Why Being Busy Is Killing Your Business Growth ft. Christopher Adams

Are you busy all day but not actually moving forward? In this episode, Richard is joined by Chris Adams, strategic growth advisor and founder of CJA Consulting, who works with professional services firms and business owners across the world to cut through overwhelm and build clear, focused growth strategies. Chris breaks down why the biggest block to business growth isn't technical skill — it's the mindset shift that nobody prepares you for when you make partner, go out on your own, or scale beyond yourself.

From the spray-and-pray trap of unfocused marketing to the uncomfortable truth that people buy you not your brand, this conversation is packed with practical insight. Chris shares why your referral network outperforms any social media campaign, how personal brand is non-negotiable in a crowded professional services market, and why even he struggles to take his own advice — and what he does about it.

Key Takeaways

Identifying your ideal client and referral network is the foundation of every growth strategy — without it, all activity is noise. 

Personal brand is not optional in professional services; people buy people, not company names. 

Your referral network will always outperform thought leadership or social media when it comes to driving new business. 

Reflection time is not a luxury — without it, business owners make reactive decisions rather than strategic ones. 

You must own your own growth; no advisor, marketer, or consultant can do that for you.

Episode Highlights

The mindset shift lawyers face overnight when they make partner — and why it derails so many high performers. 

Chris's lightbulb moment at a personal branding workshop six months into his business. 

Why 150 international law firms competing in Dubai is the perfect illustration of personal brand as differentiator. 

The spray and pray trap — what happens when you market before you have a strategy. 

How AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude can help business owners get unstuck when no external advisor is available. 

The launch of Muhami — a legal knowledge platform built to connect people with legal answers in the Middle East.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction — Richard welcomes Chris Adams 

00:39 What CJA Consulting does and who it serves 

01:21 The mindset shift from lawyer to business owner 

03:36 Overwhelm as the common thread — and how to cut through it 

05:13 Chasing shiny objects and losing strategic focus 

06:35 Why every business owner needs reflection time 

08:01 Meetings — the silent killer of productive time 

10:03 The hamster wheel of busyness and how to break it 

11:10 Resistance to change — the lawyer who said it was all on Chris 

13:07 Personal brand, charisma, and why you are the differentiator 

15:32 Dubai's crowded legal market and the power of standing out 

17:56 Why sales is not a dirty word in professional services 

20:33 Strategy before marketing — stop spraying and praying 

21:51 Why referral networks beat social media every time 

24:04 LinkedIn thought leadership made simple and systematic 

26:52 Getting out from behind the computer — networking that fits you 

28:42 Final tips — make a plan, reflect, and use AI to get unstuck 

31:28 CJA Consulting, Muhami platform and Muhami Matters podcast

🔗 Connect with Christopher Adams 

Website: www.muhami.ae 

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/muhami.ae/

⭐️ Connect and Subscribe

Thank you for joining us on The Business of Thinking podcast. If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe and leave a rating! It helps us bring more insightful content on the psychology of high performance. Find more about Richard Reid's work at www.richard-reid.com.

Download the first two chapters of Richard's "Charisma Unlocked", audio or PDF version for free and begin your transformation towards authentic charisma:

https://richard-reid.com/master-authentic-charisma/

Production Credit: Edited and produced by @the32collective_ / https://www.the32collective.co/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Business of Thinking podcast. This is the place for high achievers who want more than motivation. They want mastery. Here we skip the surface level talk and go straight into the psychology of high performance.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Hi, and welcome again to the business of thinking. My name is Richard Reed, and today I'm joined by Chris Adams from CJA Consulting. Chris, welcome to the show. Great to have you. Thanks for having me, Richard. Good to be here. My pleasure. Tell us a little bit about the work that you do.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Sure. So I uh run two brands. CJA Consulting is the one you mentioned, is my main business. And I essentially am a strategic growth advisor for professional services firms. So my career history has been working inside law firms mostly, doing marketing and business development. And so I've taken that now outside as an advisor and work with professional services organizations of all shapes and sizes around the world where they have some sort of growth issue. Usually it's because the is run by a founder or there's someone senior in the business who just has too much on their shoulders and help them to overcome that block and then grow the business.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Okay. You mentioned largely working with business owners and the potential blocks. What are the kind of things that cause those blocks that get in the way? Obviously, it's a sheer volume of work, but are there sort of um things in terms of their thinking patterns, the way they apply themselves?

