As high-achieving law firm owners, striking a balance between professional ambition and personal fulfillment is a challenge many face. On the latest episode of “The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast,” Darren Wurz sits down with Chris Earley, founder of Early Law Group, to delve into this delicate balance. Their conversation offers powerful insights for lawyers striving to achieve financial independence while maintaining a meaningful personal life.

Focus on Presence and Helping Others

Chris Earley emphasizes the profound improvements in his career from adopting a more focused, productive, and humble approach. His secret? Staying present and actively helping others. Despite being in a low-profit phase due to scaling his firm and reinvesting, Chris believes that personal growth and focus lead to a more profitable and meaningful life.

Identifying Authentic Life Goals

One of the significant challenges Darren Wurz points out is getting law firm owners to identify their authentic life goals beyond mere business achievements. Both Darren and Chris advocate for prioritizing life experiences and family over purely business and financial gains, challenging the common misconception that one must work tirelessly and delay enjoying life until retirement.

Living in the Present

Chris Earley’s journey underscores the importance of living in the present and enjoying life as it unfolds. He stresses that life is unpredictable, making it crucial to savor the journey instead of fixating on the destination. This perspective is a refreshing reminder to law firm owners to unplug and relax, as illustrated by Darren’s personal experience of taking a well-needed break.

Meditation, Mindfulness, and Boundary Setting

Meditation is a pivotal practice for Chris, improving both his personal and professional life. He likens it to mental exercise, benefiting all his roles—husband, father, and leader. Chris shares strategies for time management and boundary setting, such as not taking unscheduled calls, employing assistants for scheduling, and limiting call durations. Both he and Darren agree on the necessity of controlling calendar availability to block time for specific tasks and reduce email-related stress.

Avoiding Lawyer Burnout

Burnout is a significant risk for ambitious individuals. During the pandemic, Chris experienced intense stress, which led him to prioritize self-care through meditation and journaling. This personal journey was a reminder of the pressures in the legal profession, often driven by stereotypes of needing to be stressed and aggressive. Chris advocates for a kinder approach, emphasizing empathy and client satisfaction.

Implementing Efficient Systems

Chris and Darren explore effective systems for managing workload, including using assistants to handle emails and implementing a structured folder system, as endorsed by Darren through the Inbox Zero method. Chris appreciates stoicism’s impact on his life, reading daily materials like “The Daily Stoic” and “The Daily Dad,” which foster neutrality and gratitude.

Generosity, Trust, and Vulnerability

Generosity and servant leadership are paramount for Chris. He underscores the importance of vulnerability, trust, and genuine communication within his team. Serving clients with empathy, beyond merely resolving legal issues, is essential. He advocates connecting with clients on their level, devoid of arrogance.

The Law Firm Vision

Chris’s vision for Early Law Group is to operate independently, allowing him to take long vacations without the firm relying on his daily involvement. This aligns with his goal for personal freedom and business sustainability. Ultimately, Chris aims to sell his business if his children choose not to take over, focusing on the broader business aspects rather than traditional legal practices.

Staying Connected and Learning More

Chris encourages lawyers to connect with him on LinkedIn and subscribe to his email newsletter, “Practice Tip of the Week,” sent out every Tuesday at 6:30 AM to nearly 800 subscribers. The newsletter shares valuable content on self-care, boundary setting, meditation, and professional development.

Conclusion

In summary, this episode of “The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast” highlights the importance of balancing ambition with fulfillment, aligning financial success with personal life goals. Chris Earley’s insights and strategies are invaluable for law firm owners seeking to achieve both professional growth and personal well-being.

Resources:

• Schedule a Call with Darren
• Wurz Financial Services
• The Lawyer Millionaire: The Complete Guide for Attorneys on Maximizing Wealth, Minimizing Taxes, and Retiring with Confidence by Darren Wurz
• LinkedIn: Darren P. Wurz
• The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast and Book ClubTo connect with podcast guests and other law firm owners, discuss these topics further, and access our quarterly book club, join our LinkedIn Podcast and Book Club

Connect with Chris Earley:

• Linkedin: Christopher Earley
• Website: Earley Law Group
• Newsletter: Practice Tip of the Week

Transcript:

Darren Wurz [00:00:00]:
Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. Today, Chris early shares how he’s learned to balance ambition with finding true purpose in his career and life. Welcome to the Lawyer Millionaire podcast, where we help ambitious law firm owners expand their businesses, maximize their profits, and grow their wealth. Today, we’ll dive into a topic every high achiever struggles with. Balancing your drive to succeed with finding fulfillment in your career and personal life. We’re joined today by Chris early, founder of Early Law Group, who has mastered this delicate balance.

