Communication

Vickie and I have trained our BlackBerries not to rattle, buzz or make noise when a new email comes in. That way we can concentrate for more than 50 or 60 seconds without an interruption crying out for us to “CHECK THAT EMAIL NOW!!!!!” It allows us to control interruptions and check email only when we want, at our leisure.

In contrast, we have a friend who lives and dies by her BlackBerry^®. It’ll beep, rattle and roll and do everything it can to get her attention every time she gets a text, email or reminder. Talking with her in person (or on a landline) can be frustrating as she’s constantly pulling her BlackBerry out of her hip holster (which isn’t hip at all) to see each obviously very and absolutely important communication she’s just received. You can always tell when you’ve lost her attention (What?).

Even worse, she’s developed phantom rattle. When she’s not wearing her BlackBerry (which is rare) you’ll see her reflexively touch her hip because she’s felt a rattle that isn’t there. Anyone else want to confess to this? But even worse than even worse, she’s confessed to me that if she’s in line at the grocery, post office or OTB counter and there’s no email to read, she’ll play one of the games loaded on her device. Even though I consider her a social person, she won’t talk to people, instead preferring to play games or sometimes even re-read email that she’s already read.

As much as I love tech, there’s a time and a place for tech. Sometimes you just have to put down the phone and drive or walk or wait in line or talk. Do you remember the time before cell phones when people would actually engage in civil discourse while waiting in a line or standing in an elevator? Today people use tech to isolate themselves. Their smart phone becomes an excuse to ignore you. Sorry, but I’m too busy and important to say hello to you – I’ve got email to read.

You never know what opportunity you’re missing when you put your head down and play the 15th level of BrickBreaker instead of engaging in a little “Who do you know who…” or “I’m a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, what do you do?” Every person you meet is a potential legal nurse consulting lead to a new attorney-client or prospect opportunity. Even if they’re part of the 0.003% of Americans who don’t know an attorney (I just made up that statistic), they may simply brighten your day or become a new friend.

This week, make it a goal to talk to people and keep your BlackBerry or other smart phone holstered or in your purse while you’re in public spaces. If we all talked to each other a little more, we’d make the world a friendlier place (and safer to walk and drive around in). In the meantime, stop updating your Spacebook, MyFace and Twister accounts and actually tell a real person what you’re doing and what you do. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Keep on techin’,

Tom

Have you ever attended a social event or a networking function where you knew no one? Were you “out there,” introducing yourself and getting acquainted? Or were you a “wallflower” stuck like ivy against the wall in need of a bolder soul to drag you into the crowd?

Tom and I just got back from an event where we didn’t know anyone, except for the hostess. But there were definitely plenty of people worth knowing. At first, we kept ourselves stuck behind the protection of good food, good wine and the good company of each other. But let’s face it, we could have stayed in the comfort of our own home and enjoyed that without venturing to downtown Houston on a rainy night.

Simultaneously we looked at each other and knew it was time to move out from our protective shell and start meeting people. We couldn’t wait for people to come to us. We started with people who were standing alone and then moved on to groups large and small. Small talk was easy. We’d ask a person what they thought of whatever they were eating and then it was easy to move the conversation to what they did, their connection to the hostess, etc. We met some very interesting people (bankers, local television broadcasters, people who worked for Houston’s Metro, women entrepreneurs and a few attorneys too) and when it was time to leave we left satisfied that we not only enjoyed the event but made the most of it.

Believe it or not, boldly introducing myself doesn’t always come naturally. But I keep in mind that contrary to the Cinderella stories that occasionally make the news, most wallflowers never get “discovered.” Had Cinderella arrived at the ball on foot and wearing her sooty rags, it’s unlikely the prince would have given her a second look. Instead, six white horses delivered her to the castle in a golden carriage. She made a grand entrance in her ritzy new ball gown and spectacular slippers. However, if like me, you don’t have a golden carriage or white horses at your disposal, you’ll need to find other ways to make that good impression and avoid being a wallflower.

