October 4, 2024 • 45 mins
In this episode of The Wayfinder Show, host Luis Hernandez interviews Edward 'Eddie' Lomena, a personal injury lawyer from New York City. Eddie shares how an unfortunate experience with an attorney during his youth inspired him to pursue law with integrity. Despite academic struggles and initial rejections from law schools, Eddie eventually succeeded with support and perseverance. He discusses the importance of helping underserved clients, his transition to owning his firm, and integrating lessons from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu into his practice. Eddie emphasizes the value of entrepreneurship, betting on oneself, and striving for personal and professional excellence.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Bet on yourself, don't leaveyour success to anybody else,
right?
People are going to make youpromises.
They're not going to comethrough, or they're not going to
be able to come through, but ifyou bet on yourself, it's all
about you, you, you're the onethat determines your level of
success, your level ofhappiness.
(00:28):
Welcome to The Wayfinder Showwith Luis Hernandez, where
guests discuss the why and howof making changes that led them
down a more authentic path orallow them to level up in some
area of their life.
Our goal is to dig deep andprovide not only knowledge, but
actionable advice to help youget from where you are to where
you want to be.
(00:50):
Come join us and find the way toyour dream life.
Welcome back to the wayfindershow i am your host louis
hernandez and today i'm herewith my friend edward lomena
Edward grew up in New York Citywhere he had an unfortunate
(01:11):
encounter with an attorneyduring his youth that profoundly
shaped his career aspirations.
A family friend referred him toa lawyer who initially seemed
helpful, but eventually theirlack of commitment and poor
communication resulted in adifficult and painful experience
for him.
This incident led him to realizethat he could do better,
inspiring him to pursue a careerin law with a commitment to
(01:33):
serve his clients with integrityand dedication.
For And today we're here tolearn more about his journey.
So welcome to the WayfinderShow, Edward.
Thank you.
I appreciate you.
I appreciate.
I'm happy to be here.
It's an honor to be here.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Likewise.
The honor is ours, man.
Should we call you Eddie?
yeah, you can go.
You know, what's funny is, myfamily calls me Eddie.
(01:53):
Yeah.
my people that I work with callme Ed.
And then occasionally, like, ina professional environment, I
get called Edward.
So, whichever one you prefer.
Anyways, Eddie, tell us a littlebit more.
you got a really interestingbackground, man.
can you share a little bit aboutyour origin story?
I was born in New York.
I grew up, between Sunset Park,Brooklyn.
I spent a lot of time there inmy youth.
(02:14):
eventually I ended up my teenageyears in East Harlem.
I went to school there in highschool there until I eventually
went to college in Long Island.
I grew up with my mother, singleparent household.
I was an only child until I wasprobably 11 years old.
And then my sister came along.
(02:35):
Yeah, so what was thisexperience when you were a kid
that was unfortunate with anattorney?
Yeah, so my mother died when Iwas 19.
Oh, man.
Sorry.
She died pretty suddenly andThere was some question of the
treatment that she got in thehospital And I remember I got a
(02:55):
call from a nurse one daysaying, you know, you should go
see a lawyer.
And it was a nurse that wastaking care of her.
the reason I knew it was a nursetaking care of her is because
she called me by the name shecalled me in the hospital, which
wasn't my name.
So I knew it was her.
my mother ended up passing away.
I got this call.
I talked to a family friend whoreferred me to a lawyer.
(03:15):
I saw this lawyer and she wasgoing to help me, but I was in
college at the time and maybe alittle hard to reach, but she
had my family number and she'snever really communicated with
me, never really told me whatwas going on.
eventually, before the statuteof limitations ran, she dropped
my case.
the only reason she dropped mycase was because I finally got
(03:36):
her on the phone.
she just told me that, there wasnothing she could do.
She was dropping my case.
I didn't know whether there wasreally a case there or not, but
I felt like she could havecommunicated with me better.
She could have told me what wasgoing on.
It was just an experience whereI expected more.
I thought I would get more.
I didn't.
I felt like she probably hadother stuff that was more
(04:00):
important.
So I wasn't a priority.
I didn't like the way that mademe feel.
I felt like I could probablyhelp someone like me.
if I got into the law, I wouldtreat people better.
So that was pretty much theevent that got me to thinking
that, maybe I could be a lawyer.
Okay.
I didn't know any lawyers oranything like that, but I
(04:22):
thought, Hey, maybe I could be alawyer because I know I can do a
better job than this person didfor me.
Now you were already in college,you said at this point, right?
So what career path were youpursuing?
So I didn't know, I didn't knowwhat I wanted to do.
I went to college becausehonestly, my mother kind of
forced me to go to college.
I had no intention of going tocollege.
(04:43):
the only reason I got in wasbecause I got into, it was
called the HEOP scholarship.
It was called, ours was NOAA, itwas called New Opportunities at
Hofstra.
And it was for traditionalstudents, meaning students who
wouldn't normally get in.
Have the grades or the SAT scoreor anything like that, but they
gave you a chance, to go tocollege.
You had to take remedialclasses, your first year, go
(05:03):
through a summer program, andthen you take regular courses.
So I did that, and I was prettymuch lost at that point.
I didn't know what I wanted todo.
I think I was on academicprobation.
And then that happened to mymother and it kind of gave me
some purpose.
I was able to get off academicprobation and get better grades
because I actually had a goal,but I had no clear path.
(05:26):
I didn't know what I wanted todo until then.
Okay.
Okay.
So you, you took a tragic momentin life and really kind of use
it to develop some clarity anddefine your life, essentially.
Yeah.
It was that click moment that,you know what, I have to do
something with my life.
I have to honor my mother'smemory.
(05:48):
she gave me some purpose.
I think, it was, her giving meguidance.
She gave me, a way to go becauseI didn't know what I wanted to
do.
it clicked that maybe I could dothis at that point, it was kind
of just a pipe dream, but itmotivated me to at least try to
achieve that dream.
(06:09):
You know, I'm wondering goingback, like, did your parents go
to college?
no, I didn't really know myfather growing up, but I know he
was in the military.
I don't know how far into schoolhe went.
I know my mother dropped out ofhigh school.
She got a GED.
no, I don't think my father did,but I wouldn't have known
anyway.
Yeah.
So I'm familiar with theprogram.
(06:29):
Cause I have a similarbackground.
I mean, both my parents werearound, but neither one of them
even graduated high schooleither.
and I was the first in my familyto go to high school.
College and, I went into collegethrough programs very similar to
the ones you did.
You know, I actually started inQueens, New York, but we moved
out to Rhode Island in townsthat were actually a lot more
underprivileged in most of NewYork City towns, believe it or
(06:51):
not, they have these programswhere they take usually first
gen kids with a lot ofpotentials and to actually visit
schools offer summer programs toHelp them develop some of the
skills so that they can hangwhen they get there to the real
school and what have you andthat's how I got into
northeastern university Andyeah, those great programs There
was no way I could havegraduated from college without
(07:12):
that summer program or thatfirst year remedial classes.
I just wasn't ready academicallyright to take college courses
without that program.
I'm pretty sure there's no way Iwould have graduated from
school.
Right.
Yeah, I'm wondering, once yougot to college, you obviously
knew other college students,probably.
Did you tend to, what was yoursocial life like?
(07:33):
did you affiliate with other,Latino first gen students Yeah.
so the first thing I did wasthere was a group called
Hofstra's Organization of LatinAmericans.
So I joined that group and I meta lot of people and then I
actually pledged a Latinofraternity.
Oh yeah.
Field Alpha.
Yeah.
so I pledged them, I think fallof 1995 and that was pretty much
(07:56):
my social group, the Hofstra'sOrganization of Latin Americans.
And then, you know, myfraternity we had a Pretty
decent community.
we got along really well and wehung out a lot I did try to make
my fraternity integrate morewith the other fraternities and
sororities on campus because Ilike people so I didn't want to
(08:16):
stick to just, my Latinofriends.
So I always branched out to makefriends.
throughout the university.
and I was able to do that.
I was pretty social in college.
I had a good network of people,a lot of people, my background.
So, I had some inspiration ofpeople that actually graduated
and did more successful.
So I had some people that I hadseen that were able to do it.
(08:37):
So that was also a motivatingfactor for me.
Yeah, that's great.
I only ask because I think, youknow, for people who come to go
to college, which is atraditional middle class and
upper class institution inAmerica, right.
to come from the backgrounds,like as a first gen student
going in from wherever it, itcan be very, very uncomfortable.
Right.
and I always am curious abouthow does that evolution happen?
(09:01):
Who, who do you, because I, I'venoticed over time, I also hung
around with a lot of differentpeople, but I was most.
We involved in a Latin Americanstudent organization.
And we actually tried to bring afi OTA chapter to Northeastern.
We're not a big fraternityschool in Northeastern, but I
remember working with thechapter over at, at, bu So you
can see how that influence was,you know, how that played out
(09:25):
now 20 years later, In people'slives.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
It's just, it's prettyinteresting to see that
evolution.
and I think it provided for acomfort level in an otherwise
uncomfortable environment whenyou first go to college.
Right.
Well, yeah, that's good.
You see other people like you,right?
There were people from.
You know, you go there andobviously as Latino students,
(09:48):
we're in a, we're the minority.
There's not a lot of us there,but the fact that there's an
organization and a fraternityand a club where you can meet
other Latinos who are verysimilar or at similar
backgrounds, that's always veryhelpful.
I will say that of my programthat I was in, I mean, we
probably had 30 people to startand at the end of it at five or
(10:10):
six of them graduated, that wasa lot.
Yeah, some graduated early, butI think in the end, there's
probably maybe six, seven of usthat actually graduated.
Wow.
Good for you to do that, man.
Yeah, it was a challenge, but Imean, some of the best years I
ever had.
Of course.
Yeah.
That says a lot about you, man.