SPEAKER_02 1:39

There's probably a few different answers to that. It depends on who it is. If I think in terms of lawyers, for example, that I've worked with, so the role of the BDE marketing team inside law firms is essentially to support senior lawyers who have been lawyers all their lives and one day they've made partner or someone senior in the business, and they're all of a sudden more a businessman, businesswoman than a lawyer. And so their way of thinking has to completely change because they wake up in the morning having made partner and probably rub their hands together and think, I'm gonna make a ton of money. This is gonna be fantastic. And they probably will. But as soon as they walk to the office, you know, the someone, the secretary or whoever says, Oh, we've got a complaint with the client or got an email of the complaint with the client, it's now their problem. They never had to deal with that before, really. Yeah, they were more involved in the those aspects of the deal. So that switch, you know, has to happen in their heads, and that is really quite difficult. And that's why you do need people to support you quite a bit on that as a professional. So the same goes, I guess, for business owners. When I first started my business, that that that mental shift of going from an employee where you're almost told what to do, you know when you need to turn up, you know what day the the what time the day ends, um, and then swish to being an entrepreneur and running your own business, all of a sudden you've got all these other things on your shoulders that you never had before. And you've and you've got to learn them. So I guess the mentality again has to has to shift quite a lot as a professional.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

And it's it's it's really interesting what you're saying there because there's this applies to most people, doesn't it? That actually as you get further up in your career or as you set up your own business, it's not just about your your your technical skills, it's about how you manage people, it's about how you think commercially or otherwise. Um, what what are the kind of things that come up in terms of how it is that you help people with the commercial side of things?

SPEAKER_02 3:36

So people very much feel overwhelmed. I think it's overwhelm is how a lot of the people that I work with experience. And the overwhelm, I think, is because of the unfamiliarity a bit with what they've got to do, but the sheer amount of things they've got to do. So um I as a strategic growth strategic growth advisor, you know, I don't talk about the finance side of things. I work fractional CFOs on those finance side of things. So when I'm working with my clients is to make a plan, a business plan of clear growth, what they really need to focus on, what they need to narrow down on in order to help their business or their their themselves to resume growth. And generally, that's helping them to focus on which who their ideal clients are and who they they then ideal collaboration partners are. Because once you work out who you want to talk to, who your clients are, then really allows you to focus on what kind of network events you go to. It allows you to focus on who your social media is messaging, it allows you to say yes or no to speaking engagements or to, you know, whatever it may be that are otherwise very, very time consuming. So you're kind of empowering yourself to have focus on who's actually going to give you ROI. And that's where I find that you know, sometimes you they people just got so much going on in their head all at once. And it is just a matter of removing the irrelevant bits and really making them realize what's relevant, what's not, and then they they they can move forward a lot happier and a lot more successfully. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Makes makes a lot of sense. So it's it's having a sort of a common thread and focus to things, isn't it? And I guess it's very easy and tempting to sh to chase that latest sort of shining bauble, isn't it? And go off go off track and spend lots of time and energy on those sort of things.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

Yeah, let me let me do that for you. Let me make those mistakes. Let me spend my time on that.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Yeah. And I guess also when you when you're under pressure, sheer volume or the demands of the things that you're doing, we often don't tend to think strategically, do we? We tend to think about knee-jerk reactions. What do I need to deal with? What's immediately in front of me right now?

