Welcome to The Passive Income Attorney hosted by Seth Bradley! Here you will learn how to free yourself from the shackles of the billable hour and hear from the best in the industry. On this episode, Seth talks about an epiphany moment where he realized he would never be free if he didn’t change what he was doing. Enjoy!

“The goal of this show is not to convince you to quit your practice. The goal of this show is to teach you how to invest in passive income streams so that you can practice when you want to, how you want to, and if you want to.”

HIGHLIGHTS:

0:00 – Intro
0:27 – Seth talks about his legal career and why he got out
2:10 – You probably feel like a slave to your job
2:43 – Seth talks about an epiphany moment he had when he saw a leading member at his law firm working longer hours than himself
4:47 – It is easy to become married to your job and trying to hit expected goals at work
5:20 – Many attorneys envision a life of accomplishment, but somewhere along the way, they give away their time with friends and family
7:07 – No matter where you are on the scale from loving your job to hating your job, you can benefit from listening to this podcast
7:53 – Controlling multiple streams of passive income frees you from being a servant to the billable hour

FULL TRANSCRIPTION:

What’s up law nation? Welcome to the first episode of The Passive Income Attorney Podcast. Thrilled to have you and so grateful for the opportunity to share my story and to hopefully help you on your journey to financial freedom. So look, you’ve made it big; or so you thought. Maybe you’re an attorney, or you have a great job you’ve always wanted, but something is missing. Sure, you have a nice car, a nice house, and that says you’ve arrived, right? But you also have the hefty payments that go along with it. Everyone is impressed. You get all the questions at the dinner parties and happy hours from those seeking advice, and everyone is interested in what you do. But do you feel like you’re a slave to the system, that you’re married to your job? Did your parents or your professor or even guidance counselor forget something? Did they leave something out? Did they tell you that, even with a great paying job, that you might still be unhappy, searching for more?

Well, that was me. I felt, somewhere along the line, I missed the memo. Was I supposed to keep my head down and get through each week with my fancy title and the attention from friends and family as a legal expert? Apparently, so. But if you’re a maverick like me, that isn’t going to happen. I wanted time freedom to do what I wanted to, when I wanted to, and this legal thing just kept getting in the way. So, I had to go in search of what’s next. Because I discovered in my legal career, that was not the end goal for me. If that’s you, hang on, because this is going to be fun.

In today’s episode, you’re going to discover why the system will never get you the life you want. If you’re tuning in today, it’s likely that you’re an attorney or another high-income professional just like me. And just like I used to be, it’s also likely that you feel like a servant to the throne of the billable hour. It’s always feast or famine. If you’re not an attorney, that’s also okay, and you’re probably better off anyway, right? But my message should ring true with any person who feels stuck in their career, stuck in the rat race, knows there must be a better way, and wants to truly discover financial freedom and live a lifestyle by design.

Let me tell you a quick story about my aha moment or my epiphany or, you know, whatever you want to call it. But not so long ago, I just left a big law firm on the east coast and then joined a big law firm on the west coast. I got settled into my cushy new office, met my new legal assistant, and began making my rounds in the department. One of the last introductions of the day was to the managing of the partner, the firm who is also the practice head. You can see him now, he’s a much older gentleman in his early 70s, and he looked it. A little intimidating, but nice enough and still sharp as an arrow. We’ll call him Richard, just the first name that popped into my mind.

Anyways, as time went on at the firm, the late nights piled up, the early mornings, 200 billable hour months, they passed by. I began to notice that Richard, who was supposedly made, was at the office before me, and many times stayed at the office later than me. How can this be? This man has reached the so-called apex of practicing law. Richard is a leading equity partner at an Am Law ranked national firm. He’s got the corner office. He’s head of the department. He’s the managing partner. He’s making tons of money. But why the hell is he still here? Why in the world is he still putting in all these hours? Why is he not at home or on vacation or living in Bora Bora, spending quality time with his wife, his kids, his grandkids, his dogs, I mean anyone, anywhere but this stuffy-ass office building with me? I mean, this was the first kind of crack in my one-track, partnership mindset and lead me to the beautiful life where I am today.

But really, why was Richard still at the office? It’s because he’s married to his career. Not only does he have billable hours to meet, but he also has all the administrative duties, the nonprofit boards to run, the department meetings to lead, business relationships to preserve, and young attorneys like myself to educate. Richard has been married to the law ever since he graduated from a prestigious law school, took a prestigious job at a big law firm, started receiving prestigious paychecks, and started buying a prestigious life. And I think this is the perfect cue for Robert Frost’s most famous quote (or one of them at least), “by faithfully working 8 hours a day, you may eventually get to be the boss and work 12 hours a day.” I mean, it can’t be more true.

Now, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this career path. Many of us attorneys and other professionals, myself included, you know, envision the life of accomplishment in our careers. We are goal-oriented people. We are achievers. We set our sights on something and we attain it, period. We wanted to go to a great school, and boom, we did it. We wanted to get an impressive summer associate position or internship, and boom, we did it. And we got a taste of the pay too. We wanted to join a big law firm, and guess what? Boom, we did it. Now what? Onwards and upwards, let’s make partner then we’ll be made. It doesn’t matter how many hours we have to bill or what rings we have to kiss, we’re doing it.

But somewhere along the way, we made sacrifices. We gave away our most valuable commodity, time. Time away from our friends, our families, time we could be spending on experiences, on traveling on living, on sailing the Greek islands, on eating piaya, dancing the night away in Ibiza, you know, on hiking the Great Wall of China, I don’t know, going… going to our son’s literally game or a daughter’s recital, rescuing dogs from the streets of Mexico, solving world hunger, anything.

Now look, it’s on a sliding scale, from those of us who love the law and have a passion for their practice, to those that simply hate law life and want nothing more than a viable escape. No matter where you are on this scale, you can benefit from learning the concepts I’ll be introducing to you on this podcast. Even if you love practicing law, wouldn’t it be nice to practice when you want to, not because you have to, to practice on your own terms, to be able to step away from your practice and not have to worry about your next paycheck?

How can we achieve this? Passive income. We must obtain multiple streams of passive income so we can start taking control of our time. And that’s exactly what it is. It’s our time, our short time on the spinning rock. On this podcast, I’ll be showing you exactly how you can achieve financial independence through passive income so that you are no longer a servant to the billable hour or the next big case. By taking control of your finances and your money, you will be able to take control of your time and your life. The goal of this show is not to convince you to quit your law practice. The goal of this show is to teach you how to invest in passive income streams so that you can practice when you want to, how you want to, and if you want to, so that you can start living a great life instead of just making a good living.

I hope this was an entertaining show and a nice teaser of what’s to come on The Passive Income Attorney Podcast. I can’t wait to talk to you guys in the next episode and share with you your journey to financial freedom through passive income. Do you want to become a passive income attorney? Well, if so, and you want to learn more about passive income through private equity or real estate or other types of passive income, go check out my website at passiveincomeattorney.com and snag the free passive income guide which will only be available for the next few weeks. Lastly, if you enjoyed the show, please leave a 5-star rating and a positive review. It is meaningful and it goes a long way in getting our message out to the masses so that we can help as many folks out, just like you, achieve true wealth and live a lifestyle by design. Until next time, cheers and enjoy the journey.