SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hustlers, on today's episode of the Turn up the Hustle podcast, we're joined by the founder of the Warrior Law Firm here in San Antonio. His story is one of hard work, determination, and betting on yourself. From graduating first in his high school class, earning his degree from Texas AM in just three years, and then making the bold decision to pursue law after what he describes as a life-changing dream. Today he leads one of the fastest-growing personal energy law firms in Texas, helping clients across multiple states while building a team and business that has already recovered millions of dollars for those they serve. In this episode, we talk about entrepreneurship, leadership, overcoming obstacles, and what it really takes to build something from the ground up. On today's episode, Luis Codeto. Welcome to another episode of the Trump the Hustle podcast where real estate investors and entrepreneurs show their stories, strategies, and mindset behind their hustle. I'm Michael Giannis, aka Mr. Hustle. To my right, let's go. And today's special guest, aka Warrior Law Luis Guerrero. How are you doing, man?

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

I'm doing good. Thank you for having me here. I appreciate you being on this podcast, man, on a Trump the hustle podcast. When I think of you, I think of hustle, man. We're definitely getting to the story. But let's take this back. When we're starting this podcast, we always start the same way. Hustle, right? My hustle is real estate wholesaling, real estate flipping houses, and real estate subject to where I take over people's payments. When people think of Luis, what do they think of? What's Luis's hustle?

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Problems. You give me a problem, we'll figure out a solution. So we do car accidents, we do any type of accident really.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

So injury attorney, problems. That's actually really good. I like that, man. People they think of you, they think of problems. And that's not unfortunate. But when the time comes, the time comes.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Now I'm gonna say this, Luis. I know you have clients like in 14, 15 different states. I believe you have over 1200 clients and recovered millions for your clients. But before the warrior law, I want to take it back, man. I need to know who was Luis back in the day. How did Luis become the Warrior Law? Let's take it back. Where are you from?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Yeah, so I was born in Mexico 30 years ago. Born in Mexico, came to the US for the American dream kind of vibe. Um and so my parents just moved across the border from Reynosa, this town, to Farr, Texas. So we we grew up. I mean, we my dad, I remember there's times that you know we struggle financially a lot of the times, actually. And so go to my last name is Guerrero. So Guerrero translates to warrior, right? So that's a big aspect as to why we do warrior law. I did not know that, man. Yeah, so then we uh, you know, I went to school in PSJ in four, uh, went to AM undergrad, then I wanted to be closer to home, St. Mary's, and then uh I stayed here. Uh I've been here for probably eight years.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Okay, let me bring it back because I I didn't know, man. I didn't know your story. I didn't know your dad was from or you yourself, right? Yeah. From Mexico. Yeah. Uh how was the upbringing? You I'm sure it was humble beginnings.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Very humble.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Give me some story, give me some examples, man.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Ah man, I remember one time walking into a Walmart, and my mom says, I have $20 left. And we were like, I was like six years old. But I remember walking in and we were like, okay, let's go, let's grab some beef patties, let's grab uh mayo. We grabbed the slice of bread and then eggs. And I remember that whole week we figured it out. Well, I remember also another time where we, you know, we my parents didn't really push a lot of uh religion on us, but my par I remember one time this uh friend of ours of my family, he comes in with like a bunch of brown bags, and it was from a church, right? And so she comes in, and I remember I was like, I don't know, I was like five years old. I start looking through the bags and I see coca puffs, but they were like name brand coca puffs, right? So I was like, oh crap, like today's our lucky day, like we get name brand stuff, and that that was kind of exciting. And so growing up, it was it was very difficult, but uh I wouldn't change it because I learned a lot through that. You see who you are, right? Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

My dad's from Mexico, man. So you're I mean, from you guys actually living there and growing there, uh growing up there, and one, you're 30, man, you're young. Yeah, you you're young, man. Obviously, 30 is 30, but as a as an attorney, most people think of like some old school lawyer, you know, I don't know, with the cuffed up legs. And I don't, I just think of old school as a 30-year-old attorney coming here to doing the American dream. What were your parents doing? What did your parents do for work?

SPEAKER_00 4:47

So my dad would do a lot of uh different jobs. He never had a real really stable job uh growing up. And my mom, uh, she was a stay-at-home mom. So that I think that was the difficult aspect of it. And actually, my brother came into town last this weekend because of Father's Day. And one thing we we said was, you know, we never had stability at home. And so that I guess growing up, we we were on the search for stability, but then I guess I searched for problems. Which is my stability, I guess, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Yeah, that's that's impressive, man. I mean, someone like yourself of your statue coming to achieve the American dream and having your parents uh doing that on Father's Day, man. I'm sure your father's real proud of you, man, and you and your brothers. But coming to Texas and say, hey, from kid in Mexico who only had the last 20 bucks, and your core a core memory for you is literally Coco Puffs, right? That's a core memory for you. From someone who was six years old in Mexico and has a core memory in life is Coco Puffs to now the warrior law. Like, how did uh Laura come into life? Like, that's what you want to be growing up. It's like not many kids that said I want to be a lawyer growing up.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

I think I wanted to be a cop growing up for sure. Wanted to be a cop, then I let um society influence me into you know, I wanted to be an engineer. So when I went to AM, you know, like they push on like you gotta be an engineer, you gotta be a doctor to be successful or a lawyer to be successful. So when I went to AM, I did uh I did the engineering route. I ended up graduating with like a geology degree with petroleum track. And then I had a dream. I was in my dorm. I remember, and I had a dream that I was a lawyer. And I kid you not, this is September of 2016. I wake up and I told my roommate, his name's Siddhartha Reg me, I tell him, Hey, Reg Me, uh, I want to be a lawyer. He's like, bro, you you're doing STEM, like totally different. And I was like, Yeah, I know, but I I think I can be a lawyer. Um, and so I took the LSAT, did good on it, came to St. Mary's thinking I was gonna do oil and gas, and then I saw how boring it was, and I was like, I don't want to do this. Uh so I ended up going the PI route, which is more like service oriented. And I think I always like looking back, I always wanted to be uh a server. Like I there's something about being a server that you can like turn someone's day into like super bright, you know, by just serving a meal. And so for us, that's what I do 50% of the time. I'm a customer service guy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

Were you ever into bait or anything in high school?

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Never, no, no, I never even wanted to do any long ass work.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Why did you think after that dream that it was like that's what it was for you? Why did you think that you'd be good at it?

SPEAKER_00 7:26

I don't know. I I have no clue. I saw the vision that was I think the the serving people was the biggest thing, and I get a thrill out of like someone calling us and being like, I just got into an accident, I need help. Um that flip flips like a switch on me. Sure, settlements are nice and the checks are nice and everything. Um but the the initial like I gotta get this person back on track, they're affected by this in accident, uh, or they lost someone because of this incident, and helping them maneuver through life is what like turns something on me.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

That do you remember the actual dream itself? Can you recall it?

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Yeah, I remember a briefcase, a sports coat, walking into like a courtroom, and uh that that's that's pretty like pretty much it.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

Was it injury law that you were dreaming about or just in general?

SPEAKER_00 8:22

I think in general, I think injury law came afterwards because when I had two internships in in in bit to pick from. I remember I interviewed at this uh my second year of law school, I interviewed at this like West at the Weston Center in downtown. I went to the 28th floor, I walk in, it's all looks like gold to me. I'm like, oh my god, this is awesome. And that was an oil and gas law firm. And then I went to like a very small personal injury. It was like probably the office was the size of this room here, and so they had like three people in there, and I got interviewed and I liked the job. I called my brother up, I'm like, what would you pick? And he's like, I would do oil and gas. And I was like the typical answer, right? Yeah, and I was like, Ah, let me do personal injury, and so stuck around.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

When with this dream you had, you told your parents about it? No, were they superstitious?

SPEAKER_00 9:19

No, no, I just told my mom, hey, I think I'm gonna study for my L set. And also a big I think a big pressure was my brother who had just got into like a PhD program. And uh he was always like the book smart guy, like very good on grades, like he could read a book. Um and so I I feel like I had a pressure to do something like post grad. But I was like, STEM is just not it. Like my GPA is like, like I was I'm not a big even though I like school, I hate school.

SPEAKER_03 9:49

Like what did you originally want to do with that degree before what you were studying with STEM? What would you what did you want to do before law?

