June 6, 2025 • 41 mins
What if your toughest job became your greatest teacher? Mike Nardella transformed the grueling experience of door-to-door book sales into the foundation for a thriving commercial law practice.
Mike opens up about his unexpected path to law, having originally planned to become a professor of Ancient Greek and Latin until a conversation with his grandfather changed everything: "Michael, listen, you go dig up all the bones you want when you're in your 40s and you've already made your money." That pragmatic advice led Mike to law school and ultimately to founding Nardella Law, a 20-attorney firm specializing in commercial litigation and bankruptcy throughout Florida.
The heart of our conversation explores how those punishing summers selling educational books door-to-door created an unshakable work ethic. Working 12-14 hour days facing constant rejection, Mike learned that success doesn't require natural talent or charm—just relentless persistence. "You don't have to be good. You don't have to have a silver tongue. You don't even have to know what the hell it is you're doing. You just got to work."
This philosophy serves him well in his practice, where he helps businesses overcome catastrophic problems. Mike shares a particularly rewarding case where his firm saved a family plumbing business with 65 employees from certain failure, restructuring their operations and successfully litigating against bad actors who had threatened their survival.
We also delve into Mike's approach to building a multi-generational law firm by mentoring young associates fresh out of law school, and his compelling advice for professional success: rather than trying to be in the top 1% of one skill (nearly impossible), focus on being in the top 25% of three complementary skills—creating a unique and powerful professional combination.
Whether you're building a business or navigating career transitions, Mike's journey demonstrates how embracing difficult experiences and focusing on consistent effort rather than innate talent creates the foundation for lasting success.
For more information visit https://nardellalaw.com/ or call (407) 966-2680.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, hello, hello, friends, family, wonderful
community and great universe.
We are back for another episodeof the Good Neighbor Podcast
podcast.
So I met our guest today wayback when, when we were just
naive, careless college studentsskirting by life, waiting what
(00:33):
was ahead in our futures.
And now, here we are,middle-aged men, trying to
navigate the absurdity whichlife and we have arrived.
Welcome everyone, yes, let's go.
I'm here with Mike nardella,the man, the myth, the legend
from way back when on the bookfield.
(00:53):
Mr nardella, so good to see you, my brother good to see you too
, wolf man.
Thanks for having me on yes, ofcourse it's been too long and
I'm really glad that we're doingthis, because a lot has
happened over the last what hasbeen 20, 20 plus years, 20
almost 25 years yeah, wow, timeflies and now you are um running
(01:18):
nardella law up there, um, so Iwant to.
I want to dig in and learn allabout what you're doing.
So why don't't we start there?
Tell our listeners a little bitabout Nardella Law.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Sure.
So first thing I'll say, though, is that every day, I'm still
grateful that I'm not doingdoor-to-door sales anymore, so
whatever job I have, no matterhow hard it is, it's not
door-to-door sales.
And so, yeah, as hard as beinga lawyer and running a law firm
can be, it's still nothingcompared to that trauma but, uh,
(01:51):
yeah, as you know, yeah, so, um, I have a law firm, uh,
nardella and nardella plc, anduh, we, uh, we.
I started it, um with my dad whowas retiring about 10 years ago
Actually it'll be 10 years inJune and we specialize in
(02:11):
commercial litigation andcommercial bankruptcy, so mostly
like business or complexdisputes with respect to
businesses or debt in both stateand federal courts.
So that's kind of our mainniche and we got about 20
lawyers now and we do work allthroughout the state of Florida.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So when we were selling books back in college, I
don't ever recall us talkingabout our aspirations and what
we were looking to do later onin life, do you?
No, not really.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I don't know if I even had any back then recall us
talking about our aspirationsand what we were looking to do
later on in life, do you?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
no, not really I.
I don't know if I even had anyback then now.
Were you always, I mean,obviously your father was in law
.
Did you have that on your mindfrom when you were young, that
you wanted to get into law?
Because I don't again.
I went to undergrad at UF and Idon't recall ever having a
conversation about going to lawschool afterwards.
I'm assuming, again, I went toundergrad at UF and I don't
recall ever having aconversation about going to law
school afterwards.
I'm assuming you were pre-law,so that was the plan right?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
No, never the plan.
My always plan coming out ofhigh school was to get a degree
in classics, ancient Greek andLatin.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
That's right, it's all starting to come back
together.
We have talked about this typeof stuff before, yeah, so I was
going to be an ancient Greek andLatin professor, and that was
what that was my aspiration, Iguess you could say, and it
wasn't until really the end ofsenior year of college.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
That kind of hit me, especially as I was seeing I
think I was like talking to mygrandpa and I was like you know,
was like he was asking me whatam I going to do when I get a
doctorate in ancient Greek?
He asked me about other peopleI knew who had already gotten
doctorates in ancient Greek.
He was like what are they doing?
What are they up to?
One's managing a pizza hut.
He's like he's this old Italian.
(04:00):
He's like Michael, listen, yougo, dig up all the bones you
want when you're in your 40s andyou've already made your money.
Okay, you know kind of hit me.
I was like you know, if I wantto live wherever I want, like
have a house and a family, uh, Ireally can't do this doctorate
thing.
And then it's a little moreesoteric or whatever, but like I
(04:21):
recognize that in the field ofclassics to get ahead you had to
find these tiny little issuesand like research them forever,
and I just realized that wouldbe way too boring.
So I, uh, I didn't apply to lawschool until late spring of my
senior year and so I got in, butthen I didn't get to start
until january at uf.
(04:41):
So I had, I took six months off, at which time I did
door-to-door sales for roofs.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So did you really?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
yeah, I went to well.
I did the first summer I did inum in mississippi selling books
, and then, when the summerended, after charlie and all the
hurricanes hit, I diddoor-to-door roof sales until
december and then I started lawschool in January 2005 or
whatever it was.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
So you really picked up from the door-to-door books
and moved on.
Yeah, I just couldn't have anow to really kind of
contextualize the experiencethat we went back through back
(05:31):
then.
But there's so many things thatwe draw from that experience
today and it really made merealize that I could do anything
if I just work my ass off.
It's that simple, like puteverything else aside.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
You don't have to be charming.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
It doesn't matter if you just went out and pounded
the payment and workedincessantly nonstop Like
eventually successful.
Yeah, you don't have to be good.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
You don't have to be good.
You don't have to have a silvertongue, you don't even have to
know what the hell it is you'redoing.
You just got to work.
Yeah, that's a good lesson.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
It was a good lesson, put your head down and get to
it.
Yeah, I want to go back more,because the purpose of this show
really is to interview businessowners and learn more about
what they do, why they do whatthey do, and we kind of skirted
the issue.
Commercial law litigation Imean, most people hear that and
(06:36):
snooze alert, right, it doesn'tseem like a glamorous place to
act in.
But I know that you have, I'msure, handled some interesting
cases.
Tell our listeners someanecdotal stories about some, if
you're able to.
I don't know if you're able toshare this stuff, but some
interesting cases that you'veworked, or surely there must be
(06:57):
something in there that will beinteresting.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Yeah Well, I mean we do a lot and some of it is dry.
I mean it's it's, but what'sinteresting is that it's it's
dry to a third party observer,but it's never dry to our
clients, right, like this isalmost always their livelihood
that is on the line, right, andso for them it's everything.
(07:22):
It's the business they've beenworking their whole life to
build, it's the savings they'vebeen saving and they've invested
and now they're looking likethey're going to lose.
And so, even though a lot ofthe technical aspects of it
might appear boring and would beto, you know, someone from the
outside, it's never boring forus because of the human element,
(07:44):
right, like, our clients arereally usually suffering in some
sense.
It's either they're not gettingpaid when they should be paid
or they're not paying when theyshould be paying or something to
that nature, and it'scatastrophic.
And so, you know, my mostrewarding aspect of the job for
me is, personally, is on theChapter 11 side, where we'll
(08:06):
take a business like I'll talkabout one of our clients,
anecdotally, has this greatfamily run plumbing business and
, you know, doing really well,and then takes a couple of jobs
out of town that they get, youknow, hometown on.
(08:27):
Suddenly, the whole businesswith 65 employees is all at risk
and it's about to be shut down.
We swoop in and we file achapter 11 and we restructure
the entire business and we cutout a lot of the bad contracts.
We litigate with the badplayers now in our hometown
right here in Florida.
We beat all of them, we get ourclients repaid, we work things
(08:51):
out with the bonding company andthe company is still doing
great to this day.
I was probably eight years ago.
I was one of my big ones that Itook when I first started the
firm, maybe nine years ago now,right, and the company's going
gangbusters.
So those are just just.
That's just just an idea ofwhat we do.
Right, like businesses thathave what I would call like a
non-systemic problem, but stilla very big, probably fatal
(09:16):
problem, is something we cancome in and help and it's very
rewarding when it works, and itworks a lot and the system is
really a good system for themost part and there's good
judges, and so that that to meis is is what makes the job the
most fun.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
But look at that, you turned out to be a doctor after
all.
