Spouse & Business Partner? Secrets to Balancing Family and Your Law Firm | YPM Podcast

Maria Strauch: [: 00:00:00

MPS: Hey, Law Firm Owners, welcome to the Your Practice Mastered podcast. Today, we got a fun episode. We're your hosts. I'm MPS. 


the gap in the conversation [: 00:01:00

Maria Strauch: Thank you for having me, Michael and Richard. 


MPS: Yeah, well I'm going to get grilled if I call her by the first name. So I'm going to go with Ma, and I'm going to say, Ma, is there something that not everyone knows about you? 


ial journey" with RJ, back in: 1995

Richard James: Did you just say the date night was over casket and tied? 


Maria Strauch: That's exactly what I said. You can't make this bleep up. Okay. 


ngs in the funeral home. And [: 00:03:00

Maria Strauch: That is correct. And not only work, had to show up appropriately. I wore a pantsuit one time, and it was no go. The matriarch very kindly and politely told me that women in the funeral business are to wear are dress suits with a skirt, and no pants. So, I had to tweak my style a little bit for that. And that probably started my journey of all my crazy fashion sense. But yeah, I got very creative, utilizing a professional outfit that would still speak funereal, but at the same time, still have a little bit of glitz. And 


so, if I remember correctly, [: 00:04:00

Maria Strauch: Hundred percent. You gotta always be dressed for business, because 


Richard James: did that, What did that mean, you couldn't wear to the grocery store? 


Maria Strauch: Anything anybody would wear these days. I mean, They go with their pajamas and their slippers and a hundred percent. You had to be put together, you to have be dressed appropriately that if you ran into a family that you served in the community that you looked the part matter what and when, because you still were working You know, with them in a professional setting, so you always theoretically, quote unquote, "How to be on." right? Or that's was certain standard you must always meet. And I guess, the same would go for your clients. I mean, They're setting a standard in the community as a professional, and there's a certain standard that has to be always maintained. 


Richard James: MPS. 


d generation, to the grocery [: 00:05:00

MPS: And a salesperson was born in that moment. So was out of the womb, entrepreneur and salesperson, and made sure the grocery store knew it. And then, you were in the funeral business with dad. And then, what, what did the rest of the story look like? 


me where we were starting to [: 00:06:00

Richard James: Could you say that one more time? 


d into a pet supply company. [: 00:07:00

MPS: Cause that's a natural transition, from funerals to pet supply. 


Maria Strauch: being, We don't even own a pet. but yeah, 


st. Right. It was [: 00:08:00

Maria Strauch: I was in bed with tonsillitis and everything happens fast in business. There's no, I'm not feeling well tonight. Right. I mean, it's like, You just got to play the part and do what needs to be done. So literally, I thought you were joking. It was April fool's day. But you're like, we got to get to Philly right now. And I'm like, huh, what? So, gathered up a babysitter for two little kids and took a shower, got dressed, probably slept some of the way down there. Actually, no, we were going through the contract on the way down there because there were still things that weren't written correctly, and they were upsetting. So, the negotiation continued all the way on the table at the closing table, until we could get things ironed out. Yeah, I managed through it, just like I've [00:09:00] managed through everything else we've had to go through on this journey. It's never easy, but you do it. You do what needs to be done. 


inute closing deals for this [: 00:10:00

Maria Strauch: And I just want to expand upon that lawsuit thing. If I remember correctly, there was something, that there was some kind of a counter, and you were in China. And here I am running the household, the funeral business, and the aquarium business. And a subpoena comes through the door. And i'm like, wait, what? And I was going crazy. Yep. I mean, like these like you can't make this up. This is just the way like nothing surprises me. I have to be honest. I've learned such a resiliency in business that not much rattles me and i'll believe just about anything. No, 


MPS: You kind of have [: 00:11:00

Maria Strauch: no, no, It wasn't In comes the world of law. It was here comes 2007, eight, nine, and 10. And when the real estate market tank, the economy took a major turn, and no longer were people spending money on large, ridiculous aquariums. They were putting their money into their furry friend, dog or cat, and hence the pet supply business starts going down the tubes. So now, what do we have to do again? Reinvent ourselves. So that's you know, never comes easy. But again, I mean, you do what you have to do. So, as RJ was out there finding his way into what his next thing was going to be, I kind of started closing down [00:12:00] the aquarium company and phasing out the inventory best I can with his assistance. And had to go back to work, right? I mean, Still had bills and health insurance and everything that had to be paid, So, went back into the healthcare industry. And that's what I did until you know, that's where law came in. That's where


Richard James: So So, let's, So let's just freeze frame this for a second, right? By the way, your mom and dad, entrepreneurs are not entrepreneurs. 


