Who or What is The Law Entrepreneur?

Tyra_LawEntre_Final_Bug

I guess I have always been an entrepreneur.

What else do you call a guy who is on his fourth career? OK, that's not nice...what else do you call such a guy?

What Do I Want to Be When I Grow Up?

So, my name is Neil Tyra. I am an attorney in Montgomery County, Maryland just outside of Washington, DC. And this is The Law Entrepreneur website - where the law meets entrepreneurship. I hope to blog and podcast here about primarily the business of owning your own law firm - either as a solo practitioner or small firm owner - with an emphasis on starting your own practice. I'll focus on what they don't teach you in law school and illustrate it by discussing all of the mistakes I have made in my own firm - that alone will be a lot of content! Along the way I intend to interview successful solo practitioners about the mistakes that they have made and the lessons they have learned. In addition, we'll chat with some really bright and successful entrepreneurs, who aren't necessarily in the practice of law, about creating a successful business in the internet era.

Apple Fan Boy (and Proud of It)

You see, there is going to be a heavy influence of geekdom here as well. Because not far removed from my legal background is my history as a technology geek. Now forewarned is forearmed, I am unabashedly an Apple fan boy. So it's going to be all Apple all the time. But there are some spectacular platform independent tools and services available to the entrepreneur, law office or otherwise, that I am particularly interested in exploring together.

Noel's Husband, Bernadette's Dad, Clark's Father - My Three Best Roles

So here are the details about me - which are sure to come out more as we go forward. I'm married (39 years and counting), have two grown children (an actress daughter in Hollywood and a math education college student son in Asheville), and I own my own solo practice that focuses on estate planning and elder law. I went to law school late in life after success in several other careers. I started cooking for a living all over Annapolis, then was a information systems management specialist (my undergraduate degree from University of Maryland) for NASA and the DOD, and then owned and operated a martial arts studio (4th degree black belt) prior to going to Catholic University for law. I joined a small boutique law firm in DC (which has now become fabulously successful) doing personal injury law before leaving to form my own solo practice. I have since transitioned first to family law and now to estate planning and elder law.

Mentors Out the Wazoo

In the process of learning how to market my practice, I have come across these fantastic mentors who have helped me more than they really know. I urge you to check them out as they have some unbelievably successful results and provide a ton of free content that is quite valuable. I am going to be drawing on their experience heavily going forward and if everything goes right would love to have them on my podcast. But check these guys out:

Geoff Woods - founder of The Mentee Podcast and my personal business coach and friend

Michael Port - author of "Book Yourself Solid" and most recently "Steal the Show", the book that started me down this rabbit hole

Jon Morrow - a tremendously inspirational story of a prolific blogging expert

Pat Flynn - the guy who poured gas on my flickering flame of an idea to start podcasting

Rick Mulready - the guru regarding Facebook advertising

John Lee Dumas - the be all and end all of entrepreneurship

So, with that... welcome to The Law Entrepreneur!