Building Your Business Step-By-Step with Paul Samakow

In this episode, host Eric Dickmann interviews Paul Samakow. Paul, an attorney in Virginia and Maryland, never worked in a law firm. Rather he started his own practice 40 years ago and built it into a multi-million dollar business with seven offices around the region.

Paul describes himself as a marketing junkie and claims to have devoured virtually every book on sales, marketing, and the psychology of persuasion. He now has hundreds of business clients and teaches them simple steps to grow their business with the goal of increasing revenue while working considerably less. 

He is the author of 5 books including, "Step-by-Step, Achieve Small Business Success"

samakowlaw.com
http://stepbystepbook.biz

We discuss understanding your ideal client, learning how to use a niche to grow your business, the power of evergreen content, common mistakes businesses make with the law, and the importance of visibility for growing your brand.

Listener Offer: 30-minute consultation:
https://www.samakowlaw.com/attorneys/paul-samakow/

Eric Dickmann can be found on Twitter @EDickmann and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/edickmann and my website https://ericdickmann.com

Paul Samakow can found online at samakowlaw.com, on Twitter @PaulSamakow

If you'd like to contact us with feedback or guest inquiries, please visit: https://fiveechelon.com/the-virtual-cmo-podcast/

For more information about Virtual CMO strategic marketing consulting services, visit The Five Echelon Group at https://fiveechelon.com

Episode #19

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Transcript

Eric Dickmann: 0:08

Welcome to season two of The Virtual CMO podcast. I'm your host, Eric Dickmann, founder of The Five Echelon Group. Our goal is to share strategies, tools, and tactics with fellow marketing professionals that you can use to impact the trajectory of your company's marketing programs. We have candid conversations about what works, and what doesn't, with marketing tactics, customer experience, design and automation tools. Our goal is to provide value each week with a roster of thoughtful and informative guests engaged in a lively conversation. So with that, let's introduce this week's guest and dive into another conversation with The Virtual CMO. Today, I'm excited to welcome Paul Samakow to the podcast. Paul, an attorney in Virginia and Maryland never worked in a law firm. Rather. He started his own practice 40 years ago, and his built it into a multimillion dollar practice with seven offices around the region. Paul describes himself as a marketing junkie and claims to have devoured virtually every book on sales and marketing and the psychology of persuasion. Paul has hundreds of business clients and teaches them simple steps to grow their business with the goal of increasing revenue while working considerably less. He's the author of five books, including Step-By-Step Achieve Small Business Success. And we'll be talking about that book more on today's show. I really enjoyed this conversation with Paul and I think you will get a lot out of it as well. So please help me welcome Paul to the podcast. Paul welcome to the virtual CMO podcast. I'm so glad you could join us here today.

Paul Samakow: 1:48

Absolute pleasure. Thank you for honoring me with having me and let me. Ah, take up a half hour of your time, sir.

Eric Dickmann: 1:55

Absolutely. So I know you have a love of photography. It's a passion of yours. But you also were able at a young age to turn that passion into one of your first entrepreneurial adventures, right? You created a business out of that. Tell us a little bit about that.

Paul Samakow: 2:12

Sure. I was in high school and learning how to take pictures. And I always had a mind to what can I do to make a little money to help mom and dad? Cause if I asked for something and you know, I saw a grimace on their face, they would get it. And I didn't like the grimmest. So I said, okay, I'll become someone who can make money. So, you know, you did all the little kid things mowed lawns, you shoveled snow. Then I had a camera in my hand and I noticed two important things. The first I had nothing to do with money, but it's like, wow, look at all the girls who were coming around. So, What I did. We, we had swim teams in our community, in our area. And we would, I would go to the various swim teams and talk to the coach. And these were very competitive little kids, you know, 80, 90, a hundred teams in our area in Maryland. And each team would have 50 to 120 kids. So we get there super duper early before practice on a Saturday morning when the sun came up, we get all the kids lined up, take a picture, reproduce it, sell it back to the families who wanted the picture of the group of those swim kids. And the coach collected the money and distributed the pictures. And I gave him a big 16 by 20 for the, you know, the wall in the coach's office and everybody was happy. And. You know, by the time I was in my third or fourth year of doing that, I was not only doing all the teams in Maryland that I can find I was doing all of them in Virginia. So, I was actually Pretty well funded little kid in high school.

