John Gomez is the CEO and Lead Trial Attorney of Gomez Trial Attorneys, where he represents ordinary people and businesses in high-stakes litigation. In 2010, John was named the national Lawyer of the Year by Lawyers USA, and he has twice been named San Diego’s Trial Lawyer of the Year, among many other awards. As a leader in the community and the courtroom, John is also a member of the Summit Council, an exclusive group of the country’s top civil justice attorneys.
Since 2000, John has obtained more than $250 million in verdicts and settlements for his clients, with more than 60 awards exceeding $1 million each. A few of his notable accomplishments include a $106 million verdict in the civil component of the infamous “American Beauty Murder,” a $16.5 million jury verdict against El Pollo Loco, and a $10.8 million verdict against Pizza Hut.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- John Gomez, the CEO and Lead Trial Attorney of Gomez Trial Attorneys, discusses how playing football in college influenced his business mindset
- Why John decided to start his own law firm
- The importance of treating a law practice as a business
- How the first commandment of Jiu-Jitsu has helped John build a successful law firm
- John talks about the relationship between faith and success
- John’s advice to current and future business leaders
- The role that social media plays in establishing your brand and identity
- How John maintains a balance between his work and personal life
In this episode…
From overcoming the fear of rejection to growing your business too quickly, there are many challenges that come with running your own law firm. On top of the common external obstacles that business owners face, there are also plenty of internal factors that keep us from starting and building a successful business.
John Gomez, the CEO and Lead Trial Attorney of Gomez Trial Attorneys, believes that the key to running a successful firm is to define your own values and goals before you set out to build your business. And, when in doubt, don’t be afraid to seek out advice from the business leaders who have come before you.
Join Luis Scott in this episode of The Guts and Glory Show as he interviews John Gomez, the CEO and Lead Trial Attorney of Gomez Trial Attorneys. John discusses the challenges he’s faced while running his own law practice and how his faith has helped guide him through the ups and downs along the way. He also shares the importance of having a proactive mindset, the gutsiest decision that he’s ever made, and his advice for facing your fears. Stay tuned.
Resources Mentioned in this episode
- John Gomez
- John Gomez on LinkedIn
- Gomez Trial Attorneys
- Text or Call John Gomez: 619-850-2813
- Call Gomez Trial Attorneys: 866-TRIAL-LAW
- Michael Mogill on LinkedIn
- Crisp Video Group
- Luis Scott on LinkedIn
- 8 Figure Firm
- Bader Scott Injury Lawyers
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by 8 Figure Firm.
Co-founded by Luis Scott and Seth Bader of Bader Scott Injury Lawyers, 8 Figure Firm helps transform your law firm into a 7-figure or even 8-figure firm.
After their own law firm scaled from $3.5 million in revenues to $30 million per year in revenues in just two years, Luis and Seth started the 8 Figure Firm to share their strategies and help other law firms achieve exponential growth.
Visit www.8figurefirm.com to receive a consult call and start scaling your business today.
Episode Transcript
Luis Scott 0:00
I’m Luis Scott Managing Partner Bader Scott Injury Lawyers one of the fastest growing law firms in the country. And I’m also the co-founder of 8 Figure Firm Consulting. I’ve successfully built multiple companies by focusing on leadership, operations and culture. Using these principles, my companies have generated close to $100 million in revenue. But before any of this success, I started my legal career as a receptionist, and I worked my way up to becoming managing partner. And each episode of this podcast, I sit down with leaders and entrepreneurs who have had the guts to step out on their own, and the courage to face adversity. They share with us their tips for achievement, the challenges they have faced and the glory of success. I welcome you to The Guts and Glory Show.
