When Taly Goody set out to form Goody Law Group, she knew she would need a creative way to find new clients. Despite being slightly skeptical, she took a leap and dedicated herself to building a TikTok presence. Not only have her posts received millions of views, but she’s also been able to use the platform to expand her network, attract new clients, and inspire others.
In this episode, Taly and I discuss the crucial role social media plays in lead generation, as well as Taly’s journey to founding her own firm, and the importance of supporting the next generation of lawyers.
What’s In This Episode?
- Who is Taly Goody?
- Why is it so important that new lawyers find the right area of law to practice?
- What led Taly to found her own company, and has she discovered any misconceptions in doing so?
- Why are small and solo practices increasingly popular options for lawyers?
- How has Taly used TikTok to grow her brand, and what are her top tips for the platform?
- Why is mentorship so important to Taly, and how is she using TikTok to help a new generation of lawyers?
Episode 104
Taly Goody
I was a little bit skeptical, to be honest with you. I was like, who am I really going to reach? Who’s the demographic? I just feel like it’s a lot more of the younger side.
Chris Dreyer
When you’re deciding on a social media strategy, it’s hard to know which platform to focus your attention on, especially when you’re considering one that’s relatively new and untested. But sometimes, you have to take a leap.
Taly Goody
People were like actually interested. And so I continued posting and I ended up getting two or three of my biggest clients from Tik Tok.
Chris Dreyer
You’re listening to Personal Injury Mastermind, the show where elite personal injury attorneys and leading edge marketers give you exclusive access to growth strategies for your firm. Many of our guests in the past have talked about the value of social media, but we’ve never had on a Tik Tok specialist. Taly Goody’s posts not only reach millions of people, but she’s even met some of her biggest clients through the site. I asked if she’d sit down with me to share advice for using TikTok to build a brand and clientele, as well as her experience founding her firm, Goody Law Group. I’m your host, Chris Dreyer, founder and CEO of Rankings.io. We help your personal injury law firm dominate first page rankings with search engine optimization. An important first step for any lawyer is to really understand the people around them. So let’s get to know our guests. Here’s Taly Goody, founder of Goody Law Group.
Taly Goody
My journey starts back in college. I always say I’m not one of those people that knew I wanted to be a lawyer from the age of 10 or 13. Never have even idea until I went to I was in college, started an internship on Capitol hill. It was my last year in college. So it was really exciting. It was during Obama’s inauguration. And it kind of sparked a inspiration for me to look into politics. And so initially getting into the whole legal. Was kind of sparked by the politics idea. And then once I went into law school, I kind of pivoted and decided to focus on becoming a lawyer. Cause it, you know, things change or ideas change what you want to do as you go through each stage. That’s kind of how I’m here today, but I had no idea I wanted to get into personal injury law. I’ll throw that out there.
Chris Dreyer
Yeah. You know, it’s interesting. I, in preparation for our conversation, I was like heavily watching all your TikToks cause they’re very informative. And I think there was one video where you said something about like the attorneys that are frequently unhappy, maybe chose the wrong area of the law. So maybe you could expound on that.
Taly Goody
Yeah. I mean, I feel like right when I got out of law school, I fell into a job. I was just like kind of desperate to find a job. It was tough to get jobs back then. So I was like, okay, I got a job working in art law. And initially I wanted to go into entertainment law. So I was like, this is kind of a good segue for me to eventually get there. And so I started and it was great. But I knew, you know, within the first few years that this wasn’t something that I can see myself being in forever. And I could just sense that if I stuck around or if I kept, you know, if I, they stayed in like the area of law that I was in I’m I might not be happy. And I’ve encountered a lot of people. When I was going through the process of people saying, don’t become a lawyer, don’t become a lawyer. I can’t even, I don’t think there was one person that told me to become a lawyer when I would tell them. And, you know, they would say you only can be successful if you graduate from a top 14 law schools, you’re going to be in so much debt. Don’t even try. Like, you know, there was just so much negativity. And you know, I know that’s just kinda how the case is now. And so that’s kind of why I’ve also, I mentor people at the same time. Like I try to tell them. Hey, it’s not, I mean, yes, it’s tough. I don’t try to sugarcoat it, you know, but I’m like there are benefits to it and finding the right area of law is the number one most important thing, because you can be super unhappy depending on where you’re working. You’re working in a horrible firm. That’s just, you know, working to the ground. You don’t see any benefit from it. You’re not really working for yourself. I think those are really big factors in your happiness level and the area that you’re practicing.
