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Most law firm owners are either overthinking YouTube or completely avoiding it. The YouTube Accelerator in Chicago is going to fix that. This two day event on June 11th and 12th is built specifically for law firm owners who are ready to take YouTube seriously. You'll hear directly from guest experts like Jeff Hampton and Ryan Weber. And we're covering the full YouTube growth stack, niche and content pillars, topic ideation and messaging, hooks and intros, thumbnails and titles, recording strategy, editing, channel positioning and the growth systems that actually drive results. You'll walk away with a real plan you can execute. Get the full event details and grab your seat@maxlaw events.com.
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This is Maximum Lawyer with your host, Tyson Mutrix. So last night I had a really awesome opportunity to go to my jiu jitsu Professor's 4th degree black belt ceremony. So he was advancing to from third degree black belt to fourth degree black belt, which is a really big deal. And it was such a cool thing because I mean it was a really big event. It was way bigger than I thought it was going to be. I mean everybody from our gym was there. There were people from other gyms. We had some really big time speakers. This book. So his sensei, so we call them, we call ours professors and he calls his person a sensei. So the person that taught him. So he was there, he spoke and then there are two or, I'm sorry, five or six coral belts in the entire world. Like it legit coral belts. And a coral belt takes decades. Like you have to be, I don't remember exactly all the numbers but you have to be like a black belt for like 34 years. You have to be like a red belt for like seven years or something. Like it's something insane. Like you had like these, these guys that spoke were like in their 70s. Like one was like 78 years old, which is, I mean it's just an amazing achievement to, to be in a martial art like that for that long. It was really cool to hear this began. It was like there's only two of them. It was like two of them out of like five or six in the entire world. Which is an incredible thing. But I mean that was like those were like some of the guys before him was also kind of cool is the guys after him spoke to meaning like parts of his tree. So he had two of his black belts speak and these are both guys that. So he had sold his first gym to his very first black belt in Brazil. And a guy's name is Professor Joe. He then and apparently Professor Joe did, like, for a while was, like, not like, getting paid in Brazil because of the guy that was above them. And so my professor, Professor Lima, we call Professor Fabio. So his name is Fabio Lima. He. He's like, you know, I'm. I'm. Find a way. Told him, I'm going to find a way to. To repay you someday. And his way of repaying him was he. He was able to get him to the United States, and he opened a gym underneath my professor in. In Jefferson City, which is about 30 minutes from Columbia. And then his other black belt, one of his other black belts opened that has taken over that original gym that Professor Fabio had had open. So. And there's all these parts of his tree that have sort of popped up, you know, and have continued in his legacy. And it is. He's got a little son, Teo, who's, you know, like five years old, really young. He was there, and it was cool. And his wife was there, and she spoke, and there were some people from our gym that spoke. It was such a cool thing. And it really got me thinking about, like, legacy and legacy for law firm owners. And when it comes to, like, founders, we. I. I don't know if we think about. I think we think about, like, personal legacy. I think that's something that, as law firm owners, we think about, but I don't think we think about it is, okay, what parts of our tree are sort of expanding and going out into the legal space. But also, like, if you compare, like, the legal space to something like the tech space, like, there is someone to take over the company and carry the torch into the future for those companies. Typically, when it comes to law firms, that's usually not the case. Like, I. I seriously wonder what happens to Morgan of Morgan. Whenever John Morgan's gone now, I'm guessing one of his sons takes over. But the way he runs things, I don't know. I mean, it's. He's. He runs it very much like a business. And so I wonder how many. How many of you that are listening or watching, like. Like, how much do you actually think about that? Like, passing the torch? Or is this something that when you retire or you die, God forbid, I mean, is the torch extinguished? Like, are you. Do you plan on passing the torch? Like, I completely plan on passing the torch. I don't know if it'll be to my kids. I don't. That's. That's not the plan. Right. My kids are going to do what they want to do. Okay? I am not going to put that on them. I know that. I do know that if they want to come into the fold and become part of the firm and work their way up and then eventually maybe take it over, I'm okay with that. However I want them to do, I want them to live their own lives. What I do want to do when it comes to passing torch, I want to build business that's going to. That's