January 28, 2025 • 48 mins
In this episode of The Voices of Business, host Joshua Maddux welcomes Jason Beaman, Partner at Poole Shaffery, to discuss the intricacies of business law and how proactive legal planning can help business owners avoid costly mistakes. Jason shares insights from his legal career, the value of transactional law, and the importance of preventive legal measures for businesses. This episode dives into how legal professionals like Jason guide business owners in structuring their companies for success and navigating legal compliance.
What You Will Learn:
- The importance of proactive legal planning for business owners.
- How Jason Beaman transitioned from personal injury law to transactional law.
- Key insights into the Corporate Transparency Act and what it means for business compliance.
- Common legal mistakes business owners make and how to avoid them.
- The role of networking and community involvement in career growth and business success.
Episode Highlights:
- [00:02:00] – Jason shares his educational background and how working as a legal assistant led him to pursue law.
- [00:03:40] – Transitioning from personal injury law to business transactions and real estate law.
- [00:06:39] – The importance of helping business owners manage legal complexities and focus on running their businesses.
- [00:19:30] – Jason explains the Corporate Transparency Act and the upcoming filing requirements for business owners.
- [00:31:00] – The critical role of customer service and empathy in the legal profession.
- [00:33:42] – Why regular corporate hygiene and document management are vital for business compliance.
- [00:38:04] – Jason reflects on how leaving personal injury law helped him find his passion for transactional law.
Featured Quotes:
- "As a lawyer, you're in a service business. It's about understanding your clients and guiding them through complex issues." – Jason Beaman
- "Proactive legal planning prevents future headaches and lets business owners focus on growth." – Jason Beaman
- "Networking and community involvement can open doors to opportunities you didn’t expect." – Jason Beaman
- "Ignoring legal compliance today leads to bigger problems tomorrow." – Jason Beaman
Resources Mentioned:
Call to Action:
If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate, and review The Voices of Business on your favorite podcast platform. Share this episode with other business owners who could benefit from proactive legal guidance. For legal support in business transactions or compliance, reach out to Poole Shaffery today.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joshua Maddux (00:08):
Welcome back to another episode of The Voices of
Business, a Santa Clarita ValleyChamber of Commerce podcast.
It's good to be with you.
I'm your host, Joshua Maddox.
Corey is, I don't know, off in Hawaii,traveling the world, doing something.
Who knows?
Um, this is where we talk aboutbusiness in the Santa Clarita Valley
and really all of the country.
(00:30):
Um, but a lot of business owners andbusiness leaders and other community
leaders we talk with are right herefrom our hometown, Santa Clarita.
And sometimes we don'tjust stick to business.
We'll talk about leadership,management, life, and really
wherever the conversation takes us.
Please remember to subscribeif you haven't already.
(00:50):
Tell a friend.
Give us a good rating and review.
All of that really helps spreadthe word and, uh, raise awareness
on more conversations that we'rehaving similar to like the one we're
having today with Jason Beeman.
He's a partner at Pool Shafri and, uh,excited to have him on the show today.
Good to have you.
Jason Beaman (01:11):
Thank you so much, Joshua.
I'm really excited tovisit, uh, the podcast.
Joshua Maddux (01:15):
Awesome.
Awesome.
Now, um, you're a partnerwith Poole Shaffery, so insert
legal description here, right?
Or disclosure rather.
Um,
Jason Beaman (01:25):
this is not legal advice.
Joshua Maddux (01:28):
Um, yeah, definitely.
So, you know, I, I, I totally get it.
Totally understand.
But you know, yeah, at the same point,if you're listening and, uh, yeah, uh,
need an attorney, uh, hire an attorney.
Don't, don't take thisshow as, as legal advice.
Um, cool.
Well, um, one, obviously talkabout like, how did you get to,
(01:49):
to, you know, becoming an attorney?
So, um, You attended UC Irvine andthen your career path led you from
there to Southwestern, um, and youhave a, uh, law degree from there.
What was, what was thateducation path like?
Um, you know, what was the, what wasthe choice in, uh, in those schools?
Jason Beaman (02:10):
Yeah.
So yeah, I went to, I went to UC Irvine.
I graduated in 2006.
Um, there, uh, then I went to work fora law firm, uh, as a legal assistant.
So I got some kind of basic legal.
Legal experience, filingsand, and things like that.
And I really liked it.
Um, so I really liked the, uh, theprocess of, of legal practice and helping,
(02:34):
helping people with, with solve issues.
Um, and so I ended up going toSouthwestern, uh, really great experience
at Southwestern, really awesome, uh,students in my, in my class, really
awesome profession, professors.
And, uh, that was, you know, law schoolis a very general, um, legal education.
Uh, you, you, you study kind of all thesubjects, um, so you don't usually get
(02:59):
out, you know, with any specialty in mind.
Um, but once I got out, Itried a few different things.
Um, I tried to, I, I worked as a personalinjury attorney for a little while.
I did not like that.
That was not my, not my thing.
Um, and then I ended up, um, doingtransactional work at a law firm.
(03:19):
Um, and working with businessowners, working with real estate,
people that own real estate, doingtransactions, uh, either business
or, or real estate transactions.
And I really fell in love with, withthe process of doing transactions,
helping, helping business owners, youknow, run their business, um, drafting
contracts and those kinds of things.
(03:40):
I really liked the, the details,getting into the details about how
deals are done and, uh, and making,you know, making the deal happen.
Joshua Maddux (03:49):
That's awesome.
So
Jason Beaman (03:50):
I ended up at, ended up at Pool Shafri, um, about nine years
ago, uh, been here for nine years.
And that's my practice is businesstransactions, real estate transactions,
helping essentially problem solving andhelping, uh, business owners, you know,
get their legal, uh, ducks in a row.
Joshua Maddux (04:12):
That's really good.
You said you've been there for nine years.
Um, You know, I say recently, butit's been what, two years since you
became partner, one of the over there.
Jason Beaman (04:22):
Right.
Yeah.
I bet I made partner, um, I thinktwo years ago in, in March next year.
So it's almost about a year and a half,a little, a little more than that.
Joshua Maddux (04:32):
Awesome.
Awesome.
So I want to talk through a littlebit about like that career path.
You know, you obviouslydescribed it high level, like.
Sort of, you know, getting intohow you found where you are today.
Um, but what were some of the differentchallenges maybe at some of those other
law firms or things that you saw thatshaped that career path even further?
(04:58):
Like obviously the transactionalelement of, of business law, um, where
there are specific elements that, thatyou found, you know, you mentioned
in like personal injury that yousaid, you know, Not my cup of tea.
Definitely not.
Um, were there other elements that yousaw or, or maybe businesses that you
saw were helped by, um, one of thoseattorneys or, you know, obviously we
(05:23):
can't go into super detail on like,You know, in this case, this situation.
Jason Beaman (05:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's, uh, there's a variety of, of,of things that, you know, I've, I've just
seen a lot, I've seen lots of businesses.
Um, and a lot of times the, the, Ithink business owners a lot of times
get, get overwhelmed or, or they.
(05:51):
Just don't think about it.
Don't think about the legal,um, side of their business.
Most, most business owners are, uh, youknow, they're running their day to day
business, um, trying to get customers inthe door, trying to get paid, trying to
get work out the door, um, and buttoningup the, the legal aspects, you know,
everything from selection of a, ofan entity, you know, do I get an LLC?
(06:15):
Do I get a corporation?
Do I do a sole prop?
Um, so helping to make those decisionsand helping to kind of streamline
and, and almost take off, take theburden of that, those legal decisions,
um, from the business owner and letthem focus on their, their business.
Um, that, that aspect of it, Ireally enjoyed, uh, you know,
(06:38):
taking on that, that complexity.
Um, so as a lawyer, You know, that'sall we, that's pretty much what our
education is, is just talking aboutall the little details, all the little
complexities with contracts, with the law.
And so that type of analysisreally just speaks to me.
Um, so I can take that on and letthe business owner, you know, handle
(06:59):
their expertise, their business.
Um, so there's that, that, that kindof, I saw a, I don't know, this is
not, not my, my original thought oranything, but this is, this is, this
is, this a, a good way to integrate,um, the legal and the business side.
Um, there's good opportunities there.
Joshua Maddux (07:20):
So it's a lot more, uh, preventative law.
Um,
Jason Beaman (07:25):
right, right.
Yeah.
When I, when I was doing personal injury,you know, it's all about, you know, you
wronged me, uh, you know, I'm injured and,and you are, you know, you're fighting
the big insurance companies and fighting,you know, fighting tooth and nail to get.
dollars for your client, uh, whereasthe, and I didn't, that's not my style.
(07:45):
Uh, my style is more, uh, cooperative andmore, uh, let's problem solve in advance.
Um, to get things set up correctly sothat we avoid issues in the future.
And then if issues do arise, you know,like I have, um, I've dealt with plenty
of, um, I've dealt with some cases that
(08:07):
we, we handle some probate and trustadministration in our office as well.
And that kind of bumps up against a lot ofthe real estate and the business issues.
Um, we've had cases where, you know,people pass away and they don't,
you know, Set things up correctly.
And then, you know, it's a, there's a lotof legal issues and it's a big problem.
(08:30):
Um, and the client just wants to get maybea piece of real pr real property sold.
And so we have to come in and, youknow, jump through the hoops and
figure out, you know, how to getthe goal of the client completed.
Yeah.
Joshua Maddux (08:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's definitely one of those thingswith especially business law, where a
little bit of planning, having the rightcontract and the right expectation.
Like, I, I'm trying to remember therewas this, there's somebody I was
listening to a few years ago and theywere talking about, um, any type of scope
(09:10):
of work or any type of expectations.
Like if you write those down, they'relike, I don't care if it's on a napkin,
in an email, they're like, you open upa voicemail and they're like, Recording
in an app and you know, you and whoeveryou're having a conversation with sort
of outline what you guys are expectingand what the outcome is and who's doing
what and both parties have a copy.
(09:31):
They're like, that solves somany problems because it's like,
Oh, you're going to do this.
You're going to do a, and then that persondoesn't do a, and now the whole business
relationship falls apart or whatever.
Right.
