Latest / Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast, Helping you create a profitable, sustainable law firm you love / Episode 256 Popular Replay: Kristie’s Secret to Scaling Her Law Firm in Just 3 Years

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Episode 256 Popular Replay: Kristie’s Secret to Scaling Her Law Firm in Just 3 Years · Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast, Helping you create a profitable, sustainable law firm you love

• 0:00
  Kristie: But I really, really want things to change, and I really want to grow and and to flourish. And and I have this mindset of, if I don't, then I know if, like, if I don't take the step and have courage and and move to the next step, then I know that things aren't going to change. So it's really just a mindset of knowing that like, I really believe that if I do what I need to do, I'll get better outcomes.
• 0:27
  Intro: Welcome to the Wealthy Woman Lawyer podcast. What if you could hang out with successful women lawyers? Ask them about growing their firms, managing resources like time, team, and systems, mastering money issues, and more. Then take an insight or 2 to help you build a wealth generating law firm. Each week, your host, Davina Frederick, takes an in-depth look at how to think like a CEO, attract clients who you love to serve and will pay you on time, and create a profitable, sustainable firm you love.
• 0:58
  Davina is founder and CEO of Wealthy Woman Lawyer, and her goal is to give you the information you need to scale your law firm business from 6 to 7 figures in gross annual revenue so you can fully fund and still have time to enjoy the lifestyle of your dreams. Now here's Devina.
• 1:17
  Davina: Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Wealthy Woman Layer podcast. I'm your host, Devina Frederick. And today, my guest is very special, guest for me, and that is Christy Scott. Christy is the founder, shareholder, and principal attorney with LightPath Legal PA in Fort Myers, Florida. She concentrates her practice in the areas of church law, business law, labor and employment law, and civil and business litigation.
• 1:43
  Attorney Scott has had an AV preeminent rating with Mark Del Hubbell since 2020 and was named by best lawyers 1 to watch in Florida in 2022. She's also been named birthing star by Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers Magazine since 2019 and was featured in no Fort Lawter Fort Myers Magazine in 2020. She's also been recognized as a leader in law by the Florida Association of Women Lawyers in 2017, and she was recognized as 1 of the best employment lawyers serving Kate Kearl by expertise in 2021. Christy is known for her commitment to her Christian principles, which include to love all and serve all. She operates with integrity while fiercely advocating for her clients in addition to practicing law.
• 2:31
  Attorney Scott is heavily involved in her community. She's an adjunct business law professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, and she is married with 3 children. So welcome, Christy. I'm so glad to be talking with you today. Tell me let's start with you telling me a little bit about your journey to becoming a lawyer.
• 2:53
  Did you always know you wanted to be a lawyer,
• 2:56
  Kristie: or is that something that evolved as time went along? It definitely evolved. So, specifically, I was 1st person in my family to go to college. I didn't know what I was gonna do. I was 1 of those people that changed my major all the time and that sort of thing.
• 3:14
  And after I graduated with a psychology major, I ended up working with mutual funds. I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina, so everybody there works in banking or work Yeah. Investments and things like that. And so there's heavy recruiters, and I ended up working for Vanguard for a couple of years, which is a huge investment company. And, just over time, I ended up meeting a couple of lawyers and, this idea developed of, like, maybe I should go to law school.
• 3:41
  So that's what I did. What is your undergrad degree in? It's in psychology. Yep.
• 3:46
  Davina: Alright. So I was wondering what you finally settled on. It sounds like me, I was evaluating changing careers from marketing to something else, and I made this chart of, like, teacher, lawyer, or therapist. I put the pros and cons of each. So I know what it I know what it feels like to be like, there's so many possibilities and things you could do, and they'd have to settle 1.
• 4:09
  So once you became a lawyer, did you like it?
• 4:15
  Kristie: Yeah. So, in law school, actually, I was on our school's trial team. And so I really enjoyed, like, you know, the the mock trials and things like that. So I knew I wanted to be a litigator. And so, I did.
