Running a successful law firm means being able to navigate chaos and change. In this episode of Your Practice Mastered, Attorney Andres Mejer shares the story of growing his firm from nothing , and the mindset it takes to handle the inevitable ups and downs along the way.

Richard James and MPS speak with Attorney Andres Mejer, the very first Entrepreneurial Attorney of the Year champion.  Tune in to gain insight from Attorney Andres' journey on leading through uncertainty and focusing your practice for sustainable growth.

Atty. Andres Mejer: Well, I walk five miles a day, every day. I train martial arts anywhere from two to four times a week. So that's, five to eight hours a week. In addition to the five miles that I walk every day, I've changed my diet. You know, I joined the bar as an attorney and I drank every single night. Now I drink, a drink once a week.

I don't even have the taste. For it that I mean, you look behind, there's lots of stuff there. It's been there for probably a year. It barely gets touched.

Richard James: Humidor is a little emptier than it was. I promise

Atty. Andres Mejer: That is for sure. Because as much as my doctor says I shouldn't do that. I'm like, listen, I can't cut out all things that are enjoyable in

MPS: One thing at a time. Yeah. One, know, just, you got to enjoy life.

I'm not sure that I ever needed to, but at the time I really felt that I needed to and we all have to go through that, right? So Suggestions to a someone who's listening to that. Take care of yourself because no one else is going to do it for you.

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MPS: Hey, law firm owners. Welcome to the Your Practice Mastered podcast. We're your host.

I'm MPS.

Not only are you a champion of EAY, you're a captain and a volunteer in our world and someone I consider a friend. So I just want to thank you for being on today.

Atty. Andres Mejer: It's my pleasure to be with all of you. MPS I frankly never heard you refer to yourself as MPS, but congratulations. It sounds very much like that promoter score, but conversation another time.

Richard James: Well, okay. So what's the right way to say your last name?

Halfway through the meeting before they realized they were talking about me, and they thought because my last name was mayor, that I actually was the mayor. Like, I'm sorry guys, I'm not an elected official.

MPS: Oh, that's great.

Richard James: So MPS went with MPS because as you well know, my last name, proper last name is Strauch.

Atty. Andres Mejer: By the way, it's easier to pronounce than mine. I'm fine with Strauch.

Richard James: Well, you get it right, but I promise you. It's as challenging and as difficult for us to explain. So, anyway, I'm looking forward to today's conversation. Michael, why don't you kick us off?

MPS: Yeah. I mean, look, Andres, obviously we've had the pleasure to get to know you. But not everyone listening to this does. So what is something that maybe not everybody knows about you?

Language, even though it was my first language. So I speak three languages, and despite all of that, it took me a decade until I realized it. You know, immigration is right for me. I mean, you would think speaking multiple languages, living, having these experiences.

Richard James: Given you a clue that this is a.

Atty. Andres Mejer: You would think that would be the first thing I went to.

I did not take a single immigration law course in law school. And I'm entirely self taught on the immigration side. And Well, not and it's like, really?

Richard James: Yeah.

I think I'm better off because of it, but I'm still surprised that stupidity that I sometimes see for things that to me are obvious. I don't understand why they're not obvious to others. I'm sure you guys speak to business owners that feel that way, meaning why am I not getting the results that I want?

What do you mean? I just need more leads. What do you mean? I have to market. What do you mean I'm a business? I'm an attorney. I have a practice, you know? So yeah, happy to go into any of these things in more detail, because to be honest, all I've learned, I learned from Rich, so I'm happy to repeat Rich's stuff here to answer any questions that I can.

We don't have to go into a big discussion about it, but I just want you to know that I recognize you're going through something there and it's got to be distracting. It's got to be sitting on your heart. And so I really do appreciate you coming on today, though you're going through these challenges.

MPS: Absolutely.

Atty. Andres Mejer: Unfortunately, none of them get to choose the times we live in. We can only make the best of the time that we have, whether that's a hurricane, whether that's a financial crisis, or war. You know, leaders aren't born, they're made.

