Turning Differences Into Advantages: The Entrepreneurial Journey of Brooke Goff

WEBVTT
00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:08.720
You're listening to In Good Company, a podcast for business owners who know the best ideas don't come from textbooks, they come from real conversations.
00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:13.599
Being a business owner can be incredibly rewarding and sometimes incredibly vomiting.
00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:22.480
This podcast was created to change through real conversations and shared experiences in good company, hosted by Connecticut Wealth Management.
00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:27.839
Connects business owners navigating growth, leadership, and everything in between.
00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:32.159
Because business is better when you're in good company.
00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:44.159
Hello and welcome back, everybody, to In Good Company.
00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:45.920
Thanks for coming back.
00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:48.320
Um and thanks for being here if it's your first time.
00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:52.159
So our guest today uh probably does not need any introduction.
00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:55.119
She is ubiquitous across across Connecticut.
00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:58.880
If you have driven anywhere, you've probably seen her smiling face.
00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:05.519
She is on television, she is on radio, and she is kind of a legend in Connecticut now.
00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:08.159
So Brooke Goff is obviously our guest today.
00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:15.200
Today we're going to go behind all of that marketing stuff, the billboards and the TV and the radio.
00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:22.560
And we're actually going to hear Brooke's story and hear how she got to where she got to, why she got to where she got to, and what is she going to do next.
00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:25.439
So Brooke, I really want to welcome you.
00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:36.319
Uh, excited to hear your story about how you have built this juggernaut of a law firm and uh and really appreciate taking some time out of your, I'm sure, extremely busy, busy schedule.
00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:37.120
So thanks, Brooke.
00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:40.640
So I have a 13-year-old son, and if you want to give him that intro, I'd appreciate it.
00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:43.200
Because I'm the least cool person that he knows, by the way.
00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:44.560
I'm the uncoolest.
00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:49.599
So uh anytime you want to talk to him, I'll happily okay with this all that brook.
00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:50.879
Oh no, you're a legend.
00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:54.400
You've made you've become a legend in a short amount of time.
00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:55.599
I can't wait to hear the story.
00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:56.159
It's very cool.
00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:56.719
Awesome.
00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:57.439
Yeah, yeah.
00:01:57.599 --> 00:01:58.159
So Brooke is.
00:01:58.560 --> 00:01:59.519
Floor is yours, my friends.
00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:01.760
Yeah, let's jump right in if you don't mind.
00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:05.280
You you so you founded the firm in 2017?
00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:06.480
I did, yes.
00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:07.359
Yep.
00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:09.360
What was the plan?
00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:12.800
Can you take us back to the kind of, you know, what was yeah.
00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:14.560
So I was in law school.
00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:18.639
My I always knew I wanted to run my own company because I didn't feel like anybody did it the right way.
00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:22.800
I felt, especially in the law, like people always prioritize profits over people.
00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:49.360
And being that I was a very, I mean, I was I grew up in poverty, and I was uh uh kid not very different than than most of my clients, um, or most of the people I would meet, I just think that for me, I didn't feel like the lawyers that I would see on commercials or on TV could really um could really identify and connect with people that were like me, a normal, what I consider a normal person.
00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:52.000
So I knew I wanted to create my own company.
00:02:52.319 --> 00:03:00.159
I I grew up in little town in upstate New York where uh when I told my guidance, we all have that meeting when you're in junior year and you tell your guidance counselor what you want to do, right?
00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:01.439
And then they make sure you're on the path.
00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:02.800
I told her I wanted to be a lawyer.
00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:06.800
She goes, Women don't usually do that.
00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:08.000
That was my answer.
00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:12.000
And that was in 2000, I mean, 2004.
00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:14.960
Wait, that wasn't 1950?
00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:16.400
Yeah, exactly.
00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:18.319
So I'm like, okay, well, it's upstate New York, man.
00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:23.360
You're supposed to be like the milkmaid, or you're supposed to be having tons of kids, or you're supposed to stay at home.
00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:28.159
You know, the woman being the matriarch of the house is not a thing there, right?
00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:29.199
Especially at that time.
00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:37.840
So I um obviously, right, and kind of coming into this world, I'm like, well, if I'm facing this, what other women to face this?
00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:46.879
So I wanted to have a firm where I started building made up of predominantly women, like women that would get way more opportunity with me than anywhere else.
00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:55.439
So I I'm in law firm practice management, which is a it's an extra course you can take, but it was a way to get credits and to finish it off.
00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:58.879
So the the assignment for the year is to design your business.
00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:04.639
I'm like, well, I've been thinking of this for, you know, at that point, 15 years, I can do this.
00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:09.039
So I go in and I'm like, you know, designing it all, and and I just take all my thoughts.
00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:10.400
I'll never forget in that class.
00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:12.800
I took all my thoughts and I just threw them on paper.
00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:14.080
It was like so freeing for me.
00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:21.920
Cause all these things that I had thought of as I got older, and and I would get in certain circumstances and situations, I would meet people.
00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:23.759
You didn't, I just never wrote them down.
00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:28.639
So I just like it was just like such the most freeing experience to create this business plan.
00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:32.560
And I'm like, holy crap, that is that is that is goth.
00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:34.480
That is, and I didn't have the name at the time.
00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:36.079
I was like, law ops is a brook off.
00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:39.439
I think that's too isolating, and I think it's disrespectful for the people that you work with.
00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:46.319
Um, because it's not just my law office if I have other lawyers working with me, goth law firm, maybe, goth law group, maybe.
00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:48.560
So um, I didn't know what it was gonna be.
00:04:48.800 --> 00:05:01.040
So I I got an A on the class, but the the professor we had said one thing to me that was the most honest, truing state, truest statement that any entrepreneur can say to another.
00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:07.360
And he's he runs a smaller firm in Connecticut, and he said to me, I was gonna ding you on one thing and I didn't.
00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:08.879
And I said, What?
00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:14.480
He's like, There's no plan like in here, but it's it's you're doing everything.
00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:17.680
He's like, How are you gonna run the business and be the head attorney?
00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:20.399
I'm like, I you have never met anybody like me.
00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:21.839
I can do it all.
00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:23.120
I don't need sleep.
00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:24.959
I don't need this, I need some food.
00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:31.120
I'm type one diabetic, I need insulin, and and and I need a Peloton bike and those three things, that's all I need.
00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:32.160
And like I will get it.
00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:34.160
I need my kids to be okay, and I'm good.
00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:38.480
And you know, so I left that class with my business plan.
00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:46.959
Um, I was working for a firm at the time, and I went to the firm owner and I'd been there for years, like seven years, and I said, I want partner.
00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:48.480
I've done everything in this firm.
00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:49.519
I felt the firm.
00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:50.879
I brought in some of my ideas.
00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:52.319
I helped them build the firm.
00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:54.639
I said, I want a partner.
00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:56.000
I go, I'm on 50-50.
00:05:56.079 --> 00:05:56.800
I'll give you a buy-in.
00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:57.439
It's fine.
00:05:57.600 --> 00:05:59.279
I go, I don't care that I'm a young lawyer.
00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:01.439
I go, I'm gonna grow this thing to the mole.
00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:04.319
And he's like, I don't, we, we can't.
00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:09.120
I I I would I don't want to partner with a he said a woman at one point, but then he said I don't want a partner.
00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:11.600
So whatever it was is probably the biggest mistake he's ever made.
00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:19.439
So I gave him notice the next day, but I had a brand new lawyer out of law school for trials scheduled.
00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:21.199
Even brand new, I've never tried a case before.
00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:24.560
So I gave him like a five-month notice or something long.
00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.800
And I finished out, I got a little bit of trial experience.
00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:37.439
Um, when I left, over 200 of the clients came with me to the new firm because in Connecticut, we have to ballot clients when you leave if you're the main attorney on the file.
00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:39.360
And I was the main attorney on all the files.
00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.399
And the flaw group was born.
00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:44.240
So that was the plan.
00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:46.160
There was the plan is there was no plan.
00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:48.800
The plan was eventually there was gonna be a plan.
00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.399
But I think that the best businesses are built.
00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:54.319
I incorporated my business.
00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:57.680
I was on my way back from a cruise to Bermuda.
00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:01.040
I was pulling into, I forget the name of the place in New Jersey, Bayonne.
00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:01.519
Is that what it is?
00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:02.720
Bayonne where you're going to now?
00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:04.959
And we didn't have service on the boat.
00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:08.480
And uh, so I'm on the boat with my wife, and I'm like, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it.
00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:15.839
I hit complete and done, and golf log was incorporated when I pulled into port.
00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:22.319
The second I pulled into port from Bermuda, I think it was June, June 17th of 2017.
00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:31.680
So was the plan then that it sounded like your plan all along was to be bigger than you, be a bigger than a one one person shop.
00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:32.399
Is that true?
00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:34.160
Dennis and I started our business, right?
00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:40.240
There were seven of us, and I don't think I probably shouldn't admit this, but we never saw past seven people, right?
00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:45.040
We're at 75 now, but we changed our plan a thousand times.
00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:49.360
It sounds like you you saw this thing get big early.