You are a doctor of the legalarts.
Alleviate alleviating clientsuffering.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, Company surgeon .
Yeah, we get in there, we cutout the cancer and we sew you
back up and we give you a cleanbill of health and send you on
your way.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
So I know a lot of civil litigation firms.
There's a lot of boutique typefirms and there's a lot of firms
that deal with broad spectrumranges of cases.
Clearly, from the story youjust gave, you do a lot of
bankruptcy stuff.
Do you do a lot of bankruptcystuff?
Do you have like a niche or anideal client profile?
Do you have a specific type ofcase that you typically do?
Do you do more bankruptcy workthan you do other stuff, or is
it really just the full spectrumof anything like civil
(10:16):
litigation?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
So you know, I had a mentor when I got out of law
school that did both commerciallitigation and Chapter 11.
And he encouraged me to do bothbecause he said they're counter
cyclical, right.
He says when the economy isdoing really well there's going
to be a lot of litigation, andwhen the economy is doing really
poorly, the litigation goesdown with the bankruptcy work
goes up.
So this is how you hedge yourlife, and so I kind of dove into
(10:40):
that.
And so at any time with thefirm we kind of switch between
60, 40 and one or the other,depending on the economy.
And you know I enjoy thecommercial litigation too.
I don't enjoy it as muchpersonally.
Some of my other lawyers hereare, you know, more into the
battle, I guess you would say Ifind myself being a little bit
(11:01):
more of like a strategy or dealmaker, which is why I think in
bankruptcy I enjoy it a littlebit more.
But I also enjoy, like theintellectual challenge of
figuring out complex problems,and that's kind of where our
firm has niched out.
So, to answer your question,the normal client we get is
either a high net worth orhigher net worth individual or a
(11:24):
medium sized business that hasa very complex problem where
they need lawyers that are goingto be energetic and highly
competent, but also not the $900an hour that you're going to go
get at the large national lawfirm right an hour that you're
(11:46):
going to go get at the largenational law firm right.
And so where we fit our nichein is the lawyers here are the
same quality as those lawyersthat you'll find at a national
law firm.
But since we're a small firm,our overhead rate is very small.
We can have our rates lower.
And then one of the reasons weend up doing a lot of work in
South Florida is that becauseour rates are Orlando based,
(12:07):
there's even more competitive,and so people from South Florida
will seek us out to come dotheir bankruptcy or litigation
work down there, because forthem it's arbitrage right.
They're getting an Orlando ratelawyer as far as the hourly
rate, but the quality is thesame, and so many of the
hearings are happening remotely.
That the you know extra cost ofus traveling down there when we
(12:30):
have to is pretty low.
Get on the bright line, do work.
So at the end of the day itworks out for us and for the
client, and that's just kind ofwhere our value proposition is.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Good stuff I had.
I had something on the tip ofmy tongue that I was going to
say value proposition is Goodstuff I had.
I had something on the tip ofmy tongue that I was gonna say
and it completely escaped me.
So I'm gonna move on and we'regonna get back to it, because
this is what always happens Imove on and then it comes right
back into my head.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Some things never change.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yes, why was I like that before?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Oh, man, doomed at arrival.
My friend, what can we do?
Okay, so so family we we'vespoken a handful of times, not
enough, and I know we reallyhaven't gotten into this too
much tell me, tell me about Iknow you, you, I know you have
kids, right?
Speaker 3 (13:30):
yeah three kids today nine, six and three, uh,
antoinette, henry and katherine,uh, so I've got my own little
fripple town going nine, six andthree, and is that it?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
you're done?
Yeah, three, three is enough,cause I know I have two and, if
I'm being honest, it's probablytwo too many.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I got married old and you know I'm happy Three.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Three is good, it's a good number, it's good and
chaotic.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So nine, six and three, and then what's the?
What's the genders through?
Good number, it's good andchaotic.
So nine, six and three, andthen what's it?
What's the genders through ages?
Who's the?
Is the oldest one?
A girl, boy, girl, boy, girl.
So, boy, girl.
Okay, nine, six, three.
The reason I asked that isbecause my kid, I have emma,
who's just turned 13, jeez, andthen connor, who's turning 11,
(14:23):
and it's it really A lot oftimes I saw them that were down
here.
You know, yeah, little tinyones, little ankle biters, but
it's interesting to see thedynamic that's developing
between them.
Emma love her to death.
She's again 13, entering thoseformidable teen years Again 13,
entering those formidable teenyears.
(14:43):
But I'm starting to see asConnor matures a little bit and
gets a little bit older, they'restarting to bond a little bit
more than they did before.
She separated away from them.
They were good before and thenthey kind of separated because
of the age and now they're kindof coming closer back together
(15:03):
and they're both.
Connor will be starting middleschool next year with her
fingers crossed, hopefully.
Uh, everything works out.
Works out well there oh, that'ssweet.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, my nine year old treats the six and three
year old with like the best Ican say is like a noblesse
oblige, where she will kind ofbegrudgingly let them sleep in
her room or play with her toys,like she's.
She's uh very aristocraticabout it.
I guess you could say almost alittle aloof, but like kind um,
(15:30):
but it's, it's, it's, it's agreat dynamic, um, you know,
they're just it's so much funand she uh my nine-year-old
right now is obsessed with greekmythology, so I guess the apple
doesn't fall too far from thetree.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Father like daughter.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yeah, she's reading these reference books A to Z's
of Greek mythology.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I'm like it's just so she's nine and she's reading
books on Greek mythology.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yeah, she got into it through Percy Jackson, I guess,
that series.
She loved it and so just senther on this trip reading the
Iliad and the Odyssey, like thegraphic novel versions.
But I mean, she's just, it'scool, it's fun to see that
happen to your kids.
I can assure you, though, thatmy second and third kid will
have no interest in these things, so at least I got one.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
I mean, I was going to say that to get my daughter
to read a book on Greek, onanything, let alone Greek
mythology, I think you'd have topay her.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
That's going to be my son and my third.
They're just not interested.
You can already tell it's notthe same what?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
what do you guys like to do for fun when you're not
working like?
What does family time look likefor you guys?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
yeah.
So you know, we got a lot ofsprings around us and so we got
kayaks.
We go out to the springs a lot.
We go out on the rock springs,run on the king's landing.
Um love to get the kids outsideon the bikes um kings landing.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Would it be in game of thrones?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
yeah, exactly that's what I think they named it.
I think george rr martin namedit after this, because it's been
king's landing since I was alittle kid um yeah and uh.
So it's a little uh.
Just this little estuary in therock springs run where you can
put in kayaks and paddle boardsand whatever.
The water is just crystal clear, perfectly clean.
(17:20):
It's really probably theprettiest place in Florida.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Can you believe I've never been to a spring like that
before.
That's crazy Ever.
Yeah, you should.
You should come up.
It's not for a lack of like.
I'd love to go, I just haven'thad the opportunity to present
itself.
I don't know that there aremany down here in south florida
not as many.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
No, because it's not same, not the same water table.
But you got the.
You know we got caves incentral florida.
They go down do some spelunkingI've never done it, but that's
what's feeding the whole system.
But if you google image likeemerald cut king's landing, I
mean, you'll see some picturesthat will kind of blow you away
with how pretty they are.
So, yeah, come on up, man,we'll, uh, I'll, take you to see
(18:04):
, uh, what florida still gotleft let's, let's make it happen
.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Okay, so let's go.
Let's go back, hop in the timemachine.
I want to go back to the bookfield, because there's a lot of
this experience that has escapedmy memory, and there's only
bits of pieces.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
That's what you do with trauma.
You suppress it, so you want todrag it back up.
Is that what we want to do?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah, I want to pull it back up.
I want to dive in and explore alittle bit about our experience
with the Southwestern Company,because I have had I told you,
I've had two other book people,book people, book men on the
podcast, most recently LeightonCampbell.
I know, you know the namebecause we sold with his sister
(18:49):
right, didn't we?
Or?
She was like a year ahead of us.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Maybe I think we did.
Yeah, yeah, but he was kind ofa rock star, right.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
He was, and he recently released a book called
your Happiness Equation.
So I had him on to talk aboutthe book he's doing really well.
He actually lives right here inthe community.
I don't know.
That's awesome.
It certainly lives within five,10 miles from me.
We're practically neighborsdown here.
And then the other guy I met,nick Sproul.
He also sold books probablyabout 10 years after we did.
(19:21):
I never heard of him, yeah, andhe ended up with Southwestern
in one of their spinoffcompanies, southwestern Real
Estate.
So he's the managing brokerhere in the, I guess, in the
Florida offices for Southwesternreal estate.
And yeah, he was a rock star inthe book thing.
(19:43):
So I actually saw on Instagramhe posted a video talking about
real estate and I commented onit and I was like, hey, you got
to come on the podcast.