Alright, Luis Scott here, host of the Guts and Glory Show I feature top leaders who share the obstacles and challenges of leadership, the guts it takes to succeed and the glory of success success. Today, you will hear another inspiring interview from trial attorney John Gomez, who has built one of the most successful law firms in California, getting his clients almost half a billion dollars in verdicts and settlements. Before we get started, I want to tell you the sponsorship message this episode has been brought to you by 8 Figure Firm Consulting at 8 Figure Firm we help businesses go from seven figures to 8 figures by helping lawyers avoid doing the parts of the business they hate, so that they can focus on making the impacts they love. For more information from 8 Figure Firm go to www.www.8figurefirm.com and before I introduce our guests, I want to give a special thanks and shout out to Michael Mogill of Crisp Video Group. And you can find more information about Crisp Video Group at Crisp Video Group.com they specialize not only in videos, but in helping law firms create high quality impacts in their specific communities. So now, I introduced our guest trial attorney John Gomez. And if you just look at his resume, you know he’s a very achieved attorney and I want to read some of the specifics about what he has earned. Lawyers USA has named him the national lawyer of the Year in 2010. He was twice named San Diego’s trial lawyer of the year, the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego have awarded him an unprecedented 10 separate outstanding trial lawyer awards. He’s been named a top 100 California attorney by the Los Angeles daily journal, a top 10 san diego attorney overall by San Diego Metropolitan magazine, and has been voted by his peers as a top 10 san diego super lawyer every year since 2012. But that’s not it. He also has some incredible achievements inside the courtroom, winning a $106 million wrongful deaths jury verdict arising out of San Diego’s infamous American Beauty murder, a $16.5 milion jury verdict against polio logo and a $10.8 million jury verdict against Pizza Hut. John, welcome to the guts and glory show.
John Gomez 3:02
Thanks so much for having me on fired up. Thank you.
Luis Scott 3:05
Absolutely. Well, I want to get started and just talk to you about San Diego. It’s one of my most favorite cities. And I’ve had an opportunity to go there two times on business, but haven’t really been able to enjoy it. Tell me about what it’s like living in San Diego.
John Gomez 3:20
Yeah, so I had the opportunity to grow up here. My dad was in the Navy. And so we would kind of bounce between the East Coast and San Diego. And he ended up stationed out here. So I grew up here. It’s my town. It’s It’s It’s got great climate, you know, first of all, we’re renowned for our consistent good weather. We have Mexico, you know, 20 minutes away from downtown. We have the mountains, you know, you can go snowboarding or, you know, mountain biking or skiing whatever you like. And we can surf you know, we have, I think the best Mexican food in the world. And so it’s an awesome hands down.
Luis Scott 4:01
Yeah, hands down, that’s for sure. I know when I went to San Diego the first time, the first thing that I did was I I researched best places to eat. And I found out that the Food Network apparently lives in your city when it comes to Mexican food. So that was incredible experience to be able to do that. I also saw that you played football in college. What was that experience? Like? I’m a huge football fan.
John Gomez 4:25
Yeah, I was fine. You know, I ended up at a one to a school, you know, which means for those that don’t know, like, we wouldn’t get that many people to our games. The most I’ve ever played in front of was like, you know, 15,000 or so but, you know, being on a college team is a special experience no matter where it is. And you know, I agreed teammates and it was a great experience. And I think really, it was the reason I went to college. I wouldn’t have gone to college otherwise. So I’m appreciative of that.
Luis Scott 5:00
salutely you know, the thing is that I played sports in college, too, I played baseball at a Division Two school. So it’s even one lower ring under, you know, Division One, to a, but I believe baseball really shaped my life in a big way. And so I’m curious to hear how has football really shaped your business and the way you operate kind of as a professional.
John Gomez 5:21
It taught me, I was never the most athletic guy. You know, I had enough to get by, but I wasn’t, you know, blessed genetically, let’s say. And so it taught me the value of hard work, you know, first of all, and I think that that is if you want to start a business, or run a business successfully, or be successful in virtually anything you knew, I think hard work is always going to be the most important thing. And of course, you know, on a college sports team, you spend a lot of time with these guys that come from all over the world and country and whatever, different different cultures, different colors, different backgrounds, you know, you get to learn to get along with all kinds of different people. And I think that’s always a helpful skill as well. Yeah, absolutely. I
Luis Scott 6:14
mean, I think without organized sports, I don’t think I would have developed the discipline that I have, you know, as a professional, because when I was playing baseball, we were getting up every morning to run, we were doing two day camps, not as aggressively as you know, being in football pads, but to day camps and discipline in the gym, and things like that. All of that really plays a huge impact in having a consistent routine. You know, I want to dive into the real question for today, and probably what a lot of listeners are going to be asking, and that’s how did you start your business? How did you start your law practice?
How did you decide to go on your own and I want to ask it, with this context, I went out on my own after being out of law firm for about 14 and a half years. And I can just tell you, it’s a incredibly scary decision to take that leap of faith to go out on your own. And I and I remember reading your story online, where you only had two cases when you went out on your own, like, what made you do it? How did you make that decision? And and what is it that got you to start your own business?