• 4:29
  I I really, really enjoyed it, and I had some really great mentors, got some courtroom experience as an, you know, as an intern and then, as as a lawyer. And, and, yeah, absolutely fell in love with it.
• 4:41
  Davina: Wonderful. And so how long did you work? Did you work for other people, or did you start your firm right away at besides the internships?
• 4:49
  Kristie: Yeah. So I, I worked for other people. And, you know, there's pros and cons to how people do it, but I, I think that the route that I did it was a good 1, because I worked for a really large firm, a firm like an international firm, first. And so I got that big law firm experience. And then I went I worked there for about 3 years, and then I went to a boutique firm, very well known, in the community, founded by the firm fair, and really great for, like, networking and meeting people.
• 5:23
  And I got a lot more experience working for that small boutique firm, and I did that for about 5 years, about 4 4 and a half, 5 years. And then, I started my own. And so I feel like I really had the opportunity to learn from really great lawyers and got an an idea of, like, what I was doing. Because I think every lawyer feels like they don't know what they're doing when they first graduate.
• 5:44
  Davina: It takes years before you feel like, you know, you're doing it even then some days. They're like Night. So so did your decision to work with them inform your choice of practice areas?
• 5:56
  Kristie: Yes. It did. Because I really got a chance to really, like, enjoy what I was doing and, representing businesses and doing some civil litigation and things like that. And, and, actually, the same for the most part, the same practice areas that I had at that boutique firm is basically what I do in my own firm. So it definitely definitely had a big impact.
• 6:19
  Right. So tell me what your practice areas are. So I primarily represent businesses, and my kinda niche area is I represent churches as well. I consider churches to be just a special type of business. So I represent businesses and churches.
• 6:35
  I also handle civil litigation, and that includes employment disputes. And I represent both employers and employees.
• 6:44
  Davina: Right. So how long have you had your own firm?
• 6:48
  Kristie: So it's been about 3 years. I'm going in about 3 and a half years. I started right before the pandemic, not knowing that the pandemic was coming. I started in February 2020. And so, so it's been about a little over 3 and a half years.
• 7:04
  Davina: So when you started, what made you decide to start your own firm?
• 7:10
  Kristie: So I come from a family of entrepreneurs. Like, so far, nobody has done it to the level that I'm doing it. But, but my grandmother had, like, you know, a kinda like a bakery, and she would bake things out out of out of her house. And then at 1 point, she had, like, a little bakery shop. And then my dad, my dad has a car business where he fixes cars.
• 7:31
  And so he, he has had that for, like, around 30 years. And so with both of those, like, influences, I kind of have always had this, you know, spirit of, like, okay. I wanna do my own thing. And so, while I really enjoyed working for the other firms, I just thought to myself, you know, I wanna step out and try to do it on my on my own and see what happens. And so I just constantly built myself up with courage to do it.
• 7:57
  And, and so here I am.
• 7:59
  Davina: That's wonderful. And we're gonna talk about your phenomenal growth in a minute. Before we get into that, though, I wanna talk about so when you started, did you hire immediately, or did you work as a true solo for a while? What did you do?
• 8:13
  Kristie: So when I first started, I planned on just being completely alone. And, a girl that I know from church actually said, hey, Christie, are you gonna need somebody to answer your phones? And I started thinking to myself, like, I don't even know if I'm gonna make any money. So
• 8:29
  Davina: I was clear. The buzz are gonna ring. Right.
• 8:33
  Kristie: And so I'm thinking, like, what should I do? So I so I started doing the math of, like, okay. If I paid her this, then, how much would that cost me, and what would I need to do, like, in order to pay her salary? And so what I felt comfortable doing was telling her, okay. Look.
• 8:49
  You can start part time. And I paid her something modest. I can't remember what exactly what I paid her, but, you know, maybe, like, $14 an hour or something like that. And I said, you can work part time. And so you can work in the mornings, and then you leave every day at, you know, 1 o'clock, whatever.