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Yeah, exactly. And I think it it there's a a long spectrum of that, a wide spectrum. And so I I I've since becoming a business owner, I've met a lot of other fellow business owners. And some are I think the commons for it is everyone's just stressed. And some are stressed because they just don't have enough revenue coming in. They don't have enough to keep things going or to make them happy. On the opposite side, they've got too much work on their plate, and they're uh they they're just drowning in the amount of work they've got to do. Yeah, the money's coming in, but it's it's uh they're not they don't have enough space. None of none of these people have spit thinking space to to really focus on what they need to do. And so I think that's what's quite interesting is that no matter what, you do need some kind of relief or release. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

And I often talk with uh the the leaders that I were with around that idea of reflection time because it is really easy, easy, isn't it, to fill every minute of every day doing things. And sometimes you need to take stock, uh, not just in terms of where are we as a business, but how am I feeling? Am I making the best decisions? Uh am I in the right state to make those decisions?

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Yeah, and I to be honest, I I struggle to practice what I preach. It's so I provide a solution to that. I provide a solution, but it doesn't mean I can take my own advice because it is very much, you know, I I I am now consciously very much trying very hard to block out a couple of days a week for no meetings because meetings is what swallows up my time. Yeah. And what I realize is what stresses me. So it's only doing some work with, you know, an external person, a business coach, or talking to somebody that's beyond your business, where these things start to become clear. I can for for my own um in my own situation, you know, that I can hear myself talking to my clients and giving them advice thinking, I really need to do this myself. And and but it's so much harder to implement for yourself. You you really do need that external person like yourself, Richard, to to just get that clear head, I think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

And I I was interested by what you just said there about meetings. Now, meetings take up an inordinate amount of time, don't and I speak as somebody who used to be a chief people officer for a law firm. It's very easy to fill every minute with a meeting and feel like you're moving things forwards, but actually it can sometimes be uh quite an indiscriminate way of approaching things, can't it? And and often people come to meetings not having prepared anything, and it becomes a a talking shot rather than something which is an efficient way of driving things forward.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Completely, completely. And it I guess it depends what those meetings are, but as you say, you feel your day with meetings and but they're they're different types. There's so for those who are you know running a business, or you know, when I say running a business, the you could be a senior partner, a law firm, or an accountancy firm, you're still running a business and small through to the smaller solopreneur. Um, those those meetings can be networking events you go to where you spend time going to and from, and you spend obviously time meeting people, and the the hope is that you meet a potential client, or at least at the very least, someone who can refer you to a potential client. Um, or it could be client meetings themselves, where, as you say, if people haven't come prepared, you don't have a set agenda, then um it can get very unwieldy. Uh and and so your day can fill up just with potential prospect meetings and with current client meetings, and they actually don't get anything absolutely done that's going to drive forward your client's business or your own.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

And and and it's often human nature as much as anything else, isn't it? That um we we we stick to the things that we know because it's it's comfortable, even when we know there are maybe better ways of doing things. And so people get stuck on this hamster wheel where they're constantly busy. And I guess to some degree we we we justify ourselves by being busy and thinking that we're we're we're doing lots, but as you sort of touched on there, it's not necessarily the most effective way to drive things forwards because you're not you're not choosing between things and and raising them in terms of importance.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

Exactly, yeah. And I think the hardest bit is to find how how do you measure how do you do that that prioritization. You have to have something to measure that against. And that is quite challenging, I think, to do. Um and that's where I'm learning that I'm I can help people the best um from a from a business sort of point of view. But it's the same for for people like yourself, Richard. That you need some someone to help you put that measurement in place that you've you can you can work, yeah. So the you've got to have something in place that you can measure yourself against and say, yes, that is a good meeting, no, that is a bad meeting. And I think you often need someone externally to say independently that's what you need to do. And then you can use it, you go forward and you don't need them anymore. But yeah, that to that is the key, I think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

And when when you're doing the work that you you do, do you get a lot of resistance? Because as we said, you know, people can hold on to sort of tried and trusted methods, even if they're not particularly effective. But I guess also, you know, part of becoming more aligned is potentially about letting clients go, isn't it? And I guess it's it's almost sort of counterintuitive to want to do that.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