00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:50.319
Is that fair to say?
00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:56.240
What I saw myself doing is taking a small firm and blowing it up.
00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:00.639
That's what I think I I definitely because that's where the life, the world I was in.
00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:04.000
But then you kind of hit the point, you did me the biggest favor ever.
00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:06.560
You kind of hit the point of like, why don't I just blow myself up?
00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:08.560
And that's what I did.
00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:17.279
So to your point, you know, I think if to be a successful entrepreneur, you number one can't fall in love with your own ideas.
00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:20.240
And number two, you have to be able to pivot on a dime, period.
00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:27.360
And, you know, I don't think any of us can ever anticipate the growth, the rate, the timing, the percentage.
00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:33.279
I mean, we can anticipate what we want, but it's typically when you're spending the most money that the growth is not there yet.
00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:37.039
And it's typically when you're spending the least amount of money and you back off that you're growing.
00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:41.679
So to your point, I knew I was not, I am not a one-man shop.
00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:43.279
Like I am a collaborator.
00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:48.000
My my true talents are in collaboration, team building, and leadership.
00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:49.039
1000%.
00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:58.480
And I also don't feel personally that solo attorneys can best service clients.
00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:01.279
I just don't, I mean, big I'm a big firm.
00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:07.039
I have more equity, I have more assets, I have more ability to hire employees, have more employees.
00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:09.120
I can beat the timeline out of anybody.
00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:12.559
I have access to things that other companies don't have, access to benefits.
00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:16.960
I have access to AI, I have access to all the things before everybody else can get it.
00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:20.399
So I think for me, I always knew that it's true.
00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:21.600
Strength is in numbers.
00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:25.759
And I is the worst part of being an entrepreneur.
00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:38.320
The sometimes the building of the team because you have to manage like optics or everything, and you have to manage this person wants, you know, we bring in bagels every Wednesday, and I'm telling you if they're 10 minutes late, you would have thought I'd burn the place down.
00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:39.759
Yes.
00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:49.679
But it's also the most rewarding thing because you watch people grow and elevate themselves and challenge themselves in ways that they never thought possible, and you're creating that environment for them and that success for them.
00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:53.039
So but yeah, I mean, I think I have 70 something right now.
00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:53.360
Yeah.
00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:56.320
How wow, how did you what did you do first?
00:09:56.399 --> 00:10:02.000
I mean, you started off, it was just you and at my kitchen table and my apartment in West Harford.
00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:03.039
Yeah, 20 grand.
00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:04.879
You gotta hire all these people.
00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:09.440
You've got, you know, you're saying you have all this equity, you got all this capital, you got all these these things.
00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:10.720
Well, now, not then.
00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:11.679
But you did, right?
00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:11.840
Yeah.
00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:18.000
So did you just you were just eating, you know, ramen for the first several years and as you were building it?
00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:21.279
So I um I didn't take a paycheck until year four.
00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:33.039
Um, so yeah, and my wife was fell into the generation where she was paid well, but not paid what she should have been, or which put it this way, her male counterparts were making multiple times what she was making.
00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:33.759
How's that?
00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:39.679
So um, you know, we were able to pay the rent and or pay the mortgage or whatever at that point after we bought a house.
00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:42.559
But really, I I mean, I had to pay people.
00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:49.440
So in personal injury, I don't know if your world, but personal injury, I don't make a dollar for about six to nine months on a case.
00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:53.039
So I I it's like you you land the client, that's fine.
00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:56.720
But then there's six to nine months where the client's case has to resolve for me to get paid.
00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:59.200
They don't pay me a retainer um as they shouldn't.
00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:01.440
They there's a process in place for this.
00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:04.720
So I knew there was going to be a real tight 12 months.
00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:13.600
Oh, those cases came over with me from the firm, which was helpful, but then that attorney tried to hold them all up so I couldn't take fees because to punish the the little guy, whatever.
00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:14.879
So I had to make it.
00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:17.039
So I was driving for Uber on Lyft at nights.
00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:22.480
Um I uh yeah, so the hair is this short for a reason.
00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:26.320
It got too much of a pain in the butt to have to style it in the bathroom of the courthouse in the morning.
00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:30.320
So I would kiss my son who was so cute.
00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:35.679
I remember he's only a few years old, maybe three or four, maybe, yeah, maybe four.
00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:41.440
And then I would leave probably around nine or ten, I'd sign in and I would drive through the night three to four nights a week.
00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:48.000
And I would, I had if I could do more or more, I would then drive until I had a court hearing at 9 a.m.
00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:49.360
Most mornings I did.
00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:52.559
And I would just maybe eight o'clock button up.
00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:53.840
I would go to the courthouse bathroom.
00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:55.120
I always had a suit in my trunk.
00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:59.919
I would put it on, and then I was in court, and then I was, it was like I had two personalities.
00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:02.480
I had the Uber personality and I had the other one.
00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:07.360
But let me tell you, I was able to pay my employees and I never went without satisfying payroll.
00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:10.320
So any uh any accidents while you were an Uber driver?
00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:12.639
You know, no, but you know, it's an interesting thing.
00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:17.519
You know, people always they they think, oh, you know, you drove for Uber, that's a great story.
00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:22.159
I'll tell you the most interesting, the best part of the Uber um situation.
00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:27.039
So I lived in West Hartford at the time, and a lot of people go to the airport, executives go to the airports, whatever.
00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:32.480
So I'd be picking these guys up at three, four in the morning to make an early flight or four or five or whatever.
00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:37.519
And I would pick their brains about the businesses that they were running.
00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:39.200
I would ask them, how do you get benefits?
00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:40.240
How because I didn't know.
00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:42.320
I mean, guys, my parents are uneducated.
00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:45.360
I had no, I had nobody to call, nothing to talk to.
00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:47.519
So I'd say, how do you get benefits?
00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:48.720
Or what who do I call?
00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:53.840
And you know, health insurance seems like a concept where you get benefits, but who do you actually call to get that?
00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:56.799
Like IRAs, like what is normal?
00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:58.559
What is contribute versus match me?
00:12:58.799 --> 00:12:59.840
Like, what are all these things?
00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:03.919
So, you know, how to build a bit, like how do you get a line of credit?
00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:04.879
Uh, what do you need?
00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:05.840
Like all these things.
00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:10.720
Like I had probably, I joke, I'm gonna write a book about it one day.
00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:20.399
I probably had north of 30 conversations with different executives where they were like so into the fact I was then they would always say good luck.
00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:25.360
And I sat there and they were so kind to me, and they'll never forget it.
00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:29.200
I would I'd be so excited to tell them my story and tell them what I'm doing.
00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:31.519
And then they would just keep talking and talking and talking.
00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:36.480
Uh, some of the best lessons I still use to this day came out of those Uber rides with those people.
00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:41.039
Because I mean, I was just a young kid from upstate New York, I had no idea what the heck I was doing.
00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:43.600
So you would ever bump into those.
00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:45.039
You ever see any of those people?
00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:49.279
You ever see your professor who who you submitted your business plan to?
00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:55.519
I gotta imagine there's a level of pride that some of these folks have when they see your billboards, they see you on TV.
00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:58.240
I'm on the board at Quinnipiac now.
00:13:58.320 --> 00:13:59.600
That's where I went to law school.
00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:01.679
Um, the professor I referred work to.
00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:03.120
So, so that's pretty cool.
00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:08.399
And uh two of the people that I've driven for Uber's have hired me as their attorneys when they got to accountability.
00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:09.919
And they're like, you don't know who I am.
00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:11.360
I'm like, I have no damn idea.
00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:12.639
Dell, why do you tell me?
00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:16.320
And then they tell me, and I'm like, he's like, I would I he goes, let me see what you got.
00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.120
And I mean, both of them, luckily, they were cases that we did well on.
00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:32.240
But, you know, it's just, you know, I think everything in my world and probably my ignorance young and the process, just because I didn't have that training and I wasn't around a lot of those people, I think played in my benefit quite a bit.
00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:36.799
I've learned that everything in the world of entrepreneurship is a full circle moment.
00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:38.720
You just don't know when that circle is going to close.
00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:46.960
And I think that, you know, like I said, my story, yeah, there's sexy parts of it, there's ruling parts of it, there's like, I never do that.
00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:51.440
But at the end of the day, this is this is what it's created, you know?
00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:52.480
So wow.
00:14:52.559 --> 00:15:03.440
So the grit, the grit that you got from upstate creates this, this tough, this tough entrepreneur, and you build your board of directors in an Uber.
00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:04.240
Right?
00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:05.200
Basically, yeah.
00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:07.919
Yeah, that is that there's a book there for sure.
00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:09.279
Pretty good, right?
00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:10.240
Yeah, yeah.
00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:12.559
So it was uh it was an experience.
00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:16.639
But like I said, I I'm proud to say in 10 years I've never missed a payroll.
00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:18.240
Oh, could you imagine?
00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:22.080
Right, I'm just picturing the guy, the the folks that were in your Uber.
00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:29.600
Now they're driving by and they're seeing you up on the billboard with Mike Tyson and Jared Goff and all these people, like, wait a second.