I mean, when they tell you, youlook to your left, you look to
(10:31):
your right, one of you ain'tgoing to survive.
You get to look two doors, twoshoulders over each way then
before you, you see thesurvivor.
So that's, congrats to you forthat.
so law school, how did that comeout?
you start to think, okay, maybeI'll be a lawyer.
you finished undergrad.
Did you go right for law schoolat that point or what happened
then?
So, yeah.
when I graduated, I had, youknow, I was on academic
(10:51):
probation.
I think when my mother passedaway, I was in my second or
third year.
So I had some making up to do.
so my grades, they get better,but they weren't great.
They weren't.
Law school caliber grades, but Idid also take the outset after I
graduated and I applied.
I didn't get in and then Iapplied two more years.
So I applied three years in arow and I just I couldn't get
(11:13):
in.
My grades weren't good enough.
My LSAT wasn't good enough.
I was working as a paralegal,for a law firm.
And I remember a young lawyer,asked me to do a project for
him.
And I did the project and he wasimpressed with it.
So he asked me to do anotherproject and I did it well.
So he asked me if I had everthought of going to law school
(11:36):
and I told him, you know, that Ihad tried and I couldn't get in
and I wasn't interested in itanymore.
And he asked me if I would giveit one more shot.
And I had to think about itbecause I mean, trying three
years in a row and gettingrejected three years in a row.
I didn't want to go through thatagain, get my hopes up and then
get rejected again.
but he told me that he knew whatlaw schools were looking for.
(11:58):
And that at that time, diversitywas a big thing and life
experience was a big thing.
And I had both of those thingsin my favor.
So, he helped me.
With my application and myessay, and I eventually got
into, Hofstra university schoolof law.
So I went there for undergrad,but I also ended up going there
for law school.
Nice.
So, I mean, he definitelychanged the trajectory of my
(12:19):
life because at that point I hadgiven up and I was, you know,
nothing wrong with work being aparalegal.
I mean, it's a great job, but itwasn't what I was planning on
doing because I had given up atthat point.
Okay.
Excellent.
Well, what about, so why youeventually settled on personal
injury law?
why that?
Well, it was an opportunity forme to help people.
(12:42):
I really wanted to get into thelaw to help people.
I got recruited by a personalinjury firm after I did a trial
competition, and they were astarting out firm and they asked
me if I would come work for themfor the summer.
So I went there for the summerand I really enjoyed the work
because I realized, you know,this is the type of people that
I wanted to help.
(13:04):
Were the clients that they had.
So, that's what drew me into it.
I had a detour on the way I wentand worked when that firm shut
down, I went and got a job at ainsurance defense firm, So I
started working for theinsurance companies, but I
realized after a while that thatwasn't the route for me.
I really wanted to help people.
I didn't want to help theinsurance companies.
(13:26):
So when I.
moved to Colorado.
I met my wife, she was in gradschool and I just graduated from
law school.
She's from Colorado and sheeventually wanted to come back.
So it was an opportunity for meto start all over.
So I decided when I moved toColorado, that I was going to do
plaintiff's personal injury workbecause that was originally what
(13:48):
I wanted to do.
And it was originally, you know,I wanted to help people and that
was the plan.
For some reason, financialreasons, it got away from me,
but I found myself and I endedup back doing what I originally
wanted to do.
Good.
You know, there's a lot ofpeople who, when they think of
personal injury attorneys, theydon't think very, highly of
(14:11):
that.
I mean the term ambulancechases.
I think most applies to you,right?
So yeah, you hear that a lot andI will tell you it's unfair
partly, the reason it's unfairis because it's generated by
Insurance companies bigbusiness.
Well, the reason is because As apersonal injury attorney, you
give people that normallywouldn't have access to justice
(14:33):
access to justice.
When someone's hurt, and theyhave to deal with a billion
dollar insurance company.
They're just a number, or theinsurance company doesn't care
about them.
And they're not really good.
They're not going to take careof them.
So they don't, oftentimes theyget low ball.
They don't get compensated fortheir injuries.
They don't get compensated fortheir lost wages for all the
(14:55):
stuff that they went through.
So they come to an attorney likeme.
And my job is to make sure thatthey have an even playing field
and that they're treated fairlyand make sure that they treat
people fairly.
That they're not just numbers.
They're human beings whose liveshave been affected by whatever
happened.
however, they were injured.
Some of these people are soseverely injured that they're
(15:17):
never going to be the same.
And unfortunately, you can'tjust make them better.
We can't.
So the way our country works andthe way the law works, the only
way to make them whole is bygetting the money.
So that's what we do.
But without us, they would nothave access to.
(15:39):
That type of justice, theinsurance company would just
overwhelm them.
And so the way I look at it iswe stand up to the bully, right?
We, fight for the little guy.
So if people want to call usambulance chasers or do those
things, that's fine.
they can think that, but Iguarantee you, if they're ever
in a severe accident or theirfamily members are, they're
(16:00):
going to need someone like me ora personal injury attorney to
help them.
that's the reality of it is, youknow, without us, they wouldn't
have the access to justice.
Yeah.
I love that.
Do you think that's just becauseyou have a great moral compass,
great ethics.
do you find that to be prettyprevalent amongst your peers Or
(16:21):
is the stereotype justified,would you say?
I can tell you, our reputationis justified.
And most of us, are good.
I think, the personal injuryattorneys that I've been around,
that I associate with, havesimilar mentalities where we
wanna help people.
we love the fact that we standup for the little guy.
And so I think that's prevalentin the community.
(16:43):
I really am proud to be a partof the legal community,
especially here in Colorado.
Started a firm, about five, sixweeks ago.
And I've got so much supportfrom the other lawyers in this
community.
and you know, we're all out heretrying to do the same thing and
it's really just help people.
And we all help each other inthat mission to help our
clients.
So, you know, I can call almostany attorney that I know.
(17:07):
And they'll answer the phone andthey'll help me out if I need
it, because we're all fightingfor the same thing.
We're all fighting to getjustice for our clients.
So I think, I don't think thatreputation is justified.
I think we're a pretty goodmorally based, community.
That's great.
Yeah, and again, I just want topreempt that, you know, again,
(17:28):
I'm a realtor.
So we got pretty bad reputationstoo.
and I feel the same way,especially now when times are
tough, they're not like theywere, three, four years ago,
anybody could just, you know,Make a bunch of money in
commissions, but they weren'treally doing the client's
justice.
Now, a lot of that has left.
and I think most of the peoplein the industry are doing a good
job for their clients.
we have to, the easy work isgone.
(17:50):
So you have to work hard and begood to your clients to have
business.
So, yeah, I agree with that too.
I think the best lawyers and thepeople that, do the best job
are, people that have the bestreputation, right?
Yeah.
Mouth is the best advertisement.
Do a good job for your client.
And then they tell someone elseabout you and that's how you
build a client base.
So, we don't want to mess thatup by, not doing a good job or,
(18:13):
saying this case is smaller thanthis case, I'm not really going
to work on that case.
Like you have to put in the workand all the, if you take the
case, you got to put in thework.
Yeah.
You got to do a good job foryour clients.
what are the challenges now?
why did you choose to start yourown firm and what does it look
like?
What are the challenges therenow versus working for another
firm?
So starting my own firm wasn'tmy main goal.
(18:35):
I was never one of those peoplethat was like, one day I'm gonna
go out on my own and I'm gonnastart my own firm.
It's just one of those thingsthat happened.
And what happens is, you're at aplace for a long time, and I was
at a place that I liked beingat.
It was a really good firm and wedid good work and they allowed
me to do a lot of differentthings.
but at the end of the day, itwas someone else's firm and I
(18:55):
had to answer to someone else.
I have my own, core values and Iwanted to make sure that I was
practicing law based on my ownbeliefs.
And the only way for me toreally do that was to open up my
own firm and practice law theway I want to practice law.
I want to be able to, take thecases that I want to take, take
(19:20):
the cases that are interestingto me.
doesn't really matter, not moneybased first, it's the cases that
are interesting, the cases whereI want to help people, I get to
practice, I'm a trial lawyer atheart.
So I want to take cases totrial, hard cases to trial, and
I want to do it in a certainway.
starting my own firm just seemedlike the opportunity for me to
(19:41):
do that.
I wanted to build something Ican be really proud of.
I have a six year old daughterand she's so excited that she
hears that I started a law firmcalled Lamina law.
She doesn't really fullyunderstand it, but you can see
how proud she is.
Daddy started a business, right?
So, you know, I just wanted tobuild something that I can be
proud of that my family can beproud of and practice law the
(20:05):
right way.
And the way that I envisionedit.
So that's why I wanted to do it.
I'm the happiest I've ever beenprofessionally since I started
at a law firm.
there's a big difference ofwalking into a firm that has
someone else's name on it andwalking into an office that has
your name on it.
Huge difference.
Yeah.
within that, I heard something Ithink is really important.
(20:27):
with different experiences I'vehad, I've realized that in just
about anything, want a lawyerwho wants to go to trial or at
least isn't afraid.
Cause I feel like too many timesthey just want to settle on, and
this is not just personalinjury.
I mean, business, especially inbusiness, I think, you want
somebody who really wants tofight.
Right.
I'm glad you brought that up.
I'm so glad you brought that upbecause I do a lot of social
(20:52):
media stuff.
And one of the things I alwaystalk about is trial work.
And how important it is and howyou can't have a successful firm
unless you're willing to go totrial.
I'm a trawler at heart.
Like I said, I want to takecases to trial.
I've seen so many times, peopletell me, they want to try cases
and they're excited to do it.
And then they get a case and thefirst hard fact that comes along
(21:15):
makes them, Oh, I got to settlethis.
I can't try it.
you know, the trial is hard.
it's.
supposed to be hard.
The reason you try the cases arebecause they're not easy.
There's bad facts, but you haveto be able to overcome those
things.
And one of my core values for myfirm is fearlessness, right?