Intro [00:00:43]:
We are on a mission to help lawyers and law firm owners maximize wealth and achieve financial independence. Welcome to the Lawyer Millionaire with Darren Wurz from Wurz Financial Services.

Darren Wurz [00:00:57]:
So, Chris, thank you so much for being here today. You’ve built a very highly successful law firm focused on personal injury. But, you know, sometimes success comes at a price. Was there ever a point at which you felt like your ambition was pushing you toward burnout or away from what truly matters?

Chris Earley [00:01:17]:
Yeah, like every day. No, that’s the tricky part, right? You’re a lot of people on this call, they’re very driven, very ambitious, and there’s a, there’s a fine line of, of burning out, you know, due to that ambition. So I think you have to be sort of intentional, mindful. I write a lot about self care. I’m very passionate about self care. So I think you can have it, your cake and eat it too. You can be super ambitious, driven, motivated, but yet also have grace, you know, for yourself and, and, and kindness to yourself that helps you become, I think, most importantly, better at home and as a added benefit, better in the office around the people who are helping you, supporting you to further your. Your goals and, you know, in line with your, your determination, your drive, your ambition.

Chris Earley [00:02:05]:
So that’s what I try to lean into, Darren, is just, you know, yeah, hard charging, driven, but self care and like, take care of myself. Because without that, what’s the point of this, you know? Yeah.

Darren Wurz [00:02:17]:
What did that come from for you? Was there an experience you went through or how did, how did you get kind of focused on this?

Chris Earley [00:02:24]:
So in the pandemic, you know, I share the story a lot because it kind of changed my career, changed my. Changed my life. I was brushing my teeth and I thought, oh, my God, I missed a statute of limitations on this case. I was just thinking about this case. You know, a lot of lawyers on the call, right? You. You have these moments of, you know, whether you’re in the shower, wherever you are, at the car wash, you’re thinking about practice, your cases. It’s like this thing that’s always with you. And so that day, I had a.

Chris Earley [00:02:47]:
I was petrified. I said, oh, my God, I. I missed the statue of Limitations. I’m gonna get sued. I’m screwed. And then I said, okay, then you gotta get a grip on yourself. So I was looking out the window, my bathroom. I was like, I need to do something.

Chris Earley [00:02:57]:
I found meditation. And I talk about that all the time. Like, and I encourage the audience, whatever it is. Maybe you’re not into meditation. Maybe you’re into yoga. Maybe you’re into reading. Like, whatever it is that helps you take care of yourself, center you, give you a little bit of peace. I think that’s really important.

Chris Earley [00:03:13]:
It was very important for me then once I started doing that, I started journaling. That gave, you know, be good peace of mind and kind of solace when things get stressful because I have a, you know, growing practice, a lot of demands, and so try to be kind to myself and keep things in perspective. Right. I mean, handling, you know, being a lawyer really, really important. But it’s not the end of the world. Like, it’s not really the end all. Be all. I think taking care of yourself is.

Chris Earley [00:03:39]:
Is really that important to focus on.

Darren Wurz [00:03:42]:
Such a great perspective. We. We get so wrapped up in. In running our businesses. I can definitely relate to that as a business owner. Being in the shower, you’re thinking about that client meeting or that task you didn’t do. Oh, crap. I need to.

Darren Wurz [00:03:57]:
I need to write that down before I forget.

Chris Earley [00:03:59]:
100 all the time. Right?

Darren Wurz [00:04:02]:
Wow. Yep. Yep. Why meditation? Where does that. What does that do for you?

Chris Earley [00:04:09]:
Do you meditate or.

Darren Wurz [00:04:10]:
No, I’ve dabbled.

Chris Earley [00:04:13]:
Okay. Okay. So you kind of. You kind of get it. It’s just, you know, for those who haven’t dabbled or gotten into it, it’s. It’s rigorous. It’s hard to sit there. It’s challenging to sit there with your thoughts.

Chris Earley [00:04:24]:
Like, it’s like lifting weights with your mind. And. And always it’s an exercise. You’re doing. Those reps. Coming back to the present. Back to the present. I do it every morning.

Chris Earley [00:04:34]:
I don’t know. I feel like that’s been like this, this. This hack. If there is such a hack in my life, is that has helped me to be a better husband. This is what I care about most. Like, being a better husband, better father, and then being a better leader, a better leader of my organization. That’s really what I care about. But, you know, anyone on this call has.

