In this episode, Jim and Tyson interview Marisa Portuondo, a solopreneur who runs her own business law practice in Miami, Florida. They will go over her journey as a lawyer and entrepreneur paying special attention to her marketing and discussing ways to improve it. Also, her biggest struggles and the value of assistants.
[smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/maximumlawyer/Episode_109.mp3″ social_linkedin=”true” social_pinterest=”true” social_email=”true” ]
Marisa does basically everything for business owners: that is transactional or litigation. That has branched out into construction, because a lot of her clients are in the construction industry. Recently she started doing property damage.
Her Firm: Portuondo Law Firm
03:14 – Experience
Marisa has a lot of experience in small firms and learned many valuable lessons about running a law firm: “I learned a lot about how to run a law firm and how NOT to run a law firm from the different bosses that I had.”
03:59 – 1st Day as a Solo
“I just thought, I don’t even know how to get clients! Marketing has changed so much since then… ”
05:17 – Marketing
“Whenever they think about a property claim they think of me, because they don’t know any other property claim attorneys.” Main marketing is word of mouth
08:39 – Her Struggles
Marisa’s biggest struggle is that there’s just never enough time. Marisa has a background in information systems, so she’s now implementing automation and starting to see how much more efficient she’s becoming.
09:57 – Her team structure
They will go over Marisa’s team and her new mindset about virtual assistants.
12:44 – Technology
Marisa’s main software is Practice Panther
14:30 – Flash Forward
“I don’t know if I ever want to become a big firm. I don’t know if that’s the lifestyle that I wanna lead.”
15:30 – Why do Marisa does what she does
“I just love helping business owners… I’ve learned a lot about business and I love sharing that information”
16:53 – The Advice
Get staff earlier!
20:01 – Hack and Tips of the week
Hacking’s hack: Jim’s been listening to James Schramko and he has a tutorial named “Own The Racecourse” The best articulation of the mindset that you should have when creating content.
Marisa’s tip: Automation. Get it done. Dig in into your software and automate. If you don’t have one, get one.
Tyson’s tip: Tyson’s in the process of hiring 2 new employees and has one very simple piece of advice: make sure that you have the job applicants make them send you a copy of the resume in pdf format. That simple thing is gonna weed out the people who can’t do that single and simple task.
//
Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and keep on maximizing your firm, please join our Facebook Group or like us on Facebook and comment!
You can also go to MaximumLawyer.com or, if you’d prefer, email us at: info@maximumlawyer.com
Do you want to get on the show? Shoot us an email or message us!
The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. Partner up, and maximize your firm.
Resources:
- Join the Guild Membership
- Subscribe to the Maximum Lawyer YouTube Channel
- Follow us on Instagram
- Join the Facebook Group
- Follow the Facebook Page
- Follow us on LinkedIn
Transcripts: Running and Marketing a Business Law Firm ft. Marisa Portuondo
Marisa Portuondo
It took me I’d say about three years to get off the fear of just being a lawyer and being on my own and not having someone supervising my work and making sure I was doing everything right, I was so careful to make sure that I was being a good, you know, attorney that I really wasn’t focused on the business. And that’s when I got my first part time employee. And it just altered everything for me, I was able to, you know, stop wasting time on the admin work and really, you know, focus on growing the business and being a lawyer, which is what every single one of us should be doing as attorneys.
Unknown Speaker
Run your law firm. The right away. This is the maximum liar, podcast, podcast, your hosts, Jim hacking and Tyson metrics. Let’s partner up and maximize your firm.
Unknown Speaker
Welcome to the show. Welcome back to the maximum lawyer Podcast. I’m Jim hacking.
Tyson Mutrux
And I’m Tracy matrix. How’s it going?
Unknown Speaker
Great, buddy. How you doing?
Tyson Mutrux
I am good.
Jim Hacking
Well, I know you got a lot going on. I got a lot going on. We have a great guest today. And she joined our Facebook group in case I didn’t tell you this. But she found us through Facebook, she didn’t know there was a podcast who decided what to do for lawyers to talk about their practice. So her name is Marissa Fortunato, and she’s down in Miami, Florida. Marissa, welcome to the show.
Marisa Portuondo
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Tyson Mutrux
So tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do, and just kind of introduce yourself to the listeners.
Marisa Portuondo
So as Jim said, my name is mateesah Portuondo. I am a solo. The focus of my practice is on business law. I do basically everything for business owners, whether it’s transactional, or litigation that has branched out into construction, a lot of my business owner clients are in the construction industry. And about three years ago, we also started doing property damage, which is quite a different animal. But I got to kind of those two halves of my practice running.
