One Thousand Gurus Podcast

#23: Ali Razavi - The Mastermind Behind “Who Hurt You?”, Investing in Yourself, and Giving Back

• J.R. Yonocruz • Season 3 • Episode 3

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Ali Razavi shares his inspiring journey from law school to founding a successful personal injury law firm, bridging business success with community service. He highlights the significance of leadership, effective branding, and philanthropy in shaping his career and impact.

• Early influences and the decision to pursue law
• Transition from employee to firm owner
• Leadership style focused on accountability and support
• Marketing strategies that stand out in personal injury law
• Commitment to philanthropy and community support
• Launching BuildLABetter.com to aid fire victims
• Final thoughts on the nature of success and giving back

Guest bio:
Ali Razavi is the founder and managing attorney at Razavi Law Group, where he started his first year out of law school. He is an OC native, graduated at the top of his class at UCLA, and pursued his law degree at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law. Ali has been solely focusing on civil litigation and alternative dispute resolution. He has scaled his business for the past 8 years, and trademarked “Who Hurt You?” He is also a philanthropist and a donor to underprivileged children. 

Links/resources:

One Thousand Gurus Podcast:
Everyone has a compelling story to tell with insights we can all be inspired by. J.R. Yonocruz is a self-improvement blogger, relationship coach, and serial hobbyist with a passion for learning. He interviews unique guests from various fields to distill the strategies, habits, and mindsets we can use in our own lives. Each “guru” has a chance to give the audience a peek into a new world.

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Email: onethousandgurus@gmail.com

J.R.:

Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of 1000 Gurus with me, your host, jr Yonocruz. Today's guest is Ali Razavi. Ali Razavi is the founder and managing attorney at Razavi Law Group, which he started his first year out of law school. He is an OC native and graduated at the top of his class at UCLA and then pursued his law degree at Chapman University's Fowler School of Law. Ali has been solely focusing on civil litigation and alternative dispute resolution. He has scaled his business for the past eight years and trademarked who Hurt you. He is also a philanthropist and a donor to underprivileged children.

J.R.:

So Ali and I worked at the same law office back in 2016 at James Bergener's law firm. It was nice to hear his story of his success over the last few years, as I've watched him scale his business on social media, and this was a pretty wide-ranging conversation and also very tactical, starting from what going through law school was like, how he scaled his firm for the last eight years, how to build a good office culture and the importance of marketing and branding. We then finish up by talking about giving back and his own philanthropic endeavors. So I really enjoyed this episode and I hope you guys will too. So, without further ado. Please enjoy this episode with Ali Razavi. All right, ali Razavi, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, man. Yeah, thanks for being here. Yeah, appreciate it. Cool. So it's been a while. We were just chatting right now. So I feel like when we bumped into each other maybe a few years ago coast of mace or something, like that yeah yeah, and then before then we worked together.

J.R.:

Well, I guess I should go into it, but we worked together at james bergner's office, like 2016-ish, something around there right, like eight years ago. Yeah, eight years ago, exactly right, because I was before you started your firm, which is eight years ago, right. But, yeah, thanks for being here. I wanted to say, man, I've been following your career. We're Instagram mutuals and seeing all your face on the billboards all over. You're a local celebrity. We'll be driving on the freeway and it's like who hurt you? And I'm like oh.

J.R.:

I know that guy. I used to work with him Right next to James Bergener's face. You know sweet. James, it's like man, famous people on billboards, so I'm happy to have you here, man.

Ali:

Thanks for having me. I'm glad to see you again, Cause I only worked at one place before I went out on my own, so the people that I met at that firm they're you guys hold a special place for me.

J.R.:

Yeah, no, I feel the same. It was basically my first job out of college, technically second, but it was. I tell my friends this all the time. It was a tough place to work but I appreciated it because it really kind of set the foundation for how I approached work, moving forward, working with other attorneys and really high achievers really set the bar for me in terms of my mindset. So I I lots of props to my fellow coworkers there, you included, and the, the owners there, for really setting me on the right path.

Ali:

And I feel like I got a lot from that. I couldn't agree with you more. They set the standard. I always wonder if I didn't work there, where would I be now? Because they kind of showed you a blueprint of what's expected of you and it was tough, not going to lie, it was tough there, but I'm appreciative as well.

J.R.:

Yeah, definitely. So I want to go into how I know you. So I, like I mentioned, we worked at James Bergner's law firm back in 2016 ish, maybe a year before that. I was in liens and negotiations and then accounting, and then you were an intake, I believe, right, yeah, and then you were studying for the bar, you passed, and then you had the ceremony thing like in the office, I believe, yeah, I remember I was there too and I think maybe you posted photos or maybe they sent out photos, but I remember that you had really long hair back then, right?

Ali:

Yeah, I'm trying to bring it back.

J.R.:

Yeah, nice, let's see. And then, yeah, you pass the bar and then since then, maybe the following year or the year that year, you started your own firm and then you set out on your own and then you've been growing it ever since, right.

Ali:

Exactly yeah.

