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Secrets to Building a Business EP 4 | Growth Beyond Limits Podcast | Dr.Phil & Joe North
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Are you building a business but still feel like you’re figuring things out as you go?
In Episode #04 of Growth Beyond Limits, Dr. Mercidieu “Phil” Phillips sits down with Southwest Florida attorney Joe North to uncover the real foundations behind building a strong, sustainable business. This conversation goes far beyond basic startup advice, diving into the legal insights, strategic decisions, and mindset shifts that separate fragile businesses from ones built to last.
If you’re an entrepreneur, leader, or someone serious about growing and protecting your business, this episode will challenge your perspective and equip you with practical tools to move forward with confidence.
🔥 In this episode, you’ll learn:
• The key legal and structural elements every business needs
• Common mistakes entrepreneurs make that can cost them later
• How to build a business with long-term protection and scalability in mind
• Practical strategies to strengthen and sustain your business growth
This isn’t just about starting a business—it’s about building it the right way, protecting what you create, and setting it up for long-term success.
👉 Don’t forget to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE for more episodes.
🎙️ New episodes drop every Monday at 8AM
Welcome to the Growth Beyond Limits Podcast, a dynamic podcast designed for spine entrepreneurs and early stage business owners aiming to reach their first million. Each episode features high impact conversations with business leaders, innovators, and personal development experts who share actionable insights to feel both professional and personal growth. Growth Beyond Limits. Go where you need to be. Hey, welcome to another episode of Growth Beyond the Limits Podcast. This is a space where we help entrepreneurs, business leaders, organizational leaders learn how to build, position your business to grow, to scale, and to achieve the goals that you have. We invite thought leaders, industry leaders, successful people to share with you principles and nuggets on how to grow your business or start a new business. And today I have the esteemed privilege of having with us one of the most successful attorneys in our area, if not in the state of Florida, around the country, the incomparable Mr. Joe North, who is the founder and CEO and lead attorney of the Joe North law firm. And I'm going to go ahead and let him present himself, but I can tell you what you're going to get today is worth, I mean, just the time that you're going to invest. Listen to this podcast. He comes with over 36 years of being a successful attorney, and 30 of those has been in his own practice. So, Mr. North, welcome to the Growth Beyond Limits podcast. So tell us a little bit of who's this great, great, great entrepreneur giant that we have sitting here in this room today.
SPEAKER_01Well, I keep looking over my shoulder, wondering who is Dr. Field talking about. But I'll go, I'll go with that. But um, yeah, I'm Joe North. Um, I'm a lawyer here in Fort Myers, Florida, and I'll call myself a lawyer here in Dunbar because that's where I was born and raised. And you know, they say there is no place like home. And I have found that to be true for me because I have thoroughly, just thoroughly enjoyed practicing law here in Dunbar, here in the city of Fort Myers, and here in Southwest Florida. So my journey is that um, again, I was born and raised here. I went to college at the Citadel up in Charleston, South Carolina, which is a military college. After graduating from there, I um enrolled in law school at Florida State University, College of Law. And after graduating from law school, I came home. And that was back in 1990. I worked with a big firm here locally doing workers' compensation. And then because I always wanted to help people and not represent um corporations, because that's what I was doing for the first five, six years of my practice. I opened up the North Law Firm.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01And since then, I've only been representing people, individuals, and I have just found it to be not just a blessing for me, but a blessing to others. So what we do is we handle all types of accident and injury cases on a daily basis. We don't do anything else. That's it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So you have clarity on what you do. And we just we talked about it in one of our episodes is finding your purpose and that that fuels your passion. Right. And so today we're gonna talk about um what does it take to build a thriving business? Obviously, we're gonna use your law firm, but we're not gonna talk about law. Okay, we'll we'll probably go in and out of that. But what does it take to build a thriving business? So uh we we wanna we wanna think being a great lawyer is one thing, right? But building a practice that thrives is a whole nother thing because it's it's a different skill set to build something and not just be someone while you're building it. So we're gonna talk about that. And so today we're gonna talk about what it takes to build a successful business, one that's profitable, respectable, sustainable, and aligned with the life that you want. So tell us a little bit, uh, Mr. North, of how call me Joe, please. Just call you Joe. Yes, sir. All right. Um, what what would you share with the audience that it takes to build the foundation of something that is profitable, respectable, and reputable? What give us some nuggets on what that takes?