Eric Dickmann: 3:33

I love those entrepreneurs stories where you have a passion, you have something that you really enjoy doing. And then you see an opening. You see a space where you could actually turn that passion into a money making endeavor and what a great lesson at a young age. Right.

Paul Samakow: 3:49

It was, and I'll share just the number one memory from that entire time in my teens. And it was some woman who. You know, got the photo and was very, very upset that in the photo, it was very clear that her son was picking his nose.

Eric Dickmann: 4:04

Oh, no.

Paul Samakow: 4:05

I'll never forget. It's like, lady, what are you? I can't watch 80 kids and see what they're doing before I snap. It's like, I'm sorry. you want your money back? I mean, what do you, what do you want? It's like, I'll never forget that, you know, there's a lot of things, more important in my life, but I forgotten, but that one just stuck out.

Eric Dickmann: 4:21

And I'm sure these are the days of film and dark rooms and all that. Not the days of digital photography, where we can take a hundred pictures at a time.

Paul Samakow: 4:29

Oh, yeah, I was using Nikon cameras back then. I still use Nikon's, but it's all digital, of course.

Eric Dickmann: 4:34

That's a great story. We skipped forward a little bit. You graduate from law school and I thought it was interesting in your story that instead of going to work with somebody, as you put it, you decided to start a, hang up your own shingle and start your own business, right from the beginning. What drove you to do that as opposed to going to work for someone else?

Paul Samakow: 4:54

I didn't like being told what to do.

Eric Dickmann: 4:55

Okay. Fair enough.

Paul Samakow: 4:57

And I passed the bar examination in Virginia and Virginia sent me there's life certificate with it. Implicitly okay; you're a lawyer. I said, all right, let's try it. I mean the worst thing that can happen because I was doing well financially with my photography business all the way through law school. And I had, you know, a lot more money than a lot of other people that might be starting out as we're going to practice of law with no clients. So I could afford to take chances and I wanted to do my own thing and I did everything under the sun where a client would pay me. I did bankruptcies. I did court incorporations. I did the taxes. I did divorces. I did criminal work. I did personal injury work. I did, you know anything that somebody would pay me for it. Well, do you have experience with this mr. Sam account? Oh, absolutely. And then I would run back and figure out what to do or call five or six or seven other attorneys that I knew and asked them what to do. But I always delivered for the clients. I don't think I ever made mistakes or overcharged and my first 10, 15 years that in any way, was it appropriate for the clients because of the representation or the delivery of the results. And I certainly didn't charge too much, but it grew and, I've developed a real nice practice. Now at the October one will be 40 years that I've been an attorney.

Eric Dickmann: 6:16

That's amazing. And especially when you think about it, because a business like being an attorney is really based on reputation. You need to sort of get your name out there. You need to have awareness as people are going through, Google nowadays, but in the old days, right, a phone book or whatever, they, they would look for a name that they knew. I see so many advertisements here in town billboards, whatnot with different attorneys names on them. So that

Paul Samakow: 6:40

Does the name? Morgan and Morgan mean anything to

Eric Dickmann: 6:43

you? Absolutely. So we're here in Orlando, Florida. That's a big name down here in Florida. One of the strategies that I thought was so interesting, Was that you actually saw an opportunity in the Hispanic market to develop a business. It was a market that really wasn't being served. And you had an opportunity to build your practice by serving that particular market, adding value there. Talk to me a little bit about that and how you use that opportunity to really grow your firm.

