How to Build a Network That Fuels Your Firm with Alycia Vail Taylor

Summary

Summary of "Maximum Lawyer" Podcast Episode: How to Build a Network That Fuels Your Firm with Alycia Vail Taylor

Podcast Information:

• Title: Maximum Lawyer
• Host: Tyson Mutrux
• Guest: Alycia Vail Taylor
• Episode: How to Build a Network That Fuels Your Firm
• Release Date: April 8, 2025

In this engaging episode of Maximum Lawyer, host Tyson Mutrux sits down with Alycia Vail Taylor, a dynamic attorney and entrepreneur, to explore how building a robust network can significantly propel a law firm’s growth. Alycia shares her journey of establishing a successful virtual law firm, Avail, and delves into the strategies and insights that have fueled her firm’s expansion. The conversation covers a wide range of topics, including branding, virtual operations, networking through the Georgia Peach Collective, managing multiple practice areas, leveraging technology, fostering a positive work culture, and personal growth.

Overcoming Challenges in a Crowded Marketplace

Alycia begins the discussion by addressing the inherent challenges of standing out in a saturated legal market. She reflects on Seth Godin's insight:

[01:29] Alycia Vail Taylor: "In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible."

Alycia emphasizes the importance of offering unique services and meeting clients where they are to differentiate her firm from competitors.

Unique Branding as the Georgia Peach Attorney

To carve out a distinct identity, Alycia brands herself as the "Georgia Peach attorney." This strategy leverages her deep roots and connections across Georgia, allowing her to tap into markets that are often overlooked by larger firms.

[02:35] Alycia Vail Taylor: "So I market myself as the Georgia Peach attorney. And that's because I'm from southeast Georgia initially, originally... I have connections all over the state."

This unique branding not only sets her apart but also fosters trust and relatability among clients.

Building a Virtual Law Firm in a Major City

Transitioning to a virtual model in a bustling city like Atlanta presented both challenges and opportunities. Alycia discusses the decision to operate virtually to serve a broader client base without the constraints of physical office locations.

[27:26] Alycia Vail Taylor: "Absolutely not. It can only enhance it."

The virtual setup offers flexibility, reduces overhead costs, and allows her firm to scale efficiently across different regions.

The Importance of Networking and Community

Central to Alycia’s strategy is the creation of the Georgia Peach Collective, a referral network designed to build community and support within the legal industry. This network facilitates mutual referrals among professionals, enhancing service offerings and client satisfaction.

[12:08] Alycia Vail Taylor: "We offer within our Georgia Peach Collective, a referral source, referral network for our clients. So if you need a dentist, you need a hairstylist, you need a plumber, we have these connections for our clients."

This collective not only strengthens her firm’s service range but also fosters a sense of community among local businesses.

Managing Multiple Practice Areas: Family Law, Estate Planning, Personal Injury

Alycia’s firm specializes in three main areas: family law, estate planning, and personal injury. She explains how prioritizing certain practice areas and educating the public about services like estate planning has helped balance her workload and attract clients organically.

[37:33] Alycia Vail Taylor: "We're not necessarily marketing to personal injury clients actively, but we take them on as they come and support our existing clients through referrals."

This selective marketing approach ensures that each practice area receives focused attention, enhancing overall service quality.

Handling Client Challenges in Virtual Settings

Operating virtually introduced specific client management challenges, such as unexpected in-person visitations. Alycia discusses implementing clear policies and improving client communication to mitigate these issues effectively.

[28:12] Alycia Vail Taylor: "Sometimes clients would just show up to wherever, and they're like, 'I'm here. What's happening?' That's why we say by appointment only."

By setting strict guidelines and utilizing virtual communication tools, Alycia ensures seamless client interactions and minimizes disruptions.

Emphasizing Work-Life Balance and Team Management

Alycia highlights the importance of a strong support team in maintaining work-life balance and ensuring firm productivity. She credits her operations manager (her mother) and other key team members for helping her stay organized and focused.

[46:52] Alycia Vail Taylor: "Thank God I have an A team... My mom is my operations manager. She makes sure I'm on top of things, keeping me accountable."

This supportive team structure allows Alycia to delegate effectively, fostering a collaborative and efficient work environment.

Embracing AI and Technology in Legal Practice

The conversation shifts to the role of AI in legal practice, particularly in estate planning. Alycia views AI as a tool to enhance efficiency rather than replace human lawyers, ensuring accurate and timely service delivery.

[58:18] Alycia Vail Taylor: "Absolutely not. It can only enhance it."

She emphasizes the importance of using technology like Clio for case management, Proof for notarizations, and integrating AI tools to streamline operations, ultimately benefiting both the firm and its clients.

Personal Growth and Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Alycia openly discusses her struggles with imposter syndrome and self-doubt while building her firm. She underscores the importance of a supportive network and self-accountability measures like time-blocking and transparent scheduling to overcome these challenges.

[64:49] Alycia Vail Taylor: "It is extremely tough. And you've got to have a really great support system around you and you've got to have people who help keep you grounded."

This honesty provides valuable insights for aspiring law firm owners facing similar hurdles.

Future Plans and Vision for the Firm

Looking ahead to 2027, Alycia envisions her firm as a multimillion-dollar enterprise with an expanded virtual reach and additional satellite locations across Georgia. Her focus remains on continuous marketing growth, exceptional client service, and fostering community engagement.

[73:10] Alycia Vail Taylor: "So, well, we're a multimillion dollar firm, for one, and I think we're still going to definitely be virtual."

Her long-term vision includes increasing community events and enhancing the firm’s presence in various Georgian cities, ensuring sustained growth and service excellence.

Notable Quotes

• Alycia Vail Taylor [01:29]: "In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible."

• Alycia Vail Taylor [02:35]: "I market myself as the Georgia Peach attorney. And that's because I'm from southeast Georgia initially... I have connections all over the state."

• Alycia Vail Taylor [12:08]: "We offer within our Georgia Peach Collective, a referral source, referral network for our clients. So if you need a dentist, you need a hairstylist, you need a plumber, we have these connections for our clients."

• Alycia Vail Taylor [28:12]: "Sometimes clients would just show up to wherever, and they're like, 'I'm here. What's happening?' That's why we say by appointment only."

• Alycia Vail Taylor [46:52]: "Thank God I have an A team... My mom is my operations manager. She makes sure I'm on top of things, keeping me accountable."

• Alycia Vail Taylor [58:18]: "Absolutely not. It can only enhance it."

• Alycia Vail Taylor [64:49]: "It is extremely tough. And you've got to have a really great support system around you and you've got to have people who help keep you grounded."

• Alycia Vail Taylor [73:10]: "So, well, we're a multimillion dollar firm, for one, and I think we're still going to definitely be virtual."

Conclusion

This episode of Maximum Lawyer offers a comprehensive look into Alycia Vail Taylor’s strategies for building a successful law firm through effective networking, unique branding, technological integration, and a strong support team. Her insights into managing multiple practice areas, overcoming personal and professional challenges, and envisioning future growth provide valuable lessons for both established and aspiring law firm owners. Alycia’s journey underscores the power of community, adaptability, and genuine client care in driving a law firm's success.

Transcript

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

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[Tyson Mutrix]

If you decide to work with them.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Their contracts are month to month.

[Tyson Mutrix]

That's right.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No long term commitments tying you down. So what are you waiting for? To learn more about how Rise Up Media can transform your firms, visit riseup media.com max law and rise is spelled with a Z. Riseupmedia.com max law.

This is Maximum Lawyer with your host, Tyson Mutrix.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So, Alicia, in a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible. That's a Seth Godin quote. So I wonder what your thoughts are on that. I can reread it if you want.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, I know, right? I was like, yeah, it's gotta hit you hard.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. So in a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Huh? Yeah. Okay, I could see that. Absolutely. And it's kind of sucks because it's just like not standing out as a failure. Like that's the part, of course, that really hits you because it is crowded, but services are still unique and especially in the legal world. So I feel like whenever you're able to meet the clients where they are, then it's just easier to stand out. But yeah, I mean, I think it's just tough. That's also the nerve wracking part. It made me not want to start a firm because it's like, what more can I add to this? Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So how do you stand out? Because you, I mean, you're in Atlanta, right. It's a very big city, one of the biggest in the country. So how are you able to attract clients? Stand out.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So it's cool. Because I market myself as the Georgia Peach attorney. And that's because.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Which I love, by the way. Thank you.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So I'm from southeast Georgia initially, originally. And then I moved to northwest Georgia. Spent a lot of my life there. Dalton Carpet capital of the world, in case.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Okay, I did not know that.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I got. I got southeast Georgia. Okefenokee Swamp Carpet capital of the world in Dalton, northwest Georgia. And then I landed here in the metro Atlanta area when I became a lawyer. And so I have connections all over the state, so say that I'm able to hit markets where other people in the metro Atlanta area are not. And I'm also willing to travel where they're not willing to travel to.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. So did you. You. You weren't from here, Right, Right. Okay. So it's kind of a bold thing to start in a city where you didn't grow up, right? Yes. I mean, how hard was that?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Terrifying. Nerve wracking. But I got most of my legal work in history here, so I did start by interning a little bit in Waycross. And then when I moved to Dalton, I got my first legal assistant job. But then coming to Atlanta for law school really helped build my legal knowledge as well as my connections. And so it made me feel a little bit more confident with the mentors that I had to go ahead and start it. But even they suggested, hey, since you do have these connections, other places, you want to try to lean into those places instead of just the metro Atlanta area. And thankfully, my network, they just continue to cheer me on far from far away.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So it's nice having, having that cheering section. Yeah, it's really good.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Absolutely.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. So you're. I mean, you're. You're from a small town. How. How many people were in it?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Well, now, listen, I don't. I don't know. I'll just say my graduating class was like maybe 30 something. Maybe.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Wow, you have me beat.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

