In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Justin Weinstein discuss:
- Importance of cultivating strong client relationships in the legal field
- Effective strategies for scaling and growing a law practice
- Creating a positive and sustainable workplace culture
- Proactive client engagement and community involvement in legal services
Key Takeaways:
- Assigning a designated client relationship manager ensures continued connection and personalized care for clients even years after a case is resolved.
- Proactively educating and engaging with the community helps individuals prepare for potential legal situations, rather than reacting to crises.
- Treating the workplace as a second home and focusing on employees’ personal and professional growth reduces turnover and fosters long-term commitment.
- Maintaining a strong cash flow and hiring with a focus on ROI, alongside leveraging relationships, are critical to doubling or expanding the size of a law firm.
“Failures are learning opportunities, and really, there is no such thing as failure if you view it that way. You’re still here, still alive, and still able to make better and better decisions while improving. That’s what truly successful people do.” — Justin Weinstein
Got a challenge growing your law practice? Email me at steve@fretzin.com with your toughest question, and I’ll answer it live on the show—anonymously, just using your first name!
Thank you to our Sponsors!
Rankings.io: https://rankings.io/
Rainmakers Roundtable: https://www.fretzin.com/lawyer-coaching-and-training/peer-advisory-groups/
Episode References:
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz: https://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Expanded-Updated/dp/0385346654
About Justin Weinstein: Justin Weinstein, Founding Partner of the Weinstein Legal Team, earned his Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University, joined the Florida Bar in 2012, and since establishing his Fort Lauderdale practice in 2016, has expanded to West Palm Beach, Orlando, and Naples, representing medical professionals treating car accident victims while fostering connections across South Florida and the Treasure Coast, with a focus on personal injury litigation, community involvement, client relationships, and accessible advocacy.
Connect with Justin Weinstein:
Website: https://www.thelawofwe.com/
Email: justin@weinstein-legal.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinpweinstein/ & https://www.linkedin.com/company/weinsteinlegalteam/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jpweinstein & https://www.instagram.com/weinsteinlegalteam/
Connect with Steve Fretzin:
LinkedIn: Steve Fretzin
Twitter: @stevefretzin
Instagram: @fretzinsteve
Facebook: Fretzin, Inc.
Website: Fretzin.com
Email: Steve@Fretzin.com
Book: Legal Business Development Isn’t Rocket Science and more!
YouTube: Steve Fretzin
Call Steve directly at 847-602-6911
Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You’re the expert. Your podcast will prove it.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Steve Fretzin: [00:00:00] Hey everybody, before we get to the show, want to just take a moment to do our Q and A. We’ve got Tara from Boise, Idaho. Something I know about Idaho is it is the gem state. It was my state fair fifth grade project. So now you guys know that about me. I hit the t shirt to prove it. But Tara asks, I have a very successful practice nationally as an IP attorney.
That being said, I’m friends with many GCs who don’t give me their business. How do I ask without spoiling the friendship? Well, Tara, it sounds like you are officially in the friend zone which is not a great place to be. If you’re interested in growing your business, I can tell how frustrating that must be for you because you know, you’re great at what you do and you know, you would work well with your friend, but it just hasn’t come up or you’ve been fearful about asking.
So I would just say the best thing to do is be super curious. About your friends businesses when you sit down to have drinks or lunch and just ask a million questions the hope is that you’re going to find something that isn’t working something they’re unhappy about what their current firm on that there’s there’s deficits in the game of that other firm where you [00:01:00] could then step in and go well you know, we’ve been friends a long time and i want to bring this up but this is kind of what i do every day you think we can have a separate conversation and talk about it i mean i think we work really well together and i do work with a number of my other friends that you know you know joanne and scott and barbara whatever.
So I think just being really curious and asking a lot of questions is a natural way to start to identify that there may be an opening in the door that you can swing it open. So hopefully that helps quite a bit. There’s more than that, but I only have a minute to give the answer. So good luck with that, Tara.
