February 24, 2025 • 17 mins
If you are ever going to start a business, the two most important days are Day 0 and Day 1. Day 0 isn’t a single day. It’s the entire process of preparation before you officially open your doors. In this episode, I take you through my personal experience of launching my own law firm, sharing the key decisions, challenges, and lessons I learned along the way. From legal paperwork and licensing to choosing a bank, setting up insurance, and navigating the emotional weight of leaving a stable job, this episode is a real-world look at what it takes to make the leap. If you are thinking about starting your own business, this is the guide you need to prepare for the journey ahead.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
And in the good evening, everyone in the red Tony Red.
When you read Tony reads by following the news, shape
or no sortage of things to talk about?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
What will? This is a reality with rehab. Let me read,
let me read. Let go ahead and get started. Hey everyone,
I don't that's a condition of the know. With Tony Reeves,
I'm Tony Reeves. Let's just go ahead and get this
(00:38):
thing rocket and rolling accordingly. So today we're going to talk.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I want to make sure I share with you some
actionable items and stories about personal growth and entrepreneurship and more.
So today we're going to dive into one of the
most critical but often overlooked phases of starting a business.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Day zero.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Now you're probably thinking, but the hell even by day zero,
Day zero, in theory, is not just a single day.
Day zero is actually encompasses a period of time before
you officially open your business. Now, day zero can be
a day, it could be a week, it could be
a month, it could be a year. But day zero
is really the culmination of all the time and everything
(01:17):
you do prior to actually starting your business. And so
this isn't just today, It's the entire process of preparation
leading up to opening your doors. And so I want
to share with you my personal journey and some practical
tips to help you navigate this crucial stage. So, first
(01:38):
thing I want to do, as I want to talk
to you about defining what exact exactly is day zero.
This is literally the preparatory phase before you launch your business,
when you've decided that you're going to open your doors,
that you're going to create a website and hold yourself
out there, whatever the case may be. Some people will
just jump in without doing anything, but that 's majority
(02:00):
of people will actually go through a series of steps
to actually put all the background things into place before
they get started. And so this is all the things
that you start looking at in terms of your preparatory things.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
And let's just be.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Clear, a lot of times when we say we're gonna
start our own business, when we say it out loud,
it doesn't seem overly earth shattering at that point, but
once you start thinking and drilling down specifically about what
you actually have to do, it becomes a daunting task.
I mean seriously, you start thinking about all of the
(02:38):
various pieces that need to be put into place before
you can actually open your doors, even something as simple
as and I hate to call it simple, so please
forgive me. Like, if you're gonna create a long care service,
there's still certain things you need. You're gonna still need lawnmower,
You're gonna still need a blower, You're gonna still need
a weed eater. You're gonna still need the ability to
have gas and all and all these different different types
(02:59):
of things. And so what ends up happening is when
you start to put thought into what it means to
lay the foundation for opening your doors, you start realizing
that there's two things that you got to start thinking
about the length of time it takes you to do
it and the complexity of doing all these things. And
so what ends up happening is that when you take
(03:21):
a step back and you really evaluate, Okay, I'm going
to start my own business, what do I need in
order to quote start my own business?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So for your benefit, I want you to get.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
An understanding of kind of how I got there and
hopefully hoping this helps you out. So for me, I
reached a very critical point and probably the beginning of
two thousand and seven, I was working for a firm.
I was an associate and I will tell you that
I had had a few conversations that had me wondering
what the future, what my future was going to be
(03:56):
at the job, and a lot of times we have
that crossroads where we're at our job and we have
to ask ourselves, is this a job I'm gonna spend
the next portion of my life or is it time
for me to make a transition? And for me, that's
where I found myself. So we're talking about January February
of two thousand and seven, I now was asking myself
(04:16):
more importantly, asking my circle of people, is it time
for me to make that next transition now? Fortunately for me,
you know, I turned to my wife, who played a
huge role in helping me in my decision making because
I can still remember her in the spring of two
thousand and seven basically challengeing me to say, hey, listen,
whatever decision you're going to make, make it either you're
(04:38):
going to stay with this company and see where it
takes you, or go out on your own and see
where it takes you. But whatever decision you make, make
a decision. Because up to that point, I was still
waffling back and forth because the problem that I had
is that I had been with the company for six years,
so I knew what that life was like. Going out
of my own I didn't know what that was like,
but I knew once I had made the commitment to
(05:00):
making that decision, I had to then say, Okay, what
does that look like going forward. So at that particular point,
once I decided I was going to make that decision,
I leaned into the opportunities that were provided to me.