• 9:04
  And so she was good with that. And believe it or not, my phone started ringing from the first day. Like, the first day The band's been tested. Yeah, my my phone was ringing. And so she worked part time for 2 weeks, and then she she was hold on because I needed her.
• 9:20
  Davina: So She'll say I can't. I can't with this phone in the afternoon. Right. So so who did you add next in your on your team?
• 9:30
  Kristie: So the next person that I added I have to, like, think back. I, I wanna say it was additional, like, a paralegal. And then, shortly thereafter, I I added an attorney. And, like, all of these people didn't work out. So, like, it wasn't like, oh, yeah.
• 9:47
  I I hired this person, and then now that person's still with me 3 days later. So there was definitely some trial and error, you know, variant you know, you're building something, and everybody's not gonna be with you, you know, forever. And that's okay, because you're learning, you know, you're learning and you're growing at the same time. But, yeah, 1 of the things I knew from from the beginning was that, I couldn't do it all alone. So, like, for me and everybody starts differently.
• 10:18
  But for me, whenever I started my own firm, I had 25 clients come with me. So that's not a huge amount of clients from my practice area, but it is enough to, like, you know I would No.
• 10:30
  Davina: There's money coming in.
• 10:31
  Kristie: Right? There was some money coming here. Right?
• 10:33
  Davina: And there's something for you to do when you get in the office, all those things. Mhmm.
• 10:37
  Kristie: Yep. And if you do a good job, I found that people will refer you. And so, so it just started growing that way, and so I knew I couldn't do it completely alone.
• 10:49
  Davina: Oh, good. Good. Yeah. It's it's interesting how some people have the thought process that they have to do it alone because they they have fear around hiring people. And other people say, I really can't do this alone, and I'm gonna find a way to make it work.
• 11:05
  I I'm much I'm in the camp of starting everything with just me, and, like, I'm always that person. And it taken me a long time to get over that money fear of worrying about that. But, you know, now that I've done it, I'm like, you know, I'm out throwing money everywhere, trying to get people to help me to do things. Tell me, you joined so for people listening, Chrissy's a client of mine. She's a private client, and she started out, though, joining the wealthy woman lawyer league, which is my group program.
• 11:36
  And I would love to know what what the things were that you seem to be struggling with at the time that caused you to join the league?
• 11:48
  Kristie: So probably the biggest thing was, you know, like, feeling, like, just crazy. Because whenever you're you're running a small business and you're also, like, growing and trying to serve clients, I just felt like I was, like, just, like, on a treadmill and, like, not ever being able to catch my breath. Right? And I also wanted to be a part of, like, kind of have, like, feedback from other women lawyers and also, like, learn from people who have done it better and things of that sort. So, you know, I wanted just tips to help me, kinda flourish and, like, to feel like I had you know, like, I wasn't, like, just crazy running around on a treadmill all the time.
• 12:37
  And then also wanted to be, a part of, like, the conversation with women that, you know, were doing something similar to what I was doing. Because I also feel very much like whenever you are on this journey of being a wealthy woman lawyer, it can feel very lonely sometimes because you might have friends. They're in different industries. They don't understand what it's like to do this. And, you know, like so so I just wanted to be a part of that, you know, that group where I could say, hey.
• 13:07
  This is what I'm going through and not know that other people understood and other people could give me feedback, and I could grow from their feedback as well.
• 13:16
  Davina: I, I want to give people an idea how large your team is now, Yeah. Not so much. So when you started, you had your part time person, and then, oh,
• 13:27
  Kristie: in 3 years, you've grown. So tell me people are on your team now, and what do they do? So right now, I we we have a team of 7. And the biggest this was the biggest takeaway that I got from Divina was I I hired a managing attorney. And you wanna talk about, like, getting rid of that that crazy treadmill feeling.
• 13:47
  Like, that's something that's helped a lot. I also have at current, we have 2 2 additional lawyers, and then we have paraleals. And, I have a client care specialist, which is also, thanks to some feedback I got from Divina. And so, and then we have a billing person. So, so that's our full team right now, and we're constantly growing.