Paul Samakow: 7:11

Well that's actually that, that is the secret sauce to my success, to the extent I can say that I'm successful. yes. In junior high school or now they call it middle school. I guess I took three years of Spanish class. never forget mrs. Ward. And, you know, when you walked in the door, you were not allowed to speak English. And so fast forward to, my beginning of my life as an attorney and it was a good five or six years before I really narrowed down. My practice to trying to help people who have been hurt, you know, most of the time it was car accidents or you fall down and you get hurt because someone didn't sweep the floor or on the floor was wet or the landlord didn't clear the parking lot and it was ice. You know, what's what have you various different? Injury type of claims. And very quickly, I recognized that I didn't have the money to compete with lawyers who are looking to attract clients from the English speaking community. And I thought, wait a minute, I speak Spanish. I mean, not fluently, but enough. I mean, I can say some words and,be understood a little bit and mostly understand what they're saying. If they don't talk too quickly. Right. But, you know, it grew. So quickly, so exponentially because nobody, no lawyer in this area was talking to them. I was first in a newspaper and then I was on the radio and within six months I was on TV. And it was more of a challenge. To hire people to help me because I needed those people than it was dealing with the cases. I mean, I was getting in my office at 7:00 AM and not leaving until 1130, 12 o'clock at night. Working on the cases by myself. And I recognize that this isn't going to be the way that this is going to work I got to get it. So,somebody in here to do the work. So, that's part of, of every business person's growth is leverage. And, you know, delegating. So I did that and now I'm a happy camper and I will tell anybody that wants to listen. I have a love affair with the. DC area, Virginia, Maryland areas, Hispanic community. I do lots of things that are pro bono, lots of things to help. And they call me for everything. It's not just accidents and injury cases. I get people with all measure of issues and concerns that any person would have, because I've become a resource and I'll take my time and talk to them and give them my opinion or try and find somebody who can help them. what I believe is that if you're in a service business, You should not have your feet on the desk and you get in at nine Oh five and you leave at four 55, you have to be connected to people in the success of any business. As I know, you know, his relationships. And let me just go off on a little tangent because. Now, I've looked at you a lot and your website and your history, and I'm going to tell you something you are phenomenal.

Eric Dickmann: 10:13

Oh, thank you.

Paul Samakow: 10:14

Give yourself and have all of your listeners give you a real standing ovation because of what you've done, as a person in our community who is helping others.

Eric Dickmann: 10:25

I really appreciate that. Thank you very much.

Paul Samakow: 10:27

You deservce some extraordinary accolades. but,again, I mean, back to my story quickly, Yeah. So I've got a very large contingent, Hispanic population client base, and I represent lots of other people too.

Eric Dickmann: 10:40

I think what's so interesting about that is that going back to your photography story is you had a passion. You had an interest. But you saw where there was an opportunity to take that. There were some runway to be able to make a business out of it. And now as a lawyer, you're practicing in a crowded field, right? There are lots of lawyers out there offering their services, but you've found an underserved market. And you said, this is something that I can go into and add value. And I think so many business owners. Whether they're selling a product or service that plow ahead without really understanding whether there's room for them, whether they're kind of just like a snowplow pushing against all that weight. Instead of looking off to the side and saying, well, where is an area where I could excel? Where is an area that's underserved, or there's a niche for my product or service that I could really dominate? And it sounds like that's exactly the mindset that you've had throughout your career. And it's paid dividends.

Paul Samakow: 11:41

It has, and you're, you're so spot on with that. I would never encourage somebody to start creating a tennis shoe or sneaker and try and go into the world and sell it. I mean, it's like, you know, you're facing Nike and Adidas and I mean, it's like, okay, fine. Maybe you can sell 20 fairs here and there. And now, and again in your local sporting goods store, but you're never going to scale. I mean, and what's going to happen the next time I turn on shark tank, there'll be a guy with a new sneaker and he'll become the next multi-billionaire. Right. So what do I know?

Eric Dickmann: 12:08

Well, sometimes somebody finds a specific niche, right. And is able to take that commodity product and do something totally original with it. And bam, it's a hit.

Paul Samakow: 12:16

Right, right. So anyway, I mean, what ended up happening, Eric, you know, from my law practice runs. You know, the expression, like a fine oiled machine. And I have segwayed in the last half, a dozen, maybe 10 years too. Becoming a consultant for small business people and giving them knowledge and giving them information and advice and tips and guiding them and watching. As they grow their businesses and that's been just an absolute delight because I can pick and choose. You know who I want to be clients and, in the process, I think you have the book that I wrote. So I think you've seen that. And I've used that as,an introduction to who I am and what I've been able to do, you know, in that, in that field as a consultant,I'm not looking to become the next Jay Abraham. But, you know, or, or Dan Kennedy, I mean I've read all of them and I've subscribed to all their newsletters and I get email blasts from them and their blogs. I mean, so I'm a. I'd never sell it. Tell anybody I'm a marketing guru, but I am a marketing junkie. I love the whole world of new and innovative ideas. And,it's just a, and I'm learning so many different things every day by reading a new book or reading a new blog. And it's exciting. And you can take. All of these things that you read and figure out how you can use it, how. Then as you learn, how can you apply it to what you're doing? And so I've had a, I've had a nice group of people that I've worked with over the years. And so it's, it's a fun thing for me.