J.R.:

Yeah, so yeah, and I've been following you and your nice Instagram stories with your suits and your nice cars and everything. I'm like man, this guy is living the dream. So, yeah, I'm happy for your success, man, and, yeah, I've been wanting to bring on the show. Hopefully you can pass on some of your lessons learned and wisdom and leadership to our audience. So yeah, audience, so yeah. So I'm pretty excited and looking forward to it. I'm happy to, but you gotta still teach me how to dance. Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, I get the amount of people who have asked me to okay, you were tangent. So now, when I have a new workplace, I don't tell them I dance, because if I start with that, I become the dance guy and you know clark fielding, right? Yeah, of course, every time. He would see me, not every time, but like he would see me in the hallway and he'd be like dance battle, marla, let's go. And I'm like I'm just trying to cut these checks.

J.R.:

But clark is super cool, but yeah, so then every, every place I worked at after that I would hold off on the information and then later on they find out that I dance and then it's like a surprise. But yeah, that's because of that, that's awesome. Yeah, all right. Any other clarifications other than that? What we, what said? I will have read your bio by the time they get to this point, but anything you want to clarify? No, perfect Cool, all right. So let's go into our first topic. So the first one is usually origin story, kind of connecting the dots from the main influences you had, let's say, growing up, until where you are now. Connecting the dots on what led you to here, getting into law, going school, starting your own firm. Want to start with there sure.

Ali:

Funny enough, it was a story that I told you guys when I passed the bar. James berger asked me to give them a story, and my story was when I was six years old they, they. My first grade teacher asked me to draw who you want to be when you grow up. And my grandfather was an attorney. My dad's biggest dream was for one of his kids to become an attorney. So at six years old I drew an African-American guy in a courtroom and at the time I thought OJ Simpson was a lawyer. And so I was like I want to be OJ Simpson, I want to be a lawyer. And my teacher was like I don't know what goes on in this guy's house, but definitely not the case. But to that point I've known I was supposed to be a lawyer since I was six years old brainwashed by my parents, probably, but I'm grateful for them giving me direction. And my dad has the MBA and he's an entrepreneur, so I've seen him build and crash businesses since I was a kid. So there's that. And then his father was an attorney. He wanted me to be a lawyer. So I kind of knew since I was a kid I'm supposed to become an attorney.

Ali:

And when I got into law school I realized I sucked at public speaking and I was afraid of public speaking. So I tried out for the negotiation team and just to get my jitters out, and lo and behold, I make the team Like fluke. I thought I did so terribly. I screwed up saying my own name that's how nervous I was. And from there I got picked up to be on the competition team and from there I got picked up to represent the school in an international competition. It was like 130 competitors, 40 countries. I ended up being a finalist. From there, my coach was friends with James Bergener, yeah, so full circle. He's like I want somebody that's good at talking to clients and he's going to be an attorney. And he's like I got the perfect guy. So I went from this hermit that's afraid of speaking to anybody to like my job was to talk to everybody. And so working at James's office, I mean it was the best experience I could ever ask for. I mean they, they set the standard of what's expected in the industry as a lawyer. And also I got an opportunity to talk to so many clients. I mean I remember at the time we're talking to hundreds of clients a month and I had the opportunity to do that and I feel like as a brand new attorney, you don't get to do that. And so I did that.

Ali:

And yet what you were saying earlier probably by the end of the year I went out on my own and I started a little law firm out of my bedroom at my parents' house and I got a PO box. I had a Google voice number, I got a MyFax. I created my own website on Squarespace. When it went into the county recorder's office, I couldn't even afford to open up a corporation, so I had a DBA, opened up a bank account and I started putting out ads on Craigslist affordable attorney Come to find out. Nobody wants an affordable attorney. It's not sexy, you don't want it. That sounds like malpractice.

Ali:

So I wasn't getting a whole lot of phone calls doing that and I was doing a little bit of contract work. There's a lot of attorneys that either don't like going to court or they're lazy and so they'll hire appearance attorneys and for an honest day's wage you can go show up. So I was making a little bit of money, packing my own lunch, trying to just figure it out, and it was tough. It was tough. I was meeting clients at Starbucks and they're like you don't have an office. I'm like I'll come to you and try to make it look as nice as possible, but at the end of the day it's tough. It's tough as a brand new attorney going out on your own. But what helped me out was twofold was the experience I got at James's office. I knew how to talk to a client and I knew what information I needed to see whether or not a client had a case. That was a and b I had. My entire network is in Orange County right.

Ali:

I was born and raised in Orange County and people, people batted for me when I went out on my own, people started sending me cases and I was. I was the one-stop shop to everything. I was doing family law, I was doing criminal law, I was doing immigration. And somebody told me that don't be, don't be the jack of all trades. Be the master of one right, because it's just as an attorney. In this day and age, you can't, you have to specialize. So what ended up happening?

Ali:

my friends and family started sending me car accidents and car accidents. I remember this one particular case early on landed on my desk and that kind of changed the trajectory of my career because I got a case I would never get, friend and family referred it and I knew what to do with it from what I learned from James's office and that was kind of the seed money that I reinvested and kind of took me to the next level.

J.R.:

I see there's so many good points in that story, especially being that it seems like at that point where you were starting your own firm, you obviously didn't have the infrastructure of the shiny building and the office space and receptionist, but you had the skills from what you developed beforehand in law school but also at James's office. So then when the opportunity arose and you got that case, it helped take off for you then right.