That's, and the reason that'sone of my core values is because
(21:38):
I want people to know that myfirm is not scared to go to
trial.
We will go to trial.
Now I understand that most ofthe time when people come to me,
they don't want to go to trial.
They want to get their caseresolved.
But in order for me to do thejob that I need to do for
clients in order for me to getthem the best value for their
(21:59):
case, in order for me to makesure that they're getting their
justice, I have to go to trialsometimes.
and the firms that are scared togo to trial or they just settle
cases because they don't want togo to trial.
You know, we are a trial firm,and we're going to try cases.
And that's in my heart likethat's what I want to do.
That's what I've always wantedto do.
(22:19):
I try to try as many cases Ican.
I'll try any case.
I tried big cases, small cases.
I've tried cases for sevenfigures.
I've tried cases where I askedfor, you know, 15, 000 or 10,
000, but you have to go totrial.
You know, you can't be asuccessful personal injury
attorney if you don't go totrial in my opinion.
(22:40):
I think you hear from a lot oflawyers that they say they want
to fight for the little guy andagainst the bully like you
started, but a lot of them, theysay that, but they don't really
stand behind it.
And clearly you do.
you're really willing to getinto, the ring and exchange
punches with the real bullyright there.
I mean, that's the ring forlawyers, right?
Yeah.
And you know, my martial artsbackground also helps with that
(23:04):
mentality.
Right.
Because, you know, I'mcompetitive.
Brazilian jujitsu black belt.
So you know, that's another areawhere if you're able to do that
and get on the mat and put yourphysical body on the line and
take the risk of getting hurt,going to trial, isn't so scary.
Sure.
So it's all about preparationand doing the work.
(23:26):
And if you do that and you justkind of know how to talk to
people.
I learned, so I, when I startedBrazilian jiu jitsu, it was a
life changer for me.
It taught me a lot of thingsabout myself.
it taught me that I can be inuncomfortable positions.
I can, you know, competing isscary.
I put myself in scary positions,but it's also taught me that I
(23:47):
can overcome a lot.
And one of the things it's doneis it's helped me in life,
because it's my, it's my happyplace.
It's my, you know, wheneverything's going wrong and,
you know, work isn't so greator, you know, maybe I'm having
family issues is the one place Ican go where I'm always going to
be happy.
But if it requires some work,you got to put in the work to be
(24:10):
successful.
So one of the things that Ilearned through Brazilian
jujitsu was preparation iseverything.
Preparation is everything.
if I prepare well, I'm going tocompete well.
I'm going to train well.
and I use that mentality.
With my trial practice, right?
preparation is everything andthe fearlessness, the hard work,
the discipline, all those thingsthat I learned from my 12 years
(24:33):
of training Brazilian jiu jitsuis stuff that I incorporate in
my life.
It's stuff that I incorporate inmy practice.
So for me, it was a way for meto honor both the two things I'm
passionate about practicing lawand Brazilian jiu jitsu.
it's just being true to myself,right?
I got a bunch of friends andstuff that didn't love the idea
(24:57):
of promoting myself and theblack belt representation.
That's my motto, but, it'ssomething that's important to
me.
it's my true identity.
It's my true self.
So I don't think you can doanything and be successful at it
unless you're genuine.
I'm combining the things I loveand trying to make.
Turned it into a success.
I love that.
Well, yeah, and your passioncomes through it now And
(25:18):
whenever you do something withpassion, you'll you'll
eventually have successregardless And if not you you
you're a black belt, so you'llkick their asses if they keep
talking smack anyway No, youknow what's funny I'm curious
Edward Eddie when you were a kidlike were you involved in sports
at all?
Yeah, I played basketball OkayAnd I played, you know, I
(25:42):
played, I played all sports.
I wasn't very good at any ofthem until I realized I was good
at basketball.
that was the sport that I, thatI took up and I played mostly,
especially on, you know, whenyou're growing up on the street,
he's Harlem, you gotta sure.
Basketball kept me out oftrouble.
Right.
And sure.
What about handball?
Yeah, I did play handball too.
handball was a big deal in myfamily because my cousins all
(26:05):
would come over and we all livedin my aunt's house when I lived
in East Harlem.
And my cousin would come overand we'd all play handball.
All neighborhood would be outthere playing handball and I'd
sneak away to go play basketballbecause basketball I really
loved.
Basketball, was how I madefriends in the neighborhood.
Out of trouble, kept me free andjumped and all those, I could
(26:26):
play basketball.
So people knew who I was.
Yeah.
So, so it was very, veryessential.
Sports were essential to megrowing up.
Did you play organizedbasketball or just street ball
pickups?
Mostly streetball.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's what I was wondering.
I was a really good streetballplayer.
huh.
But streetball players, being agood streetball player doesn't
always translate into organizedball.
(26:47):
That's right.
So I was never really that goodof an organized ball player.
huh.
but if we went to the park, itwas a whole different story.
Right, right, right.
Yeah, where I grew up, I thinksome of the most talented, ball
players were definitely not onthe local team, The best players
in our state probably were fromwhere I grew up, but they
weren't playing for the localhigh school or anything, And I
wanted to play on some of themore organized teams, but you
(27:10):
know, those things cost moneyand we didn't have money.
Exactly.
So, you know, why I bring thisup, Eddie, is because I had a
very similar background with thesports in the same way and
everything, although you wereprobably a lot more talented
than me, What I realize now is,in my older years, in my
thirties, I started taking uprunning, long distance running.
And I've learned a lot oflessons from that, just like how
(27:30):
you describe what Brazilian JiuJitsu, you know, that I think
translate to career success andother success, right?
Like the way you describe yourrelationship with your daughter,
your business, you know, yourmoral ethics and code.
I don't know.
It sounds to me, and correct meif I'm wrong, that a lot of that
comes from what you learned inBrazilian Jiu Jitsu, much like
(27:52):
it did for me with running.
That's correct.
Yeah.
I would, I would agree.
a lot of the discipline, thehard work, all of that stuff.
I mean, I think I had the workethic.
I think I had it, but I thinkBrazilian jiu jitsu, amplified
all of that.
And I don't know that I wouldhave accomplished the things
(28:13):
that I have accomplished if Ihad not started Brazilian jiu
jitsu.
Sure.
And I think that's important andI think, it gives us, it almost
makes us like late bloomersbecause of it.
Right.
We discover it later in life,but you know, it's an advantage
that some households had becauselike you said, basketball is
expensive for you.
It probably wasn't even justexpensive.
(28:34):
It was a huge opportunity cost,right?
Like you couldn't go in andplaying for an organized team
meant you couldn't work.
Right.
You know, as well as, and so thestreet ball, you can go anytime
in between work and school orclass, whatever, and go find a
playground and go play ball.
So, yeah, I started working, Iwas 15.
So, you know, I was working allthrough high school.
(28:55):
but you could always find thetime to play street ball, even
if it was on your lunch break.
So, and then, but you know,there are like real lessons that
a lot of people learn early onthat would took us longer in
life because they were able toparticipate in those sports
early on.
Right.
like the teamwork, thediscipline, getting organized,
preparing, doing all the smallthings.
(29:16):
I mean, a lot of kids in mykids, you know, had the
privilege of playing sports andthey had to, Journal, my
daughter did cross country.
I got to coach for a little bitand she played basketball too.
And we had them journal like,Hey, how did that go?
How did that practice go?
that's a huge thing.
Just learning how to journal, soyou can, record the lessons and
learn from them and think themthrough consciously.
(29:36):
Right.
So absolutely.
I mean, there's so many things,lessons that you learned and
that we probably couldn't do.
yeah, and I think, because ofthat, we feel a high level of
gratitude towards whatever thatplatform is that allowed us to
grow in that way.
Right.
In your case, it's BrazilianJiujitsu.
I owe it to running.
So we just, I'll always paytribute to Brazilian jujitsu.
(29:59):
I'll always honor it.
that's why it's part of my firmthat, I mean, if you look at the
logo of my firm, it's a blackbelt.
It's the two L's, but it's ablack belt.
So, I always want to honor itand I agree with you, now that I
have a daughter, I can give hera lot of the opportunities that
I didn't have then.
Wants to try different sports.
I let her try them because Ithink she's going to learn from
(30:21):
that.
now she's, gymnastics, horsebackriding, swimming, all those
things.
She wants to do all thosethings.
and I let her try all thosethings because I want her to
have opportunities I didn't haveand to learn the things that I
didn't learn at an earlier age.
And, you know, I want her tohave work ethic, even though she
has a lot more than I had.
When I was her age, I still wanther to learn what it means to
(30:43):
work hard, to earn stuff, and tobe a good person, you know?
So, I think allowing her toparticipate in team activities
and sports is going to help her,especially since only child.
So she's going to learn how toshare and she's going to learn
the, the, the, have to rely onsomeone else and know that
relying on her and those things,those things are important to
(31:04):
learn.
So, Eddie, I'm going to ask yousomething I haven't asked
anybody yet, but it's been on mymind a lot lately, right,
because as I've been doing thisshow now, we're over a hundred
episodes now, and I've reallygotten through to thinking about
what life has been like for thispoint.
your story, much like mine isnot very, we're at a stage in
(31:25):
our society where It deserves,we overcame a lot of hardship to
get to where we are But nowthere's a lot of people who have
right i'm sure you know of a lotof people who've made it out the
hood and they're doing good forthemselves However, there does
and maybe I don't know if youresonate with me on this part or
not it seems like there'sanother level that some folks
had and I think it's not justyou know, That there's a mindset
(31:50):
That can get to another levelthat can transcend just going
from survival to, Middle class,getting by thriving to being
able to transcend society in away right to give back in a way
at a bigger level, right?