To raise your Certified Legal Nurse Consultant business to the next level, don’t waste a single networking opportunity being a wallflower. Your legal nurse consulting business will grow in direct proportion to the impact you make wherever you go but you’ll have to be the one to make that impact.

Try and talk with everyone and introduce yourself with a firm handshake. Remember, just about everyone at any event you attend will know an attorney or someone who knows an attorney. If you’re not sure what to say, always ask the person something about themselves. Most people leap on that topic. You can also ask how they are enjoying themselves. I have found these questions to be the easiest ways to get a conversation started.

Try using these tips the next time you find yourself at an event with a bunch of strangers and you won’t need your ritzy ball gown or even spectacular glass slippers but you might be able to eventually afford a golden carriage or other transportation of your dreams.

Success Is Inside!

Congratulations to Stephanie Crawford, RN, BSN, CLNC for successfully using videoconferencing with her attorney-clients. She shared with me, “Even though I have a fondness for settling down with my records, a mug of coffee and wearing sweatpants… I wore my black suit for my first videoconference. It was a milestone accomplishment to step up to the big league lawyers and meet this attorney via webcam.”

Here are some tips for doing your own legal nurse consulting videoconferences with attorney-clients.

• First of all, to videoconference successfully, you’ll need to have a webcam. Make sure the webcam you use has a high-quality picture with a good microphone built-in. Prices are pretty low so this might be a good time to buy a new webcam. If you’re stuck on using an older, microphone-less webcam, you can purchase a separate microphone. Avoid the headset/boom-mike look unless you really want to look like a telephone operator or someone from NASA. Many Apple laptops come with a built-in camera and microphone so you won’t need to buy any additional gear to start videoconferencing.
• Be sure your hardware – that means your computer, Internet connection and especially your webcam – are all in working condition. Then check that the volume and picture settings are correct. My personal webcam has a motion detector that can track movements in a limited area (people on the other end of the videoconference said the constant motion made them queasy). It will also move to pick up anyone who walks into view of the webcam. I find this to be distracting and have disabled it. Now the picture is stable.
• Be sure that both you and the attorney(s) are using compatible software. Skype is an easy to use, and free, program that allows videoconferencing over just about any Internet connection. It’s fairly intuitive when it comes to setting up and connecting with other Skype users. There are other programs out there that you can research using Google.
• Dress professionally and be dressed from head-to-toe. One of Tom’s treasured Dilbert cartoons shows an unshaven, unshowered Dilbert videoconferencing while wearing a bathrobe. He’s holding a Dilbert finger-puppet in front of the camera. In reality you can’t predict whether you’ll be standing up, retrieving a legal nurse consulting document or doing something else that may expose more of you to the videoconference than you expected. You don’t want to forget and accidentally show your attorney-client that you’ve got on Sponge Bob pajama bottoms under your suit jacket. You may walk through the webcam’s range too so dump the fuzzy pink slippers (they’re a fire hazard anyway). The newer webcams can pick up and broadcast an amazing amount of detail with complete clarity so check your teeth for broccoli before you fire up the conference.
• Clear your background and clean up your legal nurse consulting office. Whatever is shown in the background of your webcam’s picture reinforces your image as a professional. You may need to temporarily move your computer to a different room and even shuffle some furniture around.
• Cut down on possible distractions. Move your cell phone and land-line telephone handsets to another room (to avoid ringing) and consider putting a sign on your doorbell asking visitors to knock. If you have your email program running in the background be sure to silence any sounds that indicate the arrival of new email.
• Send any visuals in advance. If you’re going to be showing exhibits, demonstrative evidence or your CLNC^® work product to the attorney, remember that these may be difficult to see over a webcam. Consider sending them before hand in .pdf format (so your attorney-client can easily open them without worrying about document format compatibilities).
• Prepare a list of bullet-points or write out a script you wish to follow during the videoconference. Keep it handy and even consider posting it behind your webcam so that you can see it without looking away from the camera.
• Address the webcam, not the picture of the attorney on your screen, otherwise you’ll appear to be looking down.
• Practice videoconferencing with other Certified Legal Nurse Consultants and ask for their feedback before you take it to the big time with your attorney-clients. You may need to learn to sit up straight, address the camera directly and avoid unnecessary movements. Think of it as good training for your first expert witness experience.