Richard James: did you still have staff and PV as well?

Atty. Andres Mejer: I have one soon to be two, but they're remote. They're actually former employees that came back.

Sometimes it's difficult to understand what we're supposed to be prioritizing right now. And sometimes it's hard to get our head clear that. We need to keep prioritizing the things that move our business. But, you know, because today is about a business podcast, we're going to focus there but I think we want to get back to your journey, Michael, I took you off track a little bit there. I'm sorry.

MPS: No I think it was important.

Atty. Andres Mejer: I can do that, the tangents.

MPS: But that, we appreciate that. And I think that was important. And I think it's important to acknowledge you know, what's going on, obviously standing by everyone during that time. But Andres, why don't you take us down a little bit of the broad strokes of your journey as an entrepreneurial law for a moment.

Admitted in June, married in October, find out we're expecting in November, moved to New Jersey in December. And guess what?

MPS: That's a half of a quarter that's happen.

Atty. Andres Mejer: My wife was not licensed in New Jersey. It took her two years. We went from making high six figures each of us. To making 50,00 one of us, you know, from a

Richard James: With the family on the way.

And my first client was the girlfriend of one of my movers because they spoke Spanish. She didn't speak English. She had a traffic violation. I'm like, I've never stepped into municipal court. I had no idea. Shit. Excuse me. I don't know anything about New Jersey law. I mean, I've been practicing in New York, right?

All of a sudden I'm, you know, going to municipal court for someone I don't know. By the way, never got paid on, find out, get paid first. That was a lesson to learn, but I walked in judges visibly frustrated speaking to a Mexican national. Doesn't speak English. No translators. I'm like, your honor. I'm happy to help.

He was so thrilled. I walked out with three clients and my client, all charges dismissed. That's how happy he was. She still didn't pay me.

Richard James: And she still didn't.

They just process stuff. Man, I can beat them without thinking. How can I market? So I learned too that there's something called junk mail. Well, jail mail we call it. We can purchase leads and we can do direct mail. Great. I did that. And I got robbed. And how did I realize that? Because I was doing, I was working 9 to 5 and then every single night I would print, handwrite, live stamp, and fill an envelope two to 400 every single night.

And I did it often enough. I started recognizing the names. Wait a minute. That looks familiar.

And I suddenly realized, they are selling me these stained leads, and over again.

MPS: Oh, man.

Atty. Andres Mejer: That was 10, 000 I didn't have. Right. I've

Richard James: Well, Hey, thank goodness you were the one writing the envelopes, right? There's a headline for you write your own direct mail envelopes so you know when you're getting screwed, right? Because I mean, otherwise you could have, that could have been going on for months.

I mean, I was one of five in my graduating high school. And you know, that was no longer the case, except I'm the American looking Hispanic guy. The other four were American, but they very much look Hispanic. I do not. And ironically, we both married blonde hair, blue eyed women, but my kids speak Spanish.

We all go, immigrants go through, make sacrifices. It is not difficult to go to a new country. Mind you, I spoke English. I grew up here, but I left for Israel and I came back on vacation and decided to stay. And then I got permission from the military to stay and go back to college and then go to law school, met my wife who says Israel is beautiful, but I'm American and this is home.

Here we are. I came back for two weeks on vacation and I've stayed 25 years. So plans kind of changed. So here we are in New Jersey, have one child, another one on the way, broke, starting a new family starting a new business. And I don't know anything about traffic or DUI or criminal. I'm a civil

Did you learn that or did you just do it because you didn't have like the machinery and anything else to print?

Atty. Andres Mejer: I didn't know any better. I later learned that there's easier ways to do it. But at the time I had no idea. I'm like, Oh, step, there we go. That's another one. Crap. I would sit there and watch TV and two or three hours after dinner every single night. I mean, it sucked. But I was relatively new to back to New Jersey, right?