But I went to a magnet school, so it was also like a small town and then a smaller school in a small town. So that's why I would say, like, mine was extremely small. Like the other people, they probably had like hundreds of students.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And you said you went to. You. You were a legal assistant before you went to law school?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yes.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So why. That's. That's something. Honestly, for some reason, I never thought that that was a thing to do. So how did you know to do that? Do you think that that. That helps you where you are now when it comes to running your firm?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Absolutely. So I actually got started in the Legal world doing mock trial when I was in high school. And so that really helped out a lot. And so after doing mock trial, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer. But I, being the type A personality that I am, I wanted more experience as much as I could bring forth, because what if I didn't want to do that? What if I actually couldn't handle it? What if I didn't like it? So in college, I used to let people know what my goals were and things like that. And then there happened to be an opening for a legal assistant at one of my teacher's husband's firms.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. Do you remember your first day?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh, gosh, no. I know. I was nervous. I remember, like, thanking them for accepting it, you know, like giving me the job offer, but I don't remember my first day. So. That is funny. But I. No, never mind. I do, because they surprised me with, like, a little care package and everything. So I had, like, my little coffee mug, my notebook and everything like that. My own desk. I was. It was a big deal for a college student, you know, to be able to be in that space.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, I. Are there any moments that you ever reflect back on from that experience where you're like, oh, that was so awesome.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, so many. Speaking of mock trial, I'm actually the vice chair of the high school mock trial committee now.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Oh, very cool.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, like, I just. Anytime I did something that did like that was meaningful and impactful, I want to give back in that way. And in working in Dalton for my first legal assistant job was when I had to drive to the courthouse to get things file stamped. We didn't have electronic filing at the time, so I really got to know from the ground floor what it was like to work in the legal field. And then once I moved to Atlanta, I became an intern at a law firm while I was in law school and then became their legal assistant, then later on their lawyer. So, like, it definitely gave me the footing to be able to handle any job in the legal field, and especially as a lawyer.

[Tyson Mutrix]

We do have some law students that listen to this. I wonder, what advice would you have for them? Because there are a lot of people that just. They go to law school because they think that that's what they're supposed to do. Do you have any advice for people like that are. Maybe before that point, they're not quite to the point where they're. Or maybe they are in law school. Right. And they just don't have that experience. Do you have any advice to them on what they should maybe do.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, absolutely. So the first thing I would say is don't do it. No, I'm just kidding. But I would say, like, if you have any idea or a thought of something different that you would like to do, that you would like to explore, I would say explore everything, because in the legal field, like, it takes a lot out of you and you want to be able to enjoy what. So that's one. So that's also why I got as much experience as I did. Reach out to lawyers around you, reach out to your teachers to see if they have internship opportunities or know of other former students or the alumni program that would allow for that. So, like, my school allows for mentorship programs. So I have student mentors that I work with and that I offer, you know, summer internships to going forward. And so because people did that for me, I want to be able to do that. If you're already in law school and you're not sure they have externship opportunities where you can basically take a class, but instead of going to school, you're going to an internship and you're just logging those hours there. So I would definitely recommend trying at least three different practice areas to intern with or to work with for summer positions because your interests may change. You know, you never know exactly what type of law you want to go into. I thought I would do international corporate law, but really family law was always my calling.

[Tyson Mutrix]

That's funny, because I was. I'm. I want to ask you about your. If you had any misconceptions about being a lawyer, because I, Before I went to law school, I worked at State Farm Insurance as a fire claims rep. And I remember when I left, there was like, we had a really good work environment and they had taken some Yellow pages ads.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And taken. And cut out a picture of me and stuck it on the yellow Pages ads. And they made a bunch of jokes about ambulance chasers and all that. And I going into law school, I was like, I will never be an injury lawyer. I'm an injury now. But because I had all these misconceptions and misperceptions about what that actually meant.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And then my first. I guess it was my second internship in law school. I loved it. I was like, wow, so you're actually. Now you're. You're actually helping people. That's what you're doing. You're fighting against these big insurance companies. It completely shattered what I thought about when it comes to that. And so was there anything. And I'm specifically talking about that that first job as a legal assistant, did that help kill any misperceptions that maybe that you had about being a lawyer?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I'm trying to think because I think it's just scarier than you would think. And you would think that, okay, by the time I become a lawyer, like, you know, we've got this in the back, everybody's extremely confident, right? Everybody knows exactly what they're doing. But then you realize, no, actually everyone is still trying to figure it out. And at the end of the day, being a lawyer is tough because if you're before a jury or before the judge, then they still get the final decision if you can't make it, you know, to an agreement prior to that. So I think that like the law being the law and being the end all, be all is not really, you know, what you would think it is as a lawyer, but kind of going back to my first legal assistant job and in that firm, it was a general law firm, but we did still take on a lot more personal injury, estate planning and family law cases. And I think that like the common misconception that I had at first was just that it was just like money hungry situation. Right? Like all lawyers just want money and they're just gonna charge up and everything's gonna be crazy. But like, there are actual lawyers who really truly care and like, will do everything they can to make sure that their clients can afford their services.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, no, it's, I, I met way more very good people that are lawyers than the opposite, you know, so it's, it's one of those things where we sort of, we're sort of our victim of ourselves, where we have sort of let it happen. I think, to a certain extent. Yeah. But the vast majority of lawyers are just fantastic lawyers. I'm not the type, though, that I'm okay with a good lawyer joke. I don't know about you.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh, no, I love it. Yeah, give it to me. You know, like that's, that's perfectly fine. I think it's important to be able to laugh at your, yourself and to find joy in this job where you can.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So, yeah, I was at a CLE one time and it was, it was so funny. There was a guy that was up at the front. It was like a, a bar. It was like a Missouri Bar association kind of an event. And he was up there like for like five, 10 minutes, ranting about how we shouldn't be, we shouldn't be laughing at lawyer jokes. I was like, wow, dude, can't take yourself too seriously. No, no, not at all. All right, so let's talk about avail. Right, so if you were to distill your work at a Vail firm into one core mission, what would you say drives you on a day to day basis?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, I was actually just kind of fine tuning it so it would be community and service.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Oh, so this is, it was good timing then.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

It was perfect. Perfect timing.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And what made you think to want to fine tune it?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Because, you know, they talk about, you know, I'm a new firm, so they talk about like building your ideal client or your client avatar and then kind of what the message is, the brand message is out to our clients. And that is just kind of at my core who I am and what I seek out whenever I'm looking into other services. Why I went to the law school, I went to like why I engage with the friends that I do. And so that is what I want to be able to present to my clients. And then my clients no longer are not always just oh, my client, they're somebody who's in our community who could be a referral source for another client of mine or another friend or you know, so I think that when you really make people community, like family type, I hate to say like, like family, but at the same time I feel like your chosen family is your community and I think that it's really good to have people you can lean on. So yeah, so that's what it would be.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So why those words though? I mean, so it was community and service. Service, yes. So let's start with service.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yes.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So why, and then how are, how are you able to fulfill that? Through avail.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So a part of it is one we, we practice where we do family law, estate planning and personal injury. So those are just like our basic service areas. But then within that we also offer within our Georgia Peach Collective, a referral source, referral network for our clients. So if you need a dentist, you need a hairstylist, you need a plumber, like we have these connections for our clients. So that's where. So it ties in the service and community part.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Sure. I think, I think it's a really cool idea like where like your clients, like your community is kind of coming to you to find the best options for things. And I'm going to come back to that in a second. But avail, I want to make sure people know about this. So it's an acronym.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yes.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So what is it? What's it stand for?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So, well, it actually is my name, so it's me. So Alicia Vale Taylor. But Also to avail, like, you know, so as if you are prevailing, especially in these legal sources. So, like, we're going to give you all of the resources that you need to be able to avail. And we're also available.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I like it. It's very. Well, I think it's very cool because you combined parts of your name, and I think it's not something you see very often. So it's pretty cool. Okay, so the whole idea, like, how would you differentiate between Georgia Peach Collective and the avail firm?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So the Georgia Peach Collective is strictly our referral network. And so that's everybody who we network with just on a daily basis, what we're doing here, but also providing just resources to our clients, but also to our referral network. So it's like a mixture of things. Like, it's just like a circular situation of, okay, so now my financial planner needs a dentist, you know, that type of thing. So they can connect on that way. They also can connect in different service areas that they have or different areas of Georgia. And then it goes even further because now I've got doctors or chiropractors that I can refer my personal injury clients to and vice versa. And so it just really is just like the Georgia Peach Collective is the full networking Source. Just the 100 list is what they call it sometimes.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Right.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

And then the avail firm strictly is about our legal services.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So how does someone become a part of the collective?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So, great question. One, they would contact me or any of my team members to let me know that they want to be a part of the collective. And then we will give them their tiered package list that they can choose from. So therefore, they can be a part of networking, you know, community events. They can be a part of the online community that we have. They can be a part of, you know, traveling or giving speeches or, you know, being a part of the podcast or doing webinars with us. Because I think what is really important, you know, they say knowledge is power. It's like, cheeky, but so serious. In our field, especially with family law, so many areas of their life are touched or are needed or affected by them getting a divorce, by them getting, you know, child support or whatever it may be.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I hit the microphone all the time, so it's no big deal.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I know, right? I'm like the only person over here talking. My hands, like, hold myself.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I've learned to force myself to do it. Even though, you know, I. You should talk with your hands. Because actually, people. It's actually makes people like you more. I don't know if you knew that.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Interesting. I didn't know that. I have lots of friends but I've.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Like forced myself to kind of like.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Not move them but be chill.