Finally, remember to have fun. Be yourself and let your personality come through. Videoconferencing can add another dimension to your legal nurse consulting business if you let it and, if you’re prepared and ready for it.

Success Is Inside!

I’m a guy. Guys are naturally adept at multitasking perhaps even better than women, as long as we only do one task at a time. That being said, I love email as much as any Certified Legal Nurse Consultant out there. I think it’s a great way to communicate everything from the trivial and the routine to the important. I also love being able to sit down and concentrate on the project at hand (guy-multitasking) without interruption. I’ve read varying statistics on how long it takes the average person to refocus on a project after an interruption. These run anywhere from seven minutes (small interruption) to two days (earthshaking event like Oprah going off the air).

I’m sure that those of you running Outlook 2007 as part of your legal nurse consulting business are enjoying all the improvements and benefits over the “old” Outlook. One of the ones I originally liked but now loathe (well, maybe detest), is the “Desktop Notification.” This cute little pop-up, if enabled, shows up in the lower right corner of your main monitor for just a couple of seconds, every time you receive a new email. It’s designed to let you know “you’ve got mail” and to let you decide whether you want to act on it or not.

That decision, my CLNC^® amigos, is the kicker. Say you’re slaving away over a hot keyboard, feverously working on a legal nurse consulting report for that important attorney-client. Suddenly that little email notice pops up and you know you’ve got a new LOLCat or news from a CLNC^® subcontractor about who just won the Biggest Loser. You can either play Whack-a-Mole and quickly hit the [X] to close it or just read it as it fades away. Either way your attention was drawn away as you mentally processed that email and its possible importance. You’ve just been interrupted and now you’ve got to refocus your attention back on the project at hand.

Depending upon your ability to refocus, it’s going to take time to get your full attention and thought process back into analyzing those complicated medical records. You may even lose that case-winning breakthrough that was just about to rise to the top of your cognitive thinking.

So what’s a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant to do? Turn off the Desktop Notifications (and the little chime too). How? Easy, while Outlook 2007 is open, click Tools, then Options, then on the Preferences tab click E-mail Options. Next on the E-mail Options screen, click Advanced E-mail Options. Then on the Advanced E-Mail Options screen, uncheck the boxes next to Play a sound and Display a New Mail Desktop Alert. These simple steps will put an end to those annoying pop-up notifications.

For those of you who like the notifications you can click Desktop Alert Settings to display the Desktop Alert Settings screen. Then adjust how long and how transparent the notifications appear. Take a look at the image above to follow the pathway. When you’re done, just keep clicking OK until you get back to the main Outlook inbox.

Whichever way you choose to run your legal nurse consulting business – notifications or not, I’ve given you the tools you need to control your destiny, or at least your email notifications. Now excuse me, I’ve got to go multitask on something else before I get interrupted (again).

Keep on techin’,

Tom

This isn’t an official Tech Tip; it’s more of a ramble so I apologize in advance. Those of you who want a Tech Tip can learn about TwitterPeek, probably the most useless handheld device ever. Read this story about TwitterPeek, a device that is designed for Twitter and only Twitter (and maybe email). If you can figure out a reason to carry another device for your legal nurse consulting business let me know. The rest of you please keep reading.

I recently had a minor procedure (it was nothing serious so rest assured the Tuesday Tech Tips will, like an old Timex^® watch, keep on tipping) with a MAC for sedation. For those legal nurse consultants who haven’t been in an OR since they stopped sharpening scalpels on a leather strop, MAC stands for Monitored Anesthesia Care.

