The Sterling Family Law Show
The Sterling Family Law Show is where successful family law attorneys share the exact systems they used to build million-dollar practices.
Host Jeff Hughes scaled Sterling Lawyers from zero to $17M with 27 attorneys.
Co-host Tyler Dolph runs Rocket Clicks, the agency in charge of supercharging Sterling and other family law practices to success using revenue-first marketing strategies.
Together, they share the playbook for building the law firm of your dreams.
If you're looking to grow exponentially, generate revenue, and get good at business, this podcast is for you.
The Sterling Family Law Show
From General Practice to Women-Only Law Firm Success - #162
Discover how Florida Women's Law Group went from general practice chaos to exponential growth by niching down and creating avatar clarity.
Most family law firms try to serve everyone and end up serving no one well. This niche law firm marketing approach shows how targeted law firm positioning strategy drives better hires, clearer messaging, and sustainable family law practice growth through women-focused legal services.
Here’s the real transformation story from Heather's journey building a specialized practice that actually works.
📲 Subscribe Now: https://www.youtube.com/@TylerxDolph
📝 Schedule a FREE Family Law Firm Audit: rocketclicks.com/schedule-a-family-law-quick-audit
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📄 CHAPTERS
0:00 - Women Only Law Firm Introduction: Florida Women's Law Group Story
1:54 - From General Practice to Niche Law Firm Marketing Strategy
4:18 - Law Firm Avatar Targeting: Why Specialization Accelerated Growth
7:24 - Divorce Law firm Branding: When Marketing Companies Say "Too Niche"
8:44 - Family Law Firm Specialization: Three Avatar Strategy That Works
18:22 - Women Divorce Attorney Hiring Filters and Culture Building
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Tell us in the comments if you liked this episode and what other kinds of episodes you would like to see.
Heather has built a women-only law firm that targets and focuses only on women going through a divorce. I loved the interview we had and I really hope you enjoy it. Welcome back to the Revenue Roadmap. My name is Tyler Dolph and I am the CEO of our agency, rocket Clicks. We also own and operate Sterling Lawyers, which has grown to over 30 attorneys across 25 offices in Wisconsin and Illinois. We are continuing our interview series and Heather has an amazing firm. She has built a woman-only firm that works exclusively with women going through a divorce, and I talked to her about the focus, the creating a culture around the avatar that she wants to work with, and she has some amazing insights and also some awesome energy. Heather, you were starting to introduce yourself and your amazing firm and the awesome niche that you have built.
Speaker 2:Give us a little background on that firm and the awesome niche that you have built. Give us a little background on that. So Florida Women's Law Group is when we represent only women going through divorce and family law issues and by women. We're all women attorneys and all women employees and we've really tried to build a space where we can anticipate the patterns that women go through in a divorce family law issue and really meet their needs. But also looking at their particular legal issue really is an opportunity for them to achieve more in their life and achieve their goals. So I really take more of a positive spin on their current situation as far as what their future can hold.
Speaker 1:I love it. Was it always like? Did you build the firm intentionally to always have that focus, or did that happen?
Speaker 2:It happened organically. I mean, I did a lot of business coaching and had some great groups as I was building the firm and you know, a lot of the advice was niche. And yes, of course I was doing family law, but like what everybody else does and representing both sides. But what I then learned, and by doing it, is I prefer to represent women. I don't hate men, I have no problem with men, I just want to help women.
Speaker 2:And I saw I was recognizing a pattern where the women seemed to give up too soon and maybe didn't value what they brought to the table. And I felt like, no, you deserve this, like we're going to stand up for you. And so I was kind of like I can, you know, be your strength. I can do this for you if you're willing to hang in there and trust us to do it. And so that's what started that.