Like, oh, I've been interested in immigration. Let's do that. I have a seminar. We choose a seminar at a local school. I was in Long Branch. This is Long Branch High School because they have a large immigrant population. The day we choose happens to later be the day that the policy gets enacted. Local congressman comes.

We have five foreign based attorneys. We're a staff about 32 and we're hiring 12 more. So our biggest problem right now is not is not growing the practice. Our biggest problem is finding the right people in order to grow the practice. We don't have a lead problem. We don't have a generation problem.

Yes, we can convert better. Our biggest challenge for the past couple of years is building middle management, building leadership, finding the right people that we can groom so that we can scale. And we can unpack all of that.

Richard James: So, one quick thing you tell, you just said that Kim has been working with you for 10 years. Can you please pass her our condolences?

Richard James: I've worked with my bride for 30 years, and so I understand. I get to say congratulations and my condolences.

Atty. Andres Mejer: When it's great. When it sucks, woo, it really sucks. Problems don't go away.

Richard James: I married an East Coast Italian bride. She can throw stuff at me fast, like, you know, cat food cans and things like that. Like, yeah, she can hurl them.

So I just became a really good ducker through the years.

Atty. Andres Mejer: If it me feel better, that's a crime. I'm sure we can find a way to get her arrested.

Richard James: Yeah. Right.

Atty. Andres Mejer: I know you in and all, but even there, I'm kidding guys, my wife's from South South Carolina for those of you who don't know.

Richard James: We're all joking, just a little bit. All right. So, yeah, what a crazy journey. So I guess, Michael, the next best question is what?

Atty. Andres Mejer: So interestingly, I had a conversation sometime back, you know, with John Alexander, Rich, your former business partner. And he explained it kind of this scenario, you know, think of it as a bar graph, as you're growing your business, there are going to be points where it's going to go up, then it gets chaotic. Maybe it goes back down chaos. Maybe then goes back up. Well, I'm off camera.

But the point is, even growth causes chaos. The system you have today, you're gonna break. The people that get you to half a million may not be there for a million, may not be there for 2 million.

So, if your goal is to grow a practice, right? I took it from nothing to about half a million without any input from anybody.

Yeah, I had some business consultants. All they did is charge me time and money and really didn't do anything. Matter of fact, when I first met Rich, I thought he was nuts. He wanted me to pay him four times more than my business consultant and my business consultant come to my office for four hours every Friday and Rich, I get 30 minutes a month.

I'm like, what the hell is wrong with you? How is that possibly a good idea? You know, but here we are eight years later. So maybe there was something, maybe nine. Maybe there was something to that, but during that process, I've changed practice areas, I've changed staff, I've changed offices, I've changed vendors.

And that means there's going to be less hires. And that means there's going to be less money. So in the past, I looked at the bank. Is there money in the bank? Life's good. I can make payroll, no money in the bank. Crap! What do I do?

Look, we can't change the fact that if a hurricane happens, Life changes, you know, if a new president is elected, policies change, irrespective of whether you're Republican or Democrat, change is change.

And when you're, if you're a bankruptcy attorney, or if you're a immigration attorney where federal law matters, social security, who's in charge will not affect something from one day to the next, but six months or a year, those policies will affect. You don't understand all of a sudden, well, this was a million dollar case.

Richard James: That's funny. You've lived through Hurricane Sandy, then you lived through a pandemic. I mean, you've been through it.

Atty. Andres Mejer: And even through Sandy, I didn't lose money.

Richard James: Yeah.

Atty. Andres Mejer: COVID was the first time since the opening of my practice that I lost money. And I lost money for two years. And that's because I didn't take your advice and just lay people off. Not that you said, fire your whole team. You didn't do that. You said, make sure you maintain profitability.

But I kept them on and then I used the PPP. Would I have been better off if I had just cut everything? Maybe, but that's just not me. I can't do that.