With a MAC you’re put, not entirely under, but into a deep and somewhat restless sleep. MACs are used to keep a patient (me) immobile and also used as a supplement to the local anesthesia. I felt no real physical sensations but I did have a modicum of consciousness. Throughout the procedure, I remember drifting in and out of sleep. I also remember, from a distance, various portions of the conversations between the surgeon and the nurses. It was like having a narrated dream. In all honesty, it was probably the most boring conversation I’ve ever eavesdropped on. It was all business (at least the parts I remember).

And that, my CLNC^® amigos, is my point. I don’t know how many of you have been in the OR when they’re cutting people open, strewing blood, organs, limbs and other body parts about, but for those of you who have, you need to remember that sedated patients often do remember things. All sorts of things. My surgical team was as professional as could be. But what about you and yours? Do you make jokes, cut up (not literally), act out or make possible “statements against interest” while in the OR? What about you part-time CLNC^® consultants who are still providing some in-hospital care? Are you careful about what you say in front of a patient or family member? Do you argue with the doctors about the patient’s care within earshot of an “interested party?” Nurse supervisors: have you ever reprimanded someone in front of the patient’s family or just outside the door of a patient’s room?

A defensive strategy for any legal nurse consultant or other nurse who is still spending time inside a hospital (other than as a patient) is to watch what you say no matter where you are. This means in front of the patient (sedated or not), their family, in elevators, hallways and the cafeteria, but also be careful what you say to other staff members. I’m not talking about the HIPAA hippo, I’m talking about playing tic tac toe with Betadine on the patient or making jokes about their appearance, body parts or their procedure and about things that have gone wrong, are going wrong or have been done wrong. Statements against interest can come back to bite not only you but also your facility when someone remembers hearing you say “I thought ‘no pen’ meant to use a pencil on his chart. I never guessed it had to do with his meds.”

I was in good hands, but if something had gone wrong, there’s a good chance I would have remembered it. One “oops” from the doc or one bad joke at my expense and my somewhat cloudy attention would have been clearly focused. Be careful what you say and where you say it. When in doubt don’t say nuthin’ to nobody.

As a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant preparing a case report, you know to always ask, not only the patient what they remember during the surgery, but also what the family members and visitors heard the nurses and docs discussing around the time of the incident. There’s always a lot to be learned from the idle conversations that take place on a unit.

Until next Tuesday, keep on techin’,

Tom

Tom has a T-shirt he picked up in Fiji a couple of years ago while on his quest to dive with hammerhead sharks. It says, “You can run out of air and die. You can get bitten by a shark and die or you can fall off the couch and die. Get off the couch and into the water!”

I love the pithiness of T-shirt philosophy – even when it seems that the same twisted mind writes them all. The slogans distill our thoughts, humor and fears into easy-to-laugh at sound-bites. “No matter where you go there you are” is an insightful reminder that external factors don’t control our happiness. I once saw a T-shirt with a seated Buddha, making a mudra with the same hand that was holding a hot dog, the caption – “Make me one with everything.” Cracked me up right on the spot. “Your mother was right about me” is one that always makes me nostalgic about the fact that Tom never got to meet my mom.

If I were to put my personal favorites on a T-shirt to wear for fun, they’d read, “Put down the phone and drive,” “Life is good all the time” and “Happiness is a choice.” The T-shirts I’d wear to work would say, “Today is the first day of the rest of the work-week” or “Just do it – NOW!”

What nurse, or legal nurse consultant, won’t crack up over a T-shirt that says, “Great veins,” “My catheter bag’s on the other leg,” “Rehab is for quitters,” “DNR (by popular request)” or “Nursing, it can make strong men weep.” Belly laughs all around.

