In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Brett Trembly discuss:
Key Takeaways:
"Every second of the day, where you'r doing something that someone else could be doing you are costing yourself money because you can't get the time back. There's no make it up later in the day. Time doesn't work that way." — Brett Trembly
Connect with Brett Trembly:
Website: GetStaffedUp.com & tremblylaw.com
Twitter: twitter.com/Getstaffedup1
Facebook: facebook.com/GetStaffedUp
Instagram: instagram.com/getstaffedup
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/getstaffedup & linkedin.com/in/bretttrembly
Go to http://getstaffedup.com/vip and mention this podcast to get $500 off your start-up fee!
Connect with Steve Fretzin:
LinkedIn: Steve Fretzin
Twitter: @stevefretzin
Facebook: Fretzin, Inc.
Website: Fretzin.com
Email: Steve@Fretzin.com
Book: The Ambitious Attorney: Your Guide to Doubling or Even Tripling Your Book of Business and more!
YouTube: Steve Fretzin
Call Steve directly at 847-602-6911
Show notes by Podcastologist Chelsea Taylor-Sturkie
Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.
Brett Trembly 0:00
So one hour per day, here's a rocket science I hired someone freed up so much my time I could build two hours per day. Wow, doubled my revenue I went from, like 10ish to 20. The next month, the very next month.
Narrator 0:19
You're listening to be that lawyer, life changing strategies and resources for growing a successful law practice. Each episode, your host, author and lawyer coach Steve Fretzin, will take a deeper dive, helping you grow your law practice in less time with greater results. Now, here's your host, Steve Fretzin!
Steve Fretzin 0:41
Hey, everybody, welcome to be that lawyer. I am Steve Fretzin. And as the announcer just said, and I want to welcome you to my show. This is a show all about lawyers for lawyers, helping lawyers, figure it out, figure out how to be efficient, figure out how to get business development done, grow that book of business, become that lawyer. And in order to do that, one of the things that has to happen if you're smart, is efficiency. And I've got an efficiency expert here today, who's got a really cool business. He's the founder of Trembley law, and the co founder of get staffed up Brett Trembly. How's it going, Brett?
Brett Trembly 1:13
Steve, it's going Fantastic. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really honored to be on your podcast.
Steve Fretzin 1:18
Yeah, I'm happy to have you in do me a favor, just give a little bit of background on not only your law firm, but then how you sort of came to be as it relates to this, this new business get staffed up?
Brett Trembly 1:29
Sure. So I started my law firm and in 2011, very late 2011. In fact, it wasn't planned this way. But it was 11-1-11. So I don't know if that's got to be good luck somehow. Yeah. And for the first few years, it was just me, myself and Irene and I really struggled. I couldn't figure out why. And I'm fast forwarding through all the ups and downs, the heartache, the stress, all those things that are there a part of it. Finally, somebody convinced me to make a hire, I have to stop trying to do everything myself, and I couldn't get over the fact that I didn't really have any money. So how was I going to hire someone? And it turns out, you'll basically never have the money. Maybe if your PI attorney, you win a case or something, but you've got to hire and then use that extra time to make the money, in fact, make a lot more money. So finally hired someone in the summer 2014. And fast forward to now we've got 10 attorneys, 25 people overall Inc, 5000 lists, and you know, the whole nine yards. So we do business law, franchise law and litigation, our mission is to protect the economy, one business at a time. And I we really, really mean that our general counsel program where we work with business owners has been it's really helped spread our growth. But get stopped up is is a an endeavor that me and another lawyer who became really good friends, and we work together at a bar association, and we just kind of said, hey, let's do something someday, if it ever comes about, he found out about like offshore, staffing, grabbed four people for his law firm, and I was like, hey, man gets getting a marketing person, can you get me one, he said, no problem. But a month later, I had someone who's still with me today. And we're like, I think we're onto something here. Let's turn this into a real business. And Fast Forward three years later. And, you know, I'm not trying to puff myself up or anything, but we're growing like gangbusters. It's just a fact. And we have the best problem in the world, Steve, which every lawyer wants to have, right? We grow just through referrals and people saying how great it is. And when you start breaking down all the elements, it really is a no brainer. I mean, it's so such a smarter way to hire, and I can get into all those reasons why if we go there.