I had a mentor who allowed me to use his
office space. He basically said, if you want to use
(05:22):
it here, you can. So I needed to get particulars
from him. I needed to know what the address was.
I needed to know what the phone number was. I
needed to get an idea because his office was located
in a small rural town in Florida. I needed to
find out were there any city licenses that I needed?
Were there any county licenses that I needed? I needed
to know as an attorney, if there was any type
(05:44):
of things that I needed from their standpoints. So, you know,
for me, I had to make sure that I had
a specific, specific type of bank account as what we
call an iota interest our trust account. So I had
to have a trust account. I had to open up
an operating account. I had to figure out you know,
I had to make sure I had legal malpractice insurance.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You know, I had to you know.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Back then, oh my gosh, we had something that was
antiquated that was called business cards.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Whoo yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
So here I am now realizing as I am starting
to think about doing the thing in terms of creating
my law firm, I had to figure out what what
was the bare minimum I needed to have in place.
So I reached out with a good friend of mine
who was who designed websites. So he created my website
(06:32):
and he said, I need a date. And so then
as I started going through all these exercises, I started
to then realize that I needed to have an effective
date for when I was going to make this happen.
When was this going to be my official launch date?
And so then as that once I made that decision,
it became more real. Meaning once I made the decision.
(06:57):
And for those of you who are like, okay, when
did you make the decision? My launched It was October first,
two thousand and seven. I gave my job, I believe
thirty days notice. And so once I gave thirty days notice,
I knew that everything I needed to be in place
had to be in place. So that when I walked
out of the door on that Friday, that Monday, which
(07:18):
is when October first was, I was then turning off
the lights of my old job and turning on the
lights for a new one. And so for me, all
of the things that I needed to have in place
needed to be in place. And so I had to
start thinking out out loud and long term about everything
that needed to go in place, so that this way,
when I walked into my firm, and I was now
(07:41):
saying going from being an associated this firm to being
managing attorney for the reflaw firm, everything.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Had to be in place.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So for you, what were some things that I learned
that I could share with you that could be beneficial
to you.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Well, I want you to.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Take away five things. Five practical tips about surviving your
day zero tip number one commit to a timeline, choose
a launch date, and stay focused and helps you be accountable. See,
the problem a lot of times is that when we
don't give a specific hard date, we'll basically drag it
(08:20):
on for a long period of time. Now, it's not
trying to imply that you are trying to find ways
to get out of it. But think about it like this.
If you don't have an actual date, then what ends
up happening is that you keep putting off, putting off,
putting off, and prolonging because you don't have a definitive
start point from when you want everything to jump off.
But the moment that you say this is the date,
(08:42):
come hook a crook, this is the date I'm going
to commit myself to guess what ends up happening. How
you view things in terms of what you need to
get done become a lot more succinct and concrete. So
Tip numb one, commit to a timeline. Tip number two,
get your paperwork in order. Now what I mean by
paperwork You've got to stop and think for your second.
(09:05):
For me, I was like, what is everything I need
to do to hold myself out as a viable company.
I didn't want to do business as I didn't want
this to be Anthony Reeve's thing. I wanted to be
a legitimate company, so I wanted to know everything. So
that meant getting my federal ID number. That meant becoming
(09:26):
a corporation and picking with the corporate model. That I
wanted to utilize like for me Florida and Florida professional
associations are fairly common for law firms, so I was
like professional or association under it as and for tax
purposes for as an es corpse or a small corporation.
So I had to think about my tax purposes. I
had to think about my corporate entity. I had to
(09:46):
think about federal ID number. Something as silly as choosing
the right bank that I wanted.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Most people will say, what about the bank baker? That
wasn't my first choice.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I went to banks that I ended up working with,
banks that tended to work more favorably with law firms.
