Earning your stripes at 3:00 am: fixing client problems is the best business development tool ever.

Betsy Munnell’s “What Do Blogging and Vegas Have in Common?? ….Building a Niche Law Practice in the Digital Age” on her blog. Marketing and business development weren’t always about blog posts and tweets and Facebook pages. Back in the day, a lawyer did her best networking when she was doing her best work. Munnell’s post reminds us of that, even as she looks at digital tools as a way to enhance your reputation in today’s world, where “personal interaction is at a premium.” Are the good old days gone forever? Maybe. Or maybe you just have to do it differently, to build a reputation online so that you don’t have to start building it from scratch at each and every in-person encounter offline. Either way, your reputation is just the starting point. You always have to earn your stripes the old-fashioned way: adding value. This post reminds us of that.