We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dorian Lopez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dorian below.

Dorian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I decided to become an estate planning attorney after a tragedy occurred in my own family. At the very young age of 38 years old, my aunt who was like a sister to me, unexpectedly and suddenly died. Her heart stopped and she passed away in her home, leaving behind a minor child of 13 years old and an 18 year old son. Our family lost a ray of sunlight and my poor grandmother lost her only daughter. When she died, she had no estate planning documents in place. While my grandmother was grieving this huge loss, we had to scramble and figure out what court documents needed to be filed and where so that my grandmother could become the legal guardian of my cousin in order to be able to do something as basic as enroll her in school. By going through this process, I realized my desire to want to help other families avoid going through this by creating the proper documents before a tragedy happens,

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As an estate planning attorney, my main focus is to help individuals and families achieve peace of mind and decrease their stress, One of our main goals it to Pre-Plan for the future and AVOID Probate, which is a court that you do not want to go. Estate planning is not just for the uber rich, estate planning is for everyone, Anyone over the age of 18 should have some type of estate plan. An accident or illness can happen at ANY age. Your life circumstance will dictate what type of plan you need,

For example, if you are college aged and living on a college campus, you need a Power of Attorney to nominate a financial agent, an Advance Health Care Directive to nominate a medical agent, a HIPAA release so your agents can access your medical records if needed, and a FERPA release which gives the college authority to speak to your parents/guardians should something happen to you on campus. If you have a minor child, you need a Will so that if something happens to you, YOU, not a stranger judge, will decide who will take care of your kids. If you own a home, even if you are still paying a mortgage company, you need a Living Trust in order to avoid Probate and transfer your house with ease without losing thousands of dollars to the government.

What I love most about helping people with their estate planning is seeing the stress leave their bodies when they sign their documents at the signing ceremony. I know some of the topics we talk about in estate planning are not the most fun to talk about, however, we are all going to age and eventually die, therefore, it is crucial that we put a plan in place now so that we can avoid conflict, headaches, and financial loss in the future. Pre-plan or Crisis-plan, the choice is yours. Ask anyone who has already gone through Probate, they would choose pre-plan in a heartbeat.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

One of the best business decisions I have made as an entrepreneur was hiring a business coach. My coach, Maryam Habashi of Infuse Theory, was a key component to building the foundation of my business. I wasn’t a business major and this is my first time running my own law firm. The guidance and knowledge I received through coaching with Maryam helped propel my business forward in an explosive way. By implementing the right systems and procedures and by following her SMART method of goal setting, I was able to double my business in less than one year. The nuggets she shares with her students are worth way more than gold, they are priceless. For anyone starting their own business or leading any type of sales team, I highly recommend working with a business coach. You are worthy and your business is worthy. Invest in yourself and team up with a coach that will take you to the next level.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

One of the most effective sources of new clients aside from referrals from current clients are referrals that I get from my BNI networking group. At first, I was reluctant to join the group as I was afraid of the time commitment and the pressure of making referrals. Luckily for me, one of my friends from law school, who runs his own personal injury practice, was persistent in convincing me to join the group. It took me almost a year to finally say yes. It has been one year since I joined the group and I am so glad that I did. Not only have I met a group of amazing professionals from all types of industries that I can recommend to people, I also get consistent quality referrals which usually leads to additional referrals. It’s a win win.

Contact Info:

• Website: dlopezlaw.com
• Instagram: @dlopezlaw
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dorian-lopez-997708221

Image Credits
Max Young of Film Foto Fusion