That's something that you look at. If you have a
business where people are going to walk on the property,
that's a liability that may happen if somebody slips and fall.
Do I need liability insurance? If somebody sues me because
they think I did something wrong when I didn't, I
(10:18):
need to have legal malpractice insurance. I also needed to
know what kind of license they have, because you'd be surprised.
A lot of cities, a lot of counties, and even states,
depending on what it is, requires certain occupational license. Now,
as an attorney. I had a Florida bar license, so
that was it for the state, but for the city
(10:38):
and Forlida County. Depending on where you're at, they may
require you to have certain occupational licenses. So you want
to find out because you don't want to be in
a situation where you get surprised because you're holding your
business out and you get fined because you don't have
a particular license for that county. So you want to
get all of those things and listen if you have
an industry group. For me, it was the Florida Bar,
(11:02):
but then I also checked out a local Chamber of Commerces,
Chamber of conferences in the areas that I was in.
Make those relationships so you can find out because a
lot of times what happens is you may not know.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Like for me, I was sharing off.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
The space with a lawyer who was there in that county,
so I asked him is there anything special?
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And he was.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
He clued me into little things about the area that
I didn't know I needed. So I got that taken
care of. So Tip number two, get your paperwork in order.
Tip number three build your support system.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Let me tell you.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Something, being a business owner is the biggest island you
will ever be on. You will literally be an island
unto yourself. The reason why I say build your supports
system is because you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Have those days.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
You're gonna have those moments where you're gonna need people
that you can turn to. Now, I was lucky because
I had people I could turn to. UH at the time,
I had one, two three different friends of mine. Three
friends of mine, two of them went to law school
with me, who both opened their own law firms, and
another one who I met who had her own law firms.
(12:09):
So I had a number of people that I could contact.
And the guy, one of the attorneys who I was
working with, he had just partnered with the older attorney.
So I had all these people that I could turn
to to not only talk to as a resource and advice,
but just to vent because a lot of times when
you're doing these things, the reality is is that I
hate to be the bearer of bad news. Most people
(12:29):
don't know what it means to run your own business,
so they don't know about the pains, trials and trivelations
of what it means to be out on your own.
More importantly, you're going to find yourself being thrown into
a lot of situations you've never seen before. So you
want to be able to have people that you can
turn to who can give you guidance, give you feedback
and input accordingly. So again the tip number three, build
(12:51):
your support system. Tip number four create a marketing plan.
Now I'm from I'm a little old school, so I'm
from the period of time where business cards and brochures
was a big thing. Those things are probably not as
prominent now in this day and age. But you need
to recognize how do you want people to find you.
(13:12):
You need to be able to create what is the
ideal lead for you, what we call it qualified lead.
A person that you know that you wanted to come
to you that's going to generate help you generate the
funds that you want. There's an ideal person. If you
have a lawn care service, you probably are looking for
someone who wants you to be an ongoing person on
(13:33):
a regular basis. Large lawn that has to be covered
because and so forth. Somebody that needs your services year
round and it's going to be able to pay you
a certain dollar amount. Great, that type of customer exists.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
You got to figure.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Out how do you need to what do you need
to do to get that person? And how do you
need to put whatever processes into place so they'll come
to you. So you need to figure out how do
you want to spread the word about your business. How
are the kind of clients that you want going to
find them out about what you do? That's tip four.
And then finally tip number five, listen carefully prepare for
(14:11):
the emotional toll. Let me be the first to tell
you you're going to have some days where you're gonna make
no money. And that's going to blow your mind. See,
it's one thing when you work for someone because even
on a day where you don't do anything and you're
just kind of wasting time, running your breath and I mean,
you know, running your mouth and wasting your breath, you
(14:32):
know you're gonna get paid. You know, if you call
and sit, you're gonna get paid. If you want a vacation,
you're gonna get paid. When you work for yourself, you
are the one that basically are the breadwinner. So guess
what if you have a job that's a service oriented job,
like I keep using long care, soort for service, let's
say long care. Let's say automotive repair. If your job
(14:54):
requires you to fix cars and you're sick, guess what happens.