[Tyson Mutrix]

But I want to ask you. So the package, the packages, I find it interesting is a couple, two part question. Sure. Is the collective a subsidiary of the avail firm or vice versa? And so just so I'm clear, people are paying to be part of the group, the collective.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

If you are part of that collective. Yes, it is like a membership group.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

And so then there's different tiers based off of the membership, you know, what that you want. We also have very exclusive things for the collective. So it's actually our wedding planner who became like our go to travel planner. And so she has ideas for us to be able to not eventually take it to international trips, you know, with our collective. But right now we're just doing local things in order to, you know, just make sure that one, we're supporting our local communities giving back. Maybe they want to be a part of the collective going forward, but also just to pour into these people who are giving the such service and great service to our communities.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I love it. So. But is. Is one a subsidiary of the other?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yes. Sorry. So the Georgia Peach Collective. So everything Georgia Peach related essentially is like a subsidiary of the avail firm.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Okay. That's the reason I'm asking is. So I had done an episode, I don't know, a month or so ago about different ways of making money for your firm. This wasn't one of them. And I wish I would have actually done this interview beforehand because I think it's a really cool idea where you have created this way of finding more revenue for your firm. And what's super clever about it is, is that you're benefiting. So it's like you are. You have a network paying you to then benefit you and your clients. So I think it's. It's amazing. It's a very clever idea.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Thanks. Yeah, it's fun. I never thought about it. Like, it's like I haven't gotten that kind of feedback, but I like that.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, it's good.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Did the idea. Where did it come from? Where, where's the. How did this originate? I think it's a brilliant idea.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Well, it's so funny. I mean, I've always wanted and I've worked at different firms where they talked about like concierge lists and things like that. And so I've always heard of it, but I've never actually seen it put in Practice. And it was something. When I started my firm, I knew for sure that I wanted to put it in practice.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. Okay. Well, that's very cool. Do your clients pay to get access to that list or just by being a client, they have access to it?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Exactly. Just by being a client, they have access to the list.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Be very interesting. I don't know how I'd feel about it, but it'd be very interesting if you could find a way for the clients to pay for access to the list.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I mean, you know what? It actually could be in a sense of a subscription.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So a yearly, monthly, or a yearly subscription to the collective. Now, now, see, look at there.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And they get discounted rates.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Exactly. Of course. Definitely. And that's what I tell the people who are in the collective. So I may give. If you're a part of the collective and you need any of the avail firm services, you get a discount. But I don't expect them to give my clients a discount. However, if I was to do an annual subscription, I think that that would make sense. And then that is their discount.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So I do have a question.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Sure.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So you have the three niche areas, and are you practicing each of those practice areas?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yes.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Okay. And then you have the. The Georgia Peach. Do you ever worry that you're being pulled in too many different directions?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Absolutely. Absolutely. And so every time I get a chance to try to figure out cool, like what to power down or what to, you know, kind of. What is it? What's the word? Of course it's going to. I can't even think of it because I don't do it well enough. But whenever you pass work off to others.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, yeah, delegate.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

There we go. Delegate. So, yes. So I have been working diligently on how to delegate in order to not be feeling like I'm pulled in so many different direct. And I've also slowly scaled it, and my. Slowly. I mean, I did start my firm at the end of August, but in my mind, I'm slowly scaling it because I'm like, pacing it out. Because the other thing that we do have that we just started was our podcast for the firm. And so that one's called Georgia Peach Sessions. But yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Okay, tell me more about that.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So it's actually. Have you heard of or have you seen Meghan Markle Sussex show on Netflix?

[Tyson Mutrix]

I have not. But I've heard really terrible things.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I can't believe people are trying to be haters.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So here's the thing. I'm not hating. I'm just telling you what I've heard. So that I am sure whatever. Based on what I've heard, I'm sure whatever you are doing is substantially better to. Compared to what I have heard.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Well, it's fantastic. To me, it's fantastic. It's like the type of escapism that you want because it's no drama and it is just fun, like easy ways to learn how to do things in your daily life. And that's what I. That's the way I take it. So for my podcast, like, that's the vibe I wanted was fun. Friends, family, like people who are really a part of my inner circle getting a chance to not only share their skill sets with others. So, like, I'll just give you like a snippet of one of my podcasts. So it's called like, it was supposed to be called Cupcakes in Custody, but then we just switched it at the last second, but.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Because that's kind of fun.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah. So my friend is a mental health therapist, so she'll come back for Cupcakes in Custody.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Okay.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

But for this one, she just did like mind over matter. And she's also a baker though, so she made us Georgia peach cupcakes, which was like, it was just like a vanilla based cupcake with Georgia. What's it called? The peach cobbler toppings.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Oh.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So it was fantastic. So the whole part is to like, not only highlight what she does on her like side job. Right. But to also highlight what she does in her day to day job, which is a mental health therapist. And then we talk about how that works well for entrepreneurs as well as people who are going through legal battles, as well as how parents can, you know, deal and communicate with their kids. So that's what the Cupcakes in Custody one will be about. And my goal for that one is to like have us like decorate the cupcakes together. Like doing something different than just sitting here and talking. Like, it's always fine.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

But I feel like it could be fun to be interactive.

[Tyson Mutrix]

We can gossip about shows like, what's the name of the Meghan Markle show?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

With love, Meghan.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Okay, so, so good. I want to ask you about this.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I want to make, I'm going to make every single thing she made.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I think this is going to help your show. Okay. This is why I'm asking you.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So the critique, the main critique I've heard is that there's things that she's clearly doing that she doesn't know what she's doing. And it's clearly Very fake and staged. That's what I've heard. It's all staged. And I heard something about her wearing all white and.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh, my gosh, yeah, I did see that. And people like, yes, sometimes people do wear white in the kitchen. Some people are not natural.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And so she was picking some fruit, and I don't remember. That's what I heard.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Like, strawberries or is that what it was? I mean, I know for sure she had some strawberries that she picked up.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Did you get that perception, too?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No. Everything about it was genuine, authentic, kind, nice. Just, like. I don't know. But, I mean, I guess because I also just. I watched her before the whole Prince Harry stuff. Right. I followed her initial blog, the Teague. So I think that I just kind of have a different perception of her because the same thing happened with one of my other friends in a group text. Like, one friend watched it, she loved it. I'm like, I loved it. And the other friend is like, no, someone said she's trying to copy Rachael Ray or whatever. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I don't care. But I want to host a tea party with my friends. And I hope I can do it on the Georgia Peach sessions with, like, some of the little things that she made, because I think they're just cute. Cute ways to elevate your food. And then just talking with people, learning.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So the reason why I said that might help, it's like, as long as whatever you're doing is genuine, like, that's what matters. Like, yeah, that's what I was talking about beforehand. Like, not have the podcaster's voice, like, having conversations like we've been doing. Right?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Because people, they know, like, they can sense whenever people are not being real. So that's. As long as you're being genuine with everything. I think that that's.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

And I think one thing about me that I. One thing about me that I love, but, like. But really, it's like, I almost have, like, an inability to not be authentic. And I hate that at times because I'm like, oh, no, this is not a good look. And then other times, it. It works because everybody who works with me on the show. So, like, my producer for the podcast and for all of my social media, he's one of my best friends from law school, and he chose not to be a lawyer, which is, like, good for you. This is exactly what I say. Like, you know, do your things. And then everyone who I had as a guest for the first show, and what I hope for the first season will be actual, genuine, close friends of mine. And then the next season be people who I've continued to get to know through the collective. So that way people can see how, you know, just true and genuine it is. So the first was a mental health therapist friend. The other was my coaching and consulting friend for just, like, wellness, mental health and wellness coaching. You can see how important I think that is.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, yeah, it's good.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

The other was my husband, so, you know, to give people a little insight. And then the other was a legal assistant who I helped promote to a paralegal.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Oh, okay.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

And so we talked about sisterhood and the law, and so.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, so you. You know, health and wellness is important.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yes.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Right. So why is it so important to you?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Because I know that your body can shut down and you won't be able to do anything if you're not focused on that. And a lot of times it really does start with the mental side of it before it goes to the physical. And being able to just, like, pair those two together in order to have the strength to carry on. Like, there are some days where I'm just shut down because I have overspent, essentially, on the mental and physical side of things.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Was there some sort of event that happened or what? I guess. What led you to that? I mean, it's like one of those things where, like, it's. I've had to sort of come to this realization over time that, you know, mental health is really, really important. Obviously, physical health is really, really important. But I think when we're younger, we sort of. We discount how important it is. So I wonder what led you to, like, okay, I gotta get serious about this.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

A mixture of things. One, you know, you go to the doctor, right. And, you know, after you over 30, and, I mean, I'm only freshly over 30, but still over 30.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

All of a sudden, everything starts to hurt and all these things come up on the test. You know, they're talking about blood pressure and cholesterol and stress and anxiety. And honestly, that was really it for me. It was like the anxiety and stress of it all really taking a toll on my body. And then once I started my own firm and it being virtual and I'm sitting for days on end not moving all of us and not working out, because I'm thinking, I don't have to work out every day anyway. So then the number on the scale continues to go up, and then overall health numbers are dropping and. Or escalate, elevating whichever one on the negative Side. Yeah. And so that really was just like my wake up call in general because I felt like I was doing my body a disservice. And I forgot that, you know, you have to pour into yourself before you can pour into others. I just kind of kept thinking I could go, yeah, like coasting.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Like when you're on an airplane and the masks drop down, you got to put the mask on yourself before you can help.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Right. Literally. And so it's like, okay, I'm in bed. I can't move. My husband is like, you're not getting up to do anything. You just need to lay there, you know? And it was kind of like, okay, maybe I do need to, like, have a plan on health and wellness in order to do this. Entrepreneur, you know?

