Show Notes:

Know your numbers. “My father told me two things. If you understand accounting, you’ll be able to do anything you want in the business world because it’s important to understand finance and accounting, and no one will be able to pull the wool over your eyes about numbers. If you know law, you’ll be able to understand that and that’ll be a huge advantage as well. I use my accounting and law background pretty much every day in business and it’s a tremendous advantage. It’s a very, very helpful background to have.”

Key business components. “If you can build the type of business that could be sold, chances are that the things you’re doing are really good for the business. This includes processes, systems, layers, and depth.”

How to scale. “A lot of law firms and businesses in general are looking for more leads. More leads come from more media, which include finding people that have aggregated the eyeballs and attention of your ideal customer profile. There are people who have already done that, and those assets and companies are available. It could be as simple as a Facebook Group, a podcast, and events like you just finished [Game Changers Summit 3] — any of those things. If I’m looking to grow my business, I can acquire my competitors. I can acquire media so I can get more leads. I can acqui-hire by acquiring other assets and firms that have the people, resources, standard operating procedures that I want, etc.”

Determining bad investments. “Are the customers happy? Is there one client or referral source that is critical to the business that, if that went away, represents more than 20-30 percent of the business? Are they litigious in their own lives? What are they doing to measure the happiness and satisfaction level of their employees? Is there high turnover and bad Glassdoor reviews?”

Recognize opportunities. “The once-in-a-lifetime deal comes around three or four times a year. The deals that you don’t do are much more important than the deals that you do, because if you get bogged down with the so-so deals, then the once-in-a-lifetime deals might pass you by or you might not have the resources to do them at the time they show themselves.”

Successful vs. unsuccessful businesses. “Great people, obsession with customer experience, and being in an industry that’s on the rise are the makings of a successful business. On the flipside, if you’re in it for the money, then it doesn’t go well. You’re thinking about the wrong things, which is short term vs. long term. Being in it for the money causes you to make short-term decisions, which causes the business to suffer in the longer term.” 

Become a great leader. “Empathy and creativity are really two of the most important [competencies], because empathy allows you to put yourself in the shoes of your customers and employees, and creativity allows you to draw on non-traditional solutions to the problems they face. If you’ve got that, you can pretty much hire for everything else. If you’re enjoying what you do, that comes through.”

Keep learning. “If you’re curious, then you’ll always be fascinated by business, life, family, everything — because there’s never an end to the new things that you can learn, discover, and experience.”

What does being a game changer mean to you? “The sum total of your life is the multiple of all of those individual singular moments with other people — to make an impact, to make a difference — and that changes the game. It’s not the big, grand, momentary gesture. It’s how you show up every day. That can change the game, even for one person for a little bit of time. That’s a huge win.”

RESOURCES & REFERENCES

Roland Frasier
Skinner Studies on Operant Conditioning
Rule 5.4
Facebook Groups
McKinsey & Company — Customer Experience: Creating Value Through Transforming Customer journeys
Amazon
Andreessen Horowitz
Rolls-Royce
Bentley
Mercedes-Benz
Game Changers Summit 3