Isaiah Leslie - Knowing the Why in What You Do

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To match with a licensed therapist today, go to Talkspace.com and enter promo code S80. Welcome to the Exit Coach Radio show, the show for baby boomer business owners who are looking for cutting edge information as they plan their 3 to 10 year business succession and exit. Every week we interview top professional advisors. Their best tips, strategies, and precautions so you can be well planned. And don't miss our one minute exit coach tip of the day on exitcoachradio.com. And now here's your host, the exit coach Bill Black. Well, welcome everyone. Thanks so much for joining us this morning. It's a pleasure to have you with us, uh, here at Exit Coach Radio we've been working on, uh, pulling together all kinds of content for you from audio interviews with over 1000 advisors to books that you can. on our website at exocoachradio.com to our AM 8:30 show that's before and after LA Angels games on Sundays on AM radio AM 8:30 in Southern California. So we hope you'll join us somehow some way. My first guest today is Isaiah Leslie, and Isaiah is a partner and co-founder and entrepreneur at Regal Court Reporting. And uh let me tell you a little bit about what they do litigation support, providing court reporting, videography and trial technology solutions to law firms, in-house legal departments and corporations throughout the US. Uh, the topic we're gonna talk about today is when you know your why for what you do, it will change your business. So Isaiah, welcome to the show, pleasure to have you on. Thank you, Bill, and I'm glad to be here. It's a pleasure to be on your show and, and I'm honored to have the time today. Great, hey, uh, Isaiah, if I could just have you, um, speak a little bit, just a little bit louder, we'll get a good feed, uh, for our listeners out there, um, so Isaiah, tell me a little bit about, um, you and your background before we get into uh into the topic of the day. Sure, so my background is actually I come from the business development, sort of sales and marketing world, but my partner is actually a court reporter, and so that's how we got started in the business. My partner, who actually is also my wife, she, she was going to court reporting school when we first got married, and she was doing really well at it, and she saw that there was a need that was being, that wasn't being met and so the two of us got together and Started working out of our house, um, really when right at the top of the last market in 2007 and then everything went south and, and we were able to continue to grow because we didn't have a lot of expenses and so here we are today, almost 10 years later with 8 full-time employees with our own corporate headquarters in Santa Ana. So things have gone really well for us. Congratulations. That's that can be both very rewarding and challenging at the same time working with a with a spouse or a life partner or whatever it happens to be out there. So tell us a little bit about some of the challenges you guys went through when you were probably looking at each other after 2008 going, is this the right move or not? What were some of your challenges then? Right, so that's, it's a great point. So one of the, it could be like you said, a positive or negative working with your, your spouse and so closely together. One of the things that helped us though was the fact that she was actually out with clients during the day as a court reporter very often, so we didn't see each other. I until the evening, which made things, you know, more normal for us. But yeah, it was a challenge because certainly the financing options were very limited. There was no financing really in the deep downturn for any businesses and especially for new ones like ours. So unfortunately we had to do financing the old the other way, but we had to use some of our credit cards unfortunately, and it was kind of a scary time and Uh, when we didn't have money coming in right away, we were kind of worried about how we were going to, you know, pay our bills and whatnot, but Stephanie was able to work as a freelance court reporter for, that's my partner, uh, for other agencies in that period of time, and I, I'll tell you when you start a business, excuse me, it's one of the, it is nice if you have another income stream that's available to you. I, I didn't have one, so I was fully engaged in the business, but my partner was able to at least go out and work with other agencies, and that really helped us a lot when we first got started and didn't have a very big client uh clientele uh and so that's kind of how we were able to get through that downturn. But again, you know, we, we saw a lot of our competitors going out of business because they had a lot of overhead and you know a lot more brick and mortar and and so we we really only had nowhere to go but up. Well, there's certainly, uh, you know, I would imagine, um, we, we've all heard of government cutbacks and uh maybe there was some downturn, but court reporting isn't going anywhere, is it? No, and that's one of the things about our industry is that in the downturn there's more litigation in certain areas, and when the economy's better there's more litigation in other parts of the business community. So we were fairly well insulated and in California, for better or worse, it's a very litigious state. So we're, there's always lots of business. Yeah, yeah, and you know it's it's an exact science. It's not, you know, a lot is writing on the testimony, so it has to be taken down accurately and correctly. So you know I've tried several times to use voice technology for for recording things and you know, sometimes it works well and sometimes it's just I didn't say