We understand where the communicationbreakdown was, rather than Oh, I
thought you were going to do that.
You thought I was going to do that.
(09:51):
Um, recently, Um, I sat in on, uh,a new business venture that sort
of formed and the, the partners,as they were talking through, okay,
is this something we're addressing?
Is this something we're going to be doing?
One of them said, okay,
(10:12):
what is everything thatcould go wrong with this?
What is everything that we, everyreason we shouldn't start this venture.
And let's think through that firstbefore the like, why should we?
And I think oftentimes.
We get this excited element of like,Oh, there's this, you know, new client
(10:32):
or this new thing or this new whatever.
And we jump into it withoutthinking about the, like, what
is the opportunity cost there?
And that's really like some of theanalysis that you're talking about is,
let's make sure that all of our, youknow, Ducks are in a row and what is
the opportunity cost of moving forward?
Um, and making sure that, you know, thereis some legal covering there as well.
Jason Beaman (10:57):
Right.
We want to ask the, we try and askthe questions, you know, the questions
that you're not thinking about.
We try to, um, you know, we've seen the,we've seen the deals go bad over time.
So, I mean, what you mentioned beforethat you have to have, Uh, in contract
law, we call it meeting of the minds.
So you have to have the two sideshave to actually agree on what the
(11:21):
is each in each one of their minds.
As far as what the contract means.
And a lot of times that doesn't happen.
A lot of times they're even the, eventhe paper document may say, you know, the
price and, uh, You know, some, somethingabout what, what is getting done, but the
actual, actual expectations of the partiesis not clearly, uh, described in the deal.
Joshua Maddux (11:46):
We have a clause in our contract that literally
says no e commerce is included.
No, no e commerce website builds includedin this on every site that we do.
That's not e commerce because Ican't tell you how many times, like
we've built a website for a client.
And then.
Six months later, they're like, Oh, canyou turn the e commerce function on?
(12:06):
I'm like, we, that wasn't in the scope.
And they're like, we'll just turn it on.
And I'm like, no, thatlike, it doesn't exist.
Like it physically isn't there.
Like we didn't build it.
Like.
It's not part of your website.
Jason Beaman (12:23):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, that, that's thepeople's expectations.
They have it in there.
You don't know what'sin their, in their mind.
Right.
Yeah.
So,
Joshua Maddux (12:30):
well, and that's, I think for us, like being a digital
agency for us, it's also knowinglike, where are you going over the
next five years, 10 years, 15 years.
And I think the same thing forwhat you guys deal with is true
because like, if you guys arewriting contracts in a specific way.
But that business owner is planning onselling their business in five years.
(12:53):
We may want to rethink the terms ofthe contract, or we may want to rethink
how that's structured or, or whatever.
And so that's where it's justbeing transparent and having the
expectations, you know, with all partiesinvolved, even if it's an attorney.
Jason Beaman (13:09):
Yeah, no, that's really, really important.
I mean, planning, planning for thenext five, 10 years, uh, business
owners, uh, from the legal side.
That is, that is something that we,we love being involved, you know,
from the beginning, you know, settingyou up and then, and then growing
with you as, as the business grows.
Um, and that way we can, you know,help guide you to, to the goals.
(13:31):
Um, a lot of times, a lot of times wedon't, we don't have that opportunity.
We have to come in and, you know,midstream and, and figure out.
You know, where they want to go, maybethey made some mistakes going in the
past, but we have to fix those or adjust.
Um, so, you know, having, havinggood legal guidance at the
beginning is, is really important.
Joshua Maddux (13:51):
You mean we don't all plan a hundred percent of the time?
Jason Beaman (13:57):
Yeah, I know, I, everybody's, uh,
We're dealing with humans.
So everybody's got lots of expectationsor lots of, lots of things on their plate.
And sometimes it's, it's hard to,uh, to do everything and plan it
in, in the ideal, ideal world.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Joshua Maddux (14:12):
For sure.
I agree.
Um, so I want to wrap up a little bit onlike your career trajectory, and then I
want to talk more about like, you know,what you actually do at Pull Chaffrey
a little bit, talk more about the firmand some of that, but, um, What advice
would you give yourself 15, 20 years ago?
(14:35):
Um, is there something thatyou would do differently?
Is there different advice that youwould give yourself now to like yourself
that was starting college, that was,you know, starting that first job?
Um, Is there something other than,uh, avoid personal injury law?
Jason Beaman (14:52):
Um, you know, I, I think that, um, one of the things that, um,
I think personally, one of the thingsthat I, that I actually struggled
with when I was younger was, you know,opening up and being, and, and getting
involved in things, um, getting, youknow, I'm kind of a, I'm kind of an
introvert at, at, at heart for sure.
Um, so going out and meeting people,doing networking, that is not.
(15:19):
my favorite thing in the world.
Um, definitely doing like doing thingslike podcasts and, and, and video is not
the thing that like really speaks to me.
Um, but getting, but over the years I'vedone it more and, and, um, I actually
got, I got my first like really goodlegal job, um, from a networking event.
(15:42):
So I went to a networking event and I meta bunch of people, talked to people, and I
got a, uh, a lead on a, on a firm that waslooking for an attorney and I got the job.
So I think, I think the, oneof the biggest pieces of advice
that I would give myself is.
is get over that, you know, get outthere, meet people, um, people love
(16:06):
helping other people, um, and they'rekind of, everybody's kind of in the
same boat, I think, when you're,when you're out there networking.
So there's very few, I think there'svery few, like, pure networkers that
just love doing it all the time, but,um, get out there and meet people, and,
(16:26):
and that really will benefit your career,um, and do it, you know, do it early.
That's good.
Yeah.
Joshua Maddux (16:33):
Yeah.
I know that was my, uh, that wasmy 2020, um, New Year's resolution
was to like rejoin the chamber.
I, my member, I had been a memberprior, but my 2020 resolution was
join the chamber, go to in personmeetings, do more networking.
So we see how that one went.
Um,
(16:55):
but yeah, no, I, Iagree with you for sure.
Like there are so many different elements.
Um, yeah.
with going to those events, whetherit's, you know, chamber events or, um,
smaller networking groups or industryassociations or any of that type of stuff,
you know, there's absolute value in that.
And I think with the chamberspecifically, like we've got a huge
(17:16):
diversity in the types of people, thesize of businesses that are there.
Um, you know, you've got single, youknow, business owners up to some of the
large employers in Santa Clarita as well.
So definitely a good way to.
Network and, and meet people.
Jason Beaman (17:31):
So yeah, it's a fantastic organization.
Joshua Maddux (17:35):
Awesome.
So let's talk through a little bitabout Fool and Chaffrey, what you guys
are doing, what, um, you know, whatindustry changes are you guys seeing?
What issues, uh, uh, you know, in themarketplace, um, you know, what, what.
What advice can we, can we talk throughthat, you know, you guys can share?
Jason Beaman (17:59):
Yeah, so Pool, Pool Shafri, we're a, we are a
general, uh, practice law firm.
So we have lots of different attorneys.
We have about 10 attorneys rightnow that, uh, specialize in a,
in a variety of practice areas.
Um, so we have, we have lawyersthat do, uh, land use, that do,
you know, government affairs, thatdo business transactions, business
(18:21):
representation, business litigation.
Uh, we have our, wehave a personal injury.
Um, we actually have personal injurydefense practice, uh, trucking,
transportation cases, uh, wehandle for big insurance companies.
Uh, so we have a very, verydiverse, um, scope of practice
(18:43):
in our, for our attorneys.
Um, so the things, you know, the thingsthat I can speak to definitely the,
the business transactions and the,and I also handle probate and trust
Um, we're seeing, we're definitelyseeing, you know, for businesses,
we're, we're seeing that the, uh,
(19:11):
I'm blanking, um, the, so from a, froma business perspective, um, we're, we're
definitely seeing that there are, there'salways increased regulation, um, that,
you know, especially in California,you're dealing with, you're dealing with
regulation and doing all kinds of lawsevery, every, every year there's new laws.
Um, so.
(19:32):
It's, it's hard to dobusiness in California.
Um, you know, it's probably, it's probablyworth it or, you know, we're a huge
economy and there's a lot of money to bemade, but it's going to be challenging.
So having your, having your legalducks in a row is really important.
Uh, one of the things that, youknow, that I have my eye on right
now is, uh, something calledthe Corporate Transparency Act.
(19:54):
Uh, the Corporate TransparencyAct is a new, Uh, actually not
new, but it just came into effectat the beginning of this year.
So 2024, um, and this CorporateTransparency Act requires all
entities, all legal entities, all LLCs,corporations, Uh, to file a, something
(20:16):
called a Beneficial Ownership Statement,uh, Beneficial Ownership Report.
Um, so this is a new, a new requirementthat businesses have to, uh, comply
with, and the deadline for thatreport, um, is January 1st of 2025.
So we're definitely coming upon it a couple of months away.
(20:38):
Um, I haven't heard, I've had acouple of clients reach out to me
about it, but I really haven't hearda whole lot of activity in the, in
the business realm about this report.
Joshua Maddux (20:49):
The deadlines,
Jason Beaman (20:50):
the deadline's not here yet.
The deadline's not here yet.
Yeah.
I'm sure December 30th.
Ask
Joshua Maddux (20:56):
any accountant, when do they get phone calls?
Like the day before taxday or the day after.
That's what it is.
Jason Beaman (21:04):
So it's actually a really, so the beneficial understood
report is actually a reallysimple report for most companies.
Most companies that are, thathave, One or two or three owners.
Uh, you're not going to havea very complex report to file.
Um, and you can file it free of chargeon the, uh, it's on the FinCEN website.
(21:27):
So you can go online.
There's.
There's FAQs and there's guidanceon how to make that filing.
Um, if you, you know, if you need totalk to a lawyer about it, uh, you
can, you know, we're, we're definitelyaround to, to help with that.
Uh, but it's a really, it'sreally a simple report and
you only have to do it once.
So I really want to really want, youknow, to get out there and make sure that
(21:50):
businesses are getting that report done.
Uh, there are substantial penaltiesif you don't complete the report.
Yeah.
Joshua Maddux (22:02):
And that's, and that's one of those things where I think a
lot of business owners overlook havingsomeone who's staying on top of that.