[Tyson Mutrix]

Have you ever done, like, those massive blood tests where you can like, do all, like, check everything, like, what foods you should be eating, which ones?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No, I want to do that. No, I haven't.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I just. I just paid for one. I've not done the test yet. So it's like, function.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I like listening to modern wisdom. And, like, they have like, a special deal where you can get it through them. It's like 4.99 or something like that. So I bought one for me and one for my wife. So we're going to do that and they. They do it all through Quest.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay, so.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And you have Quest, right? Yeah, we're like, they're all over the place.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yes.

[Tyson Mutrix]

You can go to any of the labs, and then they just draw like 11 or 12 vials of blood. And then they tell you all these things about which I need to do. I'm very excited about doing it.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, definitely. Like, that's something I prefer. Like, I like to know all the things and it makes it so much easier to care for yourself.

[Tyson Mutrix]

What's crazy?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Good luck going to my. So my mom, she just happened by coincidence.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Like a week before I paid for function. She's like, yeah, I just went to the doctor. She had to go drive 20 minutes away from where. Where we live. And because you go to, like, a regular doctor and they're like, oh, you don't need to get any blood tests. Like, that's. It's insane.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

But I'd like to.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. Yeah, I want to get. I want to get my blood. But they may do it, but they're not going to analyze it for you.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So she ended up finding a doctor. It's like 20 minutes away. She had to drive out there 20 miles away. And it just.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

It's frustrating, definitely. Because, I mean, I was at the doctor and then I asked them, like, my blood type or whatever, because I'm like, you know what? I actually don't know it. That's interesting. And then they said, okay, well, we're going to send this information to a different. Different, you know, quest diagnostics or whatever, and then you have to get it from them.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Oh, interesting.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Like, okay, do you know.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Do you know what it is now?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No, no, because it wasn't that serious at that point.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Mine's. Oh, positive. I know that. Yes. I. I do it because it's the opposite of the really good. Not the opposite, but the one that's like, really, really good. Like, oh, negative.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like no one's gonna hunt you down now. Okay, got it.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So. Exactly. Right. Yeah. So let's talk about the virtual firm. And what was the reason behind wanting to do a remote?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So one, it was to be able to service more people because not everyone needs to see you to handle their will or to get a name change. And honestly, even a divorce, There are so many things that we can do virtually now, especially since COVID That was awful and traumatic. But it also gave our court systems these opportunities to kind of lean into the virtual side of things. So where they do that, we will make sure that we offer everything to our clients. So that way their lives are not fully interrupted. Right. They have to now stop, start what they're doing and get off of work and do X, Y and Z just to come meet with us. They can do a quick meeting online. They can do a phone call, zoom, whatever they prefer. We can handle business. We can talk on the client portal, exchange documents, get everything filed, sent to them, and it's done.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Do you ever run into any issues because you're remote?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yes. Well, especially in the beginning. Right. Because of, like, trying to find the right spot to meet clients. Because I didn't know that sometimes clients would just show up to wherever, you know, and then they're like, I'm here. What's happening? I wanted to stop by and say something or do whatever. And it's like, oh, okay. That's why we say by appointment only.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Because we mean it, because we're not going to be there. So I think sometimes that that's definitely been like.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So was this an address they found on the website?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So it is. So it is our Google website. Right. For me?

[Tyson Mutrix]

Okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

For mail or by appointments, is it.

[Tyson Mutrix]

An Atlanta address or is it, like, somewhere else?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

It is an Atlanta address. And So I felt really bad because someone drove like an hour away one time. Yeah. But no one told them they had an appointment in person.

[Tyson Mutrix]

We've had that before, several times.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So it's like, oh, no. So that. Or of course, if people are. Because we have a really good Google SEO, which is awesome. But like, they may be in Macon. They're like, well, you were the first one who popped up in Macon, so I want to meet with you in person today. And it's like, cool, but we can't do that today. We can certainly do it later if you're welcome to drive to Atlanta. You know, we don't have like satellite offices everywhere. And I think that that could be something to look into or at least meeting at courthouses in different places or something for people who want in person. But for the most part, everybody has been really good about it being virtual because they're like, oh, no. Actually this saves me time and money.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So, Macon, how big is it?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I don't know.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Okay, is it. But is it. I'm assuming it's substantially smaller than Atlanta.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And it's like an hour and a half away maybe.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So the reason why I'm asking is because We've got a St. Louis office and a Columbia office.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

St. Louis is way bigger than Columbia.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And what we've noticed is we have a lot more drop ins in Columbia. A lot more clients in Columbia that want to meet in person. St. Louis, they couldn't care.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Like, they're like, please actually do not try to see me.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, don't they? Like, we barely want to talk to you. It's a handle my case and we'll talk to you when you have a check for me.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Right.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Thing. Columbia is not like that. It's just completely different. So I wonder if you have a similar experience.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I mean, a little bit. I will say, thankfully, our clients really find me and my team personable enough to where it works out that they don't really feel like they're missing out with in person. And then again, we do offer it if they want to. It's just by appointment. And then it is going to be here in Atlanta for now. Unless, like, I happen to be traveling there already for court.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Have you ever thought about not taking any clients that want to meet in person where, like, you have like some sort of standing policy?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No, not really, I guess, because honestly, it just hasn't come up yet. Like, because. But also I think it would make sense. We probably would reject them if they're like, well, absolutely Not. I want to meet with her in person now. She needs to come to me. Well, then it would be like, well, unfortunately, we can't do that.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So let me. I'm going to tell you a little trick. We've stopped taking any client that does not have an email address.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh, okay. That's. Yeah, that's it.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And what we found was if you don't have an email address, you are far more likely to want to meet in person. And it doesn't really fit in with what we. And we're. We're hybrid. So we're. We're. Okay, we have. We are remote. We have remote employees and we have in person employees. I have. I go to the office.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

We have two physical offices. But even with that, we. It's still with the way we're set up. We're. I mean, we've been paperless since 2010. Like, we. So it's. It just does not fit in with like the way we update our clients, all of that. If you don't have an email address, it. It just creates a whole different headache. Cause it just doesn't fit in. So have you ever thought about. And maybe not email address. Are there other things that maybe you could do that are similar, where you're like, okay, let's weed out clients that.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Way to a degree? Because. Yes. I mean, it makes it difficult if they don't have an email address or if they're just not willing at all to have any sort of meetings in person. I mean, virtually. Because, like, at least for our initial meeting, we try to make that virtual because it just makes the most sense.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Is it over the phone or is it on the.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

On the computer phone or zoom, Whichever one they prefer. And then they just have to have at least somebody who's willing to help them. Right. Like we.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Sure.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So thankfully we have a lot of people who have kids who will help them with the technology. So that works out. But then other times they're just. Like I said, sometimes people just show up. So I should probably have a policy for the people who just show up.

[Tyson Mutrix]

To just go ahead and you're cut off.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Because one, if they just show up to our. I'm switching everything now. But if they had just shown up to our previous, like, mailing situation, they would have missed out on our really nice office that's on the belt line that you can bring your dog to. That's. That was always a reason for me like, to go. So it's not. So our firm is still virtual, but we have like our Co working space, which is at Industrious and on the Belt line. So it's similar to a. We work, but different.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Industrious are cool. Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah. I love it. They have snacks and then again, they allow doggies.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I do wonder which one was first. I. I knew about Industrious before wework, but I don't know which one was first.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, me neither. I've always. I always heard about wework first, though, before Industrious. So I don't know if it just took a while to get down to Georgia compared to. Because I know, like, they have it in Texas and Arizona.

[Tyson Mutrix]

They have them in St. Louis. They've had them in St. Louis since, I mean, way back when. I mean, I. I'm talking, like, probably like 2012.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah. I love how they do business. And so, like, that's been our. So we switched to that. But it just took us a while to figure out where we wanted to be to where we would regularly meet with clients.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I like the way they kind of rethink things because it's. And I think this is the business model where they go into old buildings and kind of. They kind of accept the bones as they are and then, like, put nice furnishings in there, but it doesn't seem like they spend nearly as much as what, like, wework had to probably.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I don't know. The one on the Belt line is insanely nice, so I'm not quite sure. They apparently shot like, a Marvel scene there.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Oh, really?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, like insane.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Is it a brave.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh, no, no. You know what they were considering. Sorry. It was on the list, but they didn't actually make the cut.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So is that in a new building, though, or is it an old building?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I have no idea. It looks new. Everything looks new and nice and pristine. I really chose it because of the purposes for law firms, of course. Like, that just is huge. And then obviously the other part is being dog friendly.