Eric Dickmann: 13:50

Marketing is the engine that drives demand, but too often it takes a back seat to other priorities. Awareness, fails to materialize demand drops in sales falter. Don't wait until it's too late to build your brand awareness and demand generation programs. If your company is struggling with their marketing strategy, we want to help let's schedule a call to talk about your unique situation and what options might be available to get your marketing program back on track. To learn more text C M O two(407) 374-3670 that's C M ho two four zero seven. Three seven four three six seven zero. And we'll reply with further details. We hope to hear from you soon. I want to take a step back and just acknowledge that that you've written five books, including the one that we're talking about here, which is Step-By-Step Achieve Small Business Success. And I have to tell you, Paul, I really enjoyed this book. This is sort of a one stop shop. If you are a small business owner, if you're starting out in business, this really lays it out from A to Z. I thought it was very thoughtfully written, very practical step-by-step I love the format of it. And I can tell that you're a marketing junkie as well. In fact, one of the stories that I loved from your book was when you were looking to get the word out about your practice. And you came up with that distribution deal to have a book left in supermarkets and things tell the story.

Paul Samakow: 15:21

Sure. it begins when my wife and my daughters went to, one of those Caribbean Island resorts for a week, a girl's vacation. And you can imagine, you know, my feigned tears. Oh, I can't call them. Ooh. And when they left, I have a nice time. And then it hit me like, okay, what am I going to do? I wrote a book and it's a marketing tool for my law practice, but it's extraordinarily informative. It's called the eight critical things. Your auto accident lawyer, won't tell you. And so the marketing play there is the psychology. Well, everybody wants to know what they won't tell you. And I even went a step further. I put a photograph of a man's hand on a Bible. So the inferences that this is the truth, this is the gospel. And I give a lot of good information about what a lot of personal injury lawyers, auto accident orders. Won't tell you when I explain why. And I give information in the book about things you need to know before, during, and after the accident happens auto insurance let's get good insurance coverage. Anyway, now I got the book. Self published it. What am I going to do with it?,like who's going to read this word. So I went to a couple of drug stores and I saw they had this little metal rack. Right. Entrance. And in those racks, there was a book called the apartment shopper's guide. And so I went to the manager and I said, Hey, can I put my books in there. No, that's not our property. Oh, okay. Well, whose property is it? And eventually after asking for different managers of four different drug stores, and one of them was a grocery store thing. Finally somebody said, okay, there's a group called distribute tech. And I said, okay, fine. Whose DistribuTECH and lo and behold, they were about two miles from my office. Oh, my God, this is hysterical. So they buy the racks. They put them in, they had like 670 something stores around what we call the beltway here in the Maryland DC, Virginia area, all measure of stores and grocery stores. And supermarkets and drugstores, even back then the video rental stores. They have these racks with the apartment shopper's guide, which was their book. And it's free. So I called him up and made a deal. I chose 108 locations. And they picked up the books, put them on the trucks, the drivers took them around. And in the course of less than a year, Over 100,000 books. Were picked up from those different locations and the success of the book is simply that number one, nobody ever throws away a book. And number two, I had what I called fourth generation owners. So Fred would give it to Sally who had given to Bruce who would give it to Steve. And Steve came in. I said, Oh, you have my book. Where'd you get it? Oh, well, you know, and he'd go backwards. From the person who actually picked it up off one of the racks. Then it dawned on me. Hey,wait a minute. Why should you have to do anything other than click and download? And so now it's a PDF on my website.

Eric Dickmann: 18:25

That's so interesting because you're talking about putting information where your buyer is located and having a piece of hard copy collateral, which is something that we don't think even about that much these days, right. People don't do as many mailings and that sort of thing. But you talked about having a fourth generation person using that same peace of content. That's a lot of mileage out of a simple marketing piece, right?

Paul Samakow: 18:52

Yeah. I mean, so it was, it was, the best marketing investment I've ever made. I am, I mean, the book I updated the book, I wrote it in 09 and I updated it in 2014. And I'm still getting clients from the 09. 11 years later. And I'm getting a lot of clients from the 14 edition and, It's rewarding, you know, I mean, the book has value it. Isn't just, if you've been hurt, call me.