Um, and in reality, likeyou're, you have to file it.
Whether you file it today orwhether you file it six months
from now, but six months fromnow, you get to pay lovely fines.
(22:23):
You get to pay an attorney to dealwith maybe some retroactive issues.
Um, and there's a bunch of other stuffthat, that's not fun that comes into it.
It's just like paying your taxes late.
Like you end up paying penalties.
Jason Beaman (22:39):
You're going to have to do it eventually.
Joshua Maddux (22:40):
Yeah.
And now the, that.
Filing basically declareswho owns businesses.
So it'll not, I wouldn't say entirelyeliminates, but it reduces the
fogginess of some of these like LLCshell companies that own the shell
(23:02):
company that own a shell company.
And you're like, right, you know, isJoe's pizza actually owned by Joe or is
there a, you know, giant conglomeratethat sits behind it, that's four
layers deep and they're actually.
You know, a cheese conglomerateor whatever that owns it.
Like,
Jason Beaman (23:21):
yeah, yeah, it was it.
So it's a, it is an anti money laundering,uh, law that was passed essentially.
They're, they're looking, they're lookingto get at, uh, like you said, the shell
companies, uh, people are using shellcompanies to, uh, hide, hide assets, hide.
Uh, funds and the federal government wantsto, uh, wants to be able to see that.
(23:44):
Uh, so we've never had to,businesses have never had to report
their ownership like, like this.
Uh, this is a totally new requirement.
Even, you know, even the stateof California doesn't really
know except on your taxes.
Um, Doesn't really know what, who theowners are from any, any given moment.
(24:06):
Um, this is going to be a report thatthis is a federal government report.
So the federal government isgoing to have this information.
Uh, it's only going to be availableto law enforcement agencies.
Um, and there are some protectionsfor, it's not like a public
report that's available.
Uh, but yeah, that's what they're tryingto crack down on and trying to get, get
(24:29):
the people that are using shell companies.
Joshua Maddux (24:33):
Is this, I know with a lot of these types of things, like,
it'll be like, oh, if you do, um, likethe California Consumer Privacy Act is,
if you're over X million dollars a yearin annual revenue, if you're over this
size of a business, is there a, there's,is there a minimum threshold here?
Or is it, if you do a dollar,have an LLC, you, you're filing?
Jason Beaman (24:57):
Yeah, so the, the, the threshold is basically zero, um, is if
you have a legal entity that is filedwith the Secretary of State in any, in
any state, uh, so it's all, all 50 states,if you have an LLC or a corporation for
(25:20):
sure, um, and then sometimes it dependson the state, it sometimes depends on, you
know, the, if it's a limited partnership.
Um, but most people are doingbusiness in LLCs or corporations.
So those, that's the threshold.
If you have that entity,you have to report.
(25:41):
Now there are exemptions.
where you can have a business that, andthe big one, um, so they have kind of
the, the ultra regulated businesses.
So all of the, you know, all of thefinancial companies, banks, you know,
all the big, uh, companies that arealready regulated by the federal
(26:02):
government, they're regulated by the SECor, or, uh, FinCEN already, or, um, they
already have reporting requirements.
Those companies are exempt,but your regular average.
Business that's not in one ofthose highly regulated industries.
The exemption that they'regoing to potentially get is
(26:23):
the large business exemption.
And in order to, to get that,it's a large operating company.
Uh, you have to have20 full time employees.
You have to have more, and youhave to more than 5 million in
annual gross receipts or sales.
And you have to have a physicaloperating presence in the United States.
So I guess the government is sayingthat they have enough information about
(26:46):
those, those types of companies orthose companies are not going to be kind
of fly by night, uh, shell companies.
So that's the exemption.
You have to meet all those things.
It's actually not super clear in theregulations, you know, what happens if
you drop below that for one year, uh,probably have to report at that point.
(27:08):
And then your information's out there.
Joshua Maddux (27:10):
Yeah.
But then at that point, it's like,those are those types of things where,
you know, I use the example of like,you know, when you're filing taxes,
you're like, technically you mightbe able to claim this as a write off.
I don't know if you interpret it this way.
It's like, okay, if.
If you go super overboard on all thoselike, I don't know if you interpret
(27:33):
it this way, like all of a sudden, ifyou get audited and you sit down like
with someone with the IRS and theygo through your books and everything
is that way, like my accountant.
Every year is like, Hey, canI get your mileage record?
Well, I literally have a device on mycar that tracks every time it starts.
Every time it stops the GPS coordinatecoordinates of that, I can then take my
(27:56):
Google calendar for work, line the twoup and show you every single meeting,
every single mileage, the whole thing.
The first year I sent him thosetwo spreadsheets lined up and all
the, he was like, you are nevergetting audited for your mileage.
He's like, he's like, this isthe most detailed I've ever seen.
Jason Beaman (28:16):
Yeah.
Nobody, nobody does this.
Joshua Maddux (28:18):
Yeah.
And I was like, but I have techon my car that lets me do that.
So why not?
But that's the type ofthing where I see it.
Like, so if you're exempt like that, butyou're sort of on the borderline, um, you
know, obviously they should, you know,businesses that size, they should be
talking to an attorney about this further.
But, um, My mindset is like, iffiling doesn't have any repercussions,
(28:45):
and if it's like a statement ofinformation type document, I'm
like, then you might want to do it.
Obviously talk to an attorney first,but, um, you know, think through it.
So, well, so it sounds like I need to dosome reading up on that because I have
a small business and haven't filed that.
So we'll have to get into that further.
Jason Beaman (29:08):
Yeah.
If anybody wants to, I have a, a one sheetthat I could send out, um, if anybody
wants to reach out, uh, or I, I'm happyto then share it with you, um, about kind
of a high level overview of what it is.
Joshua Maddux (29:21):
Yeah, definitely.
Definitely.
Awesome.
Well, I think, uh, one of my keytakeaways today is obviously having
discussions with an attorney will openyou up to having a better understanding
of things you might not be doing thatis going to get you in trouble or, um,
Maybe a nice fine from the government.
(29:41):
And, uh, those ones don't go away.
You know, late fees from a vendoror invoices from something.
You can have a conversation on, buttypically, uh, fines and late fees
from the government do not disappear.
Um, and, uh, yeah.
Awesome.
Well, that's really, really, uh,appreciate the insight on that.
(30:04):
Cause that's, that's,uh, that's a big one.
Um, so as we, you know, I wantto wrap up a little bit here.
Um, so as we wrap up, what wouldyou say is the most important habit
or sort of mindset routine thathas contributed to your success?
Jason Beaman (30:30):
So I think, I think the biggest thing, um, in, so in my, are
you talking about in my career or in,or business or clients I see, or in,
Joshua Maddux (30:39):
uh, let's say both in your career and then, and
then we can hit the other one.
Jason Beaman (30:42):
Okay.
So I think in my career, um, once you, soI was a, uh, so my very, very background.
Um, one of my first jobsin life was as a server.
Um, and so that was a, thatwas a waiter in a restaurant.
Um, and so once I realizedthat essentially as a lawyer,
(31:09):
you are, uh, you're a service.
Business, right?
You're serving, you're servingcustomers, you're serving clients.
Um, people, you know, when you'rea waiter, people are hungry, right?
They, they have, they have demands.
They're maybe not the,in the best mood ever.
So understanding, you know,who you're dealing with.
(31:30):
And that they may be, people may beangry with you or may be frustrated or
may want things, you know, right now.
Um, it's having a mindsetof you're serving them.
You're trying to understand, you know,what, where they're coming from, what
they're, they may be confused about.
(31:50):
You know, certain legal issues, theymay be confused, maybe concerned about a
letter they received from the governmentor a demand letter they received
from, uh, uh, you know, another party.
Um, so they're in a, they'rein a delicate situation, right?
They have, they are anemotional situation.
And as a lawyer, I try to, you know, helpthem work through that and kind of diffuse
(32:14):
their frustrations and explain things.
And in that same, same way thatI would, you know, treat somebody
who's hungry at a restaurant.
Um, so I think that'sone of my, my biggest.
skills as an attorney.
Um, obviously I had the legal skills,but being empathetic and, and, uh,
emotionally intelligent about whothis is a human being you're talking
(32:37):
to, and they have their own, youknow, concerns and emotions and, and
that's driving their decision making.
Um, that's really important.
Joshua Maddux (32:47):
That's really good.
There's so many similar, as you're talkingthrough this, there's so many similarities
like between a server and like you'reserving the, you know, you're serving
your customer information or food thatyou didn't necessarily control or make.
Like it could be out of something.
It could have been notcooked to their liking.
I mean, oh man, there's so many.
(33:08):
I love those analogies.
I'm a huge fan of that.
Awesome.
Yeah.
So what, what do you think likehabits, um, and, and stuff that's
contributed maybe to, you know, either.
Cool.
Chaffee's success and, or, you know,some of the clients success there.
Jason Beaman (33:24):
Yeah.
So on a, on the business side for, forbusiness owners, um, the, the biggest
habits that I think business ownersneed to accept is, or to implement is.
Looking, taking a look atyour corporate documents.
You know, if you have a corporation,there's, there's requirements.
You have to file your annual report.
You have to keep your books in order.
(33:44):
You have to do your minutes.
Um, so there's some kind of corporatehygiene that you have to do on a, on
a regular basis, at least, at leastyearly, you should be taking a look at
your corporate book and, and seeing, isthere anything that I need to be doing?
You definitely got to fileyour statement information.
I see so many, so many clients that havedelinquent statement information, and then
(34:07):
they get, you know, they get eventuallythe state of California figures it out,
and then they send them a letter sayingthat they're, they're out of compliance.
Now you got extra fees.
You know, potentially jeopardizingyour corporate status.
Um, so those kinds of hygienethings, you know, get into a
regular, have your meeting annuallyand take a look at your corporate
(34:31):
book and see what's out of place.