SPEAKER_00 9:56

So I I think I would have done like something oil and gas related. Yeah. Moved to Houston, try to like scale up in the I had a scholarship from Conico Phillips, like done during undergrad that I had to do something related to uh to oil and gas. So I think I would have gone that route.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

So you become a PI, is that the term you're using? PI personal injury?

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

And I think a personal injury, man, it's it's tough business. It's a tough business. Now the only reason I think a personal injury is a tough business is because, man, all the billboards, all the commercials, uh, and I'm sure it's a tough, I would assume uh it's a tough market to maybe get clientele, because people get injured every day, right? As a personal injury attorney, what do you think separates you from all the other ones?

SPEAKER_00 10:36

I think we care. We like generally care about the person. And and it's not, you know, I always say we gotta flip something negative into something positive. And uh putting someone in that position to like, man, you they got into an incident they don't know about, we get the result. And that that's what I tell my staff all the time. Like every time we have a meeting every week, I tell them, look, if they hire the if the staff hires if the client, sorry, if the client hires us or hires like the Thomas J. Henries of the world, right? We could probably get them the same result, right? Let's say it's a normal car accident, we get them $30,000, $50,000. What matters is the experience that you went through. The that the that they help me, that they answer my calls, that they tell me, hey, you know what, I'm gonna you want to talk to the attorney, it's gonna be two weeks from now, you can come in and we'll schedule an appointment with you. Or he's gonna call you in two minutes. And that's the aspect that we try to do. Even though as a firm grows, uh I'll it's it's very stressful to do that aspect of it. But like today, Axel, who's here in the in the in the office, um he calls me. He's like, hey, I had a client who has some questions. I'm just gonna plug you in real quick. And I was like, Yeah, let's do it. So we talk to them, address their concerns. There's none of this waiting around because these people, I mean, they need the answers now.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Do you feel like these injury attorneys they scale so big that they just lose that touch? Or what do you think that reason is? Because I mean, I would assume any attorney wants to provide the best service you would think. Right. Unless I don't know no better, uh, because there's a lot of stuff out there when it comes to attorneys. Yeah. Money and and you know, time and and scaling such a big company, like you said, I don't know, Thomas J. Henry, for example, I would assume there's a lot, a lot of clients at that point you can't just can't get that personal touch. What are your thoughts on scaling and unable to do that?

SPEAKER_00 12:24

That's I think that's our biggest, our biggest issue right now, and something that we want to make sure that we take care of. And so that is comes with hiring more people and hiring not just hiring random people, but hiring good staff that will actually prioritize the client, right? And so I think, yeah, most law firms they want to open up, they want to take care of the service, but I think the money gets to a lot of attorneys. Yeah. And then they start going in through into rabbit holes that I don't I I fear that and I hope that I never have to go through, but it's a real thing. Money changes people.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Money changes people.

SPEAKER_03 13:00

Something that you said back in your high school days, you looked up to servers, had like a good fancy restaurant because you enjoyed that aspect of giving good service, and that's where you get your service from. Um, what do you think? Was that something that was in your family, or where do you think that that came from? That's interesting that you say is a lot of kids don't necessarily think about that, right? They're just, you know, they're there, they're doing the thing, they get a nice restaurant, cool, whatever, but they don't really pay attention to that kind of stuff. So where do you think that that came from? Was it something that was instilled into you from your parents, family, or what do you think that came from?

SPEAKER_00 13:31

I think so. I think I think I remember this one uh this one story from back in the day when I remember my parents, they would take me to like tennis in in Park City of Far. And so we found a wallet and it had like 200 bucks in it. And I kid you not, my parents probably have $40 in their pocket. So they look through it and they find the ID of the lady. And uh I remember that day we took it to the lady's house, and uh, it was like 20 minutes away. I remember having gas on the car was even an issue. And I remember my parents didn't even take a penny from there, you know, when they could have easily taken the 200 bucks, said, Hey, I just found the wallet like this, or something like that. The addressing the issue and making sure that the the person got everything that they were entitled to, right? Yeah, yeah, kind of instilled in me uh a service kind of aspect that now we kind of push on clients.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

That's awesome. There needs to be fairness in the world, right? Yeah, 100%. Yeah. There's not much of a not much of that. Yeah. Going back to the scaling, because that's so my background's in business and and just different industries and building businesses and building teams and growing and scaling businesses. What do you I've always wondered that about you because I know I see all y'all's content, I know you and Axel, and I know that you are not just on social media saying that you take the calls, I know you actually take the calls, right? And so that's something I've always wondered at what scale, how long do you think that's actually gonna be something that you can do? And then I know you said it's one of those biggest concerns is when you scale too big that you may not be able to do that. Would you cap the business, or would you have to find another Luis, or is Axel the next Luis that's gonna start taking on calls, or how does that work?

SPEAKER_00 15:14

So I I would say Axel is a huge help on that side, and you've got to have people that are gonna give you their problem solvers, right? Right off the bat. And I feel I always tell Axel if if I'd if I died, he could probably run the firm for a whole year in the in the aspect of like the business aspect of it. Um I don't know what what we would do if it ever gets to that point, but I know for a fact that I said I need five years, and we're on year, I guess on year three now, um, where we can push 25-8. You know, I always market like our law firms open 25-8. Like you can bother me during Christmas, you can bother me like during New Year's, like I'm here to serve you, right? Like accidents aren't eight to fives, so why should my firm be open eight to five only? Um, I would love to find another Luis and help them branch off, but also it would be very uh selfish of me to tell them you're gonna work for me for the rest of your life. Yeah, so I think my whole concept is if I can find another Luis in let's say New Mexico, then I would tell them, hey, let's partner up and you can be the New Mexico warrior. Because the good thing about warrior law is we like file the trademarks for the whole country. Nice and then 844 go to war is very universal. So my goal is I find another Luis in every single state, and I keep pushing this warrior law. And the warrior law is like, and I've seen a lot of law firms starting to do this where they don't market their full name as a law firm. And I'm proud that we're like the first one to do it here in San Antonio, where we push warrior law, and some people don't even know I'm I'm the owner, and I take the call sometimes, and I'm like, if if I can't address it, I'll be like, oh, let me let me have Luis give you a call real quick. I can search the the call up real quick and then I can call him back in five minutes and give him an update. But uh, I want the firm to be bigger than than myself.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

That's cool, man, because a lot of attorneys, I don't know if it's an ego thing or not, they want that name out there for either marketing purpose or branding purpose or just I don't know, to get that self-proclaimed name or stature that they want. So it's pretty cool to see put that warrior line. I didn't even think about it until you said it. You are right. I've I've never seen anyone else put a a company name as this is the number to call, right? Because most people are like, whoa, who's Luis? Right. I want to speak to the warrior guy. That's what they're they're I'm assuming. I gotta speak to the warrior, man. So you say this is a year three, but you've done this for about six years now, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Correct, yeah. I I worked at a big law firm here in in town uh for three and a half years, and then I went out my own. A lot of good takeaways? A lot I learned a lot. Learned a lot. Yeah, learned a lot, learned what not to do, learned what to do. Yeah. I learned how to make sure that your staff is taken care of. Because, you know, I mean, once the firm firms get bigger, like you kind of neglect the person. But I always told my staff, like, hey, like if I can take care of you, then you're gonna take care of my clients. And that's the most important thing for me.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

And now is year three, I think you have well over a thousand clients, twelve hundred clients?

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Twelve hundred clients, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Now, I was under the impression that if you're was it licensed or regulated in the state of Texas, you can only have clients in the state of Texas. How are you doing clients in different states?