Chris Earley [00:04:55]:
Has a lot of Balls in the air, juggling a lot. You have to find peace. You have to find something that, you know, obviously we all have a lot of stress, but you have to be able to find that center. Maybe it’s, you know, playing tennis, whatever it really is, but that’s all that matters, like we said earlier, right? Nothing else. You can’t be an asset to your family or your practice, your clients without being good to yourself, showing love, care and concern to yourself. I think it’s really important.

Darren Wurz [00:05:22]:
Yeah, yeah, 100%. Why? Why is this something that. I mean, maybe this is an obvious thing thing, but why do so many law firm owners struggle with this?

Chris Earley [00:05:36]:
I think there’s this, there’s this narrative of like you’re supposed to be super stressed out and high strong and an a hole a lot. Right. A lot of lawyers, you know, there’s a reputation, they just have to like be kind of type A and hard charging. And I think there’s a better way to practice. I think there’s a deeper way to practice, a more meaningful way to practice law, to be kind to people, to be a giver. And I used to be a taker, Darren. For a lot of years I was a taker. And now it’s a little bit more realigned.

Chris Earley [00:06:06]:
Like, hey, give value. We just talked about LinkedIn earlier, before we started recording on LinkedIn, I would talk about, hey, send me referrals or here’s a review we just got. It’s like, here’s something that I’m dealing with that I hope can help you. Trying to provide value, Trying to give something. Because I don’t have a whole lot of expertise, but I like to share as much as I have, which fits in a thimble, I’m sure. But you know, just being a giver and being humbled, right? Super humble to have a team that comes to work every day. Super humble to have all that I have. So I like to stay grounded.

Chris Earley [00:06:41]:
So personally, my outlet for that, obviously, as I said, is meditation, whatever it is, for you, the listener, I would really encourage that because you will burn out and you will. A lot of lawyers end up divorced to depressed, anxious, suicide, addiction. I’m just actually completing a memoir right now about my struggles with mental health, my struggle, you know, my. My journey through therapy. And so therapy helped me, along with meditation, to quiet the noise. Because as an attorney, you know, business owner, whoever you are, if you have a lot of stress, you can sometimes. I know personally I would catastrophize things and that I found an outlet through meditation, whatever it is. Find that and sort of just.

Chris Earley [00:07:22]:
And I feel like, Darren, my career has like, taken off because I’m more focused, more productive, more humble. Right. It’s not all about me. Yeah. It’s like everything sort of like went up and I say that, you know, with knowledge that everything come down like we all have, you know, I could be dealt terrible news tomorrow. You never know. Right. Try to stay in the present, live for today, do the right thing today, help people, focus on the client, focus on my team and hopefully, you know, some of that.

Darren Wurz [00:07:47]:
Yeah. So you, you would say that this focus on. On being more present and being more balanced has actually made you more profitable.

Chris Earley [00:07:59]:
Oh, well, right. Yeah. Well, I should caveat. Right now I’m scaling my firm so I’m in a very low profit stage because I’m. I’m in that stage where reinvesting. Reinvesting investing. So I can’t be brutally honest. Right.

Chris Earley [00:08:14]:
So I will not. I will have put on. No errors here. No. So, yeah, we’re. We’re sort of taking less. But. But like, to me, like a more profitable life, I guess I’m.

Chris Earley [00:08:22]:
I’m finding. Yeah, those, those dividends, I guess.

Darren Wurz [00:08:26]:
I like that. You like it better.

Chris Earley [00:08:27]:
Yeah, just like that to me is more meaningful. Because honestly, Darren, like, the money comes. Like, you focus on taking care of yourself. So you’re a high. You’re at a high level, performing every day and just getting stuff done and giving and helping and caring. Business will come to you and, and then money. There’s a consequence of that, no question.

Darren Wurz [00:08:45]:
I love this. You know, Chris, in our work as financial planners who focus on law firm owners, what we try to do in our initial stages of engaging with clients is really tap into what are their authentic goals, like, what truly are their life aspirations. And I tell you, it’s so hard for some of our clients to just get down into, like, I’ll ask them, what are your goals? Like, what are some things that are really important to you over the next five years? Well, I want to bring on a couple more attorneys. I want to, you know, expand into this service area. And it’s all business focused. I’m like, gotta. We gotta step out of the business, into the life, you know, into what’s real. Because the end of the day, you’re so right.

Darren Wurz [00:09:38]:
Money comes and goes.

Chris Earley [00:09:39]:
Yes.

Darren Wurz [00:09:40]:
And our family, the moments we have, that’s all we really have.

