Masah SamForay, The Foray Firm

A CEO FREEDOM CASE STUDY

Transcript

Rachel Steininger  00:00

Thank you. I am here today with Masah SamForay, one of my clients. I'm so excited to be talking to you today and hear about your experience over these last couple of months. Masah, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and your business?

Masah SamForay  00:12

Well, I am the founder of the foray Firm. I'm a family law attorney. So my area of focus is divorce, custody, visitation and child support. And I have two offices one in Chicago, that's the main office, the main location, and then one in Houston, Texas. So yeah, that's, that's, that's my business in a nutshell. Great.

Rachel Steininger  00:40

And what would you say your situation was like, before we started working together?

Masah SamForay  00:49

Abysmal. That's what I started thinking about today, when I was trying to like mentally mentally prepare to go down memory lane. So I had just had a serious personal loss. And that in addition to like, just the general stress of running a law firm, I was just ready to throw in the towel. I think when I met you, I think the the think the focus for me when I met you was to find a way to ethically, like, step away from the business and like close down shop without wrecking like all of these clients cases, I think I just wanted to just stop practicing law and stop, stop working, stop thinking and just focus on being sad after the loss of my mother. So I think that's where it was, right? When I first met you like, I was just trying to figure out how to just like not not do this anymore.

Rachel Steininger  01:46

Yeah, I think, you said like, "I'd sell it for $1."

Masah SamForay  01:48

Did I say I'd sell it for a dollar? That would have been a bargain. Somebody should have jumped on that. So yeah, yeah, that's where I was, I was extremely, extremely sad. And stressed by everything.

Rachel Steininger  02:09

What's your situation now? What's better after we've worked together?

Masah SamForay  02:13

Well, my mother is still gone. So still dealing with that, but you know, now I'm like, seven, eight months removed from that tragedy. And, you know, just generally feeling more optimistic, not just about life, but really about the business. So I think maybe I started working with you, it would have been last quarter. So maybe like October or something like that might have been like our first session. And so fast forward to March. I, you know, with your help, and just some, some clarity and decompressing and refocusing on on the business.

Masah SamForay  02:54

You know, I ended the year in a really good spot financially, even with taking a couple of months off after the loss, still nearly hit a really lofty goal of mine and a goal, that's a financial goal, that's been a goal for a couple of years. So that was really encouraging to see.

Masah SamForay  03:16

I was able to find a structure for the business that really has taken a lot of the burden off of me. And that was, it was very helpful to work through that structure with you. Because there are different options to go the use of councils or, you know, contract attorneys who have their own law firms who are more senior, but maybe don't have enough clientele of their own, they don't have enough business. So they're not young associates that you have to invest in, and then just hope they catch on and hope they don't mess up a case. You know, and then some people are very, very successful training of young lawyers. And so I've tried it all over the years.

Masah SamForay  03:58

And it was very helpful to work with you to find something that alleviated a lot of my stress, which was to make sure primarily that then, when the reputation of the firm stayed intact, that the cases were properly handled, that even if clients weren't working with me directly on every single case that their cases were handled, to the extent and caliber that I think I could have handled them that was that was weighing on my mind heavily when I met you, so you know, kind of a I would sell this firm for $1 because I'm so sad and I just need time and space to be sad and be if I'm not gonna sell the firm. I also don't want you know, to blow my reputation or the, you know, the reputation we've built over a decade, you know, and doing good work for clients and so I need to find a solution to making sure that all the clients were served.

Masah SamForay  04:52

So I am really optimistic about the future of the firm. I am NOT selling my firm for a dollar, I'm not selling my firm for any amount of money. And I'm, I think I'm in a good position to continue to grow exponentially. And that's exciting for me.

Rachel Steininger  05:12

And what does it mean for you personally?

Masah SamForay  05:14

What does it mean, for me personally? Well, it means that I have the ability to take a step back to focus on me, do some self care, it means that I can relax, I can sleep. And rest easy rest, assured that, you know, even if I take a few days off, even if I took a week off, and hopefully in a few months, if I, you know, see this plan that we've talked about, and sort of structure it all the way through to its natural conclusion, then I can step back completely from the day to day working of any file, and the firm will still be a well oiled machine. So that for me means freedom. Freedom of mind and time to focus on my family.