It is, it really is. And um, I was just thinking of an example last year when I started working with a lawyer and she she runs quite a small practice. And I remember the first meeting I had with her. I don't usually have that first meeting face to face where we're we're evaluating their business and doing SWOT analyses and stuff like that because it's much easier to do it online and record it and then being able to analyze it that way. But we did it in person. I remember one of the first things she said to me was, uh, Chris, like I don't know anything about marketing. You're the marketing guy. That's all on you. Um, I'm just a lawyer. And I said to her, You're missing, okay. I am here to help you. This is my job, is to hear and support you and help you to grow to grow your business. But it is your business. You can't remove yourself from that. People aren't buying me. They're buying you, they're buying your expertise. It's like going to the doctor. You don't go and see me. You go and see, or or you, Richard, you know, you go and you go and see the doctor. The doctor's the one that says, you know, take your shirt off. It's not, you don't want to see the the sale person. And then I think people in professional services need to remember that that they're selling themselves, their expertise, their knowledge, and you can't just pass that off to somebody else. Um, so I think that's uh yeah, really a really key thing to to bear in mind that people will help you, and you have lots of resources, but you you you have to, in the end, it's down to you. It's your business, you're taking charge, you're the one that people want. I'm not sure if that answered your question, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

No, no, no, no, no, absolutely absolutely. I was just thinking about um some of the work that I get involved with. So I do a lot of work around charisma and presence and gravitas and that kind of thing. And and I and I'm guessing what going by what you were just saying there, some of this is about those individuals as a brand, isn't it? It's not just about what your business does and how how good it is in terms of providing those services, it's it's how you come across individually.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Yeah, and another funny story with that one is I I remember six months into my business and I went to a personal branding workshop and I was very skeptical. I was like, what is this lady going to teach me? Like, I do marketing, I do BD, you know, I've been doing this for 17 years. Why why am I going to this personal brand thing? I was like, okay, I'll go I'll just go along, it'll meet my needs and nice people. I had a light bulb moment like about 10 minutes in when I realized that my business is called CJA consulting. Those are my initials. But people aren't buying CJA consulting, they're buying me. And my personal brand is by far the most important thing. And you know, I feel I feel a bit silly now looking back at it, but at the time I was like, oh my god, you know, you're gonna be looking at your business, like you know, yeah. And you like I say, you just say someone else to tell you sometimes. Um so yeah, personal brand cannot be removed from a professional services business, from most businesses. People buy people, people, you know, the best posts on LinkedIn and the best, most successful posts on TikTok and that's the stuff have people in them. It's either someone falling over or something stupid happened, or I can tick tock, I mean, or it's it's it's a person giving advice, or a person um, you know, talking or talking to somebody else, or those are the ones that people want to see people. Like, yeah, so that you have to remember that as well when you're doing your socials. It's nice to have lovely photos of you know rolling brooks and grass and or whatever they may be, if that's what your business is related to, but you're far more effective to have people in there, your your employees, yourself, or just people in general, because people are interested in people, even for gossip or whatever. Is it they just you have that that fascination, I guess, and that's what draws people in. And that's the same, I think, for your business is it's people first, it's you first, yeah. Um, and then they're buying the service that you sell or the solution that you sell.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Yeah, and I guess that's a concept, it makes a lot of sense to me, but it's something a lot of people feel uncomfortable with, don't they? They feel uncomfortable with being front of house, they hide behind the the the the brand of the organization or the services that they provide. But I guess it's you know, in in most industries, and and and law is one of those, um, it's it's a crowded market, isn't it? And and up to a point, everybody's offering very similar services. So it it's a differentiator.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Yes. I mean, I'm I'm based in Dubai, and there's um, you know, I think I did some research a couple of years ago. There was a hundred about around 150 international quality law firms here. Wow for and the population's got over four million in Dubai now, but and the population of the UAE is about 11 million, but say it was about three and a half million then. That is a lot, a lot of very big law firms for quite a small market for population of of probably the country's less than 10 million and the cities, you know, less than three and a half. So, and uh the international quality law firms, if you talk to a partner from one versus a partner from the next on the same topic, you're um you're pretty much going to get, they're gonna have very similar qualifications, very similar level of experience. They've worked on very similar projects. Um, the difference obviously will be this this the subjectiveness, how they interpret your matter and the advice they give. So it's always important, by the way, to get more than one opinion, uh, especially in legal matters. Yeah. Um but yeah, they um it is very hard to differentiate yourself. And it is the person that's that's going to make that difference in the end because the knowledge is very similar across across these experts. Um and to those, to kind of also answer the other part of your question, when people don't want to put themselves on camera, their faces on camera, they don't I don't want to do TikTok or Instagram or something like that. Well, you don't have to. You don't have you have to be true to yourself. There is not no point in going on LinkedIn on a video if that is not you and you don't feel comfortable doing any of the things.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

