A personal marketing plan: discover multiple paths to your next opportunity.

• Author: Kleeman, Holly Lentz

Did anyone ever ask you how you got into legal marketing? Is your answer smooth, like the elevator speeches we coach our lawyers to use, or do you hesitate and explain that legal marketing was something you "stumbled into?"

Whether your current position was the result of an intentional job search, or a great opportunity that fell in your lap, you can and should take charge of your career. Just as we advise our lawyers to develop a personal marketing plan, we all need to take the time to practice what we preach. But who has the time? The better question is, can you afford NOT to take the time?

Your total time investment can take as little as three hours. And, if done optimally, you can take yourself through this process using 30-minute increments over the course of two weeks. Just make your appointments and keep them as sacred as the practice group meetings you attend. Here's your map to success.

Your First Assignment: Assess Yourself

This will be two 30-minute sessions. In session one, ask yourself: Who am I today? What are my skills? How do others view me? Write these attributes down in bullet fashion. Don't over-think the exercise. Feel free to engage your peers, your subordinates and even your boss. Knowing the strengths that others see in you is an invigorating and eye-opening exercise.

Next, take that bulleted list and look at it carefully. Narrow it down to your most marketable skills. Give these skills an asterisk if they are transferable to other industries. Limit this list to five to 10 skills. Now put them in priority order. Your first 30-minute session is complete and you are halfway through your first assignment.

In your next appointment you will complete your first assignment. Go back and look at the list again. What is missing? Where do you need to grow? What training or education do you need? What did your last annual review list as growth areas? Or, in what areas did you receive a rating less than "excellent?" Would a professional coach help? This is often the most difficult part to do. Everyone at every level has growth areas. Few people can truly admit they would benefit from help and go the next step to ask to get that training to enhance their performance. This kind of self-awareness separates the masses from the superstars. Speak with your supervisor and see if the firm will sponsor you for what you need, whether it means a daylong seminar, a professional coach or a class in finance. Offer to split the cost to show you...