going to live without me. So when I die, it's going to keep going and having survival mechanisms built in for I play. If I crash my plane or if I get hit by a bus, I want someone to be able to carry on that torch and continue to operate. And I really. And so I wonder how many other people are like that. And the reason why this matters is because it. How you design your firm matters. It really does. If it doesn't matter what happens when you're gone, you're. You are going to design your firm completely different. You just are. You're. You don't need some of those. You don't need some of the things that you need when it comes to a law firm that is going to continue on like you. You don't need the succession planning when it comes to the firm. I mean you do need some basic succession planning especially if you're earlier in your career but you don't need that long term succession planning where you know the firm continues on. Your succession planning is most likely firm closes down. What happens after that, what happens with all the cases, what happens on the money. But you meet. You need definitely need more, more intense succession planning when it comes to your, your firm if you want to continue it on that's for sure. So jotted down some questions I almost like I had for my myself but I, I almost. They're almost for you too. So I want to go through some of these because I think it's kind of a fun thing because in martial arts lineage matters. All right. It does. It was. It's a really, really big deal if you think of like if you are into martial arts at all. Like you know who the Gracies are, the Gracie family. And there is, I would say there probably is a divide when it comes to the lineage. And some people who learned under Professor Carlos have a different feeling when it comes to if they learn under him. I. It just depends on what part of the family you're from, who you follow. There is the like in, in my world, right. Gracie Baja and Gracie Hamida. Two different gyms, two different philosophies. Like I'm I'm Gracie Baja. There's another gym, Gracie Hamida in our. In Columbia that they seem to kind of go head to head quite a bit. And there's some other gyms too, where especially if you're listening to this, you're probably part of another gym and you, you have your own tilt and views on different things. But, but when it comes to. Because like jiu Jitsu, people know. They know who their instructor. They know who their instructor's instructor was. They knew. They know the entire chain of influence. But law firms, we don't. Do we even really talk about that? I, I hear about a psalm, like, I know who I learned from that was really, really good. And I know who I learned from that was really, really bad. But we don't. I don't think here, I think here's what it is. I don't think we give enough credit to the good ones. I don't think we give enough credit to the lineage and to the, to the, to the good ones. And at least I don't. I'm not going to put that on you. I don't think I. So I'll mention Steve Meyer Cord, very great man. Someone that I learned from that really, really respect. Respect. Doreen Graham, another person really, really respect. Excellent attorney. So people like that, that I've learned from that, I think are just amazing attorneys that maybe we should do a little bit better. But it does make me wonder, like, why as a profession, are we not more like Jiu jitsu? Not that we should be. I'm just wondering why we shouldn't. Another thing is, like, what would, what would law firms look like if we treated mentorship the same, the way martial arts schools do where it is. It's really kind of cool. And this was talked about last night too, where, like, I will either get freaking, almost choked out by someone, or I will, you know, vice versa. I'll almost be choking someone out. And, like, we'll have a really vicious battle. The moment the clock stops and the buzzer goes off, we are like, hugging it out. I'm talking the moment it ends. Even in the tournaments I've been in someone I don't even know. It's not like we walk away in our own corners and we are pouty and we hate each other. We fist bump sometimes we hug. Usually it's a. It's very common to be hugging. And we, we don't do that in the legal space anymore. I can tell you I've seen a massive difference in how people on the litigation side treat each other in the last 16 years. I can, I can just tell you, not gotten better. It is not, it has gotten way more vicious. And I, I've had this conversation with someone the other day. I, I, I think a big part of it has to do with, I wouldn't say the majority, but I do think a part of it has to do with the plaintiffs bar when it comes to reptile. I think a lot of people came into the reptile world and they thought that the, that you had to be a jerk when it comes to these things instead of being firm but respectful. And then I think a big part of it comes with just, I think there's a part of the defense side is just inherently just combative. So I think that's, I think I'll put the majority on that, but I don't think the plaintiffs bars help with that. And I'm, and I think family law is just a messy area. I, I, it's one of those things where I just, I think if we, I think if we were more like jiu jitsu in that way