I'm curious. So, you were you're saying the word business owner, which I love and you love and Michael loves, but many of the law firm owners that are listening right now didn't actually go into Being a law firm owner, thinking they were gonna be a business owner, they thought they were gonna be a practitioner of law.

I'm curious, it sounds like, and I think I'm right about this, that you didn't think about being a practitioner of law. You actually saw it as owning a business, or did you not, when you first opened

Atty. Andres Mejer: so

Richard James: how did go from there?

Atty. Andres Mejer: From college on, I always, am I going to be in business or am I going to be an attorney?

So I graduated Rutgers University. I got a full ride scholarship at their honors program, which I left when I went to Israel.

Richard James: Huh?

Richard James: Okay.

Atty. Andres Mejer: Which I left because I hated statistics.

Oh, my God. I took that course three times and I couldn't handle it. But I wound up leaving. I moved to Israel. I came back. And I said, I just want to finish as quickly as possible because I have military obligations. Let me do this in two years. I dumped the program and I just graduated. Then I went to law school and I started focusing on a joint JD MBA.

I went to Brooklyn Law School. They have a joint program with Baruch College and I was fine. But after five years of working seven days a week. Working full time when I was an undergraduate, studying at night, and working full time in law school, and studying at night, I didn't have the energy to do another year.

I just wanted out. So I did a four year program in three and a half years. Brooklyn Law School was kind enough to make me pay for that another semester, which is why they've not gotten a single dollar from me and never will again. Yeah, nothing like forcing someone to pay for something they didn't need.

So I had to go out and find where people were and what kind of business I was in. And I was always looking for, how can I advertise? How can I market? I didn't even understand that those were the terms. I was just looking about how can I inform, there are people out there that have a problem. How can I let them know I'm here to solve their problem?

But it wasn't like you didn't understand the temperament back then. You have always had as long as I've known you a temperament to understand. There's going to be good times, and there's going to be bad times. We just have to figure out how to weather the storm in between and handle what's in front of us.

And so, I don't know, is that a skill that you learned? Were you born that way? Like, how do you think about

that

Atty. Andres Mejer: So I'd like to think I was born that way, but the reality is. I have had a life I don't wish on anyone, so I've seen what the bad is, and really bad, I mean, you know, I was going to jail to visit family members when I was younger and I've seen the bad that, look, my earliest memories are don't touch a box in the street because it could be a bomb, don't talk to strangers because you may never see your parents again, like, you know, we talk about some of that, I lived through that, and that's the PG version.

Richard James: You and I know people who have done that.

Atty. Andres Mejer: Oh yeah.

Richard James: You and I know people who have done that and who have thought that their best October was going to be their best November. And maybe they were right. And it was their best November. And then, and all that did is reinforce their bad decisions. And then they, their best December and then they started increasing expenses and payroll and all these things to build up their infrastructure or operational expense.

And then whammo. January or February is terrible and then they get saved a little bit in the next month in March but then they have a bad one in April, May and June and before you know it they're like upside down and they think it started in June but it really started in October when they made the decision that it was just going to be on a great path from that point forward, you agree with that?

I've told him not to do what he did. He did it anyway. Okay, you know, he had two good months. He's had two bad months. His expenses are ballooning. He's gonna have a problem in two to three months unless his large hopeful expectations materialize. The reality is it never materializes that way. So, you know, we always have to hedge.

What happens? You increase expenses at the same time that income goes down. What happens comes January. You have less hair. Oh, sorry. Too late.

Richard James: Yeah, I tell you, so, for me, it wasn't this business. It wasn't the funeral. It was the pet supply business that I owned, and that was inventory, not staff. And so I used to have yellow legal pads full of notes, projections, convincing my wife why we need to take on the next line of credit to be able to buy the next batch of inventory because the new customers that have it.

We have already preordered it and how it was going to, it's already sold and everything is good. And then before, you know, we ordered the next batch of inventory, the customers did pre buy it, but the batch of inventory got stuck on a ship on the way from China. And it was delayed by six months.