Ali:

Exactly. I mean invaluable what I learned at James' office and then having a strong network too. That's huge. I mean they always say your net worth is in your network. If I had started shop in a completely different state, I don't think I'd be in the position I am today.

J.R.:

It makes sense. So I wanted to go back really quick. You said that you kind of essentially fluked certain parts of going through law school and then eventually ended up getting that referral for James. I can't imagine you just keep fluking for however many years and then you land at James's office. But were there any insights, turning points or things that you think helped you get to where you are? You said you were kind of that you were very different when you started than where you are now.

Ali:

Yeah, I mean I. I think as a new attorney you're always going to have or new in any career. To be honest, you have imposter syndrome. You're always like how am I here? Do people know I shouldn't be here? This is, this is kind of crazy, but one thing that I try to be true to is life begins at the end of your comfort zone, right.

Ali:

When you you, when you put yourself out there, when you're, when you're uncomfortable, that's, that's a signal, that's your moral compass, that some you're doing something right and I don't mean that in all scenarios right, but yeah but when it comes to trying something out, work-wise, school-wise, putting yourself out there.

Ali:

You've now, I've realized, and that's what I realized on the negotiation team I separated myself from so many people by just trying. A lot of people they don't, they just don't want to try. And they could be, and even today they're probably way better than I am, but they just didn't put themselves out there because of fear of rejection, fear of failure.

J.R.:

Yeah, that makes sense. So just even just showing up is half the battle, or whatever. That saying is right, absolutely Right. Another thing I wanted to ask, but maybe just a quick TLDR, but for those who have never gone to law school or studied for the bar, what is that like, maybe? And do you have any insider tips or advice on how to approach? Like if someone is like I really want to go to law school I've heard this guy, ollie rizavi do you have any advice for how they can navigate that?

Ali:

totally, I think. I think two types of people will be successful in law school if you're just naturally just genius, high iq, brilliant or if you're disciplined and dedicated. Right, there's no substitute for hard work. Um, I don't personally see myself as this brilliant, genius person. I mean, I I finished at the top of my class at ucla. I went into law school thinking like I got this. And it wasn't the case. Right, there's some really smart people in law school. They just they just get it. They're fast readers, they comprehend quickly, they can analyze, they can conclude, and so if you're willing to put in the hard work, I think you're going to do just fine in law school.

Ali:

And they say in law school there's three years generally. So the first year the professors actually they try to scare you to death. Right, you see all these movies about the Socratic method where they call on you and then they question you until you have no idea what you even read. And then the second year they load you up with work. You generally have to get a job to set yourself up as a lawyer, and then you also have the same school load. So year one they scare you to death. Year two, they work you to death. Year three they bore you to death. That's kind of the saying goes, because I think the scariest thing for law students entering law school is you know what you know, you know what you don't know, and then there's this third part of you don't know what you don't know.

Ali:

That's scary for people. So once you go through the first year of law school, you're like, okay, that was tough. That was maybe even the hardest thing I've ever done, but I know what to expect now and it's not scary. I think the scariest thing for people going to law school is all the horror stories they've heard the competitiveness, people ripping pages out of their textbooks so they don't get the proper study material for the test.

Ali:

But I think if you do what you're supposed to do, read your cases, don't be lazy. Work hard. You don't need to be brilliant, you just have to be disciplined.

J.R.:

I love that. So, on that topic, or maybe moving forward again, what was the impetus for you to want to start your own firm and be an entrepreneur and all that stuff? So I know that you said there was. You knew you wanted to be a lawyer because maybe because of family, and then your dad was an entrepreneur and so maybe that was a combination of that. But some people become a lawyer and maybe they work for another firm, but then it's a different game, right when you're playing, when you are the founder and you're the owner of the firm. What made you decide to go that route and maybe any insights on lessons you've learned along the way?

Ali:

Yeah, it has to be the perfect storm, right? For example, my dad was an entrepreneur. I knew I was going to be an attorney. The economy wasn't hot when I became an attorney. I applied for a lot of jobs. I mean, granted, I had a position, but the really top paying positions. They're going to the top ranked students at the school, right, which I wasn't, honestly speaking, and so you have all of that going on. And then you have something like a few hundred thousand dollars in student loans, right? When you do the math, the math doesn't math. You're like I'm probably gonna be working till I'm 105 years old to probably pay half my student loans yeah right.

Ali:

So it was more. It was more of. I looked at my life and I said right now, I'm not married, I don't have kids, I'm still not married, I still don't have kids, but I'm not married, I don't have kids, I don't have a mortgage. My life will never be this cheap. This is as cheap as my life will be, and I was so blessed that my parents lived in Orange County. I could live at the house that I grew up in when I was starting off, and so I figured bet on yourself. If you hit it, it'll be the best success story ever, and if you don't, there are jobs for attorneys. There's the public sector, there's different things that you can do. Being an attorney is very useful in our world, in our economy. You might not be balling, but you're not going to be living on the streets. So for me, the risk of failing starting my own firm was there wasn't even a risk. It was okay, I'll just get a normal job okay.