Speaker 2:And then it really comes from the fact that my mom was married several times and divorced and I, you know, had a front row seat to that. And as I was realizing these women, I was like, oh my God, that's what my mom did Just walked away, give up the kids and all this, and it's like, well, now you have no money, so you've got to stand up and fight for the stuff that pays the bills, and so just really, that's where it really inspired. I was a little nervous. I didn't want to be cheesy or seen as a gimmick, but I was like I really know this is what I want to do, and I just we did it.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so similar experience. At our law firm. We were all everything to everyone when we started, because we knew we could generate leads. That was like our secret sauce, right, and so we would generate leads across all these different practice areas. But then, like you, we started because we knew we could generate leads. That was like our secret sauce, right, and so we would generate leads across all these different practice areas. But then, like you, we started to realize that actually we really love the opportunity to help families during this difficult period, and so we at one point, like 10 years ago, gave back, cut half of our staff and went only family law fixed fee and, similar to you, started to feel that momentum because we had decided on an avatar, we had decided on a niche and really were able to grow our firm exponentially from there. And I'm wondering if the same thing happened to you. Once you made that decision decided to start marketing only to women did you feel like the momentum of your firm accelerated?
Speaker 2:I did, I did and I still had the growing pains right.
Speaker 2:It's getting the right people at the right time and, you know, to help with the growth and also, for myself, just become a more educated consumer of the marketing, of the things I needed to do to better fuel the business and have a little patience, you know, right, like an understanding.
Speaker 2:Okay, I got to take some time on this level of marketing and wait for it, but then things really started to build and I think it was when I really saw the momentum shift was making better hires to really support the organization and better attorneys, and then me myself becoming better leader, a better person who creates a better culture, and you know that attracts better people. They want to stay and then we're able to feel that momentum and that, I think, is a continual cycle. And you know, people, they live their lives right and we just try. You know you find these great people. You want them to stay forever and they't always. And then life, you know, does intersect, but we've worked very hard on that to make it a place where people are working with like-minded people that they want to be with and um and and do this work for women and and help in our clients be a little bit tougher a little stronger.
Speaker 1:I think that the fact that you have a niche and an avatar and you have this passion behind helping women probably really helps you in the hiring process. That helps you in the interview process, because you know exactly what you're looking for right. You don't just need a that is passionate about helping women specifically.
Speaker 2:And in that, you know, I always ask those questions, but then you have to really dig into it, and there are a lot of areas in your firm and and not all women, you know, may feel that way and, and it might not show up right away they think they do, or they tell you they do, and then later, as it goes on, they just they don't maybe, you know, have as enough of a passion or patience, um, you know when, when things get busy and stuff. So, yeah, it really does, though, because it can be like, well, why, why do you care about women?
Speaker 1:Well, I never really thought of it or whatever it's like.
Speaker 2:well, you gotta have a better answer than that.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent. That's a that's really cool. Uh, we haven't. We talked to a lot of law firm owners all the time and we haven't had one that is so specific and specialized, um, which I think is is great. I think from a marketing perspective it's really cool. Have you found that it's changed your like, the channels that you advertise it and where you go to market and all of that?
Speaker 2:Totally and at and this is the funniest thing, or the greatest thing, I guess, because, right, I have my law degree and I've invested in a lot of business learning, obviously to grow the firm. But there are a lot of marketing companies out there and one told me one time which I won't mention who it was when their marketing was not working online their digital stuff because I was too specific, I was too niched, I was like I'm not, you just aren't, so you can't stop bringing you, keep bringing me male clients, keep calling and that is not who we're looking to hire.
Speaker 2:Because you have an algorithm and we're not fitting into your thing, so it does, and it allows us to be so specific that then the companies that are really good at what they do they're like. This makes it almost easier for us, and you know, and then we drill down and we have about three different, you know, avatars that we're looking at. You've got your breadwinner, and then you've got your stay-at-home mom, and then you've got your breadwinner, and then you've got your stay-at-home mom, and then you've got your dual income, because they all have all three of those have very different needs and concerns and fears, and so then we're really able to tap into that and talk to them and let them know that we can meet you where you are, we can help you.
Speaker 1:Really great Talk to me about the process of growing your firm and having to become a leader and instill a culture. You know there's a lot of solo practitioners that want to grow and oftentimes they're the bottleneck right. They don't want to let go of the vine, they don't want to install process and invest in a team. How did you, how did you go through that experience?