I’m even thinking of creating my own line of CLNC^® wear for my future Camp Buck-Up. They’ll have all sorts of catchy phrases like, “Lead, follow or get out of the way!,” “We were all born crying – time to outgrow it” and “Whining and complaining are NOT competitive sports.” If I get contemplative about business, perhaps I’d offer the Zen-like shirt “After the marketing, the marketing.”

T-shirt philosophy captures not only pop culture but also our 140 character Twitter/texting culture too. At the same time, it reflects our fears, our prejudices and sometimes our beliefs, all on a pre-shrunk cotton billboard that we can change as quickly, and as often, as we change our minds.

Tomorrow when you start working on your legal nurse consulting business, what T-shirt will you put on? What will be the first thought in your day, the one you’d want or wouldn’t want others to see and judge you by? Will it be positive or negative? Will it be something irreverent? That thought on your T-shirt tells you everything you need to know about the success of your day and the success of your CLNC^® business.

Success Is Inside!

Last week I talked about what to do when you or someone not close to you anymore, spills a drink onto your laptop. This week I’ll discuss something that’s even more common – a wet cell phone. We’ve all seen or heard legal nurse consultants on their cell phones in the restroom, working by the pool, in the rain or snow or just being careless. Eventually, during your legal nurse consulting career, you’re going to do one of three things (four if you count throwing it at a difficult attorney-client) to your cell phone: drop it and break it, lose it or drop it into something very wet and bad for it.

Just like a spill onto a laptop, there are varying degrees of nastiness that can happen with a wet cell phone. It all depends on what we’ve dropped our phone into. A simple spill or dunking in water or other plain unsweetened liquid may not be so disastrous. Simply pull the battery out as quickly as possible. Don’t stop to say goodbye to that attorney-client if you’re on the phone when you step into the deep pool of water. You want to avoid shorting out any electronics. Keep the back off the phone, pull out the SIM card if you can (slide the holder back then lift out the card), shake the water out of the phone and disassemble it as much as you can (usually it’s not much). If it’s an iPhone (I don’t know why any Certified Legal Nurse Consultant would want one of these), you should try and open it up. You can use any small plastic wedge along the seam to do this – I recommend using plastic and not something metal. What’s the right piece of plastic? Our contract techie used a guitar pick on his – but he said he was just taking it apart to see what was inside, not because he dropped it in the loo (yeah, sure).

Next, set the pieces in a warm dry place. Avoid direct sunlight as you want to keep condensation from forming on the unseen parts. Let it sit for a day or so and then (here’s the fun part) bury the pieces in a large bowl of dry, uncooked rice (white or brown, long-grain or short). Yes, I did say dry, uncooked rice (Note to self: Cooked rice did not work). Let it sit buried for at least two days, three if you can. While it’s drying out, dry yourself out from your cell phone addiction. Let people know you’ll be off the grid for a couple of days. You can even tell them “I’m drying out” to see what reaction you get. After the third day, pull the phone out, wipe and blow out (mouth or canned air) any dust or other residue from the rice, reassemble it, put in the battery and let there be talk, email, apps, music and all the other stuff that your phone does for you (if the CLNC^® gods and goddesses are smiling at you). If it doesn’t fire up – take it back to your phone shop and tell them, “It just stopped working.” They’ll know what really happened.

If you happened to drop your phone into your margarita during the party your favorite attorney-client threw to celebrate winning that big medical malpractice case, or if your two-year-old slam dunked it into the toilet with her toys or if you just spilled your half-caf, double-shot, triple-caramel-whipped latte into it, we’re back to square one. Again, get off the phone, open it up and shake it out. Get out that can of circuit board cleaner you bought at RadioShack^® and wash out the sugar, sweeteners, cream and or saltwater (if you were deep-sea fishing). Wash it out with the circuit board cleaner. It’s already wet and now you’ve got to get out the gunk. But don’t dip it or soak it, that’s a recipe for further disaster. After you’ve rinsed it with the cleaner, follow the steps above to dry it out and fire it overhand into the rice bowl! With any luck, it’ll work when it comes out and you can get back into the swing of your legal nurse consulting business without too many days off the grid.