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, I say it first starts with doing something that you enjoy. Don't worry about the money. I know everybody wants to make money, but first you have to find a career, an occupation, a job that you enjoy, that you don't mind getting up and going to every day when it's not really work. Because if you do that, you don't mind putting in the time. From the first time I started practicing law back in 1990, I've always been one of those people who's the first one in the office, last one to leave. Wow. And that's not just rhetoric, that is true. I remember when I was working for a big firm downtown, um, we had like 40, 45 lawyers. I would still be the first one in in the morning. Wow. And I remember having to park in a parking garage downtown and literally walking in the middle of the street from the parking garage to the office because I just wanted to make sure that I was safe. And that's what I did every morning. Every morning. And um, and I'm still the first one in the office now.
SPEAKER_00Even though you have your own law firm, you can come in whatever you want.
SPEAKER_01That's right. I'm the first one in. But I can tell you, I'm not the last one to leave anymore. Guess who is?
SPEAKER_00Your son?
SPEAKER_01My son. So, you know, Joseph, he gets in about 7:30 or 8, but I don't know what time he leaves. He's always there when I leave, and um, and he's there on weekends as well. And I think that he has found what's true for me is true for him. And that is just doing something that you love. And if you love it, it's not work.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I think a lot of times what a lot of um entrepreneurs or people who want to be successful fail to understand is that you have to marry passion to a good work ethic. Yeah. Because if you're passionate about something, but you have poor work ethic, poor habits, then your passion becomes something that's just dormant and you never really benefit from it. So I think for what I'm hearing Joe say, I like to call him Mr. North because I just want to respect, you know, but um, I think understanding that to be successful, you cannot be lazy and you cannot be passive, and you have to develop those habits that are going to sustain you when human nature wants to kick in, which is let me sleep an extra hour, let me take an extra day off. So you're saying work ethic and discovering your why are some of the foundational things to building a successful business. So, talk to me a little bit or talk to our audience a little bit about in the area of law, because there's a lot of competition.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um, how do you separate yourself from the competition? Because there's a lot of people doing what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And, you know, all you got to do is look at TV. You see commercials for lawyers on every show.
SPEAKER_00Now on social media too.
SPEAKER_01Social media, the billboards around town, the buses. So, how do we separate ourselves? I say just being involved in the community. And it's something that's really come naturally to us. It's something that we want to do, it's something that we enjoy doing. But what we have found is that there are not a lot of other law firms doing that. Right. And because of that, we found that people look at us as the quote unquote community lawyers. Exactly. And we get a lot of business from that just because we are out in the community. You know, when people go to events, whether it be a gala or or wedding or baseball game, football game, if they see us out in the community, they know that they can trust us. Yes. You know, and if they're not seeing those other lawyers out there, they don't know them.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01So they're not gonna call them in their time of need.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I I like, I like that you said that because one of the things I I talked to, you know, I do coaching with entrepreneurs. That's part of besides the other work that I do, I do business coaching, executive coaching. Right. And I help entrepreneurs, people trying to get to their first million to figure out generosity and visibility are two important things when you want to build a business that people feel connected to. Number one, you're generous with your time, yeah. Um, and you help support community initiatives and you're visible. You're not just here when you need to make a transaction, but you create that visibility.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00So let's talk real quickly, um, Joe, about what specialization does someone need in order to build something faster? Um, when I say special, like there's a lot of things you could do in law, but how do you figure out you want to streamline just this? What fed that ability to streamline what you did? Because a lot of leaders don't achieve things because they're so gifted and they chase opportunities and they're not specific in what they want to do.