You're not fixing any cars, You're not getting paid any money.
So what ends up happening is that you're gonna have
those days. And I had a prime type of job
where I did work and I didn't get paid until
the back end. So what would happen is that I
would do the work and then would win their case,
I would get awarded the money, so I had to
(15:15):
do the work there. So there were a lot of
times where I would do the work with the hope
that I would win the case. And then I would
win the case, and then I had to wait for
the money. And so I regularly found myself getting up
at five point thirty in the morning checking my phone
because I had a bank I banked with Wells Fargo
that would send me alerts whenever I would get deposits
from various accounts, and I had it set up so
(15:37):
it would notify me if a specific type of deposit
that would usually be related to my firm would come through.
So guess what every morning I'm looking and this is
gonna sound crazy. My attitude for the day was heavily
shaped by whether I got paid that day or not.
So if I had a day where I didn't get
any deposits, I needed to get out there and really work.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
If I got a.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Day where I got like fifteen, sixteen, twenty thousand dollars deposited,
I could breathe that day. But you're going to find
you're going to be on an emotional rollercoaster, and so
I want you to be prepared for the harsh reality
that that's what's going to happen. And I want you
to also take this back as well. I want you
to listen to the challenges and triumphs that I went
(16:19):
through with my day zero experience because I didn't realize
because I had been talking about and mentioning and talking
out loud for a couple of years about running my
own law firm and starting my own business. But it
wasn't until I got to that point where I had
to make that hardcore commitment that it became something real.
(16:40):
And I'm going to tell you, if you're in that
place in your life where you're now about to make
that crossroads where you're now going from the hypothetical and
the aspirational to the actual that Day zero is going
to become more prominent and crucial for you, and I
want you to realize this. Surviving day zero is no
(17:02):
small feat, but it's a necessary part of the journey.
It's where you'll find out what you're made of and
lay the ground work for a successful future. If you're
paid prepared, If you're prepared for your own day zero,
remember then every step forward, no matter how small, brings
you closer to your dreams. All right, thanks for tuning
(17:25):
in to end the Know with Tony Reeves. Don't forget
to subscribe, and let's keep the conversation going.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Thanks a lot. Everyone got looking forward to talking to
you again. Stay safe,
And in the good evening, everyone in the red Tony Red.
When you read Tony reads by following the news, shape
or no sortage of things to talk about?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
What will? This is a reality with rehab. Let me read,
let me read. Let go ahead and get started. Hey everyone,
I don't that's a condition of the know. With Tony Reeves,
I'm Tony Reeves. Let's just go ahead and get this
(00:38):
thing rocket and rolling accordingly. So today we're going to talk.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I want to make sure I share with you some
actionable items and stories about personal growth and entrepreneurship and more.
So today we're going to dive into one of the
most critical but often overlooked phases of starting a business.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Day zero.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Now you're probably thinking, but the hell even by day zero,
Day zero, in theory, is not just a single day.
Day zero is actually encompasses a period of time before
you officially open your business. Now, day zero can be
a day, it could be a week, it could be
a month, it could be a year. But day zero
is really the culmination of all the time and everything
(01:17):
you do prior to actually starting your business. And so
this isn't just today, It's the entire process of preparation
leading up to opening your doors. And so I want
to share with you my personal journey and some practical
tips to help you navigate this crucial stage. So, first
(01:38):
thing I want to do, as I want to talk
to you about defining what exact exactly is day zero.
This is literally the preparatory phase before you launch your business,
when you've decided that you're going to open your doors,
that you're going to create a website and hold yourself
out there, whatever the case may be. Some people will
just jump in without doing anything, but that 's majority
(02:00):
of people will actually go through a series of steps
to actually put all the background things into place before
they get started. And so this is all the things
that you start looking at in terms of your preparatory things.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
And let's just be.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Clear, a lot of times when we say we're gonna
start our own business, when we say it out loud,
it doesn't seem overly earth shattering at that point, but
once you start thinking and drilling down specifically about what
you actually have to do, it becomes a daunting task.
