Tell me about your vision. So my vision for me
is really just to get the most out of my life
and live my life to realize my potential. And
that just goes for every aspect of my life, whether
it's business, family, as a husband, as a father,
as a brother, as a son, just everything, just
live life so that I can just actualize my potential.
I always believe that God gives us gifts and
it's our job, it's our duty to do our best to
realize those gifts. And that's kind of like
our gift back is by realizing our potential.
That's awesome. Out of all the visions that you
just shared with me, what are you most passionate
about? I'm most passionate about being a husband
and a father. That's ultimately what. drives
me to do everything. It drives me to work hard
at the business, to grow the business, to stay
in shape, to make sure that I live a long time
and live a healthy life so that I'm there for
my family. So I would say that my family is the
ultimate driving force behind everything that
I do. That's awesome. Your thoughts are very,
very similar to my thoughts on that. So I appreciate
you sharing that. What would you say is where
did this vision of being the best husband and
being the best version of yourself for your family
come from? Like, was that somehow instilled in
you through your family values or the things
you've been learning? Or did you learn something
from somewhere else or you saw someone being
an example to you? What was it or something that
you lacked rather? Yeah, I think that vision
came from my parents really at a really young
age. Ever since I can remember, my parents, they
were always just instilling this idea to me that,
and my two older brothers, that you can do whatever
you want, just make sure you do your best at
it. So they never said, oh, you need to do this
career or that career. They said, just pick something
and do your best at it. And that was just from
a very young age to even as an adult, that's
what they always tell us. And then I think just
my upbringing in the church, you know, I always,
you know, they tell us and they preach to us
and they instill that, you know, there's a higher
being, there's God, and that they give gifts
to you. And then I was just thinking about how,
you know, you're given these things and it's
really wasteful if you don't. um try to do your
best with what you're given if you just you know
if you're lazy or if you don't try hard you don't
take risks um that you're really taking those
things that you have for granted and i wouldn't
you know i don't i don't like having waste or
like just taking things for granted yeah um yeah
i don't know where scripture does that dimension
that thou shalt eat from the sweat of the brow
um so it's a I truly believe what you just said,
and I believe in that, that we are on this earth
for a very, very specific purpose. And if we
don't fulfill that, we're wasting our life away
either way. So now going and pivoting to being
the best version of yourself and providing for
your family, how did you get started on the law
journey and what you do now? Well, I started
the office back in 2014. I was recently married,
got married in May of 2014. And then I had my
first child in November 2014. And I was unemployed
at the time. So I really had my back against
the wall and I had to get things going. So that's
when I decided, you know what, let me just open
a practice right now. And I'm really motivated.
I can invest all my time, energy and whatever
money that I had to get this practice going.
And I just thought like, hey, if I'm really willing
to outwork everybody, take the chances and just
really, you know, go all in that I could build
something where I could have the flexibility
to to just work and then also be there for my
family. Yeah, that's awesome. What would you
say going through that process? What are the
things that you have learned when you try to
do? Try to outwork everyone and learning through
those processes. What have you learned in the
entrepreneurship world through that? I think
one thing that I learned is that if you're willing
to just commit 100 % to what you're doing and
take chances, you're already way ahead of the
game because a lot of people... I think they're
not willing to commit that much. They're not
willing to make those sacrifices that it takes
to build your business. They're not willing to
not go to the parties or they're not willing
to invest all their time. They want to do things
like, well, I deserve to relax. I deserve to
take time off. And if you're willing to pass
up on those things and just focus all your energies
to building something, it can have a huge payoff.
I learned that just by building the practice
that it's very possible to build something by
just sheer working the competition. Yeah. I have
a little different view on that. I believe the
hard work pays off. I also believe that you need
to invest more in your work. than most people
are willing to come into it completely that but
i also believe that you need to have the right
uh systems team and the leadership in place for
for your business to grow um what are your thoughts
and you can disagree with that uh i absolutely
agree with that i mean this office was not just
built by myself i absolutely have a great team
behind me behind the office pushing everything
forward so i don't think it's a matter of agreeing
or just that that adds to what i've learned along
the way in the beginning you know i think it
was i was doing a lot of work that i'm not doing
anymore and i have the team to thank for that
very much um and yeah absolutely you have to
have a great team with you building everything
because one person two people three people can't
do it The more you have, the stronger your team
will be and the more that you'll be able to grow.
That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. I'm
going to take a step back and talk about a little
bit of history here and ask you questions from
that. So being a lawyer in the Asian culture
is very common. My dad's actually a lawyer. And
he is in India. I'm born and raised from there.