Speaker 2:Well, I, I will say I have made, I made tons of mistakes, right, and I I tend to see more potential in people than maybe they do and they have. And so sometimes you want, you see, you think somebody can be that person and they may believe it, but not as much they don't want it and they can't do it. So a lot of trial and error and then, but then there's there, but you got to keep going and I think that's where a lot of solo practitioners you never can hire a lawyer, these lawyers these days don't work, then nobody's gonna work, nobody's gonna. And you have to have some faith, trust. People learn from the mistakes. I've certainly learned and trying to make our mistakes less expensive as I go.
Speaker 2:But you know, I also had to invest in myself, so that you know, in the early days, just hustle, hustle, hustle, working so hard and I had very little patience for staff, right, I've also got three children, dogs and a husband, and so there's a lot going on, right.
Speaker 2:So I was like guys, like you just got to come, do your job and I I'm not going to yell at you or curse at you, but like don't ask me for a whole lot more right Like do your job. There's a million things going on, but that was also because I was doing so much of the legal work all the marketing, everything and running the business so I had to give up some stuff. I certainly had to realize that I'm really great, I'm a great lawyer, but I can hire somebody who's great too, and I can also train them and I can give up some of that. That is not all about my ego, and I can actually be so much happier and have so much more harmony in my life if I don't have to take every case and that helped a lot and to say no to clients when they're like well, I'm only hiring. If Heather takes my case and it's like, well, then I'm not.
Speaker 2:This is not the place for you, because I have got so many things that now I've got to do and you can't text me about your case and want to talk on the weekends Like that's just not going to happen. I got to have boundaries, so that took a lot of learning, but then as I could delegate more and smart you know more, smarter, not smartly, but anyway as I could do that better, I could have more peace. And then I really just invested a lot of in myself. I did a lot of Tony Robbins coaching to be a more open, patient, forgiving boss, because there was a time and I've got my. I luckily have two employees who've been there the whole time.
Speaker 2:This will be like their 12th year with me and so they've seen they're like, oh, this is way nicer, heather. But they stuck with me because I think they believed in what we were doing and they gave me grace and allowed me to become better at that. And I have to work through it and you know it's not easy. But you know I have a Chihuahua now, had Chihuahuas growing up and got Chihuahua during the pandemic and I dress her up and I put her in a purse and I bring her to the office and it makes me really happy, makes me very, very happy, and so you got to find things that bring you joy.
Speaker 1:I love it. That's awesome. I think the part I heard most from you there is you got to have the motivation to want to improve, to want to grow, to want to be something more than you are today even if you're amazing today, right Like. But having that drive is everything.
Speaker 2:Right and I just knew like, okay, just being a great attorney is not going to be enough for me, because I'm going to be in court every day, like I'm going to be just like always doing that versus wow, I'm so impressed with my attorneys, like that's just so fulfilling because, like, look at them, go and look at what they can do and really all our support staff and the way they have helped me build something so huge, like they trusted me, that just takes you to a whole, nother level of fulfillment. And all these women have great jobs. They're able to adjust their lives with their children, like that. That gives me, you know, a lot, a lot of satisfaction. And like hey, I'm, I am not only for our clients, but also for our employees. We are doing all that.
Speaker 1:That's so good, that's so great. So I'm thinking about the young law student or young attorney trying to grow their firm, thinking about what's next in their career. What advice do you have for them as they continue on their journey in trying to be a successful lawyer like you?
Speaker 2:trying to be a successful lawyer like you. So, I think, to allow yourself to find what you love, like, what, what's fun? I mean and I use the word fun because, gosh, you got to have some fun I mean I loved being a prosecutor, like that was so fun, and picking juries and arguing cross-examining I was taking it super seriously, tyler, and these were misdemeanors and man, I was going for the max, right, but yet it lit that fire. And then I didn't really ever believe this is going to be the path family law and divorce for women. But I was open to the path that was before me and and I wasn't, and I took that leap. I wasn't afraid to say you know what? This is what I like, this is what I want to do. Now let me get the education on how to run a business. But, like, allow yourself to have some fun, right, and no, and nobody says that about lawyers right, nobody calls us fun.
