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- [00:02]
A
Hey, it's Sam Alai here, founder of my legal Academy, where we help lawyers scale and automate their law firms so they could send up more clients and reclaim their precious time. If you're looking to grow your practice while working less, click the link in the show notes to book a free call to discover a radically different way to grow your law firm. Enjoy the episode.
- [00:22]
B
Hey there, fellow law entrepreneurs. Welcome to episode 429 of the Law Entrepreneur. I'm Neil Tyrer, your East coast host. Say that five times fast. East coast host. And joining me is my good pal Sam Malai out on the West Coast. Sam, what's going on out there in La La Land?
- [00:41]
A
Feeling amazing and let's make it an amazing one for our listeners. Neil, we are live also on YouTube right now and LinkedIn and X. I know a lot of we have a lot of our listeners on podcast, but if you're not following us on YouTube, just go search for my Legal Academy. You'll find a lot of amazing value being shared there. We're posting pretty frequently. It's a lot of good value. Neil, we have a pretty fun and interesting topic.
- [01:06]
B
Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it.
- [01:08]
A
Hot topic that I've seen a lot in a lot of. There's dedicated Facebook groups that are dedicated to this topic, which is side hustles. And also I actually analyze Reddit for lawyers, and that I realized was a hot topic also for a lot of lawyers. And every time I see a Facebook group post about this, I cringe a little bit because I always want the best for everyone else. And there'll be a lot of good insights we'll be sharing here that hopefully will get everybody lined up and focused on what drives the most and the best for our lives.
- [01:44]
B
Yeah, let's do it.
- [01:45]
A
All right. So, Neil, should lawyers have side hustles? That's the question we want to answer.
- [01:52]
B
Usually makes me kind of cringe a little bit because the overwhelming thought I have is that I'm not sure it's always a good idea. But let's go through the reasons why.
- [02:04]
A
I also agree, because big part of growth is you need focus is focus, basically. So just imagine us as lawyers and law firm owners. We have a very demanding schedule. We have a lot going on. Not only do we have to deal with clients, we have to deal with our legal work. We also have to worry about signing up new clients. We also have to worry about admin and marketing and collecting reviews and a million other things that come up. And now trying to divest that Focus and attention into a side opportunity is, doesn't lead to the ultimate result, which is basically doubling down on what gives you the best, best opportunity for you to grow the fastest. So all it does as side hustle is just divides your attention and also your own commitment to grow. Neil, what's your take on this?
- [02:55]
B
Yeah, I think, you know, my mother used to say, better to do one job well than two jobs terrible. And you know, there's wisdom in that simplicity. Now I have to admit, in full disclosure, I haven't always adhered to that principle. There was a time when I thought that it would. I was doing a lot of real estate kind of work in my estate planning practice or tangential real estate issues in my estate planning practice. And I thought, well, what, you know, I think I could flip houses. That was, you know, everybody's big dream decade or so ago. And I had some disposable income and I went down that path. And all I found is a way to waste a lot of money, a lot of time and lose focus on, as you said, what was important. So I'm guilty of it. I didn't spend a whole lot of time doing it, but a whole lot of money that I shouldn't have. But that's, that's a different story. But yeah, I think that's exactly the right perspective. You need to do well in what we do and to grow and scale your practice. It's all about focus. It's all about keeping your eye on, on what your goal and objectives are. And if, if you do anything to distract that, it's just that it's a distraction.