anything near that. So maybe Sunday but. It and that's a great point. And very often I get asked that question, you know, aren't you concerned that technology is going to make court reporting irrelevant? And the first response I have is, OK, well, do you have Siri on your your iPhone? Yes. How well, how well does Siri work just for your own voice, you know. And so I think we're a long way away from technology getting to the proficiency and the level of accuracy of a human. This is one of those few areas where the human is much, much better at capturing the accuracy needed, and we're talking, you know, close to 99% accuracy of a transcript because, as you said, getting one word wrong in a case can have catastrophic effect in terms of the outcome of that case. So I think we're a long ways away from technology replacing our industry. And I'm intrigued by, you know, it says in your, in your little bio here that you guys do court reporting but also videography and trial technology solutions to law firms, in-house legal departments and corporations. So tell me a little bit about the movement of videography and trial technology solutions. What are those trends that are happening? Sure, so. Yeah, that's some of the the fun stuff that's happening in our industry as technology is improving in a number of areas. They do actually support the cause or the service of court reporting in general. So videography very often nowadays because The population is so geared towards video, whether it's for news or anything else, that video depositions are becoming much more common because they're very helpful either in trial or to force the other side to settle when they find that they have a witness that didn't do very well in their video depot. So that's, that's happened quite a lot more these days. And then trial technology is really fun, so. You know, as I said, people are online, they're they're much more video attuned, attuned to video, and so when you're on a jury, very often the most compelling evidence is the visual evidence. And so we provide trial technology whether it's hardware like flat screen televisions or the audio component to that, and we provide that in courtrooms so that the judge, jury, and the witness. All have access to graphics or to video deposition testimony or to other sort of visual aids that tell the story of your case and tell it in a much more compelling way than perhaps just through through what you're saying. And so that's what we're doing now in cases in LA and Orange County and we, that's a new service we started providing recently. In fact, we just had a case that's going to trial today in Central Court in Santa Ana that use our technology, so we'll wait to see what the jury verdict is on that. Interesting. And do you think with all the advances in technology and especially remote technology, will, will there be a time where people will be able to testify from other places using video technology or do the courts always have to see you face to face? Well, that that's a great question because that's actually started to happen. We've had cases in the last couple of years where something as simple as Skype has been used. We had a case. We had a client who had a case with witnesses in Franklin, Tennessee and some other place in Arkansas, and we were able to set up just a regular Skype feed for those witnesses so that they could testify. Judges are becoming more used to that and are allowing a lot more often in court for somebody to remotely testify. So yes, that is happening. So Isaiah, when someone comes to you and says, Well, I like your, I like the looks of your firm, but I'm looking at there's other court reporters out here and and other firms that can do what you do, what would you say is your defines you and makes you unique and different in this marketplace? Yeah, great question. Yeah, so there are a lot of other competitors. It is a very competitive space, and court reporters are independent contractors by trade, so they're certified by the state of California, and they're all generally very good at what they do. They're they're very proficient and professional. So what we differentiate ourselves on is the level of customer service and the the ability to have a one call, one person connection to. A to your service provider, we use the phrase we're not corporate corporation of reporting. We provide personalized customized service. We're very active and engaged in our communities in which we operate. So in Orange County, you know, I'm involved in a couple of different nonprofit organizations. We give a lot back to the communities that we're a part of. And, and when I tell people, look, you have one phone call and you get to the person you need. to speak with whether it's our calendar department or our production department or our finance department with other agencies, you have a sales rep who may or may not be with that company for a year or two in the future. You've got multiple phone rings that you've got to go through to get to the right person. Sometimes our larger competitors are based on the East Coast or somewhere else, and one department is in, you know, New York, and another department is in Philadelphia, so. We are not corporate corporation of court reporting and you get the personalized service with us and, and we're a family owned and operated business and, and we'll be that way until uh until we, one of us dies, I think. OK, well, and, and so Regal court reporting has the the heart and soul in the you have your heart and soul into this business. It's, it's more than just a kind of a dry technology type of a thing it's something that you guys live and breathe and and care about it sounds like deeply and when we talk a little bit about um. The what your topic is I'm I'm