I'm curious how that sounds toyou, how that comes across to
you, if you've given any thoughtto how many of us, like I said,
(32:13):
I now have a lot of friendswho've gone to college and that
I grew up with, some of themtook a very different path and a
long path and what have you, andthey've done well for
themselves, or not they went tocollege, but we still hit a
certain ceiling and, you seeother people who didn't, And I'm
wondering, what is it that putsthat ceiling where it is and how
(32:34):
do we transcend that?
So I think this is an importantquestion and I learned this
recently and it's teaching andstarted from an early age
entrepreneurship.
and I think it's important forpeople to understand that they
can't, that, you know, for me,it was, you know, teaching kids
that they could be, an architector a doctor or a lawyer, but
(32:55):
it's got to go beyond that.
It's got to, it's got to.
That's right.
And yeah, I'm going to put, Idon't want to start at the early
age anymore.
we're about the same age you andColleen, I want to know now,
right?
How do we go from getting tothis level to go, you know, what
are the limiting beliefs we'veplaced on ourselves to get to
where we are and how do wetranscend that?
(33:16):
so we have this belief, thatwhen hit a certain point, we've
made it.
Because we've gone beyond.
Everybody in our family or, youknow, we're the most successful
of our friends.
But that different level doesn'tcome unless you have that
entrepreneurship mentality.
And you realize the only way I'mever getting to that next level
(33:37):
is to own something, to own abusiness, to come up with an
idea that nobody else hasbecause without that, you're
still only ever going to reach aceiling that someone else.
Makes for you, right?
And I realized that at the firmthat I was at where I got to the
highest level of that firm, butthere was a ceiling.
(33:58):
I was never going to get to thatnext level.
So now that I've opened up myown firm, there's no ceiling for
me, right?
I own the firm and I can take itto the levels that I want to
take it.
And I think what happens is, Noone ever teaches us from early
age to college that as Latinos,African Americans, we can be the
(34:20):
owner, dictate where the companygoes or how successful it is
until we learned that if youdon't own anything, you don't
have anything.
If you don't do business, youdon't have anything because you
can be let go at any point intime, you're going to hit that
ceiling.
Right.
And the only way to breakthrough that ceiling is to own
your, so you'll see that a lotof people, yeah, we've reached
(34:45):
the levels of success where wenow have Latino doctors and
lawyers and engineers and allthat stuff.
But what we need is Latino ownedbusinesses, law firms,
engineering.
So then at that point now, whenyou have that stuff and you're
the owner.
Now you open the gateways tohelping others get there, right?
(35:09):
Through your firm, and thenteach them that same thing,
like, train them so that theyhave the confidence and the
knowledge to know that they canalso do that.
They can also start their ownfirm or start their own business
Because if you see it, you don'tknow you can do it.
that I lacked is I didn't knowanybody who owned a business,
(35:30):
right?
I didn't know any, really anydoctors or lawyers either, but I
definitely didn't know anybodywho owned a successful business.
So.
I think that's the main thing iswe have to teach people or help
people understand that they canbe an entrepreneur, they can own
their own business.
And when they do that, that'sgoing to allow them to help
(35:51):
others and pull others up towhere they're at.
Right.
Because you can't do it.
if you hit a ceiling, you can'tdo it.
Right.
So if you hit the ceiling, youcan only pull people up so high,
but when you've broken throughthat ceiling and there's no
ceiling for you anymore, you canpick people up as far as you
want to take them.
Or as far as they want to go.
(36:12):
So that's what I think.
once we realize that.
unless you own the business,you're always going to hit a
ceiling.
Thank you.
So Eddie, on that note, I thinkwe'll get into that point where
we go over our world famousWayfinder four.
You told me you were ready.
Are you sure about that, man?
I'm ready.
I'm ready.
All right.
So.
(36:33):
What is a hack that you use?
Find the passion outside of yourfamily and, your job, something
that you love to do, so thatwhen everything else is going
wrong, you can go there and youcan get your head on straight
and find your happy place.
Love it.
How about, and I'm assumingthat's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for
you, right?
It is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu forme, yes.
(36:53):
you have a good studio out whereyou live?
Yeah, we have a good gym.
so there's two places I train.
One, Matrix Martial Arts, ownedby my good buddy, Derek
Alenbaugh, who's actually goingto law school this year.
Okay.
Awesome.
All right.
If I'm, you know, I'm gettingclose to 50.
I'm a scrawny little guy.
You know, you won't catch me ifyou don't catch me in the first
50 meters, you won't catch methough.
(37:14):
But after that, is it still okayto join?
Oh, absolutely.
it's perfect.
It's actually perfect because.
there's people of all agestraining Brazilian jiu jitsu.
you know, I know guys in theirseventies training, cause you
can train and you don't have togo full on.
You can train at your pace andit's, You know, there's a lot of
smaller guys because, you know,the origins of Brazilian jiu
(37:35):
jitsu are, you know, we want toteach a smaller guy how to beat
a bigger guy.
That's right.
That's how it started.
So, so there's a lot of smallerguys in, in Brazilian jiu you
know, there's some of thetoughest guys you'll ever meet.
Yeah.
In all ages.
I mean, I started at 35, so.
Nice.
All right.
What about a favorite?
And it can't be Brazilian JiuJitsu.
No, it's not.
(37:56):
So, I was looking at things, soI was going to pick my favorite
movie.
Okay.
And, my favorite movie is stillRocky.
Oh, okay.
Because I love the underdogstory.
Yeah.
I love the underdog, rising tothe top.
So, that will always be mymotivation.
And, it's still my favoritemovie.
Yeah, man.
It still gets me worked up everytime too.
Just hearing the song, right?
(38:17):
Like every time.
That soundtrack ever.
Yeah.
makes you think you canaccomplish anything.
No doubt.
my first marathon was actually aPhiladelphia marathon.
Was it really?
And after that, I made sure Iran up those steps up to the
museum and, you know, took apicture.
how about a piece of advice foryour younger self?
So what I would say is enjoy thejourney.
And what I mean by that is, it'sgood to have big goals and it's
(38:40):
good to accomplish those biggoals, but those big goals are
so much better when you'veenjoyed the journey.
It took you to to accomplishthose goals.
Don't miss the little things.
I'm a very goal oriented personand I spent so much time.
You know, trying to accomplishthe goal that I sometimes don't
(39:01):
enjoy the moments leading up toit.
and then I get there and I enjoyit, but I could have enjoyed it
so much more if I would havejust, you know, taken it slow
and enjoyed the process.
So I would tell my younger self,whatever you do, man, just enjoy
the journey.
lately what I've been thinkingabout, we've had great guests
who talked to us about, not goalsetting, which for me you is a
(39:24):
big deal, right?
Like how do you not goal set?
And I started to think aboutthis more and, what resonates
with me is I think about we, asa family, we've done a lot of
road trips, right?
And a lot of our road trips are,we have a destination, right?
And along the way.
what happens on the way to thatdestination, or on the way back
from it, we get lost.
My family calls it, my kids callit pulling a poppy, I'll take a
(39:47):
random exit on the highway, andwe get lost and we find
something, some town orwhatever, and it ends up being
just amazing.
Memories not where we weregoing.
I mean one year we were going tothe west coast We went to go to
the Oregon coast and it was niceand all that But like along the
way We stopped at a hotel in DesMoines And there was a water
circus outside and the girlswere like they were loving it,
(40:08):
man We went and we did it andthe whole time when we got to
Oregon They're like, well, let'sgo back to Des Moines We want to
see this and we ended up goingback and spending like four days
there and just really loving itSo I think that says a lot about
You know, like maybe set thegoal But don't be too attached
to it.
Enjoy the journey along the waymore, right?
Yeah.
And that, That's exactly what Iwas talking about.
if you just worry about gettingyour destination, you miss the
(40:31):
sites, you miss the littlethings, you enjoy about the road
trip.
So that is the advice I'd givemy younger self.
Cause I feel like I haven'talways done that.
Yeah.
And when I have hit certaingoals, it hasn't been any better
than the things I did to getthere.
Right.
What about a big opportunityyou're seeing or pursuing out
there?
So it's going back to what wewere talking about before, where
(40:54):
I was talking aboutentrepreneurship, right.
Bet on yourself.
don't leave your success toanybody else.
People are going to make youpromises they're not going to
come through, or they're notgoing to be able to come
through.
But if you bet on yourself, it'sall about you.
You, you're the one thatdetermines.
Your level of success, yourlevel of happiness.
(41:15):
So, and that's going back towhat we were talking about,
about entrepreneurship and howdo you get to that next level
and bring people up to that nextlevel?
you got to bet on yourself.
I love that.
So well put.
Thank you.
Well, Eddie, if people want to,reach out to you, if they need
to work with you, on personalinjury, Hopefully nobody ever
(41:35):
has to call you, butunfortunately the world doesn't
work that way, so when they do,how should they reach you?
Lona Law, you can reachme@uhlonalaw.com.
my number is 7 2 0 6 6 3 1 8 97.
you can follow me on Lona Law,on Instagram, Lona Law on
(41:56):
Facebook and Lona Law onYouTube.
and you're in Denver, Colorado,right?
yes, I'm in Colorado.
So all around the state Okay,and if somebody's calling from
Albuquerque, New Mexico, can yourefer them somebody good there,
too?
Yes.
Yes.
So, you know, anytime anybodycalls, I'll obviously get on the
phone with them and help themout and try to guide them to,
(42:18):
the right attorney.
You know, oftentimes they getcalls because of my marketing
and the black belt.
I get a lot of criminal, peoplecalling me about karaoke.
Sure.
I'll always refer those out andsend them to the right place,
so.
Okay.
yeah.
Excellent.
Well, Eddie, thank you so muchfor being on the show.
This has really been, insightfuland inspiring.
I hope people hear this storyand realize, you know, they can
(42:41):
do great things, go to lawschool, have you, and help their
communities out.
So thank you for what you do.
Oh, no problem, man.
Thank you for having me on theshow.
It was a lot of fun and Ienjoyed the conversation, so.