Chris Earley [00:09:45]:
Thousand percent, that’s all we have. And that’s all we’re ever going to have. So let’s Be present and mindful on that. Right. But that’s really interesting that you just, you know, I love to hear about, you know, obviously you’re really, you know, aligned and working with attorneys, but interesting to hear a different take. Right. Because they’ll have the same pain points, you’ll have the same desires, fears. So tapping into for your clients, you know, what, what is your.

Chris Earley [00:10:08]:
As a financial planner, what is it that keeps people up at night? Right? What, what is that? Because we can figure out the, the life we want. We can sort of reverse engineer our professional lives to, to further that. But I, I can say, you know, a lot of lawyers, they, they’re, they’re a slave to their business and just, they serve the business. I think the business should serve you. Right? Business owner, the entrepreneur, right. You’re taking on the, all the risk, the expense. It’s your name on the line. It’s, it’s your, it’s your butt on the line.

Chris Earley [00:10:40]:
Right? So I think the more we can, you know, focus on that and get that right in our head. Right. In terms of like, no, the business supports me, I don’t support the business. That, to me, is how I engineer and kind of manipulate the structure of the business to have a. The best life I can engineer for myself, my family, very, you know, intentionally.

Darren Wurz [00:10:59]:
Yeah. And this is where the financial planning industry gets it so wrong, I think, because it’s all focused on work, work, work, work, work, and retire. And, you know, I mean, yes, we need to plan for the future, and that’s certainly a big part of what we do. But you’ve got to live life in the present too. So many people are waiting for that perfect moment. In my experience working with law firm owners, that perfect moment doesn’t come until you’re 65, 70 years old.

Chris Earley [00:11:32]:
Right.

Darren Wurz [00:11:32]:
And so many law firm owners are in their 70s, working extremely hard still today because they haven’t, they haven’t been able to step out, out of that grind. It’s a very difficult step to take.

Chris Earley [00:11:52]:
I can, I can understand that. Right. Like, we have this destination, right? So I’m 48, probably halfway through my career, and I can relate to that feeling of like, oh, just gotta, you know, at this end point. But like, like we said, we could be beset with bad news tomorrow. You know, God willing, that doesn’t happen. But like, what’s the point? Like, I mean, you know, God willing, I get to 65, there’s no guarantee. So, like, let’s get after it. Today I read, I think I read like Yesterday, the day before, like, you know, live today, like, you know, it sounds trite, but live today like there is no tomorrow.

Chris Earley [00:12:21]:
And that sort of like, gives you that grounded perspective. To me, that’s meaningful, right?

Darren Wurz [00:12:26]:
Yeah.

Chris Earley [00:12:27]:
I mean, that’s, that’s, that’s. That. That drives me to have the best life that I can, I can try to figure out. But this stuff is hard. Like, I don’t have any answers here. Like, this is all like, super stressful, super tough, but I think really worth it. But no matter where you are at your stage, if you’re older, if you’re younger, middle aged, like me, to your point, there is no end game. This is the game.

Chris Earley [00:12:48]:
This is the journey. Right? That’s the end point, the journey. It’s trite, like you said. We say it all the time, but, like, it’s easy to say. It’s harder to live that I feel like, because we get, you know, you know, you get, we get busy, we get caught up in life.

Darren Wurz [00:13:00]:
You get wrapped up.

Chris Earley [00:13:01]:
You get wrapped up. You get caught up in stuff and it’s normal. Right.

Darren Wurz [00:13:06]:
I recently took a week off. We went down to Fort Lauderdale and just spent a week at a resort. And I’m the same way as a business owner, I’m, you know, focused, Focused, focused all the time. After, like a couple of days of unplugging, then it’s like, boom. It just hits you, at least in my experience. And I’m like. And then I’m like, oh, wow.

Chris Earley [00:13:32]:
What hit you? What, what was that like?

Darren Wurz [00:13:34]:
Like, because, you know, I have people in place that are taking care of business, the business is running. And I’m like, wow, I can relax.

Chris Earley [00:13:45]:
That’s great.

Darren Wurz [00:13:47]:
It’s fascinating. Well, Chris, let’s dive a little bit more into some of your practice. You mentioned meditation. What are some other ways that you approach balancing the ambition of growing a firm with also staying present for your team, your clients and your family?

Chris Earley [00:14:05]:
So I just, I write a email. I have an email newsletter for attorneys, about 800 lawyers on this list. And I encourage the audience to sign up. It’s called Practice tip of the week dot com. If you go to practicetipoftheweek.com sign up, I’ll hit you with an email with value leading content. So, Darren, yesterday. The reason why I brought that up is yesterday, or I’m sorry, today’s Tuesday. This morning, Every Tuesday at 6:30 I have an email go out to hundreds of lawyers and lawyers actually open up these emails and read them.