And I can't remember when Ilearned that he was a bookman,
but as soon as I found that out,obviously we had something in
common.
So when we started we were inMichigan our first summer, right
(20:04):
, port Huron with.
Uncle Bob.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
With Uncle Bob.
Yeah, when I think you foundUncle Bob knocking door to door
right.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Yeah, how crazy is that?
The, the way we, we, we wouldbasically get uprooted from from
.
We were in UF South Florida, ufin Florida, and then we, we
drove to.
I think I mean the reason theydid that, let's be honest, was
to take you as far away fromyour environment as possible, to
make it difficult for you toreturn.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It was like we had done that job, like in our own
own town, you wouldn't have doneit straight home.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
You would have gone out to work and then you would
have been back at the bar ingainesville the next night.
It wouldn't like the only wayit works is when they take you
away as far as possible.
It's like a hostage situation.
Yeah, makes you think twicebefore you get in the car and
drive home.
You actually have to go.
Do I really want to want toleave?
right and then, and then you goand you knock on doors to find a
(21:00):
place to live, which every timeI've told somebody that they're
like.
Really, how do you do like, butyou wouldn't, you wouldn't make
it.
There's a lot of people outthere, empty nesters, people
that are lonely, whatever it is,they're happy to take on some
college kids.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Two years in a row, I found a place to live.
No problem, Was it no problem?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I think it took us a day.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
It took us a day to find Uncle Bob.
It took us a day for me to findmy family in West Virginia and
the third summer I had a placelined up because the guy was a
former bookman and actuallyoffered to take book kids.
Oh perfect.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
See book man and like actually offered to take book
kids perfect see easy whatadversity you didn't experience.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Any adversity felt scary when you look back like
it's actually pretty easy.
You know, and I think you andjared shared the bedroom and I
was down in this musty couch inuncle bob's basement next to the
laundry machine, and thebasement was huge but there was
only this tiny little spot whereI could sleep on the couch
because 80 of it was the world'sbiggest train set.
(21:58):
You remember that Uncle Bob hadthis huge train set.
He would go down there and he'dmove all his little Civil War
pieces or whatever the hell theywere, and I was just down there
sleeping every night.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I totally remember.
I don't know why I remember nowthat you say it, but I don't
remember getting into it.
I don't know why I remember nowthat you say it, but I don't
remember getting into it.
I don't remember going down inhis basement and playing
engineer with his choo-choo set.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
It was my domain.
I was in order to get someprivacy and not share a room
like you guys.
I had to go in the windowless,musty basement, but it was worth
it.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
And then Chris came in later.
Did he come in later in thesummer?
And he ended up, I think heslept on the couch.
He slept on the couch yeahthere's no room for him and you
don't want to take him in yourbed.
Well, their couch was I mean mycouch down there.
That was, it would have been.
There's not enough room for me.
When you, when you hear, whenyou, when, then that name comes
to you, chris, what's the firstthing that comes to your mind?
(22:51):
I want to see if it's the sameas me.
Oh, there's one thing thatcomes to mind one saying one
phrase that comes to mind when Ithink of is invader invader.
Okay, I think of this bob evan.
Bob evans, good as fuck, manloves, loved him some.
Bob evans.
(23:11):
If you hear that, chris, Idon't remember your last name,
if you're listening out there, Ilove bob, shout out I know you,
love you, loved you some, bobevans.
If you hear that, chris I don'tremember your last name, if
you're listening out there, Ilove bob, shout out, I know you,
love you, loved you some bobevans, but I just remember
because you didn't have a car.
Right, I did not have a car andso I would walk off every
morning which actually is ablessing in disguise in that
business.
Just like where they take youaway from your home and
transport you to thousands ofmiles away, not having a car.
(23:34):
Like just the same thing.
You drop me off in the morning.
I got nowhere to go.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Like I got nowhere to go but walking I mean, just
imagine every day an 18 year oldwould drop you off who?
Who clearly had no freakingclue what he was doing, and then
you would have to trust me tocome get you.
I'm not even sure I had a cellphone like I don't think I did.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
I don't think, so I don't think I had a cell phone,
Like I don't think I did.
Did you have cell phones backthen?
I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
I don't think I brought a cell phone that summer
because I remember calling myparents from a pay phone, a
number of times.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Definitely no cell phones.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Yeah, and so, yeah, I would drop you off and then I'd
be like, okay, I'll pick you upat like 9 o'clock at night at
this spot and I would pull everyday, six days a week, and I'd
pull up and you'd be sittingthere with your back against the
pole or wherever you were, andit was like either you were as
glum as shit or you were superpumped because of whatever.
(24:23):
But what a just weird thing.
It seems so absurd.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I don't know If you drop me out now with a bag of
books, like don't know if I canmake.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
I'd probably make it like a couple of hours and then
I'd be like, oh man, my backhurts, I need to go lay down I
was so hot too, and then Iremember dropping you off at
like alganac, like these justweird towns in the middle off
the river, right across fromcanada, and just just being like
all right, man, I'll see you ineight, nine, ten hours.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
You know, you're actually getting me a little bit
excited to want to go out andknock on some doors.
I think when we're done hereI'm going to go go find some
businesses and drop in and dropin and tell them all about my
marketing services.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
It sounds better in your mind, trust me and tell
them all about my marketingservices.
It sounds better in your mind,trust me.
I mean it was like for years weused to joke about having book
mares right, where you'd wake upin the middle of the night in
college and you'd be like you'dhave a dream, you're selling
books.
You'd wake up and you'd be like, thank God, I'm not out selling
books.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
You just talking about the dreaming and books,
just hit me with like a deeptrauma of because you know,
working 12 hours or what is it?
12, 14 hours a day?
We did, yeah, it's just someungodly.
So you would basically eight tonine, get up in the morning,
take a cold shower, go eat andthen jump around and do some
crazy executive exercises, makea fool of yourself to get the
(25:55):
blood flowing and then just gohit it.
And then you get home, you doyour numbers and it would be
like 10, 10, 30.
And I would literally lay downin bed, close my eyes, pass out
immediately, have nightmaresabout getting doors slammed in
my face and then, like instantly, your eyes would open again.
It would be like five in themorning and I got to get up and
(26:17):
do it like six days a week.
It was just insanity, dude.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
It was insanity.
It really was.
That was how it was for me too.
I would like curl up on thatmusty couch and it was gone.
I was right up after havingseven or eight hours of
nightmares about the constantrejection that I received every
single day, but it didn't feellike seven or eight hours, it
felt like.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
it felt like seven or eight hours of nightmares
condensed into like two seconds,because that's the amount of
time it felt like you slept for.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Yeah, yeah it was.
I mean, I have to say, lookingback right, so good for me.
I was a soft, wimpy kid in thatin a sense, right, I had never,
you know, I had done like highschool wrestling and hard things
, but I had never sort ofexperienced like that kind of
(27:05):
emotionally hard thing and Iwould never do it again.
But I'm so grateful I didbecause my gosh like you just.
But I'm so grateful I did Causemy gosh like you just, I don't
know it's whatever doesn't killyou.
It makes you stronger, I guess,and um, it really it really was
good for me and I guess I cameback for two more summers after
(27:26):
that, so I must've liked it.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
You know, it's absolutely I agree.
I agree a hundred percent, andit definitely gave me the
mentality that I could doanything I wanted to do if I
just worked hard enough at it,which is 100% true.
I will say this, though this isinteresting, even after having
done that and gone door to doorwe're out there.
It was really a numbers game.
(27:49):
You're out there just kind oftrying to see as many people as
you can, and then you'reinevitably going to land upon
some people that are interestedin what we're doing with the
books, and then you know youpick up momentum from that.
People sign up and then theygive you referrals and things
like that.
But it really was.
What were we selling?
It was $300 for a couple forhandbooks, or 200 bucks whatever
or everything we offer was like$2,000.
(28:12):
It was.
You know it costs money.
But yeah, and then you, yousold the Fripple Town CDs for
like 30 bucks, whatever it was,but it wasn't like a huge ticket
item, it was something that wasdoable for people.
Fast forward to about three,three and a half years ago, when
I had my my, my life shift andI got into marketing and it was,
it's a sales type, I'm apublisher but I I basically
(28:33):
businesses and I'm sellingmarketing services.
Yeah, and I had it in my mindfrom doing the books that, oh,
easy peasy, right, I went doorto door, I hustled I could sell
anything to anybody.
Keeping in mind that this is 20years ago and I really hadn't
been in any kind of real salestype environment for my entire
(28:55):
adult life, I just had thisinternalized idea of going door
to door and selling these two$300 handbooks.
So I went into this newendeavor, thinking it would be
easy.
And, man, did I get a rudeawakening Because I'm no longer
selling a couple hundred dollars.
You know, I'm selling contractsfor thousands, tens of, in many
cases, tens of thousands ofdollars.