I’m hoping that all Certified Legal Nurse Consultants never have to dry out or dry out their phones or laptops. But, if you ever do spill your drink – at least we now know how to recover a phone or laptop. If you drop your attorney-client into the pool, recovering the business might be more difficult.

Keep on techin’,

Tom

Any Certified Legal Nurse Consultant using a computer has run into issues when trying to receive large files from an attorney-client or transferring large files from one computer to another. If you’re attached to a network, moving files is pretty easy. You just drag your file from one computer onto a shared drive and then go to the other computer and drag it off. But if you don’t have a network or shared drives, what can you do? In the good old days of AOL and unlimited file sizes on email attachments, you could just email your file and pick it up on any other computer. Today, corporate email servers have put limits on attachment file sizes in their email “gateways” to restrict the transfer of large attachments (and often the type of file also).

You could use Drop.io, as Vickie recommended last month, but let’s explore some other alternatives for the savvy Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. First, Windows^® XP ships with a built-in, but basic, utility that allows you to create smaller, compressed “.zip” files out of large uncompressed files. This works great with Word documents, photos and PDF files (but not with all files), depending upon the amount of data stored within the file.

Try this at home (safely): Use Windows Explorer to locate the Word file on your computer that you want to use (don’t open it) and right click it. When the little menu pops up, left click on Send To, then left click on Compressed (zipped) Folder. You may get a warning but click Yes. You’ll have then created a file with the same name but with a .zip extension instead of .doc or .docx extension (TechTip.zip instead of TechTip.docx). This is the “compressed” version of your file. Think of the file as having all the air squeezed out of it, the spaces taken out between the letters and the pixels pinched. If you right click on the original file and, when the little menu pops up, left click Properties, you’ll see the file size. Write it down so you won’t forget it, then do the same to the zipped file. You should notice about a 10-20% decrease in file size. In a big document, this can be significant. Zipping a file works great with any text-based file such as word processing documents and spreadsheets. It doesn’t work that well with files that are already zipped (you can’t zip a zipped file) or files that are already compressed such as some photos. One cool feature is that you can highlight a group of files and zip them all into one zip archive file.

Once you’ve zipped a file, you can then send the zip file to any Windows user via email. When they receive it, they simply save it, then right click on the file, left click Open With then left click Compressed (zipped) Folders. This will open a new Window showing the recipient what files are compressed into the zip file. The user simply clicks Extract all Files and a folder containing the unzipped files is created on the user’s computer. Even Mac users can unzip and use the files but they may need an add-in program.

Legal nurse consultants who want to step it up a notch can purchase a program called WinZip^® that gives the added flexibility to password protect your zip files (great for paranoids and others with privacy concerns). It also opens a variety of different “archive” files which makes it pretty handy. Windows XP and Vista users can get a free trial of WinZip by clicking here.

If you’ve ever received a .sit file from an attorney-client or other legal nurse consultant, you’re seeing another alternative file type. This is one that’s really useful for people who work in a combined Mac and Windows world. The .sit file type is created by a program called “StuffIt” (Mac Version or Windows Version). It does the same thing as WinZip but creates .sit or .sitx files. Free trials (Windows or Mac) are available at the StuffIt website but you have to fish around a bit to find them. There’s even a free unstuffer for the occasional user (kind of like the free unzip utility).

Whichever program you choose, they’re both good for cramming large files into small spaces and can help speed (or enable) email delivery of humongous attachments for your legal nurse consulting business. I lean to zip files because I’m a Windows user but if you interact with the occasional Mac-type you may consider StuffIt. Once you’ve got either one installed you’re free to tell your attorney-clients to zip-it or StuffIt, if you dare. Here’s to living dangerously!

