Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Tapp.
Hi Justin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
How I got to where I am today has been a long, winding road with a couple of sharp turns. I graduated college in 2005 with a finance degree and dreams of being a big-time financial advisor. I was quickly brought down to earth when a recruiter from a major financial firm where I was interning at the time told me to “go do something else for a few years and come back to us.” He told me no one would want to invest their hard-earned money with a 21-year-old. I needed to get some sales experience first and then return to them. That left me wondering what my next move was. I was not interested in a traditional “sales” job. My mom had gone to law school after a career in nursing the same year I started college. The more I thought about it, the more being a lawyer appealed to me. I’m fairly smart like to argue and nit-pick details, and I’m good at talking to people. So I decided to go to law school. I loved it. It was tough, and I worked harder than I had ever worked for grades not as good as what I was used to earning in college or high school. I graduated in 2009 during the great recession, which was loads of fun. I worked as a waiter, spent a few months in Costa Rica, and worked as a waiter again until I found my first legal job. I hated it! I was doing mostly personal injury work, which was just not for me. I bounced around for the next five years between legal jobs that I hated and even had a short stint doing construction management. I finally found a job as an associate attorney at a small but established estate planning firm. I finally found a practice area that I truly enjoyed! The clients were great, the workload was manageable, and I was helping people. After nearly seven years, my time at that firm ran its course, and I decided to open my estate planning firm.
I knew the area of law forwards and backward at that point and felt I could provide better service to my clients and have more control over my life. It’s still incredibly early in the life of my law firm, but the switch has been incredible. I’m able to be with my kids (3 and 1) way more now and can provide better service to my clients, knowing that I am the only one in my firm they deal with. If you call the Tapp Law Firm, you get me. If you email the Tapp Law Firm, I am the one that will respond. I love the working relationship that I have with my clients. I am very excited for the future and look forward to being more involved in the community with charitable events and doing some speaking engagements to educate people about estate planning and how to protect their family and loved ones if something happens.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Haha, no is the short answer. Going into a new venture, you don’t know what you don’t know. Patience is not my strong suit, so I’ve had to work on that. I’m the person who, when I have an idea or a goal, wants it immediately. I’ve had to put trust in other people and companies to help me do the things I needed to do to start a difficult business. I don’t like to delegate, but I have had to realize that I can’t do it all. Specifically web development and social media campaigns. I spent a few days trying to build my website and learned quickly that I could make a decent PowerPoint presentation. Still, if I wanted my website and brand to look professional, I needed to hire a professional. It’s also the first time I’ve truly been the decision-maker at any firm. I’ve had to make so many little and big decisions on my own. I’m lucky to have great parents and an amazing and smart wife, but ultimately it’s my call on everything to do with the law firm. That’s probably been the hardest mental transition. Going from knowing that it wasn’t my decision and just providing my input to someone versus being the only one deciding every detail of the law firm. Everything from where to have an office, what equipment to use, what software to use, how to market me, etc.
We’ve been impressed with Tapp Law Firm, LLC, but for folks who might need to be more familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I primarily focus on estate planning, including Wills, Revocable Living Trusts, and Powers of Attorney. I can also set up LLCs with full-blown operating agreements. What sets me apart from the other attorneys in my area is my ability to make people feel comfortable sharing intimate details of their personal and financial lives with me. I’m empathetic to their situations. I’ve lived long enough and been around enough to have experienced many things, and you generally have something in common with everyone you meet. I am also very responsive to my clients and potential clients. The biggest complaint I hear from people about attorneys is they can never get ahold of them and that they don’t return phone calls or emails. I have signed numerous new clients because their previous attorneys needed to be more responsive to them. To me, that’s just crazy on two fronts. First, clients pay your bills. If clients can’t get ahold of you, they will go to someone else and pay that attorney for their services. The attorney costs themselves money by not returning an email or a phone call. Second, and more importantly, many clients are contacting me because they are either going through losing a loved one or thinking about planning for the future and how to do so properly. I take that very seriously and, just on a human level, want to help them. It’s a bonus that they pay me for my time and expertise, but I do enjoy helping people navigate difficult decisions.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting?
It’s still too early to start giving new entrepreneurs advice, but I’ll say a few things. When you start thinking about starting a business, reach out to your network. Bounce ideas off of people you respect and people whose opinions you value. Ask uncomfortable questions like “how much did you make in your first year” and “how much did you spend on x, y, or z.” I have a friend from a law school that started an estate planning firm several years ago, so he was one of the first people I reached out to. It’s great to call on someone who has been through what you’re about to get into. I was pleasantly surprised at the support and encouragement I received from my professional network, all of whom I consider good friends. Starting is terrifying. I’m still in the middle of that. But I have a great family and friends who have given me sound advice. Some of it I didn’t want to hear but needed to. It’s not easy, but if it works, it’s life-changing. Having control of your time is life-changing. Not working to make some rich dude even richer is life-changing. Shaping a brand and representing yourself how you want to be represented is empowering. It feels so good when people ask me what I do, and I tell them I’m an attorney. Then they ask what firm I work at, and I can proudly say that I own my firm and hand them a business card that I was involved in designing and point them to a website I was involved in creating.
Pricing:
- I do almost everything on a flat fee, so no hidden fees or hourly bills every month.
Contact Info:
- Website: tapplawfirm.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tapplawfirm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tapplawfirm