Chris Dreyer
That’s fantastic. And I like that, you know, so not only that you didn’t know, but you like went for it, and then you found this area of PI you love, but not only that within five years of passing the bar, you set up your own firm. You know, Did you always want to be a business owner? You know, what led you to take the leap? Not only to go to law school, but then to go out and start your own firm?
Taly Goody
Yeah I, you know, it was, I think at the four year mark where I was like, I can take two roads here. I can either find a new job and start over at a firm, you know, start like as a baby lawyer or start as, you know, just like, as a minion and work myself up or I can start my own practice and. You know, I was like, okay, what should I do? There’s a riskier move, the safer move. And at the job that I was in, I was, you know, making a comfortable salary, you know, I was good, you know, I could see room to grow, but I, you know, I told myself, I feel comfortable with what I’m in with like salary wise resources. I think I’m just going to take the leap and open my own law firm. So I think I’ve always kind of known. I wanted to be a leader business owner deep down. I just didn’t know it would be as a law firm.
Chris Dreyer
One of the things I think it’s really interesting about your story too, is, you know, you do you have so much education out there that you’re constantly sharing, like what you learn. And I think I’ve heard this saying, but it immediately makes me think of you, as like this competency builds confidence. Gain more competency, and you’re like, you know what? I can do this like that. Did the confidence come with that?
Taly Goody
You know? Yeah, I think so. And I think people always ask me, like, how much time did you spend preparing before you started your own practice? And I said, look, I made the decision in the summer of 2019. I gave my boss notice by like mid summer. He was super supportive. He was like, that’s great. I’m really happy for you. I think it’s going to be a great move. And then I had like a one month before I was going to leave my firm. That’s when I started like doing all the like business formation side of things, getting my actual entity up and then that was it. And then I just dove in and I always tell people, Hey, I think the best way to learn. To just go for it, just to do it by actually doing something that’s when you’re learning versus, okay, I’m going to spend six months reading a book. I’m not saying that’s not going to be helpful, but I think the best way is also just to get hands on in it, because that’s when you learn, okay, you make a little mistake, you know, that’s not gonna work, modify it for the next time. Or this really works for me. I’m going to keep doing this, you know? So I think having a. Somewhat of like a base foundation is very necessary getting into your own practice but be open to be flexible, to learn on the job.
Chris Dreyer
Let’s shift over to kind of like operations and you know, you’re wearing a ton of hats. You you know, as you grow, you shed more of those hats, let’s talk about like, what are the things that you really enjoy? What are the things that, that bring you the most passionate in terms of the operation and doing the legal work?
Taly Goody
Yeah, I mean, I think for me, I really liked the business side of things. Running my firm. And also just getting clients. I think that’s my favorite, like talking to new clients intake. I like the legal side, but I really like the business side, probably just a little bit more than the legal side. So for me, that’s something that I wanted. Building and then maybe bringing on more people to help with the legal side. So that would be my ideal goal. Eventually I do have help right now. I have an assistant that helps me, but eventually, maybe within the next year, hopefully I’m gonna expand a little bit more.
Chris Dreyer
Yeah, fantastic. Yeah. It’s always interesting. You know, that, that book, the E-Myth with Michael Gerber. The technician, the manager and the owner, it’s like, we all kind of experienced these different growth. We’re like we’re wearing all these hats and you get the shed. One when I started my least favorite was just accounts receivable and like billing clients and following up with credit cards, bounds or whatever, I could stand at select. When I started, I was like, that’s the first one I’m trying to get her.
Taly Goody
See, luckily for PI we’re contingency based. So we don’t have to worry about that. It’s just, whenever we settle a case, we got our payment and then we move on. But yeah, I can feel that.
Chris Dreyer
Love it. Love it. Let’s talk about some of those obstacles. I had a Bob Simon on recently. He was hilarious. He’s really funny and great. And there’s just so many of these misconceptions, like, oh, I got to have this expensive office. I got. Have business cards and I got to do this and do that. So like, Now, so many people think it’s too expensive and have this misconception about starting your own law firm, but could you kind of walk us through that a little bit?