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Yeah, so you you can't follow a lawsuit unless unless you you get local counsel, right? So if we have a case in uh, for example, right now we have a case in North Carolina, right? So we got local counsel to jump in with us on the case. And so we push on on the the treatment, we push on taking care of the client, and they will push on the litigation aspect of it, like going to actual court right there. Now we can go with them and attend with them, but you gotta build those relationships. I'm sure you guys do that. Like a JV side. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

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SPEAKER_00 21:00

I think it it was the relationship aspect. We wanted to build a relationship with every person that we connect with, and then because when you hire an attorney, you've got to hire someone you trust, right? And so if I can build my trust with you guys, then I did my my job. And next time something happens, right, you guys are gonna think of me because we have a relationship. Um I think pushing on all these numbers or like standing in front of an 18-wheeler, like smashing it or something, is the old school way of attracting clients. And also, you want to build loyalty with your clients, right? You want to make sure that they're taken care of. And that's something that we do. Like every birthday we text our clients. We make sure that they know that we're thinking of them, even though and and it's not the aspect of like this year you're gonna remember, but if I text you for the next 10 years on your birthday, you're gonna be like, damn, this guy literally texts me every single birthday for the last 10 years, and you build that relationship. And so if I can get you as a client and I do a good job with you, then what I'll end up doing is you're gonna tell your cousins, your friends, your family, your loved ones about me. And we're gonna have a friendship. And then I can make sure that I take care of your family, then our friendship gets bigger, and then I can create a friendship with your cousin, you know? And then my my spider web gets bigger. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

I like that. So I'm a marketer at heart. That's my number one skill set is I'm a marketer. And so it's interesting that you say that because that's probably the best way in today's world where there's so much noise on social media and just all over the place. And building that one-on-one relationship, building that trust, like you said, there's analytics behind it. People need to watch you for six hours before they'll spend money with you, blah, blah, blah. And so it's interesting that you're doing that because I feel like the old school way was blast it in front of everybody, billboards, signs, radio, TV, and then try to have the easiest phone number. Because if you can remember 444-4444, probably that's who they're gonna remember when they call. And so not necessarily they remember the guy or who he is or what the commercial said, but they remember the number. And you're going beyond the phone number. You know, you're going, hey, let me build a relationship with you. And so I feel like that's that's uh definitely the way the future, definitely gonna keep you in people's mind as time goes on, like you said, because building that trust, because the trust factor is so low right now, the trust economy is super, super low because there's so much AI crap out there. You can generate a hundred videos in 30 seconds with somebody who looks just like you, an AI that looks just like you, but it's fake. And so, what's the only way that you can separate yourself and build trust? And it's actually doing the little things, texting on birthdays, reaching out. So that's funny you said that. I actually have a uh, I think I told you about this a couple weeks ago, a funny story. It was like a Saturday morning, I don't know, maybe like a month, month and a half ago, and I'm at the QTs right here on Fredericksburg in 410. I'm putting gas and I see all these cop cars coming up. I thought it was like a funeral procession because all the lights were flashing, and then cop cars. And it's a one after another, and they're all wrapped with something, like the same car wrap, but they're just like not even nice cars, like a 94 Camry, and then a 20, 2025, whatever, Ford Focus. Just a bunch of random cars, and they're all wrapped in the same thing. And then I see this big dually truck come up, and this guy's in the back of it. He's got a freaking suit tie and a saw on his hand. Like, what? So I got my camera and I zoomed in, and it's I guess an attorney, and they were probably filming an ad or something. Oh, yeah. But I shit you know, there was like a hundred cars in a row on Fredericksburg, all of them with their flashers on, all of them with the same rap of whatever his attorney his law firm was. And this guy is like the most cringe-looking white dude in like this baby blue suit. I don't even know what color it was, it might have been gray, but it looked like a baby blue suit with this chainsaw, and he's just like going after. It was the weird. I'm assuming they had to be uh filming a commercial or something. I was like crazy in the world is going on here.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Yeah, I think it's back in and I've seen I've I've heard like there's a big guy named Jim Adler who's like the Texas hammer. Yo, so yeah, and I heard his concept, and I think we're doing the the Jim Adler of this this era, and I kid you not, like uh I always tell everyone, like, we're gonna be the biggest law firm in Texas. Um but his concept was crazy back in the 70s. Like in the 70s, people were like, What are you doing? You're a you're a loser for screaming. Yeah, right. And so now people are used to that, so we gotta switch it up, change it up on them.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

Yeah, I remember seeing those videos when I was a kid, I was like, oh man, who's this guy? It makes you wonder, right? I mean, it makes you catch attention. Now I want to go back to the Gen Z type of content. I don't know what your relationship with some of these other older guys. Any negative feedback from these guys on what you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 25:25

All of it. Yeah? Yeah, and I love it because it it it it shows that we're doing something right. I I yeah, I would say um we're spending pennies compared to these guys, and our volume is probably a hundred clients a month. Wow. And that's I I know firms that are spending seven, eight hundred thousand dollars a month and they're getting the same amount of clients. And it's just because we're building relationships with people, and because we're on your face every single day. That's why I post every single day at 9 a.m. Because it's like, you know, like you you you know the news already. Yeah, and some videos get traction, some videos don't, but you're gonna see me every single day. And that's what that's the most rewarding thing for me.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

I don't know, I don't know if this is the right word, man, but maybe the word imitation, someone who's so young in this field, in this industry that's battling these big guys who's been around for decades. What's your thought process on on you being in this field?

SPEAKER_00 26:23

I think we're we're we're the we're the firm that's pushing through all this crap. In San Antonio, at least. Especially San Antonio, it's a very old school. I'm sure you guys deal with this aspect of it in real estate too. It's a very old school mentality kind of vibe. Uh, if you go to Houston, there's a lot of like warrior law concepts. Uh you go to Dallas, same thing. But San Antonio, for some reason, we like to stay behind on some things.

SPEAKER_03 26:49

On everything. So when I was in the nightclub business, we called it sleepy San Antonio because all these cities would have all these cool concepts and all these different, you know, streets, Sixth Street or whatever street the city is, Main Street, and they've got you know their party streets. We've got nothing like that down here. Even till today, I feel like the night scene is I'm I'm out of it, I've been out of for years now, but I feel like it's just on every aspect, like you said, real estate, whether it's a law firm, whether it's you know, even just like nice hotels. We've got, I mean, San Antonio's got his stuff. You know, we've got Six Flags and TPC, we've got the PJ Tour and and uh you know Spurs, obviously. But for some reason, it feels like we are just a decade behind on a lot of the the major trends, which is I don't know, it's a weird thing to think about because we've got something like these. Yeah, yeah. We've got so much going for us as a city, and for some reason it's just I don't know, we're behind the curve on a lot of the city.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

The one good thing is that we have we're a relationship firm like uh city. Very much so relationship. Like once you gain the trust of one person in the family, you gain the trust of the whole family. Yeah, and that thing that I feel like we don't have as much of it, like let's say I'm a Houston client, you know, um, that gets contacted by lawyers illegally, or you know, case runners is a big is aspect in in our in our industry. Um we always kind of have to shake them off because they're gonna get hit up and you know they're they'll tell them, hey, I'll write you a check and you get rid of your attorney.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

Let me let me stop you there real quick. For those who don't know what that means, and I might not be clear myself, what exactly is a case runner?

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Case runners are people that go and you know knock on your door or call you right after an accident or buy the police reports online and then they contact you. So that's solicitation that's illegal in Texas. Uh I don't know, it's illegal. Yeah, very illegal. So the biggest thing they're doing right now is they contact you and say, Hey, I'm a nonprofit organization. Um, I have your police report ready. Just I'm gonna send you some documents so you can sign. By the time you know it, you're with some random law firm. That's wild. And uh that lawyer represents you and says, Oh, you signed the contract here. And so you're like, What the hell? But vulnerable people don't know about it. And so they end up there, and then that's a story, the horror stories that you hear, like someone walking away with $2,000 after a settlement of $50,000, you know? Because they don't care. There's no relationship.

SPEAKER_03 29:11

And how can they get away with that without? I mean, I'm assuming if the right person reported them to the bar, I'm assuming, is like the the government, the governing entity, or who do they how would you report something like that and get them banned?