Jim Hacking
How did you get into the law? Like what was your path after law school,
Marisa Portuondo
actually, I didn’t go straight through to law school, I went and got my master’s, in Management Information Systems of all things, the tech industry was, you know, blowing up. And I did, I worked on a project while I was getting my masters and for a while after, and then it kind of just got so saturated, that it actually became pretty hard to, to find a good job in the field. And eventually, I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do. And law school had always kind of been in the back of my mind. So like I went. And in the beginning, I graduated kind of right when the economy tanked, I worked for quite a few small firms. And they weren’t doing so hot, I guess, because of the economy. So a little bouncing around in the in the beginning. And eventually I opened up my own firm in 2009. I kind of worked as counsel with other law firms here and there had a couple projects that I worked on. And then eventually I went full blown on my own, probably trying to think when it was 2013. I guess we’re about five and a half years ago,
Tyson Mutrux
about those experiences with the small firms that you’ve bounced from place to place to what did you learn from those that helped you today?
Marisa Portuondo
Well, it definitely kept me you know, a little bit, I want to say almost afraid of going out on my own. At first, I just saw you know how stressed out they were all the time and the worrying about the money and worrying about clients coming in one of my bosses was extremely just constantly spending tons of money. So we were all under the impression that the firm was doing really well you know, oh, we’ll pay for your cell phone will go out to fancy lunches every Friday, just spending money left and right. And one day, they can close their doors. So that was definitely a lesson. And I really just learned so much working a lot of times I was the only associate. So I really learned a lot about how to run a law firm and how not to run a law firm, from the different bosses that I had.
Jim Hacking
Raisa think back to that first day when you’re on your own. Think back, close your eyes and imagine that who’s sitting there at your desk? What’s going through your mind? And where do you start?
Marisa Portuondo
Oh, man. It seems like so long ago, I was I was nervous. I was excited. I was working from home. And I just thought I don’t even know how I’m gonna get clients. You know, marketing has changed so much since then. There wasn’t really you know, the videos and you know, the social media was was, you know, was a thing, but it wasn’t as huge as it is now. So it was really just so much word of mouth. And I remember I had just moved in with with my husband. We weren’t even married yet. And I remember every month telling him I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to make rent this month. But I did every month somehow, you know, every time I would start to fret and think that things weren’t going to work out, you know, someone would call me and it just always seemed to work out. So I just that kind of boosted my confidence and allowed me to have a little more faith in things working out and Little by little, it just got better and better and better when I started raising my rates up to where they should be and started getting a little more exclusive about the types of cases that I wanted and the types of clients that I wanted. And it’s just been, you know, uphill the whole way, but uphill in a good way, not a bad way.
Tyson Mutrux
Alright, so I’m kind of curious, I used to work for State Farm claims and their fire claims department. So I handled property claims when it comes to the people’s houses. And it was very, very rare to ever see an attorney on the other side. And so I can’t imagine these claims are that common? So how do people normally find you whenever they actually do need you.
Marisa Portuondo
So in South Florida, they’ve actually become really common first of all, last year, as you know, we had hurricane Irma. So that was pretty huge. And we have a massive cast iron plumbing issue down here. So you know, Miami is a relatively young town, especially the expansion parts of Miami, Metro Dade. And all this housing was kind of built around the same time, a lot of the same developers using the same materials, all the homes were put in with cast iron, piping, plumbing. And the code didn’t change to pvc piping until the mid 70s. So any house that was built before then is basically just a ticking time bomb. And these houses are just, they’re in bad shape. A lot of times the owners don’t even know it until they come home, and you know, their house is underwater. So that’s kind of been a business that’s taking off here, specifically in South Florida. And like I said, you know, we have the hurricane thing, but you’re absolutely right. A lot of people are surprised that lawyers even do this. So it’s kind of a growing little niche here in Miami and South Florida. And it’s actually I think it works in my favor, because people it always sticks out in people’s mind. You know, whenever they hear about a property claim, they think of me because they don’t know any other property claim attorneys. So that’s, that’s a nice part of that.
