The Renegade Lawyer Podcast
I am more convinced than ever that nothing that traditional bar organizations are doing is going to move the needle on the sad stats on lawyer happiness ...
The root cause of all lawyers' problems is financial stress. Financial stress holds you back from getting the right people on the bus, running the right systems, and being able to only do work for clients you want to work with. Financial stress keeps you in the office on nights and weekends, often doing work you hate for people you don't like, and doing that work alone.
(Yes, you have permission to do only work you like doing and doing it with people you like working with.)
The money stress is not because the lawyers are bad lawyers or bad people. In fact, most lawyers are good at the lawyering part and they are good people.
The money stress is caused by the general lack of both business skills and an entrepreneurial mindset.
Thus, good lawyers who are good people get caught up and slowed down in bringing their gifts to the world. Their families, teams, clients, and communities are not well-served because you can't serve others at your top level when you are constantly worrying about money.
We can blame the law schools and the elites of the profession who are running bar organizations, but to blame anyone else for your own woes is a loser's game. It is, in itself, a restrictive, narrow, mindset that will keep you from ever seeing, let alone experiencing, a better future.
Lawyers need to be in rooms with other entrepreneurs. They need to hang with people who won't tell you that your dreams are too big or that "they" or "the system "won't allow you to achieve them. They need to be in rooms where people will be in their ear telling them that their dreams are too small.
Get in better rooms. That would be the first step.
Second step, ignore every piece of advice any general organized bar is giving about how to make your firm or your life better.
The Renegade Lawyer Podcast
Ep. 209 - Renegade Lawyer Marketing (Audio Book) – Chapter 21: Design Your Life First
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Most lawyers start with marketing tactics.
Ben says that’s backwards.
In Chapter 21 of Renegade Lawyer Marketing, he makes the argument that good marketing doesn’t begin with ads, websites, or SEO.
It begins with design.
For the first 12 years of his career, Ben did what most lawyers do:
- Worked hard
- Took whatever cases came in
- Fought over bills
- Accepted chaos
- Told himself “this is just how it is”
And he listened to other lawyers complain about stress, insurance companies, and long hours like it was normal.
Then came the uncomfortable question:
What if I could actually design my life instead of reacting to it?
In this episode, Ben walks through:
- Why most lawyers hand over their credit card to marketing agencies without knowing what they’re building
- How random client flow keeps lawyers trapped
- Why your belief system about control determines your business ceiling
- The difference between chaos and systems
- How marketing becomes powerful only after you decide what kind of life you want
This chapter is the philosophical core of Great Legal Marketing.
Because if you don’t design your life first…
Marketing just feeds a machine you don’t even like.
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Ben Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury and long-term disability insurance attorney in Fairfax, VA. Since 2005, Ben Glass and Great Legal Marketing have been helping solo and small firm lawyers make more money, get more clients and still get home in time for dinner. We call this TheGLMTribe.com
What Makes The GLM Tribe Special?
In short, we are the only organization within the "business builder for lawyers" space that is led by two practicing lawyers.
One thing we're sure you've noticed is that despite the variety of options within our space, no one else is mixing
the actual practice of law with business building in the way that we are.
There are no other organizations who understand the highs and lows of running a small law firm and are engaged in talking to real clients. That is what sets GLM apart from every other organization, and it is why we have had loyal members that have been with us for two-decades.
Welcome And Show Purpose
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the Renegade Lawyer Podcast, the show that challenges the way lawyers and professionals think about life, business, and success. Hosted by Ben Glass, attorney, entrepreneur, coach, and father of nine, this show is about more than just practicing law. For over 40 years, Ben has built a law firm that stands for something bigger. He's helped thousands of lawyers create practices that make good money, do meaningful work, and still make it home for dinner. Each week, Ben brings you real conversations with guests who are challenging the status quo. Lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, thinkers, and builders. These are people creating bold careers and meaningful lives without burning out or selling out. If you're ready to stop playing small and start thinking like a renegade, you're in the right place. Let's dive in.