Um, and then from a larger, you know,zooming out to our law firm, Poole
Schaffrey, um, I think Poole Schaffreyhas been successful because we're, We're
really involved in the community, uh, wegive back to the community, we're involved
in, in charitable organizations, uh, wedo the chamber, we're doing networking
(34:52):
events, uh, all the time, so we're gettingour firm out there, our firm face, and
meeting people, making connections, youknow, we're really strong advocates of
the Santa Clarita business community,um, and we've seen it, you know, seen
it grow, you know, exponentially in, inwhat we can do over the last 20 years.
(35:13):
So, you know, being a part of thecommunity and, and getting out
there and meeting the businesses.
Joshua Maddux (35:19):
That's good.
Um, to your Your tip there on sort of thebusiness hygiene aspect, I will say when
I first filed, um, my legal filing for mybusiness, um, 16, 17 years ago, I used a
(35:40):
website called LegalZoom that about a yearlater, when Nothing was filed properly.
Um, and I had to hire anotherattorney who I paid probably double
what I would have paid that attorneyto do it right in the first place.
Um, they referred to it as legal doom.
And, uh, yeah, I, I agree.
(36:01):
It, it created a massive papertrail because the, the problem
was I became the attorney.
It was like, do you want A or B?
And I was like, I don't knowwhat the hell these two are.
And this is 17 years ago.
Like, yeah, there's a littlebit more documentation online.
There's a little bit more.
You know, go find a YouTube videoand try to understand it yourself.
(36:21):
But.
I literally was like, there was twoboxes like A or B and I'm like, I
don't know what the hell what I want.
Like, sure.
That sounds right.
And then that's how you're filing abusiness and you get through it the end.
And then all of a suddenyou're like, Oh, cool.
So I saved money, but now I'm going tohave to spend double what I would have
(36:43):
in the first place to fix the problem.
And then I got it all fixed.
And I, I found out all thiswhen my statement of information
letter, and it was like, Oh,your LLC wasn't filed correctly.
This as well.
And all of a sudden I had fines and Iwas like, what the heck is going on?
And sat down with an attorney.
I was like, Oh yeah, that's,you see what's wrong here now.
Jason Beaman (37:06):
Yeah.
No, that, that's the very common, verycommon story that happens all the time.
So yes, you can see, you coulddefinitely save money, um,
by using an online service.
Um, but you, like you said, you're the,you're basically acting like the attorney,
uh, you, you're making all the decisions.
Joshua Maddux (37:25):
Yeah, you save money the first time around.
The second time around, it costs more.
Jason Beaman (37:29):
For sure.
Yes.
Doing it again is likefour times as expensive.
Joshua Maddux (37:33):
Yeah.
Um, awesome.
So, one of the questions thatwe enjoy asking guests is, tell
me about a time, um, one ofyour biggest losses or mistakes.
Maybe it's looking back, uh,what would you consider your
biggest professional setback?
Um, you know, maybe something that.
(37:54):
That shaped your career.
Um, you know, obviously we don'tget into client stuff, but.
Jason Beaman (38:04):
Um, so I, I think probably my biggest, biggest career setback,
um, was, you know, going back to thatpersonal injury firm that I, I worked
at, um, You know, basically they,they told me it wasn't working and you
know, it was kind of a mutual thing.
(38:24):
Like I was miserable and, and, um,not, not doing so well in the job.
So, you know, we, we cut tiesand, um, You know, I was a new,
a new graduate of law school.
I had a, you know, a tonof student loan debt.
Um, you know, I am, was facing theprospects of finding a job in, uh,
(38:49):
that was like 2000, 2010, 2011.
Um, so the, the.
The economy wasn't so good afterthe 2008 financial crisis still.
Um, a lot, a lot of lawyers got laid off.
Um, so it was, it was an uphill battle.
Um, and that, you know, having thedisappointment of, of having, getting
(39:13):
a job and then not working out,um, that was tough to deal with.
Um, but you know, but I stuck, I stuckwith it and I got out there and, and,
and did my networking and met people.
And, and it has definitely, it allowed meto actually find the thing that I really
(39:35):
enjoy, the passion, um, that I enjoyin doing transactional work, um, for,
for business, helping business owners.
Um, So had it, you know, had it workedout differently in personal injury,
maybe, you know, I wouldn't have had theopportunity to change, change my specialty
and change, change what I was doing.
Joshua Maddux (39:56):
Yeah, very much a one door closed, another open type situation.
Right,
Jason Beaman (40:00):
exactly.
That's the same, you know,that's the saying, right?
That's true.
It's, you can't, uh, you can'tfind something new until you let
go of, you know, The old thing.
Joshua Maddux (40:12):
Yeah, for sure.
Awesome.
Well, definitely enjoyed our time todayand appreciate having you on before we go.
Are there any questionsthat you have for me?
Jason Beaman (40:24):
Um, I didn't know there was going to be a question.
Joshua Maddux (40:29):
We'd love to flip the script a little bit and,
and, and, uh, throw a curve ball.
Jason Beaman (40:33):
Um, so, so you're, you're a business owner.
Sounds like you're doing,you're doing podcasts and.
How did you get into, howdid you get into podcasting?
Joshua Maddux (40:45):
So I, I actually own a digital marketing agency.
Um, so Corey, our co host is the onewho does a lot of the podcasting stuff.
Um, I first got intopodcasting, um, in during COVID.
Um, I mentioned, you know, 2020,my, my idea was do networking in
person and join the chamber and.
(41:07):
Other networking events and do all that.
Um, and then COVID hit.
And so I started a podcast at, um, atthat time and started reaching out to
people and having those conversations.
And it was.
Very interesting.
And I don't know if this was partly theCOVID sort of bubble around that time of
(41:30):
like, you know, people weren't commuting.
So they had a little bit extra time.
Um, some businesses were closed,some had weird restrictions.
And so like, there was likebusiness owners that I would meant
just cold message on LinkedIn.
And I'd be like, Hey, I'd love to chat.
And they're like, sounds great.
Here's my cell number.
How about next week?
And I'm like, this is the guy who ownsa company that has like 2000 employees.
(41:54):
Like if I called his office and said,Hey, can I have an hour of your own?
Like no one would have gave me a cellnumber, but it was, I think it was just
a time and place type situation of like,because of COVID like people, it was, it
was weird with, you know, sure, this, youknow, people were commuting to offices
(42:15):
that were an hour or two hours away.
And then all of a sudden they're not.
And, you know, now you have extra timeand what are you doing with that and, and
people had the availability a little bitI think, um, but then also just the, you
know, the conversations there so for me.
Yeah.
We're on the podcast for a little bit.
Um, had a handful of episodes.
Um, and then life happened.
(42:35):
And, um, you know, I sort ofhit the pause button on that.
And then Corey and I, like,like we were talking about pre
show, um, we're chatting, man,probably about a year ago now.
Um, and I was like, man, I'dlove to get back into like
interviewing business owners.
And he and I were chatting aboutit and we're like, let's do that.
Like, In our backyard type thing, likelet's do that here in Santa Clarita.
(42:58):
Um, cause it's one of those thingswhere like, it's cool to hop on
the, you know, hop on a call likethis and chat with someone who's.
Doing business, but it's even coolerwhen like, cool, I'll see you at the next
chamber event and like, we can chat andlike, cool, I'll see you around town.
Like, that's cool to know that, youknow, you're doing business here in
the same city, um, And so for, for me,that's sort of a big element of that.
(43:24):
Um, so that's sort of why I got intothe, the podcasting realm, why I got back
into it a little bit, but yeah, my day today stuff is running a digital marketing
agency and helping clients with that.
Jason Beaman (43:37):
Awesome.
So what, so digital marketing, uh, that'swhat like websites or how, how do you
Joshua Maddux (43:41):
websites, digital automation, we're doing a ton of
stuff in regards to like AI right now.
Um, we've got clients that webasically run all their front end, um,
customer acquisition stuff with AI.
So everything from someone calling theiroffice, doing voice AI, um, all the way
through appointment booking, um, up untillike, like home service type businesses.
(44:04):
And so basically the first timea human's involved is the date
of service, um, where everythingbefore that is entirely AI driven.
And then everything after that is AIdriven to follow up sequencing, 14
day reminder to schedule your nextservice, um, all of that type of stuff.
And so we're able to book and automateand do all that type of stuff.
(44:27):
And it's not necessarily to, um, Oneof my things like we've been doing
automation type stuff and streamliningbusiness processes for years.
Um, and I've, I'm never necessarilylooking to like, Hey, how can
we fire your whole office staff?
Um, that's not the goal here.
The goal here is how can we augment that?
And how can we double thesize of your business?
(44:48):
Um, because in reality, if we can helpcome in and add some efficiencies.
If we can then maybe hire three or fourmore service techs in the field, all of
a sudden your profit margin is shifting.
If your profit margin is shifting,um, then that means you're going
(45:09):
to probably be in business longer.
If you're going to be in businesslonger, that means you're going
to be employing your staff longer.
Um, you know, and that alsoprobably means maybe a pay
raise for everybody or whatever.
So it's like, that's really thefocus is how do we automate that?
How do we improve that business?
Sort of, um, functionality.
So that way the business will be herefive, 10, 15 years down the road, rather
(45:30):
than how do we be a marketing agencythat comes in, run some ads for 90 days
and say, good luck, and then we're out.
Um, And sadly, we see a lot of that.
Um, I, you know, me, why I'm in thisspace, why I do what I do today as a
whole deeper conversation a little bit,but, um, this was not my career path.
(45:52):
Um, I have a business degree from Laverne.
Um, one of the things that you'llfind funny is like, they said, Oh, you
have X number of credits completed.
You need two more semesters of classesto get a degree from us because
I transferred in a ton of stuff.
And I was like, well, what can I take?
And they're like,anything business related.
(46:12):
And I was like, can Itake two semesters of law?
And they're like, sure.
Don't know why you want todo that for just a business
management degree, but okay.
Um, and I was like, because If Ihave two semesters of law, like
I have a better understanding.
I'm not an attorney, like, but Ihave, I feel like a tiny bit more
(46:37):
of an understanding of the legalprocess and contracts and that then
if I wouldn't have, um, and so, youknow, it's one of those things where
That's my sort of background in, ineducation and stuff, so it's fun.
Nice.
But
Jason Beaman (46:55):
sounds great.
Joshua Maddux (46:57):
Awesome.