SPEAKER_00 29:22

So, you know, it's it's even bigger in the valley where I'm from, but it's very hard to really push on shaking these people down, really. Like you can shake them down for some cash, but you really can't change legislature. Legislature actually just changed it used to be ten thousand dollar penalty, now it's a fifty thousand dollar penalty. Um so it kind of incentivizes some people not to do it. But if there's a reward of millions of dollars on a case, I mean to them it's like they're gonna test their luck, you know? Or they'll find some way to I I actually have Axel call call these guys up whenever our clients get called and there's this guy on a computer, and he's like, You're calling me from this number, um asking for uh about a Maria that I haven't contacted, so I'm gonna hang up. And the guy just hangs up. But Axel has caught like four of them and it's the same dude doing it. Crazy. But I don't know who it is because he'll call from different numbers. And the thing is, these guys, what they do is they screw over a law firm that law firm is needing clients, so they'll hire them for two, three months, then that law firm gets a bad reputation on that, and then they just go and find another attorney who's gonna be willing to pay.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

It's like a third-party agency that's getting you lead gen, I guess. Yeah. But in the wrong way. In the wrong way, correct. Yeah. There are a lot of similarities to our real estate business. A lot of similarities to the real estate.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

I always say PI attorneys are like the realtors of the industry.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

A lot of people, um, I guess especially when they're in accident, they just don't know how to begin, what to start. But also a lot of people are like nervous of talking to an attorney. I don't know what to say, I don't know if I have a case. What do we say to those people, like uh because I depend on the demographics, right? Depending on their income and like, oh, I don't want to mess with that thing, I don't want no trouble. There's I'm assuming there's a lot of people out there, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

That don't know what steps or what uh actually a personal injury attorney can provide. I want to hear some of the crazy stories you had. I don't know if you can talk about it, but uh, some of the closed ones or maybe even ongoing, some of the crazy stuff, like just people, everyday people probably didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Yeah. I I would say like our biggest case to have settled, and and I can't disclose it, it's confidential, but our biggest case we ever got, um, and that's settled, the guy waited three months to contact us because he didn't know that he had to he didn't have to pay an attorney. The way we work is contingency fee basis, right? And so this guy was like, hey, my my uh my brother was in a horrible accident, he's been in the hospital for two months. Um but I don't want to contact an attorney because I I feel like I'm gonna I'm gonna have to pay out of pocket. And I was like, no man, like we were contingency fee bases. So if you don't make any money, if I can't produce money for you, then I don't get a percentage of it. And last week, for example, we had a case where the guy got into an accident with an 18-wheeler. Uh he tells me I'm not at fault for the accident. I help him out with the rental for a good amount of weeks, and then comes out there's a video, and the guy literally ramps into the back of the 18-wheeler. And so I think I lost like three to four thousand dollars on that. But I'm not gonna go charge the guy, hey, pay me back those three, four thousand dollars. Because I always tell clients, like you run the risk of hiring us as a law firm when there's so many other law firms, I'll invest into the case and run the risk with you together. And if I can't do a good job, or or if I can't get you a result, then just think of me next time you get into an incident or someone else gets into an incident.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

So you have some type of accountant that's kind of set off or funding or investing into a case because I mean that's I could assume it'd be multiple cases where this happened or someone lied, and you know, the money could just it never comes out.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

Yeah. We um I I will tell you we lose probably a couple hundred thousand dollars a year on on cases, on top of the expenses of making sure that that the other cases are taken care of. But I mean, we gotta invest into these clients. It's uh I'll uh at the beginning of the firm, it was very much so a roller coaster. I remember going back, like I had some money saved up, right, from working, and uh I had my firm account, and we ran through that money in the first six months. And so I remember going to the bank and withdrawing from my personal on Thursdays to make sure that we could do payroll for the Friday. Like for a lot of weeks, and I was like, man, this has to stop at some point. This this thing has to float by itself.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

It's crazy. You hear that in a lot of small businesses, restaurants, and it's crazy to see how uh an attorney's office feels the same motions, right? I mean, it's a business going from the ground up. You're taking something that you created, so you gotta make sure everyone gets fed first, and then you're always last at the end.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Yeah, I don't think I ever I paid myself. First check I wrote myself or I put myself on payroll finally from the firm was a year and a half after the firm opened, so probably eight months ago. Crazy.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

Sounds like a your typical startup kind of new new small business. Yeah, yeah. But I love it.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

I love I love I remember one time the bank account for the firm was at zero and it was a Monday, and I knew payroll was ten thousand dollars. And I was I woke up and I was like, all right, I got four days to figure out how to get 10 grand in there. And it happened somehow, but I love that the hustle aspect, the hustle mentality. Hustle mentality.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

Now let's talk about 18 wheelers, man. Everything I see is 18 wheelers this, 18 wheelers that, you know, from what do we talk to the Adler, right? Jim Adler to all the billboards. 18 wheelers. What's the big goal when it comes to 18 wheel? I'm assuming it's a big insurance claimer. How does that work? Why does a lot of attorneys always focus on 18 wheelers?

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Biggest reward, yeah. So we charge the way uh attorneys work is contingency fee, right? So it's 33.3%. Most law firms. Uh the bigger ones charge a little more, but most law firms charge a third, right, of of what we collect. So if we collect ten dollars, thirty three dollars and thirty-three cents go to us. Um now there's caps, right? The minimum in Texas is thirty thousand. So on a regular case, I can make ten thousand dollars to the firm and and that's that. But on an 18-wheeler case, it's a million-dollar policy, right? So the minimum. Yeah, the minimum. And then there's the big companies, or like for example, Walmart is self-insured. So Walmart, I mean, if you can pop them for 20 million, they're gonna pay the 20 million. If you can pop him for 200 million, you can you're gonna get 200 million.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

And your time of doing this, the one you said earlier, the guy rammed into the back of a truck uh negligently, or he did it on purpose to try to get insurance.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

I I think it was a scam for sure. I'm pretty sure. Because the guy knew what he was doing. Like the next very next day, he's like, Man, I need a rental and I haven't worked. And obviously, we're we're gonna trust our clients. So then I'm like, well, send me your bank account, we'll deposit you some money so you can float a little bit, right? And uh those are living expenses, those are those are fine. And so we gave him like 800 bucks, and then three days later, I get a text. I'm in the valley, and I get a text. Hey, he his rental is coming up. I'm like, man, I just gave this guy $800 like three weeks, three days ago. Another $600. And so it went on like that until um we saw the video, and I'm like, damn.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

How does it work on a back end? If you can, I don't know how much you can share or not share, but as uh an attorney, the investigation part, like what video where do the videos come from? The 18 Wheeler videos, bystanders, uh witnesses, where do you where do you obtain videos from?

SPEAKER_00 37:08

Just all depends. We have a team of of uh private investigators that are in-house uh that can go retrieve those videos if if it's possible. Uh but the 18 Wheeler company, if they have a dash cam, they're gonna and they're not at fault, they're gonna show it to you. But if they're at fault, you have to file a lawsuit for you to get it.

SPEAKER_03 37:26

Speaking of dash cams, you can go on TikTok today and just type in, not even for 18 wheels, like a personal dash cam. And there's so much fraud out there. People who are like, we'll pull in front of you and then back up because if you hit from the rear, you're basically 100% at fault.

SPEAKER_00 37:40

And so I've seen a lot of people that, you know, and just on TikTok that put dash cams in the front and the back for that reason because there's so much fraud going on out there who are doctors and attorneys in in a lot of states, especially in like New York, that are uh getting Rico'ed because of that aspect. Like literally, they're dealing with you're dealing with like MS-13 guys who go and find people in New York. There's an actual lawsuit going through this. So these people are staging accidents in New York. Um MS-13 is behind it. They're causing these incidents. Now they're calling attorneys and saying, hey, I'm gonna sell you these car accidents for X amount of money. And then they're gonna send them to a doctor that they know, yeah, and they're gonna say, Hey, doctor, you're gonna pay me a cut of everything. So now these gang members in New York have control of the attorneys, and then they have control of the doctors. And then they probably take some from the client themselves. So it's it's like a real thing. It's like horrible.

SPEAKER_03 38:44

One of my landlord, my landlord at Desire, actually, I don't name many names, but he uh he's actually a surgeon by trade. And he was out in the news a couple years ago because he was teaming up with the local injury attorney and providing medical reports that surgery was needed, rehab was needed, and I guess they got I don't know what I didn't follow up with the case. I don't know if they won or lost or what happened, but um, but yeah, he had to defend himself because he came out with this, whatever whoever the injury attorney was, and saying that they had like uh some kind of cahoots going on where they were getting clients that were, you know, maybe needing surgery that didn't, or whatever the situation. They were beefing up cases, and then over, I think, a 10-year span, I don't know how many millions of dollars, it was basically insurance fraud. And so yeah, it's crazy. That was a local case here in San Antonio, so I'm sure across the whole country there is a ton of different scams like that.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

The biggest thing is like you you get, let's say, Maria, right, who's in an accident. And if uh, for example, I have a if I have a relationship with a doctor, right, a friend of mine, I send it to him, right? Then that doctor, he's gonna make X amount of money, right, on a case. But if he can build it up to like a surgery, then he's gonna make a bunch of money. And so then I win, he wins, and then the client sometimes just gets screwed over. Yeah. Right. So that's why the biggest aspect is like not having a relationship with these doctors because at the end of the day, you I always tell clients, like, look, I'm not a doctor, I can't recommend you what to do. And that's the biggest mistake attorneys do in this industry. They recommend things as if they were doctors. And so I always tell them, I'm not a doctor, I can't recommend you what to do. But if the doctor's recommending you this, then I'm gonna tell you what financially is gonna be better for you or worse for you, you know, because there's doctors that over-treat on a little case, and then there's doctors that under-treat on a huge case. Yeah, you know, so you gotta have that balance. But the biggest thing is those relationships or you become friends with these doctors, that is not is not correct.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