when it comes to mentorship, I think it would be better, I think the profession would be, be far better. This is my opinion. Okay, so this was an interesting question. Okay, what was, I'm really curious. I hope, hopefully we get some comments on that. But what if the true measure of a law firm wasn't revenue or profit or case results? All of those things matter in some way, some more than others. What if you were actually measured by how many great lawyers your firm produced? Think about that for a second and think about how much I think better off your firm would be. And if you instead said, okay, doesn't matter if the attorney stay or go, how many great lawyers are we producing? And I think if you're producing great lawyers, you're probably going to be producing a lot of people that are going to be willing to stay. They're going to want to stay. At least you're going to be able to attract a lot more talent. That honestly was not a question I had ever asked myself. And it's really, it's going to change, I can get, I can take change the way we do things. It is, it really is that question alone. Part of the problem is many law firms are built around one single rainmaker. And I think that's a problem. It really is. If that person retires, if they leave the profession for whatever reason, I mean, the firm disappears. So if you were more legacy focused, if you're more focused on your tree the firm is more likely to stick around. It'll survive the founder not being there anymore. It just will be because you'll have someone to pass it on to and people will be able to carry that torch for you. So I am curious about how many people practicing especially my big concern is the solos that just came out of law school. And I wonder like if you have, if you had a mentor, if you have a mentor, I'm curious how many people, how many lawyers that are founders, people are listening to this, have had mentors, like true mentors, someone that like was invested in you, really, they had a vested interest in you. And like, because I think that matters and, and I wonder those that I would love to see some sort of study about the success of lawyers that have been mentored versus those that haven't. I do think that Maximum Lawyer is a form of mentorship. It's just a different form where you know, we're there to support, we are there to, to help you succeed in every way. And so it's just, it just comes in a different manner. Right. It's just not, you know, one person. It's sort of a rising tide, sort of a approach. Because like mentorship, it only matters if, if the person cares about long term development. Obviously we do at Maximum Lawyer, but if you have like a one on one mentor, they have to truly care about your long term development. That's why I think sometimes coaching doesn't work. I think sometimes the coaching is about the coach getting paid. Right. It's not necessarily about the person's long term development. I think that's the reality of it sometimes. And so those of you that have had a coach, you've, you've probably experienced that before. But for it to be truly, truly, truly successful, having a coach, having a mentor, they've got a concern, they've got to care about your long term development. This was not on my list, but I do something I thought about a long time ago. So think about if you thought about in a 30 year mindset versus a 3 year mindset. But then also what if you thought like a 200 year mindset. I think I've talked about this on the, on the podcast before, but a lot of Japanese companies like Toyota, they think in 200 year horizons, so they design everything so that the company can last 200 years. That is a, that thinking is so beyond what we are used to. It's not surprising that Toyota has been around for so long, they've been so successful, but they have also, they've encountered Many hiccups along the way. And they've been able to stand the test of time because of the way they're designed. Not the. I'm not talking about the cars, I'm talking about the company itself. That's kind of cool. Like you think about in 200 year horizons, which, when you think about what it takes, how deep, you really have to think about the development of the company and the development of the leadership and the development of your people. That takes a lot of thought, a lot of forethought. And is it realistic for you to think probably in 200 year horizons? No, that's not the point. The point is the exercise of, of building a very deep bench, a very deep entrenched culture, all of that. That's what it, it comes down to. That's what it comes down to. But like kind of think about the, the 30 year horizons, three year horizons, like think about what it takes to become a core. But why would I talk about Tor, right? I mean, you're talking about four decades, five decades. That is, that is incredible. Like the system itself, it forces that long term thing. It's like there's a system built around it, okay. In contrast, most law firms think in much shorter cycles. They're thinking about the next case, the next phone call. They're thinking about this quarter, they're thinking about next quarter, they're thinking about this year, they're thinking about next year. The idea of a 30 year mindset or a 40 year mindset or a 50 year mindset is not even