Eric Dickmann: 19:19

So would you say with all the marketing that you've done over the years, that that was your most successful campaign or are there other campaigns that you would rank up there as well?

Paul Samakow: 19:29

Well, I absolutely acknowledge that I have been on television, mostly in the Hispanic community on what they call the Telemundo or. Luna Visio on Univision as the American pronunciation. networks and I run television commercials. But I run them differently than 99% of all the attorneys in the country. Most lawyer ads. If you see them take on what I call the Mimi ne framework. I care. I work hard. I'm aggressive in the last four years I got blah-blah-blah verdicts of 60 million quadrillion dollars. Me, me, me, me, me. And the community watching those commercials are choice. Because they got hurt. They got to call somebody. I mean, those commercials take out the name and the phone number and they're all the same. I run commercials, which are informative and valuable. I run commercials explaining to people, different things. They need to know one commercial that I got a lot of play with was, Literally, they were filming me, showing how to put the child safety seat properly in the backseat of the car. Because if it's not properly put in and there's a rear end or a side impact collision. That little baby could be very seriously hurt. So I run. It's not public service announcements, but they approach public service announcements. And I never say,I want you as a client. Me, me, me, I don't do that. I. I believe that, you know, and I think this ring true to anybody that hears me say this. When, when you tell someone about yourself, It falls on deaf ears a little bit, maybe a lot, depending upon how braggy you are. But if you don't say anything about yourself and you just allow others to see what you are and who you are. So there's a difference between telling and showing. And I'm showing, I'm showing the community that,I'm concerned about their safety and wellbeing, and I've done all measure of different commercials that are in that genre. And at the very end and I always say something like. And if you do get hurt, I'd be honored to have you call and see what we can do to help you. I mean just very low key. So it's not in your face, you know, sometimes you see these, auto accident lawyers on the top of a truck. Or if you go out West, they're shooting guns and, you know, they, They're hysterical. Some of them are funny when people will remember, and that's what you need, you know, and we act on memory,this. you're, you're in your refrigerator and UCO. I need butter. That's point a. Now what are you going to do to remember that when you get to the grocery store, which is point B. Well, for me, point a is a TV commercial point B could be three or four or five or six months later when they get into an accident. So, what are you going to do to make that memory forefront that they remember me and not, you know, some other attorney and that's. that's part of the psychology of understanding what motivates people to act. And I've studied that and I've been moderately, somewhat, maybe even. it's extraordinarily, in some instances successful. So a long winded answer to your question. A long winded answer to your question, right? my TV campaigns are the best thing that I've ever done marketing, but the single thing that I've done best is that book.

Eric Dickmann: 22:49

A lot of what you're saying is about adding value to, and I know you talked in the book about lifetime value of your clients and being able to get them coming back, not just for all a one stop service, but to get them coming back at family members coming back What are some of the things that you focus in on the consulting side of the business, when you actually help them with their businesses?