Steve Fretzin 3:48
Yeah, we're definitely going to go there. I think I think starting out, though, what are the challenges you mentioned, you know, some of the struggles that you had building your law practice, but let's let's take it you know, as today, we're in a in a weird, you know, COVID era type of world. And people are moving, you know, into their homes and stuff like that. But it is very tough for solos and small firms to make those hires to bring in the full time people to look at the cash flow to look at the overhead, the insurance, all the things that come with it. So what kinds of challenges are you were you seeing? Or are you still seeing lawyers having as a relates to getting work done and being profitable?
Brett Trembly 4:26
Well, okay, so let me the first, I was going to answer your first question, part of the question this way, right? So let's say that you're going to hire somebody for $50,000. Right? Maybe it's going to be like a paralegal, etc. You're in Chicago, you know, I'm in Miami, if there's people in smaller parts, just go with us here. Okay. The hidden cost of employing somebody directly domestically, is 40%. And that's, that's overhead. That's money out of your pocket, not just like your time, like actual money out of your pocket. So if you're cutting that up, in to, you know, 20, 24 pay periods, that's $2,916. Okay? Remember, taxes, all all that stuff goes into it. So then you're thinking just to make one hire, I need to make another $6,000 this month. And when you're a very small law firm, I, I was stuck at the 9000 a month. You know, basically, point for a long time, I could never figure out how to, like consistently get over the 10,000. What a lot of attorneys do for 20 years is they just keep running the hamster wheel. And they're like, one day, I'll make more, I'll just get that big case, I'll just keep working. And I'll be a good lawyer. It's like, now now that I'm on this side of it, it frustrates me. But I think I'm projecting it frustrates me because I couldn't see it, I couldn't get out of it. It's like, I'm talking to myself who was in such agony. And I didn't tell people all the time, I was really, really stressed out, you know, kid in a mortgage and a small law firm. I didn't even know about the extra 40%. So I'm just doing the math off like 50,000 My, how am I gonna make another 4500 a month, and that's this amount of more cases. And it's this more and more work. And it's a hard cycle to get out of. And so this new way of hiring where you can hire somebody for less than 2000 a month, you know, depending on the price point is such a smarter way to hire because your overhead doesn't grow with your income. And so what happened to me is I hired someone and this is rocket science here. So you gotta follow me, okay? The average solo lawyer bills about one hour some some people say point nine, some people say 1.1. But studies about one hour legal work per day. And I was that person I didn't know at the time, but because you're doing phones and email, and back then faxes, and all these things that get in the way of doing the actual legal work. So if you ever get to leave work, you're tired, it's late, you're frustrated, and you try to start and then you get more email, right? I'm trying to like frustrate people even listening to this. So one hour per day, here's a rocket science I hired someone freed up so much my time I could build two hours per day. Wow, double my revenue. I went from, like, 10ish to 20 the next month, the very next month, and I'm like, holy crap, that's a that is such a huge jump for somebody who's making are just bringing in not even keeping bringing in 10,000 to double your firm, you're like, this is this is incredible. So I'll give myself credit at this point in time I, I took the lesson, I learned it and I did it again. So I hired someone else and someone else and then I just focused on my thoughts about marketing because now I have the time. And I'm going to run with this thing. And so you know, a lot of people just why didn't want I don't want to do to get and I get scared. Now I get it. Not everybody has to have a 10, 20, 50 person law firm. But even at this point, there's multiple people still wearing a lot of hats. And I keep wondering like when do you get to the point of a business with everybody has one hat, you know, hat hats, just like keep inventing themselves out of nowhere. So, it's tough when you want to make those hires, and you just can't figure out where the extra money's gonna come from.
Steve Fretzin 8:08
Yeah, and I'll add to it. I mean, my perspective is, you know, the business development coach, right, I'm trying to get my clients out the door, so that they can meet more prospective clients, they can do more networking, they can, you know, build up client loyalty and build their brand. And when they're stuck in the mud, doing all the nitty gritty, that has to happen to run a day, that's when I start getting really frustrated, because I want them to get out there and grow and build those numbers up. And in their, you know, they're not able to so let's transition this a little bit into you mentioned offshore and you know, so I guess my my instinct would be well wait a second offshore, aren't there people in the US that need work? And why are we you know, investing in, you know, us this, that the other? So what's the what's the offshore angle here?