Jim Hacking
Have you developed marketing specifically for that practice area? And how are you trying to distinguish from the other parts of your practice,
Marisa Portuondo
I have one website, I’ve considered splitting that up. But for now, it seems to be working for me. My main marketing really, I gotta say is word of mouth. It’s just now recently, that I got serious about, you know, my website and my marketing and all that. And for the first time, I’d say maybe a few months ago, I got my first client from the internet. So that was interesting. But really, it’s just been word of mouth, I have a lot of friends in the construction industry, I have a lot of clients in the construction industry, they know that I do this. So you know, if they ever are at home, and they see that the person has a problem, oh, you know, hey, I know someone that might be able to help you with that. And really, that’s all of my clients have been through word of mouth. As far as the property damage side of things.
Jim Hacking
I think you might think about having a dedicated website like Florida casualty claim lawyer, something just dedicated to that. Because I don’t know if your business clients are going to be too interested in that. And I think it’s gonna be hard for you as you grow, to sort of distinguish between the two practice areas and the property claims, people aren’t gonna care about the fact that you do business. So I think just, especially if I think it’s really admirable and smart that you sort of followed where the need was, I think most lawyers, too many lawyers try to, you know, force what they perceive to be, as opposed to following what actually has been mean. So I think you might want to drill down a little bit and at least set up just a landing page with a URL that’s dedicated just to that, and maybe, I know you have a free download for your business. Or maybe you could have a checklist for people going through a casualty claims and things they need to know or something like that. Yeah, that’s
Marisa Portuondo
not a bad idea. I’ve thought of even doing like maybe a DBA with the business, you know, for the property claim side of things, but it’s, I got a long list of things I want to implement. So you know, I’m tackling them one at a time.
Tyson Mutrux
Well, tell me what is your like biggest struggling? What do you struggle with the most we deal with a lot as business owners and owners of law firms, like what’s the thing that really is your biggest obstacle, do you think?
Marisa Portuondo
I think my biggest obstacle is that there’s just never enough time, I think it’s the same obstacle, everybody has, you know, you always want to do more. I’m, like I said, I have, you know, have that background in information systems. So I’m kind of a geek, when it comes to automation. And I’m just now really kind of going down the rabbit hole and starting to see how, how much more efficient I’m becoming, you know, using all this automation, I’m, I’m learning, getting deeper and deeper into my practice management system and all the features that it offers. And so sometimes I’ll be up till you know, three in the morning, creating a workflow or, or something like that. And it’s just, it’s like owning a home, you know, you’re always working on it, never. It never stops. So I think maybe, you know, trying to find that balance between being a business owner and practicing law, I think is and I know, Jim, you’ve you’ve kind of moved more into the business owner side of things and I’ve learned that I think that’s the part of my, my firm that you know, really intrigues me and I kind of get energized by but I do still like practicing so it’s, I think that’s the struggle is trying to just get it all done.
Jim Hacking
So tell us about your team. What support do you have And how does your firm structure work?
Marisa Portuondo
So I got my first assistant about a year ago, she was working part time for me, she had young children, so she wasn’t able to work full time, she ended up getting an amazing opportunity to go work where her children go to school, which is something that you can never compete with, no matter how much you want to offer that person. So, you know, I was happy for her, she was, like I said, a friend of mine, I was happy to see her get that opportunity. My next Assistant, I think he had a different kind of brain than than an assistant needs to have, I think it was just more of like an ideas guy, really into the tech stuff, you actually kind of, I think that’s actually what he’s doing now, which is great, because I think that’s what he’s cut out for. So I’ve actually recently started using a virtual assistant. And that’s been quite a change for me, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be comfortable with it, I kind of flirted with the idea for a long time. And now I’m finally implementing it. And so far, so good. I gotta say, it’s, it’s a lot easier than I ever expected it to be.
Tyson Mutrux
So a lot of people ask about virtual assistants and how to get started with them. What is your advice when it comes to actually getting involved with a virtual assistant? And what what tips would you have for people,
Marisa Portuondo
I think the best thing that you can really do to help yourself whether you’re working, you know, with a virtual assistant, or any assistant, but especially so with a virtual is just write everything down, you know, you kind of gotta have that employee handbook. And it’s, you know, I hadn’t had an assistant in such a long time that everyone I had ever worked with that firms had law firm experience, I didn’t have to teach them, you know, the basics. And a lot of these assistants, you know, they’re smart, they’re, they’re teachable, they’re trainable, but they don’t have, you know, necessarily the knowledge. Or maybe if you’re very type A, like I am, they don’t know exactly how you like things done. So rather than, you know, teach an assistant, and then have them leave, or, you know, doesn’t work out and then have to teach the next Assistant, and then the next Assistant, whether you’re growing or replacing people, that’s expensive, you know, time is money, and it takes so much time to train someone. And so I started really just, you know what, I’m going to make a guide on that. And instead of taking the time to explain it verbally, I wrote it all down. Now, I want to get the software where you can actually take videos of, you know, what you’re doing on your screen. So you can implement that. And really, you can just teach people to kind of train themselves. And if I had known that a year ago, I would probably have my entire handbook done now. So I’m in the process of doing that. And it’s been great. And I think kind of having a virtual kind of forced me to do that. Because I’m not there next to her to show her how to do it. And it’s great, because it’s forcing me to really get automated and really get that training manual down. So when the next person comes, I won’t have to really make that investment.