Look, I'm an opportune, I'm a positive mental attitude kind of guy. Like, I would go as far as saying this morning, the first thing I did is wake up to check, to make sure the hairdryer is working, right. That's how optimistic I am. Okay. But it has gotten me in trouble at times in business.

Being too optimistic and not having enough realization of what's actually happening. And what you said earlier is having that data has been able to give you clarity on what's really going on. And so I don't know. I got a little hot there, cause I see so many law firm owners go through this, right.

I just met with one the other day. I had a conversation with them and I'm talking them through their challenges. And like one thing led to another, before I knew it, I realized they were almost 800, 000 in debt in a law firm with no inventory. I didn't understand. I mean, my mind was blown.

MPS: No, but super valuable.

Atty. Andres Mejer: Irrespective of where a business is, right? Are they half a million? Are they a million? Are they two million or three million? Right now we're talking to attorneys and we're talking law firms, but law firm is a business, whether they recognize it or not. And if you don't recognize it, you probably shouldn't be in our world.

And you might not be in business very long because if you're a business owner and you don't consider yourself, if you own your practice, and you don't realize you're a business, you either be working for someone else or you're going to be unhappy. So whether you like it or not, whether you agree or not, it's reality, it's a fact, you just got to deal with it.

Oh, my God. You mean those 5, 000 a month of spending is not bringing me a single client? Huh? Maybe I shouldn't spend that. So

Richard James: And better. Maybe I should spend it somewhere else. Right.

MPS: Yeah.

Atty. Andres Mejer: Irrespective of where on the paradigm your business is. There's always about data, people and systems, you know, Mark Lamona says people profit and process.

MPS: Yep.

And in that one, we're not taking every type of immigration case anymore, either. We're being more selective. And the end result is we're more profitable. We have a more systematized approach and we're happier, right? Well, there's still other challenges. Look, I work mostly from home. I'm not saying my wife agrees with that.

That's a different challenge because she works better in office. So it's ironic. She's in the office every day and I'm not, I'm like, well, there's nothing wrong with that.

MPS: Yep.

Atty. Andres Mejer: You know, the changes that you need to do will depend on where your business is, where your business is. If you don't have data, you don't know.

And then our production team, which is our highest level case managers and attorneys that make sure we move paper. At the end of the day, I'm a paper mover. That's my function as an attorney. I think I'm really damn good at it. But one of the things that we're good at is determining who's who we can help and who we can't qualify.

Like, again, self taught. I don't understand why people don't focus on that, but most attorneys don't. Thank God they don't. I can't tell you how many times people have asked me, Why did nobody else tell me this? I don't know. To me, it's obvious.

And more clearly identify the qualified types of clients that you actually want to work with. And so that is that in itself is like a lesson like that. We could just cut that out, give that. And that is like, do that, right? Just focus on the most highest, most profitable clients that you can build a process around.

And your business will be stronger and better because of it. And it solves an awful lot of problems. If you can do that, it takes a while to learn and it took you a while to get there, but here you are today.

Atty. Andres Mejer: kicking and screaming. You know, because some of these are high value cases. Like some of these criminal cases are twenty, thirty thousand dollars apiece. So, initially, we went off counsel, we took in the case or we, you know, we split it with the firm that we referred it to, but our clients kept on complaining that they weren't, their phone calls weren't being returned.

And this is what you got to deal with. On the immigration side, removal work was our highest value cases, but with the government dysfunction, it was our highest cost case. So our profit was practically non existent. We still don't track our time. So, we're not a hundred percent on that data, but we know just because it was $20,000, we weren't making $20,000.

Richard James: Weren't worth it. And it was about being a bottleneck in the rest of the place. Hey, Michael, I want to keep us on time. Where do you want to go from here?

Atty. Andres Mejer: Well, I walk five miles a day, every day. I train martial arts anywhere from two to four times a week. So that's, five to eight hours a week. In addition to the five miles that I walk every day, I've changed my diet. You know, I joined the bar as an attorney and I drank every single night. Now I drink, a drink once a week.