Brett Trembly 8:53
Yeah. But before I say that, let me just tell a quick story. So I was, I was trying to build a law firm, build a law firm, but a law firm. One day, I look over my phone, and there's a little red, it's not even blinking. It's just a solid red thing on the top of my phone. And I'm like, one of it that is so I have three messages all from a doctor who was referred to me who clearly could have paid my bills like, hey, Brett, you know, so and so call me back. Hey, Brett, just trying to you know, hope hoping to hire you. And then the third was like, Well, I guess you're not gonna get back to me. I got all three of those messages A month later. Talk about working your butt off, which is what you just said, Steve, if I had met you, you know, earlier, then you could have helped me get out of what I was doing and see those things. So you know better than I because you probably mean a lot of people like me. You're working hard only to sabotage yourself by not having somebody who's going to answer your phone, return the messages, you know, make sure that you're not missing the marketing that is working because you're out there marketing so hard and like that story, it's still just gnaws at me like what what was I thinking? Okay, so let's talk offshore, because certainly you can hire domestically. And I argue that the high paying jobs, the the lawyers, the paralegals, those are staying right here in the United States. But we're talking really important positions in your law firm. They're also entry level. Because some people think, well, entry level, that's not important. The person that answers your phone is one of the most important people in your entire firm. But when you want to hire someone here in the US for $10 an hour, well, they have a right to continually look for better opportunities for them and their family. So unless you get the, you know, the old retiree lady, and I've had one of those of my other firms, she was great, which is just lucky, because there's not many of her out there are they young kid, and who can you know, no offense, like, who can really rely on young kids, it's very hard sometimes, or the student with the hours, you're just constantly playing the turnover game, the turnover game, because people have one foot in one foot in one foot out as they should, they can't make a serious, comfortable living on $10 an hour, but guess who can people in other countries where that pays them more than the median. So the people we hire mostly out of Latin America, by the way, because a lot of a lot of companies you think India and Philippines, we're not a traditional staffing company in that in that sort, we don't have a big building. And we don't pack people in like sardines, and then five hours here, and also this person, 10 hours here, we do full time staffing, only Steve, so if they're your virtual assistant through us, they work for you 40 hours per week, we just happen to stay on as the employer of record. So we take care of the overhead and the taxes and the bonuses and all those other things. So yes, the the lower paying jobs, you should, rightfully so not try to convince someone than the US to live off $10 an hour, because it's really not possible, and then use that extra time on your plate to make more money and give them higher paying jobs. That's the angle that and by the way, you know, everyone's all over the map at immigration, I've never heard a good solution. Because, I mean, you can't let 8 billion people in the US it wouldn't work. But it is sad that other people live in places that is dangerous. I mean, there's no good solution. But what I what I always say is give people jobs in other parts of the world, now they're comfortable where they are, and we're improving the global economy. And, and finding these incredible people, again, mostly from South Africa, and Latin America that we've been able to hire and give jobs to has been one of, if not the most rewarding parts of this business that I never expected.
Steve Fretzin 12:34
Yeah, I mean, you're talking about, you know, intelligent, you know, hungry, aggressive people that want to work and want to work hard and make a living. And in our country, that's true as well. And there's a lot of people that don't, right, I mean, it's just, that's just the, you know, that's just the way it is. So I like the idea that, that you're able to help people that want to work to find that employment, and then have quality people that are that are going to work hard and be a part of your team. And, you know, you're helping, you're helping move that forward. So I think that's great. And then the other thing I want to ask you is that you're, you know, I just went on your website, and I kind of, you know, browse it over. But it's, you know, lawyers, helping lawyers, like you're a lawyer running a business for lawyers, and there's a lot of other virtual assistant companies that aren't run by lawyers. Why? Why would it be better for a lawyer to work with a lawyer run company?
Brett Trembly 13:25
I'll be 100% honest with you, if somebody had our same model and same focus, and they weren't a lawyer, I don't know, then it would, then it wouldn't really be the word lawyers and they're not it would be, can they run a better business and find better people than we can? And I'm gonna say no, every time until I see somebody prove prove us wrong. But most companies are set up to do virtual staffing the old model, which is like, hey, I need someone 10 hours a week, it's like, Oh, I got I got this person for you. Right. And then and then it's like a different person every time and it's part time. And it's just a, it's just a mess. What we do is full time. And and what I always tell people is, I've never met somebody who can't figure out how to delegate enough work for a full time personal executive assistant, have it even if you're a solo, the first thing you should do is hire someone to manage your email manager calls and just do like, my first hire was right. It wasn't overseas. I wish I knew about this back in 2014. But, you know, do do all the things that are getting in the way of you spending more time either marketing, right to get the business or doing the work to earn the money. And why work with us. I mean, we stay on as the employer record, we take care of moving money and all the very hard things about employing somebody overseas. And I've seen you know, we've got some quasi competitors, they don't really focus on the legal field, but let's say they don't, right and you're just gonna find somebody through them. Most of them are not In Latin America, like we are in, certainly not in South Africa and the timezone, the culture, the English capabilities, our people are our client facing, they were talking admin assistants, personal assistants, receptionist, intake coordinators, client happiness liaisons, and marketing coordinators, people that can walk and talk and carry themselves in multiple languages, by the way, and they have to have phenomenal English to work for us. We've built such a recruiting machine. And I know you kind of teed teed this one up for me, and I'm just talking about ourselves. But, you know, we will have 100,000 people apply to work with us this year. 100,000.