I'm showing a business a, youknow, a multi-year contract for,
(29:17):
you know, uh, a branding playthat's going to cost 30, 40, 50,
000, whatever it is right.
And man and I went into itill-prepared, right, I went
through the training.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
I didn't, I just thought I had, I just thought I
could wing it well, I mean,let's think about we're in
college, like how many of ourcustomers, looking back, bought
from us just because we wereearnest looking college kids and
they were trying to help usthey were trying to help yes, 75
, you know like well, I meanthey were like interested in the
books, but really they werelike, oh, who's this nice young
college kid with a big smilecoming to my door, let me sit
(29:52):
down, listen to him.
And you know, so it gives youthis kind of like false sense of
confidence too, because you geta lot of success in sales and
you think you're a good salesmanbut you're not really selling
anything that other thanyourself, right, and so I could
see that, and so I could seethat.
I mean, I think you know,selling a $40,000, $50,000, you
(30:13):
know business package is a lotharder than a $29.99 Triple Town
CD.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So well it had in college.
It had the.
Obviously it meant something,but it was.
It just had a differentcharacter of experience back
then Because we were in college,we didn't need the money really
, we were just out there.
We were out there hustling, wewere trying to get experience.
Had we gone home it wouldn'thave been the end of the world.
(30:40):
But when you get into adultlife and you have bills to pay
and you have responsibilitiesand expenses, it's a different
character of experience.
Going out and trying to hustlebecause now the pressure is
really on and it's hard toperform in a sales type job when
that type of pressure is on,because you can't come across as
being desperate.
(31:00):
It's that pushes people away.
You have to come across likeyou don't give a fuck.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, you have to have a buying atmosphere, as
they told us, and it's a loteasier to have a buying
atmosphere when you're 19 and itdoesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
And you're carefree and it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
yeah, you're in college, you got a place to go
back to, yeah, when you're 35and you got two or three kids
and a wife and a mortgage andeverything and whatever happened
in crisis.
But I think, but the rejectionstill hurts the same right.
But I think, you know, therejection still hurts the same
right.
And so, even at 19, even thoughthe stakes were low in theory,
(31:35):
the rejection hurt.
It still hurt.
And so I had to learn how tomanage that hurt and go to the
next house with a smile.
And I think, when the stakes gotbigger later in life, you know,
when I left the big firm, Istarted my own shop and I had no
clients, I had to start fromscratch.
I had the same attitude you had.
I was like I'll just startknocking on doors.
(31:57):
And you know, plenty of doorsstill got slammed in my face.
But I was so used already tolike processing the rejection,
compartmentalizing it, realizingit's a numbers game, you know.
So what I did when I got outand I started the shop is I
(32:17):
decided like every day I wasgoing to take somebody to lunch
who I thought could refer mebusiness.
I was just gonna go to lunchwith somebody every day and pay
for it.
And that's what I did.
And you know, five lunches aweek, four of them probably
never going to send me a case,but one would, and it's just you
know.
So I took that same attitudeand it turned out that it, you
know, it's still the same magic.
(32:39):
I mean, you just have to acceptthe numbers game, you have to
control your emotions, you haveto see things for what they
really are and you have tocommit all the way into it
regardless of how it feels, youknow.
And so, yeah, I mean, yeah, thestakes are higher, is harder,
(32:59):
but all that means is thoselessons you learn like 25% of
selling books.
You now have to learn like 75%of the math to master these
lessons right now.
Now you've got to create thatbuying atmosphere, but you got
to do it in a way where it'seven harder to create it.
But it's gross.
And I think if I hadn't had theselling books where I had to
(33:20):
learn how to create it, wherethe stakes were lower, it would
have been really hard for me todo it in my thirties, when the
stakes were a lot higher.
But having had that foundationof practice, I was able to kind
of level it up.
It seems like you have too.
It's interesting when you lookback.
Things get harder, you getbetter.
(33:42):
It's like the waters getrougher but you just have to be
a stronger swimmer.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Absolutely so.
What is on the horizon?
What looking ahead?
What's something that you'reexcited about, either personally
or professionally?
What does the future hold forMr Fripple Town?
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Well, it's easier professionally to talk about in
a sense.
So you know, one of the thingsthat we've kind of changed the
firm over, you know, far as likea like a management model for
me, it's been focusing on hiringand training young Associates
and so, um, you know, we've got,uh, you know, four really young
(34:22):
lawyers.
I've got, uh, another onestarting in August, just
graduating from Vanderbilt.
I got two summer associates whowill be graduating next August,
one from UF and one from FAMUand we've really just poured
into mentoring and trainingthese young lawyers.
It's been kind of invigorating,it's brought great energy to the
(34:43):
firm and so the future that I'mseeing is I'm already seeing
some of the older, younger onesachieve this.
They're really coming intotheir powers and their abilities
as a lawyer and it's fun to see.
And it is the future right andit's cool that I can kind of see
what's coming.
And as they mature even more,they're going to God willing,
(35:07):
god willing right they take overthe firm one day.
So it's been fun to kind ofcreate a system that has the
succession planning sort ofbuilt into it and to watch it
happen, to watch their growth,watch them deal with rejection
you know I mean, every time yougo to court, 50% of the lawyers
are losing Right, and so youjust got to learn to live with
(35:28):
it.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Right.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
You got to get up and you got to smile and you got to
go fight the next case, and soa lot of those same lessons.
It's just really meaningful towatch them grow and you know,
especially since you know I'mgetting these kids out of law
school they're 26, 27, but you'dbe shocked, I I mean, compared
to even where we were um, theyreally haven't, um, experienced
the world, you know, inresponsibility, yet.
(35:55):
So they're really getting theirfirst taste of responsibility
here, which is kind of shockinga 26, 27 year old.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
but that's just the kind of way it is with this
generation, um, so I'll justkind of leaned into that and I'm
just really looking forward toseeing, like, how it continues
to morph and surprise me it mustbe awesome to come full circle
and start bringing people,bringing younger people in, to
start start that mentoring roleand really educating and really
(36:25):
giving back what you, theexperience that you've learned
over the years and how, how tohow.
That reinforces your knowledgeand just makes you even more a
more effective weapon oflitigation in the future yeah, I
love it and it's.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
And I'll tell you, I mean having the young people.
Even though they don't have theexperience, they bring an
energy that helps they have um,they got the drive, baby drive
and they have.
They have new ideas and theythey have a clean slate.
They don't come with all thebiases I already have picked up
over, you know, 18 years ofpracticing law and so, um, you
(37:03):
know, I feel like a lot of firmsare really missing out by just
kind of, uh, abandoning thetraining of the youth and not
having them around.
I mean, it's kind of like lawfirms in a lot of ways have
turned into like what thevillages is as a neighborhood,
right, it's like just all oldpeople you know, and it's just
not natural like you're supposedto have all spectrum around,
(37:23):
you know, um, otherwise peopledon't have a place and they, you
know, it just doesn't.
To me at least, it feelsunnatural.
I've tried to create a firmculture that has older lawyers
in their 70s, younger lawyerswho just started in their 20s
and everything in between.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
The full spectrum experience over at Nordella Law.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Love it.
It's good spectrum experienceover at Nordella Law.
Exactly Love it.
Okay, so before we wrap this up, I want you to give one piece
of wisdom.
Advice could be personal,professional, maybe you're
speaking to young lawyers outthere One nugget that you want
to leave folks with Go.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Sure.
So I was just talking aboutthis with my associates the
other day and, uh, this is I.
Just, this is a shameless stealfrom, uh, scott adams, the
dilbert guy, right, who, whowrote this thing about, like,
how to find success, and he saidthat, um, there's two ways to
do it in his mind.
One is to be like, the best atone thing, like Michael Jordan.
(38:28):
Right, you are the best at onething, that's a ticket to
success.
But also extremely hard andrare, right?
Very few people are in the top99th percentile at something.
And so what he says more commonway to find success is to be in
the top 25th percentile inthree things.
Oh, that's really interesting.
(38:49):
So I'm telling this to myassociates.
I'm like guys, it's not enoughto be a top 25% lawyer, because
a quarter of the lawyers arejust as good as you are.
Right, it's hard to get there,it's worth it and you should be.
If you're going to work here atmy firm, you're going to be a
top 25% lawyer, or you'regetting out right, but that's
(39:10):
not enough to have the careeryou want.
You need to add another skillto that that you're not just
good at, but that you're reallygood at right.
And so if you want to take itto the next level, take that
skill and then add top 25thpercentile in sales.
Add top 25th percentile innetworking.
Add top 25th percentile inmanagement, organizational
(39:31):
development.
Add someone who's top 20, youknow be top 25th percentile in
creating systems right.
Whatever it is, you know whatare you really good at.
