On Saturday night, I officiated my second wedding. Much to the chagrin of Melissa and her mom, it wasn’t ours. During the cocktail hour (and a half), fellow guests wanted to know how I became a wedding officiant.
The answer’s simple. I started with ONE; I officiated my first wedding in November 2011 for friends from graduate school. The bride and groom bootstrapped a special evening of family and friends to celebrate their nuptials. The groomsmen and I fully transformed the venue during the cocktail hour, rearranging chairs, moving tables, and laying out place settings for each guest. We took the after party to Applebee’s for half-price appetizers. I slept like a king in a Holiday Inn Express next to a Waffle House. Everyone’s got a wedding story, and that one has been my go-to ever since.
So how did I get to number two? I’ve known the bride and groom from last weekend’s wedding for almost two decades, and thank them for including me in their big day. They heard about my first wedding officiant experience at Christmas a few years back and, when considering possibilities, asked me if I would reprise my officiant role for their wedding. I’ve now officiated two weddings and have a third booked for June 2014.
Your practice’s no different, whether you want to officiate weddings, manage complex commercial litigation or just make more money writing wills.
I met with a client today who a local funeral home invited to participate in its senior citizen expo. While he usually considers himself a business litigator, he readily told attendees about his recent estate planning experience with a few local families, including wills, living wills and power of attorney documents. In the eyes of his prospective clients, he was their elder law guy. Did it work? The appointments he scheduled over the next month are the result of simply sharing his actual experience with interested prospects.
So what do you want to be? A divorce attorney? A property tax appeal lawyer? An M&A attorney? If you done it just ONCE, start telling interested people about your experience. You never know where it might take you.