Jim Hacking
It’s great stuff, Marie. So talk to us about your technology, What software do you use for CRM for accounting and for running your cases.
Marisa Portuondo
So my main software is practice Panther, I used to be with Clio, I was a little bit frustrated with some of the limitations that Clio had, and I started talking to PracticePanther. They’re actually based here in Miami. So that was kind of cool. And I think I tortured them for about six months, asking them well, what about this? And how can I do that, and eventually, I finally made the move over to them, I’ve been really happy, you know, no, no software is ever going to do everything exactly the way you want it to. But they offer so much in their, you know, general main package, they only have one package, and it comes with intake forms, it comes with workflows, you know, you have unlimited intake forms. And for me, that’s huge. So rather than have a separate CRM software, I’m basically building my own CRM system by you know, using practice Panzer, and you know, the clients do the work. As long as you create the intake form, you guys know, you send them the form, they fill it out, it automatically populates into into your system. And if you train your staff to tag contacts appropriately, you can run all kinds of reports, you can, you know, put a newsletter type and every new contact that you get, for example, and then PracticePanther enables you to export that data into a spreadsheet, upload that to MailChimp, or whatever system you’re using and get your newsletter out. I honestly haven’t had to use any other software. I am considering getting a CRM that they’re working with. And I think I told you about that, Jim, I’m a little scared of how powerful it is. I may never find the time to practice law again. If I go down that rabbit hole, so it does have me intrigued. So
Tyson Mutrux
flash forward five years, and I want you to think about this. What is your firm look like? And what specifically are you doing on a day to day basis?
Marisa Portuondo
I thought about this a lot. I don’t know that I ever want to become a huge firm. I don’t know that. That’s the lifestyle that I want to lead. I think it would be very stressful for me. I am a little bit of a control freak. Obviously working with staff and growing has forced me to loosen the reins a little bit, but I think just having an army of attorneys would be so stressful. I’m emotionally dealing with all those different personalities and a bunch of stressed out attorneys working for you. But I think I would like to grow a little bit, maybe have a handful of attorneys, little bit of staff, and really be focusing on the marketing and the technology side of things. I love the system side of things. And you know, I guess having the luxury of being really picky about which cases I decide that I’m going to lawyer for lack of a better word, that would be ideal.
Unknown Speaker
Musa, why do you do what you do? The business side
Marisa Portuondo
of my practice is what I love, like you said, the property damage, it kind of fell into my lap, I had someone who, you know, had access to a lot of claims and needed, you know, someone to send people to, and I didn’t really know what I was doing at first. So I partnered up with another attorney who didn’t know what she was doing. And we co counsel the bunch of the cases. But business is really what I love, you know, my master’s degree is from a business school, it’s where my background is, I worked in corporate America and pharmaceuticals before I went to law school, and I just love helping business owners, I struggled, you know, when I became a business owner, because I didn’t have anything when I started, you know, I didn’t take a loan out for my parents, I didn’t have a ton of money saved up. And I didn’t really have any, I guess formal, you know, knowledge of how to run a firm, or business for that matter. And I just kind of winged it. And you know, lots of the school of hard knocks, I learned a lot. And I love sharing that information, whether it’s, you know, with a new attorney who’s just going out on their own, or whether it’s a business owner, I really love helping them. I really love just seeing them succeed, seeing them be more efficient and seeing them do things the right way. A lot of my my business owners, they’re, they’re successful with their mess, you know, so they come to me, and I kind of tighten the ship up for them and give them the peace of mind that they’re doing things correctly and that they’re protected. And that I love that.
Tyson Mutrux
What’s a piece of advice you wish you would have known that you could give yourself five years ago? What like, what’s something that you wish that someone had told you to do this or don’t do that?
