said earlier, about staying consistent with podcasting, same thing with, you know, and Gary V and every, every top you know, marketing guy will say this, that you know, consistency is the key. You know, you can post on LinkedIn for a week and then another week, and then drop for two months and then come back. You’re never going to see anything. But if you’re consistently, once or twice a week, producing content that people are seeing, and people are starting to get comfortable with and starting to sort of recognize you as the expert that you are, or feel connected to you because they see you talking and doing things that they connect with one other, the guy I talked to this morning. I invite him to come to my class on Tuesday morning, and he’s doing charity, you know, like at a homeless shelter or something, and couldn’t make it to my class on Tuesday this week because he’s doing Sure. And I’m like, right away, I’m connected to that. I go look that right away. That says a lot about you, and it makes me want to learn more about you and be more interested in you, because I’m not hearing about charity. Now, should he post that on social and make a big deal about that’s, you know, maybe that’s more your space than mine. But I think just knowing him as a human being, that he’s doing that sort of matters to me

 

Nick Augustine  [21:52]

absolutely, because that’s who we connect with, because we’re gonna It’s like the know, like and trust thing, and when you’re talking about the consistency of posting on LinkedIn. First thing that I think of is referrals. Those are the people. It’s top of mind awareness. And if you are diligent enough to get that done, it shows that you’re a diligent person. If you are diligent enough to have your background well maintained, diligent enough to show up for things, diligent enough to not reschedule all the time. It shows that you care about other people and you don’t just take it for granted and assume you’re just a big dog and everyone is there to carry your boxes and bags for you.

 

Steve Fretzin  [22:34]

Yeah, hey everybody, your next big client might call it 8pm on a Saturday night, the question is, who’s picking up with Lex reception? A real person answers every call, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so you never miss a lead, no matter when they reach out, no AI agents, no voicemail, just professional legal literate receptionist representing your firm the right way around the clock, and right now you that lawyer. Listeners get 250 off their first month, visit www dot lex reception.com/partners/be. That lawyer to claim your offer that’s WWW dot lex reception.com/partners/be, that lawyer. Hey everybody. Steve Fretzin, here and @lawyer.com They don’t just market law firms. They help them grow from connecting millions of consumers to trusted lawyers to smarter intake and industry leading events, they’re building stronger connections across legal visibility, intake, events, growth. That’s lawyer.com Check them out today 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@rankings.io today. Well, maybe this is a good lead into, you know, what you’re doing, and a little bit what I’m doing around how we’re trying to open up space for lawyers in their life through outsourced marketing, outsourced, you know, VAs and people that can, you know, take work off your plate. Maybe it’s automations and AI that’s helping to open up gaps of time for lawyers. How does, how does outsourcing marketing, and especially the execution of marketing, a game changer for lawyers and law firms?

 

Nick Augustine  [24:34]

I believe that it helps people begin to understand that they have put themselves in a limiting box where they’re limited financially by time versus dollars with hourly billers. I mean, unless you are a contingent fee guy with you know, you get the big truck, right? Cases and like clean house, most people are hourly and. And when we start to look at expanding, and we start thinking, Okay, if we if we are on an hourly thing, I can grow my business by having more people do more things, and I’m leveraging them. And it’s just that they start to look at the law, practice of law, more as a business and as they should, because it is otherwise. They know they’re otherwise limited. So it’s like, it also gives them an opportunity just to, like, play business because a lot of people enjoy the business aspect, but they’re like, Oh, I didn’t go to business school. And it’s people lawyers by nature. We are so limit. We self limit. It’s like, if you ever ask the like, a family lawyer about tax stuff. They’re like, don’t ask me. Ask the tax guy. Tax guy says, Don’t ask me. Ask the lawyer. And they go back and forth because nobody wants to claim that. You know, it’s the it’s their thing, you know. So you’re very, you very stuck in like you do exactly this. Do not go outside your practice area. Do not pass go. And I think that that limiting, that limiting thought and that limiting behavior can extend to other things, and then we’re like, oh, man, you know where I’m kind of stuck with, like, this model on how to do it, and you can totally change it up and do a different business model, leverage other human capital, make more money, and get out of that trap where you’re stuck by your actual time, because that’s how you end up that guy on the machines, you know, billing the 8 million hours, and you, like, never saw the light of day in your 400

 

Steve Fretzin  [26:31]

to over 1000 an hour. Or you’re, you are contingency, but you still have time restraints, because constraints, because you’re, you’re running a business, or you’re, you’re meeting with clients. You’re meeting with prospective clients. There’s all this back end trial work stuff. Usually you still limited in your time whether you’re billable or not. The idea is that we need to figure out, is there an agency to that can take over this, this thing called Marketing, where you can still be the thought leader and still be involved in it, but you’re not going to be executing on anything. And that’s what I try to do. Is I’m doing two podcasts, I’m writing books, I’m writing articles, I’m doing all these things I have to be involved in this. I This, this show doesn’t work without me, right? Just be talking to yourself. Nick, it’s no good that being said. Once it’s over and I click, you know, and record, and I upload stuff, I just upload the recording into a software I’m kind of out. So all of the video, all of the audio, all of the podcasts, Blogcast, transcripts, everything that happens, the social media, that’s all not on me. And that’s a huge if that was on me, I don’t know how I would do a day, but I think lawyers need to start thinking strategically about what’s what, what’s in their world, and what’s valued, valuable at their hourly rate or their time. How is their time valued? And then what needs to be delegated? And it’s not just marketing. Could be anything.