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SPEAKER_00 42:04

It's crazy. Our community, we build a such a good community that every week we get calls from people that are before they even call the cops, they call us. Wow. And they're all like, hey, this person's on the line, like they just got into an accident. What do they do? And so we try to help them out, right, as much as possible. But the biggest thing is like, go get checked out if you're if you're hurt. The the insurance company is always gonna try to blame someone else other than the person that actually caused the incident. So I would say go get checked out first. Get your vehicle towed to either your house if it's total loss, if their backs open up, they're gonna total it. Um or tow it to a place that you know, all right, if you know any body shop or anyone that that you you can work with. Uh, and then you call us and then we'll take care of it after that. The insurance company, the biggest thing they're gonna do is delay. That's what's gonna frustrate you. It's not the money aspect, right? Because there's two aspects to every single accident. There's liability, who's at fault, and then there's the damages aspect, right? And if they only have $30,000, $50,000 in their policy, then and it's a horrible hit, they know they're gonna have to pay for that. The biggest thing with that is how much can I delay this from getting paid out? And that's where it frustrates the client, it might frustrate the client, and the client might be able to take $10,000 instead of taking the $30,000 or $50,000. So that's a it's a delay tactic that they play.

SPEAKER_03 43:28

Are there any attorneys that still are not basically the the fee structure that you guys have and pretty much all the big guys pay after after the case is won? Are there any other attorneys that don't do it that way? Because I feel like you mentioned something that people still don't understand that they don't have to pay anything. But I mean that's been the case, I feel like with the big guys for thirty years, twenty years. So I just it's it's crazy to think that some people still don't understand that. Obviously, you you don't get an accident every day, so it's not something you deal with every day. But are there attorneys that still charge the other way where you have to pay a deposit or money up front or by the hour?

SPEAKER_00 43:58

I don't think so. No. I don't think there's attorneys that that do that aspect other than like other laws, right? Like family law or criminal law.

SPEAKER_03 44:05

Yeah, and I guess that's why everybody gets that that notion in their head because any other type of lawyer you're paying up front for the most part, right? Um yeah, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

Yeah. But a big aspect of the case, and I always I literally always talk talk about you at the at the firm because because Ashley's there, right? Yeah. And and Ashley managed the floor for you, right? And so I always compare it to a bar, right? The the firm. So you got you know problems everywhere spiking up, right? I'm sure like as a as a bar owner, you you saw this. So like you got the people trying to come in, you got the the drunk guy in the corner throwing up, then you got the drunk guy being cocky over here, yeah. And then you gotta handle the DJ, you gotta pay bills, you gotta structure all that. And so every single day it's like we open a bar. Yeah. And um it's about managing problems, right? Because I'm sure you you dealt with that aspect of it. So I always compare having a personal injury law firm as having a bar, and then you have to like hire service, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:10

It's all the same things customer service, putting out fires all the time, managing difficult situations, managing managing difficult people. Yeah, it's a lot. And then uh I didn't even think about this, but on the on the insurance side of a bar, I don't know if y'all do have y'all done a lot of cases where people fall on a bar or get injured. Have y'all done any of those yet?

SPEAKER_00 45:27

We do, yeah, we do.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

I mean, that's something on our side. We have to we had to manage that, making sure that you know the drinks aren't spilled on the floor or somebody didn't get punched in the face and it was you know something we could have avoided. But getting insurance on a nightclub or any kind of bar, it's almost impossible in Texas now. There's very few insurance companies that will even underwrite a deal anymore. A lot of them just backed out and aren't doing those type of policies. Wow. And uh, I mean, for us, we were a small bar. I mean, it was like 3,000 square feet. Um, it was a college club, but I mean, I want to say I think we were paying close to 10,000 a month in insurance. I mean, it was a ridiculous amount of money.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

And that's why I think a lot of people hate personal injury attorneys, to be honest with you. Yeah, and and there's a lot of attorneys that make a case out of nothing, right? Just to shake down the insurance company, and then it kind of affects the reputation. Yeah. Um, I'm sure like the like the McDonald's case, that one's a legit case. Like that one, the lady actually had like third-degree burns because of the coffee. Yeah. Like they paid out because like what's fair.

SPEAKER_02 46:29

Fresh memory again, what happened?

SPEAKER_00 46:30

So this lady gets served uh a cup of uh coffee. They tell her, hey, it's hot, right? Right. The lid opens up, it falls on her on her private parts, and it uh caused third-degree burns for her. Um Do we know who was?

SPEAKER_02 46:46

I mean, I don't know much. I know the McDonald's, yeah. Yeah, I know the story with McDonald's. I know someone got burned. Um, and I saw a lot of memes when it came out. I don't know when it came out, probably like a year ago or so. Yeah. But I saw a lot of memes, well, yeah, the copy's hot and this net, but the lid wasn't secured by the employee, or they she grab it too hard and it popped off the lid.

SPEAKER_00 47:01

No, it was by the employee. So now they have to put like caution hot on ever on every the they've they've changed the laws, but there's still things going on. I think I saw one at Chacho's here that burned a girl's hair. Uh Bill Miller's just paid. Yeah, but they gave her uh aluminum that was still lit up from the taco. What the hell? So then she grabbed it, and I guess she had products all over her head and hair and kind of lit up. Okay, Bill Miller's what Bill Miller's too. I think they just paid four million dollars on a case. For what? Yeah, for kind of similar situation, yeah. So like they they're five million. Um these these people, and I I think at the end of the day, the industry that we work is it does change lives, you know. Like, for example, back in the 90s, tire tires were horrible, right? Tires would blow up on on people and cause accidents happening, deaths. And so these Ford cases back in the 90s were very valuable, uh, because they were just writing checks. So the three people died. Oh, let's write $750,000 every person. And they they already knew that their V that their vehicles were bad, and the tire companies knew that the vehicles are bad. But fast forward 30-40 years from now, from then, and uh I think last year there was like six valid tire accidents because the tires were were were product liability issues. Um and so they they make these companies kind of like got together and actually made uh something that's safe. And so now thanks to that, now everyone's safe around the road. Changing the world.

SPEAKER_03 48:50

Yeah, that's a great segue into a question I've been wanting to ask this whole podcast. I didn't think about it till like in the middle of this, but with all of the obviously you brought it up that 18 wheelers are the biggest earners, right, in in cases, and the most profitable for you guys. Looking forward when we have a world of not only autonomous 18-wheelers from Tesla, but supposedly in 10 years from now, every car will be autonomous and there will be basically zero accidents on the road. What happens to to injury attorneys?

SPEAKER_00 49:22

I I think we've transitioned into work injuries and slip and falls. Yeah. And those are gonna be the biggest things. But I do think that this country is like about control, right? So it's never gonna fully go that way or autonomous fully.

SPEAKER_03 49:38

Maybe 50-50.

SPEAKER_00 49:39

Maybe, yeah, by the yeah, maybe maybe by the time I like we're we're dead, right? It's gonna transition. But I feel like like this is the land of the free, right? And yeah, and so people are not gonna be like, uh, the car's not gonna tell me what to do, right? Like, I'm gonna tell the car what to do, and so it's gonna cause incidents. And so we have a lot of cases where Teslas cause the accident um because people want to drive through them and and whatnot. So I think at least my generation, and maybe like if I ever have kids, my kids' generation are gonna be fine. But then after that, it might transition.

SPEAKER_03 50:13

Speaking of Tesla and accidents, did you see the one this last week where it drove through the house and killed this lady?

SPEAKER_00 50:18

It was here, right? I saw the. I don't know if it was here. I sent you the article.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

I didn't see the video until last night. Did you see the video? I sent you the article. Oh my god. The car was probably going 100 miles an hour. Wow. It was the if did you see the new documentary on I did? It's like the exact same thing, but it went through the whole brick wall of this lady's house, hit this 87-year-old or how old she was, a 78-year-old grandma, killed in her living room, and this car was flying. Like when it hit the curb, obviously there's a space between the curb, the grass, and the house. It hit the curb. By the time I think it hit the brick wall through the whole front yard, it was airborne. It wasn't even touching the ground. Like it hit the curb, flew, and then just like straight. It was the go look it up today. It's the most insane video. And supposedly it was on autopilot. I don't know how true it was or not, but supposedly it was on autopilot, and it was. I mean, that car was flying. It must have been on super, super mad max mode. It was like a huge loss.

