I cringe when I hear the word business development- I picture sleazy marketers, false promises, fake laughs, manipulators….. you get the picture.

I was completely wrong – and Build Your Book is responsible for this shift.

Build Your Book is run by two incredible people Aaron Baer and Dhawal Tank- Aaron is a lawyer and Dhawal is in marketing.

Aaron who used to work for big law- was frustrated with the broken legal system. He got in touch with his friend Dhawal from business school and voiced his frustrations and the two set to work…. and created Build Your Book for lawyers.

These guys did not start this Academy based on their own experience or assumptions of the legal industry- they interviewed and surveyed closer to 100 lawyers in both large and small law firms in the US and Canada- to know what their “pain points” were- why are lawyers frustrated or angry, what is working and what is not working, why is it not working, what do they know about business development, do they have a system in place for business development etc. etc.

What they saw- the system was broken for clients as well as the people within the firm itself. Associate lawyers were already working long hours and stressed over the dreaded billable hours- how do they carve out the time for BD work when they have no time? Where do they start? Confusion and Overwhelm. For Solos their problem was more urgent and immediate- as they wore too many hats, faced large cycles of feast and famine(unpredictable billings), and stiff competition.

They took these insights and started Build Your Book as a response to these challenges.

May I add- these guys are incredibly humble- Aaron is the recipient of Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada & he also runs the 4L Academy for young lawyers. Dhawal is no stranger to good work either- he has helped tech companies and start-up grow from $0 to $1+million in revenue.

I was part of their first cohort of Build Your Book Academy. I got to meet 6 other incredible lawyers who were with me on this business development journey for two months- we shared our stories on how we felt after our first LinkedIn post, how to build our brand based on our values and who we are, how to connect with our referral network in an authentic way, how to use systems, processes, and automation to genuinely keep in touch with our network and much, much more.

If you have read this far- in a nutshell Build Your Book Academy is for lawyers who want a better and happier legal career- designing a business development plan that works for you according to your values and vision. It is not a one size fits all- it is custom made for you and BY YOU.

Build Your Book shows and gives you the tools to design and build YOUR business development plan. In other words, you can be your #AUTHENTIC SELF and attract the clients you want to work with it.

Their next cohort is starting in October and the link is in the comments below. I wish you a happy and successful legal career.