Expert CFO Guidance for Law Firms with Brooke Lively

Welcome to episode 227 of the Grow Your Law Firm podcast, hosted by Ken Hardison. In this episode, Ken sits down with Brooke Lively, President of Cathedral Capital. Brooke emphasizes the importance of data-driven strategies like EOS and scaling up and highlights the crucial steps to prepare a law firm for sale, focusing on clean financials, efficient operations, and staff training. The conversation delves into hiring the right people, implementing proper procedures, and fostering a deliberate culture to ensure consistency, efficiency, and growth within a law firm.   Brooke discovered her passion for helping entrepreneurial lawyers build their firms by working with her father. After getting her MBA in Corporate Finance and Investments at TCU and a quick stint at a hedge fund, Brooke found herself helping her family establish a new firm, which hit the 7-figure mark within 18 months.  Soon thereafter, she started talking to other lawyers who asked, “Can you do for us what you do for your family?”.    That was when she realized that most attorneys aren’t running their firms by the numbers.  They are making decisions based on their gut and that causes a lot of anxiety – not to mention a loss of profitability. With that insight, Brooke started Cathcap, a fractional CFO company designed to maximize law firm profitability.   Over the past decade, Brooke and her team have helped hundreds of firms make data driven decisions to drive faster growth and more predictability in their businesses. As a CFO, Brooke looks at every part of a firm that touches the money – and that’s the whole firm. This eventually led her to become an EOS® Implementer. Through EOS, Brooke helps firms get clarity on their vision, discipline and accountability to increase traction, and a healthy functional leadership team.   Brooke weaves the technical knowledge of her MBA with her real-world experience to create entertaining speeches that have been heard around the world for groups such as Entrepreneur’s Organization, Bar Associations, and at conferences like PILMMA, 360 Advocacy, and the Louisiana Association of Justice. She has written numerous books, including her international best-selling series From Panic to Profit and her latest, Exit On Top. Brooke has been featured in Forbes, CNBC, US News and World Report and has a monthly financial column in Attorney at Work.  She is a frequently requested podcast guest.   1. The Importance of Vision, People, and Data in EOS:         - Ensuring everyone is on the same page about the firm's direction.         - Having the right individuals in the right roles. 2. Addressing Issues and Improving Procedures:         - Identifying and solving problems permanently.         - Documenting processes for consistency and efficiency. 3. Achieving Traction and Alignment:         - Getting everyone aligned and rowing together towards the vision.         - Bringing the vision down to practical implementation. 4. Preparation for Law Firm Sale:         - Creating a timeline for Sale Readiness for clean financials and profitability.         - Creating characteristics of a firm that's a joy to own. 5. Transitioning from Working in the Firm to Managing the Firm:         - Being able to manage the firm with minimal effort.         - Reaching a stage where you're managing managers and not day-to-day operations.   Resources:  cathcap.com https://www.facebook.com/CathedralCapital https://www.linkedin.com/in/brookelively/   Additional Resources:    https://www.pilmma.org/aiworkshop https://www.pilmma.org/the-mastermind-effect https://www.pilmma.org/resources https://www.pilmma.org/mastermind