00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:31.840
I think that was the one who drove me to Brent.
00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:32.480
That is so.
00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:35.679
I mean, maybe, maybe they do, you know, maybe they don't.
00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:39.919
Like I said, the story I tell is not just my story, it's a it's a collaboration of stories.
00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:44.480
I think of when our days are when we retire and we tell our stories.
00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:48.080
I think for somebody to say it's my story is unfair to a lot of people.
00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:51.360
I think it's a compilation of people's stories that create one big one, right?
00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:54.080
So do I do I think that they probably just maybe?
00:15:54.559 --> 00:16:04.080
Um, but I think that for them, they they did what every business owner should do, which is pay it forward and just give somebody an ear and give somebody a minute of your time.
00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:12.080
I think every entrepreneur is probably a 30 or 40 minute Uber ride away from building something really great and just people won't give them the time.
00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:14.000
So you've made this business plan.
00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:18.480
It sounds like it sounds like you it it carried uh you carried it out.
00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:20.879
Surprises, Brooke?
00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:28.559
Are there there surprises that you, you know, as a sound like you had some experience, but but were still a pretty young person when you started your firm.
00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:37.039
What would you if if we went back and we and we pulled that that business plan and and and compared it to you know how things went?
00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:50.559
Well what were the you know, surprises, some of the biggest lessons you learned as we again speaking to your point to other entrepreneurial entrepreneurs who who might be in in in law, most likely they're they're doing something else, right?
00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:53.120
But but following a similar journey nonetheless.
00:16:54.799 --> 00:17:02.480
Honestly, I would say I did not realize that entrepreneurs are so weak at marketing.
00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:07.200
Um, I will tell you, I look at marketing as part of an overall business plan.
00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:09.920
Um, if you don't have a good marketing plan, your business will fail.
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:10.480
That is the truth.
00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:15.359
I don't care if it's you getting out in BI meetings, I don't care what it is, you have to have a marketing plan of some sort.
00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:26.000
Um, you know, how the thing, I think one thing that surprises me every day, which is good in my benefit, is the like copycat approach of the marketing that we do.
00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:29.519
So, you know, women were never on billboards, now they're all on billboards.
00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:35.279
It's like, guys, they want women on billboards because you want to hire them, not because you need a token female in your firm so that you can put her up with me.
00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:44.559
Um, I think that the absence of original ideas in companies that have been around for a long time, my competitors especially, has been the most surprising.
00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:49.680
I always looked at a business as one big, you need the whole thing.
00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:54.079
Like to execute it, you need a whole business plan, a model.
00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:57.039
You need a A plan, a B plan, a C plan.
00:17:57.119 --> 00:17:58.880
And I've pulled from all those plans, by the way.
00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:00.400
I had an A, B, and a C.
00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:07.279
I pulled there's some A in the golf law group, there's some B in golf law group, there was some C's, but it all came together and it always works out at the end.
00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:18.000
Um, I'll say some other surprises, the lack of interest in commercial banks and providing funding for new startup companies and new companies.
00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:33.279
I could have, and I don't wouldn't change anything, but I could have had less nights eating ramen um and and less nights driving throughout the night, had and I had a great credit score, but they said the business is not old enough.
00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:37.359
It's like, but I'm a star like it's not old enough because I'm a new business.
00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:38.240
They denied me.
00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:41.839
And I'm like, guys, I put millions of dollars in out of your bank a year.
00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:47.359
I go to a credit union and they're like, we love you, come in, and they put out like a red carpet experience.
00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:58.480
I would say the big commercial banks, in my opinion, are a little bit of imposters in that they act like they are going to give you everything you need and they don't.
00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:04.240
The small banks or the community banks or the or the credit unions are the ones that are really in the corner of small business.
00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:05.279
I'll say that.
00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:07.599
I'll say uh other surprises.
00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:11.039
I will tell you, employees are a surprise.
00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:14.079
Hiring is a whole nother ball game.
00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:22.000
If I had to give uh advice to anybody, um, and I should one regret I do have is I did not get an HR uh generalist in place early enough.
00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:23.359
I was handling that.
00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:27.359
And although I think it did a pretty good job, it's just a whole nother world.
00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:32.240
And your employees don't necessarily want to talk to the owner, they want to talk to somebody that's not the owner.
00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:33.680
They're not going to always be honest with you.
00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:48.000
So I would say um the my inability to have my finger on the pulse of everything regarding my employees and their experience, um, which is a constant, as you guys can understand, uh evolving task.
00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:53.359
Uh, the other surprise I will say is that last surprise is that it's very lonely at the top.
00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:56.799
I'm a very strong mental person, very strong.
00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:02.960
Um, there were moments where I came to breaking points just because it seems like when it reads the boards and everything happens.
00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:10.880
I was always one of these people that grew up and said, you know, uh mental health, like therapists are BS and they don't do anything, da-da-da.
00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:14.720
I have a very good therapist that I'm able to just vent to.
00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:25.440
And I would say the big surprise was that I did need that extra crutch to be able to just get it all out.
00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:31.039
And then getting it out allows you to manage it and process it differently and be able to come back stronger and better for your people.
00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:32.559
So those are my surprises, I would say.
00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:35.279
That that is thank you for sharing that.
00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:36.000
That is awesome.
00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:37.519
Listen, I'm an open book, guys.
00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:39.359
I my story is my snory, you know.
00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:40.319
I love it.
00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:44.880
So you you mentioned I want to go back in a little bit to the leadership piece, like building a leadership team.
00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:46.640
And you mentioned HR, for example.
00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:47.039
Yeah.
00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:49.839
But I want to touch a little bit on the marketing.
00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:50.400
Okay.
00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:55.359
Because again, you start out, you you don't have any money to spend on a marketing plan.
00:20:55.519 --> 00:21:01.119
And you know, as in professional services, trust, reputation are everything.
00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:03.680
How do you build a marketing plan?
00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:05.519
How did you build a marketing plan?
00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:08.240
And again, you were you study business and undergrad and law.
00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:16.079
How do you build a how do you build a marketing plan that somehow conveys trust and helps to bolster your reputation?
00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:17.519
How do you how do you do that?
00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:18.880
And did someone help you with that?
00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:20.559
No, that was all mine.
00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:26.240
To build trust, I think that there's no such thing as a marketing plan that builds trust.
00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:27.599
I don't think that.
00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:30.559
I think that you have to earn the trust.
00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:40.559
I think to say just that, oh, I saw her her billboard, which said car accident with Mike Tyson call me or whatever the what I I've done a bunch since then.
00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:44.000
If you trust me because of that, you're trusting me for the wrong reason.
00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:50.319
Uh that's there's a difference between branding and you know, direct to consumer marketing.
00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:51.519
Two very different things, right?
00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:54.319
Because direct to consumer, you want them to hire you on the spot.
00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:56.079
Like they saw your ad, this is that.
00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:01.839
I will tell you what I thought of is I You know, I'm again this kid from upstate New York.
00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:02.960
We didn't even have cable growing up.
00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:05.200
And I get to Connecticut, I go to college here.
00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:09.359
And I'm all all these commercials were lawyers.
00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:11.519
So I'll never forget the first Super Bowl I was here.
00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:13.200
There was like two lawyers on the Super Bowl.
00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:15.200
I think they were tiny little like clippet spots.
00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:18.160
But before and after the Super Bowl, there were tons of commercials.
00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:22.160
And I'll never forget, like, all of them looked the damn same.
00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:24.640
Like they were like, hurt in an accident, call me.
00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:25.599
And they would be in like, what?
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:27.839
I'm like, and I'm like, this is not a real courtroom.
00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:30.559
And there's not, you know, 12 jurors on a court.
00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:31.440
Like, what are these people doing?
00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:32.799
It's personal injury law.
00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:38.079
So you would see the really makings of AI, I suppose, but you would see these things.
00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:40.319
And I'm like, what do all these people have in common?
00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:42.799
Because you know, I'm not an entrepreneur, your mind's always moving.
00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:48.079
So anytime I would see something was an opportunity or an opportunity to potentially, you know, change my plan.
00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:52.720
And I'm like, all these attractions, I one day I never I'll never forget.
00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:57.200
We were drinking Klas Azul, which was very fancy to kill over college students.
00:22:57.359 --> 00:22:59.440
And we were sitting in the gymnasium.
00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:01.599
And um, there were a few of us.
00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:09.279
Uh, one of the jobs I had in in college was I cleaned up some of the volleyballs after the volleyball team, like, you know, hit them around or whatever.
00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:18.640
And we were sitting there, I was sitting there with a couple of uh people that were in my dorm, and we sat there and I'm like, you know, how about these lawyer commercials?
00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:20.160
Like, oh yeah, because they're from Connecticut.
00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:21.039
It's like, oh yeah, yeah.
00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:24.480
And I'm like, Do you how do you know the difference between them?
00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:26.240
Like, I'm like, they're all the same.
00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:32.960
Oh no, well, yeah, you know, you just kind of like, I'm like, so if you actually were hurt in an accident, who would you call?
00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:35.599
She goes, I don't know, probably the last commercial I saw.