something that's crossed their mind. So I wonder what changes? So if you've never thought that, like what changes when you start to think in a 30 year timeline, I mean, a lot changes, right? You're designing things so much differently, you're probably taking a step back, you're pausing, thinking, okay, does this case really matter? This case that it's okay, there's some good money here, but does this case, Do I really need this case? Right? It changes the way you think about hiring employees. It changes the way you think about firing employees. It changes a lot of things. I think in a very good way. It slows things down, right? You stop to think, okay, how much does this really matter? How much is this gonna matter in 30 years? I'm not gonna remember this moment at all, right? That's pretty cool. When you start to think about like that, where to me it's, it relieves a lot of my stress. It really does. Like, so just have fun with me for a second. Like Imagine designing your firm the way a martial arts school designs, like belt progression. So you have these very clear development stages. You've got built in mentorship, you've got built in mastery, where that's part of the advancement. I mean, think about if you could design your firm with advancing your employees that same way. It's definitely doable. It is 100% doable. And you just have to take the time to design it. Have we designed it to that point? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not to that level. I, I wish I could say that we have, but we have not. That is, that is a different something. Sure. We have scorecards and all that. And we have done our best to design, you know, goal posts for our people to know how to, how to get to advancement. It comes to the advancement like jiu jitsu, we have nothing thought about to that level. But it's one of those things. I'm also going to start, we're going to start thinking about it now. You're people aren't going to be earning belts and all that, but there's certainly a way we can design the progression. I think that that's a pretty cool thing to think about and I think we'll be able to do that. It's just a matter that's going to take some time. Just gonna take some time. Cause think about like today, like, think about this question. Here's a really good question for you. Okay, so if a lawyer started at your firm today, or employee, whatever it is, okay, it could be a receptionist, but every position, what would their black belt track look like? What would it look like if they started your firm today? And let's focus on attorneys for a second. So the lawyer started your firm today. What would their black belt path look like? How did they get, how did they earn their blue belt? So they started as a white belt. How do they get their blue belt? Okay, the way it sort of works in jiu jitsu and it's different in every gym. But I'm gonna give you a somewhat of a framework. So you've got, and this is for adults, kids are a little bit different. So you're at white belt for about a year, year and a half. And these are not based on time. I'm just giving you, they're based on skill. But this is roughly how long it takes for you to, to develop these skills. Year, year and a half. Get your blue belt and then you're a blue belt for a couple years. Okay, two to three, let's say two to Three years. And then you're a purple belt for two to three, four years. Okay. And then you're a brown belt for two to three, four years, something like that. So it takes at a minimum to get a black belt, 10 years. So you're not getting a black belt in 10 years. Right. So now if you kind of break that down for, for attorneys, because there's definitely black belt attorneys and there's definitely blue, blue belt attorneys. There's definitely white belt attorneys. There's. There's different varying qualities of attorneys. So, like, what, what does that path look like for your attorney? Right. I think designing that would be very, very helpful for you. It would also be very, very helpful for them. More so probably for them, but for the longevity of the firm. Extremely helpful. Because are we really, are we building careers inside our firms or are we, are we just building jobs? If we're just building jobs, then this is not a long term thing for them. They want to have careers. They. They don't want to have a job. And many of us think about that incorrectly. It's. That is a massive distinction. Run that idea. By the end of the day, I guarantee you that they're going to agree with me. Guarantee it. If you disagree with me, I would love to hear from you. I would absolutely love to hear anyone that would have disagree with that, that comment. Because, like, no great thing is created suddenly. It's just not great. Things take time and a career is a great thing. A job is usually not. Right. Here's another kind of question. Like, what would change your firm if you designed it to last a hundred years? Okay, so let's take it. Not two hundred, not a hundred. So just it's kind of like on your own, have a prompt just to sort of get your mind thinking, like, how would you change things from where it is right now? So love to hear from you on that. Leave us a comment. I would always like to get comments and I will definitely respond to them. All right. When it