That's more than just your oneoccupational skill that you can
add these other top 25thpercentile skills, package them
(39:52):
together and now you're talkingabout you know a stronger base
to build your career on, causethere's plenty of really good
anything lawyers, plumbers, youknow marketers, whatever but can
you be really good at it andreally good at some other things
, so that the combination ofthose parts become something
(40:15):
rare?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah, it's like a snowball effect and once you add
these other skills and masterthem as well, it's just
compounds and it's going to getyou a lot farther.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
100 it's a lot easier to do than to be in the top
99th percentile of anything.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Right it's just that's almost impossible yeah,
that's practical, practicalwisdom, practical advice that
makes perfect sense.
Thank you, sharon.
Good stuff, all right.
Well, look, we we'll leave itat that.
I know you got lawyering to do.
I got some marketing to do.
I'm glad we did this.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
This was fun.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Hope everyone enjoyed .
Thanks everyone for tuning in.
We will catch you next time.
Everyone, take care, have awonderful day and we'll see you
soon.
Thanks, wolfman.
See you, man.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
Cooper City.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperCitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, hello, hello, friends, family, wonderful
community and great universe.
We are back for another episodeof the Good Neighbor Podcast
podcast.
So I met our guest today wayback when, when we were just
naive, careless college studentsskirting by life, waiting what
(00:33):
was ahead in our futures.
And now, here we are,middle-aged men, trying to
navigate the absurdity whichlife and we have arrived.
Welcome everyone, yes, let's go.
I'm here with Mike nardella,the man, the myth, the legend
from way back when on the bookfield.
(00:53):
Mr nardella, so good to see you, my brother good to see you too
, wolf man.
Thanks for having me on yes, ofcourse it's been too long and
I'm really glad that we're doingthis, because a lot has
happened over the last what hasbeen 20, 20 plus years, 20
almost 25 years yeah, wow, timeflies and now you are um running
(01:18):
nardella law up there, um, so Iwant to.
I want to dig in and learn allabout what you're doing.
So why don't't we start there?
Tell our listeners a little bitabout Nardella Law.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Sure.
So first thing I'll say, though, is that every day, I'm still
grateful that I'm not doingdoor-to-door sales anymore, so
whatever job I have, no matterhow hard it is, it's not
door-to-door sales.
And so, yeah, as hard as beinga lawyer and running a law firm
can be, it's still nothingcompared to that trauma but, uh,
(01:51):
yeah, as you know, yeah, so, um, I have a law firm, uh,
nardella and nardella plc, anduh, we, uh, we.
I started it, um with my dad whowas retiring about 10 years ago
Actually it'll be 10 years inJune and we specialize in
(02:11):
commercial litigation andcommercial bankruptcy, so mostly
like business or complexdisputes with respect to
businesses or debt in both stateand federal courts.
So that's kind of our mainniche and we got about 20
lawyers now and we do work allthroughout the state of Florida.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So when we were selling books back in college, I
don't ever recall us talkingabout our aspirations and what
we were looking to do later onin life, do you?
No, not really.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I don't know if I even had any back then recall us
talking about our aspirationsand what we were looking to do
later on in life, do you?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
no, not really I.
I don't know if I even had anyback then now.
Were you always, I mean,obviously your father was in law
.
Did you have that on your mindfrom when you were young, that
you wanted to get into law?
Because I don't again.
I went to undergrad at UF and Idon't recall ever having a
conversation about going to lawschool afterwards.
I'm assuming, again, I went toundergrad at UF and I don't
recall ever having aconversation about going to law
school afterwards.
I'm assuming you were pre-law,so that was the plan right?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
No, never the plan.
My always plan coming out ofhigh school was to get a degree
in classics, ancient Greek andLatin.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
That's right, it's all starting to come back
together.
We have talked about this typeof stuff before, yeah, so I was
going to be an ancient Greek andLatin professor, and that was
what that was my aspiration, Iguess you could say, and it
wasn't until really the end ofsenior year of college.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
That kind of hit me, especially as I was seeing I
think I was like talking to mygrandpa and I was like you know,
was like he was asking me whatam I going to do when I get a
doctorate in ancient Greek?
He asked me about other peopleI knew who had already gotten
doctorates in ancient Greek.
He was like what are they doing?
What are they up to?
One's managing a pizza hut.
He's like he's this old Italian.
(04:00):
He's like Michael, listen, yougo, dig up all the bones you
want when you're in your 40s andyou've already made your money.
Okay, you know kind of hit me.
I was like you know, if I wantto live wherever I want, like
have a house and a family, uh, Ireally can't do this doctorate
thing.
And then it's a little moreesoteric or whatever, but like I
(04:21):
recognize that in the field ofclassics to get ahead you had to
find these tiny little issuesand like research them forever,
and I just realized that wouldbe way too boring.
So I, uh, I didn't apply to lawschool until late spring of my
senior year and so I got in, butthen I didn't get to start
until january at uf.
(04:41):
So I had, I took six months off, at which time I did
door-to-door sales for roofs.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So did you really?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
yeah, I went to well.
I did the first summer I did inum in mississippi selling books
, and then, when the summerended, after charlie and all the
hurricanes hit, I diddoor-to-door roof sales until
december and then I started lawschool in January 2005 or
whatever it was.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
So you really picked up from the door-to-door books
and moved on.
Yeah, I just couldn't have anow to really kind of
contextualize the experiencethat we went back through back
(05:31):
then.
But there's so many things thatwe draw from that experience
today and it really made merealize that I could do anything
if I just work my ass off.
It's that simple, like puteverything else aside.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
You don't have to be charming.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
It doesn't matter if you just went out and pounded
the payment and workedincessantly nonstop Like
eventually successful.
Yeah, you don't have to be good.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
You don't have to be good.
You don't have to have a silvertongue, you don't even have to
know what the hell it is you'redoing.
You just got to work.
Yeah, that's a good lesson.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
It was a good lesson, put your head down and get to
it.
Yeah, I want to go back more,because the purpose of this show
really is to interview businessowners and learn more about
what they do, why they do whatthey do, and we kind of skirted
the issue.
Commercial law litigation Imean, most people hear that and
(06:36):
snooze alert, right, it doesn'tseem like a glamorous place to
act in.
But I know that you have, I'msure, handled some interesting
cases.
Tell our listeners someanecdotal stories about some, if
you're able to.
I don't know if you're able toshare this stuff, but some
interesting cases that you'veworked, or surely there must be
(06:57):
something in there that will beinteresting.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Yeah Well, I mean we do a lot and some of it is dry.
I mean it's it's, but what'sinteresting is that it's it's
dry to a third party observer,but it's never dry to our
clients, right, like this isalmost always their livelihood
that is on the line, right, andso for them it's everything.
(07:22):
It's the business they've beenworking their whole life to
build, it's the savings they'vebeen saving and they've invested
and now they're looking likethey're going to lose.
And so, even though a lot ofthe technical aspects of it
might appear boring and would beto, you know, someone from the
outside, it's never boring forus because of the human element,
(07:44):
right, like, our clients arereally usually suffering in some
sense.
It's either they're not gettingpaid when they should be paid
or they're not paying when theyshould be paying or something to
that nature, and it'scatastrophic.
And so, you know, my mostrewarding aspect of the job for
me is, personally, is on theChapter 11 side, where we'll
(08:06):
take a business like I'll talkabout one of our clients,
anecdotally, has this greatfamily run plumbing business and
, you know, doing really well,and then takes a couple of jobs
out of town that they get, youknow, hometown on.
(08:27):
Suddenly, the whole businesswith 65 employees is all at risk
and it's about to be shut down.
We swoop in and we file achapter 11 and we restructure
the entire business and we cutout a lot of the bad contracts.
We litigate with the badplayers now in our hometown
right here in Florida.
We beat all of them, we get ourclients repaid, we work things
(08:51):
out with the bonding company andthe company is still doing
great to this day.
I was probably eight years ago.
I was one of my big ones that Itook when I first started the
firm, maybe nine years ago now,right, and the company's going
gangbusters.
So those are just just.
That's just just an idea ofwhat we do.
Right, like businesses thathave what I would call like a
non-systemic problem, but stilla very big, probably fatal
(09:16):
problem, is something we cancome in and help and it's very
rewarding when it works, and itworks a lot and the system is
really a good system for themost part and there's good
judges, and so that that to meis is is what makes the job the
most fun.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
But look at that, you turned out to be a doctor after
all.
You are a doctor of the legalarts.
Alleviate alleviating clientsuffering.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, Company surgeon .
Yeah, we get in there, we cutout the cancer and we sew you
back up and we give you a cleanbill of health and send you on
your way.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
So I know a lot of civil litigation firms.
There's a lot of boutique typefirms and there's a lot of firms
that deal with broad spectrumranges of cases.
Clearly, from the story youjust gave, you do a lot of
bankruptcy stuff.
Do you do a lot of bankruptcystuff?
Do you have like a niche or anideal client profile?
Do you have a specific type ofcase that you typically do?
Do you do more bankruptcy workthan you do other stuff, or is
it really just the full spectrumof anything like civil
(10:16):
litigation?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
So you know, I had a mentor when I got out of law
school that did both commerciallitigation and Chapter 11.
