happy Birthday jm

[thekfc]

jm, a little birdie told me to send this to you:


 

[jm21-2]

Thanks KFC.

[Jeff S]

Yeah - Happy Birthday!

[bcc_1_2]

when's the wedding? happy bday feliz compleanos at ti

[Bob_S]

Next year's will be better with your sweetie by your side.   
May your birthday wishes come true and your paperwork get approved ASAP!

[Dave H]

Hey Jeff,

Maybe next year Ralph should ask for a little pussy instead! 

Dave

[Dave H]

Happy Birthday jm!

[jm21-2]

If VisaJourney's statistics are accurate and everything goes smoothly she should have an interview in late Dec or early Jan. So probably sometime in Jan or Feb next year we'll be married, again assuming all goes well. I don't see why a visa officer would deny her visa but I've said that before already with the tourist visa she applied for...

If VJ's statistics are right then I should get the NOA2 in mid-November. If that happens then I at least know their timelines are pretty accurate and we can put some sort of timeframe. She's still in AUS and is not sure when the best time to fly home is since it's hard to tell how long the process will take.

My parents are retired now and for birthday/xmas presents they're helping me finish off re-doing the interior of my house for when she gets here. It was a bit of a fixer (but great location and view) and I want to finish off painting the interior, replacing some fixtures, and replacing the flooring in the bedrooms before she gets here.

I am still thinking a bit about striking out at some point, live in SE asia for a while and try to get a virtual law practice going at some measure of profitability. I think I have enough down on my house where I could rent it out if I needed to and put my loans on deferment for a year. We'll see...the time to do it would be while I'm still young and don't have as many ties here, but it's hard to find any solid figures on gross profits for virtual offices....people just say they've been "successful" but that oculd mean anything.

[Capstone]

I don't see why a visa officer would deny her visa but I've said that before already with the tourist visa she applied for...

She should be fine - you guys have a pretty straightforward case without any red flags that I am aware of. I am sure that she will get the visa.

Happy Birthday!

[Jeff S]

It wouldn't take too many customers to make a virtual practice possible, especially if living in lower cost parts of Asia. You can get all the local clerks you want in various places you need physical paperwork delivery and such, using craigslist.

You might consider a place with lots of business ties to the US, like Japan or Taiwan, who has people who may need an American lawyer for immigration, family, real estate, business incorporation, tax or other reasons.

Since you enjoy the countryside more than the cities, these places wouldn't be nearly as expensive as trying to cut it in some of the major cities: http://www.escapeartist.com/efam15/Homesteading_In_Japan.html

Like the Pacific Northwest Japan and Taiwan, have lots of water activity potential, too.

You're also just a short, and inexpensive jaunt to Guam from Japan or Taiwan, that offers some interesting telecommute business opportunities for a Lawyer: http://www.divorcefast.com/

[jm21-2]

It seems nearly impossible to get any reliable data on what people are making with a purely virtual law office (VLO). I've been trying to get some sort of data for weeks and come up with nothing. People talk about being successful but who knows what that means. I found one blogger who said that he meets people who say they're successful, and after some probing it turns out they are grossing $1k/month.

I think you'd need to spend a massive amount of time on web design/content and SEO the first few months because you need a higher volume of clientèle. Along with that you could make a deal with a firm back home to refer them contested cases that needed court appearances for some sort of fee. Or with the understanding that they will refer uncontested cases to you.

I think it's do-able but extremely few people have actually done it. Lawyers suck horribly at advertising and it seems that internet marketing is going to be by far the most important aspect. So in a sense I'm not surprised how few lawyers have made money as a VLO. Most of them think that internet marketing is spending 15 minutes on a web page and somehow it will float to the top by itself and compel customers to dial their number.

I'd just have to bill about 10 hours per month to live fairly comfortably in SE Asia, and it seems like that should be ludicrously easy, but it would be nice to see some actual data. Also would be nice to know I could eventually bill 20+ hours per month. There's so much competition now from paralegal organizations and web sites like legalzoom that it makes things a bit more difficult for uncontested cases though. Most people use those services, botch their divorce, then come to a lawyer to go to couert for them when everything becomes an absolute mess.