SPEAKER_01Well, there are no shortcuts. You got to put in the time. So, in terms of streamlining, I would say just be consistent. When you get on that road, stay on that road. Okay. Um, and so that's how I would define streamlining in terms of a successful career in in law. Um it may take a while to get that first case, those first 10 cases, those first hundred cases. Um, you know, at our firm, we've represented tens of thousands of of people over the years. Right. Because we've been doing it a long time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for doing it for 30 years, you you have to do what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01But you don't get that in year one. Yes. It just takes a while. And and I look at it, in fact, we often call it the Christmas tree approach. Okay, what's the Christmas tree? Yeah, yeah, talk about it. Yeah. Well, you know, at the top of a Christmas tree, you got just one thing up there, right? One leaf. But then it spreads out into two or three or four. And then it spreads out into eight or sixteen. And it just keeps going. By the time you get to the bottom, you've got a lot of branches. So if we do right by a client, that client will come back to us, if God forbid, they're involved in something else.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01But they're also gonna tell other people about us. Right. So it branches out and it branches out and it branches out to the point that you're representing the whole community because everybody trusts you. Wow. But in year one or day one, it's just the top of that tree.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. So I I don't think I've ever heard the idea of a Christmas tree in business, but I'm I'm gonna take that because it's very important that you you're specific. It's better to do one thing well than to try to do a lot of other things, right? And I think for a lot of businesses that don't ever achieve their maximum potential is that they become distracted with opportunities. And one of the things I teach business owners, not every opportunity is an obligation.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00And so don't feel obliged just because this looks like an opportunity. It may be good, but it may not be what you need to do during this time because timing is everything. And having that, I'd say we talk about emotional intelligence, but having business intelligence is the right time to do this. So let's talk real quickly about how do you create reputation um as a cornerstone of your industry or your business or any business. How does reputation become a cornerstone?
SPEAKER_01You let your word be your bond. Okay. If you say something, then you gotta mean it, and people can rely upon it.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And communicate. Even if what you have to tell someone is bad news, is not what that person may want to hear, you cannot ghost them. You cannot go radio silent. Go ahead and communicate. Um, because people just want to know that you're listening, yeah, that you're hearing them. Yeah. Even if what you're giving back is not exactly what they want to hear, let it flow. Let that communication go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, honesty is very important. I think a lot of times people with the fear of losing a sale or losing a client, they tend to compromise their integrity.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you can't do that.
SPEAKER_00Um, and they they bend core values in order to make a dollar. You may make that dollar, but you're gonna lose that client and their their referral. So if I can speak to business owners and organizational leaders, it's very important that you respect your word and you only promise what you intend to deliver.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Um, because a lot of times we tend to overpromise and don't even deliver, not even underdeliver. We just don't deliver. Like you start a job and you know you took on a three-hour job, you don't have the manpower, now you're lying to the client. If you're a mechanic, you told him the car's gonna be ready in three days and it's a week now. So you're saying part of your recipe for success is being honest, being straightforward. Yes. Even if it's not pleasant, yep. But at least you guarded your integrity and your reputation.
SPEAKER_01Yep. In fact, I'm glad you say that the way you said it, because it brings back something that my dad would always tell me. Because my dad, you know, when I was growing up, he did construction work, but he was also a handyman. And he would go to someone's house and they would ask him, Well, you know, can you fix this for me or do that? And he would say, Yes. And they said, Well, can you do it by such and such date? And he would tell them, No, I can't do it by that date, but I can tell you when I can have it done. Right. And he said, the reason he always did it that way is because if you don't do it by the day that you said you're gonna do it, they're gonna hold it against you. Exactly. But they respect you when you tell them, no, I need a couple more days, and you get it done in a couple more days. Exactly. And I take that with me today. You know, if you tell someone something, you just gotta make sure you deliver what you're telling them you're gonna deliver.
SPEAKER_00That's so good. Yeah, that's so good. So, um, Joe, let me talk to you real quickly about defining your niche and your ideal client. Because every business owner, one of the things that they need to learn from day one. Um, we in one of the so we talked about building your brand, and we talked about finding that avatar. Who is your ideal client? So, what are some common mistakes that some people make in trying to serve everyone? Because here's what I say if you advertise to everyone, you're advertising to no one. Right? Right. If you try to reach everyone, and I I tell my clients this all the time you can't serve everyone because that's not your ideal client. Like, for example, certain airlines, they cater to a certain demographic. I'm not gonna name them on this podcast again, then apprain us to name them, but certain low-cost airline, you're probably gonna be delayed. You're probably gonna have an uncomfortable seat, and the experience is not gonna be. So, so how do you find your ideal client? Well, or your niche.
SPEAKER_01It's something that that LeBron James has said.