Chris Earley [00:14:36]:
So I keep leaning into it anyway to Answer your question. I talked about today about self care, about boundaries, but not taking unscheduled calls, unscheduled meetings. I was, I, I talked about again, you know, stuff that I’m passionate about. Meditation, journaling, being graceful, you know, having grace for yourself. That has helped me. I think one word that sort of helped my career is being intentional. I probably never applied that to my business until just about, I say, five years ago. Right.

Chris Earley [00:15:07]:
Right before the pandemic. Being very intentional about. Because I wouldn’t have the time to do a podcast with you. Right. Which is what I want to do.

Darren Wurz [00:15:17]:
Yeah.

Chris Earley [00:15:18]:
If I was in structure my Business, you wouldn’t be able to go to Florida if you weren’t intentional about how you set up your fares, your business so you can relax and enjoy what you’ve sacrificed to build. Right. But those you probably you had, I’m sure you had to set up boundaries around a fence around your, your time and to protect that. Right. That’s, I think where a lot of lawyers get it wrong is we don’t set up that fence and we get run, run ragged, unfortunately. Yeah.

Darren Wurz [00:15:48]:
Boundaries can be a tough one. Tell us a little bit more about how you set boundaries in your firm with your calendar to, to, to keep, keep things like that.

Chris Earley [00:16:00]:
Well, for example, you know, like I wanted to get on, I wanted to be on your podcast, but I didn’t want to have to schedule it. So my amazing assistant does that for me. That frees me up, you know. And I have, I have great team members who, who know my telephone policy that I, I never, you know, I don’t take on schedule phone calls. My team members know we have very collapsed condensed meetings. We sort of get to it because this stuff adds up, you know, like little things, little things I’ll do if I know client is particularly chatty and we have a phone call scheduled. When we get on the phone, I’ll say, hey John, just, you know, we have 10 minutes for the call. Just being super up front.

Chris Earley [00:16:37]:
But what’s he going to say? Like, no, we’re going to talk for an hour. I don’t, you know, screw you early. Right. It’s like, like being very focused and not like just being pinging around. That has been so helpful to do what I like to do, which is these conversations. Right. Is like meaningful discussions like this that truly I hope help someone out there to maybe find a little more peace in their practice, set up some boundaries. I give you the listener permission.

Chris Earley [00:17:04]:
Right. You know, you’ve given yourself permission, Darren, to do that. For yourself. And I encourage the audience. You know, you have permission to engineer this thing just the way you like. And if you’re in a bad place, a toxic place, then get out like yesterday and go find somewhere else where you can be happy. Life’s too short.

Darren Wurz [00:17:21]:
Yeah, yeah, that’s a great tip. Start the call with the time expectation. Hey, I’ve only got 10 minutes. Hey, I’ve only got five minutes that way. You set that up front. It’s not a question mark. I’ve got a hard stop at 4:30 or whatever it is. Really great tip there.

Darren Wurz [00:17:41]:
Something I was just thinking about as well. You know, with your calendar, realizing you can control when your meetings are so you don’t have to open it up 8 to 5 Monday through Friday.

Chris Earley [00:17:53]:
Right. Big time. That’s so important. Right. Let’s get really. I like to time block things like to, you know, I have my own podcast, the early Show. I like to do it on, on Thursdays. Right.

Chris Earley [00:18:05]:
So my, my, my executive assistant knows, you know, we do it on Thursday. I know what I’m doing on Thursday and just sort of getting into this rhythm of being as effective as we can be within blocks of time. We get so much done. I feel like if we just focus on that and as I said, I have none of this figured out. I’m a student like all of us.

Darren Wurz [00:18:23]:
Yeah.

Chris Earley [00:18:23]:
But I think there’s a, there’s a lot of opportunity for us to innovate, you know, and improve.

Darren Wurz [00:18:28]:
I’m constantly, yeah, I’m constantly tweaking my calendar, trying to figure out what is perfect. I tried like bunching all my meetings in like two days, but then I found I was just like super exhausted. Yeah, I was like, okay, this, this can’t work. So having some, some like two hour blocks and then a break built in, that works really well for me so far. So we’ll see. It might change.

Chris Earley [00:18:56]:
Good, keep doing that. You found a little tweak, you know, just, just share. I would just want to share. Just earlier today I said to my executive assistant, I encourage everyone to get an executive assistant who’s super hun. Right. Super smart, has to be super organized, detail oriented. That’ll, that’ll free you up. That’ll give you hours and hours every week.

