I am pitching 3 pieces of new business today. All of which I found by myself. I could double my book of business for the year in one day. OMG!

Trying to think positive thoughts. Not my strong suit. Figured maybe some of the old timers out there could send some positive energy my way. Thanks.

Oh, my!!!! This is so terrific, Hold.

I remember when… I’m so excited and I KNOW you can get this business. You are good, sincere, smart, and determined. Not to mention persevering. Your determination to remain married is astounding. Your pain threshold is impressive.

YOU are the man for this job!

Believe in yourself. I saw a great print-ad from Volkswagon yesterday that read:

Misery has enough company. Dare to be happy.

Hold, dare to be happy!

Well, the Bear Stearns guy just left to go to a meeting with the client. He assured me they are going to engage me today because Bear Stearns is anxious to have the client deposit an eight figure amount into management, and the client can't (safely) make the transfer until our firm gives them tax clearance that moving the funds won't trigger either income tax or a 35% penalty. So this one looks like it is going to happen.

Now for the big one at 11:30. I was interviewed for an article a couple of weeks ago, and these guys saw the article and called me. Turns out they are the firm that leases the other half of the floor I work on. They can't believe that after talking to "experts" in New York and Boston, the lawyers who seem to know the most about this international tax issue are down the hall from them in New Haven CT.

The problem is the price. They are daunted by how much it costs to do what they want to do. Well, I checked with a buddy at KPMG in Rotterdam who does this stuff, and he said he would have quoted $100,000 more than I did. So no way am I going to cut my quote down significantly. If these guys are going to raise tens of millions of dollars from foreign investors and place the funds into a tax efficient structure, they are going to have to pay what it costs to develop a tax efficient structure!

OK, several bursts of good vibes coming through to you today. Keep your mind open to receiving them.

My mind is wide open honey. I am tired of being Eeyore. I am tired of having bills on my desk that I don't have the money to pay. This is freaking ridiculous. I went to Harvard freakin Law School and I shop exclusively at Wal-Mart and I still can't pay my bills. Went to dinner with another couple at an inexpensive local joint last weekend and I was tempted to accept when he offered to pay (we let them drop their kids at our house for a whole day over February break so his wife felt guilty about imposing). No freakin pride whatsoever. This has got to stop.

Next week I fly to London for a meeting of the partners and counsel. While there, I am meeting with one of my larger clients. He is a hedge fund manager with an art collection with some "significant" pieces. Hopefully the head of our art and cultural assets group can come with me to pitch the client to let us do more of his legal work concerning art. Then the firm is taking all the partners and counsel to Oxford for the weekend. One of our managing partners is married to a Don. So we get a behind the scenes tour. THAT is the life that I should be aiming for. And nothing turns on Mrs. Hold like hearing that I am having dinner with an Oxford Don in a 16th century dining hall!

Go for it, Hold!! You can doo eet!!

Go get 'em, Tiger!!!!

You can DO THIS!

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Dont be afraid of success...or if you are afraid of it, fight thru your fears of success!

Ah well, next meeting crapped out. Despite my having been very clear on the phone and at meeting #1 and meeting #2 that my proposal only works for funds where most of the investors are not US persons, today they announced that 100% of their investors are US persons. So everything we discussed over the past 3 weeks is irrelevant. Grrr!

They apologized for taking so much of my time. And we are going to have lunch Thursday to see if there is some other way I can help them with some aspect of their business. And they do have contacts to whom I would enjoy being introduced. So it wasn't a total waste of time.

Nevertheless, chin up. There is still my 2:00 left to dazzle!

You know, I've found that sometimes when a prospect does something like that, they feel a bit like they should make it up to you, and are often quite receptive to the next proposal...so it may not have been such a waste after all.

Congrats on the other one going so well!

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Yes, that is why I suggested lunch, to give them a chance to let me pitch something else. They were receptive, so I think the mechanism you suggest may be at work.

The 2:00 went well. Only a small matter, but this guy is 32 and running a $50 MM business he thinks may get sold for $250 MM in a few years. So getting in on the ground floor with him can't be bad.

Onward and upward! My 3:30 got pushed back a little. So I might have an excuse to stay here until the 5:23 to Stamford - the train with a bar car!

Yippee!!!

Brilliant to suggest the lunch. A lot of your business can come from referrals and networking. Lunch is important.

And, good for you not lowering your price. It shows you know what you're worth and you charge a price you think is fair.

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How was lunch?

Hi Telly. Thanks for asking.

Lunch went well. He was very apologetic. We talked about my firm and his firm and how we might work together.

Then at the end he placed a printout on the table and asked me a technical tax question. I felt conflicted. I am trying to woo him as a referral source. On the other hand, here he is taking me to lunch to apologize for wasting so much of my time and now he is asking me for more uncompensated professional advice. I told him I did not know the answer off the top of my head. Not sure whether I want to spend the time looking it up. On the other hand I am not busy and beggers can't be choosers.

Regardless of what I decide about his question, I am going to send him marketing materials and a cover letter that requests a meeting to pitch him on personal planning ideas that are most effective if done now (when his company is just getting started) rather than waiting until values get higher in future years.

My the force be with you.

I don't need to wish you luck, Hold. These changes will not happen because of chance. They will happen because you are beginning to realize what I have known all along....you're incredibly talented and gifted....and if you believe you can make changes....I have no doubt you will. I will wish you whatever small elements of chance....like timing....that may speed you on your way!! The force IS with you. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Thanks but no thanks. I am not talented and gifted at being a tax lawyer. What I need is not to realize how talented I am. But to be willing to grind it out. I am lazy. I wish I were talented and gifted enough to be able to get by on talent. But at this gig, I am a plodder. What I need to do is be willing to get into the trenches and do the heavy lifting. So far I have not been willing to do that. Hence my lack of progress.

Sorry for not accepting a compliment, but your post hit a nerve. It is precisely because of how much I DO see myself as talented and gifted that I haven't been willing to get down in the trenches and do the work. Day by day. Hour by hour. I keep waiting for lightning to strike. I keep waiting for my brilliance to come up with the "home run" that is going to get me off of this treadmill. I can't keep sitting on my butt and waiting for that. I have to get moving. Even if that means cranking out the mundane and the routine.

I am a wonderful person. I have many gifts. Unfortunately, I long ago chose to enter a field that doesn't take advantage of them. And I am too risk averse to get out now.

I am going to make this work. Not because of how talented I am. But because for the first time in my life I am going to do what the untalented and not as richly gifted do. Roll up my sleeves and get to work.

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