SPEAKER_00Or the great LeBron James. The great LeBron James. You know, I you know LeBron and I we have issues, but okay, go ahead. Because he left Miami. Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, okay, all right, all right. And he went back to Cleveland. Right. And I okay, I'm a big Miami Heat fan, but LeBron James says, keep the main thing, the main thing. I subscribe to that. So there used to be a time, for example, that doctors did everything. You know, going back in the day, the same doctor that deliberate delivered a baby would also fix your broken leg.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01Or leg or um, you know, cure the flu for you. Um, and the same thing with law. In law, you cannot have someone who's handling your personal injury case also handle your criminal case or do a real estate matter for you. In fact, with criminal, I always tell people who call, I couldn't get you out of jail if your time was up. You don't want me. But you got somebody that can help you. Right. And then I refer them to the right person. Right. You know, so I say if you're gonna be good at something, you got to do it day in, day out, day in, day out, and do just that. Don't try to do everything because to your point, if you try to do everything, you're not gonna do it well.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01But if you do one thing, you can create expertise, specialization, and you can be the best that anyone could ever expect in that type of law.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so you create almost a brand. Um in one of the episodes we talk about your brand is a promise. So when I promise, I like that. Yeah, a brand is a promise. So you certain hotels you go to, certain uh clothing line that you buy, you buy it because you know they're gonna be consistent. And if they're not consistent, they're gonna make it right. And I think a lot of times, a lot of small businesses or middle-type businesses fail because they don't recognize how important it is to streamline to find your client, even if your price point is a little uncomfortable at first, but if you're consistent, that client will find you and they'll appreciate and they'll pay more because they're expecting an experience. Right?
SPEAKER_01So when you tell people here's what's gonna cost me to represent you, do they balk at you or do they say, okay, um, the beauty and the type of work I do is my clients never pay anything out of pocket. Okay. I get paid only if I recover for my client. So my client can come to me and not have to worry about paying the prosecution costs or the litigation costs. I front all of that and I get reimbursed only when we get a recovery at the end.
SPEAKER_00So what happens if you don't get a recovery? I eat it. Wow. Yeah. So you're saying as a business owner, sometimes to keep your niche, to keep your brand, you're gonna have to take a loss sometimes in order to maintain. Like let's say if you priced a job and you underpriced it, you can't come back to the client and say, well, pay me more because you should have done your homework.
SPEAKER_01Correct, correct. No, so with our law firm, if we have to spend$10,000,$15,000 to get the case from you know, accident to completion, we'll do that. It's rare that we don't recover for the client. So you wouldn't be you wouldn't be successful for 30 years if you're in recovery now. Right. So it's rare that we don't get reimbursed for those costs. But in the off chance that we don't recover for the client, we eat those costs.
SPEAKER_00And you have that, do you do you have that built into your your KPIs, your your your your dashboard? Like you have a certain amount that's allocated to event if if you don't, right?
SPEAKER_01Well, something that I've taught my son, and he subscribes to it now, is when we spend money on these cases, as the case is going on, we don't think about it. We forget about it. So, as an example, I have to hire an expert, and that expert is sending me an invoice for$7,500 in a case. I stroke the check and I don't think about it anymore. It's logged, but I'm not thinking about it. I'm not working on the case thinking, oh, I gotta get that$7,500.
SPEAKER_00Right, right, right. You're not distracted by that.
SPEAKER_01Right. Because then you're not gonna do the best job that you can do for the client. Now, when the case is over, then we look to the logs and see how much money we spent. And sometimes I'm surprised at the number that we spent on a case. Really? I'm thinking, I didn't know we had spent that much, but it is what it is. But we get reimbursed. But fortunately, what we receive for the client is large enough that the client's not gonna feel it. Exactly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Wow. So so I'm hearing a lot of good wisdom as far as how do you build a reputation, how do you build a brand. Um, you have to be willing to make certain sacrifices and have systems in place, structure in place, um where you can operate without the distraction of worrying about processes. Correct. Wow. So let's talk about systems real quick, because a lot of businesses, a lot of the problem with a lot of creative people is that they're creative, but they're not strategic. Um, they can come up with an idea, come up with something that they want to do, but they don't have systems in place. They don't have, you know, SOP, standard operating procedures, they don't have any type of, you know, framework, either CRM system or or follow-up. In your experience of over 36 years of being successful at what you do, what systems did you put in place to maintain such longevity?