John Gomez 7:16
Well, I mean, to be honest, I was assisted in that decision, because I was at another law firm, with a very well known and respected trial lawyer. And, you know, I got, maybe there were, there were two, sort of alpha dogs emerging at the same law firm, and it was his law firm. And so he assisted me in making that decision by asking me to leave. But I’ve been thinking about it for a while. And so, you know, I just remember, you know, walking down the street, you know, the day the morning that he fired me, and just looking up at the buildings and saying, I wonder where I’m going to put my office, I wonder, you know, what I’m going to do, but I’d already thought of it in advance, I’d already thought of having a place that could reflect my culture and values and my brand and my way of doing things. And so he was just, I think, a blessing in disguise getting you there.
Luis Scott 8:17
It’s, I mean, that’s a great way to look at that. And you know, the perspective because I think a lot of us in the legal field, you know, I talked about leaving my firm, after 14 and a half years, I had the assistance as well, in that situation. So I can definitely relate in that. But I think a lot of us need that push. And some of us have not needed the push, and I’ve gone out on our own, but for me, I needed that push because I, I felt that I couldn’t leave for a long time, time. And alignment is huge. You know, that’s what you mentioned that there was not really a good alignment. Now, you know, fast forward 15 years, 20 years later, you have this very successful business, hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue has been generated through your business 20 plus lawyers, dozens and dozens of employees. You know, people see that, and they don’t really understand what it took to get to that point, the trials that you went through. So I’m curious to hear from from day one, starting the firm today, where you now have this huge business super successful, you know, completely recognized throughout the state in the country, like what are some trials that you’ve gone through? And what are some things that you’ve done to overcome those
John Gomez 9:22
trials? Yeah, so certainly, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. There have definitely been some ups and downs, I’ll say, you know, financially, you know, we are a trial firm, a pure contingency fee firm. And so we only get paid if we win and, you know, our revenue can can vary so much dramatically. And so I’ve definitely had probably at least two that jumped out of my mind periods where, you know, we almost hit the ground, you know, literally almost, you know, went under One very early in my firm, before I got a big verdict, and then one where I really think I grew a little too aggressively without the capital to justify that and maybe made some hires and people that weren’t well advised, got a little ahead of myself wasn’t keeping an eye on things the way I should have. And now is another period where I had to make some really drastic decisions just to save the company, I had to lay off people. Oh, my gosh, yeah. And it was literally Am I gonna make payroll. And that was only, you know, like, three, four years ago that that happened. And wow, you know, ever since then I’ve and to that, to that point, I will say, you know, for your listeners, you know, I was pretty much exclusively focused on being a trial lawyer to the detriment of running the business. And that experience caused me to wake up a little bit and say, Look, you know, I have to be a good steward of this place, and these employees and focus on the business.
Luis Scott 11:09
I mean, you bring up an interesting point, a lot of lawyers, they start off, and they don’t see themselves as business owners. And so they never treat the business like a business, they treat it like a law practice. You know, I always talk about turning law practices into law businesses, there’s a business aspect to this professional service. And if you don’t watch the business part, you won’t have anything to try, you won’t have any cases to try. So that is that is a huge point. When it comes to that. And, you know, you mentioned something else about growing too fast. I think a lot of lawyers don’t realize that there’s the the know faster, then right? You have to figure out how fast can you actually grow with the cash flow that you have with the money with the resources, because in a contingency practice, like what we do, if you don’t have the cash, it’s really hard to grow. And we don’t, we don’t have access to angel investors, you know, it doesn’t work like that. So it’s a very interesting point. You know, I was looking at one of your videos online, and I saw a quote, where it talks about the first commandment of jujitsu, you probably know what it is. And it said, to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. You know, tell me about how that first commandment of jujitsu has really helped define your law firm and building it into the success but you know, that you have today?