Keep on techin’,

Tom

Legal nurse consultants live in a Word, Word, Word, Word world. There are other word-processing programs, there are open-source programs and there’s even Google Docs for those of you who live in the cloud (and Word for Mac for those who can’t use real computers). But for main stream, main street, main line Certified Legal Nurse Consultants, there’s Word. If it doesn’t come preloaded on our computer we rush out to buy it. Why? Not because we want it, but because we need it.

In my all-too-many years of personal (and impersonal) computer use, I’ve had love affairs with Multi-Mate^®, WordStar^®, WordPerfect^® and a few other not-so-worthy predecessors to Word. But today, I’m a one word-processor man. It truly is a Word, Word, Word, Word world. That being said, we’ve got to make the best of our relationship with Word. Like any relationship, Word can be sweet at times, infuriating at other times but in the end, it’s still there for us – at home and at work. In fact, Word is probably the only word-processing program you need for your legal nurse consulting business.

This Tuesday Tech Tip is dedicated to the word-processor CLNC^® consultants love to hate and hate to love.

Tech Tip #1

Do you ever wish you could change that darn default file save location? You know, the place on your computer where Word wants to put all your documents whenever you hit the Save button? Well, my CLNC^® amigos, with just a few quick clicks of your mouse you can. Here’s how (this works in all Office 2007 programs as well): start by clicking that beautiful Pearl or Office button in the top left of your screen. Next, click Word Options, then Save. You’ll get a screen with a variety of options (including a choice of the Word document formats you can use to save your documents). Look for the “browse” selection next to “Default file location.” By clicking browse, you can navigate to the initial folder where you want to save your Word documents.

I have a directory called WordDocs under which I have all my other subdirectories such as TechTips, LegalDocs, Letterhead, etc. in which I store those relevant documents. Whenever I hit the Save button, up pops a screen asking me for a document name and giving me a list of subdirectories in which I can stash the newly created document. Whenever I click Open, it automatically opens to my WordDocs directory and I can choose where I want to go. You can do this in the other Office 2007 applications too, but in Excel and PowerPoint the programmers went on break and never put in the browse button so you have to cut and paste your new default file path after navigating to it in Windows Explorer (or you could just type it in).

Tech Tip #2

Not every legal nurse consultant or attorney rushed out and bought new software or a new computer loaded with Office 2007 when it first came out. Believe it or not, more than a few schlubs out there are still using Word 2003 and this includes major law offices! If all your attorney-clients haven’t yet ponied up for the latest and greatest, you can still create your way-cool Word 2007 .docx documents and then save them in earlier versions of Word with a few clicks of your magic mouse!

If you don’t want to use the new .docx format with all its imbedded wizardry simply repeat the steps above, but instead of picking the browse button, click the dropdown next to “Save files in this format” and pick Word 97-2003. This will make your version of Word automatically save any and all your documents in the earlier version (until you change it back).

Tech Tip #3

If you have just one attorney-client who’s still typing it old school with Word 97-2003 and want to save documents (especially after you’ve created and formatted them for that particular, schlemiel in the older format), then after you’ve saved your document as a .docx and are sure it’s final, you can “save it down.” Start with the document open in Word 2007, then click on the Pearl, Save As and click on the dropdown next to Save as Type and pick the format you want to use. It will create a duplicate document in the format you select. For those law firms still using WordPerfect^® you can save as rich text format (.rtf) which will open easily in WordPerfect. Remember, you’ll now have two documents in your files – one ending in .docx and another by the same name ending in .doc or .rtf. Having multiple copies of the same document may cause some confusion later so be prepared to store them in subfolders and always, always make sure you keep track of both. Remember too that if you edit one document, you need to save it in both formats.

Tech Tip #4

Did you know you can encrypt and password protect your Word documents? If you haven’t yet purchased or obtained Zip or StuffIt software, you can use Word 2007’s built-in encryption tools. When your file is final, save it one last time then click the Pearl, next click Prepare, then Encrypt Document. You’ll need to type in a password that’s at least 8-10 characters long (and use my password tips). Click on OK and reenter the password (if you can remember it). Now you can feel free to attach and email that legal nurse consulting work product document to anyone of your choosing and Word’s 128-bit AES (advanced encryption standard) will protect that document from pretty much everybody. Now, when you give each attorney-client you work with their own password, you can safely transmit documents back and forth (just keep a paper logbook of passwords in case you forget them).