• 14:10
  So we're about to get into a new office, and, you know, I'm sure we'll we'll be adding other team. I have somebody else starting next week. So and that's gonna be my executive assistant and marketing coordinator. Yeah. It's starting next
• 14:24
  Davina: A lot of growth. A lot
• 14:25
  Kristie: of growth. I say from
• 14:27
  Davina: Yeah. And this, so the the managing attorney, the executive assistant, the client care specialist, those all came after we elevated you and we moved you into private coaching. We got very specific on your specific desires and needs. And I and 1 of your desires that you shared with me was that you wanted more support in somebody else or running the cases so you could focus on strategy and growth of the firm. Tell me what, what that has been like since you've hired a managing attorney?
• 15:01
  Kristie: So it's been wonderful, because, like, there's a lot of hats that you wear in running a law firm and owning a law firm. So 1 of those hats is, like, you know, client service and providing great legal services. Right? And then you have the hat of, you know, rainmaking, and then you have the hat of, like, the office management component and staff management. So there's lots of different hats.
• 15:27
  So, I am on this journey, thanks to a lot of the things I learned from Wealthy Woman Lawyer. I'm on this journey to, like, you know, let other people wear some of those hats so I don't have to be the person that does everything. And so by adding on the managing attorney, like, his job is to do 1 of the things that I think a lot of women lawyers do, which is, like, reviewing other people's work. So you might have associates, where you have to review their work before it goes out or paralegals. Obviously, we have to review their work.
• 15:55
  Well, he now all of that big review pile is now given to him that he he he reviews that work. And then another, component is just, like, making sure that we're providing great client service in the legal services that we're providing. So we have certain things like, we we do a morning meeting. Different firms do it differently, like, might be like a weekly meeting or something like that where you just talk about your cases. Well, he runs that now.
• 16:20
  So it's just 1 of those hats that I don't have to wear. And I know that things are being taken care of even if I'm focusing on rainmaking or if I'm focusing on, operations or the firm and things of that sort. So I still do, I still handle some cases, but I'm not the only 1 person like this, you know, that's controlling that at this point. So that feels really good.
• 16:44
  Davina: Clog in that pipeline that, you know, where everybody has to come to you for an answer. And we really talked about a lot, you and I, and evaluated kind of what it was that you wanted to be doing specifically, because that varies too. Some people say, I just wanna go to court. I want somebody else running the operations. And other people say, I'm a really good rainmaker, and that's the case with you.
• 17:06
  You're a really good rainmaker, and you wanted to be able to free up more time to be able to go more deeply into that. So a lot of that really just depends on your preferences and your desire and everything. So I think it's been a really interesting, and you you decided very quickly this is what I want and and put add out and hire what you wanted. And I was very impressed by that because I think that, that is the challenge for a lot of people is the you know, well, I gotta really think about it, write codes pros and cons list and ask 6 people. Like, you just said, I'm gonna do this and see how what do you think gives you that kind of, I don't know, courage?
• 17:47
  Or or do you even view it as that?
• 17:51
  Kristie: I do view it a little bit as courage. Yeah. I feel like, you know, there like, we we don't know really what the future holds. Right? And, like, we know that if we procrastinate or we don't do something that we know in our heart that we should do, that things are not going to change.
• 18:10
  But I really, really want things to change, and I really want to grow and and to flourish. And and I have this mindset of if I don't, then I know if, like, if I don't take this step and have courage and and move to the next step, then I know that things aren't going to change. So it's really just a mindset of knowing that like, I really believe that if I do what I need to do, I'll get better outcomes. And I'm also not afraid of failing. I think that, that a lot of people are they're afraid of, like, you know, failing, and I think that's a natural feeling.
• 18:47
  But I I just have, like, this compelling feeling of, like, if I try, I will be successful. And if I'm not, then I'll be able to learn and grow from whatever it was that I wasn't successful from. Right. And another thing that's really, really helped me is realizing how affordable it is to have health. Like, it's very, very affordable.