SPEAKER_00 51:07

It was soaring through there. Yeah, it's crazy. That's a huge lawsuit. We yeah, no, the there's all these, all this technology kind of there's still cases to go against. Like we have, I think we have two or three cases against SpaceX, um, which are like work injury aspects of it. But I mean, people get hurt, they call us. Yeah, I I I personally think what they're doing is like changing the world, right? Um, and it's help helping the economy in the valley where I'm from. But still, I mean, it's yeah, accidents happen. Yeah, accidents happen, and people need to get paid for it. It'll change, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:40

What's a big uh misconception that you think people have about lawyers in general?

SPEAKER_00 51:44

I think the the biggest misconception is that we take money or that we're gonna make more money than the client. That's a that's a big thing. That don't call a lawyer, they're gonna take your money, right? Like, first off, the insurance doesn't want to give you a check. Like the insurance, their whole business model is the less I pay you, the more profit I make, right? Because they're consistent. They how many clients they have, they're gonna get a check every month. And so the more they lowball people, the better it is for them at the end of the month. And for us, it's the more I make you, the more I'll get, right? Even in in the cruel aspect of being a business, if I can make you $100,000, then I'm gonna make more money than me getting you $10,000. Yeah. So I'm always gonna try to build that case to make sure that I take care of you and I take care of myself too.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

The breakdown of the uh cost. I see some big billboards, $250 million, and then on the bottom of little parentheses, client got, I don't know, $80 million. That's a big difference. That marketing, obviously we talked about earlier, obsolete for you and or not obsolete, I guess outdated. And how does that work? Because I think that turns off a lot of people, like, well, how did this lawyer get $250 million? But on the bottom and little parentheses, net to client, like $40 million or $50 million.

SPEAKER_00 52:58

Yeah, that's the that's the state bar actually passed the law. That they have to put that number on there? Yeah, you have to put just a disclose how much the act the client actually made. Uh, because it was tricking people. That's like an inverse market.

SPEAKER_03 53:10

I think I would rather just put how much the client got versus the case because it's like because then it gives the perception of, oh, look, the attorney got all that money and the client, but even though I understand there's cost to go into the research and all that stuff, but your normal everyday customer doesn't understand that there's cost to building a case.

SPEAKER_00 53:24

I've had a handful of people that are like, well, I mean, that guy got a hundred million. Yeah, but that guy, like, I mean, he was in the hospital for four months, you know, like he was burned his whole body. Uh, yeah. Um, but I don't know if you guys saw like the T Thomas J. Henry one where he put a one billion dollar uh he now has one that's that's that's legit, like that's a fair one. But a couple years ago, what do you mean a fair one? Oh like he put one billion collected over the last four years for clients. That one, okay, gotcha. Like I'm sure the state board is good. But a couple years ago he had one where he put a billion dollar recent result, right, on one case, and that was a sexual assault case that he never got paid on. Right. He all the all it was it was a uh it was a case where he went in front of a judge, they never did an appearance, and so he said, This is a sexual assault case. I think we should collect a billion dollars. And the judge was like, You're right, and just granted it, right? It wasn't it was a default judgment. It's called a default judgment. Like nobody showed up on the other side. Uh-huh. So you get to kind of it's like I got a paper that says we got a couple of those default. Yeah, so nobody showed up, so okay, what is what it's and and it's like uh I have a paper that says I owe you a billion dollars. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, number is gonna collect. Yeah. So they took that one down.

SPEAKER_02 54:46

But legally, he did have a billion dollar judgment.

SPEAKER_00 54:48

Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. So it's marketing. Yeah, and then they told them to take it down, and I saw the Express News put a bunch of articles about that aspect of it. I think the the the biggest enemy for personal injury attorneys are other personal injury attorneys, so like they do not like.

SPEAKER_02 55:05

I guess counteracts that question. Does anyone ever like, hey man, I see you're up and coming, and you know, anything I can do to help as another personal injury attorney to you, or are they all kind of just staying their own lanes?

SPEAKER_00 55:15

No, there's a handful of very good guys.

SPEAKER_02 55:17

That would actually kind of hey, you need something to let me know. Or we can partner up or on a JB out of real estate JV joint venture. If you have a client that may be a little inexperienced because you haven't dealt with this before, and we have, is that normal in that room?

SPEAKER_00 55:31

It's very normal, yeah. Um and it there's a lot of very good guys, but then there's also a lot of very envious guys. And like when when someone like because I don't hang out with too many personal injury attorneys, but when I do, and someone tells me, Hey, I got $60 million settlement, like, man, I'm congrats, right? Like, man, I hope one day I can get a call about that aspect of it. Uh, but I'm not gonna be like envious, like, how the hell did that guy get it and not me? Because like I always think accidents are like trains, right? Like they're always gonna be coming. It's about you catching the next one. And so I got 40 years left in me doing this. Like, at some point, I want to build a firm that people think of, but I don't want them to think of call this guy, this guy's gonna get you a bunch of money. I want people to think, call this guy, this guy's gonna get you answers now. Because when you get into an accident, you sure, like, if I told you, yeah man, don't worry, I'm gonna get you fifty thousand dollars in a year, you're gonna be like, Man, screw you, right? Help me today. Like, what do I do about my rental? Like, what do I do about like my lost wages? Like, right, help me out financially, or or like my hospital bill, things of that nature, right? Uh, you don't want answers in six months, you want answers now. And so we push on that very much so. So at the end of every week, I make sure all the new clients we call them up by Friday and the customer service aspect, like going back to the server, right? We're servers, like I'm there to serve you. And sure, some clients abuse it and some clients call after midnight or things of that nature. But the majority of them are very, very grateful that you're gonna be there to help them out.

SPEAKER_02 57:18

Let me ask you something. You ever thought about investing in real estate but assumed they needed perfect credit, a huge savings account, or a bank willing to say yes? That's exactly why Rick started to partner with our guy Mike Leva at Conventus. Conventus is a real estate lender built specifically for investors and not homeowners. They help people fund deals like fix and flips, buy and hold rentals, and even ground up construction. And here's the part most beginners don't realize Conventus doesn't lend based on your W-2 income or your personal credit score. They focus on the deal itself, the value of the property, and the numbers behind it. That means investors can often access higher loan amounts and more flexible terms than a traditional bank, sometimes with rates that are more competitive than people expect. So instead of asking, do I qualify? the better question becomes is this a good deal? If you're serious about getting to real estate investing and want a funding partner that truly understands investors, reach out to our go-to guy at Conventus, Mike Leva, today using the link in the show notes and see how real estate investors are actually getting deals funded. Cool mean. It's cool and it's a lot of similarities, and I guess all rule. I just think of what we do here, same thing, just different formats or different worlds, if that makes sense. Now I want to kind of go through the motions. I get into a car accident. Of course, I call the police and the ambulance and do what I gotta do. How does it work if you can share behind the scenes? I call your number. What's the number one more time? 844 go to war. 844 go to war. I call this number, someone picks up, let's just say it's two in the morning, right? Drunk driving or whatever the case may be. Someone calls this number at two in the morning. What happens on your end? On our end, we live call, someone actually answers, or is it automated?

SPEAKER_00 58:59

So if it's like uh like a 2 a.m., maybe till 10 or 11, it's gonna be either Axel or I taking the call.

SPEAKER_02 59:07

Oh, yourself personally, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:08

Yeah, I see every call that comes in. Um if it's after that, it's it's an AI system that will record for like 10 seconds of it. And if you say I just got into an accident, it'll route you to my cell phone directly. Yeah. So and if it if you if you don't say that, right, and sometimes people don't, like, um I'll get a message ASAP and then I'll call them. So I promise you, if if you get into an accident like at 2 a.m., you're gonna get a call from me at least by the the latest 3 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 59:40

So it's 3 a.m. I'm freaking out. I just got into an accident, you know, got injured, someone in my vehicle got injured. I called you and now it's 3 a.m. and I'm in the hospital. What's next? I get the call from you, and what do you tell me at 3 a.m. while I'm in the hospital?