[Tyson Mutrix]

But. Yeah, because you do estate planning, you're. I mean, you need a notary every once in a while. Right. So how do you deal with things like that?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

We have a travel notary, and then we also contact other travel notaries in other cities whenever we have clients in other places.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Do you ever use anything like Notarize?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No, but I think. And that must be like an online proof now.

[Tyson Mutrix]

It's called proof now.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh, yes. Wait, wait, you're talking about proof.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Notarize used to be. So proof used to be notarized, but proof is now.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So we use proof for service.

[Tyson Mutrix]

But I didn't realize proof Also now they notarize. Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Wow. Okay, fantastic. Well, yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So I wonder if proof bought notarized. I don't know.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

They had to have, right?

[Tyson Mutrix]

But we use. So used to. If you Google notarize.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, it'll come.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And actually if you Google notarize, a bunch of notaries will come up and notarize won't come up. You have to say, yeah, remote notary or something like that. That's probably why they changed it to proof.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

But proof is We. We use proof. It's really good.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I love it for service. I didn't think about it for notary. So I need to look into all the other services they have then.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So we were. We. We used to use. We. If we didn't have. If. If they were not someone that was going to come into the office to have it notarized in the off. In person, we would send out a mobile notary, which honestly the price is actually about the same. It's. But we found it was getting a little awkward with clients. We were scheduling it for clients with. With proof. They can schedule it themselves.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, they could.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I could send you a document right now and you could go whenever you want. You can go right now if you wanted. No, no appointment. And you'd have it notarized in minutes. It's pretty good.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Nice. I love proof in general. Just like the way that they handle everything service wise. Even if they need an. What is it? The. Not the affidavit of service, but the motion to a point. You know, that they'll make sure that they get all that information out. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. So they're really good on that and that side of things. And then steno is supposed to be good for depositions and whatnot. Transcripts.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Really? Tell me more about that.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Well, now that's all I know.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Okay. Okay.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

S, T, E, N O.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And like they're like.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

It's online.

[Tyson Mutrix]

They're like remote. Interesting. There is another one and I. I'm drawing a blank on the name of it. I thought it was kind of a silly name, but they. They use something like guardians of the depositions, what they call. But they weren't. They were not court reporters. They were not certified court reporters.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Interesting.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Which was really. Yeah, I thought also.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Why. What.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I don't remember the reasoning, but apparently they said with like, you know, within all the court rules, they were. It was legit. But I mean, I don't know. I don't know.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

It's like this is not the time to risk it.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So interesting. It was. I posted about that one time and like a court reporter, like, said something because I thought it was. At first I was pretty cool. And then I looked into, I don't know, maybe not. Yeah. So I wonder how difficult is it marketing for the three different practice areas?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So it is interesting, right? Just like trying to run it. So what we decided to do was kind of take a step back on marketing on personal injury, because that was not our number one client intake situation just from opening. So we take personal injury cases as they come, but we're not necessarily like marketing to them. We'll still do my social media marketing. Like, we'll still give people insight and information, let them know we do that, that we practice that. And then whenever I meet up with my other personal injury friends or, you know, the larger firms or smaller firms, someone who doesn't want to litigate or someone who wants, you know, who just has too many cases, then we'll take those on. So that's kind of how we've helped a little bit when it comes to family law. That naturally has just come. Like, I've been doing it now for over 10 years, even though I've only been barred for five. But because I started, you know, as a legal assistant before, I've just been involved in family law for over 10 years. And then similarly with estate planning, but we've been trying to push that one more because I don't. I feel like a lot of people just don't know about estate planning as much and like, what they could use, what they could need, you know, and why it's not just for wealthy people and things like that. So I've really been trying to educate people on the estate planning side and making sure my close friends and family all have that taken care of. So that way they don't have to worry about their loved ones later. But family law is just kind of. It is just a beast. Unfortunately, people, there's always going to be litigation going on with family law. So it's almost. Almost no marketing outside of Google.

[Tyson Mutrix]

How do you keep. How do you keep track? Or how do you have systems and processes for all three? Because they're so drastically different.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah. So I mean, thankfully, our case management system is really versatile. So we use Clio and so it. And that's the one that allows it automatically syncs up with proof and with steno. And so like those things already are tracked within our system, so we don't have to keep going to like opening all these different things. They even have matter Snail, which is a male situation. So where we can. We don't have to go to the post office to mail anything. We just do it online.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Oh, that's nice.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I never heard of Matters. Now I've heard of lots of them. So that's one for sending letters. Interesting. What about your mail? How do you handle your mail?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So right now, the mail does come, and that's something I would love to figure out. A better system for.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Mail. Earth class. Mail.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Air class.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Earth.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Earth class. So, okay, I saw that, but I wasn't. I got nervous because. Are they the ones who will open and scan it and send it to you?

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

See, the confidentiality part of it, it just made me nervous. What was their confidentiality part?

[Tyson Mutrix]

What's the difference between having, like, a contractor come in and doing that versus probably not.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

And that makes it. That makes it better. Easier.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. I mean, they can even deposit checks. Like, we don't do that. We don't have them do that.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Don't go that far.

[Tyson Mutrix]

We don't have any checks go to that office. We have. I mean, we just have. We'd say go to the scanning center.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So it just goes and scans, and it goes straight into a folder. And then we have a VA that actually then goes and puts into client files.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

That would be beautiful. That's the one struggle right now. And then with that, though, I'm trying to figure out how do you still have, like, your listed office, but then there's a mailing address separate. So is it that whenever you're filing things, you just like, how does it work?

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. So good question. So on all of our pleadings, we put the scanning center.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay, the Earth class mail.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Exactly. Which is. They give you an actual. They. It was interesting. They just switched us over. It used to be a P.O. box, which I didn't like, and they. They actually just switched it over to a real address. The pro. This is a good thing and a bad thing. It is. So our Clayton address, which is our St. Louis address.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

The mailing center address is a block away. So, like, they're right.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh, wow.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So that is. That could get confusing.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So we. We just make sure it's very, very clear in all of our email signatures. And then on. On the pleadings for mail only, don't send checks, all that. But that's okay. We, for the most part, we only list that address.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Is what we do. That's. That's how we do it.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

But then how do people show up?

[Tyson Mutrix]

Well, now we make sure it's Very clear, though. Like, for our clients, if we're like at the depot or something, we just make sure we tell them which address it is. When it comes to defense firms, we make sure that, hey, this is the address. Our CMS address. And so.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

And on Google, same thing. Yeah, it's just the.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, we do. Yeah. The mailing address is not on Google. On Google at all.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

That's how we do it. I. The main reason why we use it is because we get so much mail.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

The scanning alone, it's worth it because it takes so much time because we get like, you know, pleadings, discovery, medical records, like, just so many things. And it's just so much to scan. And it's worth it by itself just for that.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

That makes sense. And I mean, thankfully we don't have, like, a large mail volume, which is why it's kind of been like, low on the list of trying to figure out what to do about it. But I also hate going to grab the mail and scanning it in and especially when the scanner doesn't want to work with me today, you. You know what I mean? But my team, with them being remote and virtual, it's difficult for me sometimes to delegate when I want someone to go and check the mail or get it because sometimes I'm just closer. So it's just things I have to figure out and pull kinks, work through.

[Tyson Mutrix]

If you were gonna get rid of one of the practice areas, which would it be?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Probably PI. It's not that, but it's hard to. But I mean, probably in my mind, I still would never, like, officially give it up. I would still just. We just wouldn't market it or promote it.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Why are you so attached to it?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Because, I mean, I've done it before. I enjoy it. I think that it's sometimes a good break too from, like, my family law and estate planning type things. And I really like helping people in general, and I like the people that I've met in the PI field. Sometimes they've been like, way nicer and way more enjoyable to work with on the. On that side than it has been on my family law side of things.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So I have. It's just. It's interesting. So early on in my career, I. I handled three family law matters. It was really early and I was doing.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

And you were like, absolutely never.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And how vicious they were. And then we had an injury case where there was a. We filed the lawsuit against the husband. This is one of the things of. The only time I've ever done this it was just an interesting thing that we tried where there was a divorce component too. So my buddy handled the divorce and then we handled the injury side of it. And because the, the, the husband was a very abusive. But he had, he had money. That's why we. That's right. Okay, well, let's try and I couldn't believe how nasty the other side was. It was like it. It's a different like with PI. It is, it is mostly really good.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

The other side. But family law, I don't know how you'll like, why is it like that?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I do not know. And I'm. I feel like an alien sometimes. Outside of it, I'm like, I know I'm not like the only person who feels like this, but it's like the people who feel like it either get out of it, hurry up and get, you know, get out of it, or they just are passive. And instead like, I'm trying to like help make this a better field. And so I'm trying to do all of the niceties that you would normally do. Like, hey, I'm going to introduce myself in the case. Hey, we're going to try to work for these parties. Best interest. And if not the parties, then the children involved. Like, yeah, let's think about the kids. Because I actually got into family law because of my own family. My parents went through a divorce when I was like 12. So I got to see the justice system not be so just. And I wanted to help in that regard. And so now I get to see it on the adult side and help. And everybody doesn't have that same agenda, it seems. I don't know if it's just like a money driven thing, if it's an ego driven thing. I don't know. I would love to have more family law attorney friends. I have a good, like just a group of people. However, in general, I've just continued to run across people who I can't understand. Like their point in it. It's like they have a personal stake in it or something. I don't know.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So. And what's weird to me is all of the family law attorneys that I personally know are all nice, good people.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah. But then they talk about everybody else who's awful.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, but my experience has been like the other side has been awful. And I wonder if like, do you all turn into a different human, you know, whenever you're dealing with each other?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I think so. And I think, you know, it depends on like how personal you take it. Because whenever I, I like, I Love being the reasonable person in the room. And I realize other people don't care about being reasonable, and I think that that makes a difference. Or, you know, we have different opinions of what reasonable is. Or the law is just not on your side. So there's only so much you can do and someone's going to, you know, act up or showboat for their client because of it.