Rachel Steininger  06:07

Nice. And are you? Do you have any other ideas out there? Or is just law firm for you all the way?

Masah SamForay  06:15

Oh, these rhetorical questions. No, I do have several other ideas. I am a natural entrepreneur, I never knew it growing up and even into my early adulthood, it just never occurred to me that it was something that I'd be successful at or that I enjoy doing. But I, I have found a little bit of success. And I do actually enjoy different business ventures. And so it means that, you know, if I am able to step back, you know, from the firm, and the day to day managing of individual client files, then I can focus on two or three or four other business ventures that have been cooking and brewing. Yes, yes, I've been growing over the last year. And so I'm really looking forward to that I'm very much looking forward to launching at least two of those 2, 3, 4 businesses in the next three months or so.

Rachel Steininger  07:17

Okay, great. Great. What were some of the biggest breakthroughs or aha moments that you've had over the last couple months working together?

Masah SamForay  07:28

Well, not to make everything about money, but I mean I'm not in a business to be poor, right. Like, I'm not in the business to struggle financially. So and there have been a lot of struggles, you know, like, as I've built over the years, you know, so when aha moment I would say is when I was writing, you know, 1099s, you know, or, you know, giving my, my accountant, the list of, you know, attorneys who work for me, and, you know, they're 1099s, and some of them were quite substantial. I mean, really significant. And I just, I couldn't believe it. Like, I had to do the calculations a couple of times, like my god, like I had that much money to give away to somebody else for doing work I didn't have to do. So. That was certainly an aha moment. And then, let me think... Another aha moment was getting my 1099 from my client software management company. So for all of the money that they've processed for the firm over the year, again, it was quite shocking. I really couldn't believe it. Because I hadn't really stepped back and taken the time to add up how much money had come into the firm. And that was very exciting to see.

Rachel Steininger  08:57

All in one number like that, right? Versus the little...

Masah SamForay  09:00

One number like that. Yeah. And when number like that, I was like, goodness, okay, well, we'll not be selling my firm for $1. And then, let me think other aha moments, I think, talking to you a few sessions ago, and prioritizing some of the business ventures, and D prioritizing, you know, for example, the expansion of the Texas office, which is growing organically on its own, but I've, you know, just felt like, oh, I should be doing more, I should do this. And I should do that, and I shouldn't invest in this. And I should be doing this for more marketing and more, you know, sales or advertisements or I should take the bar so that I can do all of the consultations that come through, you know, the Texas office, which is the antithesis of what I'm supposed to be doing. So it would be like doing less work and not finding more jurisdictions in which to practice you know, which will naturally lead to me just taking on more cases and more stress and now spread across multiple states. So that was another aha moment just like you know what if I just left Texas alone and focused on my real priorities, you know, the businesses that are very pressing for me personally, you know, that I want to expand to then that means Texas is one less stress and I can continue to allow it to grow organically and circle back around to it when I am ready to in a way that is not so stressful. So that was another moment. That's aha moments that will be Rachel.

Rachel Steininger  10:42

Lots of aha moments.  That's good. What did you like working about? What what did you like about working with me?

Masah SamForay  10:50

That it was very easy, that it was informative. I liked very much just the helpful hints that you gave like practice management tools, different technology, software, I mean, things that would make the the practice my practice more streamlined and automated. That was very helpful.

Rachel Steininger  11:15

What were you What would you say to somebody about working with me? Somebody who's on the fence, maybe what would you say to them about signing up for coaching with me?

Masah SamForay  11:23

I say do it. I think if you're at the point where you're thinking that you need coaching, you probably do. And I know that there are a lot of coaches out there. For me, I didn't have to filter your message through maybe like the noise of other competitors, because you came to me from a very trusted colleague who raved about you, and still raves about you. And I concur with his impressions of you and your skills and your helpfulness to my business and to his and so I would say just just do it, you know, get the help that you need to help clarify some things and, you know, invest in yourself. Of course, there's a price tag associated with anything important and so I would say invest in yourself and invest in your business if you want to go to the next level.