Likewise.
We hope you've enjoyed TheWayfinder Show.
If you got value from thisepisode, please take a few
(43:02):
seconds to leave us a 5 starrating and review.
This will allow us to help morepeople find their way to live
more authentic and excitinglives.
We'll catch you on the nextepisode.
Bet on yourself, don't leaveyour success to anybody else,
right?
People are going to make youpromises.
They're not going to comethrough, or they're not going to
be able to come through, but ifyou bet on yourself, it's all
about you, you, you're the onethat determines your level of
success, your level ofhappiness.
(00:28):
Welcome to The Wayfinder Showwith Luis Hernandez, where
guests discuss the why and howof making changes that led them
down a more authentic path orallow them to level up in some
area of their life.
Our goal is to dig deep andprovide not only knowledge, but
actionable advice to help youget from where you are to where
you want to be.
(00:50):
Come join us and find the way toyour dream life.
Welcome back to the wayfindershow i am your host louis
hernandez and today i'm herewith my friend edward lomena
Edward grew up in New York Citywhere he had an unfortunate
(01:11):
encounter with an attorneyduring his youth that profoundly
shaped his career aspirations.
A family friend referred him toa lawyer who initially seemed
helpful, but eventually theirlack of commitment and poor
communication resulted in adifficult and painful experience
for him.
This incident led him to realizethat he could do better,
inspiring him to pursue a careerin law with a commitment to
(01:33):
serve his clients with integrityand dedication.
For And today we're here tolearn more about his journey.
So welcome to the WayfinderShow, Edward.
Thank you.
I appreciate you.
I appreciate.
I'm happy to be here.
It's an honor to be here.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Likewise.
The honor is ours, man.
Should we call you Eddie?
yeah, you can go.
You know, what's funny is, myfamily calls me Eddie.
(01:53):
Yeah.
my people that I work with callme Ed.
And then occasionally, like, ina professional environment, I
get called Edward.
So, whichever one you prefer.
Anyways, Eddie, tell us a littlebit more.
you got a really interestingbackground, man.
can you share a little bit aboutyour origin story?
I was born in New York.
I grew up, between Sunset Park,Brooklyn.
I spent a lot of time there inmy youth.
(02:14):
eventually I ended up my teenageyears in East Harlem.
I went to school there in highschool there until I eventually
went to college in Long Island.
I grew up with my mother, singleparent household.
I was an only child until I wasprobably 11 years old.
And then my sister came along.
(02:35):
Yeah, so what was thisexperience when you were a kid
that was unfortunate with anattorney?
Yeah, so my mother died when Iwas 19.
Oh, man.
Sorry.
She died pretty suddenly andThere was some question of the
treatment that she got in thehospital And I remember I got a
(02:55):
call from a nurse one daysaying, you know, you should go
see a lawyer.
And it was a nurse that wastaking care of her.
the reason I knew it was a nursetaking care of her is because
she called me by the name shecalled me in the hospital, which
wasn't my name.
So I knew it was her.
my mother ended up passing away.
I got this call.
I talked to a family friend whoreferred me to a lawyer.
(03:15):
I saw this lawyer and she wasgoing to help me, but I was in
college at the time and maybe alittle hard to reach, but she
had my family number and she'snever really communicated with
me, never really told me whatwas going on.
eventually, before the statuteof limitations ran, she dropped
my case.
the only reason she dropped mycase was because I finally got
(03:36):
her on the phone.
she just told me that, there wasnothing she could do.
She was dropping my case.
I didn't know whether there wasreally a case there or not, but
I felt like she could havecommunicated with me better.
She could have told me what wasgoing on.
It was just an experience whereI expected more.
I thought I would get more.
I didn't.
I felt like she probably hadother stuff that was more
(04:00):
important.
So I wasn't a priority.
I didn't like the way that mademe feel.
I felt like I could probablyhelp someone like me.
if I got into the law, I wouldtreat people better.
So that was pretty much theevent that got me to thinking
that, maybe I could be a lawyer.
Okay.
I didn't know any lawyers oranything like that, but I
(04:22):
thought, Hey, maybe I could be alawyer because I know I can do a
better job than this person didfor me.
Now you were already in college,you said at this point, right?
So what career path were youpursuing?
So I didn't know, I didn't knowwhat I wanted to do.
I went to college becausehonestly, my mother kind of
forced me to go to college.
I had no intention of going tocollege.
(04:43):
the only reason I got in wasbecause I got into, it was
called the HEOP scholarship.
It was called, ours was NOAA, itwas called New Opportunities at
Hofstra.
And it was for traditionalstudents, meaning students who
wouldn't normally get in.
Have the grades or the SAT scoreor anything like that, but they
gave you a chance, to go tocollege.
You had to take remedialclasses, your first year, go
(05:03):
through a summer program, andthen you take regular courses.
So I did that, and I was prettymuch lost at that point.
I didn't know what I wanted todo.
I think I was on academicprobation.
And then that happened to mymother and it kind of gave me
some purpose.
I was able to get off academicprobation and get better grades
because I actually had a goal,but I had no clear path.
(05:26):
I didn't know what I wanted todo until then.
Okay.
Okay.
So you, you took a tragic momentin life and really kind of use
it to develop some clarity anddefine your life, essentially.
Yeah.
It was that click moment that,you know what, I have to do
something with my life.
I have to honor my mother'smemory.
(05:48):
she gave me some purpose.
I think, it was, her giving meguidance.
She gave me, a way to go becauseI didn't know what I wanted to
do.
it clicked that maybe I could dothis at that point, it was kind
of just a pipe dream, but itmotivated me to at least try to
achieve that dream.
(06:09):
You know, I'm wondering goingback, like, did your parents go
to college?
no, I didn't really know myfather growing up, but I know he
was in the military.
I don't know how far into schoolhe went.
I know my mother dropped out ofhigh school.
She got a GED.
no, I don't think my father did,but I wouldn't have known
anyway.
Yeah.
So I'm familiar with theprogram.
(06:29):
Cause I have a similarbackground.
I mean, both my parents werearound, but neither one of them
even graduated high schooleither.
and I was the first in my familyto go to high school.
College and, I went into collegethrough programs very similar to
the ones you did.
You know, I actually started inQueens, New York, but we moved
out to Rhode Island in townsthat were actually a lot more
underprivileged in most of NewYork City towns, believe it or
(06:51):
not, they have these programswhere they take usually first
gen kids with a lot ofpotentials and to actually visit
schools offer summer programs toHelp them develop some of the
skills so that they can hangwhen they get there to the real
school and what have you andthat's how I got into
northeastern university Andyeah, those great programs There
was no way I could havegraduated from college without
(07:12):
that summer program or thatfirst year remedial classes.
I just wasn't ready academicallyright to take college courses
without that program.
I'm pretty sure there's no way Iwould have graduated from
school.
Right.
Yeah, I'm wondering, once yougot to college, you obviously
knew other college students,probably.
Did you tend to, what was yoursocial life like?
(07:33):
did you affiliate with other,Latino first gen students Yeah.
so the first thing I did wasthere was a group called
Hofstra's Organization of LatinAmericans.
So I joined that group and I meta lot of people and then I
actually pledged a Latinofraternity.
Oh yeah.
Field Alpha.
Yeah.
so I pledged them, I think fallof 1995 and that was pretty much
(07:56):
my social group, the Hofstra'sOrganization of Latin Americans.
And then, you know, myfraternity we had a Pretty
decent community.
we got along really well and wehung out a lot I did try to make
my fraternity integrate morewith the other fraternities and
sororities on campus because Ilike people so I didn't want to
(08:16):
stick to just, my Latinofriends.
So I always branched out to makefriends.
throughout the university.
and I was able to do that.
I was pretty social in college.
I had a good network of people,a lot of people, my background.
So, I had some inspiration ofpeople that actually graduated
and did more successful.
So I had some people that I hadseen that were able to do it.
(08:37):
So that was also a motivatingfactor for me.
Yeah, that's great.
I only ask because I think, youknow, for people who come to go
to college, which is atraditional middle class and
upper class institution inAmerica, right.
to come from the backgrounds,like as a first gen student
going in from wherever it, itcan be very, very uncomfortable.
Right.
and I always am curious abouthow does that evolution happen?
(09:01):
Who, who do you, because I, I'venoticed over time, I also hung
around with a lot of differentpeople, but I was most.
We involved in a Latin Americanstudent organization.
And we actually tried to bring afi OTA chapter to Northeastern.
We're not a big fraternityschool in Northeastern, but I
remember working with thechapter over at, at, bu So you
can see how that influence was,you know, how that played out
(09:25):
now 20 years later, In people'slives.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
It's just, it's prettyinteresting to see that
evolution.
and I think it provided for acomfort level in an otherwise
uncomfortable environment whenyou first go to college.
Right.
Well, yeah, that's good.
You see other people like you,right?
There were people from.
You know, you go there andobviously as Latino students,
(09:48):
we're in a, we're the minority.
There's not a lot of us there,but the fact that there's an
organization and a fraternityand a club where you can meet
other Latinos who are verysimilar or at similar
backgrounds, that's always veryhelpful.
I will say that of my programthat I was in, I mean, we
probably had 30 people to startand at the end of it at five or
(10:10):
six of them graduated, that wasa lot.
Yeah, some graduated early, butI think in the end, there's
probably maybe six, seven of usthat actually graduated.
Wow.
Good for you to do that, man.
Yeah, it was a challenge, but Imean, some of the best years I
ever had.
Of course.
Yeah.
That says a lot about you, man.
I mean, when they tell you, youlook to your left, you look to
(10:31):
your right, one of you ain'tgoing to survive.
You get to look two doors, twoshoulders over each way then
before you, you see thesurvivor.
So that's, congrats to you forthat.
so law school, how did that comeout?
you start to think, okay, maybeI'll be a lawyer.
you finished undergrad.