I mean seriously, you start thinking about all of the
(02:38):
various pieces that need to be put into place before
you can actually open your doors, even something as simple
as and I hate to call it simple, so please
forgive me. Like, if you're gonna create a long care service,
there's still certain things you need. You're gonna still need lawnmower,
You're gonna still need a blower, You're gonna still need
a weed eater. You're gonna still need the ability to
have gas and all and all these different different types
(02:59):
of things. And so what ends up happening is when
you start to put thought into what it means to
lay the foundation for opening your doors, you start realizing
that there's two things that you got to start thinking
about the length of time it takes you to do
it and the complexity of doing all these things. And
so what ends up happening is that when you take
(03:21):
a step back and you really evaluate, Okay, I'm going
to start my own business, what do I need in
order to quote start my own business?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So for your benefit, I want you to get.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
An understanding of kind of how I got there and
hopefully hoping this helps you out. So for me, I
reached a very critical point and probably the beginning of
two thousand and seven, I was working for a firm.
I was an associate and I will tell you that
I had had a few conversations that had me wondering
what the future, what my future was going to be
(03:56):
at the job, and a lot of times we have
that crossroads where we're at our job and we have
to ask ourselves, is this a job I'm gonna spend
the next portion of my life or is it time
for me to make a transition? And for me, that's
where I found myself. So we're talking about January February
of two thousand and seven, I now was asking myself
(04:16):
more importantly, asking my circle of people, is it time
for me to make that next transition now? Fortunately for me,
you know, I turned to my wife, who played a
huge role in helping me in my decision making because
I can still remember her in the spring of two
thousand and seven basically challengeing me to say, hey, listen,
whatever decision you're going to make, make it either you're
(04:38):
going to stay with this company and see where it
takes you, or go out on your own and see
where it takes you. But whatever decision you make, make
a decision. Because up to that point, I was still
waffling back and forth because the problem that I had
is that I had been with the company for six years,
so I knew what that life was like. Going out
of my own I didn't know what that was like,
but I knew once I had made the commitment to
(05:00):
making that decision, I had to then say, Okay, what
does that look like going forward. So at that particular point,
once I decided I was going to make that decision,
I leaned into the opportunities that were provided to me.
I had a mentor who allowed me to use his
office space. He basically said, if you want to use
(05:22):
it here, you can. So I needed to get particulars
from him. I needed to know what the address was.
I needed to know what the phone number was. I
needed to get an idea because his office was located
in a small rural town in Florida. I needed to
find out were there any city licenses that I needed?
Were there any county licenses that I needed? I needed
to know as an attorney, if there was any type
(05:44):
of things that I needed from their standpoints. So, you know,
for me, I had to make sure that I had
a specific, specific type of bank account as what we
call an iota interest our trust account. So I had
to have a trust account. I had to open up
an operating account. I had to figure out you know,
I had to make sure I had legal malpractice insurance.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You know, I had to you know.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Back then, oh my gosh, we had something that was
antiquated that was called business cards.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Whoo yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
So here I am now realizing as I am starting
to think about doing the thing in terms of creating
my law firm, I had to figure out what what
was the bare minimum I needed to have in place.
So I reached out with a good friend of mine
who was who designed websites. So he created my website
(06:32):
and he said, I need a date. And so then
as I started going through all these exercises, I started
to then realize that I needed to have an effective
date for when I was going to make this happen.
When was this going to be my official launch date?
And so then as that once I made that decision,
it became more real. Meaning once I made the decision.
(06:57):
And for those of you who are like, okay, when
did you make the decision? My launched It was October first,
two thousand and seven. I gave my job, I believe
thirty days notice. And so once I gave thirty days notice,
I knew that everything I needed to be in place
had to be in place. So that when I walked
out of the door on that Friday, that Monday, which
(07:18):
is when October first was, I was then turning off
the lights of my old job and turning on the
lights for a new one. And so for me, all
of the things that I needed to have in place
needed to be in place. And so I had to
start thinking out out loud and long term about everything
that needed to go in place, so that this way,
when I walked into my firm, and I was now
(07:41):
saying going from being an associated this firm to being
managing attorney for the reflaw firm, everything.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Had to be in place.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So for you, what were some things that I learned
that I could share with you that could be beneficial
to you.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Well, I want you to.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Take away five things. Five practical tips about surviving your
day zero tip number one commit to a timeline, choose
a launch date, and stay focused and helps you be accountable. See,
the problem a lot of times is that when we
don't give a specific hard date, we'll basically drag it
(08:20):
on for a long period of time. Now, it's not
trying to imply that you are trying to find ways
to get out of it. But think about it like this.