Speaker 1:No, rarely used.
Speaker 2:I know which is we get such a bad rap. I really don't like the lawyer jokes. I do not allow my family to tell them in front of me because I was like they're just not true. And let's tell jokes about doctors or accountants Like right, why do we get such a bad rap?
Speaker 1:I agree. I mean, I love your energy. I can see why you know like women will graduate or gravitate towards your firm. Um, it's, it's so interesting that it's like you've built your practice as an extension of you as a human. Do you feel like that was intentional or did it just kind of happen?
Speaker 2:I think it it it happened somewhat naturally. But then I was like, yes, I think it happened somewhat naturally. But then I was like, yes, you know, like okay, this is the way we're doing it and this is my home office. So this is fun with the pink and everything, but, oh my gosh, our main office, which we're now almost done building our new one, but it is you, everybody likes it, women and men, but I mean really we only, you know, have women, but it's like we have a salt, salt wall. Because I was like I want you to feel at peace and like super healthy for you, and I just thought it was the coolest thing. So when we got the office, we're now my husband's a contractor, so that does help, and I was like I gotta have a salt wall. I was like I gotta have one, like I don't ask you why, like I have to, and it's a wall of salt.
Speaker 2:I don't it's a wall of himalayan salt bricks and so they're all, and I mean we don't go licking it. You could people say you could lick it like I. I don't, I don't really, you know, encourage that but but. But it's good for the air, it's healing, like they're salt spas there are. It's something that you'll see in different wellness areas, but I was like I gotta have one. I know we're the only attorney until office, until they hear us.
Speaker 2:You should have a salt wall, and so our new office, now I get even two, we have the one when you walk in, and I have a little mini salt wall in my office and I'll send you a picture Once we move in.
Speaker 2:It's all done. But so, yeah, when we did this one, it is an extension of me, like it represents like the way I want to feel right when I walk in somewhere and I don't want to feel like all stuffy with all the brown stuff and books that just clog up and collect a lot of dust on the wall, like you know, I mean, we have our diplomas still, though, but they're pretty, and but you know, you're supposed to want to feel welcoming, like who I was, and you know I realized that, like I probably wouldn't want a bunch of me working for me. So you know, obviously we have a lot of great personalities and everyone brings their own characteristics into the firm, but I feel like it is very much an extension of me and my beliefs and values, and so you know, and then I think that was what attracts the right employees and clients. Like I want some of that. That's the way I want to feel.
Speaker 1:That's great and and that's going to we talk about when we're hiring. We talk about filters a lot and leveraging filters as a way to find the right employees and push away the wrong employees, and I think some people you know that rubs them the wrong way because like, oh, you should love everyone, but that's not how you run a business right. You got to have the people who believe in your mission and you got to push away those who don't, and so it feels like you've set up a lot of great filters in your organization and your firm to find people that are believing in your mission and are ready for the cause.
Speaker 2:Yes, and just for the young attorneys, I'll tell you what helps is not having me do all the hiring Because, like I said, one, I know we need people and I unrealistically see all the potential in everybody, which then I set myself up to be let down.
Speaker 2:So you've got to have those other filters and they believe and that's what they want and they see it. And you know we've started with a lot of positions. It's like just a test run. Like you know, we'll pay you just to train for half a day, like let's really see if you like it, because you may not know, as part of the interview process for a lot of the positions, and that is really helpful because they need to be sure, like you need to be sure as best you can, that this is where you want to be, because we're working really hard to have somebody here. And yeah, you know. And then for it's like our you know our admin team and our sales team, like they're great to you know, give their gut check on somebody new, like you said, because it's like, like it's not the right person, it's just it's not good for anybody.
Speaker 1:It's never good for anybody the cost of a bad hire is just way too high these days it's way too high.