And it comes across, doesn't it? It comes. It really comes across. Really outside of your comfort zone, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Yeah, it's the best thing to do. Honestly, would be the best thing to do often video. But if that's not you, if that really isn't you, then don't don't do it. But you do need to find other ways to compensate for that. And they may be slightly slower or burning or slightly slower, slightly slower burn, or slightly less effective. But yeah, you have to be true to yourself in what you do. Yeah. Uh and you have to do something.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Yeah. Yeah. And I get and I guess in a in a way it's it's it's a form of sales, isn't it? And and and often people see that word sales as as being a dirty word, but you think about it in every walk of life, whether it's ostensible sales in in the workplace or just in terms of how we promote ideas, even within our own family. It's it's it's all sales, isn't it? It's all about the perception that we create with other people.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

Exactly. Yeah. And yeah, as I said, that's that a lot of the professionals that I work with, that's the exact struggle that they have because all of a sudden they've gone from being very technical people, and they still are, but that's what they've been trained to do over many, many years. Yeah, yeah. And all of a sudden they've had to become salespeople and they there's no way to avoid it. You have to be, you know, you don't, I'm not saying you have to go out and and do conferences and and you know, be explicit and sell really blatantly and have the all the ins and outs of sales. But if you're talking to a current client, you're still kind of selling them your service. Even if you're just advising them, you're still selling what you do, you're selling your knowledge, you know, inadvertently. Um, and yeah, so you it is all about sales. And um, so the the business development and marketing uh teams in professional services, who, like I said, I worked with a lot. It's I find it very hard, Richard, to introduce myself to people and what I do sometimes. Because when I say I do marketing and business development, I feel I really need to clarify then that it's not sales because, or not explicit sales, because as we said before, I'm not the salesperson. I'm helping the person I'm the senior partner or whoever it may be, business owner, to be a salesperson. So it's um it's a slightly different kettle of fish. Um but the the clue is there in the name that the support, the support of you know a business person is marketing and sales and marketing and business development. So um you can't get away from it. Right, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and as you were saying earlier, uh it I guess part of the button, and something that's really important in all of this is to uh make it clear to people that actually that they they've got to own it, haven't they? So, yes, you may be the marketing, the business development person, but actually they've got to earn it. They can't own it, they can't just hand that over to you and say, right, there you go, run, run with that.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Exactly. They they absolutely have to be um fully involved. Um, the idea of working with people, external consultants and advisors, is so you do take a lot of that off your plate. So you can focus on being a lawyer or a doctor, an accountant, or you know, a coach, whatever, whatever business you're in. Um so yes, you you need to use those resources. Just at the end of the day, you need to work with them. Not they're not working for you, they're working with you, I suppose, is probably the best, yeah, the best way to say it. Um, and they will, if they do a good job, they will take a lot of stuff off your plate and get things done and come to you for the most important bits. But especially, I would say um you need to invest the time at the beginning of that relationship with that professional. There's, you know, when I talk about strategy, the strategy work that I do a lot, quite frankly, it's been a bit of a hard sell because a lot of the people I go and talk to, they just they think marketing and they think, okay, we're gonna do a social media campaign, or we're going to get, you know, get your me out there in lights on social media, we're going to do email outreach or or whatever. And yeah, we will, but we've got to, you've got to do the strategic bit first because otherwise, as I say, you're kind of that, what's the expression in the UK, spray and pray? You're pretty much spraying and praying if you haven't actually analyzed who your target audience is first. And for professionals, equally important, if not more importantly, who your referral network is, because they're the ones who are going to sell you in. They're the ones who, if they understand what you do, they are the ones who are going to tell the 10, 15 other people that they meet that day about you and what you do. And that 110% beats all the social media or all the thought leadership or whatever that you could ever, ever possibly do. Where that other work comes in, the social media, the thought leadership is to be found, is to be found. And also it's a credibility check. So that when say I I meet someone and I they you know they they need a coach or they they need someone who, you know, um and does what you do, Richard, essentially. Um, I might say, I know this great guy called Richard, and you know, he's really, really helps people people in their in their businesses to grow, to think. Uh about the psychology of how where they're strong, all that sort of stuff. Um, obviously you need to find out more about what you do, but the essence of it is they'll believe me. If they trust me, they'll believe me. And that's I've got you 95% of the way there. But that last five percent is if they're smart, they're gonna go and do their due diligence. They're gonna go and look in LinkedIn, and if they find you, uh that's that's a good start. If they find you and you're, you know, a psychologist, for example, but you're talking about um football or something, then they're gonna go, okay, that's not really relevant. That's not what he does. Or worse, if you don't exist at all, or if you've just got a no photo or anything. It's very, very easy to just do a little bit of thought leadership every now and then. You don't have to go to do it on camera, better if you do, but you don't have to record it. But write something. Write what you're thinking, just tell people what you're thinking. Tell the clients that are coming to you, the questions they're asking. Just kind of share those publicly. Obviously, um uh don't divulge the full details, but the concept is very, very easy for a lawyer, for example, who's just had a call with a client, who's asked an unusual question, and think, wow, that's that's that's interesting. Let me just write that down and let me just put a post on LinkedIn about that. Um and how they solved it. And guarantee you, if one person has that problem, 10 other 10,000 others are going to. So that's it's a win-win because people will find you. They will be searching and they'll find you um uh talking about that that piece of information.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Yeah, yeah. And I think I think often the way that you write or the way that you show yourself on video, it gives a little bit about your personalities, doesn't it? It makes you very true um a little bit more relatable.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Yes. Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