I’m happy to consult anytime if you want to reach out to me at steve at Fretzin. com. That’s it for today with Q and a everybody enjoy the show.
Narrator: You’re listening to be that lawyer life changing strategies and resources for growing a successful law practice Each episode your host author and lawyer coach steve Fretzin We’ll take a deeper dive helping you grow your law practice in less time with greater results Now here’s your host [00:02:00] steve Fretzin
Steve Fretzin: Hey everybody, welcome back to the be that lawyer with Fretzin podcast.
We are here today to help you be that lawyer, confident, organized, and a skilled rainmaker. As you guys know, this show helps you with marketing, with business development, with scaling, with culture, like anything that you’re trying to accomplish as an attorney. There’s a pretty good chance 475 episodes in that we’ve got speakers and interviews that are going to help you to be successful.
Also you’re going to want to check out my blog because what we’re doing is blog cast where we’re taking these. 20 page transcripts and we’re truncating them down to like 750 words. It’s like the bite size, you know, taste of like what these interviews are. So if you’d prefer to read, go to Fretzin. com slash blog and you can check those out.
What do you think about blog cast, Justin? Pretty good idea.
Justin Weinstein: Yeah, absolutely. Anything that can get your message out there in different mediums. Absolutely.
Steve Fretzin: Yeah, and I keep harping on everybody, repurpose, repurpose, repurpose, like you create a video. That’s great. Where’s the [00:03:00] audio? Where’s the written?
Where’s the transcript? Where’s, you know, how are you breaking that up into social media posts? And you know, lawyers really need to consider, you know, you don’t have to work so hard. You can just take a piece of content and just utilize it and repurpose it a dozen different ways. Is that something you’ve done?
Have you found some success in like breaking stuff down and repurposing?
Justin Weinstein: Absolutely. And across different market, different mediums, there’s going to be different strategies, obviously, as well as the length of videos the messages that you’re trying to convey because you have different audiences. So, keeping in mind who your audience is extremely important, but I would subscribe to the fact that as many different mediums you can get your message out to would be great.
You don’t know exactly where your audience is looking and they’re probably looking at multiple mediums.
Steve Fretzin: Yeah, good stuff. I know we’re going to get into a lot of great topics today. Justin is joining us and we’ll introduce him in a moment. I just want to share his quote of the show, which as soon as I read it, I was like, that’s a, I’ve never heard that one B.
I love it. I absolutely love it. The [00:04:00] difference between try and triumph is a little oomph on that’s Marvin, the late great Marvin Phillips. I don’t actually know that he’s dead. I probably shouldn’t be killing people off on my podcast, but anyway, thank you Marvin for that great quote. And so welcome to the show, Justin.
And please tell us why you thought that quote was so wonderful.
Justin Weinstein: Yeah, absolutely. So I’ll tell you that I have a bunch of different groups that I’m in and multiple friend groups that we talk about, you know, what do we see as our future, you know, looking three, five years in the future. And there’s a lot of talk about action and taking action on reaching our goals, but none of that happens without actually taking action.
And that umph and the quote from Marvin Phillips also stuck out to me, Steve, and you talk a lot of on your show about, you know, the steps of action and not just talking the talk, you know, how do we walk the walk? And a lot of the people on your show are talking specifically about, you know, what can you do to take [00:05:00] those necessary steps?
And I like to say, take the baby steps. You know, if you don’t believe that, you know, you’re, Going to make the right choice, right decision, like you have to be ready to take those risks, but taking the baby step will minimize the risk on where you’re trying to go and what you’re trying to achieve.
Steve Fretzin: I mean, a good example of that is I’ve been getting a lot of my clients on to LinkedIn, not to be on it, everyone’s on it, but to like, hey, let’s actually post something.
And let’s do it again next week. And let’s get into the habit of just doing one post a week. And then they get comfortable, right? With that baby step to your point, Justin. And then the next thing, you know, it’s twice a week, it’s three times a week. Now they’re starting to build a real brand on that channel.