Speaker 2:It's way too high and shoot. I don't want somebody leaving a job that they have and then coming here and then it not works out and then they have to go through that.
Speaker 1:I don't want that you know, If I can avoid it 100%, I totally agree, and so having a really strong hiring process is so key. But you know, to the point I was making earlier, having that filter and that culture and that belief of this is who we want and this is who we are is really going to help in that hiring process.
Speaker 2:Yes, it does, because you know that's the idea, right? They teach us that in marketing, we want to attract the right people and repel the ones who don't want this. They'll be like oh my God, no, we don't want any of that. Good, then, that's good, like you're going to go find another firm that's better for you, right? That's the messaging, and same for people who don't want to work with us.
Speaker 1:Like I don't want to do that. Good, don't waste anybody's time, that's so good.
Speaker 2:There should be somebody right. You know there's a business for you. That's better for you to work for.
Speaker 1:Oh, preach, I'm so, so glad to hear you agree with that. It's just got to happen. So, as we're kind of like finishing up here, tell us about the future of your firm. I've like just love and adore everything you're doing. I so appreciate what's coming.
Speaker 2:Well, oh, so many things.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, now we'll have two salt walls and so we have this beautiful new big office coming. And you know, we're still growing and but you know, growth for just growth sake is not necessarily what we want. You know, we're always trying to do better right and deliver more services to our clients. You know, we're doing the podcast, which I don't know if I mentioned that, but I have a podcast called Women Winning Divorce. I think this might be year three, I lose track, but I think so. I don't know, but it's great and that's really giving us a lot of traction. And so I have an idea that I'm going to write a great book. Great, and that's really giving us a lot of traction. And so you know, I have an idea that I'm going to write a great book and then we're going to go on tour and put the podcast on the road and the book and maybe create something that inspires women just all over the world, and so that's like the next level.
Speaker 1:That's like the big, audacious goal.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:I love that. What do you think that looks like Like when you sit there and imagine? Is it seminars? Is it events?
Speaker 2:I think could be seminars and events and creating a space for women. You know, because the podcast called Women Winning Divorce, because, as you know, many attorneys love to say, right and nobody wins, nobody wins, and it's just like. That's just not true. That's not true Because you can win and that's not by making someone else lose, because you can achieve your goals and very often in a divorce they can still get their way. You can get your way, maybe not 100%, but a lot the part like the main things that are super important to you. And and I think it's really I'm very competitive, so I do love to win, but yet like that's what we tell our attorney Well, the attorneys too, and the clients like don't hire me to lose, like I'm not going to lose, like we're going to do what it takes to win, if, if that's something we can achieve.
Speaker 2:And we sometimes have, like hey, who had a win today, because there is a time in my life when getting my kids to school and preschool without totally melting, that was a win.
Speaker 2:I wasn't totally melting because I'm fully dressed for court, hair and makeup and getting them in and out of the car seats and in where they have to go on time and me getting on time, that's a huge win and we should celebrate, because too often we don't celebrate the little things, but they just make up your day, your life. It's all the little moments and as women, I think sometimes we're so hard on ourselves and we don't give ourselves enough credit for look at what you're doing and that is a win, and I think that we can. We can all win, and I really want women to win at life. I want my employees to win at life. It's like you know we ask them what does that mean to you? Because it means something different to everybody. But to sit in there is like being defeated, like a victim, like nobody can win. Well, if that's your perspective, that's fine, but that's not mine.
Speaker 1:You're not going to be on our team yeah, yeah. Oh man, I wish we had like nine hours, because I want to hear so much more about you and your firm. I'm so so grateful that you were able to give us this time, heather. I would love to have you back on so that we could take a deeper dive into the firm, but I really appreciate your time today and I look forward to talking to you soon.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. This has been a pleasure.
Speaker 1:If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out our owner operator interview series that we have. We do these every single week. We're interviewing law firm owners and allowing them to share their stories, their wins, their losses, and today was no different. Make sure to check out the next one we have, as it is one you don't want to miss.