SPEAKER_00 59:54

Okay, so um, where's your vehicle? Okay, my vehicle's here. Okay, let me try to set you up a tow to get it to your house or something like that, right? Then what I do is uh we have like two two vehicles, right? We have uh an escalade that's more for like clients, and then uh we have a raptor that we can pick up clients like depending on on everything. We'll pick you up from the airport if you uh from the hospital if we need to. Uh we'll take you home if you let's say a lot of people, I mean they live paycheck to paycheck, right? So we can help them out with a little bit of funds so that you know, I know the towing costs you money, I know the transportation costs you, so we we can help out um on that side of it. Then once you're home, you're gonna give me your doctor's orders. Um you're gonna follow those doctor's orders, but by then I'm gonna have a private investigator go to the cops, try to retrieve that insurance and speed up the insurance process of it. And as legal?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:55

That's legal?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:56

Yeah, yeah. We'll we'll send them out to the to the cops. Yeah, yeah, to the cops. Of course it's legal. No, no, no. Once they retain us, once they sign the contract with us, like power attorney. Yeah, power attorney, then I can have a private investigator go out there and and meet with you and everything. If I have the time, I'll go meet with you. Like I we had a case um that actually they found us through TikTok, uh, where it was like noon, the guy had five surgeries. Uh, he was in uh in ICU and the family found us on TikTok, and uh Axel and I went right right there.

unknown 1:01:34

Right then.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:34

What do people say when you show up? Well, one, they know who you are, because again, you're promoting warrior law and not Luis. Do they know who you are? They know you're the warrior.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:42

Some of them do. Some of them do. Some some like don't, some still call me Miko because I'm 30 years old, which I'm I'm fine with. Like uh But at the end of the day, yeah, like they they they'll know who who we are. What do they say?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:56

I mean you you yourself show up at the hospital at 3 a.m. or whatever the case may be.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:00

I think people are glad that it's like actually me, right? Like not like some random person that's just showing up there. That's why I like to go meet with two weeks, yeah. Yeah, that's why I like to go meet with them in person.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:12

Now on the flip side, you said something about Mijo. What about those people like, oh, you're too young? What do you ever get some of those type of clients?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:18

Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:19

How do you how do you battle that?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:20

I don't think I've ever lost the person that's called me Miko because I tell them, all right, Miko's gonna get you a lot of money, make sure we take care of you, right? So so Miko, uh that's a good answer. I I'm like, look, I we've collected millions of dollars. One one client for um I don't know, I want to say a couple months ago was like, well, I was gonna call one of the big guys, but then I called you and I was like, well, I'm I'm grateful you called us, right? Um but also I didn't want to devalue my company because my company, I I'm very proud of what we do. And I would say we're top ten biggest law firms volume-wise per month here in San Antonio. And so I was like, look, those guys are gonna help you out. Um but you're talking to me that you get to talk to that person on the billboard in that company, and I don't think you'll ever get to talk to them. And you have my cell phone, right? And for me, I told the the the lady, because she was like a 65-year-old lady, uh, who had a prior accident and had hired one of the big guys. I was like, with me, you're gonna talk to me, I'm gonna get you the answers that you need, and I'm gonna make sure that at the end of the case you're satisfied with it. I've heard horror stories about attorneys making thirty thousand dollars and the client walks away with four hundred and fifty dollars after an accident. I will never tell you.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:41

How does that happen when you said it was uh thirty-three percent?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:44

Yeah, so the thirty-three percent is for them, then they don't really negotiate with any with any bills, hospital bills, doctor bills, things like that. And then the sneaky part is the the case expenses, they sneak in a lot of cases expenses, right? Because maybe their their theo is a private investigator, so then they put the private investigator a ten thousand dollar bill on that aspect of it. And if the client signs off on it, then by all means they're good. They're they're good to go. But I will always try to flip that number. If I'm ever making more than the client, I'm gonna look at that uh result and I'm gonna make sure that we can flip it so that the client makes a lot. Because at the end of the day, like I didn't go through the suffering, I didn't go through the roller coaster of emotions, and the client did. So why should I take more money from the client when they're the ones that are truly affected by this?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:42

Good way to look at it. It's good when it comes from somebody who's got good morals and ethics, not to say that the other guys don't. Um I'm sure a lot don't, uh or some don't, but it's good to know that, you know, like you said, just growing up, seeing your family, instill all those morals and values into you, returning the $200, you know, when they didn't have to, and so that kind of stuff, it really does stick with you for your life. And uh my dad actually, he was in an accident. Well, it was a minor thing. We were growing up, and he had his own little small business, construction business, and he was going to work one day and he got hit by a FedEx truck and didn't do anything about it. Didn't sue him, didn't get any money. And I was a kid, dude, but I saw the commercials, I knew how it worked, and I said, dude, that was your chance. Why didn't you why didn't you sue? He's like, Oh, I had to get to work, I had clients to take care of, I didn't have time to do all that. And he just, you know, just good old-fashioned good morals and values. They're not out to like scam somebody. He said, You know, I wasn't hurt, nothing really happened. You know, I'll get my truck fixed, and that's that's the end of it. And so it's just that stuff sticks with you, you know, having really good, solid, good morals and values really matters.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:39

We get a lot of clients that have very good morals, and so so so many, so much of it that they let the insurance kind of screw them over. And and I've gotten clients that they've waited a month and they're like, Man, I I was hoping that the insurance insurance company, I was hoping All State would would call me, but we spoke to them. And uh and then they just went MIA on me. I was like, Yeah, that's what they're gonna do, because they're gonna try to lowball you as much as possible. Right. And and some clients for us, you know, um we represent clients and not all of them are horrible accidents, right? Like not bone crushing accidents. But there's still like some there's still some value into those, right? The negligence of the person. There's still value as to, man, I lost two days of work. I uh my back hurts a little bit, my neck hurts. When I go to sleep, I toss and turn. There's value to that. And so I always say, like, you know, bad accidents sometimes lead to no injuries, and small accidents sometimes lead to major injuries. Right. Because who's to say that if you hit a 65-year-old grandma with a vehicle that she already has you know two surgeries to her knees, and now you hit it right at the spot where that knee is gonna buckle a little bit more, there's some value to that. And so if that was my grandma, I would be like, hey, you you need to be compensated for this aspect compared to like them hitting y'all, right? And you guys are are fine in theory, and you guys are just gonna walk away from it. So every person has different injuries. Speaking of the insurance companies, Fred Lawyer, Pronto Insurance. Oh man, the worst ones. Yeah, I'd rather not even get hit by them and just use my insurance on that aspect of it. Yeah. Uh on those, that's where we preach to use your insurance. Because your insurance has a has a contract with you, right? So your insurance has to has to uh like repair your vehicle. They have to act quick because if not, you can go and sue your insurance. But Fred Lawyer has no contract with you, right? The person that hit you has no contract with you. Yeah, so they're gonna delay, delay, delay. And Fred Lawyer, man, I've kid you not. I've had cases where they've broken someone's arm and they offer me 500 bucks. I'm like, bro, come on, let's be real about this. And so at the beginning of the of the firm, I used to say, fuck Fred Lawyer. Because I remember the ads. Yeah. And uh it, but it's true, like, man, these guys bully people to the point that it's never got in trouble by those guys by saying that no, they actually pay us very well now. Like, I I don't know if they saw our videos or anything, but they actually pay us very well. Like Fred Lawyer has been.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:32

I think they charge 27 bucks, they don't pay nothing.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:35

Yeah, that's their whole business model.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:37

That's crazy how that's such a whole world out there, being in this one industry that most people just never actually experience it because most people don't get into accident. But when they do get an accident, it's it's crazy how this whole world's out there that's playing by the rules and morals and this and that, and what you know, what you don't know, and scams and private mystic, it's a lot, it's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:54

Yeah, it's a lot, it is a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:55

And for you to have this word law and really grow in San Antonio. I mean, I've seen your stuff a lot. The last year, content games have been really strong. Thank you, uh, sponsorship has been strong. I see you sponsors and events, and it's it's really cool to see where you're going. And I look at it more as what I'm doing in real estate as a hustler, as an entrepreneur, to look at a lawyer, no matter what your industry is. This one happens to be a lawyer, and taking a small business and growing it as into an empire from whether it's real estate, cart washing, car detail, or an actual lawyer practice from so, man. Kudos to you. Thank you. Everything you got going on, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:25

Yeah, it's the hustle, right? And embrace the suck of uh opening up something, and every day's a new uh a new journey, a new problem. But man, there's something about problems that I love.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:36