SPEAKER_01Well, um, I'm gonna get a little philosophical. Please do.
SPEAKER_00I'm talking to a lawyer, so I expect that. I was waiting for that to come.
SPEAKER_01And um, maybe even a little religious. Okay. Um I'm a man of faith, like you, and like Chris Burford, and I can tell you that um from the time I stepped out and opened my own firm, I stepped out on faith. Okay. Okay. And things have fallen into place, and I know that they've fallen into place only because of God putting them in place for me. So when I started out, I didn't have any cases because I left the firm, left all those cases there. So I start out, zero cases.
SPEAKER_00You did the get out the boat type thing. Just get out the boat.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Um, um, put everything on credit cards, um, and I I just kind of floated it out there. So in '91, a lady came to work with me as a secretary. And she's still with me today. Really? Yes. Wow. Not ninety one, I'm sorry, 97. Yeah. 97, Cheryl Gilhard. And she left a large firm with two small kids at home to come and work with little old me. Wow. I know that she was God sent. Yeah. And her husband is our IT person. So if two o'clock in the morning we're having a a problem with the computer, hey Chris, I need you to come over here. Boom, he's there. And I have that because of Cheryl. Cheryl, because God sent her to me. In 96, I asked my mom and dad, hey, you know, I want to buy a billboard to advertise what we're doing. So we bought the billboard at the corner of MLK and Shoemaker. Our very first billboard. It's still there today. Yeah. I know I got a lot of billboards around town, but that billboard would never, ever move. You've had that billboard since 1997? 96. 96? That billboard. That same billboard. That same billboard. Wow. Yeah. And it will never, ever move. That's that's our staple. All right. But I didn't really know about marketing. I'm just trying to put my foot in the water, get out there, right? But God will speak to you, not out loud, but just in here. Okay. And He told me to do that. And over the last, you know, 30 years, we've been going further and further and further with marketing.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01So I say this, that's your question. That sometimes in terms of a strategy, it's not something that you sit down in the middle of the night and you strategize that it comes to you. Sometimes it comes to you through the Holy Spirit. Right. And that's what's it's been the case for me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Okay. So your faith. Your faith is a big part of what has helped you get to where you get to.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00So let's talk about the person who's probably not a believer, not a Christian.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00What would you say to them? Because that's good for those of us who traffic in the sacred space.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00But what about that person who says, well, okay, I am, I don't know anything about the Holy Spirit, but give me a practical business strategy.
SPEAKER_01All right. I would say do not be afraid to give. But give what? As you were talking about before. You got to give up your time, your resources, and your talents. Right. Because sometimes you may do a certain work and not get paid for it at that moment. But I guarantee you, you'll be paid for it down the road by either that person or someone else. Give up your resources, your money. My parents, growing up, we were not rich. Right. Okay. But they worked hard. And I can tell you that they were givers, both of them. Right. And because they were givers, things always came to them. And I watched that. So even if you're not a believer, if you're not a person of faith, I say be generous in your time, your resources, and your talents. And you'll be surprised at how so much comes back to you. Try it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So so yeah, one you're building generosity as part of your system, mean that you're you're your outward focus. A lot of business owners, especially because money is very, I want you guys to listen. Money is extremely dangerous when you don't build the right relationship with it. And a lot of people want to have money, but they haven't built a relationship with money. Let me explain what I mean by that. Building a relationship with money means understand money is meant to be fluid. It's meant to be exchange. It's meant to come and go. And as a business owner, if you are a hoarder, if you are just a keeper, you don't create that relationship with money where it comes and it goes. And a lot of people who are successful, most people are successful. I promise you, if you ask 90% of people who are successful, they will tell you philanthropy is one of their most important strategies to being successful. So that means you build that into your budget. I'm sure you do that. I know you sponsor a lot of things around town. Yeah. I know you're known as a very generous man, um, which I appreciate, by the way. Um and uh thank you for all that you do in the community. But that's part of your strategy.
SPEAKER_01Strategy, okay, you if you want to call it that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, it's part of your strategy. No, you're not doing it intentionally, but that's just it's built in. Correct. Your DNA.