Chris Earley [00:19:17]:
I said to her, today, I said, I’m done. I don’t want to check my email. Right. I hear the credentials like please check, go in once a day and just look at it. So now I know I have eyes, an extra set of eyes on it. So then you Know, like you, I like to go on vacations too. We work hard. It’s nice to get out.

Chris Earley [00:19:34]:
I don’t want to be checking email on the beach, you know, from Florida or, like, from a ski slope. Like, that doesn’t get me too. That actually fills me with dread. Like, I don’t know about you, I hate email. Like, I was talking to a lawyer about this recently. Like, dread. It’s a dreadful experience. Like, oh, what’s in there? It’s just nice to have a little bit of, you know, someone else checking it for you, you know? Yeah.

Darren Wurz [00:19:55]:
Oh, 100. I’ve had my assistant going through my inbox for me for a year now.

Chris Earley [00:20:01]:
Okay. How has that been?

Darren Wurz [00:20:04]:
Oh, it’s amazing. I check my emails once a day.

Chris Earley [00:20:07]:
Okay.

Darren Wurz [00:20:08]:
After she has cleared out the inbox and put things in folders, I only look at one folder. She puts all the things that only I need to see or that. That. That I must see, rather in one folder. And then everything else she takes care of or routes to where it needs to go, you know, because what I found is I would spend a whole day in my inbox 100%, and not getting anything really done.

Chris Earley [00:20:33]:
Not getting anything. No, nothing. Not wasting time.

Darren Wurz [00:20:36]:
And, you know, I’ve got to not check my emails because if I go in there and I see an email from a client, instantly my brain is like, oh, no, what’s wrong? What even it might be. It might be like, hey, it might be things are awesome, but I, like, I catastrophize everything.

Chris Earley [00:20:53]:
Totally. Same, same, same, same. I get it.

Darren Wurz [00:20:57]:
And I’m like, there was so much to do. But then when you actually look at it, it’s like, oh, it really wasn’t that much.

Chris Earley [00:21:03]:
He’s like, I’ve got a referral. I’m referring my friend to you or something. It’s like, oh, wait, you know, it’s like. And I relate to, so I hope people. I just was taking notes when you were talking about having your assistant get in and folder, you know, put things in. I think that’s brilliant. I encourage. I’m gonna.

Chris Earley [00:21:18]:
I’m gonna steal that. I think that’s really good. Now, if you don’t mind me asking, because I think this is helpful for everyone, myself included. Did it take you time to train and get on the same page with the assistant?

Darren Wurz [00:21:30]:
Yeah, I mean, I. Probably a month or so. I mean, we got on the same page pretty quickly. Good. My folder system, I have one that’s called the Darren folder. That’s stuff I need to See, there’s a folder called responded to. So every time that she responds to an email, she puts it in that folder. So I can go and I can see what, you know, how she emailed back.

Darren Wurz [00:21:52]:
There is a review folder for stuff she doesn’t know what to do with. There’s a receipts and financial for anything receipt worthy. And then there’s a read through folder for like stuff I might want to read through later and everything else. It’s archived and it’s actually, I can’t claim I didn’t create the system. I found it on YouTube. It’s like in it’s inbox zero. If you.

Chris Earley [00:22:16]:
Yeah.

Darren Wurz [00:22:16]:
In box zero. Yeah. Method of doing that.

Chris Earley [00:22:20]:
Yeah. I bet your life got happier, just better instantly because you were freed up and liberated from.

Darren Wurz [00:22:26]:
Absolutely.

Chris Earley [00:22:27]:
Yeah. Like that’s self care, I guess. Like self care right there. Like that’s a big deal. Less dread, more time.

Darren Wurz [00:22:33]:
Yes.

Chris Earley [00:22:34]:
Yeah.

Darren Wurz [00:22:35]:
Chris, I, I am curious, are you familiar at all with stoicism?

Chris Earley [00:22:40]:
I read stoicism every morning.

Darren Wurz [00:22:42]:
I love it. Yes, yes, yes. I. So I have the, the Daily Stoic every morning. I read that every morning.

Chris Earley [00:22:51]:
I read the Daily dad too. Have you checked out the Daily Dad? That’s a good one.

Darren Wurz [00:22:54]:
What’s it called?

Chris Earley [00:22:55]:
The Daily Dad.

Darren Wurz [00:22:57]:
The Daily Dad. Okay.

Chris Earley [00:22:59]:
Yeah, it’s really good.

Darren Wurz [00:22:59]:
No, I’ll check that out too. Yeah, absolutely. What are, you know, maybe one or two of your favorite, like, ideas from stoicism and how do you kind of bring those over as a leader into your law firm?