And he encouraged me to do bothbecause he said they're counter
cyclical, right.
He says when the economy isdoing really well there's going
to be a lot of litigation, andwhen the economy is doing really
poorly, the litigation goesdown with the bankruptcy work
goes up.
So this is how you hedge yourlife, and so I kind of dove into
(10:40):
that.
And so at any time with thefirm we kind of switch between
60, 40 and one or the other,depending on the economy.
And you know I enjoy thecommercial litigation too.
I don't enjoy it as muchpersonally.
Some of my other lawyers hereare, you know, more into the
battle, I guess you would say Ifind myself being a little bit
(11:01):
more of like a strategy or dealmaker, which is why I think in
bankruptcy I enjoy it a littlebit more.
But I also enjoy, like theintellectual challenge of
figuring out complex problems,and that's kind of where our
firm has niched out.
So, to answer your question,the normal client we get is
either a high net worth orhigher net worth individual or a
(11:24):
medium sized business that hasa very complex problem where
they need lawyers that are goingto be energetic and highly
competent, but also not the $900an hour that you're going to go
get at the large national lawfirm right an hour that you're
(11:46):
going to go get at the largenational law firm right.
And so where we fit our nichein is the lawyers here are the
same quality as those lawyersthat you'll find at a national
law firm.
But since we're a small firm,our overhead rate is very small.
We can have our rates lower.
And then one of the reasons weend up doing a lot of work in
South Florida is that becauseour rates are Orlando based,
(12:07):
there's even more competitive,and so people from South Florida
will seek us out to come dotheir bankruptcy or litigation
work down there, because forthem it's arbitrage right.
They're getting an Orlando ratelawyer as far as the hourly
rate, but the quality is thesame, and so many of the
hearings are happening remotely.
That the you know extra cost ofus traveling down there when we
(12:30):
have to is pretty low.
Get on the bright line, do work.
So at the end of the day itworks out for us and for the
client, and that's just kind ofwhere our value proposition is.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Good stuff I had.
I had something on the tip ofmy tongue that I was going to
say value proposition is Goodstuff I had.
I had something on the tip ofmy tongue that I was gonna say
and it completely escaped me.
So I'm gonna move on and we'regonna get back to it, because
this is what always happens Imove on and then it comes right
back into my head.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Some things never change.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yes, why was I like that before?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Oh, man, doomed at arrival.
My friend, what can we do?
Okay, so so family we we'vespoken a handful of times, not
enough, and I know we reallyhaven't gotten into this too
much tell me, tell me about Iknow you, you, I know you have
kids, right?
Speaker 3 (13:30):
yeah three kids today nine, six and three, uh,
antoinette, henry and katherine,uh, so I've got my own little
fripple town going nine, six andthree, and is that it?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
you're done?
Yeah, three, three is enough,cause I know I have two and, if
I'm being honest, it's probablytwo too many.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I got married old and you know I'm happy Three.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Three is good, it's a good number, it's good and
chaotic.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So nine, six and three, and then what's the?
What's the genders through?
Good number, it's good andchaotic.
So nine, six and three, andthen what's it?
What's the genders through ages?
Who's the?
Is the oldest one?
A girl, boy, girl, boy, girl.
So, boy, girl.
Okay, nine, six, three.
The reason I asked that isbecause my kid, I have emma,
who's just turned 13, jeez, andthen connor, who's turning 11,
(14:23):
and it's it really A lot oftimes I saw them that were down
here.
You know, yeah, little tinyones, little ankle biters, but
it's interesting to see thedynamic that's developing
between them.
Emma love her to death.
She's again 13, entering thoseformidable teen years Again 13,
entering those formidable teenyears.
(14:43):
But I'm starting to see asConnor matures a little bit and
gets a little bit older, they'restarting to bond a little bit
more than they did before.
She separated away from them.
They were good before and thenthey kind of separated because
of the age and now they're kindof coming closer back together
(15:03):
and they're both.
Connor will be starting middleschool next year with her
fingers crossed, hopefully.
Uh, everything works out.
Works out well there oh, that'ssweet.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, my nine year old treats the six and three
year old with like the best Ican say is like a noblesse
oblige, where she will kind ofbegrudgingly let them sleep in
her room or play with her toys,like she's.
She's uh very aristocraticabout it.
I guess you could say almost alittle aloof, but like kind um,
(15:30):
but it's, it's, it's, it's agreat dynamic, um, you know,
they're just it's so much funand she uh my nine-year-old
right now is obsessed with greekmythology, so I guess the apple
doesn't fall too far from thetree.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Father like daughter.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yeah, she's reading these reference books A to Z's
of Greek mythology.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I'm like it's just so she's nine and she's reading
books on Greek mythology.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yeah, she got into it through Percy Jackson, I guess,
that series.
She loved it and so just senther on this trip reading the
Iliad and the Odyssey, like thegraphic novel versions.
But I mean, she's just, it'scool, it's fun to see that
happen to your kids.
I can assure you, though, thatmy second and third kid will
have no interest in these things, so at least I got one.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
I mean, I was going to say that to get my daughter
to read a book on Greek, onanything, let alone Greek
mythology, I think you'd have topay her.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
That's going to be my son and my third.
They're just not interested.
You can already tell it's notthe same what?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
what do you guys like to do for fun when you're not
working like?
What does family time look likefor you guys?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
yeah.
So you know, we got a lot ofsprings around us and so we got
kayaks.
We go out to the springs a lot.
We go out on the rock springs,run on the king's landing.
Um love to get the kids outsideon the bikes um kings landing.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Would it be in game of thrones?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
yeah, exactly that's what I think they named it.
I think george rr martin namedit after this, because it's been
king's landing since I was alittle kid um yeah and uh.
So it's a little uh.
Just this little estuary in therock springs run where you can
put in kayaks and paddle boardsand whatever.
The water is just crystal clear, perfectly clean.
(17:20):
It's really probably theprettiest place in Florida.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Can you believe I've never been to a spring like that
before.
That's crazy Ever.
Yeah, you should.
You should come up.
It's not for a lack of like.
I'd love to go, I just haven'thad the opportunity to present
itself.
I don't know that there aremany down here in south florida
not as many.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
No, because it's not same, not the same water table.
But you got the.
You know we got caves incentral florida.
They go down do some spelunkingI've never done it, but that's
what's feeding the whole system.
But if you google image likeemerald cut king's landing, I
mean, you'll see some picturesthat will kind of blow you away
with how pretty they are.
So, yeah, come on up, man,we'll, uh, I'll, take you to see
(18:04):
, uh, what florida still gotleft let's, let's make it happen
.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Okay, so let's go.
Let's go back, hop in the timemachine.
I want to go back to the bookfield, because there's a lot of
this experience that has escapedmy memory, and there's only
bits of pieces.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
That's what you do with trauma.
You suppress it, so you want todrag it back up.
Is that what we want to do?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah, I want to pull it back up.
I want to dive in and explore alittle bit about our experience
with the Southwestern Company,because I have had I told you,
I've had two other book people,book people, book men on the
podcast, most recently LeightonCampbell.
I know, you know the namebecause we sold with his sister
(18:49):
right, didn't we?
Or?
She was like a year ahead of us.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Maybe I think we did.
Yeah, yeah, but he was kind ofa rock star, right.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
He was, and he recently released a book called
your Happiness Equation.
So I had him on to talk aboutthe book he's doing really well.
He actually lives right here inthe community.
I don't know.
That's awesome.
It certainly lives within five,10 miles from me.
We're practically neighborsdown here.
And then the other guy I met,nick Sproul.
He also sold books probablyabout 10 years after we did.
(19:21):
I never heard of him, yeah, andhe ended up with Southwestern
in one of their spinoffcompanies, southwestern Real
Estate.
So he's the managing brokerhere in the, I guess, in the
Florida offices for Southwesternreal estate.
And yeah, he was a rock star inthe book thing.
(19:43):
So I actually saw on Instagramhe posted a video talking about
real estate and I commented onit and I was like, hey, you got
to come on the podcast.
And I can't remember when Ilearned that he was a bookman,
but as soon as I found that out,obviously we had something in
common.
So when we started we were inMichigan our first summer, right
(20:04):
, port Huron with.
Uncle Bob.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
With Uncle Bob.
Yeah, when I think you foundUncle Bob knocking door to door
right.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Yeah, how crazy is that?
The, the way we, we, we wouldbasically get uprooted from from
.
We were in UF South Florida, ufin Florida, and then we, we
drove to.
I think I mean the reason theydid that, let's be honest, was
to take you as far away fromyour environment as possible, to
make it difficult for you toreturn.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It was like we had done that job, like in our own
own town, you wouldn't have doneit straight home.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
You would have gone out to work and then you would
have been back at the bar ingainesville the next night.
It wouldn't like the only wayit works is when they take you
away as far as possible.
