How Entrepreneurial Law Firm Owners Think Differently About Exit & Succession (Ep. 146)
If you’re a law firm owner with your sights set on financial independence, you already know that running a law firm takes vision, discipline, and drive. But are you thinking about your firm's future and your own? On the latest episode of The Lawyer Millionaire Podcast, host Darren Wurz sat down with Thomas Tona of Tona Law Firm to unpack the critical business and financial lessons that separate high-earning law firm owners from the rest.
This recap highlights their conversation focusing on three must-know strategies: effective succession planning, the business mindset required to scale, and smart financial habits to secure your long-term wealth and freedom.
Let's dive into what every ambitious law firm owner should know.
Why Every Law Firm Owner Needs a Succession Plan
One of the biggest myths out there is: “You can’t sell a law practice.” Thomas Tona hears this a lot, and says it simply isn’t true—if you know how to prepare. Many lawyers either believe their firm has no saleable value, or wildly overestimate what someone would pay. The reality? Your law firm’s value is entirely market-driven, not based on your hopes.
Even for those who think, “I’ll never sell—I’ll do this forever,” Thomas Tona offers a candid warning. Life has a way of forcing your hand, whether due to health issues, burnout, or changing priorities. As Darren Wurz puts it, “At some point, someone’s going to come knocking, whether it’s the Grim Reaper or somebody else.” It’s crucial to prepare, not just for your sake, but for your family’s future and your clients’ well-being.
Tip:
Start thinking about succession planning today, regardless of your timeframe. Protect your legacy and your loved ones and ensure that your firm can run successfully without you.
From Owner-Dependent to Scalable Asset
If a law firm depends on you to function, it has little value to a buyer. Thomas Tona built his firm from the ground up and now employs over 40 people, including a CEO and high-level managers. His secret? He focused early on eliminating “owner dependence.”
He points out: “If I’m the hero, there’s no value to somebody else.” The most successful law firm owners put the right systems and people in place, making the firm a “machine” that can run—and grow—without their constant involvement.
Action Steps:
Prioritize hiring top talent who can operate independently.
Invest in both people and technology; they work together to create sustainable growth.
Document your processes and set clear expectations—systems add value.
The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Build with the End in Mind
Both Darren Wurz and Thomas Tona stress the importance of treating your law firm as a business, not just a profession. Thomas Tona is passionate about “the business of law”—not just practicing law. Scaling a firm means evolving beyond lawyering and becoming a true entrepreneur.
He shares: “Entrepreneurialism is something I think you’re either born for or you’re not. I always knew I wanted to build a business.” The ability to delegate, hire well, and step back from day-to-day legal work is what creates freedom down the line.
Growth Mindset Takeaways:
Focus on the business, not just on being the best practitioner.
Bring in specialists when needed—don’t try to do it all yourself.
Allow your ambitions to shift as your firm matures. Burnout is real; plan for it by building support and systems.
Financial Habits That Lead to Lasting Wealth
Many law firm owners fall into the trap of letting their lifestyle grow at the same pace as their income. This can lead to being rich on paper but cash-poor and overleveraged. Thomas Tona’s approach instilled early by his father is one every high-income earner should adopt: Invest consistently, avoid lifestyle inflation, and know your relationship with money.
He says, “I save and invest everything. I don’t believe in keeping up with the Joneses.” Instead of expensive cars and status symbols, he values experiences, freedom, and peace of mind.
Smart Wealth-Building Habits for Law Firm Owners:
Automate investments before the money hits your account.
Don’t tether your self-worth to what you own—real wealth is what you don’t see.
Measure your wealth in terms of freedom: the ability to decide how, when, and with whom you spend your time.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls: The Cautionary Tales
Many lawyers watch their firms collapse as partners age without systems or leverage, relying entirely on their own billable hours. As Thomas Tona notes, “Golden handcuffs are still handcuffs.” He’s learned from both positive mentors and negative examples—those who never delegated, never saved, and ultimately left little behind.
Protect your legacy:
Be proactive in building a business that serves your life—not one that consumes it.
What’s Next for Ambitious Firm Owners?
Whether you’re looking to sell your firm, bring in new leadership, or simply create more freedom, the steps are the same:
Get serious about succession planning
Scale smart—systems, people, and technology
Practice sound financial habits
Always build with the end in mind
If you want support from experts who understand the legal business inside and out, connect with The Lawyer Millionaire team. We help law firm owners turn their firms into valuable assets that support their life goals—not the other way around.
Resources:
Book: The Science of Scaling: Grow Your Business Bigger and Faster Than You Think Possible by Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Book: Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh
Connect with Darren Wurz:
Connect with Thomas Tona:
Linkedin: Thomas Tona
Website: Tona Law
Bio: Thomas Tona
About Thomas Tona:
Thomas Tona is the Founder & CEO of Tonalaw. He has over 30 years of experience as a New York State trial attorney, with a career concentration in Plaintiff’s Personal Injury & No-Fault Collections. For the last 23 years, he has cemented his firm’s culture and reputation for excellence, with the consistent pursuit of the firm's vision of "Fighting for Injured New Yorkers and the Healthcare Providers Who Treat Them". In addition, he personally manages all of the high-stakes Personal Injury cases involving traumatic brain injuries, wrongful death, catastrophic injuries, falls, trucking accidents, and automobile accidents.
Darren Wurz [00:00:00]:
What separates entrepreneurial law firm owners from the rest isn't how hard they work, it's how they think about their futures.
Darren Wurz [00:00:07]:
All right, my friend. We are excited to be joined today by Thomas Tona of Tona Law Firm. I'm really excited to have you on the show today. Welcome.