John Gomez 12:26
Yeah, I thank you for that I, I really like to jitsu and, and practice it, and train in it. So thanks for that. I think, you know, in a couple ways, one, you know, personally, you know, I think that you have to have something, you know, more important or grounding or, you know, superior to you, the keeps and kind of focused on your core principles. You know, for me, that’s relationship with Jesus Christ. And so for me, you know, that keeps me strong enough, that, that I don’t believe that sort of daily struggles can throw me off my game, you know, within the practice of live feel, like, you know, just like we talked about before hard work and saw preparation, you know, is going to allow you to be ready to meet the moment, you know, whatever comes your way, you know, so nothing, none of that can disturb my peace of mind. And then with a firm, you know, what I’m learning is having data and processes and systems and so that we have repeatable and predictable outcomes. And performance really helps keep my peace of mind, in the place it should be. So, you know, I would say a combination of those three things.
Luis Scott 13:52
Yeah. I mean, it’s so so crucial. You’re talking about keeping the data and keeping the the numbers, knowing your numbers and running it like a business. I mean, I, I don’t know how many times I talk to lawyers, and they don’t run their law firm like a business. They just, they think that the cases are going to come in, it reminds me of the of the movie, if you build it, they will come You know, it doesn’t. It doesn’t work like that in the legal field, you have to actually manage your numbers. You know, you you brought up your relationship with Christ. And it’s something that’s really personal to me. I’m a pastor’s kid. So I grew up in the church, and you don’t find a lot of people that are in that space in the legal space that have a relationship with Christ, at least not where I’m from. It doesn’t tend to be like that. And I read one of your blogs on your website, it was called my last trial, a question of faith where you wrote it from Costa Rica. And you talked about losing three consecutive trials and then winning this $60 million verdict. And I’m curious, how has faith really guided you in building your business and being a lawyer and just being the success that you are today, personally and professionally, like, how has faith played a part in that?
John Gomez 14:54
Well, you know, I’m sure you would say the same thing, but for me, it directs me Everything that I do. And so, there’s that constant relationship and that constant, you know, prayer, and, you know, you just feel that presence, and it gives you strength and direction, you know, and if I’m struggling with something, you know, I’ll give it up to prayer, and suddenly, you know, I have an answer that seems to make sense and work, you know, otherwise, I would say that, you know, running an organization, you know, requires the respect of your team members, right. And so if you’re out carousing, and, you know, not doing the right thing, and behaving in a way, that’s, you know, maybe not something that your team members respect, then I don’t think they’re going to follow you the way that you need them to. And you know, not everyone’s Christian or a person of faith. But I think I would, I would say, pretty much everyone respects, the lifestyle that we live, you know, and the choices we make and how we treat people. And so if we’re able to live our lives and treat people the way that, you know, Christ teaches us, you know, that’s going to engender respect and admiration and eventually following, you know, not only from your team, but from, you know, others in the community, I’ve never lost a case because they find out I’m Christian, I get along, because they find out and
Luis Scott 16:35
I would agree with that. It’s one of the biggest cases that I ever worked on, was a lady from a church, who it was very important to her that she had a Christian lawyer. So I would agree with that. wholeheartedly. You know, for me, my faith, what it does is that it gives me hope. You know, we talk about eternal hope, and so forth, but it gives me hope, even here for my life, you know, a lot of people, especially during Coronavirus, this is so relevant, a lot of people have lost hope they’ve lost hope in their future. They’ve lost hope in their financial future, their personal future, their relationship future, you know, divorce as is at an all time high right now, especially with people living in close confines and not being able to go out. And I think a lot of people lose hope for their business. You know, they ask themselves the question, when is it going to happen for me? And maybe in the past, you’ve asked yourself that question, when is this going to happen for me? When is it going to be a turning point in my business? What am I going to be able to achieve what I want? When is it? What am I going to have the car that I want the house that I want the family that I want the things that I want? And I love to hear your insight as to when was the turning point for you when you knew like this was going to happen for you, and it was going to be a success? And I asked that question, because I always hear it takes 10 years to become an overnight success. So like, when was your overnight success moment?
John Gomez 17:52
You know, frankly, I’m still working on it. You know, I feel like, I feel like I’ve had abundant success, you know, but I feel like, I’m just getting started. And, you know, I have a lot of big plans, that all involve sort of, you know, looking forward and forward thinking and I think, you know, what you talk about really is a mindset, you know, you can’t just sit back and wait for success to come You have to be proactively, you know, doing things that will radically increase the chance of success. And I think and I think you’re right, I think just faith in in, you know, something greater than yourself, or even faith in yourself and your vision and, and work ethic is something that, you know, can get through get us through times like this, I’m sure like you like me, look at this time of COVID as really a time of opportunity. So there’s gonna be some, maybe some short term setbacks. But coming out the other side, I think, you know, I’m very, very optimistic about what things are gonna look like for us.