00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:38.559
And I'm like, that's terrible, that's terrible.
00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:41.039
So I'm like, that's not that's not good.
00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:47.920
So I would that at that moment something really just clicked, and I'm like, there's so Brooke, let me let me interrupt you if I could for a second.
00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:49.599
So that's undergrad, yes?
00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:51.039
That's undergrad, yeah.
00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:57.839
So in undergrad, you're already fixated on personal injury law.
00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:01.759
I was fixated on being a lawyer, period.
00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:04.880
Until I got to Connecticut.
00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:07.279
I realized personal injury very quickly.
00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:11.279
I mean, I wanted to, I was wanted to be a lawyer since I was like eight years old.
00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:14.319
I was told you get to fight with people and make a lot of money.
00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:15.519
It was a way out of poverty.
00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:17.440
I'm like, sign me up, my friends, sign me up.
00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:20.000
And I get to fight with people, get paid for it, sign me up.
00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:21.359
Uh no, undergrad.
00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:30.720
So that's really kind of where the connection, and I was um, I started that job where I can't be partners with in 2000, I think it was eight.
00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:33.920
So, you know, yeah, I was.
00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:39.359
I was just coming out of undergrad because I did my I did um my MBA coursework, and then I went to law school.
00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:41.839
So there was like a couple years there too.
00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.960
So so yeah, so I'm sitting there and I'm with these people and I'm like, they're all the same.
00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:46.480
I'm like, there's something wrong.
00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:48.960
And I'm like, but how do you know if they're good?
00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:51.519
And and one of those, like, I mean, does it really matter?
00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:52.240
It's a car accident.
00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:54.480
I'm like, wow, this is really bad.
00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:59.839
So I said, How can I make it so then when people hire me?
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.880
Well, when people see my commercial, they ignore everybody else's.
00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:06.880
And when people hire me, they give a better answer than it's just a car accident.
00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:14.559
So I decided I was gonna do all, I mean, again, we didn't have cable, so the only things we saw at night when I was at home were infomercials.
00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:17.440
They were, they were, they were paid advertising, paid.
00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:22.079
Um, so I'm like, I'm gonna create mini infomercials, and nobody's ever done it.
00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:23.599
And I did, and that's what I did.
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:25.920
You could have been, uh, was it Miss Cleo?
00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:27.039
Is that uh the the leader?
00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:27.759
Did she do info?
00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:30.319
No, she just did the nighttime talking, right?
00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:33.759
You could have just you could have chosen that as the entrepreneurial channel.
00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:34.240
Yeah, I know.
00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:37.599
I'm not, I I think isn't Miss Cleo a psychic.
00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:38.799
Yeah, exactly.
00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:39.519
That's what I was thinking.
00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:40.640
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:42.640
No, not really my game.
00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:46.799
But yeah, that was like that was kind of the uh that was kind of the concept.
00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:48.880
And then I just kind of work from there.
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:52.640
So for me, I wanted to be different and memorable.
00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:56.240
And I want people to hire me because they want me, not because they need me.
00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:59.920
For me, I think a lot of people hire lawyers in need, not in want.
00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:02.880
And I think that's an off a relationship to have with a client.
00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:04.960
I want people to hire me because they choose me.
00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:13.440
So I I will I think you you have built reputation and trust because I think your TV commercials and your radio commercials too, I think.
00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:15.279
But that's give free advice.
00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:19.920
But that's how you're saying how do you build trust and reputation?
00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:21.759
Billboards don't.
00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:23.039
Billboards are branding.
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:27.920
Commercials, I look at every 30-second commercial as an as an introduction to somebody.
00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:32.559
I if you're from not from Connecticut, my name is Brooke Goff, and let me tell you what to do if you're in a car accident.
00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:33.839
You get 30 seconds.
00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:40.000
So everybody in Connecticut has met me through my 30 seconds of what to do in a car accident, and people recite them in the grocery stores.
00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:41.279
But that is what I was saying.
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:45.599
The difference between the advertising before and this, that's how you build trust.
00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:47.519
Yeah, branding versus marketing.
00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:47.920
Yeah.
00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:48.319
Right.
00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:48.799
Yeah.
00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:49.440
Right.
00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:57.920
People are really, really good about it.
00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:01.359
Um, I believe it or not, I know this is going to be crazy to hear.
00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:04.480
I mean, the attention is not a driving force for me.
00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:05.279
It's really not.
00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:11.759
I I could, I mean, I used to be able to hide in the baseball cap and have a really quiet weekend, not so much anymore.
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:19.599
I I really hurt myself with the golfing one because I had my hat on backwards, and now everybody has seen what I look like with it on backwards uh on a couple of them.
00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:21.519
And Saquemon, I had it on backwards.
00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:26.640
So I think the golf one I had the Nike hat I love on forward, and then I had it backwards for Saquemon.
00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:28.400
So they've seen me in every look of the hat.
00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:29.759
People are really great.
00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:40.000
You know, I think that when you build a brand and it's a success, I mean, your ultimate compliment are people knowing who you are and they want to talk to you and say hi to you.
00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:43.759
I'll tell you the best, the best highs are my daughter loves you.
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:45.599
Can I call her on Zoom or take a picture?
00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:53.440
And you're looking at this 15-year-old girl that now, which I never got to see, who sees a powerhouse woman.
00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:55.680
Like, imagine what that girl's gonna be able to do.
00:27:55.920 --> 00:28:02.720
Like, I always felt on this earth, if we can be the differentiating factor for one person, we've done our job.
00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:06.559
I like to think that I'm that differentiating factor for a lot of young women.
00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:09.119
And I think that that is the best part of it.
00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:10.079
So, do I get annoyed?
00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:10.559
No.
00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:14.880
There's been times where men get a little handsy, that's been very interesting.
00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:18.160
So, yeah, that's been fun with my kids there.
00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:21.519
But other than that, people are pretty good.
00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:24.079
Yeah, that's heavy, though.
00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:32.240
That's heavy to to to feel the pressure, if that's the right word, of young ladies looking up to you.
00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:39.440
I mean, I'm just thinking the thing is, isn't when you're not faking it, it's not like I all my billboards are my concepts.
00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:41.599
I find them to be entertaining and funny.
00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:46.720
It's I said, I never want anybody else to be able to compete with me.
00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:47.440
How do I do it?
00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:50.480
I'm gonna create golf law group and it's gonna be only brook golf.
00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:52.960
You can do whatever you want, but you're never brook.
00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:55.279
You can't, you don't know what's coming next.
00:28:55.440 --> 00:28:58.079
You don't know what I'm doing, you don't know why I'm doing it.
00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:03.839
And I think every entrepreneur needs to understand take those things about you that set you apart from everybody else.
00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:08.480
For me, it was being a poor, ignorant kid and capitalize on it.
00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:25.519
Find those things because the things that you think are the problems with you, whether you are sick, type one diabetes, uh, cancer survivor, uh, was given up by your parents for adoption, those things that you think are your weaknesses are actually your strengths in building a business because they make you memorable.
00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:30.240
It's just that you can figure out how to capitalize and make them your business.
00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:31.759
And that's kind of what I've done.
00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:34.079
So to have pressure on me, not really.
00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:35.839
I mean, I am who I am.
00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:41.680
I do I, of course, make sure that I, especially because I know that there's people that look up.
00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:43.279
Do I make sure I stay within lines?
00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:44.240
Absolutely.
00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:48.079
But I mean, listen, you know, I think I don't think we can all be perfect.
00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:50.720
Not in a perfect world we could be, and we're not in a perfect world.
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:58.400
And I think I show up every day for my clients, my future clients, my kids, uh, and my employees, and I I think it do pretty damn good.
00:29:58.559 --> 00:30:00.480
So that's awesome.
00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:19.759
As you go, yeah, going going back to to kind of building the business and and grow as as it's growing, is um, I'll I guess I'll recite this to you as as we as we've experienced it, and I think many of our uh business owner clients have their their this notion of wearing all these hats in the beginning.
00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:26.880
I met clearly you were uh for you you had an Uber driver hat too, but you were uh right, you were a lawyer, you were you were a marketer.
00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:30.559
I bet before you hired an HR person, you were the HR person.
00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:34.880
How have you have you passed those hats to some other folks?
00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:37.759
And and how did that can you describe that?
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:39.119
Is it was it hard to let go?
00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:41.039
What were the more important ones?
00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:42.880
I mean, you have to have the right people.
00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:43.920
I think that that's it.
00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:45.759
You know when the right person's here when they're here.
00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:48.480
I think people hire out of necessity.
00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:57.599
I tend to hire out of what I need later, not what I need now, which is very helpful because I think people, business owners, this is the problem.
00:30:57.759 --> 00:31:01.680
Entrepreneurs want to pocket as much of the money as possible as early as possible.
00:31:01.920 --> 00:31:04.000
I never lived that life because I never had any.
00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:07.279
So to me, money here, money there, it didn't, it didn't matter to me.
00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:08.559
The money was not the motivator.
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:12.160
And I think that's what's made all the difference to be on the ignorance factor.
