On Making The Inc 5000 List And Growing Revenue 154%
This is a follow up story for New Law Business Model. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published almost 5 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
I’m Ali Katz, founder of New Law Business Model, Family Wealth Planning Institute, and Eyes Wide Open Life.
At New Law Business Model, we guide lawyers from the traditional one-off transactional model or the conflict-escalating litigation model, into a practice model serving families and business owners as relational trusted advisors.
At Family Wealth Planning Institute, we consult with families and business owners to understand the nature of their resources, the true meaning of legacy, and to create and pass on generational wealth, wisely.
At Eyes Wide Open Life, we work with business owners to see and heal their money dysmorphia and build their life and income awake, aware, and on their terms.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?
Several big things have happened with me and New Law Business Model over the past year!
First, I published my next book, The New Law Business Model: Build a Lucrative Practice That You (And Your Clients) Love. It’s been really exciting to get it out there and it’s become an Amazon bestseller already in three categories! Plus, the editors at Entrepreneur just picked it up as one of the 8 books you should read for a successful 2021, and they wrote: “The New Law Business Model contains more inspiration and insight in just a few pages than most books do a cover to cover, making it a must-buy for this year.” ~Peter Daisyme on Entrepreneur.com
I feel so happy reading that because it really isn’t just for lawyers -- though it’s a great one for lawyers, of course -- but, really, it’s so applicable to anyone who wants to build a life and business they love.
I was also named by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the 100 powerful women of 2020, and New Law Business Model made the Inc. 5000 list for the 3rd year in a row with 154% growth.
I also did a recent interview with Natalie Fragkouli on her podcast, In Camera, where I got to share the purpose of the book and our company. It’s really my personal story on how I came to reimagine the way law firms should be managed. It felt fantastic to get that story out!
Another huge thing that happened is how we have really been able to help our members educate and service their clients virtually. As soon as COVID showed up, I created an online webinar to educate people on what they had to get in place for the people they love, in case they became sick so they could create what I call a Personal Resource Map for the people they love - an inventory of everything you own, for everyone you love.
Then, from March onward, we facilitated 648 live scheduled webinars for our lawyers to be able to educate and serve their communities. Just to give you a sense of how big that is, in the 2.5 months before COVID, January through March of 2020, we facilitated just 17 webinars for our member lawyers. So this was a huge jump, and our member lawyers were able to immediately shift from in-person law practices to remove virtual law practices and continue serving their communities through the crisis of the pandemic.
A lot of businesses had a rough year. But with the increase in virtual technology use coupled with a huge demand for estate planning services, business for our lawyer community has been booming. We’ve seen our members hit and exceed their revenue goals. A few broke 1M in revenue for the first time and several had their best quarter yet in the last quarter of 2020, we’re talking $25k-$100k a month for our lawyers and that translates to a LOT of families served.
Big things are happening at Eyes Wide Open as well! We recently came out with a new offering for businesses - The Lift Foundation Blueprint. It guides business owners (and those who want to be) to the blueprint necessary to get from wherever they are to where they want to go next in their life and business. The Blueprint led to over 100 enrollments into our LIFT Foundation System program at the end of the year.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
One of the biggest lessons I got to remember this past year is the true meaning of responsibility -- the ability to respond, instead of reacting -- in the face of challenges.
At New Law Business Model, we’ve really fine-tuned our ability to respond rather than react in the face of challenge, and as a result, we were able to grow the company significantly, and serve our lawyer clients to be able to do an even better job for the families and business owners they serve in their communities.
If you focus on the right things at the right time and make the right investments in the right order, your success is virtually guaranteed. It’s just a matter of how long it will take based on how focused you stay on the step by step.
A lot of people talk about having a great mindset but the reality is that your mindset is abstract until you actually make choices. When a challenge hits, are you able to respond, because you have set things up in that way, or are you going to be in reaction mode?
Like everyone, we were blindsided by the global pandemic. Yet, how we responded made the difference. We did 5.5 M in revenue last year, up from 3.8M revenue in 2019. The foundations built and team support kept the company moving forward. Viewing challenges as opportunities and really showing up to serve despite everything made us successful.
And, most importantly, to us, we were able to support our member lawyers to stay in the game, when they wanted to give up. We knew that if a member lawyer was in a place of breakdown, their breakthrough was right around the corner, and by helping them to get refocused on what really matters -- their health, their families, their clients, and their time and money, we saw every single one of them go on to have their biggest month ever within 2 months of reaching out due to a breakdown.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
We are excited to be investing in creating more success for our member lawyers so we can make it even easier for them to educate and serve the families and business owners in their communities. That’s huge for us over the next year. We know our success is based on our clients’ success. So we’ve hired a CMO at New Law Business Model, and we’re ready to begin national branding and advertising so the name Personal Family Lawyer becomes a trusted source for anyone looking for a lawyer for their family or business.
Over the next five years, we hope to transition the ownership of the New Law Business Model to a shared ownership model, in which our members are the owners, and I get to be just one of the member-owners!
At Eyes Wide Open, we are putting together our LIFT, Leverage and Scale program for business owners who are ready to take their business from dependent on them to supported by a team, with the right income model, team members, and legal, insurance, financial and tax systems to support them. We hope to serve a minimum of 150 business owners in that program this year.
And, personally, I’m invested in a land project/community in Costa Rica where I look forward to living for most of the year, once my kids are out on their own.
Have you read any good books in the last year?
I’ve read so many. I can recommend Business Made Simple by Donald Miller. I actually had my whole team read that one! Also, Rich as F--ck by Amanda Francis, Undaunted by Kara Goldin, Team Human by Douglas Rushkoff, Existential Kinkby Carolyn Elliott, Ph.D, Untamed by Glennon Doyle, Money: The True Story of a Made-up Thing by Jacob Goldstein, and Dark Money by Jane Mayer.
I also really enjoy podcasts that broaden my knowledge and understanding of people’s lives and business and the way that the economy works. I’ve been listening to the Life Coach School Podcastwith Brooke Castillo nearly religiously, Ali Brown’s Glambition Radio, Rebel Wisdom, Planet Money, and The Indicator.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
I see a lot of entrepreneurs make the mistake of investing in marketing before they have a clear offer and client engagement process. Marketing will not work unless you have a service you believe in and are happy to deliver along with a client engagement process that has people signed up and committed to engaging with that service, at a price that pays you enough to deliver a great experience. People think marketing is sexy and want to do that. But, really, marketing should be the last thing you focus on.
My best advice? Check out my LIFT Blueprint. It will help you focus on the right investments of time, energy, attention, and money at the right time, depending on where you are in your business (or if you are considering starting a business) right now. If you focus on the right things at the right time and make the right investments in the right order, your success is virtually guaranteed. It’s just a matter of how long it will take based on how focused you stay on the step by step.
Here’s the order you should work from:
- Create a Service or Product You Love to Offer
- Price and Package That Service or Product to Pay You Enough to Deliver a Great Outcome
- Learn to Sell That Service or Product Really Well and Then Automate as Much of the Sales Process As You Can
- Finally, and last FOCUS ON MARKETING to drive as many people as possible into your sales process, or client engagement system.
Master these first. Creating a foundation that is the right size for where you are - gives you the confidence to make the right financial investment at the right time and not get way-layed by conflict and costly problems.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We are currently looking for a remote, Lead Mentor Attorney. We have more information on this position and will post any future openings.
Where can we go to learn more?
- New Law Business Model
- Eyes Wide Open Life
- Clubhouse @alikatz
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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