Did you go right for law schoolat that point or what happened
then?
So, yeah.
when I graduated, I had, youknow, I was on academic
(10:51):
probation.
I think when my mother passedaway, I was in my second or
third year.
So I had some making up to do.
so my grades, they get better,but they weren't great.
They weren't.
Law school caliber grades, but Idid also take the outset after I
graduated and I applied.
I didn't get in and then Iapplied two more years.
So I applied three years in arow and I just I couldn't get
(11:13):
in.
My grades weren't good enough.
My LSAT wasn't good enough.
I was working as a paralegal,for a law firm.
And I remember a young lawyer,asked me to do a project for
him.
And I did the project and he wasimpressed with it.
So he asked me to do anotherproject and I did it well.
So he asked me if I had everthought of going to law school
(11:36):
and I told him, you know, that Ihad tried and I couldn't get in
and I wasn't interested in itanymore.
And he asked me if I would giveit one more shot.
And I had to think about itbecause I mean, trying three
years in a row and gettingrejected three years in a row.
I didn't want to go through thatagain, get my hopes up and then
get rejected again.
but he told me that he knew whatlaw schools were looking for.
(11:58):
And that at that time, diversitywas a big thing and life
experience was a big thing.
And I had both of those thingsin my favor.
So, he helped me.
With my application and myessay, and I eventually got
into, Hofstra university schoolof law.
So I went there for undergrad,but I also ended up going there
for law school.
Nice.
So, I mean, he definitelychanged the trajectory of my
(12:19):
life because at that point I hadgiven up and I was, you know,
nothing wrong with work being aparalegal.
I mean, it's a great job, but itwasn't what I was planning on
doing because I had given up atthat point.
Okay.
Excellent.
Well, what about, so why youeventually settled on personal
injury law?
why that?
Well, it was an opportunity forme to help people.
(12:42):
I really wanted to get into thelaw to help people.
I got recruited by a personalinjury firm after I did a trial
competition, and they were astarting out firm and they asked
me if I would come work for themfor the summer.
So I went there for the summerand I really enjoyed the work
because I realized, you know,this is the type of people that
I wanted to help.
(13:04):
Were the clients that they had.
So, that's what drew me into it.
I had a detour on the way I wentand worked when that firm shut
down, I went and got a job at ainsurance defense firm, So I
started working for theinsurance companies, but I
realized after a while that thatwasn't the route for me.
I really wanted to help people.
I didn't want to help theinsurance companies.
(13:26):
So when I.
moved to Colorado.
I met my wife, she was in gradschool and I just graduated from
law school.
She's from Colorado and sheeventually wanted to come back.
So it was an opportunity for meto start all over.
So I decided when I moved toColorado, that I was going to do
plaintiff's personal injury workbecause that was originally what
(13:48):
I wanted to do.
And it was originally, you know,I wanted to help people and that
was the plan.
For some reason, financialreasons, it got away from me,
but I found myself and I endedup back doing what I originally
wanted to do.
Good.
You know, there's a lot ofpeople who, when they think of
personal injury attorneys, theydon't think very, highly of
(14:11):
that.
I mean the term ambulancechases.
I think most applies to you,right?
So yeah, you hear that a lot andI will tell you it's unfair
partly, the reason it's unfairis because it's generated by
Insurance companies bigbusiness.
Well, the reason is because As apersonal injury attorney, you
give people that normallywouldn't have access to justice
(14:33):
access to justice.
When someone's hurt, and theyhave to deal with a billion
dollar insurance company.
They're just a number, or theinsurance company doesn't care
about them.
And they're not really good.
They're not going to take careof them.
So they don't, oftentimes theyget low ball.
They don't get compensated fortheir injuries.
They don't get compensated fortheir lost wages for all the
(14:55):
stuff that they went through.
So they come to an attorney likeme.
And my job is to make sure thatthey have an even playing field
and that they're treated fairlyand make sure that they treat
people fairly.
That they're not just numbers.
They're human beings whose liveshave been affected by whatever
happened.
however, they were injured.
Some of these people are soseverely injured that they're
(15:17):
never going to be the same.
And unfortunately, you can'tjust make them better.
We can't.
So the way our country works andthe way the law works, the only
way to make them whole is bygetting the money.
So that's what we do.
But without us, they would nothave access to.
(15:39):
That type of justice, theinsurance company would just
overwhelm them.
And so the way I look at it iswe stand up to the bully, right?
We, fight for the little guy.
So if people want to call usambulance chasers or do those
things, that's fine.
they can think that, but Iguarantee you, if they're ever
in a severe accident or theirfamily members are, they're
(16:00):
going to need someone like me ora personal injury attorney to
help them.
that's the reality of it is, youknow, without us, they wouldn't
have the access to justice.
Yeah.
I love that.
Do you think that's just becauseyou have a great moral compass,
great ethics.
do you find that to be prettyprevalent amongst your peers Or
(16:21):
is the stereotype justified,would you say?
I can tell you, our reputationis justified.
And most of us, are good.
I think, the personal injuryattorneys that I've been around,
that I associate with, havesimilar mentalities where we
wanna help people.
we love the fact that we standup for the little guy.
And so I think that's prevalentin the community.
(16:43):
I really am proud to be a partof the legal community,
especially here in Colorado.
Started a firm, about five, sixweeks ago.
And I've got so much supportfrom the other lawyers in this
community.
and you know, we're all out heretrying to do the same thing and
it's really just help people.
And we all help each other inthat mission to help our
clients.
So, you know, I can call almostany attorney that I know.
(17:07):
And they'll answer the phone andthey'll help me out if I need
it, because we're all fightingfor the same thing.
We're all fighting to getjustice for our clients.
So I think, I don't think thatreputation is justified.
I think we're a pretty goodmorally based, community.
That's great.
Yeah, and again, I just want topreempt that, you know, again,
(17:28):
I'm a realtor.
So we got pretty bad reputationstoo.
and I feel the same way,especially now when times are
tough, they're not like theywere, three, four years ago,
anybody could just, you know,Make a bunch of money in
commissions, but they weren'treally doing the client's
justice.
Now, a lot of that has left.
and I think most of the peoplein the industry are doing a good
job for their clients.
we have to, the easy work isgone.
(17:50):
So you have to work hard and begood to your clients to have
business.
So, yeah, I agree with that too.
I think the best lawyers and thepeople that, do the best job
are, people that have the bestreputation, right?
Yeah.
Mouth is the best advertisement.
Do a good job for your client.
And then they tell someone elseabout you and that's how you
build a client base.
So, we don't want to mess thatup by, not doing a good job or,
(18:13):
saying this case is smaller thanthis case, I'm not really going
to work on that case.
Like you have to put in the workand all the, if you take the
case, you got to put in thework.
Yeah.
You got to do a good job foryour clients.
what are the challenges now?
why did you choose to start yourown firm and what does it look
like?
What are the challenges therenow versus working for another
firm?
So starting my own firm wasn'tmy main goal.
(18:35):
I was never one of those peoplethat was like, one day I'm gonna
go out on my own and I'm gonnastart my own firm.
It's just one of those thingsthat happened.
And what happens is, you're at aplace for a long time, and I was
at a place that I liked beingat.
It was a really good firm and wedid good work and they allowed
me to do a lot of differentthings.
but at the end of the day, itwas someone else's firm and I
(18:55):
had to answer to someone else.
I have my own, core values and Iwanted to make sure that I was
practicing law based on my ownbeliefs.
And the only way for me toreally do that was to open up my
own firm and practice law theway I want to practice law.
I want to be able to, take thecases that I want to take, take
(19:20):
the cases that are interestingto me.
doesn't really matter, not moneybased first, it's the cases that
are interesting, the cases whereI want to help people, I get to
practice, I'm a trial lawyer atheart.
So I want to take cases totrial, hard cases to trial, and
I want to do it in a certainway.
starting my own firm just seemedlike the opportunity for me to
(19:41):
do that.
I wanted to build something Ican be really proud of.
I have a six year old daughterand she's so excited that she
hears that I started a law firmcalled Lamina law.
She doesn't really fullyunderstand it, but you can see
how proud she is.
Daddy started a business, right?
So, you know, I just wanted tobuild something that I can be
proud of that my family can beproud of and practice law the
(20:05):
right way.
And the way that I envisionedit.
So that's why I wanted to do it.
I'm the happiest I've ever beenprofessionally since I started
at a law firm.
there's a big difference ofwalking into a firm that has
someone else's name on it andwalking into an office that has
your name on it.
Huge difference.
Yeah.
within that, I heard something Ithink is really important.
(20:27):
with different experiences I'vehad, I've realized that in just
about anything, want a lawyerwho wants to go to trial or at
least isn't afraid.
Cause I feel like too many timesthey just want to settle on, and
this is not just personalinjury.
I mean, business, especially inbusiness, I think, you want
somebody who really wants tofight.
Right.
I'm glad you brought that up.
I'm so glad you brought that upbecause I do a lot of social
(20:52):
media stuff.
And one of the things I alwaystalk about is trial work.
And how important it is and howyou can't have a successful firm
unless you're willing to go totrial.
I'm a trawler at heart.
Like I said, I want to takecases to trial.
I've seen so many times, peopletell me, they want to try cases
and they're excited to do it.
And then they get a case and thefirst hard fact that comes along
(21:15):
makes them, Oh, I got to settlethis.
I can't try it.
you know, the trial is hard.
it's.
supposed to be hard.
The reason you try the cases arebecause they're not easy.
There's bad facts, but you haveto be able to overcome those
things.
And one of my core values for myfirm is fearlessness, right?
That's, and the reason that'sone of my core values is because
(21:38):
I want people to know that myfirm is not scared to go to
trial.
We will go to trial.
Now I understand that most ofthe time when people come to me,
they don't want to go to trial.
They want to get their caseresolved.