[Tyson Mutrix]

There is something about. I'm reading this book, and they're talking about how judges the. They will. When it. Like later in the day when they're tired.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So let's say this is. Or you're in the middle of a jury trial and you probably. Do you have. Is it bench tried cases in mostly. Yes. So let's. Let's say it's a bench tried case and you're. It's near the end of the day and you are the one moving to change something. Judges are far more likely to go with the status quo of whatever it is when they're tired at the end of the day. But if, like, so if you knew. If you know, things like that.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Like, I feel like the one. The bad attorneys, the ones. Not the bad ones, the mean ones, the vile ones.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

They'll take advantage of things like that. Whereas, like, you or me, where it might be like, you kind of like, you would be a lot more reasonable and you want to be reasonable to the judge. But being reasonable is not a good thing. No.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Because, like, these people's lives are going to be changed forever to a degree. Like, there's going. This is going to make an impact. And so I think about it, like, I take that part of it so seriously. And so therefore, I'm going to try not to, you know, make any missteps. I'm going to try to, you know, engage with the other side in negotiations to try to settle it outside of court. Because we never know what's going to happen with court. But you sometimes you just cannot do that and you just have to sit before the judge. Then the worst is when the judge thinks that both you and opposing counsel are just bickering. And it's like, no, no, no, your honor. No, no. They're like, both of y'all need to hush. And it's like, okay, so we're not going to.

[Tyson Mutrix]

That happened to me in December where the other side was being so ridiculous.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And then he took it out on both of us. And like he said, you all go back into my jury room and you all deal. I'm thinking like, yeah, I didn't do anything here, but it's like, yes, your honor. Like, it's.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Of course.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Oh, of course, yes. But what it does is I feel like it forces you to be unreasonable when ordinarily you would be reasonable. Yes.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So that's why I tell people, make sure, you know, you want to do this, because it is a lot. And it's a lot of growing, It's a lot of learning. It can be really great. So rewarding. However, it is difficult.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Let's talk about time management, because how do you. How are you able to run the firm, run the collective, manage cases, all that. How are you able to do all that?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Thank God I have an. Like a. My A team is what I call them, of course. So, you know, like, they are fantastic. So I've got my operations manager and my engagement specialist, my events and marketing coordinator, my account manager, and my senior paralegal. I call her senior paralegal because one, she was my very first ever paralegal. We will be eventually getting, you know, another paralegal. And so I wanted her to already have the senior title. And so with those, I'm able to actually, you know, stop and come and do things like this, promote the firm, and then they keep me on track, like, on top of my schedule. So fun fact, my mom is my operations manager.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Oh, that's fantastic.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So if you can imagine, like, if your mom, you know, working with you or like your wife working with you or something, where they just will make sure you're on top of things. And so it's really great to have her not only be my mom, but also kind of like my mom to my mom, to my clients, or even to my team members as needed. And I feel like that that gives an extra special touch to the firm whenever they are communicating with team members, because, okay, if they can't get me, if the clients can't get me, they know they can reach somebody else who is going to care. And so I think it ends up working out. We'll see. I just had to, like, make my team kind of small to start. We'll see if we're going to grow and how we're going to grow it. Our clientele has been growing. It's been really cool to see. I want to make sure I can serve them well and also, like, time blocking, discipline. That's what my business coaches have told me and instilled in me.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

And so I think that that has helped a lot. I'm still learning, I'm still growing. I'm certainly not perfect at It.

[Tyson Mutrix]

But trying time blocking is absolutely crucial. So you. How old's your firm?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

August 2024.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So you have, I mean, I'd say a bigger staff than most people whenever they're first starting out. So this is sort of a combination question where I wonder how did you know to have the staff you have? And then a lot of people are going to wonder how you're able to pay for it. So. Because it is like just starting out. So did you invest a lot into the firm at the beginning? Because that is I. The reason I'm asking it because I think a lot of people are going to have that question. So. Because there's a lot of people that are. When they first start, it's just them, right?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So that's why it's a two part. So how are you able to. To pay for it? You answered that where you made sure you invested into the firm.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Absolutely. I invested everything I had to begin with. So like me personally was broke, but the firm was doing great to begin. Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Okay, gotcha.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

And then of course I have my lovely husband. So then that helped.

[Tyson Mutrix]

That's. That's always nice too. Absolutely. So I guess how did you know what. But to put on the bus.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I didn't. I was terrified, I thought. But the main thing was, is I didn't want to fail my clients. And so as I saw the money coming in, I just reached out to the people who I knew had already been there for me from four years prior to the firm ever being involved, or people who had already encouraged me to start the firm and said that they would have my back from the beginning. So to be truthful, like, thankfully, when I first started out and everybody kind of started with a starter salary, well, not a real salary, you know, contract work. But they all understood that this is a place that we're going to be growing. So this is not where we're just starting here, but we want to make sure that this thing gets off to a good start. And so that really helped out. Well is because everyone had the understanding of what we were trying to build. And then from there as a firm continue to grow, then everybody, you know, I put raises based off of the growth of the firm essentially. And so then that really helped out.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I do. I find it so interesting how if you look at a law firm and then like, let's just use like a restaurant or a gas station or whatever. I think it's kind of funny how lawyers, they will start with one person, maybe two, like a restaurant, they have like 20 people like, or like a gas station. Like 10 people.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Where like, so they had to start it a certain way with a number of people. And then like, the upfront costs are so, so much. Whereas, like a lawyer, they'll just start with one person. I, I do. I've always found it kind of interesting how we kind of do that to ourselves where. Yeah, like, ideally, it's probably best from a client to standpoint and like, actually handling the case from case management standpoint to actually start with the team. You know what I mean?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Absolutely. And I mean, and that was it for me. It's like, I saw the clients coming in because that I wanted to wait to hire anyone until I saw that. Right. And I'm like, okay, this is happening. This is a real thing now. Let's provide a really good service for them and like, let's keep it going and let them refer people to us and let us know. Just continuing to have clients.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So tell me about that entrepreneurial spark that nudged you in this direction.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I wish I really knew. I always thought I didn't want to be a firm owner, a business owner. I know it seems weird. And now, now that I started this business, I got like five.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Right.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Like, but it was more so about, like, wanting. I always thought I was a busy bee or a worker bee and like, I could take instruction really well and like, let me just work hard. But then I started seeing, like, all the effort I would be putting into things, and then maybe they weren't being used or maybe they weren't really appreciated or whatever it may be. And then also, I never got the final say with what it was that I was suggesting. And one of my. This is gonna be a little bomb drop, but my karate instructor had told.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Me, yeah, my wife does taekwondo. She just got her black belt on Friday. So. Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

But he told me, like, I don't do well under poor leadership. And that's, I mean, years ago. And it was so true. And again, not to say that everybody who I worked for before, you know, were poor leaders or anything like that. It's just I have a structure in my mind that I wanted to create and I had some. A vision that I wanted to see and I had to do it.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So he told you, you don't do well? I think that. I don't think anybody does well under poor lady.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No, I mean, I would agree, but at the same time, it's like, if I see it, I'm going to start taking action on it, whereas other people may sit and be passive about it. I don't know.

[Tyson Mutrix]

How has that influenced you? Whenever it comes to how you manage your people?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I try to be very inclusive when it. But maybe like, overly inclusive. So I'm having to learn how to, like, have the balance. Well, I'm trying to have the balance right of, okay, like, what it means to be the boss. Right. But at the same time, so not oversharing with certain information or oversharing when it comes to, like, you know, how I would talk to my girlfriend about, oh my gosh, can you believe this happened at work today? Like, I can't really do that in that regard as the boss, however, I can have the inclusivity when it comes to, hey, are these systems working for you? Hey, do you like working here? Hey, when I gave you this instruction, did that work? You know, hey, is this too much of a caseload? Do. What do you have on your plate? So I try to be inclusive in that way because I think it makes sense to have people who are fully working give you guidance on how it's going to, like, help your clients and help them. I think a lot of times people focus on the client aspect, which is great, but I think what's forgotten are the people who work for the clients.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I do agree 100%. There is also, like, I'm a firm believer that you don't, like, you're not family, you're just not. I mean, it's.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

And that makes sense. And so I think that's why I always, like, I hesitate to use the term, like, family when it comes to friends or clients or whatever, because it's, I want to say it's community based. And then you put whatever passion you have towards it, you know, like, that person clearly needs to be in that role because of the passion, their dedication, their goals, X, Y and Z. Compared to it being like, okay, a family type driven.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. And it doesn't mean you can't, like, actually care there. Like, because there's a difference. Like, you know, I'm not going to go hang out and, you know, drink bourbon and whatever. Go. I mean, maybe we'll go bowling or something. Like, we're not gonna go, like, hang out. Like, we're, we're, you know, best friends, you know. But, like, I can still, like, show appreciation. I can still go and like, ask you how you're, how's your daughter doing? Like, things like that. That you can still kind of show that you actually care, but without crossing the line.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Well, you see, I haven't gotten that opportunity yet because everybody who works with Me has either worked with me in the past or has been a friend of mine or have I used a service of theirs in the past to where it works out. So I haven't had, like, a perfect stranger, if you will.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Right.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Because. So I don't know, because these people are people who I've kind of come up with. Right. Like my first paralegal. Like, we could go to the bar and then. You ready to go back to work? Yes, absolutely. Like, and. And so, like, we have that good balance of we can go party on the weekend, we can come back, be serious about work. Like it never happened, we don't care about it, we don't have talking about it, and we move on. But I think there's only certain people that you can be like that with.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, I would agree with that. Because it. As long as you can still be real with them. And.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yes. And the work gets done.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And. Yeah. Like, so it's funny. So my wife is our coo, and we employees will kind of, like, they'll be so surprised because I. I treat her like an actual employee.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Right.