J.R.:

So it just made sense to you math wise, logic wise you're like might as well start my own firm. Cool on that topic too. So now building your own firm. I'm very curious about this because I'm pretty I don't want to say passionate about leadership or building team culture. And as someone who has built your firm over the last eight years and has scaled like you mentioned do you have any? I want to ask stories. But also, the second part of that is really just what are the insights or takeaways that you've learned along those eight years on how to scale a business, how to build a good office culture and whatnot? I know it's a big topic, but we can start wherever it makes sense.

Ali:

Yeah, what I've, what I've gathered, what I think has been really helpful for me is lead by example. I've been going to the office for eight years five, six days a week, sometimes seven, but showing up to work every day, showing up on time. I require my entire staff to wear a suit every single day just like how it would work.

Ali:

I took that because I thought when you wore a suit and you went to work every day, you just you did better work. You felt more confident. Even though you're on the phone, your voice might be a little stronger, a little deeper, and I just feel there's better work product because you got ready, you feel good about yourself. I think it's important to be confident, but I think leading by example, being supportive, not not leading by fear, I don't, I don't believe in that. I don't believe in marlo. You didn't believe in Marlo, you didn't do that. Therefore, you should be nervous that you won't have a job tomorrow. Right, I come from a place of lead by example. And if and if you messed up, acknowledge it and what can we do so that doesn't happen next time.

Ali:

From a very problem solving perspective, that's been really helpful for me because, for example, sometimes now at this point, upper management is like why didn't you come down on that person for missing that phone call? Right, me coming down on them. What is that going to do? At this point, it's not going to take us back in time. I want to know why did they miss that phone call and what can we do, moving forward, for that not to happen. That's more important to me, moving forward, as opposed to me scolding you for missing the phone call, because, quite frankly, I can't go back and change you missing the phone call, and that's just a small example. So I don't like it to be hostile, I don't like it to lead by fear. I like to be problem solving and I want to lead by example.

Ali:

I think that's been really helpful for me.

J.R.:

Yeah, that makes sense because it's lead by example, like you mentioned, but it's also looking forward. The coaching aspect of that to help make your employees and your team work better is going to be like a rising tide that lifts all boats right. As opposed to, their motivation is to not get yelled at in that scenario, right, and that doesn't really promote the culture of, okay, well, they're taking ownership and they're growing, and they know that my bosses appreciate and value that accountability and growth right.

Ali:

Yeah, I really like what you just said about ownership and accountability. I don't like and it still happens everywhere you go kicking the can, pointing the finger, right. I don't like and it still happens everywhere you go kicking the can pointing the finger, right. I don't think that's conducive for a good work environment. Pointing fingers because, at the end of the day, your firm, your company, your business is as strong as the weakest link, right? So you got to raise the tide together and you got to figure out how can I fix the weakest link, how can we get that up to speed so that we're all stronger?

J.R.:

I like it. I want to ask maybe last thing on building a firm is maybe what are some of the greatest challenges for building a firm scaling and whatnot and something that you can pass along on what you've learned so far, beyond what you already mentioned.

Ali:

I think the most difficult aspect of building a firm or scaling it with your team is keeping them motivated. For you, it's your company. For you, it's your identity. For you, it's your creation.

Ali:

But how do you get somebody that's off the street to believe in you, to believe in your struggle and to fall on the same sword as you? It's tough, it's tough, and so that's the most difficult part, and what I've found to be helpful is creating a path where there's growth in the company. Right, we live in an era where people want everything right now, here today, and so showing them with time, with hard work, this company has the ability to provide you what you want, and I'm not saying in the sense of sell them a pipe dream that's never going to exist. Build a company that can support their dreams too, and it doesn't just have to be your dream, and your dreams and their dreams can be completely different too, and I need to acknowledge that not everybody wants to be me, and maybe I don't want to be them but finding a place for them, and I found that that will keep them more motivated.

J.R.:

I like it. Last thing on this topic as a personal injury attorney, what do you think people get wrong about the industry? Or any misconceptions or things that people just don't know, as opposed to an insider who might know? That would be helpful advice or insights.

Ali:

I think a lot of the public believes that all personal injury attorneys are the same. They're all going to provide the same service. They're all going to provide the same service. They're all going to provide you the same settlement. They're going to provide you the same communication. They're going to charge you the same. So it's as if you're purchasing a Rolex let's call it a Submariner Rolex, More or less. That Submariner Rolex, that year, that color is going to be the same price everywhere you go. It might change a little bit, but more or less you're getting a Rolex, that there's a market value for that Rolex.

Ali:

That's not the same for personal injury attorneys. Personal injury attorneys can get you different results based off of their experience, based off of what they've seen. Somebody could settle a case for very low because they thought it was a soft tissue, muscular case, which is a big injury. Or somebody can settle that same case for millions of dollars because your heart is also soft tissue, right, it just depends on how you, how you skin the cat. So I think that's a big misconception. I think when attorneys do consultations with clients, it's hard to get that across because they're saying, hey well, the law offices of Joe Bob is willing to do this case for 30%. What can you do? Oh, what I can do is I can provide you honesty. I can provide you aggressiveness. I can provide you honesty. I can provide you aggressiveness. I can provide you results. I don't know what they provide and I don't even want to start thinking about what they provide, but two different services. I don't know who they are, but you can't compare apples to oranges just because we're both personal injury attorneys.