So I love that, that concept of the baby steps. So Justin, you’re the founder of Weinstein legal team. Tell us a little bit about your background, how you came to be, and then we’ll get into some meat and potatoes.
Justin Weinstein: Sure. So I went to Nova Nova Southeastern University for law school back in 2012, [00:06:00] and I went into a couple of different firms one smaller and one much larger, and I realized that they were doing things that didn’t really resonate with my values and, you know, the, what I wanted to achieve.
And mainly it had to do with a focus on the community and the type of service as lawyers were providing to clients. And we’ll get into that, I guess, a little bit later, but ultimately, I ended up opening my own firm for those reasons taking the good. And then taking out kind of the the bad, so to speak, from those firms that I saw.
So, and, you know, the community aspect is more about how do we best prepare our community and be proactive in legal matters rather than reactive. I truly believe that the people in our community deserve to be able to approachable lawyers for legal situations before they happen. And a lot of the marketing that you see out there is really posed toward an if then scenario, [00:07:00] which is if you’re in an accident, you know, call our law firm.
If you are arrested we can, you know, we could represent you. If your house has property damage, we can help you. But really we need to be doing a better job in my opinion. As professionals in the legal space of educating and helping our community be proactive.
Steve Fretzin: Terrific. And so I want to ask a question that I don’t think I’ve ever asked before on this show.
When you decide to go in to start your own firm, what would you say are, were your greatest fears going into it? And then here’s the best part of the question in my, cause I just wrote it in my head. What were real fears that you actually realized? Yeah, I was good. It was good that I was afraid and that I handled it.
And then what were kind of things that you thought were scary, but actually ended up being a big nothing burger?
Justin Weinstein: Yeah. Definitely fear of failure, which is a big one, not just in business, but in life. And how you approach that as every and I preach not only, you know, to my staff, but my friends as [00:08:00] well, that failures are learning opportunities.
And really there is no such thing as a failure. If you view it that way, you know, you’re still going to be here. You’re still alive. You’re still able to make, you know, better and better decisions and get better. And that’s what the really successful people do. You know, Michael Jordan, right? There was a stat or something like he didn’t make his high school basketball team or something like that.
I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but yeah, JK Rowling when she wrote Harry Potter series, like she got rejected over and over and over again. You know, so there’s countless examples of the stars, the celebrities, athletes, very successful individuals learning from failures and continuing to push forward and make sure that, you know, they learn from those as they continue in their endeavors.
So that fear of failure was one that I think it’s almost, it’s there, but if you treat it as that, it’s really not a fear to be afraid of. Yeah, as far as what really. [00:09:00] Is worrisome. It would have to be for a smaller firm. Cash flow is definitely worrisome. Making sure that you understand you’re taking care of people’s lives.
Your staff are dependent upon you and making sure that business succeed. And so make sure you keep an eye on your finances. Where’s what’s going in? What’s going out to make sure that you’re taking care of your team. Your team is the most important thing. For a small startup or an entrepreneur, your team is there that helps you succeed.
Steve Fretzin: And so when you think about the idea of starting a firm and then getting some people in place that building that team, what are some of the aspects of running a law firm that lawyers need to know about maybe before they start one, or maybe they’re in one and they’re just not hitting the numbers, they’re not really getting it where they want it to be.
What are some aspects that you can share that can alleviate either their fear or just give them some advice on how to. really focus [00:10:00] on what’s important.
Justin Weinstein: For me, it’s doing everything we can to invest in the team and to show that you are invested in them. Which means talking about things that maybe are not directly related to the business.
What are their personal goals? How do you get in touch with the human aspect of your team? You know, every individual has their own goals. They see themselves somewhere different five, ten years. Maybe that doesn’t align with your firm. That’s okay. But you, they have to understand that you’re invested in their growth just as much as they should be invested in the firm’s growth and if they do decide to leave.