SPEAKER_01Correct. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yes. All right. So we got a lot more to talk about, but um, I want to pivot a little bit to this idea of how do you avoid burnout as a successful business person? Because one of the things that burnout is not doing too much of too much work is doing too much of anything. How do you avoid burnout? Because a lot of people burn out and they never finish their race. How have you avoided burnout?
SPEAKER_01Well, um, my wife and I take vacations. We are committed to taking at least one vacation every year. And when I say take a vacation, we really take a vacation. Yeah we look at it as we work hard, so we play hard. Okay. So um we'll go away. It took me a while to learn this. Okay. Early on, if I went away for three days, that would that was it. But I learned, no, I gotta, you know, refresh. And it takes longer than three days to refresh. So now we'll go for a week. Okay. Why thought you're saying two weeks? No, no. So I'm working up to that. The last time we went, uh, we went to Italy and we were gone not quite two weeks, a little less than two weeks. Okay. Um, but Bonita has been a large part of that where she's gotten me out of the mold of just going away for three or four days.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I have found that has been so good for me because when I come back, I am ready and raring to go because I've had that time away.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So it's important to take time away and just, you know, be by yourself or be by your with your spouse.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I there's a there's a there's a little principle I share with leaders um in both the sacred space and the marketplace. I talk about, you know, um diverting daily. That means you when you get home, divert from what you just did for nine or 12 hours. Yeah. Right. Um, rest weekly, which means you have a day off, right? Retreat quarterly, which means every three months you take a retreat, whether it's three or four days, you go some and you abandon annually. All right, which means you want to say it again?
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00So divert daily, right? So find something that has nothing to do with what you just did for 12 hours, right? Um, rest weekly, have a day off where you turn your phone off, you turn social media off, and you're just being present with yourself. Retreat quarterly. So that means go away for three or four days. It could be a staycation, right? It could be somewhere if you live in a state like Florida, there's many different parts, or go to the Caribbean, take a take a and then abandon and abandon annually. And when you do that, you do three things. You change pace, place, and face.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00All right. So you change the location, nobody knows you're there. You slow down, you don't you don't have an excursion for every day that you're there. Just chill and then change faces, meet new people.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00And because for me, most successful leaders stay in the game because they've learned the discipline of resting. Now, I had to learn this because I was a workaholic. I grew up around a mom that made me feel like resting was laziness. And so that was ingrained in me that you have to work.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00But my staff um at our church began to help me understand self-care is as much important as being successful at the next event. So I I tell all leaders this: you need to make time for yourself because time is a valuable resource and it's all that you have.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And you never get it back.
SPEAKER_00And you never get it back. You can make more money, you can make more friends, but you never get more time.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_00So, Joe, look, as we as we as we as we close out, really, what does success look like outside of your career? You mean like after the career is over? Yeah, like when when you're when you're done, um, what does success look like? Well, that's a loaded question.
SPEAKER_01No, but it's a very good question. And I don't know that the career will ever be completely over. I might slow down, okay, but I see myself always handling cases, doing something.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01But in terms of what success will look like, I I guess we look at legacy. Okay. What will people say about Joe North? What did Joe North mean to his family, mean to the community, uh, mean to his church? Yeah you know, and um and however that question is answered, that's gonna define success for me. That's good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I think you kind of hit something that I I like to talk about is the four, the four phases of life, right? Which is struggle. Uh, that's when you don't have much and you're just trying to keep your head above water. Um, then you begin to strive. That means you're starting to hit your stride, you're making a few dollars, and now you're you can you you're out of the struggle phase, but you're not there yet. Then success is when you've accomplished all of your goals, you've checked all the boxes, gone to school, gotten the career, made the money. But the most important phase of anybody's life is significance. Um, so how do you help other people become what they need to become? So significance means that I go back and find someone who's in the struggling phase and walk them through to bring them up to me. Because there's an African proverb that says, When you've gone up the elevator, send it back down for the people waiting on the bottom floor.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00So, so if we can wrap up this this episode, um tell me three things you'd like to tell that young person who's looking to chart their path to success. Three things you tell them, because I I know you you're loaded, but give me three.
SPEAKER_01I would say number one is starting with what we talked about early on, and that is finding what it is that you love and doing that.