And it's having that growth mindset because we know another attorney who's not in the growth mindset. They're very comfortable, just leave it there. They're very comfortable with where they're at. Um, which you could do too. You could win your couple cases a month, leave it. Hey, I'll only need one or two case managers versus you know how many y'all have 12 in the office, you know, just and just live a chill, cool life. But it's great to see you, like Mike was saying, really embrace the entrepreneurial uh aspect of it, really try to have big goals and ambitions and grow to be one of the top, if not the top, in the state of Texas. Um, and then you obviously have to grow as an individual to do that, right? Because starting off as somebody who, you know, was an immigrant from Mexico, who started with a small firm, is growing that firm. You obviously have to become better so you can be a better leader, be a better attorney, be a better boss, you know, and so you're doing all the things, be a better marketer, you know, be a better social media influencer, all the things that goes into growing the firm, you're having to not just better the business, but better yourself as an individual. So kudos to you for putting in all the hard work and effort and and doing all the things it takes to grow that.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:32

Thank you. I always say, like, I'm I'm still a kid uh in this industry, uh, and I'll probably be a kid. My biggest comp is probably 45 years old, so 15-year difference. And so I'm gonna be a kid for a long time, but I mean, we're hungry. And that's what I always say. Like, we're the youngest, hungriest law firm in the state of Texas because you can't teach hunger, right? Like you can't teach the hustle, you gotta feel it. You gotta like feel your bank account at zero bucks and figure out how I'm gonna make this happen. You gotta go through those motions. And I feel like, you know, maybe my kids will not be raised the same because they're gonna live a life where it's they're very comfortable, right? But I'm always seeking to be uncomfortable, and I'm sure you guys are too. Like, you always want to seek, I guess being uncomfortable is the comf comfort for us. Yeah, because we want to feel like there's problems, like what's going on? If not, there's no progress. And so that uh mentality that we have of of hustling every single day to make sure that we take care of our clients and to make sure that we take care of the people around us and our staff, it's it's great because um if you think about it in the cruel way, if I didn't want to grow as as big or I didn't want to build all this, most of that money would go to my pocket, right? But I don't want to do that. Like I right now, I don't like sure I like nice stuff and whatnot, but I don't need to have millions of dollars in my bank account. Yeah. If I can have bigger staff and we can help out more people because every day we help out people, we provide uh funding for people. And I I can I can tell you, like, we probably write $5,000 a day in checks to to people that need the help now. Not uh not even counting the settlements that we write to people. Um that's rentals, advances, that's a I gotta pay this hospital bill, and we'll we'll help them out through that aspect of it. And it's a gamble, right? I I don't I'm not a big gambler at all, but I'll gamble on a case. So if you call me, I'll be there to help you out.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:39

And who needs Vegas when you got cases to bet on, bro?

unknown 1:12:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:44

It's really close to your story, man. And you know, for me, I gotta gauge everyone on this next question. And I'm gonna answer this question to you so where your your answer is, Luis, what's your favorite movie, man?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:56

My favorite movie. I'm not a big movie guy, to be honest with you. I would say, you know, I like the like the goofy, like horrible bosses kind of goofy. I want to laugh. I want to laugh when but actually the the the best one that I've seen in the last I went to the movies like uh I didn't gone to the movies in like two years. Uh I I think my ADD is just crazy. I think my ADD only survives TikToks now.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:23

Uh but uh that movie uh that came out Obsession. Obsession? Oh my gosh, that's a good movie. That's the first movie I didn't fall asleep on. Is that a lawsuit?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:32

Is that a lawsuit? Oh, yeah. Product liability for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:38

I thought you were gonna say for some reason, I thought you were gonna say my cousin Vinny. My cousin Vinny. Really? Have you seen it? Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:45

What about Lincoln Lawyer? You have to go back to the book. Lincoln lawyer is is badass. I think we were Lincoln lawyer for uh for a good while because um when we first started, it was pretty much Axel and I only. And um I have a partner, right, who invested some money into the firm, but we were in like um in a what's it what's what are those buildings called? Uh shared office spaces. Yeah. We were in a shared office space and he had a small office like this size. And uh I didn't have one. And so I would use a conference room for everything for the first three to four months. And um when I hired Axel, uh we were just chilling in the conference room for the longest time until the landlord was like, Hey, are you ever gonna rent here? And I was like, Yeah, yeah. But then a good buddy of mine offered me some leasing space at the building that we're in. And so right there it was like four employees and I. And it was a room probably the size of that room right there, and we had just a table in the middle, and that's our that was our whole operation. Now it's gotten to the point where 20 people were like there's managers, there's supervisors, things like that. But I felt like Lincoln lawyer because uh I was working from from my truck most of the time, and I was gonna going to meet every single client in person, giving them handshakes, making sure that they were comfortable with my representation, even though I did feel I had that imposter syndrome where I felt like, man, I'm just a kid. Yeah, but I was like, eh, this kid, this kid has to act up, you know. How about uh what about suits? I like suits. Yeah, I think suits is very uh man, even I wish I lived that life, to be honest with you. But uh, they do like civil law and criminal law and all these types of laws at the same time, which you can't do unless I don't know, you're you're a genius. But um, yeah, suits is very different from what we do.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:56

Well, Luis, man, it's been a pleasure. Now, before we start wrapping up, this is the Turn Up the Hustle podcast. And Turn Up the Hustle to me is not a slogan, it's not a motto, it truly is a way of life. When Luis thinks of Turn Up the Hustle, what does Turn Up the Hustle mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:09

The grind, the daily grind to make sure that we that you're taking care of business every single day. The the waking up and you don't want to wake up some days and at 6 a.m. and you're like, screw it, I gotta show up. You know, that's turning up the hustle. The the days where you you're you have a comfortable bank account and you're like, I could literally go to New York today if I wanted to, but screw it, I'm gonna go to the office and grind, right? That is turning up the hustle for me.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:44

Awesome. Well, we really appreciate you coming on. I want to give you kudos again because you have done something that not a lot of people can do, and the people who I feel like that are in your industry are not hustlers and grinders, they'll delegate as much stuff as they can out to to uh caseworkers or to, like you said, management staff, and you're actually boots on the ground every day, still talking to customers, still driving down to the valley to meet folks. I see your all your videos where y'all go out. Um, and then not even that, but going above and beyond and providing for the community, doing giveaways, buying groceries, paying for gas, doing all the things that you know, we're called. I'm a Christian, we're called to give back to our community and to take care of our community and to be generous with the money that we're given. We're allowed to earn certain amounts of money and to be generous. And I can tell with you, it's not just a skit online, it's not just um you know, something to get notoriety. You actually do, like you said, you came from humble beginnings and you care about people, you have that instinct to care about people, and you're actually doing it right. So huge, huge, huge kudos to you. Really respect what you're doing and uh really admire what you guys are building over there. So rooting for we're the hustle team is rooting for you for sure. Uh thank you to y'all.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:46

Like I can see, and we're in this, all of us in in our industries for the next 20, 30, 40 years. Like, that's the beauty about this. Yeah, you can't you can't teach hunger and you can't teach the hustle.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:57

You either got it or you don't. Something you've got, you're born with it, or you're not.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:00

100%.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:01

Before we go, is there any parting words you want to leave with the audience?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:03

Anything you want to say? Uh, I just want to say uh thank you guys for for having me here. It motivates me to turn up the hustle, you know. Um, but uh we're here to take care of people, we're here to to grow, we're here to make sure that we can take care of your tia, tio, grandma, grandpa. And uh I'm not I'm a big I always say like we will take care of a regular car accident the same way we take care of an 18-wheeler accident. I'm not in this as much for the money as I am in this for to take care of people, to problem solve. And if there's a day I can't problem solve something, that's the day I die, to be honest with you. So uh I thank you guys. And after an accident, give us a call at 844 GoToWar.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:50

And for those who have maybe just this is the first time they're seeing you, first time they're hearing about you, where can they find you, where they can, where can they connect with you? What's the website? What's the socials?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:57

Yeah, so we're on Instagram at the warrior law. Uh we have an office here by uh by the airport on Broadway. And uh, if you call 844 go to war, it's gonna go to my cell phone. I can promise you that.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:10

Well, there it is, guys, for the man himself. We appreciate you guys tuning in each and every week. We hope that you find tons and tons of value out of this episode and every single episode we put out. If you do, do us a huge favor hit that like, subscribe, and put a comment in the comment section down below. As always, as always, remember to turn up the hustle, and we will see you guys on the next one. Peace.