Maria Strauch: My mother and 


Richard James: right? 


MPS: Right. 


Maria Strauch: no, no, uh, blue collar. No, no, no, no, 


Richard James: Blue collar electrician, stayed home mom, and then went out and worked in the world, and different facets to pay the bills, bring more money in, right? right 


Maria Strauch: Humble beginnings. Yep. 


Richard James: Very humble beginnings. Not. risk takers, necessarily. Right. 


MPS: right? Far from it. 


Richard James: Okay. So now, by the way, for everybody, for those who don't know, we, you and I met when we were 


Maria Strauch: 15. 


years old, [: 00:13:00

Maria Strauch: Well, you know, I think at some point, I trusted you, right? I trusted that you always had our family's best decision at heart. And I knew that you would do whatever it would take to make things right, or make them work, or to provide a house and food [00:16:00] for our family. So first of all, came to trust. But in saying that, trust me, I mean, the rollercoaster ride I was on, it wasn't always rainbows and uniforms. I am the ECIB. I mean, Things would spin and get crazy, and yeah, I mean, it was just part of the deal. But you learn to adapt, you learn to realize that you're not going anywhere. You're on this ride. So you might as well just strap in and enjoy it, or involve yourself in it as much as you can, or pull yourself out, as much as you can. But I found, it's always easier, when working with an entrepreneur run this interface. The problem is, is, when you both start running different races, it's where it gets more complex. I just found that it's being easier. But in that, one of the problems with working so closely with your spouse is, what becomes missing is the missing because you're always in the same thread, day in and day out. And it's always the same problems, and it's [00:17:00] always the same whatever, just fill in the blank. So, it's bittersweet, but yet at the same time, when you look back at things now, You know, we can say that we did this together. And then on some level, we're did it and are doing it as a family. So we're all building our own racing at this point 


pply trade show, you know, in: 2004

MPS: so 


Richard James: uh, 


MPS: to enjoy it. Yeah 


Maria Strauch: You probably be in jail for that now. Trying to save Yeah, that's right. Uh, 


es: but, So the question is, [: 00:18:00

MPS: Well, think, it was just a different perspective, right? You know, At some point, you're just kind of accustomed to it being normal. I just thought it was normal. That's just how things worked, right? I thought, families go out to trade shows and the kids run the sales floor. I quickly found out, that was wrong. 


Maria Strauch: Until you go to your friend's for dinner, that's not it at all. Just 


ou know, conversations often [: 00:19:00

Maria Strauch: But just a plus one on that. Like, Think about your now bride, Delaney. First coming and having dinner with us at our house, right? I wonder, you know, just to her experience of that. I mean, I know she's told tales and stories about this, just how different it was to come and sit at our dinner table. We probably could have had our own sitcom. I mean, mean, We could have been 14 o'clock and everything


ve. that's why, a very small [: 00:20:00

Richard James: I also think that, it's important to mention it, doesn't have just be this way. don't know if was way for Maria and I just because of who we are as people, or because neither of us really had anybody give us these give example. So, we had to learn on own necessarily. My family had a little bit of entrepreneurship, for sure. [00:21:00] We live through. But my point is that, I feel like you and your wife, you and Delaney decided that you were going to be really purposeful with how you were going to kind of use a separation of church and state in your family, between business and family. Is that accurate? 


MPS: Yeah, it is. We find, that's the way we best operate. She's got her work and that's what she likes to do. I've got my work. That's what I like to do. And any big topics that come up from both of them will go through it. But we try to avoid, just a constant business conversation. We find that works best for us. 