• 19:09
  I think that people view it like it's not affordable. Like, people think that, oh, it's gonna cost so much. My payroll is gonna be so much. And that might very well be true, but the it costs just a fraction whenever you really do the math. It costs just a fraction whenever you take that step.
• 19:28
  So, like, I'm I'm a I'm the kind of person, like, whenever I was making that decision, like, to hire people, I would say, okay. Their salary is gonna be this, and I'll have to pay unemployment tax, and that's gonna cost this. And I would literally say, like, oh, okay. I need to make I need to have 1 hour of work to pay this person for x period of time or 2 hours of work. Whenever you break it down that way, you realize that it's not a lot at all.
• 19:59
  And then you're like, surely, I can get 2 hours of work. You know. Right. And then then you're not afraid anymore. So, so those are the kinds of things that I think will help you build your courage.
• 20:10
  And, and I do all the all the, you know, positive thinking stuff. So like I say, affirmations, then I you know, all of the positive thinking things to kinda build stronger minds that are things that I kinda do on a regular basis that definitely
• 20:22
  Davina: Oh, and surrounding yourself with people who are on a similar journey, you know, making those decisions in the face of, you know, that fear and all of that stuff. It's it's a wonderful support way to do that. But I and I love your method of doing the math because I think that's, what a lot of us don't do. So we don't do the math. We don't sit down and say, well, how much does it really cost?
• 20:45
  We have in our mind on that we look at the big salary and go, I'm gonna have to pay a $100, 000. And what I think people often do, and I've done this myself in the past, is look at it, make decisions based on your current pocketbook, not decisions on what value that that decision is going to bring, whether it's a marketing company or a coach or somebody that you're hiring as an employee, looking at it and say, am I going to get the return on that investment? And in a law firm, it's a wonderful model for that because it's a very I can build people. I can build out their time. I mean, you can't get a better model than that in terms of being able to see exactly how much you can make back on that investment.
• 21:30
  Yeah. Yeah. Because your managing attorney is not, you know, he's still a slacker. I mean, he's he's came in. You gotta you gotta pay him.
• 21:38
  Right? And at first, that probably felt intimidating, and then you went through this process. Mhmm.
• 21:45
  Kristie: Yeah. For sure. And, like, yeah. Everyone everyone at my firm, I think that everyone will say they're all well paid. So, like, I'm not paying peanuts.
• 21:53
  Everybody is very well paid. But the thing about it is, we have a culture where everybody pays their own salary. So, literally, you know, everybody pays their own salary. And whenever you think about it that way too, in addition to looking at the numbers, then you see, like, how how easy it is. So, like, the client care specialist understands that they're booking these consults.
• 22:18
  That's paying their con that's that's paying their salary. The paralegal is billing more than their salary. The attorneys are billing more than their salary. The billing person is on the phone collecting to pay more than their salary. So everybody pays their own salary around here.
• 22:30
  And if and if they don't, they're they don't work here. They're out
• 22:33
  Davina: they're not there very long because, you know, it it's if we all wanna eat, somebody's got a good little squirrel. Right?
• 22:40
  Kristie: Yep. Exactly.
• 22:41
  Davina: So, all I think 1 of the the other advantages of having somebody else on the leadership team with you, and I know you're just the beginning of building your leadership team over time that's going to continue to expand. But, there were a couple of advantages that you had, not just having him sort of take over the review of things, but also you shared with me that he helped you to we often have in our ideas whether somebody's a good fit or not, but then we question ourselves, is it just me? Am I the only 1? And he was a great sounding board for you and actually brought to your attention somebody that you thought was a not a good fit anymore. And so tell us a little bit about that.
• 23:23
  You don't have to get details, but tell us a little bit about that.
• 23:26
  Kristie: Yeah. Absolutely. So, so there's been a bunch of, additional benefits to, adding the managing attorney. So, like, he he ended up bringing in a book of business that I was not even expecting, which has been great. But also, he was able to come in and kind of, like, look at the team and look at everyone's work.