Luis Scott 19:03
Yeah, I mean, mindset is huge. It’s absolutely important and crucial to, to getting to that next level. I really believe that. And you mentioned that sometimes you have to have courage to do things. And I’m curious, like, what’s the gutsiest decision you’ve ever had to make in your life? And where do you credit it taking you? You know, what, what can you think of
John Gomez 19:22
the gutsiest decision I made in my life? Holy cow. Um, wow, the gutsiest decision. Well, you know, the gutsiest business. Well, let me see the cutsies decision I’ve ever made my life. I’ll just I’ll go way back and just say, you know, my parents really weren’t. I would say super evolved in my life, you know, at the time I went to college, and you know, weren’t sources of, you know, they didn’t, they weren’t the ones that told me to go to college or help. To go to college, or helped me with the applications, or you know, provided money at that time, really. And so I guess I would just say, at that time, you know, I just had visions of becoming a successful collegiate student athlete. And I did it all by myself, you know, from nowhere and filled out all the financial aid or whatever it was, and, and somehow found my way, you know, eventually at a great Catholic college, you know, University of San Diego, and then eventually somehow got into Yale Law School. And that was all just me. And so I think the gutsiest decision was really believing in myself even back then, I would say,
Luis Scott 20:42
I mean, that’s huge. I, you know, it’s funny, because when you become successful, you always downplay your success, you never see yourself like other people see you, you know, I, I walk around the office and, and people say that that employees are scared of me walking around the office, I’m like, why I’m like, the most fun loving guy on the world, you know, and they don’t see you that way. And it’s funny how we see ourselves. And I love that because at the moment that you stop losing that humility, really, you’ve lost everything. I mean, humility is everything as it relates to your life. What would you tell someone who’s living in fear of making the decision that you made, you know, making that decision of believing in yourself going out on your own, going to school, going to Yale? Like, what would you tell that person who’s living in fear? And and is not living? What their life should be? Like? What would you say to them?
John Gomez 21:34
I think the best advice, you know, that I would give for them is to talk to people who have taken that jump before, and taking that leap before whether it’s, you know, there’s a lot of kids that grew up in places, and they’re kind of taught, you know, okay, you’re not college material, or kids from here, don’t go to college, or you shouldn’t go to college, you know, that kid, I would encourage them to talk to people that have gone to college, and, you know, that can provide, you know, stories or examples of inspiration. And I would say the same thing with lawyers, you know, that are unhappy doing what they’re doing or contemplating, you know, starting a firm, you know, talk to people who have done it, you know, and you’ll find out I think, oftentimes that it’s not as overwhelming, you know, as you think are as scary as you think, you know, because lots of ordinary people like you and I have done all of those things and come out the better for it.
Luis Scott 22:34
Yeah, you know, I wonder how much negativity in the legal profession plays into the way people respond. When I was going to law school, if I told someone that I was going to law school, you had many people, and you probably heard this, don’t go to law school, you’re gonna waste your time, you’re gonna waste your money, you’re going to end up becoming, you know, a slave to a firm, don’t don’t start your own place, it’s not going to be successful. There’s too many lawyers. I hear this all the time. There’s too many lawyers. There’s not enough cases this than the other. And I think that, that it’s, it’s one of the reasons that people don’t make that decision. And there’s the negativity. But then there’s the belief. When you start something new, even when I started the podcast, one of the things here I am a successful business owner, and yet, I was kind of nervous about starting the podcast, because like, I wasn’t sure if I was gonna be successful, are people going to listen? Is it going to do anything. So I do think that knowing who you are developing yourself, and trusting that you’re going to, you’re going to have a good outcome. And like you said that orden if ordinary guys like us can do it. And talking to those guys, I think it’s going to help in a big way. Now, your firm has now grown to a significant size, and I’m very pro leadership, I believe leadership runs a business, like if you don’t have leaders, your business not going to ultimately succeed. What role has leadership played in your business? And what advice would you give to people who are trying to be the jack of all trades, run their business, be the only leader do everything themselves? Like what what would you tell them?