00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:17.279
I think that you have to be, you have to have the right people in place and you have to be with the people long enough.
00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:20.640
I think people can show you one side of their face and then you see another.
00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:26.319
Um, you really have to take the time to get to know the people to see who's going to be in that position.
00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:34.160
I'll tell you, you know, where entrepreneurs get it wrong is they think investing in themselves is paying themselves.
00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:34.720
It's not.
00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:40.799
It's investing in other people to take things off of yourself so you can do the things that make you more money.
00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:45.440
Entrepreneurs don't know how to invest into themselves.
00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:48.240
They think investing in themselves is paying themselves.
00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:49.200
It is not.
00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:52.400
The G Wagon is not an investment in myself.
00:31:52.640 --> 00:32:01.839
That's a I live in my car basically and want to drive a nice car, but an investment in myself is my managing partner, is my accounting department, is my HR.
00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:07.519
And I think that entrepreneurs struggle with taking money from themselves to give it to someone else.
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:09.519
Newsflash, the money doesn't belong to you.
00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:10.559
You pay last.
00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:15.680
And it's really easy to spend money that technically doesn't belong to you yet.
00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:22.000
So for me, again, I grew up watching two parents make$30,000 a year and support four kids.
00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:23.440
Money comes, money goes.
00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:27.759
I always believe that when you do the right thing with money, it comes back tenfold.
00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:28.960
It has for me.
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:38.880
But I will also tell you that investing in people like my managing partner or like my accounting department or like my partners in my firm, investing in really good people.
00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:43.599
I mean, I will tell you when you're an entrepreneur, a lifestyle is priceless.
00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:44.720
Priceless.
00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:47.440
When you're not working around the clock, it's priceless.
00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:52.559
So I think that people look at entrepreneurship like the reward is money.
00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:55.119
The reward is not money, the reward is success.
00:32:55.359 --> 00:33:00.319
And success does not necessarily equate to money out the gate.
00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:04.480
I just think that everybody doesn't see the big picture.
00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:07.839
I talk to young entrepreneurs and I'm like, Ben there, I know what's coming.
00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:21.200
If you're an entrepreneur and you haven't hit a point where you are worried of who's going to get paid your mortgage, IRS, or your uh employees, you haven't gone full circle yet.
00:33:21.599 --> 00:33:23.519
You haven't hit rock bottom yet.
00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:30.960
And I think that a lot of entrepreneurs, especially with TikToks and everything else, they think that I'm like you have no idea what's coming.
00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:34.160
So to answer your question, very long answer.
00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:44.960
Yeah, was there a particular moment, a particular issue where you realized it was just a either you had a had a weakness or the firm had a weakness that you couldn't fill?
00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:53.920
Was it was it more of uh bodies in the organization, or was there a was there a specific expertise that you needed?
00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:54.480
Yep.
00:33:55.119 --> 00:34:15.199
Um ever since 2000, the defining moment of the firm was in 2020, where I made the most aggressive, riskiest decision in the firm I've ever made, which is when all the injury lawyers, when COVID happened and all the injury lawyers dropped their commercials and dropped their billboards, I bought them all under three-year terms at bottom rock bottom rates.
00:34:15.760 --> 00:34:22.480
Um, I was in new business, I didn't have the money, so I probably bought four million dollars of media for about 1.5.
00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:24.559
And I did longer contracts.
00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:27.280
Because guys, it's again, it's America.
00:34:27.360 --> 00:34:28.719
The COVID was gonna blow over.
00:34:28.800 --> 00:34:30.559
It was just a matter of time when, right?
00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:36.639
So I'm like, listen, everybody's the truck driver's gonna know if Bob is still around in three years.
00:34:36.719 --> 00:34:37.440
That's fine.
00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:47.119
But uh, and the mailman, but uh, you know, I that was a defining moment because that's where you guys now you see me now you like like where who is this person?
00:34:47.599 --> 00:34:59.199
And um, so I will tell you that was kind of a definitely a defining moment, but I would say since that point, my firm grows between 15 and 25 percent a year, which is pretty insane.
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:05.440
So as you grow, so when you were growing 15 to 20 percent of three million, that's manageable.
00:35:05.679 --> 00:35:10.000
When you grow 15 to 30 percent of 30 million, that's a lot different.
00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:15.440
So, and you got to remember as an entrepreneur in this world, my world, you're funding the growth.
00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:16.239
You're paid less.
00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:17.440
So, so the growth is great.
00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:22.960
Celebrate the growth, yes, but you're funding it because the you haven't been paid for that growth yet.
00:35:23.119 --> 00:35:28.320
So I think as the rewards go up, so does your risk.
00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:48.639
And I think that your your ability to weather the seas has got you have got to have a strong mind and you have got to surround yourself with people that also have strong minds that will slay for you, that will jump in front of a bus for you.
00:35:48.960 --> 00:35:51.679
And I think I've been able to do that.
00:35:52.000 --> 00:36:00.960
And I'm not suggesting anybody's jumping in front of a bus, but you need people that are loyal to you, but loyalty is not bought, it's earned.
00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:07.119
And that's why the decisions you make today are going to be so imperative two years from now.
00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:09.119
But I don't think I think people want everything.
00:36:09.280 --> 00:36:11.119
The American way is I want it right now, right now.
00:36:11.199 --> 00:36:12.880
We're all in full sub right now.
00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:21.679
If you don't have a marketing plan andor a plan of employment or a business plan where your rewards don't come for two to three years, you're doing it all wrong.
00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:23.920
And if they come early, celebrate.
00:36:24.159 --> 00:36:25.760
But most of the time they don't.
00:36:26.159 --> 00:36:36.639
So, so you you've done so much uh of building the business out and you have this the leadership team, and you've got accounting and finance, and you've got uh marketing and HR and all these different things.
00:36:36.880 --> 00:36:38.480
What are you building to next?
00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:44.079
What is what what's kind of next in the next chapter are you planning for?
00:36:44.239 --> 00:36:46.000
What's the next chapter you're planning for?
00:36:46.239 --> 00:36:49.519
And you create a company beyond Brooke Goth?
00:36:50.480 --> 00:36:52.400
So it's a great, I think that's a great question.
00:36:52.559 --> 00:37:03.920
Number one is I think again, I use the word entrepreneur, people are gonna get sick of me saying it, but every good entrepreneur, the hardest job part of being an entrepreneur isn't even all the things I I talked about.
00:37:04.159 --> 00:37:15.039
It's keeping up with the market and being non and not being is that right, and not being in denial of changes in the market that are gonna affect you negatively.
00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:17.360
I think a lot of business owners are like, oh, no problem.
00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:18.239
It's worked for me for years.
00:37:18.320 --> 00:37:18.719
It's not.
00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:21.280
AI is coming for everybody, it's the truth.
00:37:21.440 --> 00:37:26.239
And it might not be coming for you, but it might be coming for the, you got to remember, you know, a law firm.
00:37:26.480 --> 00:37:27.599
Great, we're a law firm.
00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:28.719
I have adjusters I work.
00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:30.159
I think they're going for the adjusters.
00:37:30.320 --> 00:37:35.360
I have this when you take the human element out of things, that changes things all around.
00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:41.119
I think that, you know, for me, how I react to the environment.
00:37:41.199 --> 00:37:44.400
I have new out-of-state firms and they come, they have come into Connecticut.
00:37:44.559 --> 00:37:45.840
Do I think people should hire them?
00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:46.239
No.
00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:49.440
Do I think that they're all here because they saw Connecticut as a target?
00:37:49.599 --> 00:37:50.000
Yes.
00:37:50.239 --> 00:37:51.599
Do I think that they're gonna last?
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:52.079
No.
00:37:52.239 --> 00:37:52.639
Why?
00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:54.800
Because we are a different breed here.
00:37:54.960 --> 00:37:59.280
People are educated here and local means something to people here.
00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:01.519
They want people that they can go in and see.
00:38:01.920 --> 00:38:04.079
We're just a different animal here.
00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:05.679
But there's a storm to be weathered.
00:38:05.760 --> 00:38:07.599
It's gonna be probably a four-year storm, right?
00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:29.519
So, how can I pivot as to what I'm doing to continue spreading my brand and my, you know, recognition around and running my business the same way, but not even directly, not directly act against what's going on, but act in Brooks' way of how can I take advantage of the situation and make a better situation out of it.
00:38:29.679 --> 00:38:31.440
And those are the things we're working on now.
00:38:31.519 --> 00:38:33.280
And a lot of that's involving expansion.
00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:36.000
You know, again, I talked to you, the solos will be around.
00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:39.199
I think you're gonna be hard pressed to find a solo in three to five years.
00:38:39.360 --> 00:38:51.440
So building the best, most powerful team I can, expanding everywhere so that everybody, not just Harvard, not just, you know, part of the central Connecticut, everybody understands what difference we bring to the table.
00:38:51.760 --> 00:39:00.000
And for me, out of state, we're looking at there's a lot of things that we're looking at, but I refuse to expand if I can't do it responsibly.
00:39:00.159 --> 00:39:06.000
And I refuse to expand if I can't do it the way I want to do it.