Paul Samakow: 23:13

Well, thanks. I that's,that's, that's my pride and joy. My, my real love these days besides, you know, my law practice, but I have time to do it. I'm. Going to be 65. my children are married and that of the house. And,we're in contact with them constantly, but I don't have the, the demands of a. 20 or 30 year old father or husband, you know, so I have lots of time and I've taken up, as I said,it's been. Maybe half a dozen years now. Consulting for small business people. And the book, was my first generation thinking and I got a lot of clients and helped a lot of clients with the principles in that book. But I've recently evolved and I'm doing something even more. And what I'm doing now is helping people learn how to speak. And it's not just the conversation that we're having here. It's in public. And you know, that adage, most people would say they'd rather die than speak in front of a group of people. Public speaking. It's horrible. There's a fear, but I'm able, I've never had someone that I wasn't able to get over that hurdle very quickly, because while there are things that you want to think about in your presentation, it's really just like me sitting down with you on the couch and talking and telling you my story and telling you how you present, what it is that you're going to do to add value to people who potentially might want you to be their consultant. And this as, as a good marketer. the expression facts. Tell. And stories sell. So I tell lots of stories and get to the punchline very quickly that I am an individual who can take your business to the next level. And the way that I'm trying to get clients now to do it. And they're working with me is getting them in front of groups. Getting them. You know, an audience. So 10, 20, 50 people. They don't have to be the keynote speaker at a convention, but if you get in front of 20 people, I guarantee you the two or three or four of them are going to want you to continue and help them. And then you fashion a relationship of consulting where you talk on the phone once a once a month or twice a month for an hour, an hour and a half, whatever it is that you do. And I counsel and consult my clients on how to fashion those relationships. And how to truly add value to what they're going to do as a consultant for others, or how to take their business and move it to the next level. That you know today. I mean, with COVID, I'm not doing too many speaking engagements. But I'm in the process of creating a webinar and on demand webinar, it'll cost zero, you plug in and you watch me and you decide, Hey, this is somebody I'm interested in working with. Or not. And again, my. Batting average user for every 20 people that see me. Three or four or five, call me and want to work out a relationship. And usually 80% of those people become clients. And. This can be something for any business. It can be if you sell flowers. It can be if you're a dentist or an architect or an accountant, or if you sell sneakers or, I mean if you have a grocery store or a restaurant. A dry cleaners. I mean, you name it. You can't find a business that,this theory this idea. Couldn't be. Extraordinarily successful for, so that's, that's what I that's. My deliverable is working with someone at the very beginning. And getting them comfortable and S and, and standing in front of a group of people, or now a webinar, and just talking and explaining who they are, what they do, how they do it. Why they do it, you know, everybody wants to know your story. Why did you,you asked me that already two or three times here in this this show of yours. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Yeah. You know what people love to talk about themselves. And people want to listen. nobody gets bored, hearing your story. I've never met somebody who's boring. The deeper you dig, the more questions you ask everybody is fascinating. Everybody and show that to people it's magnetic. They, they want you next to them. They want to be your BFF, you know?

Eric Dickmann: 27:42

It's true. I was thinking about that the other day, because we're doing this podcast interview late June, 2020. We're experiencing COVID, the lockdowns, the cutbacks on travel. And yet we're in the middle of an election year. And what happens during an election year is these candidates, they get on planes, they travel all over the country. They kiss babies and shake hands and do all that. And all that is gone for the most part, all of that is gone. And so what, what you're really describing is the importance of that connection with people, or really what I would say, getting out into the community. Getting yourself visible. Making people understand what your story is because once they understand your story, then they can relate to you. And once they can relate to you, then they can say, well, this is the kind of person that I can do business with. And so it sounds like that has been key to your success. And also now what you are trying to do with your consulting clients to help them understand that that's important for them as well.

Paul Samakow: 28:45

The three prongs of why people do business with you. Know, like, and trust. let's pick somebody, Oprah Winfrey. You don't know her, but you think you do. And you really kind of do because of how she is laid, bare, who she is. In shows and in interviews that she's been the subject. How could you not like that woman? Everybody likes her. No, everybody loves her. Trust. I'd give her the keys to my house. I'd take off for a month. When, you know, like, and trust people. It's because there is a pseudo or a real relationship. That is the core of. Success on the small business level. And even you go to like big go to a big company, Nike, everybody knows, likes and trusts. Nike,you're getting a quality shoe or merchandise, but you don't have any relationship with Nike, except that you are. You know, your dollar is supported, their executives children's education,but, That's it it's about. It's about that connection. That's, that's 110% of the success or failure of business people in today's world.

Eric Dickmann: 30:02

Which is why people in general don't trust used car dealers, right? There's not that trust there or there's the perception that there isn't trust. Right. That that's a stigma that they've had to deal with for years. I did want to ask you one last question, cause I know there's a chapter in your book talking about the importance of law and small business. Do you think that many small businesses that you work with are too careless with the law? We all know that the tax code is mainly built to promote businesses, right? If you can learn to take advantage of things in the tax code, there's a lot in there for businesses. But when it comes to things like contracts and other legal agreements and incorporations and what not, do you think that a lot of clients that you work with are tuned into what they need to do there.