 

Nick Augustine  [27:52]

It’s so difficult especially, well marketing, particularly, I remember a gentleman who is telling me, Well, Nick, your tone of voice is different from mine, you know? And I’m thinking, Yeah, mine’s better, you know, but so is he’s thinking that too. And it is like it doesn’t sound like me, and it’s like it doesn’t like the people who are coming to hire you don’t care your tone of voice. They care about effective legal services. Are you going to do which are you going to rip them off? Are you going to stay through, through the case, and are you going to be a good lawyer? You know? What are they going to look at all the skins on your wall and be like, okay, yeah, they definitely earned them. Or did they just buy all that? You know? I mean, I don’t know, but it’s the, it’s, it’s letting go of your own and that’s, it’s the competition factor, and it’s insecurity, and we are constantly thinking someone else is bigger and better. I remember, I’ll never forget, you know, years of that BNSF train ride, Burlington, Northern, you know, get on at Naperville. You know, ding, ding. Everyone’s a big dog. And then, like clarinan hails, everyone touches Hinsdale, all the, you know, the hedge fund managers hop on. And all the lawyers back in Naperville are real quiet all of a sudden. You know, this is kind of interesting, you know, but so everyone’s always like, judging everyone and everyone else, and we’re always so insecure, and it’s like, stop making you know, no one is your law firm isn’t there because of your tone of voice or your writing style? You know, it’s what you do in court and what you do with clients, Alan is

 

Steve Fretzin  [29:21]

but is it the tone, or is it? Do you want the tone to be matched up perfectly? Or do you want results? If we can match up the tone and get your results, great, but if your tone is no and you’re not, you know you’re not looking sounding, writing, anything that’s going to be usable to help you build a law practice, then, yeah, you’re going to have to get some help

 

Nick Augustine  [29:39]

if you need different front people. Is what you need in that case. And that’s where you’re that’s when you’re the person behind who’s like big, tall and strong and doesn’t talk much, you know, maybe because you sound like Mickey

 

Steve Fretzin  [29:48]

Mouse, who knows? All right, then we could probably talk shop all day. But let’s get to the big deal, which is what’s Nick’s big mistake?

 

Nick Augustine  [29:56]

Okay, so, yeah, so my big mistake was letting my. Own ego, drive the train, and it was all about me. And I created my business to be so narrow into who I was going to serve, what I was going to do in what geographic location, that it just became too niche. And I realized that you can’t do something like I do, and do it for everyone in an area where there’s like, you know, you can’t be, you know, if I’m doing a podcast for a lawyer in one county and they’re like, that’s a big deal, and everyone knows about it, it’s not a big deal. If I all of a sudden, I’m doing it for everyone in town. So you need to spread that stuff out, you know. And also, for me, I narrowed everything into just legal marketing, because I was like, Well, you know, my family made me be a lawyer, and I don’t want to be a lawyer, so I’m going to do this, and I’m going to practice, I’m going to do this marketing deal and all that, and it’s like, so I have to do it for lawyers because, but you don’t have to. And, but, you know, and so the the real growth opportunity is when you realize, like, hey, I can do this for also for wealth managers and like tax people and the trust people. And they can be in Chicago or Dallas or any city, any town, you know. And you take law talk radio and just, and I switched it to being Texas law talk radio for 13 years, stupid. Undo it, go back to a national presence, and more people like it, you know. So it’s like, but that’s my own ego got in the way.

 

Steve Fretzin  [31:23]

Yeah, I think we all have to take stock on, on, you know, niche, the riches are in the niches. But also maybe you’re, you’re niching down so much that you don’t have the, you know, enough of an audience to or enough of a client base to really be successful. So I think sometimes we have to make these mistakes to get, you know, that’s what the whole point of this last question is, how do we get to the other side? And maybe you’re helping someone that is doing what you did, learn a lesson and not make that mistake or make that change quickly. Really good stuff. Let’s take a moment. Thank our amazing sponsors, of course, lawyer.com We’ve got pimcon coming up in October and rankings. IO, love my my buddy, Chris dryer, Alex reception. Want to give a shout out to them. And of course, if you have not heard of the be that lawyer community, this is a newer thing that we’re doing. It’s a great way to get engaged with us on marketing, best practices, business development, best practices, how to be your best self through video content courses and engaging conversations with other rainmakers at a very, very low investment. So check that out at be that lawyer.com/community fantastic. There. Nick people want to get in touch with you. They want to hear more about Lone Star. How do they get in touch?

 

Nick Augustine  [32:32]

Sure, yeah. Lone Star, content marketing.com you can also just Google law talk radio that is parked on the same website. Everything is right there. You can Google me. I’ve been flooding AI and search engines with information for over 20 years or so. It’s like, there’s when I see there’s other Nick Augustine’s. I’m like, oh, good for you. Like, there’s another one. It’s not lucky, you’ll be on page 50. Well, that’s where the content is. And some people even come to me. They’re like, I want good content to bury bad content. I’m like, Oh my gosh, we need to get to work.

 

Steve Fretzin  [33:07]

Awesome. Thanks, Nick, I appreciate you coming back. It’s great to collaborate and do pod swaps, and I love being on your show, and I’m happy that you’re on mine, and let’s keep in the loop with each other and all in the near future.

 

[33:18]

Okay, sounds good. See you soon. All right, thank you.

 

Steve Fretzin  [33:21]

Thank you. Thank you everybody for hanging out with us for the last 30 and change. You know so much great, great information here about you know how to market your yourself. Niche down, niche up, and stay consistent, and all the things we covered today to help you be that lawyer, confident, organized and a skilled Rainmaker. Take care. Everybody. Be safe and well, we will talk again soon.

 

Speaker 1  [33:42]

thanks for listening to be that lawyer, life-changing strategies and resources for growing a successful law practice. Visit Steve’s website, fretzin.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.