J.R.:

Yeah, that's really good insight. That's also something that I learned working at James Berger's office too, is that, yeah, you can shop around all you want, but services are different. You can't say that one company or one firm or one attorney is like the other one.

J.R.:

So, I think that's really good insight topics you wanted to touch on, and so I mentioned before in this recording I'm seeing you all over right, all over town, the who Hurt you, attorneys and I see your news article posts. And then I saw you on the School of Hard Knocks Instagram, which I followed too, and when I saw you come up I was like, hey, I know that guy, that's cool, and that dude has Shaq and other people on his page. So it was really cool to see you. And a Lamborghini is my dream car too. So I'm like, dang, this guy man, he's living my dream. But, yeah, respect to you, I really admire all the hard work that you put in, but you mentioned a few things in that video and I'll link to it as well. Which is that page for people who don't know and check it out, kind of like interview someone on the street and us through any of those points that you want to touch on. I know there's a lot.

Ali:

Yeah, no, that's fair. And School of Hard Knocks. Those guys are awesome. They're super young and they're changing the game. They're crushing it. So I was really happy when I worked with them.

Ali:

But to unpack that branding and advertising is so important to generate business, which would lead to your company growing right and ultimately lead to profits to your company growing right and ultimately lead to profits. But something that I didn't get to say in that interview is spend your time and allocate your resources to honing your craft right. Once you hone your craft, once you hone your product, then put dollars behind it and get it out to the public. So if you provide a good service, then you want the masses to know. If you just get the masses to know about your crap products, right, you're going to get bad reviews, you're going to get no phone calls and you'll probably get canceled the next day.

Ali:

I didn't get to express that during that interview because I think that's very important is to be good at what you do and you want to be better than the next person. So I think if you focus on that and you're like, hey, I'm actually good at this, that's when you decide to put dollars behind it, that's when you advertise and hit the masses. Conversely, if you, if you're good at what you do and you never put dollars behind it, it doesn't mean you won't be successful, but it won't amplify. It's not going to scale the way that your friend the good old benjamin has your back right. If you put money behind something, it's going to grow a lot faster yeah, that's very insightful.

J.R.:

It's work on your craft first, because that's the most important thing, because people can come knocking at your door and they're like wait a minute, what is this? So I think that's a really good point. So, on that, let's say someone's working on their craft and let's say they're decently good at it, or whatever, how do you approach branding and marketing? As someone who has it's within your field of expertise, how would you advise someone approach branding and marketing? I know you said put money behind it, but is there something deeper than that?

Ali:

Yeah, absolutely the marketing and advertising that's putting money behind it and getting it out to the public. But branding is, which I mentioned in that interview it's your identity. It's your identity to the public. So you need to think what separates you from everybody else, and maybe that's nothing and maybe that's your angle, that you're just like everybody else.

J.R.:

I'm just like everyone else.

Ali:

So there's so many ways to to spin things, but see what, see what separates you for me. At the time, I was 26 and I started a law firm and I just I was just called myself the modern lawyers and I was young and we're using tech and ai is taking over. So much now but at the time, ai super, super integrated, but we're still using it.

Ali:

We're being paperless for medical records. That was a big deal. So I was just showing that I could be faster and more efficient than some of these more senior attorneys that have been doing things in an archaic way. That was my angle then, which? Now, if you're not using AI and you don't use it as support, you're just slowing yourself down. Right, so the industry has changed, but then we transferred to the who hurt you. So, to my point, you need to find something that makes you stand out but connects to the public. Right, because in personal injury, for example, as a lawyer, my client could be the unborn fetus all the way to my 98 year old grandma. Right, I got, I got a big demographic. How do you hit the masses? Right, what's the message that hits the masses? And so you got to think about who your target audience is and how are you? How are you different than everybody else?

J.R.:

so how did who hurt you come about, or how did you just discover it, decide on it and how did you kind of leverage it or put the gas on the?

Ali:

fire. Yeah, I, I get this, probably question the most out of everything.

Ali:

And my marketing director at the time we were designing our very first billboard about three years ago, and I don't know if he was listening to music or what was going on, but he made a billboard. It was. My picture showed there were personal injury attorneys. And then he's like what do you think about the text on this? Don't worry about the text, I'm going to change it, but what do you think about the location of the text? And so I saw my picture. I saw injury attorneys.

Ali:

And then I saw who hurt you on it completely different font and all that. And I was like who hurt you? I? I really like that. It spoke to me. And so I was like I like who hurt you, let me, let me see something. And so that night I went home and I looked at the domain name who hurt youcom and it was like three thousand dollars right, and at the time I mean that's dirt cheap for for your new company's website. So I went and snagged who hurt youcom and then I went and trademarked who hurt you. Nobody had a trademark on who hurt youcom. And then I went and trademarked who hurt you. Nobody had a trademark on who hurt you. And so I knew I knew. Now I had this and and, just like I mentioned once, you have a good service and and now you have the brand you just you put money behind it so it was just kind of a serendipitous accident.