It's like a hostage situation.
Yeah, makes you think twicebefore you get in the car and
drive home.
You actually have to go.
Do I really want to want toleave?
right and then, and then you goand you knock on doors to find a
(21:00):
place to live, which every timeI've told somebody that they're
like.
Really, how do you do like, butyou wouldn't, you wouldn't make
it.
There's a lot of people outthere, empty nesters, people
that are lonely, whatever it is,they're happy to take on some
college kids.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Two years in a row, I found a place to live.
No problem, Was it no problem?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I think it took us a day.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
It took us a day to find Uncle Bob.
It took us a day for me to findmy family in West Virginia and
the third summer I had a placelined up because the guy was a
former bookman and actuallyoffered to take book kids.
Oh perfect.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
See book man and like actually offered to take book
kids perfect see easy whatadversity you didn't experience.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Any adversity felt scary when you look back like
it's actually pretty easy.
You know, and I think you andjared shared the bedroom and I
was down in this musty couch inuncle bob's basement next to the
laundry machine, and thebasement was huge but there was
only this tiny little spot whereI could sleep on the couch
because 80 of it was the world'sbiggest train set.
(21:58):
You remember that Uncle Bob hadthis huge train set.
He would go down there and he'dmove all his little Civil War
pieces or whatever the hell theywere, and I was just down there
sleeping every night.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I totally remember.
I don't know why I remember nowthat you say it, but I don't
remember getting into it.
I don't know why I remember nowthat you say it, but I don't
remember getting into it.
I don't remember going down inhis basement and playing
engineer with his choo-choo set.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
It was my domain.
I was in order to get someprivacy and not share a room
like you guys.
I had to go in the windowless,musty basement, but it was worth
it.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
And then Chris came in later.
Did he come in later in thesummer?
And he ended up, I think heslept on the couch.
He slept on the couch yeahthere's no room for him and you
don't want to take him in yourbed.
Well, their couch was I mean mycouch down there.
That was, it would have been.
There's not enough room for me.
When you, when you hear, whenyou, when, then that name comes
to you, chris, what's the firstthing that comes to your mind?
(22:51):
I want to see if it's the sameas me.
Oh, there's one thing thatcomes to mind one saying one
phrase that comes to mind when Ithink of is invader invader.
Okay, I think of this bob evan.
Bob evans, good as fuck, manloves, loved him some.
Bob evans.
(23:11):
If you hear that, chris, Idon't remember your last name,
if you're listening out there, Ilove bob, shout out I know you,
love you, loved you some, bobevans.
If you hear that, chris I don'tremember your last name, if
you're listening out there, Ilove bob, shout out, I know you,
love you, loved you some bobevans, but I just remember
because you didn't have a car.
Right, I did not have a car andso I would walk off every
morning which actually is ablessing in disguise in that
business.
Just like where they take youaway from your home and
transport you to thousands ofmiles away, not having a car.
(23:34):
Like just the same thing.
You drop me off in the morning.
I got nowhere to go.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Like I got nowhere to go but walking I mean, just
imagine every day an 18 year oldwould drop you off who?
Who clearly had no freakingclue what he was doing, and then
you would have to trust me tocome get you.
I'm not even sure I had a cellphone like I don't think I did.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
I don't think, so I don't think I had a cell phone,
Like I don't think I did.
Did you have cell phones backthen?
I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
I don't think I brought a cell phone that summer
because I remember calling myparents from a pay phone, a
number of times.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Definitely no cell phones.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Yeah, and so, yeah, I would drop you off and then I'd
be like, okay, I'll pick you upat like 9 o'clock at night at
this spot and I would pull everyday, six days a week, and I'd
pull up and you'd be sittingthere with your back against the
pole or wherever you were, andit was like either you were as
glum as shit or you were superpumped because of whatever.
(24:23):
But what a just weird thing.
It seems so absurd.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I don't know If you drop me out now with a bag of
books, like don't know if I canmake.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
I'd probably make it like a couple of hours and then
I'd be like, oh man, my backhurts, I need to go lay down I
was so hot too, and then Iremember dropping you off at
like alganac, like these justweird towns in the middle off
the river, right across fromcanada, and just just being like
all right, man, I'll see you ineight, nine, ten hours.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
You know, you're actually getting me a little bit
excited to want to go out andknock on some doors.
I think when we're done hereI'm going to go go find some
businesses and drop in and dropin and tell them all about my
marketing services.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
It sounds better in your mind, trust me and tell
them all about my marketingservices.
It sounds better in your mind,trust me.
I mean it was like for years weused to joke about having book
mares right, where you'd wake upin the middle of the night in
college and you'd be like you'dhave a dream, you're selling
books.
You'd wake up and you'd be like, thank God, I'm not out selling
books.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
You just talking about the dreaming and books,
just hit me with like a deeptrauma of because you know,
working 12 hours or what is it?
12, 14 hours a day?
We did, yeah, it's just someungodly.
So you would basically eight tonine, get up in the morning,
take a cold shower, go eat andthen jump around and do some
crazy executive exercises, makea fool of yourself to get the
(25:55):
blood flowing and then just gohit it.
And then you get home, you doyour numbers and it would be
like 10, 10, 30.
And I would literally lay downin bed, close my eyes, pass out
immediately, have nightmaresabout getting doors slammed in
my face and then, like instantly, your eyes would open again.
It would be like five in themorning and I got to get up and
(26:17):
do it like six days a week.
It was just insanity, dude.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
It was insanity.
It really was.
That was how it was for me too.
I would like curl up on thatmusty couch and it was gone.
I was right up after havingseven or eight hours of
nightmares about the constantrejection that I received every
single day, but it didn't feellike seven or eight hours, it
felt like.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
it felt like seven or eight hours of nightmares
condensed into like two seconds,because that's the amount of
time it felt like you slept for.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Yeah, yeah it was.
I mean, I have to say, lookingback right, so good for me.
I was a soft, wimpy kid in thatin a sense, right, I had never,
you know, I had done like highschool wrestling and hard things
, but I had never sort ofexperienced like that kind of
(27:05):
emotionally hard thing and Iwould never do it again.
But I'm so grateful I didbecause my gosh like you just.
But I'm so grateful I did Causemy gosh like you just, I don't
know it's whatever doesn't killyou.
It makes you stronger, I guess,and um, it really it really was
good for me and I guess I cameback for two more summers after
(27:26):
that, so I must've liked it.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
You know, it's absolutely I agree.
I agree a hundred percent, andit definitely gave me the
mentality that I could doanything I wanted to do if I
just worked hard enough at it,which is 100% true.
I will say this, though this isinteresting, even after having
done that and gone door to doorwe're out there.
It was really a numbers game.
(27:49):
You're out there just kind oftrying to see as many people as
you can, and then you'reinevitably going to land upon
some people that are interestedin what we're doing with the
books, and then you know youpick up momentum from that.
People sign up and then theygive you referrals and things
like that.
But it really was.
What were we selling?
It was $300 for a couple forhandbooks, or 200 bucks whatever
or everything we offer was like$2,000.
(28:12):
It was.
You know it costs money.
But yeah, and then you, yousold the Fripple Town CDs for
like 30 bucks, whatever it was,but it wasn't like a huge ticket
item, it was something that wasdoable for people.
Fast forward to about three,three and a half years ago, when
I had my my, my life shift andI got into marketing and it was,
it's a sales type, I'm apublisher but I I basically
(28:33):
businesses and I'm sellingmarketing services.
Yeah, and I had it in my mindfrom doing the books that, oh,
easy peasy, right, I went doorto door, I hustled I could sell
anything to anybody.
Keeping in mind that this is 20years ago and I really hadn't
been in any kind of real salestype environment for my entire
(28:55):
adult life, I just had thisinternalized idea of going door
to door and selling these two$300 handbooks.
So I went into this newendeavor, thinking it would be
easy.
And, man, did I get a rudeawakening Because I'm no longer
selling a couple hundred dollars.
You know, I'm selling contractsfor thousands, tens of, in many
cases, tens of thousands ofdollars.
I'm showing a business a, youknow, a multi-year contract for,
(29:17):
you know, uh, a branding playthat's going to cost 30, 40, 50,
000, whatever it is right.
And man and I went into itill-prepared, right, I went
through the training.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
I didn't, I just thought I had, I just thought I
could wing it well, I mean,let's think about we're in
college, like how many of ourcustomers, looking back, bought
from us just because we wereearnest looking college kids and
they were trying to help usthey were trying to help yes, 75
, you know like well, I meanthey were like interested in the
books, but really they werelike, oh, who's this nice young
college kid with a big smilecoming to my door, let me sit
(29:52):
down, listen to him.
And you know, so it gives youthis kind of like false sense of
confidence too, because you geta lot of success in sales and
you think you're a good salesmanbut you're not really selling
anything that other thanyourself, right, and so I could
see that, and so I could seethat.