If you don't have an actual date, then what ends
up happening is that you keep putting off, putting off,
putting off, and prolonging because you don't have a definitive
start point from when you want everything to jump off.
But the moment that you say this is the date,
(08:42):
come hook a crook, this is the date I'm going
to commit myself to guess what ends up happening. How
you view things in terms of what you need to
get done become a lot more succinct and concrete. So
Tip numb one, commit to a timeline. Tip number two,
get your paperwork in order. Now what I mean by
paperwork You've got to stop and think for your second.
(09:05):
For me, I was like, what is everything I need
to do to hold myself out as a viable company.
I didn't want to do business as I didn't want
this to be Anthony Reeve's thing. I wanted to be
a legitimate company, so I wanted to know everything. So
that meant getting my federal ID number. That meant becoming
(09:26):
a corporation and picking with the corporate model. That I
wanted to utilize like for me Florida and Florida professional
associations are fairly common for law firms, so I was
like professional or association under it as and for tax
purposes for as an es corpse or a small corporation.
So I had to think about my tax purposes. I
had to think about my corporate entity. I had to
(09:46):
think about federal ID number. Something as silly as choosing
the right bank that I wanted.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Most people will say, what about the bank baker? That
wasn't my first choice.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I went to banks that I ended up working with,
banks that tended to work more favorably with law firms.
That's something that you look at. If you have a
business where people are going to walk on the property,
that's a liability that may happen if somebody slips and fall.
Do I need liability insurance? If somebody sues me because
they think I did something wrong when I didn't, I
(10:18):
need to have legal malpractice insurance. I also needed to
know what kind of license they have, because you'd be surprised.
A lot of cities, a lot of counties, and even states,
depending on what it is, requires certain occupational license. Now,
as an attorney. I had a Florida bar license, so
that was it for the state, but for the city
(10:38):
and Forlida County. Depending on where you're at, they may
require you to have certain occupational licenses. So you want
to find out because you don't want to be in
a situation where you get surprised because you're holding your
business out and you get fined because you don't have
a particular license for that county. So you want to
get all of those things and listen if you have
an industry group. For me, it was the Florida Bar,
(11:02):
but then I also checked out a local Chamber of Commerces,
Chamber of conferences in the areas that I was in.
Make those relationships so you can find out because a
lot of times what happens is you may not know.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Like for me, I was sharing off.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
The space with a lawyer who was there in that county,
so I asked him is there anything special?
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And he was.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
He clued me into little things about the area that
I didn't know I needed. So I got that taken
care of. So Tip number two, get your paperwork in order.
Tip number three build your support system.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Let me tell you.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Something, being a business owner is the biggest island you
will ever be on. You will literally be an island
unto yourself. The reason why I say build your supports
system is because you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Have those days.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
You're gonna have those moments where you're gonna need people
that you can turn to. Now, I was lucky because
I had people I could turn to. UH at the time,
I had one, two three different friends of mine. Three
friends of mine, two of them went to law school
with me, who both opened their own law firms, and
another one who I met who had her own law firms.
(12:09):
So I had a number of people that I could contact.
And the guy, one of the attorneys who I was
working with, he had just partnered with the older attorney.
So I had all these people that I could turn
to to not only talk to as a resource and advice,
but just to vent because a lot of times when
you're doing these things, the reality is is that I
hate to be the bearer of bad news. Most people
(12:29):
don't know what it means to run your own business,
so they don't know about the pains, trials and trivelations
of what it means to be out on your own.