John Gomez 24:04
Yeah, so um, I think leadership, I agree with you is the single most important factor in defining the success of an organization. And I will say, the, what I would tell, you know, people listening to this is, you know, surround yourself if you are sort of the visionary, the firm or, you know, surround yourself with people that can, you know, help you lead so that you can just operate at your highest and best use, you know, I have, for me, for example, you know, I am kind of a visionary, a trial lawyer, you know, a rah rah culture guy, but not great with details and processes, and, you know, I don’t want to deal with all that stuff. And so, you know, I have, you know, a person who’s a great smart guy who loves that stuff, you know, so I think Put him into that role, you know, according to, you know, some systems of management. I’m the visionary. And he’s the integrator. Right? Yeah. And we have, you know, other people that lead as well. So I think you need to, I think always lead from the top with, you know, inspiration. And like I said, doing the right thing all the time. But you need to let go of some things really, if you want to be successful. And if you have an organization of any size,
Luis Scott 25:32
did you find that letting go of some things as you were growing your business? Did you find that to be difficult? Or was that not that difficult for you? Like, what what made you make that transition? Because it’s hard for a lot of people?
John Gomez 25:42
Yeah, I think, initially, I had some trouble letting go some things, you know, but then I just realized I wasn’t very good at them. And or, you know, the things wouldn’t get done if I didn’t delegate them, or have someone else do them. Because I would get stuck in a three week trial or whatever, you know, and come back and nothing’s happened. I mean, that’s not a good thing. Yeah. So over time, I’ve become better at it. As I, as I’ve talked to more people that know more than I do about running businesses.
Luis Scott 26:15
Yeah, that’s crucial. One of the things that I’ve done is I’ve gone outside of the industry and asked questions to people in other industries, and, you know, what are what are business leaders doing in other industries that are not like ours, so that we could set it up more like a, you know, traditional business, and I think that’s been a huge thing is just getting that that advice from from other industries and so forth? Now? What, what would you say is the pinnacle of success that you’ve had so far, I know, we’re both still growing, we want to continue thriving, you know, striving for more, but what was what’s one of like, your best glory stories that you have in your career so far?
John Gomez 26:54
Ah, um, you know, I think that the the glory stories take place on a daily basis, or on a regular basis. And they’re really just, I think testimonies by either, you know, clients or team members, about the values of our organization, and the benefit they have, by virtue of being part of it either as a team member or as a customer. And so, you know, just I think our ability to interact with and affect the lives of a lot of people in a very positive way to me, on sort of a recurring basis, to me defines the pinnacle of success. You know, I could, I could say, Oh, you know, this router, this router, this trial, but to me, it’s really, like really, building a place that really enriches people’s lives. And so, you know, whenever I hear about that, or little story about that, or how much, you know, like, someone will put a review on, you know, Google, and they’ll say, Oh, my sister works there. And she loves it. You know, yeah, there’s so they treat her so well. And that kind of thing to me is, yeah, no, gets me going.
Luis Scott 28:21
You know, it’s a great place to be when you get there, when, when you’re not really worried about the big cases, you’re really worried about impacting other people’s lives. I just, I don’t know if you’ve ever done this exercise, but I went through a personal vision exercise, you know, kind of defining my own vision, and I, and I wrote the words, you know, living a life of significance, like, just meaning something to someone, and I think it’s a special place to finally get somewhere like that. What What role does social media play in, in your business or in the way people perceive our industry? And what are some things that you would say to someone who is, you know, concerned about that that perception? Because right now, in social media, you see a lot of lawyers advertising, everybody’s advertising, it’s all about money, money, money, money, but here we have, you know, we’re talking together, we both want to lead a life of significance. We both want to make an impact in our employees and lives. And we know, it’s not always about the money. How do we change that perception and get people to really trust and in the legal profession, is really a beautiful profession that helps so many people?