So for me, the goal was... either come to United
States, do my own thing, or take over my dad's
practice. I chose United States. So I know what
it's like to have parental pressure. But for
you, Lem, what was your motivation or your reason
to go in law? Well, I majored in journalism,
and I majored in journalism because I liked writing
and I wanted to tell stories that could impact
the world, make a difference, and then... As
I got older and I wasn't so idealistic, I said,
well, let me just get more practical skills so
that I could help people just one person at a
time, two people at a time, just on a smaller
scale. So a large part of my motivation was just
to get more practical skills, develop myself,
learn more so that I could help people on a more
one -on -one individual basis. And to your point,
as far as parents go, my parents were a huge
motivating factor in me going to law school.
I was working as a legal assistant, and my mom
asked me, hey, what are you doing? You were supposed
to go to law school. What's going on? I was also
doing photography on the side. What's going on?
Are you just going to be a photographer or a
legal assistant? What's happening? You should
go to law school. There was some pressure applied
to me in my mid -20s, and I was a legal assistant
for four years, and I said, you know what? I
think it's time that I... take the diving and
go to law school and see where that leads. And
the rest is history, as you say, right? So did
you finish your degree in 2014, 2013 then? I
graduated in 2011. It took me some time to build
the practice, to actually just have the motivation
to do that. And between that time, those three
years, I was just kind of working and just kind
of like odd jobs, contract jobs, just trying
to figure things out. That's awesome. That's
awesome. Thank you for sharing that. I have one
more question for you for today. That is, with
all the visions that you shared with me today,
and you can talk about any of these, where are
you going with your visions? The vision is to,
with the office, is to improve the way that personal
injury cases are handled, not just with. my office
but i think across the board because as as my
office grows this office grows the more competitive
that we'll get in the area and the more i think
the more the other uh the more the competition
will seek to improve what they offer to they
are going to want to say hey like we're not we're
not doing what they're doing we're not getting
this amount of reviews online things are getting
really challenging let's let's improve the way
we do things and i think The more competitive
that we get as an industry, the better it serves
the public. So I'd like to see that. I'd like
to see other personal injury law firms were just
kind of competing with one another, trying to
deliver the best service and results to the people
that need help. So when you say that you want
to change how things are handled in the personal
injury space, what do you mean by that? Well,
I think just improve the client service that
clients are getting, I think. There wasn't always
an emphasis on the client service. When I started,
there were firms getting reviews, like focusing
on delivering great service and results to get
reviews. Now I think across the board, firms
are thinking, okay, well, we need to make sure
that we're taking care of them from start to
finish so that in the end, they'll want to leave
us a good review online. So just being more approachable,
being friendlier. being warmer being more empathetic
being more compassionate and then on top of that
delivering the best results possible whether
it means even as far as at the end of the case
you know reducing our our attorney's fees if
for whatever reason if if there isn't enough
for the client to be happy with what they're
receiving um sometimes we say well we can reduce
our fee so that they're they're a happy client
So we just do everything possible to make sure
that our clients are happy. And if we're doing
that, I think that just challenges everybody
else to do the same. Wow, that's awesome. You
know, I've had personal experiences on that space.
Like a few years ago, I got in an accident in
Texas. And it's a pretty big thing here where
the big law firms with the greatest reviews in
the world, they're fighting for your business
all the time. because the payout is a percentage
of whatever settlement is usually. And up till
with the, now I have, you mentioned it and I
noticed the things. At the end of the case, I
got a good settlement out of it, but I didn't
write them a review because starting off, I didn't
have a good experience with it because after
I signed the thing, there's so many instances
where I was just left blank. I didn't know what
the heck is going on. And without clarity in
how things were moving, I don't know what to
do. At one time, I think I received a text like,
hey, we can't approve your doctor treatments
right now because of the gap or something. And
I'm like, what are you guys talking about? And
then for weeks, I didn't receive an answer from
them. And that's a pretty big thing for someone
who's getting treatment in a case. And it all
worked out eventually. Things were good. The
money made up for quite a bit of stuff. the experience
you can't change it and uh so yeah i can completely
see all that and the funny part is my wife recently
got rear -ended two days ago so we're going through
that again oh yeah in texas so it's going to
be something to see and behold okay yeah that's
exactly what i'm talking about if they delivered
great service from start to finish the odds of
you leaving review at the end increase by a lot
because you think about it you look back and
say yeah they really took care of me from start
to finish they explained everything they called
me when i needed an explanation they didn't just
text me they were very thorough with me that
you know they guided you they held your hand
so that you really understood what was going
on and i think a lot of firms um they just say
okay well don't worry we'll get you the money
in the end and then just trust what we're doing
but i think clients are really looking for that
service where they're being explained what's
happening so they have that peace of mind from
the beginning to until the end it's about giving
that peace of mind on top of the results at the
end too Have an excellent time building out your
vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.