Make a plan in order to have them train whoever’s taking their place, and they’ll be much more accepting of that in the future. And that way your transition is easier. But, you know, as far as your question, it’s all about, you know, making sure you see them as, you know, Individuals, they all have different desires.
They all have different needs as far as what they need to be productive [00:11:00] and successful. I do things a little bit, I think, different than most. I approach the firm more of it’s a community that I want everybody here. When I first interviewed them, I said, I want you to be here for the rest of your life, and I kind of joke and I’m like, ha ha, that’s funny, but really I do, because I saw in my previous firms that the number one killer of success was Turo.
And if you’re listening now, and you’ve seen that in your own firm, maybe ask yourself why what’s going on in that firm to make people want to leave? Because the cost of training, the cost of finding new talent and what happens if you don’t find the right person to have in that role? It’s very expensive.
So we want to make sure people feel comfortable in their work environment. It’s their second home, right? They spend more time here than their house. So what can we do to do that? And we have a number of things we do here at Weinstein Legal Team.
Steve Fretzin: But I think even before you get into the training and the culture and the things that would keep someone there, there’s probably some things that need to be done in the hiring [00:12:00] process that helps you to understand that they’re aligned with the firm.
Because if you think about the turnover, some of it might be poor management or leadership, right? But then it also might be that you were so desperate to bring in somebody that you didn’t really see how they align with you as the owner and the culture that you’ve built.
Justin Weinstein: Yeah, we learn those things over time.
One of the most important questions that we talk to potential applicants would be about if they have community involvement at all, because it is a center point of our firm. And that shows that community involvement itself will show a lot of different characteristics of the person. Are they able to show empathy be genuine be able to be You know, a caring person you know, we’re dealing with people that are in the roughest situations in their life.
We’re talking about people that have been injured in accidents. We’re talking about people that have been arrested, their liberties at stake. We’re talking about people whose homes have been destroyed in major disasters. [00:13:00] And so they come to us as guides in this legal situation. But also, as everyone knows, who’s a lawyer out there, they ask a lot of different questions that maybe are outside of your realm of expertise.
They ask you to be maybe a spiritual guide. We have had clients that talk a lot about their belief in God and, you know, I can’t believe this happened. Thank you, Jesus. And thank you, whoever we, you know, they believe in. Are you able to connect in that way with some, you know, that connection is the key.
To making that client then realize, okay, they’re treating me as not just a number, not just a transaction. I’m a human being. They see me as that. And anyone that they talk to that maybe needs legal services, they’re going to remember us. And that’s the point in creating raving fans. And it starts with the hiring process, as you just mentioned, Steve.
Steve Fretzin: Yeah, you know, one of the most frustrating things too is when, and this just happened to me, so I’m in a new home the last couple of weeks and we just had to have our floors done, which is [00:14:00] never fun. And the guy did a great job, but he was a total dick. He just was not a good, nice guy. He didn’t have any like customer service.
He didn’t, he wasn’t friendly. He just like would count my money in front of me and like, give me a look. How is this even possible in 2024, 2025, that people are so clueless about how business works. And I didn’t feel like a person, I felt like a number, like you just needed to get through me to get that cash to get the money and get out of there.
And I was like, you did a great job. Like, I don’t understand what’s going on here. So I think there’s something, you know, obviously, you know, if you’re expecting to get referrals and you’re expecting to get business, there’s the basic level customer service. Are there things also, Justin, that you’re doing to stay in touch with your clients and to make sure that they’re feeling special even after the matter is concluded?
Justin Weinstein: Yeah, there are. There’s a lot of things. Actually, it’s probably my primary focus as the leader of the firm to bring [00:15:00] in leads and to make sure that we are nurturing our client relationships. One thing that comes to mind is we recently promoted someone in our marketing team to be a designated client relationship manager.
Now, obviously, there’s plenty of firms out there that use CRM and those tools, and those are really good. But we want a face someone to contact these clients years later and continuously be in touch with them. So we’ve created a whole separate role for just that. We want them to understand they’re part of our quote unquote law firm family.