intrigued um you you say uh when you know your why for what you do, it will change your business and we talk about the why a lot here at Exit Coach Radio so I'm really happy to see this but let me, let me repeat that when you know your why for what. You do, it will change your business. What do you have to say about that? Right, so this is something that came to me over the last couple of years. I'm so I'm very passionate about certain things in this life, and one of them is about the, about becoming an entrepreneur, and I believe Uh, my wife and I did it, and I felt like the way we became successful in business maybe was more by luck than by purpose. And so my goal has been as a business owner and entrepreneur is to try to foster an environment where you don't become an entrepreneur by luck, but you are able to, based on your, you know, the environment that you're in, the the tools that you have, you can become an entrepreneur based on your merit and those sorts of things. And so that's what I've tried to instill in my business and My, my problem I had when, when I was looking at this was my employees. I felt like, could they go out, become successful entrepreneurs on their own? Were they, were they, did they have the tools or the, or the access or the um You need the opportunity I guess to do that and so what I've taken upon myself is to instill uh a concept called entrepreneurship, not entrepreneurship but entrepreneurship and basically that's a term that means. Um, you're giving your employees the ability to become entrepreneurs, but with inside a larger corporation, you give them the time, the space, the resources to build new products, to create new services, to do something else using their talents that will help them learn to become an entrepreneur, but within the safety of a larger company. And that's, and that's what I've done and with two of my most recent employees I've started implementing that concept of entrepreneurship, and it's been so satisfying. Uh, one of them, one of my, my videographer, he actually pitched me on the idea of starting to do commercials for our clients. So separate and apart from any legal services, let's provide video marketing. Let's provide commercials that they can show on their their web website or broadcast because his background was in film. He had a master's in film. So we engaged in that and I gave him the space to do that and we created a brand new company called Regality Media, which is spun off it's its own entity now and the beautiful thing about that was I allowed my employee to do to build something to give him that sense of success and then so there's the altruism there for me, but also more selfishly it also then created a new profit center, right, and diversified my business. So I was able to hold on to an employee that I was sure was going to leave me at some point when there was an opportunity for him to get into the film world or the Hollywood world, and now he's actually staying with me but also engaged in that world. And so it's been great. It's been really fulfilling and then my other employee, Miranda, she had a a a social media background. In another company and very talented, very energetic and responsible young lady. So she was working as my calendar manager when I hired her, but I knew she had this other talent, so we enlarged our business to include more of a social media photo element cause she's also a photographer. She has a studio on the side. So now my court reporting business, instead of just using us for court reporting, I'm actually helping clients grow their own business, my law firm clients by giving them more social media help and also with the video marketing business for reality Media, I'm able to create commercials for them. So now there's a value add to being to working with Regal. I'm not just taking your money and using, you're using my services, so to speak, because you have to. Now I'm able to offer them something that will help grow their own business. That's terrific. And that really is something that we're seeing a lot more people are saying, you know, instead of keeping our blinders on, maybe we should open those blinders up and pay attention to what peripheral opportunities are because our talent. Uh, number one, they'll be more engaged, and number 2, who knows that might be the big business 3 years from now that might be a bigger business than your main core business. It's happened with a lot of big companies and a lot of smaller companies, so I applaud you for, for that term entrepreneurship and Allowing your employees now let's talk a little bit about uh then how do you help those employees did you have a sit down with them and say let's explore each of your whys uh each of your each of your employees whys and to have that conversation or did they come to you or how did that come about? So yeah, great question. So with Sean, he came to me and that's what really turned me on to the entrepreneurship concept. I, I, I didn't coin the phrase. It's, it's been around a few years before me, but he came to me and that's what sort of instigated that and, and, but I knew his reason why when I hired him, he wanted to go into Hollywood and become a director. and a producer in the business, so I already knew his reason why, and this was his way of saying, hey, maybe I can, you know, start to get that through this avenue of doing these high-end commercials. So that was an easy one for me. And with Miranda then that my next hire, that was what I was looking for in my employee was to try to find something in her background, the thing that she really wanted to do, and she was, she had already had a photography studio on the side, so. I knew that that was something she wanted to pursue, so I thought maybe, you know, hire her