In this transcript, Clay Clark (US SBA Entrepreneur of the Year) discusses why you should find an attorney before you get sued on Thrive15.com, one of the most affordable business schools in Michigan!
Clay: Yes?
Caleb: You know, I love sitting in these green chairs next to you, but if the viewers haven’t gone and seen the teaching that Dr. Zoellner’s done, I wish we had thrones like that, man.
Clay: In the Jedi culture, they would have a throne like that.
Caleb: Really?
Clay: Yeah, they would just have the light sabers and they would, woo, woo, they’d be able to, that’s the kind of things that the Jedi would have.
Caleb: Good, well, I want to jump into this topic with you and pick your brain. I know you talk about Clifton being your Yoda, and I like to think of you as mine, okay? A pale, taller version, but still a Yoda, okay? We want to hear and pick your brain about this topic of finding an attorney before you get sued. I know I heard you talking with Dr. Zelner, Dr. Z, when you were in the thrones, and you guys were joking back and forth about how it was humorous, almost… Because you’re sued all the time, as an entrepreneur, are you not?
Clay: All the time.
Caleb: All the time?
Clay: All the time. If you own a business and you continue operating it-
Caleb: Like, successfully.
Clay: Successfully, your going to get sued, because here’s the thing, and I don’t want to get too off track here, but there’s a group of people on the planet who are leeches. They are parasites, they are carp. They are the person who, remember in high school, when you had to do a group project, and they’re the one who didn’t do anything and you had to do it. Maybe you’re the person who didn’t do the job, you were the leech.
I’ve been a leech on a couple of projects, but there’s people that, that’s all they do. They are ambulance chasers, they are looking to sue you, they are looking for ways to get money without working. You’re going to have people that are going to sue you to try to take what’s yours all the time.
Caleb: The key is to be prepared.
Clay: Be prepared.
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Caleb: I know you’ve always said, and I’ve heard you say it, if you’re being sued, then it’s too late, you don’t want to wait til that point, so you’re suggesting we get an attorney before we’re getting sued.
Clay: Yeah, most small business owners won’t even look for an attorney until they get sued, they’ll just wait until something bad happens, then they’ll be like, “I don’t know what happened, I was in business and then I got sued, and it was like, I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what had happened.”
Caleb: You don’t know what happened?
Clay: I hear it all the time. I talk to people who are 30, 40, 50. I just don’t know. I don’t know what had happened.
Caleb: They don’t know what had happened. You got to know what had happened. You got to prepare for what might happen. Am I right?
Clay: Yeah, you always say what had happened, and that’s what makes it worse.
Caleb: You’re going to get sued, just find an attorney.
Clay: You’re going to get sued, smile about it, you’re going to, smile, you’re going to be sued for a while, okay?
Caleb: If I’m going to get sued, then I’m going to get an attorney, Clay, how do I do that?
Clay: Since you’re wealthy, you’re going to be sued.
Caleb: How do I do that? Practically, what do I need to do here?
Clay: You need to go out there and find an attorney right now.
Caleb: A big firm or a small firm? What do we need?
Clay: This is where we get into some debates here, and I’m going to go over this with you because this is really a critical issue that we discuss this, because this is an issue where a lot of people, myself included, have made some stupid decisions and if we don’t hear this with clarity we’re going to make some stupid decisions with finding our attorney. Okay?
Caleb: I just want to pause real quick and emphasize again, that’s the beauty of what we’re doing here at Thrive, again, you’re not learning from somebody who’s studied theory, you’re learning from somebody who’s lived it out, okay? You said you’ve fallen in certain areas, you’ve made mistakes, you’ve learned from them, and now he’s bringing it to you, so listen closely because he lived it.
Clay: Here we go. If you go with a larger firm they have big overhead, they charge you $200 an hour, they charge you 400 an hour, they have more costs. You walk in their lobby and it’s legit, nice chairs, nice furniture, nice reputation, nice website, nice team, nice track record, nice, nice.
Caleb: The bigger the overhead, the more costs, this is a disadvantage of a larger firm?
Clay: Yeah.
Caleb: Okay, what’s another one?
Clay: The second is they often have more formality in the way they communicate, no causal, no, like, “I’ll call you around 2 tomorrow, I’ll call you around tomorrow, let’s maybe connect.”
Caleb: Is that a disadvantage or an advantage?
Clay: It’s a disadvantage because you find out that these big companies, they want to be like, “Well, I can meet you at 2:00 on Tuesday.”
Caleb: Right.
Clay: These big firms, and at first you say, that’s kind of tough, I have an urgency right now. You’ll find that the bigger companies generally are more proactive, they have a set schedule, so at first it might feel like they don’t care about you, but they have a set system.