[Tyson Mutrix]

When we talk. And so we kind of. We're joking. Not too long ago about this. She and I were. But it's like, when we'll kind of butt heads. But, like, the same way I would butt heads with any other employees. Like, we're like. Because we're very open about disagreeing about stuff.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Sure.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Like, being disagreeable is important, so. But like, in a. And then not in a negative way. Right.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

But people are surprised when they see that I'm. I speak to her the exact same way that I would speak to anybody else in the firm.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And that's how you have to be exactly like that. Even the employees that you might be a friend of yours.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Right.

[Tyson Mutrix]

You have to be the same way. Because if you. If the other employees sense that you're treating them differently, then that'll create. That's gonna create a problem.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Exactly. And that was the thing I never wanted. And I always heard about, you know, don't hire friends. And so I was always nervous about that. But then I'm also nervous about hiring a perfect stranger who. I don't know their track record or their work ethic or whatever. So it's such a learning experience. It's gonna be very interesting to see how it all, like, plays out. But right now, that's my A team, and it's. They're rocking and rolling.

[Tyson Mutrix]

It's awesome. I like the excitement that you have. I think it's. You're at such an exciting, exciting part where like you're in the fir within the first year. You're the first six months. Yeah. But like, it's a really exciting time.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

That is really incredible.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Is there anything that you thought, like, did you have some sort of idea about how things were going to be before you started that is that you realize. No, it's not quite that way.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So in one way I just was afraid of, like, where is the money going to come from?

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Like, that was the number one thing. I just had no idea of what to do, how to do it, whatever. And so it is just odd. As soon as you say you're open, like, people know about it and it just comes. And of course you have to do the Google stuff. You have to do SEO and everything. So I think that one, it's like if fear is holding anyone back type of thing from starting it, just realizing like once you get it started, the money will come. Of course you have to put the work in. You have to show up every day. But still, I mean, you have to do good work. But so I think that was the first one and then the other, like, misconception I had. No, I really think that was it. Like, I was just terrified. I didn't want to start it because I was like, I don't want to be broke. I. I enjoy making money. I'm, you know, like a senior attorney. There's no reason for me to.

[Tyson Mutrix]

That's where it's tough. Like, like someone that's worked for a little bit. Yeah. And then they're making good money. And then you go and you're like, I don't know if I want to take this. Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

And then it is. And it's a pay cut for myself personally, however, I know what it could look like in the future. You know, in my head, this grand vision.

[Tyson Mutrix]

It's important.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah. And I think that was really it. Outside of like having a meeting place in person, I always knew I'm a dog mom, so if you couldn't tell as much as I'm talking about dogs these days. But so I always wanted a place that I knew, like, it could be pet friendly. And then being on the belt line in Atlanta is so huge because that's the place that I always would go with my dogs or just walk for exercise. There's just good foot traffic. So I feel like I wasn't expecting to have that kind of space so soon, but we have had more clients want to meet in person. And so it has worked out so you mentioned fear.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Do you have any fear that AI might destroy the estate planning part of the firm?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Absolutely not. It can only enhance it.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I feel interesting. Okay, I. I love this. Yeah. Tell me more.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Well, because one, everybody wants what they want quickly, right. And if we can do a quick turnaround time for our clients by using. Utilizing AI. So like we have Wealth Council and LexisNexis. And so, you know, anytime we can do anything that's going to help make it production faster, you know, and more seamless, that's something, I think that that's a benefit to our clients.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So let me tell you my concern about estate planning specifically and tell me where I'm missing.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And I hope I'm wrong. I really do, because I think there are certain areas of law that are. They're not going to be touched by AI. Well, they'll be touched by, but it's not going to replace it. Like, AI is not going to replace a trial lawyer. They're just not. Like, there's not going to replace family law. It's not going to.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No, because there's too many nuances.

[Tyson Mutrix]

But I mean, AI might create enough autonomous vehicles where there's no car crashes. So that might happen. And I mean, in the future it might happen.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

If it happens. If it happens. But I still don't want to be.

[Tyson Mutrix]

In one with estate planning. I could totally. Because we're working with AI agents now, and I could totally see building an AI agent that can communicate directly with a potential client and then building out whatever package they need at a fraction of a cost and time and cost of a human.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, they already got that with like rocket lawyer and all these other things to a degree. And I just think no matter what, like, if you're the type of person who wants to double check and make sure that it's right, unless it said it's been reviewed and approved by a lawyer, I'm not going to use that document. So I think that there are people who are. Of course there's always going to be people who want the easiest route, the cheapest route, but it's not always going to be the best.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. Do you think it's going to bring prices down?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I don't know. I've kept my prices pretty relatively, like low for estate planning because I think that it's more welcoming for people. I think more people should get it anyways. And it's always, you know, you can always update it probably. I think some of the prices probably should be down yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

What I'm hoping is because, I mean, the percentage of people that actually have any sort of estate plan.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Is like, it's low.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Most people I don't know. Yeah, most people I know don't have one. And I think that that's unacceptable.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So maybe what, maybe what happen is that it gives access to, to those people that wouldn't ordinarily get it where they would get it. And I don't know, I mean, I, I hope I'm wrong. Maybe, maybe it doesn't affect the estate planning industry at all other than it makes your jobs easier. And yeah, the people that would hire an AI agent are now going to hire a lawyer anyways. And the people are going to hire a lawyer are always going to hire a lawyer.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Right. And you know, and like I said, people who are always just going to go grab some documents really quickly and just hope it applies to them and works out and hope that they cut. Got everything covered. They'll do that. But I hope that people will still get a lawyer to at least look over it.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, I hope so too. I hope so for lawyers in general because it is nice having a lawyer with a brain.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Just double check, hey, the law may have just changed or it's about to change, like, I don't know, because, you know, sometimes AI can't do the future situations like that. So who knows?

[Tyson Mutrix]

So if you could sit down with your younger self before starting the firm.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh, don't make me cry.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So they won't. Hopefully not.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

What would you tell her about the reality of building something from the ground up?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh, man, it is extremely tough. And you've got to have a really great support system around you and you've got to have people who help keep you grounded, people who not only keep you accountable, but allow themselves to be kept accountable.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Accountability, how is that something? How are you able to keep yourself accountable and how are you able to keep the team accountable?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So part of that is just being transparent with what my schedule looks like, with what my block schedule, you know, the. What did I say? The time blocking situation, you know, what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, if I'm actually taking a break, because, yes, I need to breathe, you know, or go to a Pilates class, or if I'm doing deep work where I'm doing legal research and I can't be distracted. And so that way they see every single day what I'm doing for them and for the firm. And then on the other side of it, hearing them out, my team Members if they have any questions, concerns, making sure that when they submit documents for me to review, because I've tasked them with all these things to do that I get it to them within minutes, if not at least within 24 hours. So that way they see how serious I am and how much I appreciate the work that they do. And then we can all stay on top of that to be accountable to the client, to make sure that we're ahead of deadlines and things like that.

[Tyson Mutrix]

You mentioned deep work. Cal Newport wrote the book Deep Work and have you read since you missed I've got to Ask it because it's my favorite book. Have you, have you read A World Without Email?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Okay. You should check it out.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

It will, it will change the way you view work.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

It. If it doesn't, there's. You didn't read it?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No, I need to, I need to.

[Tyson Mutrix]

It is, it really is. It's by Cal Newport and Newport and the importance of, you know, ports of deep Work. But then he, he then analyzes it's. It, you know, it's called a world email. But he then reanalyzes though. Okay. Like what work should actually look like and reconfiguring schedules and everything. It's. It's quite interesting. That's the main reason why we reconfigured our case management system and why we, we use now office hours instead of like letting people communicate throughout the day. So there's all these different things that we did that have made the world without email. Yeah, we're massive. Massive efficiencies. So it's really nice.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Fantastic. Yeah. Efficiency is our word. Of course. So yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Were there any. Before you started the firm, were there any moments of self doubt that you had? Oh yeah, tell me about that.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I only just recently, I feel like got over that imposter syndrome. Yeah, right. Like one I, like I said I'd been barred five years. So that already, you know, is kind of like a mark against me, if you will, because people are just like, oh, okay. Well, you know, she just hasn't been doing it for 20 plus years. However, I've been working with these 20 plus years attorneys that were against them and whatnot this entire time. And I also had the five years prior experience, you know, in the legal world and in the field in general. So I think feeling like I was going to need to prove myself and then also making sure that I had enough time to continue to stay up on what the laws are doing, what's changing, you know, how I can best Advocate for my clients. So certainly doubt. Because you just see other people doing it. You know, everybody who I've known who started a firm, either they did it, like, right out of law school and I thought they were crazy, or, you know, they've been doing it for 20 years.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Right.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

But, you know, everyone has to get started somewhere. And I feel like I was just a perfectionist. Of course. Right. I want to get it right. I want to get it right the first time. I want to do so well, you know, And I also don't want to do any disservice to my clients.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Did anyone ever openly doubt you or tell you that you shouldn't do it?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I don't think so. I don't think so. Which is a great, great thing. Right?