• 23:46
  And there were a couple of changes that needed to be made that I was kind of trying to, you know, work with and just, like, you know, passively, like, okay. I know this person needs to improve, so let's, offer them some CLEs, and let's do this to kinda help these people that needed help. But he came in and he was like, you know, I'm really, like, reviewing this person's work, and I'm seeing that they're not really a great fit for you. And kind of, like, taking something that I kinda do on my heart, but having someone come in and objectively look and say, like, okay. Well, this is kind of a change that needs to be a change that needs to take place.
• 24:22
  And I just thought that it was, like, really, really interesting, how Absolutely. Made the perspective. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
• 24:30
  And so, and so there was there's been a lot of benefits, to adding adding in that person. And, of course, like, you have to be smart with your hires, but, like, for me, it's just been really, really awesome.
• 24:42
  Davina: Yeah. Yeah. And, when you were talking about when you were adding him to the team, what are the this is really your first key person to be a leader on leadership to be like, you're so office manager or firm administrator or anything like that. And 1 of the challenges that you face, which I think is very common with a lot of women law firm owners, is you're very big hearted and loyal, and people were with you, and they're doing things. And then they start to sort of take advantage, and they may not consider taking advantage.
• 25:17
  They're just sort of pushing that envelope of coming late or leaving early, and it creeps up on you. And you're trying to be nice because you understand you've got kids. You understand people have kids and families, but also it comes to a point where that's not really the most efficient way to run a business. And when you brought somebody in from outside to be on your leadership team with you, it became where for you, I think, that that was no longer permissible. Like, you changed and said, I you know, now we're looking at not Christy and what Christy and her kind heart would do, but what the flaw for her means.
• 25:59
  Kristie: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
• 26:00
  Davina: And it helps you to be that way when you have somebody. Tell me about that sort of experience. Were you did you have the same thought?
• 26:06
  Kristie: Yes. So, so and it's so funny because, I've heard you kinda say something similar before, Divina, but it's like I literally viewed the law firm as my baby. Right? It was like a it was like a further a further
• 26:22
  Davina: My human child. To the me.
• 26:24
  Kristie: Right? It like yeah. And so so, absolutely, whatever I brought in the managing attorney, it it literally, like, it feels more like, no. This is a separate entity that I'm just responsible for stewarding and guiding and growing. Right?
• 26:42
  And, and, yeah, it helped me to make those decisions of, like, I'm doing what's best for the law firm. Here he is not, you know, it's not Christie. It's, you know, it's was doing what's best for the firm. And so, certainly, I feel like the decisions that I've made since he's joined have been stronger decisions that I didn't, I didn't, like, have the personality. I don't know how to put it into words to make those decisions because, like Divina, mentioned, like, I am very, very kindhearted.
• 27:12
  I'm very much, like, nonconfrontational even though I'm a civil litigator. I thought
• 27:16
  Davina: You're the civil litigator. That always that always is amusing to me. How many people who are so conflict avoidant in their own lives will become civil litigators. You can do for your clients what you cannot do for yourself. Right?
• 27:30
  So fascinating. And, so and I understand that and I relate to that. And that's very just very empathic people. You know? At but I think it really may when you brought somebody in who and this could be for some people, it could just be another lawyer where they say, I'm gonna hire a lawyer, and then suddenly they feel like I have another, peer here who kinda gets, you know, who maybe their experience more experience or as little little old me doing the work and everybody's sort of working, giving me the work to now there's a team and there's a a law firm that needs to be managed, and it just took you sort of to that next level.
• 28:17
  And I thought it was it was a really interesting choice that you made because, I think a wise 1 as it's turned out, and and I thought it was at the time, because you had lawyers working for you. You'd already sort of done the work of hiring lawyers and a lot of people 3 years in haven't even hired their first lawyer and you already have lawyers, plural. And so that's a that's a very, bold move to to say I'm gonna do this. So I'm super proud of you, obviously. Tell us a little bit about some of the other changes that have happened.