SPEAKER_01Welcome
Chapter 21 Setup And Offers
SPEAKER_01back to the Renegade Lawyer Podcast. My name is Ben Glass, and in this episode, we are going to chapter 21 of my book, The Renegade Lawyer Marketing. Again, in the audio version, you're getting uh extra material and commentary that you won't find in the print version. If you don't have the print version, reach out to me. We'll get your copy. If you'd like to get a copy of our newsletter to the Great Legal Marketing Journal, reach out to me. Both Brian and I are easily findable on LinkedIn. Chapter 21, good marketing.
The Core Principle Of Design First
SPEAKER_01Begin by designing what you want your life to look like. This is probably the most important chapter of the whole book. This is the whole philosophy, the theme of great legal marketing for over 20 years. What a strange title for a chapter on marketing. But without good design, there can be no focus on your marketing. Might as well hand over money blindfolded. That's what a lot of lawyers do. They don't really know what they're headed for, where they want to get with their lives, with their practices, and so they just hand over their credit card to a marketing agency. For the
Life In Insurance Defense
SPEAKER_01first 12 years of my professional practice life, I worked as an associate and then as a partner at a firm that primarily did insurance defense work. I didn't have much control over anything, and none of the folks I hung out with ever said anything about my being able to control things. And back then I was very, very fortunate. I tried a lot of cases. I got to try to be to participate in multi-defendant cases. We got to hang out with some of the most experienced trial lawyers in the mid-Atlantic and watch them take depositions, participate in trials with them, these other insurance defense law lawyers who were great lawyers, but they were very traditional lawyers too, and very traditional inside the box thinkers. And most of what I heard from these lawyers is how lousy the work was, how much fighting they did with the insurance companies who paid or didn't pay their bills, and how miserable it made their families. Based on more recent discussions with my insurance defense attorney friends, little if anything has changed and probably it's
Breaking Away And Early Doubts
SPEAKER_01gotten worse over the years. That's the way it was in our practice. All that and plenty of daily chaos as well. We had no systems in place for anything except getting our bills out the door, and even that was done poorly. And if insurance company cut the bill, we would say, Oh well, they're the boss of us. That's crazy. When my wife complained about my being away or working late or on weekends, I told her that she and the kids needed to understand. You just need to understand, honey. When that's all you hear from your friends and the folks you're hanging out with, then your thoughts become your reality. So when I left that firm to start my own practice, I thought things would be different because I would be in charge and my practice wasn't going to be so chaotic. I started to read books like Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich and Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, but then I would put them aside because I'd convinced myself that self-determination wasn't
Building Systems And Self-Determination
SPEAKER_01possible for a law practice. But a thought nagged at me, how can I choose the practice and life I want when the flow of new clients is so random? Besides, none of the other lawyers I was hanging out with seemed to be living self-determined lives either. None of them are very happy. I still struggle from time to time with a belief system that tells me I can design my life. Sure, life throws you curveballs, but today I do, by and large, craft my own existence. And that existence I've created for my family, my firm, and my friends is fed by systems, notably a marketing system that works. And today in Venglass Law, operations and hiring systems that are just uh rocking it as I'm recording this in early 2026.
Invitations, CTAs, And Closing
SPEAKER_01So that's chapter 21. Uh again, if you don't have the book, reach out to us. We'll get you a copy. If you'd like to get it uh to subscribe to the newsletter, uh reach out, find us on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear from you if you'd like to be on the podcast. If you've got something interesting to say, let me know why you should be on the podcast, and we'd love to interview you. All right, until next time, this is Ben Glass, and this is the Renegade Lawyer Podcast.
SPEAKER_00That's it for today's episode of the Renegade Lawyer Podcast, where we're rewriting the rules of what it means to build a great law practice and a great life. If something sparked a new idea or gave you clarity, pass it on. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this with someone who's ready to think bigger. Want more tools, strategies, and stories from the trenches? Visit GreatLegalMarketing.com or connect with Ben Glass and the team on LinkedIn. Keep building boldly. We'll see you next time.