I mean, I think you know,selling a $40,000, $50,000, you
(30:13):
know business package is a lotharder than a $29.99 Triple Town
CD.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So well it had in college.
It had the.
Obviously it meant something,but it was.
It just had a differentcharacter of experience back
then Because we were in college,we didn't need the money really
, we were just out there.
We were out there hustling, wewere trying to get experience.
Had we gone home it wouldn'thave been the end of the world.
(30:40):
But when you get into adultlife and you have bills to pay
and you have responsibilitiesand expenses, it's a different
character of experience.
Going out and trying to hustlebecause now the pressure is
really on and it's hard toperform in a sales type job when
that type of pressure is on,because you can't come across as
being desperate.
(31:00):
It's that pushes people away.
You have to come across likeyou don't give a fuck.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, you have to have a buying atmosphere, as
they told us, and it's a loteasier to have a buying
atmosphere when you're 19 and itdoesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
And you're carefree and it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
yeah, you're in college, you got a place to go
back to, yeah, when you're 35and you got two or three kids
and a wife and a mortgage andeverything and whatever happened
in crisis.
But I think, but the rejectionstill hurts the same right.
But I think, you know, therejection still hurts the same
right.
And so, even at 19, even thoughthe stakes were low in theory,
(31:35):
the rejection hurt.
It still hurt.
And so I had to learn how tomanage that hurt and go to the
next house with a smile.
And I think, when the stakes gotbigger later in life, you know,
when I left the big firm, Istarted my own shop and I had no
clients, I had to start fromscratch.
I had the same attitude you had.
I was like I'll just startknocking on doors.
(31:57):
And you know, plenty of doorsstill got slammed in my face.
But I was so used already tolike processing the rejection,
compartmentalizing it, realizingit's a numbers game, you know.
So what I did when I got outand I started the shop is I
(32:17):
decided like every day I wasgoing to take somebody to lunch
who I thought could refer mebusiness.
I was just gonna go to lunchwith somebody every day and pay
for it.
And that's what I did.
And you know, five lunches aweek, four of them probably
never going to send me a case,but one would, and it's just you
know.
So I took that same attitudeand it turned out that it, you
know, it's still the same magic.
(32:39):
I mean, you just have to acceptthe numbers game, you have to
control your emotions, you haveto see things for what they
really are and you have tocommit all the way into it
regardless of how it feels, youknow.
And so, yeah, I mean, yeah, thestakes are higher, is harder,
(32:59):
but all that means is thoselessons you learn like 25% of
selling books.
You now have to learn like 75%of the math to master these
lessons right now.
Now you've got to create thatbuying atmosphere, but you got
to do it in a way where it'seven harder to create it.
But it's gross.
And I think if I hadn't had theselling books where I had to
(33:20):
learn how to create it, wherethe stakes were lower, it would
have been really hard for me todo it in my thirties, when the
stakes were a lot higher.
But having had that foundationof practice, I was able to kind
of level it up.
It seems like you have too.
It's interesting when you lookback.
Things get harder, you getbetter.
(33:42):
It's like the waters getrougher but you just have to be
a stronger swimmer.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Absolutely so.
What is on the horizon?
What looking ahead?
What's something that you'reexcited about, either personally
or professionally?
What does the future hold forMr Fripple Town?
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Well, it's easier professionally to talk about in
a sense.
So you know, one of the thingsthat we've kind of changed the
firm over, you know, far as likea like a management model for
me, it's been focusing on hiringand training young Associates
and so, um, you know, we've got,uh, you know, four really young
(34:22):
lawyers.
I've got, uh, another onestarting in August, just
graduating from Vanderbilt.
I got two summer associates whowill be graduating next August,
one from UF and one from FAMUand we've really just poured
into mentoring and trainingthese young lawyers.
It's been kind of invigorating,it's brought great energy to the
(34:43):
firm and so the future that I'mseeing is I'm already seeing
some of the older, younger onesachieve this.
They're really coming intotheir powers and their abilities
as a lawyer and it's fun to see.
And it is the future right andit's cool that I can kind of see
what's coming.
And as they mature even more,they're going to God willing,
(35:07):
god willing right they take overthe firm one day.
So it's been fun to kind ofcreate a system that has the
succession planning sort ofbuilt into it and to watch it
happen, to watch their growth,watch them deal with rejection
you know I mean, every time yougo to court, 50% of the lawyers
are losing Right, and so youjust got to learn to live with
(35:28):
it.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Right.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
You got to get up and you got to smile and you got to
go fight the next case, and soa lot of those same lessons.
It's just really meaningful towatch them grow and you know,
especially since you know I'mgetting these kids out of law
school they're 26, 27, but you'dbe shocked, I I mean, compared
to even where we were um, theyreally haven't, um, experienced
the world, you know, inresponsibility, yet.
(35:55):
So they're really getting theirfirst taste of responsibility
here, which is kind of shockinga 26, 27 year old.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
but that's just the kind of way it is with this
generation, um, so I'll justkind of leaned into that and I'm
just really looking forward toseeing, like, how it continues
to morph and surprise me it mustbe awesome to come full circle
and start bringing people,bringing younger people in, to
start start that mentoring roleand really educating and really
(36:25):
giving back what you, theexperience that you've learned
over the years and how, how tohow.
That reinforces your knowledgeand just makes you even more a
more effective weapon oflitigation in the future yeah, I
love it and it's.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
And I'll tell you, I mean having the young people.
Even though they don't have theexperience, they bring an
energy that helps they have um,they got the drive, baby drive
and they have.
They have new ideas and theythey have a clean slate.
They don't come with all thebiases I already have picked up
over, you know, 18 years ofpracticing law and so, um, you
(37:03):
know, I feel like a lot of firmsare really missing out by just
kind of, uh, abandoning thetraining of the youth and not
having them around.
I mean, it's kind of like lawfirms in a lot of ways have
turned into like what thevillages is as a neighborhood,
right, it's like just all oldpeople you know, and it's just
not natural like you're supposedto have all spectrum around,
(37:23):
you know, um, otherwise peopledon't have a place and they, you
know, it just doesn't.
To me at least, it feelsunnatural.
I've tried to create a firmculture that has older lawyers
in their 70s, younger lawyerswho just started in their 20s
and everything in between.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
The full spectrum experience over at Nordella Law.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Love it.
It's good spectrum experienceover at Nordella Law.
Exactly Love it.
Okay, so before we wrap this up, I want you to give one piece
of wisdom.
Advice could be personal,professional, maybe you're
speaking to young lawyers outthere One nugget that you want
to leave folks with Go.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Sure.
So I was just talking aboutthis with my associates the
other day and, uh, this is I.
Just, this is a shameless stealfrom, uh, scott adams, the
dilbert guy, right, who, whowrote this thing about, like,
how to find success, and he saidthat, um, there's two ways to
do it in his mind.
One is to be like, the best atone thing, like Michael Jordan.
(38:28):
Right, you are the best at onething, that's a ticket to
success.
But also extremely hard andrare, right?
Very few people are in the top99th percentile at something.
And so what he says more commonway to find success is to be in
the top 25th percentile inthree things.
Oh, that's really interesting.
(38:49):
So I'm telling this to myassociates.
I'm like guys, it's not enoughto be a top 25% lawyer, because
a quarter of the lawyers arejust as good as you are.
Right, it's hard to get there,it's worth it and you should be.
If you're going to work here atmy firm, you're going to be a
top 25% lawyer, or you'regetting out right, but that's
(39:10):
not enough to have the careeryou want.
You need to add another skillto that that you're not just
good at, but that you're reallygood at right.
And so if you want to take itto the next level, take that
skill and then add top 25thpercentile in sales.
Add top 25th percentile innetworking.
Add top 25th percentile inmanagement, organizational
(39:31):
development.
Add someone who's top 20, youknow be top 25th percentile in
creating systems right.
Whatever it is, you know whatare you really good at.
That's more than just your oneoccupational skill that you can
add these other top 25thpercentile skills, package them
(39:52):
together and now you're talkingabout you know a stronger base
to build your career on, causethere's plenty of really good
anything lawyers, plumbers, youknow marketers, whatever but can
you be really good at it andreally good at some other things
, so that the combination ofthose parts become something
(40:15):
rare?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah, it's like a snowball effect and once you add
these other skills and masterthem as well, it's just
compounds and it's going to getyou a lot farther.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
100 it's a lot easier to do than to be in the top
99th percentile of anything.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Right it's just that's almost impossible yeah,
that's practical, practicalwisdom, practical advice that
makes perfect sense.
Thank you, sharon.
Good stuff, all right.
Well, look, we we'll leave itat that.
I know you got lawyering to do.
I got some marketing to do.
I'm glad we did this.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
This was fun.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Hope everyone enjoyed .
Thanks everyone for tuning in.
We will catch you next time.
Everyone, take care, have awonderful day and we'll see you
soon.
Thanks, wolfman.
See you, man.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
Cooper City.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperCitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.