Chris Earley [00:23:12]:
That’s such a good question. I mean, I love that topic because it’s so important. A really good book by that author we just mentioned, Ryan Holiday is the Obstacle is the Way. I don’t know if you heard that one. That’s. Yeah, really? I encourage everyone to buy today on Amazon or wherever. It has trained me because I think that’s what it is. It’s training.

Chris Earley [00:23:34]:
It’s like a new way of thinking. Trained me to realize like I’m very insignificant. Like in a hundred years, in I have kids, maybe 75 years, no one’s gonna remember me. And that’s legit. Like no one’s gonna be talking about early in seven, 500 years, even in five minutes. So it’s like, you know, it’s like it just humbles you and brings you down to earth and you know, everything is transient. You know, you, you, you, you read it. So you get, you know, you get it too, too.

Chris Earley [00:24:02]:
It’s like everything is so ephemeral and fleeting and flowing that. And that’s the tie ins meditation. It’s like you’re crazy. You know, I can speak from experience at least. Crazy thoughts come into my head. They get, they go out of my head. It’s just like this chorus. This, this disjointed clash of.

Chris Earley [00:24:20]:
Of sometimes very not, not productive thoughts. I just gotta like redirect on that. So that’s been helpful for me. How about you? How stoicism help for you?

Darren Wurz [00:24:32]:
Yeah, you know, just trying to approach everything from. From a neutral standpoint.

Chris Earley [00:24:40]:
From.

Darren Wurz [00:24:40]:
From a neutral ground. Right. Things are not good, Things are not bad. They just are.

Chris Earley [00:24:46]:
Yes. Right.

Darren Wurz [00:24:48]:
Especially with change. Client fires you. It’s not bad, it’s not good. It just is.

Chris Earley [00:24:54]:
Yes.

Darren Wurz [00:24:55]:
This is, this is what it is.

Chris Earley [00:24:57]:
Yeah.

Darren Wurz [00:24:58]:
That can be so centering. Yeah.

Chris Earley [00:25:01]:
That’s massive. I encourage everyone, you know, and some people may think, oh, this is very hooey, hooey, you know, like very. This is like this legit. You know, it’s like these guys 2000 years ago knew what they were talking about. And that’s how we’re reading it today. Because it’s timeless, right?

Darren Wurz [00:25:16]:
Yeah, yeah, it’s fantastic.

Chris Earley [00:25:19]:
Yeah.

Darren Wurz [00:25:19]:
Let me ask you also about gratitude. We’re recording this just before Thanksgiving, might be out a little bit later, but gratitude is always good. What role does gratitude play in keeping you grounded in the midst of running a law firm?

Chris Earley [00:25:35]:
Oh, everything. So I just want to share. About a year ago, I had coffee with a lawyer. And I encourage the audience have coffee all the time with, with. With whatever profession you’re in. Network, like crazy good things happen. I was having coffee with a lawyer. They introduced me to this idea of servant leadership.

Chris Earley [00:25:50]:
And I said, what’s that? And I started to get into it. And I look at my organization like I, I work for my team. It’s not. They don’t work for me. So I feel like when I am vulnerable and open and, and just real with my team, you know, share my insecurities, my. My vulnerabilities, it creates, it creates trust and that I am there to make sure they have a really good experience working. Cause they’re giving so much of their time on this, on this earth to helping me. I better be damn sure that I’m serving them.

Chris Earley [00:26:23]:
And so with clients, right? Without clients like you and I, we don’t pay our bills. Like, clients help us to go on the vacation, to go to the grocery store. Like without that, we’re not going to go far. So I look at my practice, like service, right? You know, serving People who have a legal problem and it’s not about, like fixing that problem. I think it’s about making them feel really good and also fixing their problem, but like making them feel good, getting on their level. Not talking legalese or jargon, like getting on the client’s level. You know, I have a lot of clients, you know, a fair, a fair amount of blue collar clients, like, they really want me to come all try to be, you know, Mr. Lawyer Guy.

Chris Earley [00:27:03]:
Like, they don’t. I just want to know, like, Chris, how you can help me out, you know, like get on their level and, and serve them and be humbled and people like, people love that. They’re like, oh, this guy, you know, helped me out. And not everyone loves early, I’ll tell you that. But I will do my darndest to make you happy, that you felt really good about the experience. And you know, a lot of lawyers, we can be arrogant a little bit, you know, high and mighty. Like, cut that stuff out. Like, there’s no, there’s no place for that.

Chris Earley [00:27:31]:
We’re all serving other people and that goes. Darren, earlier we talked about giving a really good book. I want to recommend. I think it was John Morgan who recommended was Give and Take. Really good book. There’s givers, there’s takers, and there’s matchers. Right. I think it’s important.

