Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Louize Fiore. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Louize, thanks for joining us today. Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?
I began Aequibelli Law & The Bellimori Foundation during COVID-19. I would attribute the success of both of my ventures to being able to identify the positives and negatives of starting a new venture during this time. When starting, it became crucial that I design a business plan for Aequibelli Law & The Bellimori Foundation with the full understanding that: 1. networking would be a challenge; 2. fundraising and seminar hosting for the foundation would likely be a non-starter; 3. client relations would be completely different than prior to COVID-19. By contrast, I needed to also understand the positives within the current situation. Such as, knowing that: 1. I could lower my overhead by not committing to a physical office location; 2. I could maximize my time for clients and casework by working from home; 3. I could create associations across the nation by working with professionals that may not reside/work within my geographic area. With a business plan summary highlighting the above important negatives/positives, I focused on concrete actions that could offset the negatives with positives.
For example, a big negative of COVID-19 was the obvious difficulties in networking face-to-face, which I believe to be crucial for a new entrepreneur as you are still fairly unknown in your field when starting your venture. I found that online networking was not as effective for myself as a new entrepreneur as for those with already existing brands. However, the surge in social media and/or video advertising became an amazing, cost-effective tool to offset the lack of physical networking by allowing me to still make the public aware of my brand. This tool ensured that I was reaching the general public regardless of our physical locations. This became an especially crucial tool for Aequibelli Law, which primarily works in immigration law that can be practiced within all of the United States. Therefore, the negative of in-person networking quickly became overshadowed by the positive of online/social media advertising because of its larger audience base.
Another setback was client relations. When working within law and/or seeking to assist marginalized communities, having an understanding of your clients and/or community is key. However, not being able to actually see these individuals can create an atmosphere where they may feel isolated and/or distrustful. This is why in-person legal consultations for a law firm and/or in-person seminars and community projects for non-profits are typically favored. To offset these roadblocks created by COVID-19, I found that video conferences and extending telephonic consultations to be extremely useful for Aequibelli Law because it gave prospective clients the time to feel comfortable with us. I also found that creating mini informative videos to be distributed within the community through other, more established non-profits to be the best and most cost-effective method of having The Bellimori Foundation reach donors, community members, and, more importantly our targeted audience requiring our assistance.
Finally, the biggest obstacle for my brand during this time was the “double-edged sword” of funding. COVID-19 created many financial constraints in raising capital for Aequibelli Law and ensuring donations for The Bellimori Foundation. However, it also created the extremely important financial upside of being able to conduct much of both venture’s daily affairs remotely and, thus, ensuring we could keep overhead costs lower for both ventures.
Ultimately, COVID-19 designed the business models for Aequibelli Law & The Bellimori Foundation. I had to review both ventures as being children of COVID-19 and raise them within a business world that operated very differently than prior to COVID-19. The business models had to be drafted to the reality that even after mandatory stay-at-home policies were lifted, much of our business would still operate in a remote fashion while ensuring that we could consolidate our resources to grow into in-person services when plausible. In a lot of ways, COVID-19 required us to take advantage of the opportunities and adjust to the setback remote work provided while still being cognitive that the brand would have to transition into in-person services when available.
Today, I would say that both Aequibelli Law & The Bellimori Foundation has successfully balanced its remote services while expanding its in-person services.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
Aequibelli Law is a for-profit law firm that specializes in Immigration, Real Estate, Business Law and Civil Litigation. We are a boutique firm that focuses on clients’ legal outcomes while never forgetting that they are individuals with their own life stories, goals, and aspirations. Aequibelli Law strives to ensure that legal outcomes provide life-impacting opportunities. We want our immigrant clients to know they can build professional and personal lives in the United States; real estate and business clients to feel secure and confident in their new acquisitions; and civil litigants to receive judicial justice that helps them move forward.
The Bellimori Foundation is an operating foundation that seeks to assist marginalized communities within the South Florida area by providing basic support ranging from assistance with legal services, mental health services, and education. We believe that assisting immigrants and low-income individuals/families in obtaining the right resources is key to their success. Our goal is to hold various, free educational seminars with top professionals in their fields in order to properly provide this community with the important tools and support. Access to knowledge about legal services, housing, education, and mental health providers can provide the equal footing necessary to propel these members of our society forward into sustainable opportunities.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
As the saying goes, “you can’t buy a good reputation; you must earn it.” This is probably one of the biggest advice I can offer a new entrepreneur because I sincerely owe the success of my brand to the community around me.