comes to training, I think what's really kind of cool is again, jiu jitsu, because I want to keep this kind of jiu jitsu theme throughout this entire episode. What's really neat is at least at our gym, every gym is gonna be a little bit different. But at least at our gym, I remember there were people that were way better than me and they wouldn't just submit me. Like, what they would say is, I remember this guy Shane, he was awesome. He would say, like, the guy's like, got like £200 on me. Gigantic guy full of muscle. And he could just. He could tap me in probably 30 seconds. But he would say, instead of just, you know, tapping me, he would say, okay, try this. You know, move your hand here, move your arm there, put your leg here. And to help improve me, right? And. And so that kind of gets passed on where, like, I do the same thing now with people that I'm better than and say, oh, you know what? You would have had me here if you would have put your arm there, or if you would have held this position here. You have turned your hand the right way. And so I think one of the cool things that we do in Jiu Jitsu that could definitely be applied within the legal space is that if you train one lawyer, you gotta train them well and you gotta teach them sort of the way in Jiu Jitsu where you sort of. I mean, many times leaders are. They point out the negatives, and instead of defeating them, right, how about we help them win by telling them how to do the things the right way, complimenting them on the good things that they're doing, and be a little bit. Give a little more grace when it comes to the things that do poorly. And what they're going to do is they're going to do the same thing to the next people down the road. So passing that influence from you to them, to the next person to the next person, it's really going to spread. I think that part's really important. Another thing we could probably do, and this is part of this, is this when it comes to that mentorship, try to find a way to treat it as a core business metric, if you can. And an easy way of doing that maybe is when it comes to, I mean, how many hours, quarter. Did we mentor younger lawyers? Okay, so just some. Something to think about, because how many lawyers pricing today are pricing the way they do because of something that you taught them or another attorney to talk to them? Pretty much all of them are. Unless you start as a true solo. Even the true solos, they had to learn from somewhere. They learned from someone. They. Some of them may have written it in a book, but ultimately they came from someone. Right? Like, think about that impact. That's a really big impact. Okay, so I would. If I were you, I would start kind of thinking about who's one lawyer in your firm. You could start intentionally mentoring, like this year and really kind of think it out, think it through, think about who that might be. I think that would be. It's. It's a really good way of starting Because I mean, are we really, are we building law firms that revolve around us or are we building firms that can exist without us? And it kind of goes back to earlier, what I was talking about earlier. Most of us are, are creating firms that are revolving around us and we've got to get away from that if we want, want, if we want to kind of get all that pressure off of us. But it also, that's part of it is getting that pressure off of us. But if we want long, long term firms that, that can outlast us, we've got to, we've got to make it where it doesn't revolve around us. So I, I ain't going to wrap it there. I've got, I've got, as usual, I've got a lot more that I, I, I had to cover. But I, I think I've got everything that I want to. Because what I really want is I want you to be proud of your firm and I want you to be, to create the firm that you want. I want you to create the firm. Even if it does revolve around you. That is completely fine. That being said, there's many lessons that we can learn from jiu jitsu about passing on a legacy. So even if it, yeah, like I said, even if the firm does resolve revolve around you, I'm sure you want to pass on some sort of legacy. I'm sure that it would be very nice for in your profession, people respected you. People, you know, they said, you know what, Tyson, man, the footprint he left on this earth is powerful, right? At least that's something I would want. Like you don't want the opposite. You definitely don't. So I think it's something that, I think it's worth something worth thinking about. I would love to hear your thoughts about it. Leave me a comment. It'd be great. Also, check out Becca's list. Becca, Becca's list is there for you. It's free. It's free, free to use. And so go there, leave a review, check out other vendors, find out who you like, who you don't like, who to avoid and who is great. And give the money, give money to the ones that are great. That's all I would say. I'm not incentivized to tell you that. I'm just telling you, give money to the good ones, don't give money to the bad ones. That's just a basic principle that I live by. And then also, if you're interested in the association, check us out, go to MaximumLawyer.com we would love to have you, but thanks for watching everybody.
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