J.R.:

You're like, oh, that sounds good, let me just see it. And you saw the opportunity and then went behind it absolutely that's.

Ali:

That's a lot of what it is. It's where hard work meets luck. Right Hard work meets opportunity Of course preparation.

J.R.:

Let's see. One other thing that you mentioned was achieving five-star reviews across the board. How do you approach customer satisfaction? I'm assuming that's a big part of it, right?

Ali:

Yeah, I think that's number one. Number one is customer satisfaction. It it's and you know this better than anybody it's such a competitive field. You have an economy in economics, you have perfect competition, perfect competition being that anybody can open up shop. So I don't know if we're going to sell clothes, for example. If you have the, if you have the money to start that, or I'll take that back. If you have a lemonade stand, any of that, or I'll take that back. If you have a lemonade stand, any of us can start a lemonade stand. Right, it's who makes the best lemonade. It's called a perfect competition because anybody can compete.

Ali:

Personal injury attorneys one step away from that. Yes, you're an attorney, so you have to pass the bar exam, but once you pass a bar exam, it's, in my opinion, one of the more simple businesses that you can run. Now, scaling it and being five stars is a completely different story, but any attorney can basically tomorrow, without doing any additional schooling, can say they're a personal injury attorney. Almost like how there's more real estate agents than homes. Same idea with personal injury attorneys. There's a lot of personal injury attorneys, so there's steep competition.

Ali:

So what are you going to do differently than everybody else, right, and you got to put the client first. You have to put the client first, you have to communicate with the client. You got to keep them in the loop every step of the way. And you can't be greedy, right, you have to work with the client and so that's how I've. The method I've used to have five stars is I try to finish every transaction with the client. You're gonna have your ups and downs with clients, right. It's, it's a relationship, but at the end it's very important that we leave on good terms because that client chose me, chose my firm, and they also trusted us and they have their friends and family, right. So I think a lot of attorneys, they stand on principle and they say, well, this is what my agreement says, pay me, right. People have different situations and I think if you have that human element, that human factor, and the client sees that, you can also have five stars. I think it's something as simple as that.

J.R.:

I love it. Cool, that was great. That completely answers my question, and I think a lot of people get value out of that. So I wanted to pivot to philanthropy, and you mentioned buildlabettercom, which we'll get into in a bit. I want to pivot to philanthropy, and you mentioned buildLAbettercom, which we'll get into in a bit.

J.R.:

I want to start off with one of the things I admire about you, aside from your Lamborghini and having a lot of success and all that stuff, is that you're really big on philanthropy, donating to causes that mean a lot to you, and I've seen on your stories too, you're going to these events and you're putting your efforts and energies into things that you feel like matter. I think that's important. I think we should emphasize that, especially for role models like someone like you in the community to really give back or pay it forward, and so I wanted to ask you well, we can go different ways with this. One is maybe I wanted to ask what organizations are important to you. Or two, how did you get into philanthropy, or what's your philosophy on that, and how do you move forward with it?

Ali:

I think philanthropy is the most important thing for a business owner. Once they get to that level, there's a time and place where you want to do it but you just can't. Or you can do it but not on the level that you want to do it. But I think it's as a business owner and if you're a profitable business, it's important to pay back and pay it forward. And so I feel like the story I told you about my negotiation coach at law school picked me and gave me a chance and gave me an opportunity. James gave me an opportunity, right, I felt like I was a very average person and I still am very average, but I was given an opportunity. Um, and I was given an opportunity. I hit it out of the park, but I was given an opportunity.

Ali:

And so it's so important that I think everybody gets a chance. Everybody gets an opportunity, and what better than underprivileged children right From the very beginning? Because some people are just born into a social class, they're born into a country in the world, they're born somewhere where they don't have the resources to ever make it. Everything is stacked up against them right resources to ever make it. Everything is stacked up against them right. And so if I can give back to kids and just give them a chance and it's what they do with it, right, but they had an opportunity I feel like I'm doing my part in this world, I see.

J.R.:

There was a who was that rich person who mentioned that it was maybe Rockefeller or something where he was, like, spent the first half of his life building wealth and the second half of his life giving it away. I might be misattributing it, but you know that concept. I definitely subscribe to that too, similar to what you're saying. What is the point of success and wealth and whatever, if you don't try to and I feel like you hear those stories about those very successful people who tried to give all their money away and it just comes back to them, right? I believe that.

Ali:

I believe that whatever you put out into the universe, you get back, and so, finding those opportunities when we can, like you said, to give back and find those areas that mean most to us, I feel like we get the most in return, and not for that reason, but it just kind of makes the world a better place, right, absolutely I think, I think it's important I echo what you said, I I think the more you give the, the more it comes back to you, and I think it's such a crazy concept. But I truly believe that, andrew Carnegie. Okay, there you go.

J.R.:

It was one of those guys Andrew Carnegie, dale Carnegie, rockefeller those are the rich people, but definitely so before your business reached the level where you can make this sort of impact. Was there anything that you were doing before then or anything that influenced you to have this mindset or perspective?