And and and I think, you know, in the in the melee, people often forget about things like LinkedIn or posting on questions from clients. But actually you could you can make this a uh you know a systematic part of your process, can't you? That actually this is something I do when I have those situations. I go and I post.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

And it actually doesn't take that much time. It's it's really not that difficult. And a lot of people have support for it that you you'll never be knowing someone if it's a you know, if it's the writing bit, you you can probably do as most professionals can do the writing bit and jot the idea down and you know, even just dictate it to ChatGPT or something or to to Google, whatever it may be. Just if you think of it, dictate it to it. It'll write it down. All you've got to do then is pretty much copy and paste it onto LinkedIn. If you need graphics and stuff like that, you know, then there's that's easy is so easy to get someone to do that for you. I'll have those prepared uh already with with someone else. Costs you nothing to have those ready to go. And then you just copy and paste your thoughts and off you go. And you've done your photo, you've done your post for the day, you've done your post for the next few days, and you've got yourself out there.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Yeah. So with these sort of things, it can feel quite daunting for people who aren't used to it, but it's it's it's that sort of incremental repetitive approach, isn't it, that makes it a natural part of what you do.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

Absolutely, absolutely. And it as I say, it can just be part of what you're doing during the day. It can be from a the insight could come from a client meeting or a conversation or a something you've read. It it doesn't even have to be a long article, it just has to be a thought you've had that's if it's coming from your head, it's original. So you don't have to worry about AI swap, as they call it. It's it's from if it's coming from your mind, it's original.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

So yeah, yeah, it's good.

unknown 25:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

And it's getting it's getting com comfortable doing that, actually revealing a bit of who you are. And I think, you know, in so many industries, and probably traditionally, law has been one of those. It it is about trying to present yourself in a in a professional way, but sometimes the the personal element gets lost in that one. So it's just sort of addressing that, sort of recalibrating that slightly.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