- [04:14]
A
And running a law firm is a race. We don't realize it's a race because, I mean, we don't want to think like it's a race, but it is a race because you are in a market. That means there are other lawyers that do what do you do in your vicinity and in your demographic or your market. And as much as, you know, you don't want to think of it as a race, it is a race. So imagine you have two runners, Neil. You have a runner who's focused dialed in. All he has to do is when the, you know, when the thing goes off and you know, you got to start running, he's focused on getting down the line versus the other person has, is trying to make a phone call and also, you know, trying to juggle at the same time and do that well, who's going to get to the, you know, the finish goal fastest and the smoothest, not Just the fastest, but also the smoothest part. So, you know, if you're in the market and you're competing, you know, you got to really focus. Let's go to point number two, Neil, which is the hidden costs of side hustles, the intangibles. Well, number one, hidden cost of focusing on a side hustle is time. Your time that you're spending on your side hustle is costing you money and time when they could be investing into your own law firm. Second part is your energy. Your energy needs to be kind of focused onto one thing. So again, your energy is a finite entity, and you're. If you're spreading that thin across two or three different aspects, then they'll be divided. And third, something that always is top of mind for me, Neil, is opportunity loss. Opportunity cost and opportunity loss. A lot of people don't assume, don't have a calculation in their head is, when I'm doing this, what am I missing out on that I. That I won't be doing because I'm doing this? A lot of people focus on what they're getting right in front of them when they don't realize what the money that they're leaving off the, you know, on the table. So, you know, those are the things that you always have to think about. The. Not just the tangible results, but also what's your opportunity cost, what's your. The intangible things that you're missing out on. These are like, huge, important factors when you're considering whether you should be taken on a side hustle.
- [06:21]
B
Yeah, and I can hear some listeners saying, but, hey, Neil, didn't you have a side hustle called a podcast? Right? You had a law practice and a podcast, and isn't that a side hustle? And yeah, that's true. That's very much true. And all these issues were glaringly apparent as I started the podcast and built the podcast. It was a demand of my time. It was a demand on my focus, it was a demand on my energy. And there were some opportunities that perhaps from the law practice I was missing. But on the other hand, I used the podcast to promote my practice, and there were a lot of things that overlap to the benefit of the practice. So when we talk about when does it make a good fit, keep that in mind. There may be some opportunity there to leverage and force multiply your efforts so that it's not a complete drain. But any way you look at it, it's additional time spent. You're taking away from your family, taking away from your free time impacting your quality of life. So that has to be a factor taken into consideration.
- [07:34]
A
Neil, you brought up a good point. Well, if the side hustle is related to what you are currently doing and it's serving the same market or the same niche, then yes, maybe it might be worth it. So, Neil, you brought up a good example for you. You're a lawyer. What does that have to do with coding a podcast for other lawyers? Well, one is, as you're talking and you're speaking, you're building up your own expertise, your own confidence, your own also networking. I'm sure a lot of good things that came your way from this so that, you know, it's kind of like stacking, you know, those opportunities. That's because it's related to each other. However, it's a side hustle that's completely, you know, you're doing something and you're. Now, you also happened to find an opportunity. Somebody came to you, hey, Sam, I have an opportunity for you. Can you build me a funnel for insurance companies or for real estate? I'm like, as much as I would love to, no, I cannot because it doesn't align with what I've been hyper focusing on, which is the legal space. And you know, you want to go deep into your skills, into your niche. The more different sides of it, aspects of it you hit up, the more of a in depth skills that you build up versus if you're kind of diversifying those skills across different niches, practice practices, you're not going to get the expertise and that you're not going to understand the nuances that it takes to be able to do well in those niches. So be mindful. Is this side hustle aligned with what I'm currently doing? If it's too far out, then might want to reconsider. Neil, we also want to talk about how it could also side hustles could dilute your profession and your reputation. You want to share your thoughts about this?
- [09:09]
B
Yeah. So I think you have to be sensitive to the fact that people can perceive you as being less committed to your law practice if they're aware of the time and effort that you're putting in to this side hustle. And then in some cases it diminishes your ability to position yourself as an expert. And I shared with you earlier a story. When I was first starting as a solo practitioner here, there was a solo practitioner who was struggling, no question about it, they were struggling to make ends meet and they took a position as a barrister at the local Starbucks. Frankly, the One that serves the legal community here in our area. And they were handing out their law firm business card to every attorney who ordered a latte. And, you know, they thought they were brilliant way of getting paid to network. And, you know, I would admit, at least in the first few weeks, it was kind of humorous, it was kind of unique. But as it went on, it just, it really did dilute his reputation. And people thought of him as the barrister who had a side hustle as a lawyer as opposed to the other way around.