But in order for me to do thejob that I need to do for
clients in order for me to getthem the best value for their
(21:59):
case, in order for me to makesure that they're getting their
justice, I have to go to trialsometimes.
and the firms that are scared togo to trial or they just settle
cases because they don't want togo to trial.
You know, we are a trial firm,and we're going to try cases.
And that's in my heart likethat's what I want to do.
That's what I've always wantedto do.
(22:19):
I try to try as many cases Ican.
I'll try any case.
I tried big cases, small cases.
I've tried cases for sevenfigures.
I've tried cases where I askedfor, you know, 15, 000 or 10,
000, but you have to go totrial.
You know, you can't be asuccessful personal injury
attorney if you don't go totrial in my opinion.
(22:40):
I think you hear from a lot oflawyers that they say they want
to fight for the little guy andagainst the bully like you
started, but a lot of them, theysay that, but they don't really
stand behind it.
And clearly you do.
you're really willing to getinto, the ring and exchange
punches with the real bullyright there.
I mean, that's the ring forlawyers, right?
Yeah.
And you know, my martial artsbackground also helps with that
(23:04):
mentality.
Right.
Because, you know, I'mcompetitive.
Brazilian jujitsu black belt.
So you know, that's another areawhere if you're able to do that
and get on the mat and put yourphysical body on the line and
take the risk of getting hurt,going to trial, isn't so scary.
Sure.
So it's all about preparationand doing the work.
(23:26):
And if you do that and you justkind of know how to talk to
people.
I learned, so I, when I startedBrazilian jiu jitsu, it was a
life changer for me.
It taught me a lot of thingsabout myself.
it taught me that I can be inuncomfortable positions.
I can, you know, competing isscary.
I put myself in scary positions,but it's also taught me that I
(23:47):
can overcome a lot.
And one of the things it's doneis it's helped me in life,
because it's my, it's my happyplace.
It's my, you know, wheneverything's going wrong and,
you know, work isn't so greator, you know, maybe I'm having
family issues is the one place Ican go where I'm always going to
be happy.
But if it requires some work,you got to put in the work to be
(24:10):
successful.
So one of the things that Ilearned through Brazilian
jujitsu was preparation iseverything.
Preparation is everything.
if I prepare well, I'm going tocompete well.
I'm going to train well.
and I use that mentality.
With my trial practice, right?
preparation is everything andthe fearlessness, the hard work,
the discipline, all those thingsthat I learned from my 12 years
(24:33):
of training Brazilian jiu jitsuis stuff that I incorporate in
my life.
It's stuff that I incorporate inmy practice.
So for me, it was a way for meto honor both the two things I'm
passionate about practicing lawand Brazilian jiu jitsu.
it's just being true to myself,right?
I got a bunch of friends andstuff that didn't love the idea
(24:57):
of promoting myself and theblack belt representation.
That's my motto, but, it'ssomething that's important to
me.
it's my true identity.
It's my true self.
So I don't think you can doanything and be successful at it
unless you're genuine.
I'm combining the things I loveand trying to make.
Turned it into a success.
I love that.
Well, yeah, and your passioncomes through it now And
(25:18):
whenever you do something withpassion, you'll you'll
eventually have successregardless And if not you you
you're a black belt, so you'llkick their asses if they keep
talking smack anyway No, youknow what's funny I'm curious
Edward Eddie when you were a kidlike were you involved in sports
at all?
Yeah, I played basketball OkayAnd I played, you know, I
(25:42):
played, I played all sports.
I wasn't very good at any ofthem until I realized I was good
at basketball.
that was the sport that I, thatI took up and I played mostly,
especially on, you know, whenyou're growing up on the street,
he's Harlem, you gotta sure.
Basketball kept me out oftrouble.
Right.
And sure.
What about handball?
Yeah, I did play handball too.
handball was a big deal in myfamily because my cousins all
(26:05):
would come over and we all livedin my aunt's house when I lived
in East Harlem.
And my cousin would come overand we'd all play handball.
All neighborhood would be outthere playing handball and I'd
sneak away to go play basketballbecause basketball I really
loved.
Basketball, was how I madefriends in the neighborhood.
Out of trouble, kept me free andjumped and all those, I could
(26:26):
play basketball.
So people knew who I was.
Yeah.
So, so it was very, veryessential.
Sports were essential to megrowing up.
Did you play organizedbasketball or just street ball
pickups?
Mostly streetball.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's what I was wondering.
I was a really good streetballplayer.
huh.
But streetball players, being agood streetball player doesn't
always translate into organizedball.
(26:47):
That's right.
So I was never really that goodof an organized ball player.
huh.
but if we went to the park, itwas a whole different story.
Right, right, right.
Yeah, where I grew up, I thinksome of the most talented, ball
players were definitely not onthe local team, The best players
in our state probably were fromwhere I grew up, but they
weren't playing for the localhigh school or anything, And I
wanted to play on some of themore organized teams, but you
(27:10):
know, those things cost moneyand we didn't have money.
Exactly.
So, you know, why I bring thisup, Eddie, is because I had a
very similar background with thesports in the same way and
everything, although you wereprobably a lot more talented
than me, What I realize now is,in my older years, in my
thirties, I started taking uprunning, long distance running.
And I've learned a lot oflessons from that, just like how
(27:30):
you describe what Brazilian JiuJitsu, you know, that I think
translate to career success andother success, right?
Like the way you describe yourrelationship with your daughter,
your business, you know, yourmoral ethics and code.
I don't know.
It sounds to me, and correct meif I'm wrong, that a lot of that
comes from what you learned inBrazilian Jiu Jitsu, much like
(27:52):
it did for me with running.
That's correct.
Yeah.
I would, I would agree.
a lot of the discipline, thehard work, all of that stuff.
I mean, I think I had the workethic.
I think I had it, but I thinkBrazilian jiu jitsu, amplified
all of that.
And I don't know that I wouldhave accomplished the things
(28:13):
that I have accomplished if Ihad not started Brazilian jiu
jitsu.
Sure.
And I think that's important andI think, it gives us, it almost
makes us like late bloomersbecause of it.
Right.
We discover it later in life,but you know, it's an advantage
that some households had becauselike you said, basketball is
expensive for you.
It probably wasn't even justexpensive.
(28:34):
It was a huge opportunity cost,right?
Like you couldn't go in andplaying for an organized team
meant you couldn't work.
Right.
You know, as well as, and so thestreet ball, you can go anytime
in between work and school orclass, whatever, and go find a
playground and go play ball.
So, yeah, I started working, Iwas 15.
So, you know, I was working allthrough high school.
(28:55):
but you could always find thetime to play street ball, even
if it was on your lunch break.
So, and then, but you know,there are like real lessons that
a lot of people learn early onthat would took us longer in
life because they were able toparticipate in those sports
early on.
Right.
like the teamwork, thediscipline, getting organized,
preparing, doing all the smallthings.
(29:16):
I mean, a lot of kids in mykids, you know, had the
privilege of playing sports andthey had to, Journal, my
daughter did cross country.
I got to coach for a little bitand she played basketball too.
And we had them journal like,Hey, how did that go?
How did that practice go?
that's a huge thing.
Just learning how to journal, soyou can, record the lessons and
learn from them and think themthrough consciously.
(29:36):
Right.
So absolutely.
I mean, there's so many things,lessons that you learned and
that we probably couldn't do.
yeah, and I think, because ofthat, we feel a high level of
gratitude towards whatever thatplatform is that allowed us to
grow in that way.
Right.
In your case, it's BrazilianJiujitsu.
I owe it to running.
So we just, I'll always paytribute to Brazilian jujitsu.
(29:59):
I'll always honor it.
that's why it's part of my firmthat, I mean, if you look at the
logo of my firm, it's a blackbelt.
It's the two L's, but it's ablack belt.
So, I always want to honor itand I agree with you, now that I
have a daughter, I can give hera lot of the opportunities that
I didn't have then.
Wants to try different sports.
I let her try them because Ithink she's going to learn from
(30:21):
that.
now she's, gymnastics, horsebackriding, swimming, all those
things.
She wants to do all thosethings.
and I let her try all thosethings because I want her to
have opportunities I didn't haveand to learn the things that I
didn't learn at an earlier age.
And, you know, I want her tohave work ethic, even though she
has a lot more than I had.
When I was her age, I still wanther to learn what it means to
(30:43):
work hard, to earn stuff, and tobe a good person, you know?
So, I think allowing her toparticipate in team activities
and sports is going to help her,especially since only child.
So she's going to learn how toshare and she's going to learn
the, the, the, have to rely onsomeone else and know that
relying on her and those things,those things are important to
(31:04):
learn.
So, Eddie, I'm going to ask yousomething I haven't asked
anybody yet, but it's been on mymind a lot lately, right,
because as I've been doing thisshow now, we're over a hundred
episodes now, and I've reallygotten through to thinking about
what life has been like for thispoint.
your story, much like mine isnot very, we're at a stage in
(31:25):
our society where It deserves,we overcame a lot of hardship to
get to where we are But nowthere's a lot of people who have
right i'm sure you know of a lotof people who've made it out the
hood and they're doing good forthemselves However, there does
and maybe I don't know if youresonate with me on this part or
not it seems like there'sanother level that some folks
had and I think it's not justyou know, That there's a mindset
(31:50):
That can get to another levelthat can transcend just going
from survival to, Middle class,getting by thriving to being
able to transcend society in away right to give back in a way
at a bigger level, right?
I'm curious how that sounds toyou, how that comes across to
you, if you've given any thoughtto how many of us, like I said,
(32:13):
I now have a lot of friendswho've gone to college and that
I grew up with, some of themtook a very different path and a
long path and what have you, andthey've done well for
themselves, or not they went tocollege, but we still hit a
certain ceiling and, you seeother people who didn't, And I'm
wondering, what is it that putsthat ceiling where it is and how
(32:34):
do we transcend that?