Absolutely. Yeah, and the other thing I guess about is getting out from behind the computer because it's very easy, especially as as a lawyer and and accountants and things like that, to just get stuck behind the computer day in, day out. Yeah. And it's comfortable. It's comfortable for most of us because you know you can deal with people online and if you need to talk, or you just get to do your work. But it is quite important, I think, to actually get out and and meet people occasionally because that then people do get to know your personality, people do get to know you. Um so yeah, part of the work I would I would recommend when people are have I we've identified their ideal clients and their ideal referral partners to then work out what kind of networking events they need to go to or what kind of seminars or whatever that you know don't take too much time but um are relevant and get you out there and get you thinking. And it's amazing the ideas you get from other people as well, just from having a conversation with someone, yeah, is how you sometimes come up with your best ideas or or how you can bounce off some of the issues you've been having and find out other people are uh having those same issues and it can just speed up your life and your and your work so much.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Yeah, yeah, so so true. I I was just thinking as you were talking there, you were sort of talking about sort of people being stuck behind a computer screen. I I guess some industries, so particularly some professional service industries, I I I guess they naturally attract certain types of people, don't they? Certain types of personality. It might be, for instance, you know, it might be a bit of a sort of a cliche, but someone like accountancy might have more than a disproportionate amount of introverts. And so things like posting on social media, go into networking events could be quite challenging, couldn't it? If that's not sort of your typical way of operating.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

Yes, and again, you've got to be true to yourself, but you've also got to push yourself a bit, I guess. But I mean, you can um if you if you're in in that position, you're an accountant and you're very introverted, go and hang out with other accountants who are also introverted and and and feel like that. Start there, you know, and and again, that's gonna be um probably your referral network, you know. Even some of your competitors can be your referral network. So again, you you go and go and hang out with people that fit fit you, fit your personality, I don't like you. Um know like and trust uh is what you need to look for. And then you can build onto you know going to people you're maybe not so comfortable with. But again, if you've kind of I I often think if you've targeted your business, if you've if you know who you need to talk to, then they're they're gonna be people you can talk to. If you know your audience, then they're gonna be the ones who you're gonna be able to have a conversation about uh professionally, if not socially. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

They're gonna be more receptive to your message and you're gonna know what your message is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Yeah, yeah. So any any other thoughts or tips for people who are listening in terms of where that where they might go with some of the ideas that you've you've suggested today.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

I think um make a plan. I think just have some kind of reflection um on what what where you where you're struggling at the moment. And if you you know, if you're struggling to get enough clients through the door, you're struggling with with revenue, or just struggling to get out of bed on in the morning, do do some reflect reflections on maybe what's causing that and what yeah, where that where that's coming from. Um and and then you can flip that around and work out what you need to do to to kind of fix that. And so there's people obviously who can help you to fix that. But AI is honestly, if you're willing to have a chat with ChatGPT or Claude or whoever, um I found it personally amazing just to just bounce some ideas off or just like a problem I can't get out of my head, just say, This is my problem, this is what I'm thinking. Um, what can I do about it? And oh my god, the inspiration. I mean, you know, it doesn't, it does not like talking to a person which has got a real personality, but logically, it's it takes emotion out of it a lot. And some of them can be a little bit icky, but I I think that's that's that's a really good starting point is to just if something you think feel needs to change or you don't know what needs to change, just put it down on paper if that works for you, but otherwise use one of the LLMs and just talk it out for 10 minutes and and see where you get to.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Yeah, and it's it's interesting sometimes when you try and explain a situation or a problem to somebody, even if they don't give you the solution, just the very fact you've got to explain that in in detail and break it down, it helps you to get more clarity on your situation.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

Yeah, and and I love how you you can write it or you can dictate it. Yeah, but most most of the LLMs you can talk to, um, some of them talk back, which is not always the best. But yeah, but um, yeah, that you can do it however you want. And uh the I think the voice thing is is underrated because um I often try and type to type, and when you're formulating your thoughts, yes, you're right, Richard, it does help you to really nut down the problem. But the good thing about LLMs is you could just go blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and your thoughts can be here, there, and everywhere. It'll it doesn't matter, it pieces them together. Like I don't know how scary pieces, isn't it? Yeah, um, and so it yeah, I think it's I think they're great from that point of view. Uh obviously you've got to worry, think about privacy and don't disclose client details and all that sort of stuff, but you know, but but for as a starting point for a high-level problem, it it's you know, you can talk to a person ideally, but otherwise talk to talk to your friend Claude.

unknown 31:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Good, good tip, good tip. And in terms of your your work, uh are there any sort of things that you've got coming up in the near future that you want to share with the audience?