More importantly, you're going to find yourself being thrown into
a lot of situations you've never seen before. So you
want to be able to have people that you can
turn to who can give you guidance, give you feedback
and input accordingly. So again the tip number three, build
(12:51):
your support system. Tip number four create a marketing plan.
Now I'm from I'm a little old school, so I'm
from the period of time where business cards and brochures
was a big thing. Those things are probably not as
prominent now in this day and age. But you need
to recognize how do you want people to find you.
(13:12):
You need to be able to create what is the
ideal lead for you, what we call it qualified lead.
A person that you know that you wanted to come
to you that's going to generate help you generate the
funds that you want. There's an ideal person. If you
have a lawn care service, you probably are looking for
someone who wants you to be an ongoing person on
(13:33):
a regular basis. Large lawn that has to be covered
because and so forth. Somebody that needs your services year
round and it's going to be able to pay you
a certain dollar amount. Great, that type of customer exists.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
You got to figure.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Out how do you need to what do you need
to do to get that person? And how do you
need to put whatever processes into place so they'll come
to you. So you need to figure out how do
you want to spread the word about your business. How
are the kind of clients that you want going to
find them out about what you do? That's tip four.
And then finally tip number five, listen carefully prepare for
(14:11):
the emotional toll. Let me be the first to tell
you you're going to have some days where you're gonna make
no money. And that's going to blow your mind. See,
it's one thing when you work for someone because even
on a day where you don't do anything and you're
just kind of wasting time, running your breath and I mean,
you know, running your mouth and wasting your breath, you
(14:32):
know you're gonna get paid. You know, if you call
and sit, you're gonna get paid. If you want a vacation,
you're gonna get paid. When you work for yourself, you
are the one that basically are the breadwinner. So guess
what if you have a job that's a service oriented job,
like I keep using long care, soort for service, let's
say long care. Let's say automotive repair. If your job
(14:54):
requires you to fix cars and you're sick, guess what happens.
You're not fixing any cars, You're not getting paid any money.
So what ends up happening is that you're gonna have
those days. And I had a prime type of job
where I did work and I didn't get paid until
the back end. So what would happen is that I
would do the work and then would win their case,
I would get awarded the money, so I had to
(15:15):
do the work there. So there were a lot of
times where I would do the work with the hope
that I would win the case. And then I would
win the case, and then I had to wait for
the money. And so I regularly found myself getting up
at five point thirty in the morning checking my phone
because I had a bank I banked with Wells Fargo
that would send me alerts whenever I would get deposits
from various accounts, and I had it set up so
(15:37):
it would notify me if a specific type of deposit
that would usually be related to my firm would come through.
So guess what every morning I'm looking and this is
gonna sound crazy. My attitude for the day was heavily
shaped by whether I got paid that day or not.
So if I had a day where I didn't get
any deposits, I needed to get out there and really work.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
If I got a.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Day where I got like fifteen, sixteen, twenty thousand dollars deposited,
I could breathe that day. But you're going to find
you're going to be on an emotional rollercoaster, and so
I want you to be prepared for the harsh reality
that that's what's going to happen. And I want you
to also take this back as well. I want you
to listen to the challenges and triumphs that I went
(16:19):
through with my day zero experience because I didn't realize
because I had been talking about and mentioning and talking
out loud for a couple of years about running my
own law firm and starting my own business. But it
wasn't until I got to that point where I had
to make that hardcore commitment that it became something real.
(16:40):
And I'm going to tell you, if you're in that
place in your life where you're now about to make
that crossroads where you're now going from the hypothetical and
the aspirational to the actual that Day zero is going
to become more prominent and crucial for you, and I
want you to realize this. Surviving day zero is no
(17:02):
small feat, but it's a necessary part of the journey.
It's where you'll find out what you're made of and
lay the ground work for a successful future. If you're
paid prepared, If you're prepared for your own day zero,
remember then every step forward, no matter how small, brings
you closer to your dreams. All right, thanks for tuning
(17:25):
in to end the Know with Tony Reeves. Don't forget
to subscribe, and let's keep the conversation going.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Thanks a lot. Everyone got looking forward to talking to
you again. Stay safe,
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