So I think this is an importantquestion and I learned this
recently and it's teaching andstarted from an early age
entrepreneurship.
and I think it's important forpeople to understand that they
can't, that, you know, for me,it was, you know, teaching kids
that they could be, an architector a doctor or a lawyer, but
(32:55):
it's got to go beyond that.
It's got to, it's got to.
That's right.
And yeah, I'm going to put, Idon't want to start at the early
age anymore.
we're about the same age you andColleen, I want to know now,
right?
How do we go from getting tothis level to go, you know, what
are the limiting beliefs we'veplaced on ourselves to get to
where we are and how do wetranscend that?
(33:16):
so we have this belief, thatwhen hit a certain point, we've
made it.
Because we've gone beyond.
Everybody in our family or, youknow, we're the most successful
of our friends.
But that different level doesn'tcome unless you have that
entrepreneurship mentality.
And you realize the only way I'mever getting to that next level
(33:37):
is to own something, to own abusiness, to come up with an
idea that nobody else hasbecause without that, you're
still only ever going to reach aceiling that someone else.
Makes for you, right?
And I realized that at the firmthat I was at where I got to the
highest level of that firm, butthere was a ceiling.
(33:58):
I was never going to get to thatnext level.
So now that I've opened up myown firm, there's no ceiling for
me, right?
I own the firm and I can take itto the levels that I want to
take it.
And I think what happens is, Noone ever teaches us from early
age to college that as Latinos,African Americans, we can be the
(34:20):
owner, dictate where the companygoes or how successful it is
until we learned that if youdon't own anything, you don't
have anything.
If you don't do business, youdon't have anything because you
can be let go at any point intime, you're going to hit that
ceiling.
Right.
And the only way to breakthrough that ceiling is to own
your, so you'll see that a lotof people, yeah, we've reached
(34:45):
the levels of success where wenow have Latino doctors and
lawyers and engineers and allthat stuff.
But what we need is Latino ownedbusinesses, law firms,
engineering.
So then at that point now, whenyou have that stuff and you're
the owner.
Now you open the gateways tohelping others get there, right?
(35:09):
Through your firm, and thenteach them that same thing,
like, train them so that theyhave the confidence and the
knowledge to know that they canalso do that.
They can also start their ownfirm or start their own business
Because if you see it, you don'tknow you can do it.
that I lacked is I didn't knowanybody who owned a business,
(35:30):
right?
I didn't know any, really anydoctors or lawyers either, but I
definitely didn't know anybodywho owned a successful business.
So.
I think that's the main thing iswe have to teach people or help
people understand that they canbe an entrepreneur, they can own
their own business.
And when they do that, that'sgoing to allow them to help
(35:51):
others and pull others up towhere they're at.
Right.
Because you can't do it.
if you hit a ceiling, you can'tdo it.
Right.
So if you hit the ceiling, youcan only pull people up so high,
but when you've broken throughthat ceiling and there's no
ceiling for you anymore, you canpick people up as far as you
want to take them.
Or as far as they want to go.
(36:12):
So that's what I think.
once we realize that.
unless you own the business,you're always going to hit a
ceiling.
Thank you.
So Eddie, on that note, I thinkwe'll get into that point where
we go over our world famousWayfinder four.
You told me you were ready.
Are you sure about that, man?
I'm ready.
I'm ready.
All right.
So.
(36:33):
What is a hack that you use?
Find the passion outside of yourfamily and, your job, something
that you love to do, so thatwhen everything else is going
wrong, you can go there and youcan get your head on straight
and find your happy place.
Love it.
How about, and I'm assumingthat's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for
you, right?
It is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu forme, yes.
(36:53):
you have a good studio out whereyou live?
Yeah, we have a good gym.
so there's two places I train.
One, Matrix Martial Arts, ownedby my good buddy, Derek
Alenbaugh, who's actually goingto law school this year.
Okay.
Awesome.
All right.
If I'm, you know, I'm gettingclose to 50.
I'm a scrawny little guy.
You know, you won't catch me ifyou don't catch me in the first
50 meters, you won't catch methough.
(37:14):
But after that, is it still okayto join?
Oh, absolutely.
it's perfect.
It's actually perfect because.
there's people of all agestraining Brazilian jiu jitsu.
you know, I know guys in theirseventies training, cause you
can train and you don't have togo full on.
You can train at your pace andit's, You know, there's a lot of
smaller guys because, you know,the origins of Brazilian jiu
(37:35):
jitsu are, you know, we want toteach a smaller guy how to beat
a bigger guy.
That's right.
That's how it started.
So, so there's a lot of smallerguys in, in Brazilian jiu you
know, there's some of thetoughest guys you'll ever meet.
Yeah.
In all ages.
I mean, I started at 35, so.
Nice.
All right.
What about a favorite?
And it can't be Brazilian JiuJitsu.
No, it's not.
(37:56):
So, I was looking at things, soI was going to pick my favorite
movie.
Okay.
And, my favorite movie is stillRocky.
Oh, okay.
Because I love the underdogstory.
Yeah.
I love the underdog, rising tothe top.
So, that will always be mymotivation.
And, it's still my favoritemovie.
Yeah, man.
It still gets me worked up everytime too.
Just hearing the song, right?
(38:17):
Like every time.
That soundtrack ever.
Yeah.
makes you think you canaccomplish anything.
No doubt.
my first marathon was actually aPhiladelphia marathon.
Was it really?
And after that, I made sure Iran up those steps up to the
museum and, you know, took apicture.
how about a piece of advice foryour younger self?
So what I would say is enjoy thejourney.
And what I mean by that is, it'sgood to have big goals and it's
(38:40):
good to accomplish those biggoals, but those big goals are
so much better when you'veenjoyed the journey.
It took you to to accomplishthose goals.
Don't miss the little things.
I'm a very goal oriented personand I spent so much time.
You know, trying to accomplishthe goal that I sometimes don't
(39:01):
enjoy the moments leading up toit.
and then I get there and I enjoyit, but I could have enjoyed it
so much more if I would havejust, you know, taken it slow
and enjoyed the process.
So I would tell my younger self,whatever you do, man, just enjoy
the journey.
lately what I've been thinkingabout, we've had great guests
who talked to us about, not goalsetting, which for me you is a
(39:24):
big deal, right?
Like how do you not goal set?
And I started to think aboutthis more and, what resonates
with me is I think about we, asa family, we've done a lot of
road trips, right?
And a lot of our road trips are,we have a destination, right?
And along the way.
what happens on the way to thatdestination, or on the way back
from it, we get lost.
My family calls it, my kids callit pulling a poppy, I'll take a
(39:47):
random exit on the highway, andwe get lost and we find
something, some town orwhatever, and it ends up being
just amazing.
Memories not where we weregoing.
I mean one year we were going tothe west coast We went to go to
the Oregon coast and it was niceand all that But like along the
way We stopped at a hotel in DesMoines And there was a water
circus outside and the girlswere like they were loving it,
(40:08):
man We went and we did it andthe whole time when we got to
Oregon They're like, well, let'sgo back to Des Moines We want to
see this and we ended up goingback and spending like four days
there and just really loving itSo I think that says a lot about
You know, like maybe set thegoal But don't be too attached
to it.
Enjoy the journey along the waymore, right?
Yeah.
And that, That's exactly what Iwas talking about.
if you just worry about gettingyour destination, you miss the
(40:31):
sites, you miss the littlethings, you enjoy about the road
trip.
So that is the advice I'd givemy younger self.
Cause I feel like I haven'talways done that.
Yeah.
And when I have hit certaingoals, it hasn't been any better
than the things I did to getthere.
Right.
What about a big opportunityyou're seeing or pursuing out
there?
So it's going back to what wewere talking about before, where
(40:54):
I was talking aboutentrepreneurship, right.
Bet on yourself.
don't leave your success toanybody else.
People are going to make youpromises they're not going to
come through, or they're notgoing to be able to come
through.
But if you bet on yourself, it'sall about you.
You, you're the one thatdetermines.
Your level of success, yourlevel of happiness.
(41:15):
So, and that's going back towhat we were talking about,
about entrepreneurship and howdo you get to that next level
and bring people up to that nextlevel?
you got to bet on yourself.
I love that.
So well put.
Thank you.
Well, Eddie, if people want to,reach out to you, if they need
to work with you, on personalinjury, Hopefully nobody ever
(41:35):
has to call you, butunfortunately the world doesn't
work that way, so when they do,how should they reach you?
Lona Law, you can reachme@uhlonalaw.com.
my number is 7 2 0 6 6 3 1 8 97.
you can follow me on Lona Law,on Instagram, Lona Law on
(41:56):
Facebook and Lona Law onYouTube.
and you're in Denver, Colorado,right?
yes, I'm in Colorado.
So all around the state Okay,and if somebody's calling from
Albuquerque, New Mexico, can yourefer them somebody good there,
too?
Yes.
Yes.
So, you know, anytime anybodycalls, I'll obviously get on the
phone with them and help themout and try to guide them to,
(42:18):
the right attorney.
You know, oftentimes they getcalls because of my marketing
and the black belt.
I get a lot of criminal, peoplecalling me about karaoke.
Sure.
I'll always refer those out andsend them to the right place,
so.
Okay.
yeah.
Excellent.
Well, Eddie, thank you so muchfor being on the show.
This has really been, insightfuland inspiring.
I hope people hear this storyand realize, you know, they can
(42:41):
do great things, go to lawschool, have you, and help their
communities out.
So thank you for what you do.
Oh, no problem, man.
Thank you for having me on theshow.
It was a lot of fun and Ienjoyed the conversation, so.
Likewise.
We hope you've enjoyed TheWayfinder Show.
If you got value from thisepisode, please take a few
(43:02):
seconds to leave us a 5 starrating and review.
This will allow us to help morepeople find their way to live
more authentic and excitinglives.
We'll catch you on the nextepisode.
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