Well, appreciate havingyou on the show today.
Um, how can those listening find outmore about you and or, uh, pool chare?
Jason Beaman (47:07):
Um, so the best thing to to do is, uh, visit our website.
So it's www.poolchare.com.
Um, and.
You know, reach out to us and we'rehappy to, you know, sit down and have
a conversation about your legal needs.
Um, and then thank you somuch for having me, Josh.
Joshua Maddux (47:27):
Awesome.
And then you're on LinkedIn as well.
Um, you know, or at a chamber event.
Yeah.
So as always, please follow, rate, andreview us wherever you get your podcasts.
You can find us at The Voicesof Business on social media.
Um, you can find me, Joshua Maddox, onLinkedIn and also my company, 95visual.
(47:50):
com.
And then you can follow Coreyat Corey S Nathan on Instagram.
Twitter and all theother places, I believe.
Um, we'd love to have yourbusiness on the show as well.
If you're a local business inSanta Clarita and a chamber
member, please reach out.
Thanks for listening andwe'll see you on the next one.
Welcome back to another episode of The Voices of
Business, a Santa Clarita ValleyChamber of Commerce podcast.
It's good to be with you.
I'm your host, Joshua Maddox.
Corey is, I don't know, off in Hawaii,traveling the world, doing something.
Who knows?
Um, this is where we talk aboutbusiness in the Santa Clarita Valley
and really all of the country.
(00:30):
Um, but a lot of business owners andbusiness leaders and other community
leaders we talk with are right herefrom our hometown, Santa Clarita.
And sometimes we don'tjust stick to business.
We'll talk about leadership,management, life, and really
wherever the conversation takes us.
Please remember to subscribeif you haven't already.
(00:50):
Tell a friend.
Give us a good rating and review.
All of that really helps spreadthe word and, uh, raise awareness
on more conversations that we'rehaving similar to like the one we're
having today with Jason Beeman.
He's a partner at Pool Shafri and, uh,excited to have him on the show today.
Good to have you.
Jason Beaman (01:11):
Thank you so much, Joshua.
I'm really excited tovisit, uh, the podcast.
Joshua Maddux (01:15):
Awesome.
Awesome.
Now, um, you're a partnerwith Poole Shaffery, so insert
legal description here, right?
Or disclosure rather.
Um,
Jason Beaman (01:25):
this is not legal advice.
Joshua Maddux (01:28):
Um, yeah, definitely.
So, you know, I, I, I totally get it.
Totally understand.
But you know, yeah, at the same point,if you're listening and, uh, yeah, uh,
need an attorney, uh, hire an attorney.
Don't, don't take thisshow as, as legal advice.
Um, cool.
Well, um, one, obviously talkabout like, how did you get to,
(01:49):
to, you know, becoming an attorney?
So, um, You attended UC Irvine andthen your career path led you from
there to Southwestern, um, and youhave a, uh, law degree from there.
What was, what was thateducation path like?
Um, you know, what was the, what wasthe choice in, uh, in those schools?
Jason Beaman (02:10):
Yeah.
So yeah, I went to, I went to UC Irvine.
I graduated in 2006.
Um, there, uh, then I went to work fora law firm, uh, as a legal assistant.
So I got some kind of basic legal.
Legal experience, filingsand, and things like that.
And I really liked it.
Um, so I really liked the, uh, theprocess of, of legal practice and helping,
(02:34):
helping people with, with solve issues.
Um, and so I ended up going toSouthwestern, uh, really great experience
at Southwestern, really awesome, uh,students in my, in my class, really
awesome profession, professors.
And, uh, that was, you know, law schoolis a very general, um, legal education.
Uh, you, you, you study kind of all thesubjects, um, so you don't usually get
(02:59):
out, you know, with any specialty in mind.
Um, but once I got out, Itried a few different things.
Um, I tried to, I, I worked as a personalinjury attorney for a little while.
I did not like that.
That was not my, not my thing.
Um, and then I ended up, um, doingtransactional work at a law firm.
(03:19):
Um, and working with businessowners, working with real estate,
people that own real estate, doingtransactions, uh, either business
or, or real estate transactions.
And I really fell in love with, withthe process of doing transactions,
helping, helping business owners, youknow, run their business, um, drafting
contracts and those kinds of things.
(03:40):
I really liked the, the details,getting into the details about how
deals are done and, uh, and making,you know, making the deal happen.
Joshua Maddux (03:49):
That's awesome.
So
Jason Beaman (03:50):
I ended up at, ended up at Pool Shafri, um, about nine years
ago, uh, been here for nine years.
And that's my practice is businesstransactions, real estate transactions,
helping essentially problem solving andhelping, uh, business owners, you know,
get their legal, uh, ducks in a row.
Joshua Maddux (04:12):
That's really good.
You said you've been there for nine years.
Um, You know, I say recently, butit's been what, two years since you
became partner, one of the over there.
Jason Beaman (04:22):
Right.
Yeah.
I bet I made partner, um, I thinktwo years ago in, in March next year.
So it's almost about a year and a half,a little, a little more than that.
Joshua Maddux (04:32):
Awesome.
Awesome.
So I want to talk through a littlebit about like that career path.
You know, you obviouslydescribed it high level, like.
Sort of, you know, getting intohow you found where you are today.
Um, but what were some of the differentchallenges maybe at some of those other
law firms or things that you saw thatshaped that career path even further?
(04:58):
Like obviously the transactionalelement of, of business law, um, where
there are specific elements that, thatyou found, you know, you mentioned
in like personal injury that yousaid, you know, Not my cup of tea.
Definitely not.
Um, were there other elements that yousaw or, or maybe businesses that you
saw were helped by, um, one of thoseattorneys or, you know, obviously we
(05:23):
can't go into super detail on like,You know, in this case, this situation.
Jason Beaman (05:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's, uh, there's a variety of, of,of things that, you know, I've, I've just
seen a lot, I've seen lots of businesses.
Um, and a lot of times the, the, Ithink business owners a lot of times
get, get overwhelmed or, or they.
(05:51):
Just don't think about it.
Don't think about the legal,um, side of their business.
Most, most business owners are, uh, youknow, they're running their day to day
business, um, trying to get customers inthe door, trying to get paid, trying to
get work out the door, um, and buttoningup the, the legal aspects, you know,
everything from selection of a, ofan entity, you know, do I get an LLC?
(06:15):
Do I get a corporation?
Do I do a sole prop?
Um, so helping to make those decisionsand helping to kind of streamline
and, and almost take off, take theburden of that, those legal decisions,
um, from the business owner and letthem focus on their, their business.
Um, that, that aspect of it, Ireally enjoyed, uh, you know,
(06:38):
taking on that, that complexity.
Um, so as a lawyer, You know, that'sall we, that's pretty much what our
education is, is just talking aboutall the little details, all the little
complexities with contracts, with the law.
And so that type of analysisreally just speaks to me.
Um, so I can take that on and letthe business owner, you know, handle
(06:59):
their expertise, their business.
Um, so there's that, that, that kindof, I saw a, I don't know, this is
not, not my, my original thought oranything, but this is, this is, this
is, this a, a good way to integrate,um, the legal and the business side.
Um, there's good opportunities there.
Joshua Maddux (07:20):
So it's a lot more, uh, preventative law.
Um,
Jason Beaman (07:25):
right, right.
Yeah.
When I, when I was doing personal injury,you know, it's all about, you know, you
wronged me, uh, you know, I'm injured and,and you are, you know, you're fighting
the big insurance companies and fighting,you know, fighting tooth and nail to get.
dollars for your client, uh, whereasthe, and I didn't, that's not my style.
(07:45):
Uh, my style is more, uh, cooperative andmore, uh, let's problem solve in advance.
Um, to get things set up correctly sothat we avoid issues in the future.
And then if issues do arise, you know,like I have, um, I've dealt with plenty
of, um, I've dealt with some cases that
(08:07):
we, we handle some probate and trustadministration in our office as well.
And that kind of bumps up against a lot ofthe real estate and the business issues.
Um, we've had cases where, you know,people pass away and they don't,
you know, Set things up correctly.
And then, you know, it's a, there's a lotof legal issues and it's a big problem.
(08:30):
Um, and the client just wants to get maybea piece of real pr real property sold.
And so we have to come in and, youknow, jump through the hoops and
figure out, you know, how to getthe goal of the client completed.
Yeah.
Joshua Maddux (08:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's definitely one of those thingswith especially business law, where a
little bit of planning, having the rightcontract and the right expectation.
Like, I, I'm trying to remember therewas this, there's somebody I was
listening to a few years ago and theywere talking about, um, any type of scope
(09:10):
of work or any type of expectations.
Like if you write those down, they'relike, I don't care if it's on a napkin,
in an email, they're like, you open upa voicemail and they're like, Recording
in an app and you know, you and whoeveryou're having a conversation with sort
of outline what you guys are expectingand what the outcome is and who's doing
what and both parties have a copy.
(09:31):
They're like, that solves somany problems because it's like,
Oh, you're going to do this.
You're going to do a, and then that persondoesn't do a, and now the whole business
relationship falls apart or whatever.
Right.
We understand where the communicationbreakdown was, rather than Oh, I
thought you were going to do that.
You thought I was going to do that.
(09:51):
Um, recently, Um, I sat in on, uh,a new business venture that sort
of formed and the, the partners,as they were talking through, okay,
is this something we're addressing?
Is this something we're going to be doing?
One of them said, okay,
(10:12):
what is everything thatcould go wrong with this?
What is everything that we, everyreason we shouldn't start this venture.
And let's think through that firstbefore the like, why should we?
And I think oftentimes.
We get this excited element of like,Oh, there's this, you know, new client
(10:32):
or this new thing or this new whatever.
And we jump into it withoutthinking about the, like, what
is the opportunity cost there?
And that's really like some of theanalysis that you're talking about is,
let's make sure that all of our, youknow, Ducks are in a row and what is
the opportunity cost of moving forward?
Um, and making sure that, you know, thereis some legal covering there as well.
Jason Beaman (10:57):
Right.
We want to ask the, we try and askthe questions, you know, the questions
that you're not thinking about.