That we care about them after something has been resolved legally. And that way we stay top of mind and they understand that, okay, again, I wasn’t just a transaction, I’m more than that than that to these people. And they show that every day. So that client relationship manager role, if I had one piece of advice and adding to maybe a smaller startup firm or someone looking to grow exponentially, that’s going to bring in leads and it’s not going to cost much.
Yeah. The other [00:16:00] things we’re doing is, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard, there’s, you know, the very popular book, New York Times bestseller by Will Guadara called Unreasonable Hospitality, you know, now that’s not in the legal field, but it’s service based, you know, and I understand that all of the stories and things that come out of this book in regards to unreasonable hospitality is becoming memorable and doing them.
Unbelievable things for clients where they say, Oh my God, I was not expecting any of this and they remember it forever. So that client relationship manager is also in charge of our legends department. You know, how do we do this for people to where it’s like, holy unbelievable. It’s a legend.
Steve Fretzin: Yeah.
Justin Weinstein: It’s
Steve Fretzin: just an underutilized part of the business of law or any business when it isn’t handled properly or it isn’t, there isn’t something beyond the matter that’s keeping you connected.
I try to do for my clients, for example, inviting them to events, [00:17:00] inviting them to networking groups. Making sure that I’m reaching out to them to say, Hey, here’s my auto scheduler. You want to meet a one on one we’ve worked together in 10 years, but if you want to meet me for a one on one to catch up and help you plan for 2025.
So I’m continually trying to stay in front of the good people that I’ve helped over the years. And I think more lawyers need to think about not just the matter, but what they can do to keep that relationship alive after it.
Justin Weinstein: Yeah. But if I may add also that client relationship manager. Is so vital because not only did they stay on top of being top of mind for past clients and potential others that associate with those people, they can get into details about key events in their lives and understanding who they are and that’s, that’s where the legends come from, like what’s going on.
Did you have a baby? Did you move? Job change, you know, those sorts of things and just also read a recent, a book recently called about Michael Ovitz. He was the co founder of [00:18:00] CAA, Creative Artists Agency, and one of the things that came out of that book was how detail oriented of a connector Michael Ovitz was, you know, and it was just Fascinating read.
I highly recommend it. He was the connector between so many different movies that you’ve heard from directors to the actors, producers, writers. And it was just fascinating to hear some of the stories, but he was extremely detail oriented, which is what putting here in the firm.
Steve Fretzin: Yeah, really great stuff.
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And schedule a free consultation at rankings. io today. Hey everybody, Steve Fretzin here. Man, I thought I was a good marketer, but maybe not. Lawyers have been approaching me asking, what’s the Rainmakers [00:19:00] Roundtable? Well, I tell them this is a special place created exclusively for rainmaking lawyers to continue their journey of prosperity.
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com and apply for membership today. And so I want to take a step back to something we brought up earlier. Like you’re mentioning the team and you’re mentioning your connection with your players and all of that. What are you doing and recommending other law firm leaders do? to build a strong law firm culture, because if we were trying to avoid turnover, having a strong culture may be more important than somebody making an extra 20 or 30 grand somewhere else, right?
So there’s things that will tie them to you through that culture. So what are some cultural things that you’ve found to be really successful? [00:20:00]
Justin Weinstein: A couple of things. First you know, there’s the saying about, you know, the leader is really a representative and it comes from the leader. I don’t remember the exact quote, but the leader is what instills the values of the firm and it comes from that leader.
So, basically, if you have ventured out on your own to open your own law firm, You obviously have some business knowledge. You have taken risk. You know, I mean, even if maybe, maybe no business
Steve Fretzin: knowledge, but maybe, maybe an entrepreneurial spirit, ,
Justin Weinstein: the entrepreneurial spirit. You’ve read something or something has, I hope so.