John Gomez 29:26
Yeah, I think that can be hard. I think, you know, even beyond just social media, it’s really establishing a brand and identity. And, you know, I think we need to be really proactive in terms of how we define that brand, or identity. And so you bring up social media, obviously, that has, you know, wide reads a lot of people see us, you know, so I think you know, we proactively try to you know, put content on there or have Our content reflect the values that define us as a firm, you know, so we’ll put stuff on there about helping out or, you know, if if, you know, our client, you know, does well and is appreciative, you know, we’ll put that on there. You know, we’ll humanize, you know, where we work, today’s national Dog Day, I happen to know that a lot of a lot of pictures of employee dogs are going up today, you know, because everyone likes dogs, you know, and, and I will say, like, we’ve done some paid social media campaigns targeting particular kinds of cases. And so one example is, you know, post COVID, you know, we were trying to reach out on some cruise ship cases, um, nursing home cases, and really got some very aggressive feed, or blowback, I will say, No, sometimes we’ll put up ads and, you know, everybody goes crazy and causes ambulance chasers and miss them, you know, and I think, you know, you have to be careful that, you know, but ultimately, I don’t know that you’re going to change those people’s minds, you know, I think what we need to do is, you know, walk the walk, you know, truly walk the walk as leaders and as organizations, and I think that will be reflected in our community and social presence. Yeah,
Luis Scott 31:30
you said something really interesting about blowback and I and I always think about the word criticism, there are people out there who won’t start a business won’t do anything of significance, because they’re afraid of that criticism, and that blowback, you know, what would you say to them? Like, how do you overcome that? Because that’s, that’s something that was even hard for me, especially as a young lawyer is overcoming that rejection, like, what would you say to that person? Who has that fear? Like, how do you how do you overcome that?
John Gomez 31:54
Yeah, I would say, you know, um, I think you have to define your values, in terms of your own values. And so I believe that you’re always going to have people that criticize you, people, you know, I’ll call them haters. You know, I have tons of haters, you know, because I’ve been successful in my business, and I’m a trial lawyer, you know, and so how do I answer that, and, you know, I try to live a life, you know, that people can admire and respect, I try to help people, I try to do the right thing. You know, once in a while, you know, when I was getting a lot of blowback, you know, on social about COVID, media ads, or I’m sorry, social media ads, I actually did a little video for the haters, you know, and, like, Look, we’re really trying to just help people, you know, these are hard times for some people, you know, and, and some people would put, you know, you should do this instead. And so I just said, you know, here’s what we’re doing for the community and health care providers, and my church, and this, that the other, you know, and who knows if they ever a lot, you know, watched or listened. But the main thing is, you know, you can’t allow the naysayers to define, you know, who you are, I mean, your values are you but your values, if you’re embarrassed, and believe that somehow you’re not, you know, acting in a way that’s consistent with your values, then don’t do it. But if you do believe in it, and there’s plenty of, you know, support in Scripture for what we do, then then I walk the walk very proudly.
Luis Scott 33:39
It’s so true, if you believe in what you’re doing, there’s nothing that’s going to detract you from doing it. Like I even when I was in law school, and I was hearing about the ambulance chasing and all that stuff like that never stopped me because I just believe that what we were going to do as lawyers was going to be beneficial to people. And I always say the person who talks about ambulance chasers has never had a significant injury or a loved one in a significant injury. Because their mindset changes completely. When that happens, then they want the full extent of the law, you know, put on the other person. So it’s very obvious.
John Gomez 34:12
Wait, wait for, like someone who calls up. And I was like, Huh, that name sounds a little familiar. But I totally
Luis Scott 34:25
know when you know, one of the things about being an entrepreneur and being a business owner and running a successful business, whether it’s a product business or a professional service, business is balance, you know, many of my entrepreneur friends, they are addicted to the business. They they all they do is work right. And you could probably you could probably identify with that maybe even early on in your career, maybe to some extent now. What are some of the things that you do? Like the rituals that you have to keep you balanced and consistent because the reality of business is that it’s all about longevity. You know, it’s not about the short period of Like, how do you stay consistent over a long period of time? What are some things that you do on a daily basis
John Gomez 35:04
to do that? You know, I would say, in terms of my health and happiness, I make sure I get plenty of sleep, I stay very physically active, you know, I do judo and Jiu Jitsu, I do hot yoga. And in the mornings, so I go to bed early, I go to bed, like 839. So I’m like,
Luis Scott 35:32
Oh, my gosh,
John Gomez 35:33
yeah, I just, I get up early, I get up, like, you know, four,
Luis Scott 35:38
I got you.