Richard James: So, where do you want to here want to go

MPS: Well, I want to go from here is, so all of this leads up to the fact that now, we're all together in a business, and you've taken a major role into a major part of our business. So what does the day to day look like? What is it that you do? Obviously, I've taken over the staffing room component part of 


Maria Strauch: [: 00:22:00

Richard James: So what is the staffing room do? 


o maintain compliance. We do [: 00:23:00

Richard James: So let's put a pin in that real quick, because I, want this to be, so that was a teachable moment, despite you telling people what we do, there was a lot of teachable information there. And for those of you that might be listening to this, that you're the owner of a law firm the point of that conversation was not to promote the staffing room. You have to apply to get in, anyway. You can't, we don't just sell to anybody, so that's a separate point, but the lesson there is what you really got to take out of this. The lesson is, look, if you're going to take your law firm serious, you absolutely must have somebody managing your phones, both for inbound and outbound, as well as a bunch of other roles inside of your company, where the phones are a vital tool that has to be utilized well in your organization. And in order to do that, you have to have a system, by which you attract good quality talent. And then, once you attract the good quality talent, you have to be able to vet them to be sure they [00:25:00] can pass through the gauntlet of the program you're going to use it. They're going to have to stick to it. In our case, it's 11 steps. we do that over a 96 hour period, that's why we call it the 96 hour test. And then from there, you have to coach them to make sure they stay on path with that 11 step script and structure. So they're using it on a regular basis and mystery shop the firm and do all these things to make sure what we want to be happening in a firm is actually happening in the firm. So the lesson here is, yes, in the early days, it might be as simple as giving your cousin the phone to use the answer. And that's fine to get started. Or maybe it's your spouse or maybe it's your son or maybe it's your daughter, whatever it is just to answer the phone. But at some point as your firm grows and matures, that position of the phone really has to be dialed in and taken seriously. And we have to build a system around it. And so, that's the department that Maria decided to say yes to. Now, Maria, you're a registered nurse, by trade. You've been an entrepreneur's [00:26:00] spouse for 29 years now. And so I said that you were in sales in our one company at what point, but like, why do you think, like, what background do you have that feel you can understand the pain of the phone salesperson, that appointment setter? 


't know that. And we make it [: 00:27:00

MPS: Good answer. 


when we got married, back in: 1995

Maria Strauch: Well, and that's, you know, It's funny you say that, because you had to get the frog out of your throat at 2 o'clock in the morning, and you sat there and you kept saying, it's all funerals or free rolls or funeral. It's funny. I do the same thing kind of in the way that I train our agents right now. My best demonstrated practice to our clients is, I call it getting the frog out of your throat. They need to do that through letting their new agent start on an unconverted lead list, so that they can get confidence in the script, and get the frog out of their throat. Not that they can't take an inbound call, but the preferred method is, let's get the frog out of their throat. Let's get them comfortable. Although we're coming alongside them, consistently providing support and training, we want them to be able to empower themselves to be able to do it on their own. And the best way to do [00:29:00] that is give them an unconverted leads. 


Richard James: That's a writer downer, MPS. What do you think? 


MPS: Oh, that's really powerful. think, that's actually a very wise way to start it because it builds their confidence, so inbound leads become pretty easy for them. Because if you can get the outbound down and you can actually get people to answer the phone, run it, and get some set appointments out of outbound, inbound's gonna feel like a breeze. 


Maria Strauch: I didn't want it to turn into you know, the practices of TSR, but it just, all these points just keeps start 


it the right way, and you're [: 00:30:00

MPS: What's got you excited and fired up, Ma? Could be business, could be personal, could be both? 


re in the intake room or the [: 00:31:00

Richard James: That's a pretty darn good answer. 


nd the story and the dynamic [: 00:32:00

Maria Strauch: To everyone, thank you for having me. 


of things. But none of this [: 00:33:00

Maria Strauch: It's been a pleasure dealing with you all. Although we have our high points and our low points, we always end up making it work out. We always love each other. And we always know when we have to concede or celebrate. And we do both very well. We both very well 


MPS: Indeed.