When I first started Aequibelli Law and The Bellimori Foundation, I knew I was going to have many obstacles as new businesses do. Starting two endeavors at the same time can be extremely nerve-wracking. To add to it all, I decided to start my brand during the pandemic with little to no funding. Because of the setbacks and external challenges I knew my ventures would face, I relied heavily on my fellow colleagues and entrepreneurs. I was extremely fortunate enough to have had all them show me support and provide me guidance.
I genuinely believe that their willingness to help, support, and stand by me during the launch of my ventures derived from my reputation as a person, attorney, and business professional. I have always maintained that to be successful, you have to be compassionate, transparent, honest, dedicated, hardworking, empathetic. Basically, you have to be a good person overall and not just a good “business” person.
We all know that the company we keep reflects to the world who we are. So, it follows that if my reputation is poor, my fellow colleagues and entrepreneurs are less likely to extend their own reputation to assist me. By contrast, I am more likely to have positive support by far more seasoned colleagues if I am known to be professional; to have industry know-how; to be honest and forthcoming with fellow associates and/or clients. This mindset has ensured that I have been surrounded and guided by amazingly successful and genuine good human beings. This is because I adopted the motto that “there is no business, there are only people. Business exists only among people and for people.” So your reputation as a good person will ensure that you will have a good business.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I would say most of my personal and business life has been a series of pivoting moments.
I graduated from NSU in 2015 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Legal Studies & a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science. I then graduated from University of Miami Law with my JD in 2018, where I was admitted into the Florida Bar the same year. This journey was long and not always clear. I was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Since I was about five years old, I knew I wanted to be an attorney in the United States. As luck would have it, my family migrated to Florida when I was ten years old, which made my desire to be an attorney in the US viable.
With this goal in mind, I made sure I succeeded academically and managed to finish high school and begin college when I was 16 years old. Unfortunately, when I was 17 years old, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and I had to leave college to assist with the family business (Muller & Fiore Consulting), take care of my siblings, and watch over my mother’s recovery.
Between family, work, and general life, I only returned to college when 24 years old. I attended NSU as a double major, where I was warned by my academic advisor to not take full class loads and was discouraged from completing a double major because I was still working full time while in school. Needless to say, I did not listen. Instead, I dedicated myself to my childhood dream of becoming an attorney. I took 4-5 classes per semester, worked in the family business, and sought an internship in 2012 with a law firm. Yes, this sounds insane and no, I did not sleep much!
By 2013, I felt I had a routine, albeit very busy. Nevertheless, life had other plans for me. In August of 2013, my husband and I took in my two nephews. So now, it got really, really busy; I’m in college full time, working full time, interning for a law firm while raising two toddlers. But I wasn’t going to quit. I had done it once and I refused to do it again. So I pushed through; I sought support from friends and family; I sought support from my professors and my mentor.
In the end, I graduated NSU with both degrees and having published two undergraduate law reviews; made lifetime connections with professors I still work with today; and the founder of the law firm where I interned is still my mentor and greatest advisor.
I then began UM Law on scholarship while still working and having a family. But again, life decided to add another curveball and I found myself fully in a family law case while juggling law school, work, and family. Again, I didn’t quit. I pushed through and kept my goal in mind, even as I gave up on the notion of sleep! In the end, I graduated Cum Laude with my scholarship from UM Law and passed the Fla Bar that same year.
I launched Aequibelli Law & The Bellimori Foundation in 2020, when COVID-19 was still a serious constraint in people’s lives. Given my youngest child’s health concerns, I was still living heavily in quarantine. This meant I had to seek creative ways to connect with fellow businesses, colleagues, prospective clients, and my local community. Despite the obvious nerve-racking emotions that one would experience during this time, I didn’t quit or become discouraged. Instead, I got creative and sought guidance from those more experienced than me.
Ultimately, I would say being able to pivot when life/career took a different turn while never giving up is what has made me successful. I truly believe that taking life’s curve-balls and making them work for you is what will ensure your success. For every moment I had to pivot, I learned from them; I used them to create more confidence in myself; I used them to adapt and modify my goals as needed. I will not know everything and I will not achieve everything all the time, especially on my imagined timeline. But that’s ok because as long as I keep moving forward, I will get there. And my “there” doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s “there.”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.aequibellilaw.com www.thebellimorifoundation.com
- Instagram: @aequibelli @thebellimori
- Facebook: @aequibelli @thebellimori
- Linkedin: Aequibelli Law The Bellimori Foundation
Image Credits
Tatiana Malinine with Molt Branding.