00:39:06.320 --> 00:39:10.159
And I think that, you know, for me, it's not like, oh, okay, go to New York.
00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:12.719
Go like these firms, just like they move.
00:39:13.199 --> 00:39:22.079
I make decisions based on what I feel and know will work and who will be receptive to what it is I bring to the table.
00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:24.960
I run one business and it's all going to be done the same.
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:29.119
Um, so I would tell you that's definitely expansion is on the table.
00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:31.519
I will tell you, I get contacted a lot.
00:39:31.679 --> 00:39:35.679
One of my passions is the marketing and the way on which I'm able to market myself.
00:39:35.920 --> 00:39:47.599
There may or or it'd be in the future a uh boutique marketing firm set up where I can work with small businesses and some companies and help them find their way.
00:39:47.840 --> 00:39:50.159
Yeah, diversify your revenue a little bit.
00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:50.639
Yeah.
00:39:50.880 --> 00:39:53.199
I mean, you you guys know more about that than anything.
00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:55.119
So yes, uh, diversify my revenue.
00:39:55.440 --> 00:40:00.719
I the recommendation, and I and you're you guys probably will hate me for saying this in your podcast.
00:40:00.880 --> 00:40:06.400
The recommendation I would give to any entrepreneur in this market right now is now's not the time.
00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:10.719
It's the the political environment's not right.
00:40:10.800 --> 00:40:14.320
Yeah, the the it's too expensive to operate right now.
00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:18.719
There are way too many brazen people that haven't lost all their money on bad decisions yet.
00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:21.599
Sit back and wait for your opportunity.
00:40:21.760 --> 00:40:21.920
Yeah.
00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:23.199
And then go in.
00:40:23.440 --> 00:40:25.280
Work with someone first.
00:40:25.679 --> 00:40:28.559
Figure out what to do and what not to do.
00:40:28.719 --> 00:40:32.000
That attorney that said I'll never partner with you, it's the biggest mistake he ever made.
00:40:32.079 --> 00:40:41.039
But he taught me what never to do, which is to shut the door because I have some stupid like theory about like I value my my opinions over somebody.
00:40:41.119 --> 00:40:47.760
Like, listen, at the end of the day, it's the best I should send them baskets every June 2017, whatever the hell it was.
00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:58.880
But it's the best decision for me that anybody's ever made because it put me in a position where I had to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:01.119
And I ran the cybrook.
00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:02.079
Do you ever think about that?
00:41:02.159 --> 00:41:10.480
What if he said, okay, fine, and and maybe not gave you everything you wanted, but enough to just kind of keep you happy enough, but not so much.
00:41:10.719 --> 00:41:14.239
I wanted partner, I wanted to be left alone and I wanted to blow it up.
00:41:14.639 --> 00:41:15.760
It was a perfect opportunity.
00:41:15.840 --> 00:41:17.599
He was ready to retire his perfect afternoon.
00:41:17.840 --> 00:41:18.320
Yeah.
00:41:18.559 --> 00:41:20.719
So he's still working, by the way.
00:41:21.679 --> 00:41:29.519
So you were getting a bunch of your board of advisors, were your passengers at some point.
00:41:30.239 --> 00:41:33.280
You certainly aren't driving an Uber anymore.
00:41:33.519 --> 00:41:36.800
Where are you getting your where are you getting your your help now?
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:37.920
Who are you leaning on?
00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:39.199
Is it is it all internal?
00:41:39.360 --> 00:41:43.199
Do you have people externally that that you lean on?
00:41:43.599 --> 00:41:45.760
I will tell you that's a great question, too.
00:41:48.880 --> 00:41:52.000
Um I have a fractional COO who I bounce a lot off of.
00:41:52.079 --> 00:41:54.079
It's the best investment you can ever make.
00:41:54.239 --> 00:41:55.360
Uh, she's phenomenal.
00:41:55.519 --> 00:42:00.079
She works in the personal injury space, and she's not, you know, as entrepreneurs, we get yes to death.
00:42:00.159 --> 00:42:01.280
She doesn't yes me to death at all.
00:42:01.360 --> 00:42:03.360
She'll be like, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
00:42:03.519 --> 00:42:05.760
Or she'll say it works, or she'll say, This is great.
00:42:05.920 --> 00:42:06.880
She's phenomenal.
00:42:07.199 --> 00:42:10.000
I I listen to my people, including my employees.
00:42:10.159 --> 00:42:12.239
My secretary has an idea I'm listening.
00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:14.320
Tell me how I can make this better.
00:42:14.559 --> 00:42:15.679
Tell me what I can do.
00:42:15.920 --> 00:42:17.119
Like, tell me your ideas.
00:42:17.199 --> 00:42:18.320
Like, what is it from your lens?
00:42:18.559 --> 00:42:22.800
Because you have to remember, I'm not answering the phones and sitting at the secretary's desk.
00:42:23.119 --> 00:42:29.679
I understand it, you know, I will say like book smart wise, but I'm not doing that job, right?
00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:35.840
I'd starting as a power legal in a in a legal secretary answering phones did help me because I know what they're doing.
00:42:36.159 --> 00:42:38.159
But the the market's just moving so fast.
00:42:38.320 --> 00:42:40.880
Like, what can I do to make this better for you or easy for you?
00:42:41.119 --> 00:42:43.599
I'll tell you, my management partner has a lot of opinions.
00:42:43.760 --> 00:42:47.360
We are oil and vinegar, which is the best thing you can ever do.
00:42:47.519 --> 00:42:50.320
Do not surround yourselves with like-minded people.
00:42:50.559 --> 00:42:57.360
Surround yourselves with people that are that have the same goal, but would take two completely different roads to get there.
00:42:57.519 --> 00:43:01.360
Because that middle road where you guys come together is always the best road.
00:43:01.519 --> 00:43:02.639
It always is.
00:43:02.800 --> 00:43:05.840
Sometimes my road is the best road, but quite a bit.
00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:10.079
But that middle road, like you don't want to miss the scenery on the middle road, you know?
00:43:10.400 --> 00:43:17.840
I'll tell you, I have an HR consultant as well who works for a big company who um works with my HR person in my office.
00:43:18.320 --> 00:43:25.280
I have read a lot of books about rights pre-education, about, you know, and and I'm so interested.
00:43:25.360 --> 00:43:27.280
I only want to read the books where it failed.
00:43:27.440 --> 00:43:37.920
I don't want to read the success stories because I want to take from the failures and I want to make sure, like, see, where are my holes and where can I need, do I need to patch before this spreads?
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:46.480
And I'll tell you, like, really, some of the best, I this is gonna sound so stupid, but some of the best advice I've gotten from my 13 year old son.
00:43:46.719 --> 00:43:59.519
Sometimes you have to take your your your you have to take yourselves out of the I'm gonna be 40 this year, the 39 year old entrepreneur, and you have to talk to your kids.
00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:01.920
And you have to say, my son's Grayson.
00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:03.679
Grayson, what do you think about this?
00:44:04.400 --> 00:44:09.519
And depending on his level of excitement, I pay attention to that.
00:44:09.679 --> 00:44:11.280
Is it 13-year-old in my company?
00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:11.840
No.
00:44:12.079 --> 00:44:16.960
But it definitely brings you back to how that connection with clients.
00:44:17.119 --> 00:44:19.039
How am I going to connect with this person?
00:44:19.280 --> 00:44:23.760
And how and how am I going to take because sometimes it's hard to take the entrepreneurial hat off.
00:44:23.920 --> 00:44:25.519
It's hard to take the business hat off.
00:44:25.679 --> 00:44:28.480
And there were times I ran a billboard by him one time.
00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:29.280
What do you think of this?
00:44:29.440 --> 00:44:31.119
He goes, Well, it'd be better if it said this.
00:44:31.199 --> 00:44:34.000
And I used to, and it was a great campaign.
00:44:34.320 --> 00:44:34.719
Interesting.
00:44:35.039 --> 00:44:39.199
We don't have any 13-year-olds to bounce stuff off, but we act like 13-year-olds.
00:44:40.400 --> 00:44:44.000
The 13-year-old for me, my son, who by the way is my biggest critic.
00:44:44.079 --> 00:44:46.320
So there's that, um, which is helpful.
00:44:46.559 --> 00:44:58.079
I will tell you, there are people that you can talk to that you whether it's not family, family's always going to decide, but you need to find an unbiased person to talk to and to run things off of.
00:44:58.239 --> 00:45:08.000
I will tell you the biggest problem I had is when you're a successful person, everybody wants to make the connection for the connection or for the money or whatever it is.
00:45:08.239 --> 00:45:16.159
And I'll tell you the biggest mistake you can make in the one thing you have to get good at is identifying who the yes people are.
00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:18.559
You do not want to surround yourself with yes people.
00:45:18.719 --> 00:45:26.480
Those people serve you no, but actually they're they're toxic to you because you, if they're saying yes just to get up here with you, it's not good.
00:45:26.559 --> 00:45:27.039
And I'm not sure.
00:45:27.199 --> 00:45:29.519
Surround yourselves with people who are brave enough to say no.