Paul Samakow: 30:47

Answers a million percent no. iI's not that they're lazy. It's not that they don't care or that they're not interested, but they just don't know. And what does that expression? You don't know what you don't know. and so. I call it the foundation. I want to make sure that all of my clients have the foundation in place. The teas crossed and the I's dotted. And I often recommend the clients that you have this type of business, you should do a different type of business entity. As an example, if they have a. A restaurant look, injuries are going to happen. Somebody's going to slip and fall, or somebody is going to get food poisoning or something's going to happen. And if you own that restaurant as a sole proprietor, you're making a mistake. You should be a corporation which shields you from personal responsibility, personal liability. and in any event, neither case, I always recommend getting good insurance coverage in case something bad happens. A fleet of trucks, the owner of a trucking company has a fleet of trucks, deliveries, vehicles. They need to have an absolute, no tolerance policy for texting and driving. And they don't. So if George is one of your employees and he's texting and driving and runs into the side of someone's car. Guess who's responsible besides George the owner. But if the owner has a no tolerance, no texting and driving policy, and George has signed it, acknowledging that he understands that then the owner's not going to necessarily be responsible. there are so many things. Rules, regulations, forms. and I am able to deliver all of these relatively quickly to assist my consulting clients and then what I call their foundational house. the house has to be in concrete with the footer is going down 10 feet deep. So that there's a little wind that comes by. It's not gonna blow over. you could be the most amazing business person and do the most fantastic work, provide the most. Excellent service. And one mistake, the house can crumble down and those mistakes typically, or legal mistakes. I don't do business law. I have a cadre of other attorneys who can help my clients and many of them have. there is a DIY do it yourself. I tell them, go form a corporation and here's what you need to do. And they do, and they don't have to pay a lawyer for a lot of the things you don't need, legal advice or legal. You know, expense, but sometimes they do. so yeah, most people are not. Prepared. To be in the second and the third, the fourth year of their business from a legal standpoint.

Eric Dickmann: 33:28

Well, as I mentioned I really enjoyed your book because I just thought it covered so many of these basics. And we could spend a show probably on each chapter because there's so much in there, but I think it gives reader a lot to think about and explore further if they need to, whether it's legal questions, whether it's on systems and platforms, whether it's on marketing, there's just a lot in there. So tell our listeners, how could they get a copy of this book and how could they learn more about your specific consulting services if they want to get in touch with you and learn more?

Paul Samakow: 34:03

Well, thanks for asking. Okay. So the book, can be ordered right from my website and, the book URL a is very simple. It's stepbystepbook.biz, not.com. But stepbystepbook.biz. And they go on and they get an absolutely immediate, almost free download after they pay for the book. It's cheap 20 bucks. And they'll, they can download it and go through it. and if they do that, I'm offering to your listeners A half hour of my time actually free and being an attorney. I like to talk. So the likelihood is that if they want that half hour for me, It's going to end up being closer to an hour and I'm not putting my clock on it, but,I say half hour as opposed to telling people it's an hour. I'd rather under promise and over deliver. I think that's the expression If I tell somebody it's an hour and then I got to go 45 minutes later, they feel like I've allied to them. So at least a half hour of my time. and if somebody wants to call me directly, I love getting phone calls. I have a phone number which is going to knock your socks off. It's so easy to remember. I'm in the Maryland area of Virginia area DC, but I picked a, a Maryland. extension of Maryland area code is 301. And then the number is 5 million, 301-500-0000. Now we use that for other purposes in my law practice and some other things I'm doing so likely I'm not answering the phone, but I have someone always answering the phone and when potential business clients were to call me he gets the name and number and I call them back usually half hour, 45 minutes, as soon as he can get all to me and I'm not otherwise busy to call them back. So a stepbystepbook.biz and 301-500-0000.

Eric Dickmann: 35:51

That's great. Easy to remember, and to all the listeners out there I really do think you'd be wise to pick up a copy of this book. It's great. It's informative. And I think the half hour, half hour to an hour of consulting time is a great additional offer on top of that. Paul, thank you so much for making that available to the listeners. And thanks for being a guest on the show today.

Paul Samakow: 36:13

It was really fun though. I enjoyed having you, to talk to a little bit before and during your, your mind is the same as mine. We're both marketing junkies.

Eric Dickmann: 36:22

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thanks so much for sharing your story. that wraps up another episode of The Virtual CMO podcast. As a reminder, if you'd like to learn more about Virtual CMO, strategic marketing consulting services, or anything else discussed here today, please visit us at fiveechelon.com. There's a link in the show notes. If you'd like to send us comments, feedback, guest inquiries, and your five-star reviews on Apple Podcasts are always appreciated. If you'd like to reach me. I'm EDickmann. That's E D I C K M A N N on Twitter. If you'd like to connect on LinkedIn, please let me know. You heard about me through The Virtual CMO podcast. I look forward to talking with you again next week and sharing some new marketing insights on The Virtual CMO.