Has gotten you to this point where you said, enough is enough. I can bet on myself. Which is a huge bet. It’s a gamble. Yeah. Okay. But it’s the best that there is in my opinion. And if you impart some of that knowledge to your staff, in whatever way you see, if you have a morning meeting, and you tell them a little bit about that fear of failure that you first had, or your first success story when you went on your own, something that you [00:21:00] thought you couldn’t accomplish, but then you did.
You know, some of those things. And by the way, we share that every Monday morning meeting, we have success stories I want, because we have different departments, I want the different departments to hear about the success of the other department, whether that’s marketing or personal injury department, property, criminal defense, I want them all to be able to understand we’re accomplishing unbelievable things and to share in those victories.
So we do that Monday mornings, but if you’re an entrepreneur and you went out on your own, you took that decision, which is a big gamble. Okay. You have to understand you will continuously learn either from your failures and your actions. Okay. Or you’re learning from books or podcasts like this or other mentors or maybe masterminds or things like that.
Impart that knowledge on your team, bring that knowledge to your team, show them that you’re invested in their growth and they’re going to take you to new heights, right? The other thing is make it as comfortable as [00:22:00] possible for them to be here in the workspace. Now we did remote very minimally after COVID.
And then everybody came back and I understood from the get go, we need to make it a place that people feel comfortable. They want to come here. They enjoy being here. So, frequently I’ll have people bring their pets by as long as they tell me in advance they sometimes will want a particular heater for under their desk or a particular type.
As you podcast. We have stand up desks. I actually built a little exercise and gym facility in the back of our office. Anyone is able to use that. I’m very into fitness myself. So I’m hoping that people take advantage of that, which they are, you know, and I just want them to feel like very, very comfortable and that way they’re able to give you their best because if they’re not, you’ve been in a situation where, you know what, this doesn’t feel right.
I, you know, I don’t want to be here. The temperature’s off. I’m not comfortable with my chair, my seating arrangement. [00:23:00] They just don’t do the best work and don’t show up the way they could.
Steve Fretzin: I’ve got a little bit of an off the show type of a question for you, but when they’re, you know, ultimately we’re dealing with people and when we’re dealing with people, it’s not always, you know, kisses and hugs, right?
There’s sometimes there’s arguments, sometimes there’s disagreements. When you see internal politicking or when you see a disagreement between two personalities that are very strong or whatever it might be. How do you as a leader address that because it’s something that, you know, I’m sure, you know, irks you because you’ve developed such a great culture and you’ve developed, you know, such a great team, but it can’t always be again, you know, roses.
Justin Weinstein: Yeah, there’s, it really depends on the situation. You know, if there’s multiple people in a group that are disagreeing about something, I would want to hear everybody out, bring the group together and talk it out almost immediately. One thing I know is that you can’t let these types of things fester. You can’t because people, you’re right, they’re just human beings, but people [00:24:00] do hold grudges whether consciously or subconsciously, and ultimately we need to get to the root of the problem.
And a lot of times, it’s not anything that’s personal. You know, behind my computer here, I have a saying on a piece of paper, it’s don’t take anything personal. And that’s from the four agreements, Miguel Ruiz, and it’s one of them. And I stress this almost every day to all my staff, because whether you’re taking a phone call from an adjuster, or an angry client, or you have a spat with a colleague, just remember, right now, when we’re in this office, for the most part, it’s business related, and they’re not there to attack you.
And so if they can remember that and you continuously put that in their minds, it’s much easier to get to a resolution.
Steve Fretzin: Well, very interesting. And also, you know, you don’t know what’s going on inside somebody’s head. You don’t know what kind of day they’ve had. You don’t know. We just got a couch delivered today and middle section of it.
It’s a section on the middle section of it’s the wrong color. Like, everything’s right. We’ve been waiting for this couch for eight weeks for this new, to put in this [00:25:00] new home we’re excited about. And we, and it’s like, You know, we don’t know, they don’t know like my wife could be having a terrible day and now she’s yelling at them and not real.