Keep on techin’,

Tom

Read Part 1. Read Part 2.

Tip #14

Get to the point quickly. Email is not a replacement for face-to-face communications and it’s not the place for long messages. You shouldn’t be sending the equivalent of a comprehensive legal nurse consulting report in the body of an email. Remember, a lot of attorneys read their email on their BlackBerries^® and don’t want to be scrolling and scrolling. If you need to send a large report or document, simply attach it to your email in Word or PDF format and put an executive summary in the email body. Break your email into short, succinct paragraphs. If your email has a point, and it should, get to it quickly without a lot of rambling. Attorneys like matter-of-fact, straight forward communications. That’s another reason to edit your email before you send it.

Tip #15

While you’re getting to the point, use standard fonts and only use a different color font when you need to emphasize a point. In most cases, you should use the standard font and colors, black for original email, blue for replies. If you need to highlight something, use the highlight function in Outlook to add a yellow highlight to a phrase (if your recipient uses HTML email). This keeps the page clean and simple.

While you’re cleaning up your fonts, also avoid using backgrounds that put the entire email thread on a background design which makes it difficult to read or to track comments. Remember, it may look cute to you, but it is unprofessional. Model attorneys and other successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who don’t use backgrounds.

Tip #16

Don’t rely on electronic files for your email storage. Computers can and do crash. If your email is stored only on your computer and you suffer a crash, you’ll likely lose all that information. Make sure that your data backup plans include all of your email files. This is one good reason to use a high-storage-volume email provider like Google’s gmail. If you maintain paper files on a legal nurse consulting case, print those emails and file them. This keeps all the correspondence about the case together. Email is business correspondence, so treat it like you would any paper business correspondence. You’ll kill a few more trees but that’s the price for complete files.

Tip #17

Always reply to your email unless you don’t need to. The purpose of email is not to generate more email. Everyone knows at least one person who has to respond to every email you send them. If you tell them “thanks,” they’ll tell you “no problem.” If it doesn’t necessitate a reply, then don’t reply. But, likewise people expect you to reply, even if it’s just to say, “I’m out of the office on vacation in Davenport” or “Got it and will be back to you shortly.” Remember not too long ago when we confirmed receipt of faxes? Do the same with your email – but keep it short.

Tip #18

If you use an “out of the office” auto-responder and you have the ability to limit it to respond to people in your address box, do so. Otherwise, it just confirms to spammers that you have a valid email address. Since I’ve had my BlackBerry^®, I don’t use one – but I do have someone who checks my email and looks for fires that need to be put out while I’m on a “BlackBerry-free” vacation. If you don’t have that luxury or lack of privacy use the auto-responder. I personally don’t like telling people that “I’m out of the office until the 25th” but it can be a necessity. Another alternative is to tell your attorney-clients that you’ll be out on vacation and just let the box fill up.

Tip #19

Check your email on a regular basis but not excessively. There’s no greater hit on productivity than breaking your concentration to reply to an email as soon as it hits your inbox. It’s not a contest and there’s no reward for being the fastest responder. Instead I check email at regular intervals. That allows me to concentrate fully on the project at hand and not get sent off on rabbit trails. People expect a response – within a maximum of 24 business hours, but not immediately. If you’re doing nothing but responding to email, you’re working like a pinball and not the Certified Legal Nurse Consultant you’ve been trained to be.

Take some time to review these tips and incorporate them into the email communications for your legal nurse consulting business. Remember, your email may be saying more about you than you want it to say. Keep it clear, concise and professional.

Success Is Inside!

P.S. Comment and share your tips for professional email communications.