for what I needed her for, but find a space within her time here in the office to further that goal of doing photography and she in the social media element of that too. So I, yes, with Miranda, I definitely had more of a conversation about her why and what she would be willing to do and it's been great. It's been very collaborative. She's, she's so good with, with the social media element of it. And it just opened up my business, like I, I mentioned before, now, you know, our, our agency is known as a corporate agency, but we offer all these other benefits uh to our clients that makes us more attractive than perhaps the corporate corporation or court reporting model that we're trying to shy away from. Well, sure, once you've established a good relationship, they could come in through any one of those three doors now and uh the, you know, and, and have a relationship with other of your services and other of your entities. Certainly if somebody comes in for court reporting, you hope they're not a habitual need um well if they're a law firm you hope they are. Right. I'm, I think it as an individual, you hope, but from a law firms certainly you have repeat users and and they're all looking, you know, everybody's looking for, especially in the professional world, how do we communicate with the public in this post yellow pages era. And it sounds like you guys hold the keys to some of that. So besides your needs out there, if you're a law firm or someone who needs um in-house legal departments or corporations and you need court preparation and technology and and reporting. Um, besides that, think of Regal when it comes to video and social media technology and some of the other expertise areas that they're developing. It sounds like a fantastic group that you're building. I can't wait to, you know, wouldn't it be great to be 3 years from now and see how things have developed in all of those areas, Isaiah. Oh yeah, that's what I think about all the time. What's it going to look like, you know, and I, I have visions that the, you know, video side of the business could grow even faster than our court reporting site just because there's there's so many avenues opened in that world. Yeah, so I think the future's bright. Yeah, we see, I see it all the time. I see, you know, state businesses like, for instance, electrical contracting or electricians, and all of a sudden they get into media wiring, like, you know, for high, high speed wiring for buildings and all of a sudden the communications side of Business is better than the wiring business um they both involve wiring but they just changed it up just a little bit sometimes it makes a big difference so um how do our listeners get in touch with you and find out more about your company and what all you do? So you can find us on Regalcourtreporting.com, R E G A L court reporting.com. That's our main website. We also have our Facebook page, Regal Court Reporting or Regal Court Reporting. And then for the video on the social media side, that's at regalityMedia.com, R E G A L I T Y Regality Media.com and you can get us, get in touch with us for any of those services, whether it's video, court reporting, the social media or the photography. And we do have a special for your listeners, Bill, if they, if they listen to this program and they listen all the way through, obviously or at least to this portion, they get 25% off, excuse me, 25 cents off per page of their next deposition with us if they mention exit coach radio when they schedule their deposition. Well, that's terrific. That's great. Thank you very much for that. So listeners out there now, if you're do, do people who who who chooses a court reporter, one last question here because I'm a little confused about that. Does an individual choose that? Does a law firm choose that or does a court choose that or does it depend? It it depends, and, and it really is, uh, there is no rhyme or reason. solo practitioning a law firms very often it's the attorney, uh, him or herself, or it could be the secretary, the paralegal, or it could be an office administrator if it's a larger firm, or if it's a corporation, they're in-house legal team. It, it really runs the gamut and so that's one of the things that makes my life a little bit more difficult. But yeah, any of those folks, secretaries, paralegals, lawyers, or firm administrators. Well, it's been a real pleasure talking with you. I want to thank you for coming on and and telling our listeners a little bit more about something they probably didn't know much about and learning more about what you offer there at Regal Court Reporting. Isaiah, thanks again. I look forward to the next time we speak. Great, thank you Bill. Alright, we're gonna take a short break we'll be right back after this, so please stay with us. Business owners, if you came back from lunch and there was a resignation letter on your desk, which employee would you really, really not want it to be from? What are you doing to prevent this from happening? At Exit and Retirement Strategies, we design plans that attract, motivate, and retain key employees for a free consultation called Bill Black, the exit coach at 866-370-3774. Call today. Just thinking about what will happen to your business if you're gone keep you awake at night? Will you get the price you need from your business to carry you through retirement? The BEI Network of Exit Planning Professions is the world's leading advisor network with the power to help business owners transition out of business on their own timeline and terms. Ask your most trusted advisor to create a BEI plan for you, or visit us at exitplanning.com. That's exitplanning.com. Thank you for listening to Exit Coach Radio. 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