• 28:54
  You've hired a client care specialist. You've had some other sort of things go on. And and what do you think that is those changes, how they're going to affect your firm? Like, what are you anticipating?
• 29:07
  Kristie: Yes. So, so Divina gave me some really good, feedback and guidance about the importance of the client care specialist as well as the importance of having an executive assistant. And so my executive assistant is starting next week. I haven't, you know, worked with them as of yet, but I already I already kind of feel like I know what's going to happen, because I did some really strategic things as far as choosing the right candidate, for that role. And so those are kind of 2 of the big things.
• 29:38
  And then the other big thing, is the move into the new office. So that's happening happening in January. 1 of the things that I did that I think, really has impacted the success of my firm is that I didn't grow too fast, and I never, like, overspent, money wise. So, like, whenever I first started in, February 2020, I was in a literally a 1 room office. It was literally 1 room.
• 30:06
  So there was me and my part time person, and we were literally in a 1 room office. And, like, the rent was, like, literally, like, pennies. I think the rent was, like, 300 or $400. But that it gave me the confidence to do things like, you know, hire this part time person or to have, you know, like, you know, pay money to have, like, a a really quality website because my expenses were just so low. And then we moved into the office where we're at now, and it's still, like, super affordable.
• 30:38
  And so now we're we're ready to move into our, you know, kinda like permanent office space, like downtown, right across from the courthouse. But the reason that we're able to do that is because I was, you know, I made really smart money choices. And, also, like, 1 thing I've I've I have always been okay with spending on is, like, the coaching, the mentoring, because that's something that's an investment into your business, and it's gonna help you make money. But be cautious about spending money on things that are just like expenditures. Like, a lot of people will start their own firm, and then they have, like, this really fancy office right off the top, and they don't even know if they're gonna have clients.
• 31:18
  And I don't think that's a smart way to do things. But, going back into the the other changes and the roles, that I've hired, the executive assistant is going to literally be truly like an extension of me. We're out again wearing, a hat to help me with some of the operational components and things like that. And I hired someone that's super qualified, maybe even overqualified for that position so they can help me with decision making and strategy. So the person I hire for that role actually has an MBA and super Oh.
• 31:50
  Smart, super qualified. And then, and that person I'm planning will grow with me into a director level or a c suite person, for my for my office. And then with the client care specialist, I think, like, you know, just an extension of the rainmaking and being able to, get that right person, you know, kind of being sort of the face of the firm for, potential new clients and things like that has also just been really, really phenomenal.
• 32:20
  Davina: Yeah. Yeah. And, I think the executive assistant is something else that puts you as kind of an outlier among women law firm owners because it's 1 of the things that people always hear me say on my social media, that the difference between men and women, lawyers starting out on their own is men hire secretaries right out of the gate. And women never hire women will hire a whole team before they'll hire somebody just to be their right hand person and assisted. And so that I think is a is a game changer.
• 32:49
  It will be a game changer for you too. And I love your advice about, I think it's choices about money. So a lot of people like, mine, first of all, office was the same. It was in an old dilapidated building, and I had 1 room. And, it it was definitely, not fancy.
• 33:09
  And even when I got my partner, we moved into a a larger space, it was it was enough space for it to be really nice for us, but we were worried about being downtown Orlando and having not just a showy place, all of that right out of the gate because, you know, we wanted a place where our clients could come and be comfortable. And that was really what we were looking for at the time. And, of course, now remote offices are such a thing that people are finding all sorts of different ways to work, but I agree with you on that. It's really about choosing where you invest your money and looking for those places where there is a return and employees good employees are always a return, on the investment. Bad employees, mediocre employees are not.
• 33:52
  And it's important to, like, be able to identify that as quickly as possible. So what advice would you give a woman law firm owner who has been in practice for a little while and is really wanting to stop being that solo and start scaling their business?