We try to, um, you know, we've seen the,we've seen the deals go bad over time.
So, I mean, what you mentioned beforethat you have to have, Uh, in contract
law, we call it meeting of the minds.
So you have to have the two sideshave to actually agree on what the
(11:21):
is each in each one of their minds.
As far as what the contract means.
And a lot of times that doesn't happen.
A lot of times they're even the, eventhe paper document may say, you know, the
price and, uh, You know, some, somethingabout what, what is getting done, but the
actual, actual expectations of the partiesis not clearly, uh, described in the deal.
Joshua Maddux (11:46):
We have a clause in our contract that literally
says no e commerce is included.
No, no e commerce website builds includedin this on every site that we do.
That's not e commerce because Ican't tell you how many times, like
we've built a website for a client.
And then.
Six months later, they're like, Oh, canyou turn the e commerce function on?
(12:06):
I'm like, we, that wasn't in the scope.
And they're like, we'll just turn it on.
And I'm like, no, thatlike, it doesn't exist.
Like it physically isn't there.
Like we didn't build it.
Like.
It's not part of your website.
Jason Beaman (12:23):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, that, that's thepeople's expectations.
They have it in there.
You don't know what'sin their, in their mind.
Right.
Yeah.
So,
Joshua Maddux (12:30):
well, and that's, I think for us, like being a digital
agency for us, it's also knowinglike, where are you going over the
next five years, 10 years, 15 years.
And I think the same thing forwhat you guys deal with is true
because like, if you guys arewriting contracts in a specific way.
But that business owner is planning onselling their business in five years.
(12:53):
We may want to rethink the terms ofthe contract, or we may want to rethink
how that's structured or, or whatever.
And so that's where it's justbeing transparent and having the
expectations, you know, with all partiesinvolved, even if it's an attorney.
Jason Beaman (13:09):
Yeah, no, that's really, really important.
I mean, planning, planning for thenext five, 10 years, uh, business
owners, uh, from the legal side.
That is, that is something that we,we love being involved, you know,
from the beginning, you know, settingyou up and then, and then growing
with you as, as the business grows.
Um, and that way we can, you know,help guide you to, to the goals.
(13:31):
Um, a lot of times, a lot of times wedon't, we don't have that opportunity.
We have to come in and, you know,midstream and, and figure out.
You know, where they want to go, maybethey made some mistakes going in the
past, but we have to fix those or adjust.
Um, so, you know, having, havinggood legal guidance at the
beginning is, is really important.
Joshua Maddux (13:51):
You mean we don't all plan a hundred percent of the time?
Jason Beaman (13:57):
Yeah, I know, I, everybody's, uh,
We're dealing with humans.
So everybody's got lots of expectationsor lots of, lots of things on their plate.
And sometimes it's, it's hard to,uh, to do everything and plan it
in, in the ideal, ideal world.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Joshua Maddux (14:12):
For sure.
I agree.
Um, so I want to wrap up a little bit onlike your career trajectory, and then I
want to talk more about like, you know,what you actually do at Pull Chaffrey
a little bit, talk more about the firmand some of that, but, um, What advice
would you give yourself 15, 20 years ago?
(14:35):
Um, is there something thatyou would do differently?
Is there different advice that youwould give yourself now to like yourself
that was starting college, that was,you know, starting that first job?
Um, Is there something other than,uh, avoid personal injury law?
Jason Beaman (14:52):
Um, you know, I, I think that, um, one of the things that, um,
I think personally, one of the thingsthat I, that I actually struggled
with when I was younger was, you know,opening up and being, and, and getting
involved in things, um, getting, youknow, I'm kind of a, I'm kind of an
introvert at, at, at heart for sure.
Um, so going out and meeting people,doing networking, that is not.
(15:19):
my favorite thing in the world.
Um, definitely doing like doing thingslike podcasts and, and, and video is not
the thing that like really speaks to me.
Um, but getting, but over the years I'vedone it more and, and, um, I actually
got, I got my first like really goodlegal job, um, from a networking event.
(15:42):
So I went to a networking event and I meta bunch of people, talked to people, and I
got a, uh, a lead on a, on a firm that waslooking for an attorney and I got the job.
So I think, I think the, oneof the biggest pieces of advice
that I would give myself is.
is get over that, you know, get outthere, meet people, um, people love
(16:06):
helping other people, um, and they'rekind of, everybody's kind of in the
same boat, I think, when you're,when you're out there networking.
So there's very few, I think there'svery few, like, pure networkers that
just love doing it all the time, but,um, get out there and meet people, and,
(16:26):
and that really will benefit your career,um, and do it, you know, do it early.
That's good.
Yeah.
Joshua Maddux (16:33):
Yeah.
I know that was my, uh, that wasmy 2020, um, New Year's resolution
was to like rejoin the chamber.
I, my member, I had been a memberprior, but my 2020 resolution was
join the chamber, go to in personmeetings, do more networking.
So we see how that one went.
Um,
(16:55):
but yeah, no, I, Iagree with you for sure.
Like there are so many different elements.
Um, yeah.
with going to those events, whetherit's, you know, chamber events or, um,
smaller networking groups or industryassociations or any of that type of stuff,
you know, there's absolute value in that.
And I think with the chamberspecifically, like we've got a huge
(17:16):
diversity in the types of people, thesize of businesses that are there.
Um, you know, you've got single, youknow, business owners up to some of the
large employers in Santa Clarita as well.
So definitely a good way to.
Network and, and meet people.
Jason Beaman (17:31):
So yeah, it's a fantastic organization.
Joshua Maddux (17:35):
Awesome.
So let's talk through a little bitabout Fool and Chaffrey, what you guys
are doing, what, um, you know, whatindustry changes are you guys seeing?
What issues, uh, uh, you know, in themarketplace, um, you know, what, what.
What advice can we, can we talk throughthat, you know, you guys can share?
Jason Beaman (17:59):
Yeah, so Pool, Pool Shafri, we're a, we are a
general, uh, practice law firm.
So we have lots of different attorneys.
We have about 10 attorneys rightnow that, uh, specialize in a,
in a variety of practice areas.
Um, so we have, we have lawyersthat do, uh, land use, that do,
you know, government affairs, thatdo business transactions, business
(18:21):
representation, business litigation.
Uh, we have our, wehave a personal injury.
Um, we actually have personal injurydefense practice, uh, trucking,
transportation cases, uh, wehandle for big insurance companies.
Uh, so we have a very, verydiverse, um, scope of practice
(18:43):
in our, for our attorneys.
Um, so the things, you know, the thingsthat I can speak to definitely the,
the business transactions and the,and I also handle probate and trust
Um, we're seeing, we're definitelyseeing, you know, for businesses,
we're, we're seeing that the, uh,
(19:11):
I'm blanking, um, the, so from a, froma business perspective, um, we're, we're
definitely seeing that there are, there'salways increased regulation, um, that,
you know, especially in California,you're dealing with, you're dealing with
regulation and doing all kinds of lawsevery, every, every year there's new laws.
Um, so.
(19:32):
It's, it's hard to dobusiness in California.
Um, you know, it's probably, it's probablyworth it or, you know, we're a huge
economy and there's a lot of money to bemade, but it's going to be challenging.
So having your, having your legalducks in a row is really important.
Uh, one of the things that, youknow, that I have my eye on right
now is, uh, something calledthe Corporate Transparency Act.
(19:54):
Uh, the Corporate TransparencyAct is a new, Uh, actually not
new, but it just came into effectat the beginning of this year.
So 2024, um, and this CorporateTransparency Act requires all
entities, all legal entities, all LLCs,corporations, Uh, to file a, something
(20:16):
called a Beneficial Ownership Statement,uh, Beneficial Ownership Report.
Um, so this is a new, a new requirementthat businesses have to, uh, comply
with, and the deadline for thatreport, um, is January 1st of 2025.
So we're definitely coming upon it a couple of months away.
(20:38):
Um, I haven't heard, I've had acouple of clients reach out to me
about it, but I really haven't hearda whole lot of activity in the, in
the business realm about this report.
Joshua Maddux (20:49):
The deadlines,
Jason Beaman (20:50):
the deadline's not here yet.
The deadline's not here yet.
Yeah.
I'm sure December 30th.
Ask
Joshua Maddux (20:56):
any accountant, when do they get phone calls?
Like the day before taxday or the day after.
That's what it is.
Jason Beaman (21:04):
So it's actually a really, so the beneficial understood
report is actually a reallysimple report for most companies.
Most companies that are, thathave, One or two or three owners.
Uh, you're not going to havea very complex report to file.
Um, and you can file it free of chargeon the, uh, it's on the FinCEN website.
(21:27):
So you can go online.
There's.
There's FAQs and there's guidanceon how to make that filing.
Um, if you, you know, if you need totalk to a lawyer about it, uh, you
can, you know, we're, we're definitelyaround to, to help with that.
Uh, but it's a really, it'sreally a simple report and
you only have to do it once.
So I really want to really want, youknow, to get out there and make sure that
(21:50):
businesses are getting that report done.
Uh, there are substantial penaltiesif you don't complete the report.
Yeah.
Joshua Maddux (22:02):
And that's, and that's one of those things where I think a
lot of business owners overlook havingsomeone who's staying on top of that.
Um, and in reality, likeyou're, you have to file it.
Whether you file it today orwhether you file it six months
from now, but six months fromnow, you get to pay lovely fines.
(22:23):
You get to pay an attorney to dealwith maybe some retroactive issues.
Um, and there's a bunch of other stuffthat, that's not fun that comes into it.
It's just like paying your taxes late.
Like you end up paying penalties.
Jason Beaman (22:39):
You're going to have to do it eventually.
Joshua Maddux (22:40):
Yeah.
And now the, that.
Filing basically declareswho owns businesses.
So it'll not, I wouldn't say entirelyeliminates, but it reduces the
fogginess of some of these like LLCshell companies that own the shell
(23:02):
company that own a shell company.
And you're like, right, you know, isJoe's pizza actually owned by Joe or is
there a, you know, giant conglomeratethat sits behind it, that's four
layers deep and they're actually.
You know, a cheese conglomerateor whatever that owns it.
Like,
Jason Beaman (23:21):
yeah, yeah, it was it.