Chris Earley [00:27:46]:
Try to give as much as you possibly can and orient yourself towards that. I believe that a lot of good things come your way when you’re generous with people. It’s not all about you, it’s about other people.

Darren Wurz [00:27:59]:
Definitely. Great advice, Chris. You know, you mentioned that you’re scaling your practice. What’s the big vision for. For Early Law Group.

Chris Earley [00:28:10]:
Yeah. So to be able to go on vacation for say a month, two months. And the business runs without me. Right. To be like, irrelevant because they say if the business relies on you, it’s not a business, it’s. It’s really a job. And, and you have, you know, the worst boss if you’re if that situation because you’re, you’re both. You’re working for yourself and you’re the boss.

Chris Earley [00:28:36]:
That’s my idea. Because that’s freedom, right? That’s liberation. That’s like you can just not. I can just pursue my passions and I worry a lot and that’s why I meditate. And so I feel like if I can just continue to separate from the business with amazing team members, good processes, culture, that’s a good stew. I feel like that can help you. And that’s My goal maybe a lot of lawyers, you know, we like to go to court, roll up your sleeves, do a deposition, try case. I’d rather just lean into the business side of it and, and allow the business to operate independently of me someday down the line, many, many, many years into the future, you know, sell the business at some point.

Chris Earley [00:29:14]:
Assume my kids don’t want to take over at that point. I’m sure they won’t because this stuff is way too hard. It’s not fun. I hope they do something else a lot less, but that’s. Yeah.

Darren Wurz [00:29:25]:
Well, Chris, it’s been so great having you on the show today.

Chris Earley [00:29:29]:
Thank you.

Darren Wurz [00:29:30]:
You mentioned your. Your website for your email. Can you mention that again? And where should our listeners go if they want to learn more?

Chris Earley [00:29:38]:
I appreciate. So I, I’d love you to be part of my email list. 800 lawyer, I think just shy. I think just shy of 800 lawyers on the list. It’s called you want to go to practice Tip of the week dot com. Practicetip of the week dot com. I will, like I said, work hard to give you value. I put my, my podcast, the early show, where we interview some of the most successful attorney entrepreneurs in the country.

Chris Earley [00:30:02]:
We put the show on that email, give you a practice tip. Some other content. I encourage you to call my cell phone. I’m an open book. I’m, I’m based in Massachusetts, but we all struggle with the same things. You ever want to chew the fat and talk something out, I’m sure we could learn and help each other along the way. So call my cell. My cell is error code 6179-5625-0161-7956-2501.

Chris Earley [00:30:28]:
I’m all over the Internet, all over LinkedIn. That’s where you and I connected. Darren, I think was LinkedIn, right?

Darren Wurz [00:30:32]:
Yep.

Chris Earley [00:30:33]:
All right. Please connect with me. I’m all over LinkedIn. I encourage the audience, get on LinkedIn. Don’t be left behind, because this LinkedIn is really taking off and create tremendous opportunities. I don’t. I don’t know if you and I would have connected necessarily. I don’t know.

Chris Earley [00:30:45]:
But now we. Now we’re friends through LinkedIn. I think that’s pretty cool.

Darren Wurz [00:30:50]:
Absolutely. All right, well, thanks, Chris.

Chris Earley [00:30:52]:
Thank you so much, Dan. I appreciate you.

Darren Wurz [00:30:54]:
Today we were reminded that ambition without fulfillment is like running a race with no finish line. Finding that balance requires intentionality, gratitude, and clarity about what success really means for you. This concept of balance is a big part of what we focus on with our clients. Whether it’s your law firm’s finances or your personal finances, the goal isn’t just to grow wealth. The goal is to align your financial success with your life’s dreams, goals and aspirations. If this resonates with you, let’s connect Connect with me on LinkedIn. Search for me there Darren Wirtz or search for the Lawyer Millionaire and follow us on LinkedIn for more great insights. And if you enjoyed today’s guest you want to connect with more law firm owners, join our book club.

Darren Wurz [00:31:44]:
We’ll put the link in the show notes and would love to have you join in on our discussions. This has been the Lawyer Millionaire podcast. I’m your host Darren Wirtz, here to help you expand your business, maximize your profits and grow your wealth. Thank you so much for listening. Come back and join me next time.

Outro [00:32:08]:
Thank you for listening to the Lawyer Millionaire. Click the Follow button below to be notified when new episodes become available. This content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. This content is not intended to represent investing or tax advice. Always seek the advice of a qualified investment or tax advisor with any questions you may have regarding your own financial circumstances.