Taly Goody
I mean, you really, you could start a law firm and not spend any money. I mean, it could be as low as just paying for a phone bill. I mean, Of course, you’re going to want a phone bill. You’re going to want an email. You’re going to want a way to fax. And I faxed through my emails, so it’s not like I have a fax machine and you don’t really, I work my mostly I have a nice home office. I do have a shared workspace I can go into when I have clients or depositions or meetings, but mainly like the legal industry is shifting to virtual law firms and it’s making it easier for anybody to open their own practice. You don’t have to be this fancy. Law firm having 10 attorneys, you know, 20 assistants, you could be simply like a small firm, have one assistant, one paralegal, two attorneys, and you know, it’s nice because I think it’s becoming more. Desirable for attorneys to want to open their own practice because they’re working for themselves and it’s become a lot easier to bring in your own clientele, just with the technology that we’re all, you know, that the world’s shifting towards.
Chris Dreyer
I couldn’t agree more. And the COVID what, you know, it had this such a boom in technology for legal specifically before it was like zoom, you know, and I know you’ve probably seen like the. The cat filter some of those, but like technology ramped up and previously, you know, as a marketer, I would try to set up zoom meetings and it was like challenging because individuals didn’t know the technology, but now everybody is on zoom and it’s just so much more convenient and efficient. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in the game for decades. Lead-generation is crucial. We all know that social media can be great for this, but one platform you may not have considered it’s TikToK. I asked Taly why she chose to pursue this route and how effective she has found the platform.
Taly Goody
Like I said, I switched into personal injury. I didn’t have this background. I didn’t have this huge network of attorneys switching in, you know, so I was kind of this new attorney. Everyone already had their referral sources, their clientele. And so I had to get creative and think of a new way to bring in. And so TikTok had just kind of started taking off. It was before the pandemic. So it wasn’t still that big of a deal. I feel like once the pandemic hit, it became way more used. So I decided, okay, I’m going to, first of all, I knew I was going to do a business Instagram, but that’s so like standard and everybody has one, you know, but I was like, all right, I’ll get on TikTok try it out. I was a little bit skeptical, to be honest with you. I was like, I don’t know, like this just seems like, who am I really going to reach? Who’s the demographic. I just feel like it’s a lot more of the younger side. Like children, teens. But anyway, I got on there, started posting and you know, I noticed that some of my videos started taking off and they were videos just about me sharing how I became a lawyer or sharing some tips about it. And then I even started doing some that are like tips on personal injury and that those ones start taking off. People were like actually interested. And so I continued posting and I ended up getting so. Two or three of my biggest clients today from TikTok. I’m very happy with that. It’s great. I love TikTok. I think it is becoming a bit saturated now, just to be honest with everybody, I don’t know, like I haven’t gotten in a really big client recently just like just gonna throw it out there. But when I first got on there, it was, you know, you have huge reach and I think there’s still a lot of potential for a reach. I just don’t think it. As good as it was at the beginning. If that makes sense.
Chris Dreyer
And talking about your impressions, like when I was researching for our conversation, some of your videos have over a million views total, like every single video on average has a substantial amount of views. And when I compare that to say like YouTube, even YouTube, substantially saturated, there’s a lot of competition, but the thing that I like, and I don’t want to talk about strategies and things, but one of the things that. It can be your platform for original thought leadership, and then you can chop it up, put it on reels on Instagram, throw it on YouTube, kind of use it as like the source of original content and then use it all these different manners. Let’s talk about content creation. I get on there and I’m like, what is this trend like? Cause the trends change, like how do you stay up to date? What, like, what’s your process for creating content on there?