They think it’s their fault. It’s not, you know, they’re just delivering the couch. So I think we have to also look inward and just, you know, realize everyone’s having a different day, a different week, and we’ve got to be, you know, just open minded to, you know, hearing them out and getting it resolved. I love that you said, handle it right away and not let it fester.
That’s really important.
Justin Weinstein: Yeah, and to piggyback off that, I know I mentioned clients and adjusters. A lot of the same rules for your staff go for clients because they’re all human beings. So, if you are a new lawyer that’s going out on your own, or you have a small team already, learning about human psychology, being able to diffuse conflict, Is very, very valuable.
So if there’s one thing I would suggest looking up or reading about or podcasting, like Steve has plenty on, I would look at [00:26:00] some of those past podcasts about conflict and in our office conflict or, and that would be an excellent way to. Become more successful in whatever you’re doing with your team.
Steve Fretzin: And how does everything that you’ve accomplished or that you accomplished maybe even a few years ago lead up to, and this will be kind of our final question, like helped you scale, because that’s one of the greatest concerns is for solos and even for small firm owners is like, all right, so I’m at 10 people.
Great. Or five people. But how do I get to 20, multiple offices? What have you found to be sort of the SIC, one of the six recipes for success and looking to scale, even if it’s. You know, doubling a staff of five to 10.
Justin Weinstein: Yeah. It’s all about relationships. They’re absolutely everything. I know you’ve touched about this on a lot of podcasts, a lot of different brilliant mind, but you have to be able to be personable people like you want to do business with you.
They respect you. So anywhere you go, another thing that I tell everyone in the office is everyone is a potential client, every single person. And that also [00:27:00] starts with the hiring process. We talked about that earlier. One of the questions I ask is about, you know, where did you grow up? What’s your social network like?
Because as you grow, you want to expand the people you’re able to connect with, right? So big positive would be someone who lives and has grown up somewhere very close to my offices, you know? That’s just a factor we look at. But honestly, a lot of our referrals, a lot of our leads, they come from within and people are genuinely interested in seeing the success and growth of the firm because they know I’ve invested in them.
Steve Fretzin: So relationships allows for the hiring and the implementation and the retention of your team and expanding out as a, as a principle of scaling.
Justin Weinstein: Yeah. So it starts with treating people as human beings on the staff. Then. Something I touched on a little bit earlier was, was cash flow. Obviously, in order for you to hire, you need to be able to have that cash flow and [00:28:00] understand.
I believe Dan Martell says it, but you know, every hire that you hire, it needs to have a 10x return on investment of what you’re paying. Sometimes that’s hard to calculate. It’s tough to see as an entrepreneur. Okay, this person, I want to create, you know, a new role or I want to hire for a case manager.
Great. Are they going to be able to produce, that doesn’t necessarily mean bring in cases, but produce to the effect of getting the cases where they need to go, closing them out and being an integral part of that process to where I am making a good enough return to justify it. That’s the game we play.
It’s an equation thing when you’re a brand new lawyer going out on your own and trying to figure that out. But the cashflow thing, you know, I have multiple bank accounts and every time I deposit, I’m making sure that I have some, I have a good reserve base because the more you have a cushion, you feel safer and then you feel safer taking risks.
And the risks often produce very large gains. Yeah. [00:29:00] And that’s kind of where I’m at, you know, almost 10 years later.
Steve Fretzin: Got it. Hey, real quick question before we wrap up. What’s, you’ve got a pin on your shirt and it seems important to you. You put it there. What is the pin?
Justin Weinstein: Yeah. This is our firm motto. The log we is all about you.
So it’s a symbol. To everyone in the firm that we put our community and our clients first and we talked a lot of a lot about it earlier when I introduced myself, but I do believe that we have an outstanding an obligation as lawyers and professionals in the legal field to be approachable to our community before things happen so that they can be educated, educate themselves.
And be proactive instead of reactive. So a lot of that about our firm is centered around community and giving back. We’ve donated over 100, 000 this year to charities, local non profits, and we’re very, very much community focused. And that’s what this pin is about. It also symbolizes empathy, one of our core values.