Marisa Portuondo
Get staff? Earlier, I think I was really limited in my, in my thinking as to what staff had to look like, you know, in my brain staff was a person who had been, you know, working at a law firm for 10 years, and commanded a certain salary and was going to be full time and benefits and insurance and paid holidays. And I always told myself, I can’t afford that yet. It took me I’d say about three years to get off the fear of just being a lawyer and being on my own and not having someone supervising my work and making sure I was doing everything right, I was so careful to make sure that I was being a good, you know, attorney that I really wasn’t focused on the business. And that kind of switched overnight for me. And that’s when I kind of started thinking, I need help, I can’t do this, you know, I’m only one person, I’m not gonna grow any larger if I don’t get help. And I actually spoke with another attorney, who actually, we share office space now. And she’s the one who kind of opened my eyes. And she said, I don’t understand why you have to have this this full time person that you’re envisioning, you know, there’s tons of work out there, there’s tons of people that are willing to work part time, and you could even get virtual, and you know, she kind of just forced me to, to look at it in a different way. And that’s when I got my first part time employee. And it was completely it just altered everything for me, I was able to, you know, stop wasting time on the admin work. And really, you know, focus on growing the business and being a lawyer, which is what every single one of us should be doing as attorneys.
Jim Hacking
That’s awesome. I completely agree. So for my last question, every year, Tyson and I get to give a talk to third year law students are thinking about opening up their own practice. If we got to bring you up to St. Louis next year to talk in our law school about that. What would you tell those students?
Marisa Portuondo
Oh, my gosh, so much. I don’t even know where I’d start. I’ve actually had a lot of attorneys approached me, it’s been the strangest thing. It’s definitely not something I’ve thought out. But I’ve had attorneys who are going out on their own. Contact me and say, you know, I know you run a law firm, you seem to be happy and successful at what you do. Do you mind if I take you out to dinner and pick your brain? And I kind of just lay it all out on them? You know, how to save money, how to keep your overhead low at the beginning? What to focus on all the stuff I learned the hard way? I could talk a lot. I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’d have a lot to share with your students.
Tyson Mutrux
All right, so we have to sort of make this a shorter podcast today because Jimmy’s gonna get on a plane and I think seven minutes so we’ll start to wrap things up. Before we do. I do want to make sure I want to remind everyone to go to the Facebook group. Join there, get involved in the discussion. It is amazing how much is going on there. Also make sure if you don’t mind, please stop right now. Press the Pause button or as you are listening to the rest of this, go to the podcast app and give us a five star review. We really really appreciate it or wherever else she gets your podcast. Jimmy, what’s your hack of the week? Alright, so
Jim Hacking
for my hack of the week, I’ve been listening a lot to a guy named James Schramko, Sc, HRA MKL. And he has a website called super fast business. And he has a tutorial that he goes called own the race course. And it is the best enunciation articulation of the mindset that you should have and building your content across different spectrums. And so you can go watch the video, or download the audio@superfastbusiness.com backslash, O ter, and I highly recommend everybody listen to that.
Tyson Mutrux
I think it’s really funny how you’re trying to whisper I can just like picture you in an airport right now, like, a curled down like trying to talk, it’s actually kind of funny. Marisa, what’s your tip of the week,
Marisa Portuondo
my tip of the week, I think is automation. And get it done, you can never automate enough I think so dig into your your software, if you don’t have one, get one and really dig in and use it. I feel like people it’s like, you know, they say use 10% of your brain, I think people use 10% of their practice management software. So, you know, take those free trainings and watch those videos, when you’re up late at night that have you know, screwing around on Facebook, you could be really learning about your software and making your business more efficient.
Tyson Mutrux
Excellent. So I am in the process of hiring two new employees. And one piece of advice I got from my buddy Steve Bartel today, which is actually pretty good. I hadn’t thought of it. It’s, it’s so simple. But it really gets through what you want. He said, make sure that you have the job applicants make them send you a copy of the resume in PDF format. And it seems so simple. But what it’s going to do is going to weed out the people that can’t figure out that basic little task. It’s such a basic thing, but you think that on a daily basis, we’re sending PDFs all the freaking time. And if you can’t figure that out, you’re not gonna, you’re not gonna do very well in our firm. So it’s a very simple thing, but I thought it was really great. Make them email you a copy of their PDF resume, to weed out the battle. So that’s my tip of the week. Thank you so much for coming on. Marissa, we really appreciate it. It’s really, really good. Thank you so much.