Taly Goody
Honestly, my, my favorite way to create content is kind of in two ways. The first way is just when I’m randomly, you know, end of the night kind of just winding things down and I’m scrolling through TikToK. I’ll be on the FYP page, which is the, for you page. And that’s where the. Usually the, like the semi to most viral videos are played just in case people don’t know what TikToK is. You can see things that people post that you follow, or you can see just random people’s posts, which is the, for you page. So I’m scrolling and that’s where you see. The trends, for example, you see like the trending sounds, you see the trending videos and, you know, people get creative, they might take one trending video and I’ve seen a lot of doctors, lawyers, professionals switch it up. So it matches their profession where they’re either sharing a couple of tips with the trends. Or they’re doing it just to match their profession. You know what I mean? So it’s cool. So I that’s one way I kind of get ideas and I’ll save them. So when I’m ready to film, I can kind of come back to it and I script what I’m going to do. And then I film the other way is just, I think you need to have your own style on top of trends. It’s known, like if you’re just going to do trends, it’s not really good. I think your page is just going to be like, you’re just following the trends, but you’re not providing anything of value separate from the trends. So you want to be able to find something that, you know, your followers like that you do. So I started with just like sharing tips and I would just use maybe popular sounds in the background, things like that, just to make a little bit more hip and you know, you could talk or you could point. It really there’s like different things you can do. And I think for me, it just took a matter of trial and error to see what videos worked, what videos don’t work and what people like. And then from what you see from people, commenting on videos, those give you the ideas for your next videos, because there’ll be like a lot of the same questions like, oh, but what about this? And you’re like, oh, that’s great. I should make a video about that. And then you create a video on that topic.
Chris Dreyer
That’s excellent. So you have like a feedback loop, so then that supplies your next topic. What about, is it just you, do you have like a videographer? Are you like setting up the stand and working off of your apple phone? Like kind of like, how are you? I saw there’s a couple of funny ones. I don’t even know the name of the music, but like there was one where you’re sitting in a chair and it had like this weird music and then it was like further away and it was but I was like, you know, You definitely had assistance there. And I’m just wondering. You know, how do you produce these?
Taly Goody
You know, I have my husband is the one that does the ones that are like, but when that you were just talking about, he was standing kind of further away, so he’ll help me here and there when I need it. I usually just do all of them on my own. I have my ring light that has a stand in it and I set up my iPhone and then I just go from there and then I take time and I edit my videos. I think TikTok has a more user-friendly way of editing your videos versus reels IG reels. So I know that there’s like a people have a preference. I know a lot of people that create their videos on reels and then transfer them to tick-tock. But I do it the other way. I create everything on TikToK, and then I transferred to reels. So that’s another tip is to repurpose your videos for both Instagram reels and TikToK.
Chris Dreyer
Nice my team that’s listening they’ll probably crack up at this, but I do everything in paint, that old school program, just to kind of troll my team and I really get a kick out of it. You know, I am very much a noob when it comes to TikTok and even real. So like, I’ve got a team that does like repurpose house. We use that and a social media manager, but like, explain to me, you know, like, let’s talk about the platform itself. Have you experimented, do they even offer, you know, like paid boosting, like you can Facebook boost a post or Instagram boost? Do they have any ways to extend your reach? Maybe not necessarily viral, kind of push it to more people. Do they have anything like that?
Taly Goody
They do. I think I’ve seen sponsored posts similar to Instagram. Like, so when you’re scrolling through the FYP, I’ll see randomly sponsored or advertisement. And things like that. Now, I don’t know if they perform as well as if they do on Instagram. I’ve never experimented with those myself personally, but I definitely see them where it’s a sponsored post or an advertisement basically.
Chris Dreyer
Taly’s TikTok covers a wide variety of topics, from PI to life as a business owner. One area that has proven particularly popular though, is her advice to young and aspiring lawyers. So I asked Taly how she found this niche, and why she felt it was so important to share this sort of information around motivation.
Taly Goody
Yeah. I think like right when I got on, when I started experimenting with the different types of content that I put out there, and so most of my stuff is divided between the mentorship. And then I do some PI stuff here and there too. So I started posting things and I just noticed that people really, there are so many people that want advice and I still get. You know, aspiring lawyers writing. What about the LSAT? And I’m like, look at my LSAT playlist. You know, I get a lot of the same questions, but there’s so many people that I was so surprised that really come to tick, talk for help, or to help them find their path in life. And I know when we were going through the process or at least when I was there, there wasn’t anything like tip talk. I had to go on Google and I had to find, or like, let’s look up stuff on Google. And there was always negative things on there, you know? For me, I feel like by doing this and by sharing. My experience and sharing the some positivity, of course, keeping it real. It helps people and that’s all, it’s really just like, I like giving back to aspiring lawyers and helping them out. And I’ve actually hosted some mock law school classes and they’ve done really well. I had 500 people sign up for my first one. And and then from 500, we had 150 people actually show up, but I mean, that’s still a good turnout. I mean, it’s fun. I feel like I’m building authentic relationships. A lot of them reach out to me and go, thank you so much. I’m in law school now and they’ll email me and you know, it’s just nice to get those messages and say that I’ve helped them.