Understanding people are human beings. There’s a lot more to them than just a number or a transaction. [00:30:00] And that’s what we’re instilling in everybody here. And that’s what we’re portraying to the outside world.
Steve Fretzin: Well, I think you’re someone to, you know, emulate there are lawyers listening that are, you know, maybe in a different position, but I think everybody can appreciate everything you’ve said today.
I know resonated with me and I hope resonated with my audience that this is what the practice of law is all about. This is what the business of law is all about. And I just want to give you some credit that you’re really me. The things that you have said today and the things that you’ve totally bought into.
And I think your team has bought into and your clients have bought into really impresses me. So thank you so much, man. And let’s wrap up with our game changing book. This is one that is an oldie, but a goodie. Never eat alone.
Justin Weinstein: Yeah. By Keith Rossi. It was unbelievable. And I go over this with some team members at my office here.
But it has some of the best suggestions on how to build and use your network to scale and to grow into anything that you want to accomplish. And I highly recommend looking into this. [00:31:00] I actually have a personal outline I made of mine that if you don’t have the time to read, you don’t like to read like 13 pages, I’d be happy to send it out to you because I do think it’s that valuable.
Love it. I
Steve Fretzin: appreciate it, man. I love that. As we wrap up, I want to thank our wonderful sponsors, LawHer Podcast. You guys want to check that out and listen to my friend, Sonia Palmer interview some of the most incredible women in law and get their ideas and tips and takeaways and secrets. And of course, Rankings.
io, you know, our friend Chris Dreyer, who runs a great podcast. And also a great business and continue. I talked to him the other day and he just continues to impress me as someone who’s never stopping. He’s always moving forward with the next great thing. And so I’m just impressed by him as well. And I just want to let everyone know, if you enjoy the Be That Lawyer podcast, please give us a strong review on Apple.
We’re looking to continue to build our audience and help other lawyers around the world. So you know, two minutes of your time can make a big difference in. How this show continues to produce and expand [00:32:00] and help other lawyers like you. So Justin, if people want to get in touch with you, they want to work for you.
They want to network with you. They want to hang out with you and check you out. What are the best digits?
Justin Weinstein: Phone number would be 833 LAW OF WE, L A W O F W E, that’s the office line, but on any social network, my Instagram, TikTok, like LinkedIn, that stuff J P Weinstein, or my name, you can also email me, justin at weinstein legal.
com, and I’d be happy to share Any of the books that I talked about podcasts obviously be that lawyer. Anything else I’m listening to, but I thoroughly enjoy what you’re doing, Steve. And I, you know, want to do, and will continue to do the same helping younger or even similarly situated lawyers get better is what you’re doing and I really appreciate it.
Steve Fretzin: Yeah. Well, I thank you for that. And you know, it’s a lot of fun. If you can enjoy something and helping a community and also have fun doing it, which [00:33:00] it sounds like you’re doing as well, then everything sort of works out. All the information about Justin is in the show notes to everybody. So check that out.
Thanks, man. I appreciate you coming on the show, sharing your wisdom, collaborating with me. You know, we’ll do the podcast. We’ll do the YouTube video. We’ll have the blog cast put out pretty soon, and then we’ll continue to add value for the legal community and industry at large. So thanks, man.
Justin Weinstein: Yep. Well thank you for having me willing to do it again.
Whenever you want to connect again. I
Steve Fretzin: love having the repeats. And thank you everybody for spending time with Justin and I again, on the, be that lawyer with Fretzin podcast, helping you to be that lawyer every single week, twice a week. Take care of everybody. Be safe. Be well. We’ll talk again soon.
Narrator: Thanks for listening. To be that lawyer, life changing strategies and resources for growing a successful law practice. Visit Steve’s website Fretzin. com for additional information and to stay up to date on the latest legal business development and marketing trends. [00:34:00] For more information and important links about today’s episode, check out today’s show notes.
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