Ali:

Yeah, I mean we always donated to neighboring elementary schools beyond blindness, buying them materials, buying them pencil boxes and school books and things like that. Recently were able to donate six figures to Children's Hospital of Orange County for cancer research, or Pencil for Promises, which they believe in education and they're building a school in Guatemala. Those types of foundations are so important because that's our future. It's talking about kids at grade zero, giving them a chance, because that's when you're really changing the trajectory of their life, right. That's when they're learning how to speak and they're learning how to read, and in 20 years, 25 years, 30 years, they're going to be running for Congress, right, and they're running our country. So I'm investing, and not just their future, investing my own future too.

J.R.:

Yeah, I like that. So I want to touch on buildlabettercom. So you want to let us know what that's all about or what's going on to that.

Ali:

Yeah. So my heart goes out to everybody that's been affected either directly or indirectly by the LA fires. I mean, you see this on the news and you've seen it in the past and you just never think it's going to happen to you, it's never going to happen to your neighbor and it's devastating. One day. It's the most beautiful, most expensive city county in the world, right, and then it's burnt to ashes. Right, and I was born and raised in Southern California. Then it's burnt to ashes, right, and I was born and raised in southern california and I think there's there's a better way to build la.

Ali:

And so my thought when, when creating buildla bettercom is I have I have a big network and I wanted to connect people free of charge to my network and whether it's legal aid I mean I don't know if you've seen there's so many wildfire attorneys right now on social media. They go from car accidents to wildfire attorneys. That's not the angle that I'm trying to go. I want to get them connected with those lawyers if that's what they need, If they need help with relocation, if they need help because their house burned down, the insurance company's not paying them, I want to get them set up. If they're injured from smoke inhalation. I want to get them set up with the lawyers. On the flip side, people have to rebuild their homes. If they need to get set up with contractors, engineers, architects, toxic contamination cleanup, construction supplies.

Ali:

I want to connect people there and then I want to give out grants to people, people that have been affected by the fires fill out their information and just cut them a check to be honest, and just help out where I can, and I'm creating an icon where it says join our team If you're a professional out there that you want to be part of the network, or if you have additional clothes or food, or you want to be part of the network, or if you have additional clothes or food or you want to be part of a drive, or we can get the, get different governmental agencies that are that are giving back, get them linked into it.

J.R.:

So just kind of like the la plug for fire victims so I know that as of this moment you said it's not up yet the website, but it will be soon and this, this episode, probably will air around march 10th ish, if I'm not getting my dates wrong. But so maybe what can people expect if they go to this website or you know what kind of how does that?

Ali:

process look yeah, I I think it's going to go live by this week and you can go on the website and basically it's going to be a drop down menu of what you need. And basically it's going to be a drop-down menu of what you need and then you're going to put in your contact information or you can call and then we'll get you connected with who you need. So I'm basically extending my network to the public.

J.R.:

Cool, perfect. So you guys check that out. I know again, this is going to be a little bit later than when we're recording this, but I think it's going to be a really good resource for people. So appreciate that. Cool. So you ready for rapid fire questions? Let's run it. This is the fun part of this. All right, so not that you don't already have billboards.

Ali:

But if you can have a billboard, anywhere that will reach millions of people.

J.R.:

What would it say? Buildlabettercom Perfect. We love it.

Ali:

What is one of the hardest challenges you faced in your life and what did you learn from it? You don't have to be liked by everybody. It's impossible to be liked by everybody, and that's okay what it's impossible to be liked by everyone.

J.R.:

That's crazy. Let's see Self-inflicted wounds. So do you have a story about something that's gone wrong in your life that was your fault and you can't blame anyone because you did it to yourself?

Ali:

There's a lot of stories, but I'm probably going to have to pass right now. That's all good.

J.R.:

If you could redo one thing, what would you do differently?

Ali:

Sounds crazy, but I would repeat everything the same way that I did Perfect.

J.R.:

Yeah, and my follow-up to that is most people say that too as a thought experiment genie in a bottle, redo something and you make, do something different. Would you do something different or could you? Or sorry, what would you do differently?

Ali:

I would have my parents invest me a little bit more so I can become a professional soccer player.

J.R.:

Ah, perfect, Love it. If you could give your younger self advice any age or time period, what would it be?

Ali:

Keep working hard. You're going to have your day, too. Period.

J.R.:

What would it be Keep working hard, You're going to have your day too Nice. Oh, you're like speeding through this. My fastest guess In the last few years, what new belief, behavior or habit has improved your life?

Ali:

I think creating boundaries is really important, creating healthy boundaries. You have a set of principles, you have foundation, you have morals and I think in this day and age we kind of deviate from it, depending on situations. You either want to be liked, or you want to fit in, or you don't want to make the other person uncomfortable. I'll give you an example. Maybe you don't like grilled cheese sandwiches and your friend always wants to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and just to hang out with them. You're eating grilled cheese sandwiches.

Ali:

Well, you don't like it, don't do it, and it's OK to tell them that you don't like grilled cheese sandwiches, and if they don't like you for that, then maybe it wasn't a friendship to begin with, right? So I think in 2025, I want to stay true to my principles and and have healthy boundaries.

J.R.:

I love it. Who would you call successful and how do you define success?