Chris Dreyer
Yes. So my my good friend, Maria Monroy, who we both have in common. She’s fantastic. And she said that at some of the conferences, individuals that come up to you and say, Hey, I saw your videos. That’s awesome.
Taly Goody
It actually happened for the first time when I was with Maria, I was there. And then he was like, oh my gosh, I’m so like, excited to see you. And I’m like, wow, like this is, I don’t really feel like I’m like that big of a deal, but thanks. Like, I’m like, you know, it’s exciting to see that people really like what I put out there. So I it’s a good feeling and I try to do my best.
Chris Dreyer
Absolutely. And it seems like too, that it could be like a long-term play for. Potential referrals in the future, like, and get someone on that trajectory. And I like the other thing I wanted to mention was when you gave notice to your previous boss, he was really supportive, which is fantastic. You know, not burning the bridges, like having the rising tides mentality, like say, Hey, maybe there could be potential referrals.
Taly Goody
And that’s actually another thing about TikToK and just being on social media is I’ve met a lot of different lawyers from all over the country. And I’ve already started referring them cases. They’ve referred me cases. So I mean, it’s great. Like, I honestly think that social media, whether it’s Instagram, TikTok, whatever you’re using is great. So if you want to build professional relationships, I always advise people to get on their clients. I mean, I think it’s awesome.
Chris Dreyer
Just a couple more questions on marketing it, like, just in general, big picture, like, what’s your view? Like obviously you got into TikTok, but like what’s your view? And overall, like on how you think someone that starts up and founds their own firm should approach like marketing and lead generation?
I think
Taly Goody
it’s the most important thing, because you want to keep your overhead low. You’re not going to have a lot of money to spend on advertisement. So get on social media, put yourself out there and build your brand. The more and more you post about what you do, but also make it really authentic and tie in your own story. So it doesn’t. Super salesy. I think that’s a number one thing. I try not to be like back. Cause I just think it, it turns people off. They’re like, okay, you’re really pushing us on me, but you know, tying in your story and also showing them how you can help them and letting them know that you’re a real human. That’s not just a lawyer. I think that really helps with your brand and showing people what kind of lawyer you’ll be for them. And knowing that, you know, whether or not you’re getting a client that day from what you post, you’re not necessarily going to, but you’re always going to be in the back of that. Person’s mind if they ever need a personal injury lawyer. Oh, wait a second. I remember they post things and I know that’s a PI lawyer, I’ll reach out. So it’s, you never know who’s going to reach out from social.
Chris Dreyer
Fantastic. Yeah. So it reminds me like that and them know like trust. So it’s right. The, like the likability, the trust factor, you know, that can go a long way. You know, how can people reach out to you? You know, whether it’s for cases or for advice how can I get in touch?
Taly Goody
Yeah. So I’d be happy to help anyone with any questions you can send me an email. My email is Taly and that’s taly@goodylawgroup.com. Or you can reach out to me on Instagram or TikTok. My handles are both Taly Goody Esq on both.
Chris Dreyer
Perfect. And I have one final question Taly. You know, what’s next for Goody Law Group?
Taly Goody
What’s next is so we’ve just celebrate our two years in September. So hoping to just expand more get more clients. And I really want to focus a little bit more on my marketing and get some more videos up. Cause it’s been a little bit tough, balancing everything and just doing everything on my own. So I think my goal is to be more consistent with my my video production video posting on Instagram and on TikTok. But Yeah, I think that’s kind of where we’re going. I’m very proud of the business so far.
Chris Dreyer
Absolutely. You should be so great having you on the show. Thanks so much.
Taly Goody
Thanks Chris.
Chris Dreyer
Having a strong social media presence can do wonders for your practice and Taly’s use of TikTok is a perfect example of what’s possible. I a hundred percent agree with her advice that trial and error is key though. You have to be dedicated, flexible, and most importantly, you just have to keep. I’d like to think Taly Goody from Goody Law Group for sharing her story with us, and I hope you gained some valuable insights from the conversation you’ve been listening to Personal Injury Mastermind. I’m Chris Dreyer. If you liked this episode, leave us a review. We love to hear from our listeners. I’ll catch you on next week’s PIMM with another incredible guest and all the strategies you need to take your personal injury practice to the next level.