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I feel like I almost, like, was waiting for someone to. So then I could be like, yeah, that makes sense. I shouldn't do it. It.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. What would you say to them if they had.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Honestly, it's more so going to be like a, hey, cool, I'm going to prove you wrong probably, too. So it depends. It depended on who. Who it is. Right. If it was my husband, then I might be like, you know what? You're right. Let's not.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Let's not. Let's not do it. But former bosses, you know, it's like, okay, I'll see you on the other side.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I wish you would say it. That's right.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah. Thankfully, I have great relationships with all of them. You know, after leaving in. In my mind.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. I once had a boss. It was the. The first firm I worked for out of law school. He told me because I didn't come in on the day after Thanksgiving and on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, he didn't think I had what it would take to be a lawyer. And I was like, I've revisited. I do it less often because I don't think it's. It's. I don't think it's. It's. It's not wise or good to hold onto that poison. But I will sometimes revisit that and.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Get that fire going a little bit.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Right. Because it's like, Like. Yeah, okay.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Sometimes. I don't know. Sometimes that fire's a little good.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No, for sure. And I also think it was just kind of like thinking back to why I wanted it to be virtual and why I wanted to start my own thing because people are working nine to five. I actually, before COVID I don't remember, like, how everyone did it.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. It was like a weird reset that like the old old world and the new world are different.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah. So then you go to work every day. So you told me you go to work every day, then you come home and then you're like feeding the dogs, feeding the kids, whatever. Getting the kids off the school bus, doing homework. God, you know, and then bedtime. That sounds insane and tough. And. And then. So for me, I wanted my team to be able to actually have like we do half day Fridays. And I mean that, like we only work half day. Y'all need to get your doctor's appointment scheduled or do whatever. And if you need to actually switch it because some doctors are not even open on Fridays, which is good for them but like, you know, bad for other people, it's like, cool. Then you can switch your schedule around if you need to go on Monday or whatever. Because we have a flexible schedule because we're virtual. So I expect that you're going to get your work done daily within the hours that you need to get them done. So if that means you're working 3am to, you know, 6am, that's fine by me. I don't care as long as the tasks are completed. And I think that giving people, like being able to give people that type of work environment is really important to me because I felt like that's how I thrive. And I think that that's how the firm can thrive because the people who are working there are taken care of like head to toe, you know what I mean? Like all over work.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. So that's why we went to a four day work week and it was. Yeah, it's really nice.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Monday through Thursday, I'm assuming.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Well, we, it's. They're rotating on teams, so it depends on what team you're on.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

And they flip. So like every time it flips the. It's funny because one of the teams will get a four day work week and they love it. So they, so they, everyone, the every team ends up getting like a couple four day work weeks.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

At least I think it's like a month a year. So. So every month it flips. And so it's either Monday or Friday. And so we want to make sure that we have full coverage from Tuesday to Thursday and then Monday, Friday we have a smaller crew and people love it. I think if I said we were going back to five days, they would quit. I think people would absolutely quit.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

They have to. I don't know how people live. Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So how do you balance creating a good work culture and then also. But making sure. That people are getting their jobs done.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I think it just comes back to when I was saying how being the worker be. And then also how I came up in the legal field from being a legal intern, legal assistant, and then the attorney. I've got to see every aspect of what it means to work in a law firm. And then I know how I push myself in those roles. And so I just do my best to try to provide my team members everything they need to succeed in their roles. And if they suggest something else we want to incorporate, that let them know that I actually hear them. And if we can do it, great. If we can't do it, explain why. I think that that's sometimes where people fail, where they just, like, hear it. They're like, I'm busy, you know, and they're moving on. And then it's never acknowledged. People don't understand, you know, there may be some resentment building up. So I've always seen the entrepreneur side of it or the boss side of it from the worker's perspective. I've never run a firm before. I've never run a business before. So this is where I'm saying, like, I'm having to get better at delegating. I'm having to get better at certain boundaries that I know that I'm going to have to have or have. But it's fun learning. And thankfully, most people, if you will, like, stay in their lane. Like, most people aren't trying to do anything extra. They're just happy to do the work they're doing. If I ask them to do anything more, they will. They show up. And if they don't show up, we have a talk about that. Hi. What's happening?

[Tyson Mutrix]

Because so do you have. Because I'm sure that people are listening to this and we've had several remote firms on, you know, and you may be up. You may have the most energy out of all of them. I'll tell you that. It's great. The. But I know a big question we get from a lot of people, and I'm sure the people are listening right now wondering the same thing, is how do you know that Sally Jo is not shopping all day? How do you know that she's not? Hopefully you don't have a Sally Jo at your firm, but that would be really funny if you did. Yeah.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

No Sally jokes.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah. But how do you make sure that they're doing the things that you expect?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah. And I think that that's where task lists come into play. Having some sort of case management system or tracking situation. Even if you don't have a case management system like Asana or Trello or Monday or whatever, just anything that you can keep track of tasks with. Because for me it's always about showing your work. And so I'm not going to run you down, but I would like for you to not only check off completion whenever you've completed a task or put notes in, put the time entry in. We are a flat fee firm so we don't bill our clients, but I still want to see the work being done.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Sure.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So that helps them a lot. It helps both of us keep stay accountable on all sides.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Yeah, I frankly don't care as long as they're hitting their targets. I don't care if they, I mean they're adults, right. They're hitting their targets that we've set for them. And if they need to take 15 minutes to go shop on Amazon, I'm like, absolutely, go.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah, I hope you got something good and was there a good deal?

[Tyson Mutrix]

Let me know because it's just interesting to me. There will be attorneys that are listening to this and they'll, I get, you know, they get on Amazon themselves. Right. And well, and they'll say, well, I'm, I'm paying the bills. Like I mean, let's be reasonable here.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yeah.

[Tyson Mutrix]

You know what I mean?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Like everybody's working.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Exactly. If they're, if they're working, they're hitting the targets, it doesn't matter. You shouldn't care.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Absolutely. I mean that, that's exactly how I feel about it and I don't want to give them extra pressure. So we actually don't have like target goals, if you will. Our stuff is task based because we're not billable. But even still, like I've been able to see the work being done and if I have to seen that someone's been ghost for a minute, you know, or if I do periodically check because of course I got to check the time entries. I've got to see what people are doing or the completion of tasks. And if I see that there's something lacking, then I'll talk to the person about it.

[Tyson Mutrix]

But yeah, I think that's definitely the right approach. Talk to the person. Like actually talk to the person. Don't send them a message, actually call them. You can actually speak to them. So a few more questions and then I'll have you out of here.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

I told him he hostage, you're doing great.

[Tyson Mutrix]

I love it. So people seem to buy into the person before they're actually going to buy into the product or the service. Right. And I wonder, I guess, what is it about you that you want clients to buy into?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh, I guess kind of that, like, I actually do really care. I think when people understand that the person who is serving them, whether or not, you know, like, depending on the field they're in, that they actually care not only about the quality of work that they do and provide, but in the quality of service, but as about the person in general. Because, you know, again, it's so easy to think, okay, they're just in it for the money, or, okay, this is just another case to them, you know, another number. And for me and my team especially, like, we do really take the time to get to know our people, to engage with them, to, you know, send them a gift or send them, you know, get well or whatever it may be, because we want to make sure that the person who had to come to us and who had to, like, break down and, you know, if they're getting to the point of having to contact us, you know, something most likely went wrong.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Sure.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Or they're in preparation for something, which is fine. But I think that is important, especially in this field, to actually genuinely, personally care.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Last question. Okay, so it is January 1st of 2027. Ooh. Okay.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Okay.

[Tyson Mutrix]

What does the firm look like at that time?

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

So, well, we're a multimillion dollar firm, for one, and I think we're still going to definitely be virtual. I still want to hone into that. Now, whether or not we get other satellite kind of bases for in person client meetings, that might be something that comes. Might be something that comes with different team members in those positions, you know, throughout the state. So we'll see. We've been getting a lot of people from Savannah, Georgia and Macon and further south where I'm from. So that's been pretty cool to see. And that's where I put my first billboard right across the street from Waycross College, where I went, you know, So I just feel like I think the firm definitely is going to grow and people are really going to see the Georgia beach attorney, like, throughout Georgia. I hope that we can have more community events, not only in the metro Atlanta area, but in those same places kind of that I named Dalton also being one of the places. So not only can I engage with my initial community who helped give me the courage to even start my own firm, or sending, you know, clients to me, but also for us to just give back to those communities and make sure that they have resources that they need.

[Tyson Mutrix]

So what's the number one thing you need to focus on between now and then to make sure that you hit that target.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Oh, it's certainly still on the marketing side of things. And then also, like, when it comes to our clients, like, providing great service for them and then kind of closing their cases out quickly, I think, or quicker, as quickly as we can. You know, I think that that definitely helps because it gives an overall good client experience, and then they're more likely to recommend people.

[Tyson Mutrix]

Alicia, thanks for taking the time to do this. Really appreciate it. And thanks for bringing the energy. I needed it.

[Alicia Vale Taylor]

Yes, of course. Happy to be here. Have a good one.

[Tyson Mutrix]

You, too.