John Gomez 35:38
So I get up at four. And the first thing I’ll do is meditate. And then I pray, and then I read some scripture, and then I do some exercise. And so by, like, 730, you know, I feel like I’ve gotten a lot of time in, you know, and I’m still saving some me time later in the day, I make sure that, you know, I go to all my kids, you know, athletic events, I coach them all. And I think that the way people become sort of imprisoned by work is by not by not delegating to some degree, or, because I know like, I don’t, I’ll look at my emails. Sort of, at the end of the day, before I in my day, like, you know, five, or maybe six, if it’s a late day, and I’m not really looking at me again, so four in the morning at night, and I pretty much that’s it, and then I just devote time, I devote blocks of times to dealing with emails, I think has been very helpful to me, you know, I don’t think it’s does anyone any good to be always just back and forth? Back and forth? Yeah, no. Um, so I set off times to do that. So I’m very deliberate about my time blocks and allocations. And then I know that if anything huge has gone out of business, then, you know, one of my, one of my core leaders will text me and you can always find me on a text. Yeah. I don’t know if that’s at all helpful. But I believe, I believe taking care of you super important, you know, and taking care of your family, your health.
Luis Scott 37:25
Yeah, I mean, what you’re really saying is boundaries, creating boundaries in your life where, where you have boundaries for family and for yourself and for others, because if not, people will consume every single minute of your day. And if you’re not healthy, you can’t really do good things for other people. So that’s, that’s, that’s a great point. Now, what would you recommend to a person who wants to start their own law firm, or maybe has a law firm and hasn’t been able to achieve the level of success that they want? You know, everybody has a different, like, bar? Or what they consider to be success? And what would you tell them? If they haven’t reached what they want? Or if they’re starting their own firm? Like, what advice would you give them?
John Gomez 38:05
I would say, you know, first of all, they have to clearly define success in their minds, you know, or they can figure out, you know, how am I going to be successful? Or how do I get to be successful? You know, what I find is, too often, lawyers spend too much time trying to be better lawyers. And, you know, just completely neglecting the business. And so, you know, the great thing about COVID is that I can’t try cases, I can’t really travel, the two things that I pretty much love to do. And so it’s forced me to really look hard at the business. And what I’ve noticed, and so I’ve spent, you know, a huge percentage of my time right now, you know, working on the business and learning from other successful law firm owners. And so, what I would say, I see all these lawyers, and they’re watching all these webinars every day about how to try this is how to cross examine this witness, you know, I would encourage them all, maybe to just, you know, maybe cut down on that a little bit, and maybe watch some content about how to have a successful law practice. And, and then, you know, talk to successful law firm owners, you know, who in my experience, like to me, business leaders are way more giving of their time and secrets than trial lawyers. Try yours, like trawlers will give you some but, you know, not as openly as business because business leaders are a special group, you know, if you know of successful law firm or other business owners, and you say, Well, what Take them to wines for whatever zoom if you can’t do that, you know, what was the key to your success? What advice would you give me? You know, I’m thinking about this, this is what I want to do, how would you get there, then you’ll, you’ll save yourself so much time, so much money, so much heartache. And I’ve only recently started doing that. And I’ve been amazed at how giving, you know people are. And I would also encourage, you know, those people to join organizations like Chris, which you announced at the beginning of your show, you know, which brings together you know, business leaders, you know, to talk about how they run their firms.
Luis Scott 40:38
Absolutely, I agree with that. 100%. And, you know, it’s funny, we got, we came full circle, you started your practice out of necessity, and now you are going to business leaders out of necessity, because of COVID. So that’s awesome. I just want to thank you so much for being on the show. It’s been a treat having you and we’ve been talking with John Gomez, the owner of Gomez trial attorneys from San Diego, California. John, where can people find you if they have a case or need information about legal services in California?
John Gomez 41:07
They can always just go to our website, the Gomez firm.com they can call the firm 866 trial law, or they can call my cell phone 619-850-2813 maybe text me first so I know. I know. I know to pick up but 619-850-2813.
Luis Scott 41:31
You heard it here first, John Gomez gave his cell phone number. If you have a case in California, be sure to call him and don’t forget his shirt says it The future is greater than the past. Thanks John for for being on the show. Appreciate it.
John Gomez 41:46
Thanks so much for having me.
Outro 41:50
You’ve been listening to The Guts and Glory Show with Luis Scott. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to share. For more information on this episode, please see the show notes at www.GutsandGloryShow.com and join us next time as we talk to another leader in business that had the guts to overcome all odds for the glory of success.