• 34:12
  Kristie: Well, you know, it's 1 of those things. Like Nike, you just have to do it. Like, just do it. You you really have to figure out in your mind, what is it that will help give you that confidence. So it might be putting, putting you know, the doing the numbers and figuring out that, like, you know, the the wages for x period of time is really only a couple hours a week.
• 34:35
  It might be doing that. For me, I kinda made a courage portfolio, if you will. And I literally called it courage. So, like, anytime I would, I would see something that would, like, build up my courage. So it might be like a quote you see at some place or it might be, you know, anything that, like, motivates and inspire you.
• 34:55
  I would literally take a picture of it, and I would put it in the courage album in my phone. And then it was just something I could look back and, like, see, like, different things that, like, you know, helped helped me to, like, have that courage to to, you know, take the next step. So, like, whatever it is that, like, motivates you and gets you into that mindset. And then I would just, like, let you know that you can do it whenever you look at other, law firm owners. It might be males.
• 35:20
  It might be whatever. But whenever you see other people doing it, you just have to know that you can do it as well. But you just have to build up that courage and just take that next step. And I and I, yeah, I found it to be super rewarding.
• 35:34
  Davina: Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. And I thought when you said courage journal, I was thinking you were gonna tell me that you had kept a list of all the times that you had acted courageously and how that had worked out for you because that would be a wonderful thing to add to your courage, Gerald, is all those times that you took those steps. You went to law school.
• 35:53
  You went you took the bar. You became alert. You all of those things are acts of courage, and I think we often don't give ourselves credit enough for all the kind of scary things we did. We forget. Once we get them, it's like a a prayer you know, things you used to pray about that you have, and then you forget that this was something that you used to pray about.
• 36:13
  You know? You're also, I I want just people to understand too, that you're financially, you've grown too because I think a lot of people may hear, oh, she's in Dunnell's Investment, and she's hired all these people and, oh my gosh. But that has been reflected in your finances as well in a positive way.
• 36:37
  Kristie: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. So, yes. I'm in a completely different financial bracket, than I was whenever I started out and, and even better once, once I hired Devina, to help coach me.
• 36:52
  Oh, thank you. And so yes. So definitely it's been a a great financial
• 36:58
  Davina: Right on up. Right on up. Yeah. Christy is also excellent, rainmaker. So she is somebody who is, very active in her community and her sorority and in our church.
• 37:09
  If anybody's sort of thinking about ways that they can, get better at their rainmaking, she's somebody who's definitely been involved in community for a long time and and really put that effort in. So, before we wrap up because I know we need to end, how Tell us how we can connect with you, find out all about your LightPath law firm and all of that?
• 37:33
  Kristie: Yeah. So, so, our firm website is lightpathlaw.com and that's light, like you turn on a light, path, like you walk down a path, law dot com. We are on, Facebook, Instagram, and, we're located in Fort Myers, Florida. So those are basically the best ways to reach out to us. And we welcome, referrals, especially, churches, like, churches that are looking for lawyers.
• 38:01
  We are we do advertise as a Christian law firm, which means that we love and we, you know, we represent everybody. They don't have to have our same beliefs, but we are, kind of focused on that, component of representing businesses, churches, and then doing civil litigation. And we pride ourselves in doing it in an ethical way, in accordance with our state bar rules, but also in accordance with God's word.
• 38:26
  Davina: Wonderful. Thank you so much. Very strong brand. You have a very strong brand. That's probably a whole other recording where we could just talk about branding, but we'll wrap up today.
• 38:34
  Every I encourage everybody to go and follow, Kristy on social, LightPath Law and, stay in touch with her and and check out what she's doing because more exciting stuff ahead. Christy, thanks so much for being here. I really enjoyed our conversation As usual, I always enjoy our conversations.
• 38:51
  Kristie: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
• 38:54
  Intro: If you're ready to create more of what you truly desire in your business and your life, then you'll want to visit us at wealthy woman lawyer dot com to learn more about how we help our clients create wealth generating law firms with ease.