Steve Fretzin 15:42
Wow.
Brett Trembly 15:43
And sometimes we have to pinch ourselves like holy cow, you know, what we've done in just over three short years. And we will place less than 1000. So, you know, what, what do you who has a better chance you're doing it yourself or us with 100,000 applicants that we're weeding out screening and getting to the best of the best, or another company that, frankly, doesn't have the recruiting infrastructure that we do I know, another one will come along. And then we'll just say, you know, who offers the best packages and benefits and value adds, and we're starting to add in a bunch of other things, you know, we're gonna start doing workshops, and all kinds of other things that are gonna help us stand out from the eventual competitor that we will get someday.
Steve Fretzin 16:25
And it's, you know, as a solo, myself, I'm not an attorney, but I'm a solo business owner. And I've had, you know, as many as you know, 13, 14 employees at any given time, and, you know, I just don't want to manage people, and I don't want to have the overhead and I don't want to have to deal with Oh, profit sharing, and I have to share profits with this person. And all in all, you know, just asking for raises all the time, whatever it might be, it's just aggravating, I want to focus on my business, I want to focus on keeping my, you know, my head forward and bringing in new business and helping my clients and everything else is, to me, it's just a distraction. And so anything I can do that I can outsource, that's gonna, that's gonna make my life easier, and make me more efficient to do what I do best. That's it. That's where I want to spend my time. And I think lawyers need to really own that, because it there's just no way to grow effectively without having people around you that can do do the little things that are, you know, 10 to $30 an hour tasks when you're supposed to be billing three to 500 an hour, and you're doing stuff that that you shouldn't be doing. Pretty straightforward.
Brett Trembly 17:28
That that's the part that people miss, like they hear it. It's not in one ear and out the other, but it doesn't compute. Because I know because it didn't compute for me. It's like, Well, yeah, so I'm answering my phones, but I'll just do more legal work later in the day, like, that's not hurting me. I'm not losing money. I'm saving money, by not having somebody and that is such a hard lesson to get through to people like every second of the day, where you're answering your own phone, you're answering your you're opening your own emails, and sorting and looking through junk, getting distracted, setting up a lunch that someone else could be doing. Or just I mean, I could go on and on and on. You are basically costing yourself money because you're not doing the things that you can't get the time back. There's no make it up later in the day. It time doesn't work that way.
Steve Fretzin 18:22
But it's not. It's not just the money. It's the stress. It's the anxiety. It's the it's just it's a never ending, you know, like you said hamster wheel that that people are on and they don't realize that they can get off. They just need they need the right the right support. They need the right support. So I'm interested in your services. I'm an attorney. I see you know what I'm hearing Brett, talk about this. And Jeez, that would be that would be terrific for me. How do you set me up with the right person? What's the process that you would put me through as a lawyer to come to an understanding that there's a good fit, and what counts? So what's that process look like?
Brett Trembly 18:58
So by the way, are the price points because I'm sure people are wondering, is about $1,850 per month, it's a little bit more for a marketing person. But that's, that's what you're looking at. We have a startup fee of $1,750. That's one time and that's basically just to make sure you have skin in the game. And before I forget anyone that goes to getstaffedup/vip, his name, phone number email, and then how'd you hear about us so you can put in, you know, Steve Preston, be that lawyer and if that's, you know, make sure you put that in there. We'll give your listeners $500 off the startup fee. Thank you offer an offer for you. So you sign a contract. And then we have what's called a great start planning session for about 30 minutes depending on like your sophistication and do you already have onboarding procedures and do you know what you need are you just kind of creating a position and then based on all that information, we go to town at trying to find the best person possible for Are you? When we do we send you the profile, the profile will include a video interview that we did you know, you get to see the person's energy and how they interact, how they sound, and all their written materials. And if you like them, then you give us a thumbs up. If you don't you give us a thumbs down, and we go back to the drawing board. Now, that's just the first thumbs up because what that says is, okay, you like this person or not, now it's your turn interview them. So you interview them. And same thing, thumbs up or thumbs down. If thumbs down, that's okay, we go back to the drawing board, thumbs up, we got a match, we pick a start date. And that's how you are in ultimate control of who you hire and bring on for your firm. We're not just giving you someone who we choose. And that's another huge differentiator.