I don't even have the taste. For it that I mean, you look behind, there's lots of stuff there. It's been there for probably a year. It barely gets touched.

Richard James: Humidor is a little emptier than it was. I promise

Atty. Andres Mejer: That is for sure. Because as much as my doctor says I shouldn't do that. I'm like, listen, I can't cut out all things that are enjoyable in

MPS: One thing at a time. Yeah. One, know, just, you got to enjoy life.

I'm not sure that I ever needed to, but at the time I really felt that I needed to and we all have to go through that, right? So Suggestions to a someone who's listening to that. Take care of yourself because no one else is going to do it for you.

Richard James: Yeah. Amen.

MPS: Amen to that.

We only have 18 years for the most part, right? So find the time, make sure your business or your practice, whatever term you want to use, does not become the entirety of your world. Because if that's gone, then so is all meaning for you. So find meaning with God, with your family, with your friends, whatever that works, find meaning for who you are and what you are outside of your profession.

So take care of yourself, take care of your family and understand you can learn more about all of this, how to take a business. You're working for someone else and you want to figure out how to go on your own. You're on your own and you're just starting out. You've been on your own for many years, but you haven't gotten the success that you wanted.

But maybe you're comfortable. You know, maybe you make half a million. You keep 200, 000, but you're in Louisiana and 200, 000 means a whole lot more than it does in New Jersey. I'm not saying that 200, 000 is a lot of money. That's not my point. But when your taxes are 30, 000 a year, you know, everything kind of changes.

Richard James: Great advice. I love it. Hey, Michael, that, that brings us about to the end of the pod today. Keep them on track. Where, what do you want them to do if they are enjoying today's show?

MPS: Yeah, I mean, look, to the law firm owners that just listened today, first off, jeez, so many great lessons throughout this entire podcast today. So Andres, I appreciate it, yeah very good. But for all those listening, if you got some value today, make sure to hit that like button depending on the platform you're listening or watching on, hit that subscribe or follow button, turn those bell notifications on and then comment down below.

Give some love to Andres for just the value he dropped today because wow, there was a lot of lessons and we just appreciate you taking the time to

Atty. Andres Mejer: and I'm happy to answer any questions that anybody that wants to reach out and have a conversation. I mean, I can't promise to give you hours and hours of time, but 15, 20 minutes. I can always do.

Atty. Andres Mejer: That's a really good question. Because anyway, you find you will not have direct access to me.

Richard James: That's true. So what do you want to put in the pot? What do you want to put in the subject line? So they get through to you.

Atty. Andres Mejer: My personal email is my first name, Andres@AndresMejerLaw.com.

Richard James: Got it.

Atty. Andres Mejer: Even if you screw up my name, when you Google it, you'll find the right domain. It's just my first name app. So email me. It's the easiest way to get me directly. I'm not saying it's the fastest. But, I will certainly get it. Or reach out to Rich and Mike and they can always set something up.

if you're already in our world, you know how to reach me, right? If you're not in a world and you're not, and I'm not here to promote joining our world or not, but if you have questions about your particular journey and where you are in life and something I've said resonates with you, I'm happy to help you unpack.

And you just have a wonderful, warm spirit. You have a great, successful business. You have a wonderful family. You're blessed to have Kim alongside of you in your family that you have. Again, my thoughts and prayers to those that are in Israel right now that are going through what they're going through.

But I just want to say, thank you for being on today. Thank you for investing your time. And yet again, giving of yourself to our world and a nation.

Atty. Andres Mejer: Givers get, you've said it, and I believe it. So plenty of people along this path helped me to get to where I am today. John Alexander was one of them. You and I have had many conversations, Rich, where, you know, look, you give me credit for implementing. Obviously, change doesn't happen if we don't change.

Richard James: You're welcome. You're welcome.