Ali:

I think somebody's successful where they have a great work-life balance, so they're successful in work and they're also successful in their family life. I think that's really important, nice.

J.R.:

I totally agree. It's like what's the point of Tonybins quote, what is if? Success without fulfillment is failure? And I feel like if you don't have that balance for the things that are important to you, then what is success? Right? Why are we doing all this Exactly? If you knew you couldn't fail, what would you try? Or what would you be doing right now? I'd be doing standup comedy. There you go, nice. Did you know I do standup comedy? No, there you go, nice. Did you know I do stand-up comedy?

Ali:

no, just for fun like just like once a month, just do a set, learn really, yeah, it's super fun. Yeah, that's like. That's. If I was like unlock my next, next, next level, that's what I would do, yeah you could totally do it so I took a 101 class and a 201 class at this theater in huntington beach.

J.R.:

They teach you it's like a, it's like an hour long class, four classes. They teach you how to do stand-up comedy and it's literally just set up punch, set up punch, set up punch, and then it's just going out there and just doing it, because the teachers are literally just write jokes, tell them, and then you bomb or you do well, and then you just keep moving forward. So it's easier than you think.

Ali:

That's really cool.

J.R.:

Maybe I'll make jokes about you and they make you laugh and they'd be like come up on stage, man Cool man let's see Favorite hot take or something you think most people wouldn't agree with, I think watching sports is overrated.

Ali:

I think, whatever your career is or whatever you're passionate about, that should be what you're taking statistics on. That should be where you're focusing your time on Going to a sports game, making events with your friends. I mean, having an experience with your friends is one thing, but watching sports every day or a couple of times a week for a few hours is a time killer. And that next person isn't doing that and they're investing in themselves. You're kind of falling behind in life because we all have a finite amount of time in our lives.

J.R.:

Yeah, I love it. It's a really good hot take. Actually, what is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you've made in either time?

Ali:

money or energy or et cetera. Going to school yeah, going to college and then going to law school and getting a graduate degree to just not only expand your mind, but kind of separate yourself from the masses.

J.R.:

Favorite recent purchase within, let's say, $50 to $100 range that has impacted your life the most in the last six months or so.

Ali:

I recently purchased these parking pads from Amazon for $20 that you put on your wall when you park your car so you don't ding it.

J.R.:

So it sticks on your car or the wall.

Ali:

Yeah, they're little pads that you stick on the wall, so in case you hit the wall, it's cushion.

J.R.:

Oh, okay, okay. So just a small little thing. How much was it? Like 20 bucks? 20 bucks, yeah, and you're like, this is going to save me a lot of money. Game changer, nice, I love it Thinking ahead books, movies, videos, articles or any media that you share or recommend the most.

Ali:

I don't know how appropriate this is, but I love Wolf of Wall Street, oh yeah.

J.R.:

What about it? I like the movie too, but what do you like about it?

Ali:

I think sometimes you just need inspiration. I'm not saying inspiration, how it ended, but just that drive, that bigger-than-life drive to just win and be large and build something bigger than yourself. Yeah.

J.R.:

I would say that it's one of those. We're not putting the dude on the pedestal, but it's the energy that you can get inspired from and be like, yeah, let me take something from this, get inspired by it. Yeah, I feel like good art does that for people, right, it kind of inspires you or makes you see something differently. Cool, all right, that is it for rapid fire questions. We've come to the end. You are one of my fastest guests. You're speedy man, all right, so ending questions. So I would like to end with gratitude. So, ali, what are you grateful for?

Ali:

I'm grateful for my health and my immune system and being able to get up every day on my own and put in the fight. I think that's something that I take for granted, and in 2025, I I made it, made it a point to slow down, smell the flowers, because you talk about appreciating things, but you, you sometimes don't even know how to appreciate it. So I I'm trying to now break down what I'm appreciative for and I'm I'm really appreciative for, for the most part, being being a healthy person I love it.

J.R.:

any final asks from the audience or any final takeaways that you want them to have in this conversation, so the first part you can plug yourself. You can be like, yeah, check us out, but any final ask or any final takeaways you want them to have in this conversation, so the first part you can plug yourself. You can be like, yeah, check us out, but any final ask or any final takeaways you want them to have, or both.

Ali:

I think if you guys picked up anything from this, it's don't hesitate to bet on yourself. It's going to pay tenfold. Put it all on black and find us on buildlabettercom.

J.R.:

Nice, perfect, all right. Ali, where can we find you? Social media handles, websites, et cetera? I know we're going to link your Instagram and your firm's website, but where can we find you if they want to check out what you're up to or that stuff? You guys can find me at your lawyer Ali Perfect, nice, all right. Ali, it was great to have you. I really appreciate it. I've learned a lot from this episode. I feel like I've been inspired just a little bit too, and hopefully our audiences as well. So I really appreciate it. Thanks for being here, man. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you, and so for my final sign off, thank you guys. Learned something from this conversation, just a reminder to always be kind to others, especially yourself, and you can always learn something from someone if you take the time to listen. So thanks for being here.

People on this episode

Head Shot

J.R. Yonocruz

Host
Contributor

Ali Razavi

Guest