Steve Fretzin 20:46
That's Yeah, that's really impressive. I mean, that's Yeah, I want to I want to be involved in the process, not the, the nitty gritty of the beginning. But yeah, final say on somebody that you might think is great, but I think is terrible. Well, that's, that's not a good, that's not a good way to go. So I like that it's got to be a mutually agreed, individual.
Brett Trembly 21:04
Yeah, I mean, that's what we are, our retention rate is spectacular. It's not perfect, nobody's perfect. You know, we're still dealing with human beings. But for that reason, and I would be remiss to not mention, our replacement guarantee, which we need a new name for that it sounds like we're selling tires. But we turnover is so hard on a small business. And the smaller you are, the harder it is on you. And when you go through a company, that just the placement company, or you do it yourself, when somebody quits, leaves, whatever you're on your own, and you have to start all over again, through us, we find you someone and you're moved to the front of the line, and you get a replacement profile. Same thing, again, usually within a week, if not sooner. Very occasionally, it takes a little bit longer if you had a very specific role, right, like a video coordinator, which by the way, we do that placement, and then you're off and running once again, and you still have ultimate control of we bring on.
Steve Fretzin 22:04
Nice, that's really great. That's really great. So this is, I think, a really important thing for lawyers to take in and understand how to grow and I handle the, you know, the building business side. But if you don't handle the back end side, then it's all going to blow up in your face. So you really need to be organized on both ends. And I think what you're offering is phenomenal. I hope that you get a couple of calls, because quite frankly, this is this seems like a no brainer for people that are bringing in revenue and could be doubling and tripling those numbers, you know, fairly easily with the right support.
Brett Trembly 22:39
Yeah, no, maybe it's your very, very happy to help anybody who just look even even when you get to higher levels, and you have a huge team, new things will just hop on your plate, and you'll find your time filled again. So playing the 80/20 you know, delegate 80% of things you're doing at any given time, you'll need to continue to do that, you know, sometimes even quarterly if you're going fast enough, and if not, you know annually. But if anyone find themselves bogged down and need some help, and he's a really awesome, energetic, educated person just happens to only be virtual, right? You're only going to talk to him like most of us do now through a computer, then we'd love to help.
Steve Fretzin 23:22
Terrific, terrific. And again, people want to get in touch with you, Brett, what are they? What are they looking up online,
Brett Trembly 23:27
Same thing www.getstaffedup.com that's the website. And if you're ready to have a conversation with someone on our team, just go to /VIP, and fill out the form questions and somebody will email you the same day.
Steve Fretzin 23:43
Great. And I'll put all this information in the show notes as well. So listen, Brett, I think we're we're kind of at the end of our time. And I just want to thank you for taking, you know a little bit of of your time to spend with my audience and with me today. And you know, I just appreciate what you do and how you're helping lawyers.
Brett Trembly 24:00
I really enjoyed being on Steve, thank you and thanks for what you do because you're talking to me back in the day and you're helping those people that are just frustrated and not they know there's more out there and I'm being very very genuine when I see this again, I think I'm talking to myself so from from six, seven years ago and so you know, thank you for continuing to help people.
Steve Fretzin 24:23
Yeah, listen, it's what I do. It's I get up every day and do it and I have a great time with it. So well listen everybody. I hope you got some good ideas out of today. I hope that you learn a little bit about what it's you know virtual assistants all about and that we've got a really good resource in in Brett. And listen if it helps you get one step closer to being that lawyer, someone who's confident organized in a skilled Rainmaker, then that's the goal. That's the goal. Alright everybody, take care be safe.
Narrator 24:55
Thanks for listening to be that lawyer. Life Changing strategy using resources for growing a successful law practice, visit Steve's website Fretzin.com for additional information and to stay up to date on the latest legal business development and marketing trends. For more information and important links about today's episode, check out today's show notes.