So it's a, it is an anti money laundering,uh, law that was passed essentially.
They're, they're looking, they're lookingto get at, uh, like you said, the shell
companies, uh, people are using shellcompanies to, uh, hide, hide assets, hide.
Uh, funds and the federal government wantsto, uh, wants to be able to see that.
(23:44):
Uh, so we've never had to,businesses have never had to report
their ownership like, like this.
Uh, this is a totally new requirement.
Even, you know, even the stateof California doesn't really
know except on your taxes.
Um, Doesn't really know what, who theowners are from any, any given moment.
(24:06):
Um, this is going to be a report thatthis is a federal government report.
So the federal government isgoing to have this information.
Uh, it's only going to be availableto law enforcement agencies.
Um, and there are some protectionsfor, it's not like a public
report that's available.
Uh, but yeah, that's what they're tryingto crack down on and trying to get, get
(24:29):
the people that are using shell companies.
Joshua Maddux (24:33):
Is this, I know with a lot of these types of things, like,
it'll be like, oh, if you do, um, likethe California Consumer Privacy Act is,
if you're over X million dollars a yearin annual revenue, if you're over this
size of a business, is there a, there's,is there a minimum threshold here?
Or is it, if you do a dollar,have an LLC, you, you're filing?
Jason Beaman (24:57):
Yeah, so the, the, the threshold is basically zero, um, is if
you have a legal entity that is filedwith the Secretary of State in any, in
any state, uh, so it's all, all 50 states,if you have an LLC or a corporation for
(25:20):
sure, um, and then sometimes it dependson the state, it sometimes depends on, you
know, the, if it's a limited partnership.
Um, but most people are doingbusiness in LLCs or corporations.
So those, that's the threshold.
If you have that entity,you have to report.
(25:41):
Now there are exemptions.
where you can have a business that, andthe big one, um, so they have kind of
the, the ultra regulated businesses.
So all of the, you know, all of thefinancial companies, banks, you know,
all the big, uh, companies that arealready regulated by the federal
(26:02):
government, they're regulated by the SECor, or, uh, FinCEN already, or, um, they
already have reporting requirements.
Those companies are exempt,but your regular average.
Business that's not in one ofthose highly regulated industries.
The exemption that they'regoing to potentially get is
(26:23):
the large business exemption.
And in order to, to get that,it's a large operating company.
Uh, you have to have20 full time employees.
You have to have more, and youhave to more than 5 million in
annual gross receipts or sales.
And you have to have a physicaloperating presence in the United States.
So I guess the government is sayingthat they have enough information about
(26:46):
those, those types of companies orthose companies are not going to be kind
of fly by night, uh, shell companies.
So that's the exemption.
You have to meet all those things.
It's actually not super clear in theregulations, you know, what happens if
you drop below that for one year, uh,probably have to report at that point.
(27:08):
And then your information's out there.
Joshua Maddux (27:10):
Yeah.
But then at that point, it's like,those are those types of things where,
you know, I use the example of like,you know, when you're filing taxes,
you're like, technically you mightbe able to claim this as a write off.
I don't know if you interpret it this way.
It's like, okay, if.
If you go super overboard on all thoselike, I don't know if you interpret
(27:33):
it this way, like all of a sudden, ifyou get audited and you sit down like
with someone with the IRS and theygo through your books and everything
is that way, like my accountant.
Every year is like, Hey, canI get your mileage record?
Well, I literally have a device on mycar that tracks every time it starts.
Every time it stops the GPS coordinatecoordinates of that, I can then take my
(27:56):
Google calendar for work, line the twoup and show you every single meeting,
every single mileage, the whole thing.
The first year I sent him thosetwo spreadsheets lined up and all
the, he was like, you are nevergetting audited for your mileage.
He's like, he's like, this isthe most detailed I've ever seen.
Jason Beaman (28:16):
Yeah.
Nobody, nobody does this.
Joshua Maddux (28:18):
Yeah.
And I was like, but I have techon my car that lets me do that.
So why not?
But that's the type ofthing where I see it.
Like, so if you're exempt like that, butyou're sort of on the borderline, um, you
know, obviously they should, you know,businesses that size, they should be
talking to an attorney about this further.
But, um, My mindset is like, iffiling doesn't have any repercussions,
(28:45):
and if it's like a statement ofinformation type document, I'm
like, then you might want to do it.
Obviously talk to an attorney first,but, um, you know, think through it.
So, well, so it sounds like I need to dosome reading up on that because I have
a small business and haven't filed that.
So we'll have to get into that further.
Jason Beaman (29:08):
Yeah.
If anybody wants to, I have a, a one sheetthat I could send out, um, if anybody
wants to reach out, uh, or I, I'm happyto then share it with you, um, about kind
of a high level overview of what it is.
Joshua Maddux (29:21):
Yeah, definitely.
Definitely.
Awesome.
Well, I think, uh, one of my keytakeaways today is obviously having
discussions with an attorney will openyou up to having a better understanding
of things you might not be doing thatis going to get you in trouble or, um,
Maybe a nice fine from the government.
(29:41):
And, uh, those ones don't go away.
You know, late fees from a vendoror invoices from something.
You can have a conversation on, buttypically, uh, fines and late fees
from the government do not disappear.
Um, and, uh, yeah.
Awesome.
Well, that's really, really, uh,appreciate the insight on that.
(30:04):
Cause that's, that's,uh, that's a big one.
Um, so as we, you know, I wantto wrap up a little bit here.
Um, so as we wrap up, what wouldyou say is the most important habit
or sort of mindset routine thathas contributed to your success?
Jason Beaman (30:30):
So I think, I think the biggest thing, um, in, so in my, are
you talking about in my career or in,or business or clients I see, or in,
Joshua Maddux (30:39):
uh, let's say both in your career and then, and
then we can hit the other one.
Jason Beaman (30:42):
Okay.
So I think in my career, um, once you, soI was a, uh, so my very, very background.
Um, one of my first jobsin life was as a server.
Um, and so that was a, thatwas a waiter in a restaurant.
Um, and so once I realizedthat essentially as a lawyer,
(31:09):
you are, uh, you're a service.
Business, right?
You're serving, you're servingcustomers, you're serving clients.
Um, people, you know, when you'rea waiter, people are hungry, right?
They, they have, they have demands.
They're maybe not the,in the best mood ever.
So understanding, you know,who you're dealing with.
(31:30):
And that they may be, people may beangry with you or may be frustrated or
may want things, you know, right now.
Um, it's having a mindsetof you're serving them.
You're trying to understand, you know,what, where they're coming from, what
they're, they may be confused about.
(31:50):
You know, certain legal issues, theymay be confused, maybe concerned about a
letter they received from the governmentor a demand letter they received
from, uh, uh, you know, another party.
Um, so they're in a, they'rein a delicate situation, right?
They have, they are anemotional situation.
And as a lawyer, I try to, you know, helpthem work through that and kind of diffuse
(32:14):
their frustrations and explain things.
And in that same, same way thatI would, you know, treat somebody
who's hungry at a restaurant.
Um, so I think that'sone of my, my biggest.
skills as an attorney.
Um, obviously I had the legal skills,but being empathetic and, and, uh,
emotionally intelligent about whothis is a human being you're talking
(32:37):
to, and they have their own, youknow, concerns and emotions and, and
that's driving their decision making.
Um, that's really important.
Joshua Maddux (32:47):
That's really good.
There's so many similar, as you're talkingthrough this, there's so many similarities
like between a server and like you'reserving the, you know, you're serving
your customer information or food thatyou didn't necessarily control or make.
Like it could be out of something.
It could have been notcooked to their liking.
I mean, oh man, there's so many.
(33:08):
I love those analogies.
I'm a huge fan of that.
Awesome.
Yeah.
So what, what do you think likehabits, um, and, and stuff that's
contributed maybe to, you know, either.
Cool.
Chaffee's success and, or, you know,some of the clients success there.
Jason Beaman (33:24):
Yeah.
So on a, on the business side for, forbusiness owners, um, the, the biggest
habits that I think business ownersneed to accept is, or to implement is.
Looking, taking a look atyour corporate documents.
You know, if you have a corporation,there's, there's requirements.
You have to file your annual report.
You have to keep your books in order.
(33:44):
You have to do your minutes.
Um, so there's some kind of corporatehygiene that you have to do on a, on
a regular basis, at least, at leastyearly, you should be taking a look at
your corporate book and, and seeing, isthere anything that I need to be doing?
You definitely got to fileyour statement information.
I see so many, so many clients that havedelinquent statement information, and then
(34:07):
they get, you know, they get eventuallythe state of California figures it out,
and then they send them a letter sayingthat they're, they're out of compliance.
Now you got extra fees.
You know, potentially jeopardizingyour corporate status.
Um, so those kinds of hygienethings, you know, get into a
regular, have your meeting annuallyand take a look at your corporate
(34:31):
book and see what's out of place.
Um, and then from a larger, you know,zooming out to our law firm, Poole
Schaffrey, um, I think Poole Schaffreyhas been successful because we're, We're
really involved in the community, uh, wegive back to the community, we're involved
in, in charitable organizations, uh, wedo the chamber, we're doing networking
(34:52):
events, uh, all the time, so we're gettingour firm out there, our firm face, and
meeting people, making connections, youknow, we're really strong advocates of
the Santa Clarita business community,um, and we've seen it, you know, seen
it grow, you know, exponentially in, inwhat we can do over the last 20 years.
(35:13):
So, you know, being a part of thecommunity and, and getting out
there and meeting the businesses.
Joshua Maddux (35:19):
That's good.
Um, to your Your tip there on sort of thebusiness hygiene aspect, I will say when
I first filed, um, my legal filing for mybusiness, um, 16, 17 years ago, I used a
(35:40):
website called LegalZoom that about a yearlater, when Nothing was filed properly.
Um, and I had to hire anotherattorney who I paid probably double
what I would have paid that attorneyto do it right in the first place.
Um, they referred to it as legal doom.
And, uh, yeah, I, I agree.
(36:01):
It, it created a massive papertrail because the, the problem
was I became the attorney.
It was like, do you want A or B?