00:45:29.679 --> 00:45:29.920
Yeah.
00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:30.400
Yeah.
00:45:30.719 --> 00:45:34.239
Um my managing partner tells me I have bad ideas every day.
00:45:34.480 --> 00:45:40.719
And I love her for it because listen, I tend to think the ideas are good, and then she tends to say they're bad.
00:45:40.800 --> 00:45:42.880
And like I said, we find somewhere in between.
00:45:43.039 --> 00:45:52.480
So do you you you mentioned how you talk, you've got your fractional COO, you've got an HR consultant, got your managing partner, you have your executive assistant.
00:45:52.719 --> 00:45:57.920
Do you have an organized process by which to go to them to get feedback?
00:45:58.079 --> 00:46:02.239
Because we talk all the time with our clients about working on the business, not just in the business.
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:11.440
And you, as busy as you are, how do you how do you put structure to that working on the business with some of those resources?
00:46:11.760 --> 00:46:17.360
So I put myself in a position where I only work in the business if I have the capacity to do it.
00:46:17.679 --> 00:46:19.280
And I think that's how you do it.
00:46:19.440 --> 00:46:25.679
You have to put yourself in a position where if I don't show up in a day, the business is still gonna operate and it's gonna be fine, right?
00:46:25.840 --> 00:46:32.239
I'll tell you I work on the business 85% of the time, 80% of the time, and in the business 20% of the time.
00:46:32.400 --> 00:46:43.199
My job is to make sure we grow, uh, we survive the storms and that all of my employees get better deals here and and are treated well here and get the best benefits here than anybody else.
00:46:43.440 --> 00:46:47.440
For me to do that, if I were working in the business, it would be uh detriment to them.
00:46:47.679 --> 00:46:48.800
Do you miss that, Brooke?
00:46:48.880 --> 00:46:51.920
Do you miss, you know, not working more in the business?
00:46:52.239 --> 00:46:54.079
So I do something a little different.
00:46:54.239 --> 00:46:56.880
I actually randomly pick up the phone and call clients.
00:46:57.119 --> 00:47:05.360
Even if I'm not working directly on the case all the time, I miss the client contact because I have quite people, I have questions like, why'd you hire me?
00:47:05.519 --> 00:47:06.239
What's going on?
00:47:06.400 --> 00:47:07.679
Talk to me about your injury.
00:47:07.840 --> 00:47:10.079
I put myself in a position where I can still do that.
00:47:10.239 --> 00:47:14.079
I talk to clients, I'll go to hospitals and meet clients for certain cases.
00:47:14.239 --> 00:47:16.800
I've never actually fully left that.
00:47:17.039 --> 00:47:18.000
Do I miss?
00:47:18.880 --> 00:47:20.239
I'm a born entrepreneur.
00:47:20.320 --> 00:47:20.960
How's that?
00:47:21.119 --> 00:47:24.239
I my I could grow 20 businesses and sell them.
00:47:24.320 --> 00:47:26.000
I'm a born entrepreneur.
00:47:26.239 --> 00:47:32.480
I'm just lucky that I love the law because I think for the people of Connecticut, we do amazing work here.
00:47:32.880 --> 00:47:37.039
And most entrepreneurs build these businesses and sell them.
00:47:37.280 --> 00:47:42.960
And this business has been like my brainchild and it's my favorite obsession.
00:47:43.119 --> 00:47:45.119
Sounds like you love every aspect of it.
00:47:45.280 --> 00:47:51.039
You love being a lawyer, you love running a law firm, you love the marketing aspect, you love mentoring the your people.
00:47:51.440 --> 00:47:53.199
Is that is that fair to say?
00:47:53.519 --> 00:47:58.000
Yes, I love being able to hold people accountable.
00:47:58.159 --> 00:48:02.239
It is my number one thing.
00:48:02.480 --> 00:48:03.280
Everybody has a thing.
00:48:03.360 --> 00:48:04.079
I was an athlete.
00:48:04.239 --> 00:48:06.639
Everybody has a thing that they love.
00:48:06.800 --> 00:48:09.679
My number one thing in this world is holding people accountable.
00:48:09.920 --> 00:48:13.360
And I'm either gonna hold you accountable the easy way or the hard way.
00:48:13.679 --> 00:48:15.679
But they always see the light at the end of the day.
00:48:15.760 --> 00:48:19.440
And the fact that I can do that and then call the client, and then I then I get to do that.
00:48:19.519 --> 00:48:22.559
I get to fight with people nicely, make relationships.
00:48:22.639 --> 00:48:24.880
I can have a beer with any adjuster, and we get along.
00:48:25.119 --> 00:48:27.440
But then I get to call my clients and tell them.
00:48:27.599 --> 00:48:32.400
And then they get this life-altering news, and then you get you they cry on the phone.
00:48:32.559 --> 00:48:38.079
I I can buy my daughter a trip, I can pay for my daughter's college, I can do these things.
00:48:38.480 --> 00:48:41.760
I mean, what you're doing when you do what I do is mean something.
00:48:42.079 --> 00:48:50.079
And I think that a lot of entrepreneurs are trying to always find purpose in what they're doing, and that's why they sell and make another one and sell.
00:48:50.159 --> 00:48:52.480
I found my purpose and I love it, and I built it.
00:48:52.639 --> 00:48:54.400
So for me, I have like the trifecta.
00:48:54.960 --> 00:48:56.159
I'm very fortunate.
00:48:57.119 --> 00:48:58.400
But you can feel your passion.
00:48:58.480 --> 00:49:01.920
I mean, you totally your passion comes through in everything that you do.
00:49:02.320 --> 00:49:04.639
You know, I was just checking out your website.
00:49:04.880 --> 00:49:08.239
The impact that you have on people and their lives.
00:49:08.400 --> 00:49:11.440
I mean, I know that sounds a little bit cheesy, but you're not, you're not making widgets.
00:49:11.519 --> 00:49:13.360
Um, you're actually changing people's lives.
00:49:13.519 --> 00:49:16.239
And uh yeah, that's that's pretty, pretty darn motivating.
00:49:16.400 --> 00:49:18.719
I'm sure your kids are are proud of you as well.
00:49:18.880 --> 00:49:20.480
That's very Grayson's not there yet.
00:49:20.559 --> 00:49:23.119
My three-year-old says she's proud of me every day.
00:49:23.280 --> 00:49:25.199
So every day I'm like, of course you are.
00:49:25.360 --> 00:49:26.239
Sure, of course you are.
00:49:26.400 --> 00:49:27.599
So I hope that never changes.
00:49:27.760 --> 00:49:30.880
But yeah, no, I mean, listen, I try to shield my kids from it.
00:49:30.960 --> 00:49:32.400
Uh my kids will make their way.
00:49:32.559 --> 00:49:34.960
These are gonna be trust fund kids, nothing's gonna be given to them.
00:49:35.119 --> 00:49:36.880
You know, my son, I talk to him every day about it.
00:49:36.960 --> 00:49:40.320
I'm like, great, you understand that like if you want to be a lawyer, it's great, but you're starting as an associate.
00:49:40.400 --> 00:49:41.840
You're making what everybody else is making.
00:49:42.000 --> 00:49:45.920
I mean, the people that have been here that have built this business, they're you're they're gonna be your bosses.
00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:48.000
Like, you're not just gonna come in with the name.
00:49:48.239 --> 00:49:50.159
And uh he gets that.
00:49:50.320 --> 00:50:02.719
I I think that is not the case for some of my competitors, but listen, it's not fair to your um to the people that killed it for you to just take a kid that that was just born with the right last name and stick them in there.
00:50:02.800 --> 00:50:06.639
He will be an associate grinding on low value cases just like they all are when they start.
00:50:07.280 --> 00:50:09.519
All right, I got one last question and then we're gonna wrap.
00:50:09.679 --> 00:50:10.559
So, favorite book.
00:50:10.639 --> 00:50:12.559
We asked people this favorite most impactful book.
00:50:12.639 --> 00:50:14.000
I think for us there have been a few.
00:50:14.079 --> 00:50:17.119
We traction, good to great, good to good to great.
00:50:17.280 --> 00:50:18.400
Those are a couple of them for us.
00:50:18.480 --> 00:50:18.880
How about you?
00:50:18.960 --> 00:50:20.960
How what's been what have been the most impactful?
00:50:21.360 --> 00:50:23.760
I mean, so that is an interesting.
00:50:24.239 --> 00:50:25.760
I'm gonna look at my goodreads here.
00:50:25.920 --> 00:50:30.000
That's what I'm looking at right now because I save all the ones that I that I read in there.
00:50:31.360 --> 00:50:32.480
Let me see.
00:50:39.280 --> 00:50:42.079
I'm a huge good reads girl.
00:50:43.440 --> 00:50:44.880
I guess I would agree with that.
00:50:45.039 --> 00:50:45.920
I like traction.
00:50:46.159 --> 00:50:48.559
I didn't like it as much as you did, though.
00:50:48.800 --> 00:50:50.239
Um, if I'm being honest.
00:50:50.480 --> 00:50:52.559
I would say there's a tie with two of them.