- [10:29]
A
So, yeah, and the world of online, Neil, is small. You'd be so surprised. You know, whatever you post online, your prospects and clients, rest assured, are seeing it. You don't believe me? Just try it out. Ask your prospects, hey, what do you know about me? And they'll tell you. So, you know, be mindful of that. You know, you start doing some stuff, you know, your prospects and clients are going to question that and be like, I don't expect my lawyer to do this. Comes to things like for them to be working on my case or my thing. So, yeah, it does dilute your reputation by doing that, Neil, what is the alternative? What's the ideal way then? No hustle side all side hustles or some high side hustles. How do you see it?
- [11:10]
B
Yeah, well, we did touch upon, you know, a couple of examples where there might be a correlation between what you're doing on the side in your law practice. So, for instance, that my podcast very much supported my law practice. But there's some other areas, you know, attorneys that I know who teach at a local community college or teach at university or law school, some cases teach about the business of running a law practice. Interesting enough. So that scenario, where I think it fosters your reputation and you can, you know, leverage that same way if you're doing a lot of writing or you're doing a lot of video content development. You know, there's a fine line between creating video contact to support your law practice and becoming a video content creator. Where that's your primary hustle is creating video content. But there can be times when that overlaps and can be supportive of of what you're doing. It can also serve as a creative outlet. You know, frankly, we have a situation in law, sometimes it's cut and dry and can get a little bit stale. And a side hustle that dovetails with your business can offer you the opportunity to do things like being creative with your video content or being creative with your writing. And so there's opportunities there where it can make Sense and frankly can act as a bit of a financial safety net. Not always, but in some ways this can. You know, look at I always said if my podcast paid to keep the lights on and me and beer and pretzels, then I would be very happy with its success. And that's exactly what it did. So there are times when it can make sense.
- [13:06]
A
Neil, I'm going to share some long term wealth secrets for our listeners. Don't stack cash, stack equity. A lot of people, you know, try to build, make the next buck. Find a lot of opportunity here, thousand dollars opportunity here. While you're doing that, someone else is going and creating and building something that compounds over time to give a much more effective result than stacking the cash. So you want to lean towards building something versus just making money. I could give a very personal example. My mother is a notary agent and that is like a, for me, when I, you know, when I saw her doing this, I'm like, that's considered stacking cash because you, you know, you put yourself out there as an agent, as a notary agent, you get calls, hey, can you come, you know, notarize for me? $100 here, go stack another $100 here, 30 $100 here. And I'm like, mom, this doesn't, this won't get you anywhere. Sure you'll make some money. Maybe add it up, say you make $3,000 a month from this. But instead, let's try to build some equity. Let's build something together that will lead us to somewhere where we could look back after five or 10 years, be like, hey, I built equity in something. So look for those, you ask yourself again very quickly, again, nothing against notary agents and all the agents and people that make money for a living, by all means, please do. But just have this also back of your mind. Am I building something? Am I building equity long term? Ideally, that's where you want to be or at the very least be making your have your cash flow things where you make money. But at the same time make sure you also have something on the background where you have equity and, or building equity as you go along.
- [14:47]
B
Well, that goes along with investing in yourself, doesn't it? Investing in your law firm. You know, if I can stack that money up over here and use it for my personal gain and my family's need, that certainly acceptable and understandable. But if you can put more of it aside and invest it in your business, in your practice, such that you are, as you say, I'm building that equity, you're building something that is going to return dividends tenfold over than just what stacking and hoarding cash will do.
- [15:21]
A
Yeah, and this exactly will be a good transition to our next episode, which will be five secrets to scaling your law firm faster than ever. This is a perfect recipe for exactly what we're talking about, which is building equity. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you're listening to us on podcasts, please make sure to review us. If you haven't already, please check the show notes in the podcast. There's a lot of good information and resources and things that we're putting out there. If you're not. I'm not sure when this podcast will post it, but we'll be having a Lawyer club fiesta on December 12th. If you happen to listen to the podcast before that, please join us. The link will be in the show notes and we'll see you in the next interesting episode that we'll be recording right now. Thank you so much.
- [16:02]
B
Absolutely.
- [16:04]
C
Thanks for listening to the Law Entrepreneur. If you found value in the show, please rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you're listening. And don't forget to share the episode with a friend. It could help transform their life. To get access to a treasure trove of exclusive free resources for Lawyers, go to joinlawyerclub.com Again, that's joinlawyerclub.com we'll see you on the next episode.