SPEAKER_02 31:29

Yeah, so um, as I said, I've got two brands that kind of complement each other. So CJA consulting, as we've talked about a bit, do strategic um growth advisory, basically. Um, and and that's very much aimed at professional services B2B. Um I say lawyers, doctors, accountants, coaches, anyone really who has that model where they sell their service for an income. So, like I said, a lawyer gives legal advice in return for money, accountants give accounting advice, coaches, coach, um, doctors, doctor, whatever they may be.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Um then uh Mohami. Mohami means lawyer in Arabic. So Mohami is a platform that I've created online, mohami. And it is a legal knowledge workplace. So when I first started talking to potential law firm clients, the uh I said to them, like, what do you need help with? Where's where is your your real stumbling point? They all said, Chris, we need more clients. And with all the best will in the world, I can't say, you know, you we'll build you a great website, we'll do some lovely social media for you, you go to all these events and you're gonna have 10 new clients tomorrow. I said just doesn't work like that for professionals generally. You know, if a doctor, a doctor doesn't get visited just for fun, the patient has to have some kind of issue. Uh, a lawyer doesn't get involved just for fun, it's because there's a something really good happening, a contract being signed or a deal being done or a company being sold or you're being sued or something like that. So lawyers need to be in the right place at the right time, for example, and they need to have a client with a need. So Miami sits in the middle where it, if you have a legal question in the Middle East, particularly, but hopefully more globally, um, you can go there, find an answer. If you can't find the answer, you can come to me, or you can come to one of the lawyers on the site and they can help you out with your legal issue. And there's quite a lot of information on there, which has worked quite well for everybody because um lawyers traditionally give, say, half an hour, 45 minutes, maybe an hour of free consultation to help it decide if they can help you.

unknown 33:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

It's it's as much for them as it is for you. But that's you know, sometimes half an hour turns into 45 minutes, turns into an hour, hour and a half. You times that by 10 during the week, and that lawyer's got very little time. So what Mahami does is it does actually give quite a lot of information so that if your problem is at the level that you're able to self-service, then that's great. A lawyer would never have been able to bill you for that or never have you know been need had needed to take you on. So it's a great win for the client, it's a great win for the lawyer. Um, and if you do, then then then you step up. So yeah, that's uh that's seeing a lot of love from the LLMs and from Bing and from Google, which is which is great. And it feels like we're helping people as well. So um fantastic. Yeah, it's been really good.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Brilliant. And where where can people find out about that?

SPEAKER_02 34:17

So uh www.mulhami.ae, so m-u-h a m-i.ae. Um I also run a podcast called Mohame Matters, which focuses a lot on business, basically helping businesses. So similar to to you, Richard. So we'd love to have you on to uh do this in reverse and find out about uh what your insights as well. Yeah, love to. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, so Mohammed Matters is available on the Miami website and across um YouTube and social media platforms or um podcast platforms. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

We're just coming towards the end now, Chris. Any final thoughts that you want to leave people with before you wrap up?

SPEAKER_02 34:58

I think if you feel like there's a lot on your shoulders as a business person, as um as a person, as a professional, whether it's personal issues weighing on you, business issues weighing on you, then get get some help. Um ask people for help, ask specialists for help. A lot of uh and build up a good um, you know, collaborator network because often you'll find those other experts there who'll help you for free at no charge, give you free advice and just set you on the path. But if you're serious about it, then get you know, find the right advisor that's going to be able to help you solve your particular challenges that you're having. Brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

Chris Adams, thank you so much for your time today.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

Thanks for having me. Much appreciated, Richard.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

This is the business of thinking. Mastery doesn't end here. See you in the next episode.