And I was like, I don't knowwhat the hell these two are.
And this is 17 years ago.
Like, yeah, there's a littlebit more documentation online.
There's a little bit more.
You know, go find a YouTube videoand try to understand it yourself.
(36:21):
But.
I literally was like, there was twoboxes like A or B and I'm like, I
don't know what the hell what I want.
Like, sure.
That sounds right.
And then that's how you're filing abusiness and you get through it the end.
And then all of a suddenyou're like, Oh, cool.
So I saved money, but now I'm going tohave to spend double what I would have
(36:43):
in the first place to fix the problem.
And then I got it all fixed.
And I, I found out all thiswhen my statement of information
letter, and it was like, Oh,your LLC wasn't filed correctly.
This as well.
And all of a sudden I had fines and Iwas like, what the heck is going on?
And sat down with an attorney.
I was like, Oh yeah, that's,you see what's wrong here now.
Jason Beaman (37:06):
Yeah.
No, that, that's the very common, verycommon story that happens all the time.
So yes, you can see, you coulddefinitely save money, um,
by using an online service.
Um, but you, like you said, you're the,you're basically acting like the attorney,
uh, you, you're making all the decisions.
Joshua Maddux (37:25):
Yeah, you save money the first time around.
The second time around, it costs more.
Jason Beaman (37:29):
For sure.
Yes.
Doing it again is likefour times as expensive.
Joshua Maddux (37:33):
Yeah.
Um, awesome.
So, one of the questions thatwe enjoy asking guests is, tell
me about a time, um, one ofyour biggest losses or mistakes.
Maybe it's looking back, uh,what would you consider your
biggest professional setback?
Um, you know, maybe something that.
(37:54):
That shaped your career.
Um, you know, obviously we don'tget into client stuff, but.
Jason Beaman (38:04):
Um, so I, I think probably my biggest, biggest career setback,
um, was, you know, going back to thatpersonal injury firm that I, I worked
at, um, You know, basically they,they told me it wasn't working and you
know, it was kind of a mutual thing.
(38:24):
Like I was miserable and, and, um,not, not doing so well in the job.
So, you know, we, we cut tiesand, um, You know, I was a new,
a new graduate of law school.
I had a, you know, a tonof student loan debt.
Um, you know, I am, was facing theprospects of finding a job in, uh,
(38:49):
that was like 2000, 2010, 2011.
Um, so the, the.
The economy wasn't so good afterthe 2008 financial crisis still.
Um, a lot, a lot of lawyers got laid off.
Um, so it was, it was an uphill battle.
Um, and that, you know, having thedisappointment of, of having, getting
(39:13):
a job and then not working out,um, that was tough to deal with.
Um, but you know, but I stuck, I stuckwith it and I got out there and, and,
and did my networking and met people.
And, and it has definitely, it allowed meto actually find the thing that I really
(39:35):
enjoy, the passion, um, that I enjoyin doing transactional work, um, for,
for business, helping business owners.
Um, So had it, you know, had it workedout differently in personal injury,
maybe, you know, I wouldn't have had theopportunity to change, change my specialty
and change, change what I was doing.
Joshua Maddux (39:56):
Yeah, very much a one door closed, another open type situation.
Right,
Jason Beaman (40:00):
exactly.
That's the same, you know,that's the saying, right?
That's true.
It's, you can't, uh, you can'tfind something new until you let
go of, you know, The old thing.
Joshua Maddux (40:12):
Yeah, for sure.
Awesome.
Well, definitely enjoyed our time todayand appreciate having you on before we go.
Are there any questionsthat you have for me?
Jason Beaman (40:24):
Um, I didn't know there was going to be a question.
Joshua Maddux (40:29):
We'd love to flip the script a little bit and,
and, and, uh, throw a curve ball.
Jason Beaman (40:33):
Um, so, so you're, you're a business owner.
Sounds like you're doing,you're doing podcasts and.
How did you get into, howdid you get into podcasting?
Joshua Maddux (40:45):
So I, I actually own a digital marketing agency.
Um, so Corey, our co host is the onewho does a lot of the podcasting stuff.
Um, I first got intopodcasting, um, in during COVID.
Um, I mentioned, you know, 2020,my, my idea was do networking in
person and join the chamber and.
(41:07):
Other networking events and do all that.
Um, and then COVID hit.
And so I started a podcast at, um, atthat time and started reaching out to
people and having those conversations.
And it was.
Very interesting.
And I don't know if this was partly theCOVID sort of bubble around that time of
(41:30):
like, you know, people weren't commuting.
So they had a little bit extra time.
Um, some businesses were closed,some had weird restrictions.
And so like, there was likebusiness owners that I would meant
just cold message on LinkedIn.
And I'd be like, Hey, I'd love to chat.
And they're like, sounds great.
Here's my cell number.
How about next week?
And I'm like, this is the guy who ownsa company that has like 2000 employees.
(41:54):
Like if I called his office and said,Hey, can I have an hour of your own?
Like no one would have gave me a cellnumber, but it was, I think it was just
a time and place type situation of like,because of COVID like people, it was, it
was weird with, you know, sure, this, youknow, people were commuting to offices
(42:15):
that were an hour or two hours away.
And then all of a sudden they're not.
And, you know, now you have extra timeand what are you doing with that and, and
people had the availability a little bitI think, um, but then also just the, you
know, the conversations there so for me.
Yeah.
We're on the podcast for a little bit.
Um, had a handful of episodes.
Um, and then life happened.
(42:35):
And, um, you know, I sort ofhit the pause button on that.
And then Corey and I, like,like we were talking about pre
show, um, we're chatting, man,probably about a year ago now.
Um, and I was like, man, I'dlove to get back into like
interviewing business owners.
And he and I were chatting aboutit and we're like, let's do that.
Like, In our backyard type thing, likelet's do that here in Santa Clarita.
(42:58):
Um, cause it's one of those thingswhere like, it's cool to hop on
the, you know, hop on a call likethis and chat with someone who's.
Doing business, but it's even coolerwhen like, cool, I'll see you at the next
chamber event and like, we can chat andlike, cool, I'll see you around town.
Like, that's cool to know that, youknow, you're doing business here in
the same city, um, And so for, for me,that's sort of a big element of that.
(43:24):
Um, so that's sort of why I got intothe, the podcasting realm, why I got back
into it a little bit, but yeah, my day today stuff is running a digital marketing
agency and helping clients with that.
Jason Beaman (43:37):
Awesome.
So what, so digital marketing, uh, that'swhat like websites or how, how do you
Joshua Maddux (43:41):
websites, digital automation, we're doing a ton of
stuff in regards to like AI right now.
Um, we've got clients that webasically run all their front end, um,
customer acquisition stuff with AI.
So everything from someone calling theiroffice, doing voice AI, um, all the way
through appointment booking, um, up untillike, like home service type businesses.
(44:04):
And so basically the first timea human's involved is the date
of service, um, where everythingbefore that is entirely AI driven.
And then everything after that is AIdriven to follow up sequencing, 14
day reminder to schedule your nextservice, um, all of that type of stuff.
And so we're able to book and automateand do all that type of stuff.
(44:27):
And it's not necessarily to, um, Oneof my things like we've been doing
automation type stuff and streamliningbusiness processes for years.
Um, and I've, I'm never necessarilylooking to like, Hey, how can
we fire your whole office staff?
Um, that's not the goal here.
The goal here is how can we augment that?
And how can we double thesize of your business?
(44:48):
Um, because in reality, if we can helpcome in and add some efficiencies.
If we can then maybe hire three or fourmore service techs in the field, all of
a sudden your profit margin is shifting.
If your profit margin is shifting,um, then that means you're going
(45:09):
to probably be in business longer.
If you're going to be in businesslonger, that means you're going
to be employing your staff longer.
Um, you know, and that alsoprobably means maybe a pay
raise for everybody or whatever.
So it's like, that's really thefocus is how do we automate that?
How do we improve that business?
Sort of, um, functionality.
So that way the business will be herefive, 10, 15 years down the road, rather
(45:30):
than how do we be a marketing agencythat comes in, run some ads for 90 days
and say, good luck, and then we're out.
Um, And sadly, we see a lot of that.
Um, I, you know, me, why I'm in thisspace, why I do what I do today as a
whole deeper conversation a little bit,but, um, this was not my career path.
(45:52):
Um, I have a business degree from Laverne.
Um, one of the things that you'llfind funny is like, they said, Oh, you
have X number of credits completed.
You need two more semesters of classesto get a degree from us because
I transferred in a ton of stuff.
And I was like, well, what can I take?
And they're like,anything business related.
(46:12):
And I was like, can Itake two semesters of law?
And they're like, sure.
Don't know why you want todo that for just a business
management degree, but okay.
Um, and I was like, because If Ihave two semesters of law, like
I have a better understanding.
I'm not an attorney, like, but Ihave, I feel like a tiny bit more
(46:37):
of an understanding of the legalprocess and contracts and that then
if I wouldn't have, um, and so, youknow, it's one of those things where
That's my sort of background in, ineducation and stuff, so it's fun.
Nice.
But
Jason Beaman (46:55):
sounds great.
Joshua Maddux (46:57):
Awesome.
Well, appreciate havingyou on the show today.
Um, how can those listening find outmore about you and or, uh, pool chare?
Jason Beaman (47:07):
Um, so the best thing to to do is, uh, visit our website.
So it's www.poolchare.com.
Um, and.
You know, reach out to us and we'rehappy to, you know, sit down and have
a conversation about your legal needs.
Um, and then thank you somuch for having me, Josh.
Joshua Maddux (47:27):
Awesome.
And then you're on LinkedIn as well.
Um, you know, or at a chamber event.
Yeah.
So as always, please follow, rate, andreview us wherever you get your podcasts.
You can find us at The Voicesof Business on social media.
Um, you can find me, Joshua Maddox, onLinkedIn and also my company, 95visual.
(47:50):
com.
And then you can follow Coreyat Corey S Nathan on Instagram.
Twitter and all theother places, I believe.
Um, we'd love to have yourbusiness on the show as well.
If you're a local business inSanta Clarita and a chamber
member, please reach out.
Thanks for listening andwe'll see you on the next one.
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