SPEAKER_00Number two, passion. So passion.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a good word for passion. Two, um stay at it every day. And what I mean by that is invest. Invest your time in terms of being in the office or on the work site, wherever you are going every day. Um, invest your time, but also always keep learning. You know, um, no matter what you're reading, um, make sure that somewhere in there you're reading something that has to do with your career.
SPEAKER_00Wow. So, because leaders are readers, right?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Wow. I read all the time and not just on social media, but I'm always reading about the law, um, new concepts, um, new ways to take depositions, new ways to do an opening statement, new ways to do a closing statement, and have themes and cases. I'm always figuring out new things, and you get that by by reading. Wow. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So you're you're a lifelong learner. Absolutely. Yeah. So I I I hope you guys heard what uh Joe just said. It's finding your passion. Number one, being intentional, so having attaching discipline to your drive. Because a lot of leaders disassociate the relationship between discipline and success. And most people who are successful, if you look at them, they attach discipline to their skill. Like Michael Jordan shot 500 jump shots a day.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Kobe Bryant, you know, the late Kobe Bryant had that killer mentality. The people who show up and they put it on repeat, right? Because you're not celebrated openly if you didn't, you know, prepare yourself privately. That's correct. So having that intentionality. And then the last thing I heard you say was making sure that you are always improving. Because one thing that success has, success is almost like that that syrup that puts you to sleep, like that NyQuil. Um, you got to keep wanting more and becoming better. Like I learn all the time. I'm always reading, I'm always learning from other leaders, I'm always accessing thought, thought leaders. Why? Because I'm in the business of communicating, I'm in the business of teaching. And if I don't keep improving myself, I become boring and my voice becomes unimportant.
SPEAKER_01Can't have that.
SPEAKER_00And you can't have that. I can't afford to fail at that. So if you're a business person, if you're a young person or an entrepreneur or business leader, I hope you heard what Mr. North just said or Joe, um, that to stay in the game for 36 years, and then he's probably gonna be in the game for another 30, 30 years, 40 years. Um, so you're gonna be practicing when you're like 100?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Well, listen, um, I am so excited that you are here. If somebody needs to get in touch with you um to consult your law firm, give us, give us the information. How can they reach, how can they reach the most successful law firm in Southwest Florida?
SPEAKER_01Well, if it's by telephone, our telephone number is 239-337-1191. And I also give out my cell phone number because sometimes you might need a lawyer in the middle of the night. So that cell phone number is 239-464-5740. And then, of course, you can find us on the internet at the northlawfirm.com.
SPEAKER_00Do you just practice here in Fort Myers or are you um?
SPEAKER_01Well, I say briefcase will travel. So we actually have cases all over the country. Outside of Florida, I think most of our cases are in the Atlanta area because you get a lot of people who have moved from Fort Myers to Atlanta, and when they get in a car accident or what have you, they remember us and they'll call us. Really? Yeah. Right. So we have a lot of cases out of Atlanta. We've got some cases out of Houston. Um, we've had cases up north. So briefcase will travel, but most of our cases are right here in Southwest Florida. But we also have an office over in Fort Lauderdale.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Well, that's good to know. So you have multiple locations. Yes. And I'm sure you're gonna have a lot more with your son on board. Yes. Yeah. Listen, thank you for tuning into this episode of uh Growth Beyond Limits. I hope that you were stimulated. I hope that we position you to think that you can establish a business that is thriving, whether it be a law firm, whether it be a bakery, whether it be a barbershop, whether it be whatever it is that you're doing, just remember success always follows intentionality. And here on the Growth Beyond Limits podcast, our job is to help you understand that you can always go beyond what you think you're limited to. And for all the information about this show, to get the show notes, go to levelupoutcomes.com slash growth beyond limits podcast. And there you can get um information about the uh North Law Farm because we always want to post our guest information on our website and resources that you can get on how to continue to grow your business. Hey, share this episode with someone, and I'll see you on another episode of Growth Beyond Limits. Thank you for tuning in to the Growth Beyond Limits Podcast. To follow us for more episodes, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and all social media platforms. Also, to get downloadable PDFs, visit us at levelupoutcomes.com. Levelupoutcomes.com. Growth Beyond Limits. Go where you need to be.