00:50:52.880 --> 00:50:54.559
The hard thing about hard things.
00:50:54.719 --> 00:50:55.519
Have you read that one?
00:50:56.400 --> 00:50:58.079
That's with from Farwoods.
00:50:58.880 --> 00:51:02.960
Okay, that's a phenomenal book, but I liked the I can't remember the guy's name.
00:51:03.039 --> 00:51:05.119
It starts with a V scaling up.
00:51:05.599 --> 00:51:06.880
Did you ever read that one?
00:51:07.199 --> 00:51:08.639
Vern, Vern, Vernish.
00:51:08.800 --> 00:51:11.280
Vern Vernish, Harnish, Harnish, Vern, Varnish, yep.
00:51:11.519 --> 00:51:13.039
Yeah, that's a good one.
00:51:13.280 --> 00:51:15.360
I mean, there was another one.
00:51:15.440 --> 00:51:17.280
I thought there were parts of the book that were really good.
00:51:17.519 --> 00:51:18.320
Who not how?
00:51:18.559 --> 00:51:19.519
Did you read that one?
00:51:20.400 --> 00:51:20.719
Yes.
00:51:20.880 --> 00:51:21.199
Yeah.
00:51:21.360 --> 00:51:23.440
There are parts of that book that were great.
00:51:23.599 --> 00:51:26.159
I didn't love the, I mean, it was a little dry for me.
00:51:26.320 --> 00:51:27.679
Um, but that was another one.
00:51:27.840 --> 00:51:35.519
I will tell you, I like to read fiction a lot because I like to get away from it all at times.
00:51:35.679 --> 00:51:40.559
So I if you go on my goodreads after this, you will see there's about bajillions of fiction books there.
00:51:40.719 --> 00:51:41.920
Um, I like to get lost.
00:51:42.000 --> 00:51:46.159
And that's another thing I would tell entrepreneurs get lost out of your life before bed.
00:51:46.320 --> 00:51:47.440
Don't watch TV.
00:51:47.760 --> 00:51:48.079
Yeah.
00:51:48.559 --> 00:51:48.719
Yeah.
00:51:48.800 --> 00:51:48.880
Okay.
00:51:49.280 --> 00:51:49.840
Except your commercials.
00:51:51.679 --> 00:51:53.519
Yeah, that'd a bit football season's coming.
00:51:53.599 --> 00:51:55.039
You'll see plenty of other dark fails.
00:51:55.920 --> 00:51:56.880
And what's the last question?
00:51:56.960 --> 00:51:57.920
Sorry, I interrupted you.
00:51:58.079 --> 00:51:58.480
That was it.
00:51:58.639 --> 00:51:59.679
That was the last one.
00:52:00.079 --> 00:52:00.480
Really?
00:52:02.079 --> 00:52:02.400
Yeah.
00:52:02.559 --> 00:52:03.599
Kevin, you got any more?
00:52:04.079 --> 00:52:04.719
Yeah, I do.
00:52:05.519 --> 00:52:10.239
If you didn't start a law firm, what would you have started?
00:52:11.679 --> 00:52:13.519
So that is hysterical.
00:52:13.679 --> 00:52:20.239
So I can tell you, I lost a friend of mine when I was 15 to a very rare form of ovivarian cancer.
00:52:20.639 --> 00:52:21.920
Yeah, when she was 15.
00:52:22.159 --> 00:52:22.719
Crazy.
00:52:22.960 --> 00:52:27.760
And I said I was going to be a gynecologist so I could help people in that role.
00:52:29.360 --> 00:52:31.280
Now, full circle moment here.
00:52:31.440 --> 00:52:34.000
Um, I said if loss wasn't work out, I'd go to med school.
00:52:34.320 --> 00:52:39.760
My son broke his arm in baseball, and he uh he had a pins put in his arm.
00:52:39.920 --> 00:52:41.920
This was years ago, a few like four years ago.
00:52:42.079 --> 00:52:46.239
And as they pulled the pins out, the blood ran down one and I hit the deck.
00:52:46.480 --> 00:52:55.280
So it's a good thing I didn't become a doctor because apparently, and ever since then, now I know, apparently flowing blood makes me faint uncontrollably.
00:52:55.440 --> 00:52:59.519
So I I think a lot I found my I found my I always wanted to be an author.
00:52:59.679 --> 00:53:00.800
I still am going to be.
00:53:00.960 --> 00:53:03.679
I'm going to be writing some or in conversation.
00:53:03.760 --> 00:53:05.039
There's going to be books coming out.
00:53:05.199 --> 00:53:09.760
Um, I'll have you'll be you you'll ask that question of somebody in five years, and hopefully they name my book.
00:53:10.079 --> 00:53:12.239
I think you you could be a coach.
00:53:12.320 --> 00:53:16.239
I mean, you sound you're you're a jock, you got all these things.
00:53:16.400 --> 00:53:22.719
I was, you know, invest in people, pay it forward when you're successful, bet on yourself.
00:53:22.880 --> 00:53:24.639
I mean, all these, all these things.
00:53:24.719 --> 00:53:27.760
It sounds like you would have you would have been if you're not a coach yet.
00:53:27.840 --> 00:53:30.400
I have a feeling you might be if you can find some time, but you'd be an awesome.
00:53:30.639 --> 00:53:36.239
Retirement's gonna be a really great thing for me because I'm going to when I'm the retiree that's I'm the retirement.
00:53:36.480 --> 00:53:37.280
You're not retiring.
00:53:37.440 --> 00:53:39.760
I don't even know you, but I'm telling you, you're not retiring.
00:53:39.840 --> 00:53:40.159
No way.
00:53:40.400 --> 00:53:42.800
There will be a time down the road when I retire.
00:53:42.960 --> 00:53:47.840
But when I retire, I believe personally that it's toxic to have one foot in, one foot out.
00:53:48.000 --> 00:53:48.320
I do.
00:53:48.400 --> 00:53:50.079
I don't think that that helps anybody.
00:53:50.400 --> 00:53:54.159
When I retire, it will be at a time where I know everything I've done is done.
00:53:54.320 --> 00:53:57.280
I think people can stay with businesses too long sometimes.
00:53:57.440 --> 00:54:03.599
They stay with businesses because it, but that you really need to exit the business when you can no longer bring anything to the business.
00:54:03.840 --> 00:54:05.760
And what I have not even come close to that.
00:54:05.840 --> 00:54:08.400
But eventually one day down, down the road, I will.
00:54:08.559 --> 00:54:10.159
So for me, there's there's a lot.
00:54:10.239 --> 00:54:12.639
I'll be doing some speaking, I'll be doing all that down the road.
00:54:12.800 --> 00:54:13.840
I got a lot to do, man.
00:54:13.920 --> 00:54:18.239
Golf Log Group hasn't even to you guys, you know who I am, but there's a lot of people that don't, they're going to.
00:54:18.480 --> 00:54:20.000
So well, I'm psyched.
00:54:20.079 --> 00:54:29.679
I mean we knew who you were on the surface from the billboards of commercials and the radio, but yeah, I so I'm so we are so grateful that you gave us some of your time.
00:54:29.840 --> 00:54:34.400
Sorry about the technology challenges and the container, but I'm glad that I have to tease you for it, obviously.
00:54:34.559 --> 00:54:35.679
Yeah, of course, of course.
00:54:35.760 --> 00:54:37.280
But this is no need to be sorry.
00:54:37.360 --> 00:54:37.840
It was good.
00:54:38.239 --> 00:54:40.559
This has been awesome, and I can talk to you for hours.
00:54:40.719 --> 00:54:43.440
But really, really appreciate you spending time with Kevin and I.
00:54:43.760 --> 00:54:44.800
Well, I appreciate that.
00:54:44.880 --> 00:54:45.199
Thank you.
00:54:45.360 --> 00:54:46.159
Thank you very much, guys.
00:54:46.239 --> 00:54:46.800
I appreciate it.
00:54:47.119 --> 00:54:47.920
Good luck with everything.
00:54:48.000 --> 00:54:49.440
If you need anything else, let me know, okay?
00:54:49.679 --> 00:54:50.079
Awesome.
00:54:50.159 --> 00:54:50.719
Thank you so much.
00:54:51.039 --> 00:54:51.840
Have a great, great day.
00:54:52.239 --> 00:54:52.639
You too.
00:54:52.719 --> 00:54:52.880
Thank you.
00:54:55.119 --> 00:54:57.920
Thanks for spending time with us today on In Good Company.
00:54:58.239 --> 00:55:04.960
If today's conversation resonated with you, we hope it reminded you that you're not alone in the challenges and opportunities of running a business.
00:55:05.440 --> 00:55:15.679
These same conversations continue beyond the podcast, including at our In Good Company events, where business owners come together to learn, connect, and share perspectives.
00:55:16.320 --> 00:55:28.639
In Good Company is brought to you by Connecticut Wealth Management, where our mission is to turn life's aspirations into reality for our clients and team through connection, clarity, and thoughtful guidance.
00:55:29.119 --> 00:55:32.000
Until next time, thanks for being in good company.