Thomas Tona [00:00:18]:
Thanks, Darren. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Darren Wurz [00:00:20]:
Yeah, you know, I've been seeing your stuff on LinkedIn and you've built a great law practice. So really excited for today's conversation and to get into the nitty gritty of what's been successful for you and, you know, how you've built your law practice and how you're thinking about the future. I know one topic that you're really passionate about lately has been succession planning, and we've talked on the show about succession planning before. You know, having gone through some of that yourself and having talked with a lot of law firm owners, what would you say is the biggest myth that you hear in the industry about succession planning?
Thomas Tona [00:00:59]:
Probably the one I hear most frequently is you can't sell a law practice. Right. Either people don't think there's value there or that it can't be done.
Darren Wurz [00:01:11]:
Yeah, yeah, I love that one. And I've encountered that a lot. You know, it seems to me, I get. I get that one a lot. I also get some folks who are a little bit maybe too optimistic about how much they could get for their law practice, but definitely hear that one a lot. Is that something that you thought when you started to kind of look into the idea of succession planning?
Thomas Tona [00:01:36]:
For me, no. I've always been entrepreneurial, and I think if you're entrepreneurial, you always build with the exit in mind. Oh, yes. So I'm a huge fan of that. But then probably the number one and a half that I'd say is the most frequently repeated myth is what you said, which is, oh, my firm is worth X. And X is clearly a multiple that you're not going to see unless you're a platform law firm that, you know, hedge funds are looking at and you've got to be making, you know, tons and tons of money and have operations and systems all sewn up. So there's that wide disparity of you can't do it and then, oh, I can do it and I want this much. What you want is irrelevant.
Thomas Tona [00:02:29]:
Right. It's really, what's the market going to bear?
Darren Wurz [00:02:32]:
Absolutely. That's why I'm so passionate about helping law firm owners build wealth outside of their law firm. It's a nice bonus to get definitely down the road. One of the pushbacks that I see a lot from law firm owners is they think, well, I'm. I don't ever want to sell my law firm. I'm just going to do this forever. So what do I need to do? Succession planning for it? Right.
Thomas Tona [00:02:57]:
That's insane. That's insane because. Because you get sick, you get older, and maybe it's just the phase that I'm at in my life. But, you know, a lot of the law practice owners that I mastermind with and all of that, we're all around that age bracket and I know people that have successfully exited and they don't regret it. Right. So, you know, to say you never want to do it, at some point someone's going to come knock, and whether it's the Grim reaper or somebody else, and you'll be forced to sell, I.
Darren Wurz [00:03:33]:
Think that is something that law firm owners are afraid of, that they will. That they will regret it, that they will not have anything to look forward to. Let me ask you a little bit about your succession plan. Is there a definitive timeline or you just have the pieces in place? What does it look like for you?
Thomas Tona [00:03:54]:
I have the pieces in place, and right now we're kind of. Again, I'm doing succession planning. Once every two weeks, I meet with somebody who's kind of helping me figure out the. What does it look like after the fact. Right. Of if you were to sell, what would that look like? If you were to transfer ownership either internally to a successor or externally to an, you know, a. A successor? There's a lot of M and A going on in the space right now.
Darren Wurz [00:04:23]:
Yeah.
Thomas Tona [00:04:25]:
And I think the lawyers that don't prepare are either going to get run over by it or they're going to miss the boat. Right. It's that two extremes again. Right. If you put your head down, you're like, I'm just going to be the best attorney ever, and I'm not going to prepare for succession and I'm not going to look at AI. Then you'll just get run over by what is going to happen in the market. Because the market doesn't care. Right.
Thomas Tona [00:04:52]:
The market just unforgiving that way. It doesn't care.
Darren Wurz [00:04:55]:
Absolutely. Yeah. So just for context, tell us a little bit about kind of the size and scope of your practice. And how did you start this whole thing?
Thomas Tona [00:05:06]:
I started like everybody else. I started with a laptop, and then my first hire was a. Probably a legal secretary. If I was accurately assessing what the skill sets were at the beginning of my practice and I scaled it. We're at 40 people now. We are looking to continue scaling and we're bringing in some new business model stuff for 2026. I have my first executive H, who's a CEO and he's been fantastic. I have high level operators throughout the organization at the management level.
Thomas Tona [00:05:43]:
So for me, it's finally, I finally got all the pieces in place.
Darren Wurz [00:05:48]:
Yeah.
Thomas Tona [00:05:49]:
Of all the pain points I had that I couldn't figure out on my own.
Darren Wurz [00:05:53]:
Yeah, yeah. Now that is the size of law firm you can sell and there is a size factor. It's hard to sell a solo practice, but if you have scaled and built it, now you have the machine. You have a machine that someone easily can step in, they can buy. It's kind of running on its own. That's a great place to be. So you've solved the number one problem, which is owner dependence. Right, right.
Thomas Tona [00:06:19]:
And I knew early on from some of my other coaching sessions that I was in was if I'm the hero, there's no value to somebody else. Right. There's a matter of fact now when I talk to people and they're like, oh, I've got a business because I'm looking to acquire as well. And when I talk to them and they're like, I have a business and it generates this much, and I go, okay, how many attorneys do you have? Oh, none. I'm like, that's, that's a yellow flag right out of the gate. Because now I know I gotta build this for leverage, which means for every 150 files, I need a pod, which includes an attorney, a paralegal, a legal assistant. And I know what that's going to cost me in New York. Right.
Thomas Tona [00:06:59]:
Or wherever. Right. Wherever you go, there's a cost to that. So all of a sudden, now it's going to open up the conversation of, well, is it really worth 3 or 4 million when I have to deduct out things that you weren't deducting out, like, yeah. An additional pot of salaries.
Darren Wurz [00:07:16]:
Absolutely. Yeah. Now, you said you've always been very entrepreneurial. Is this something that you were thinking about when you started your law practice or did it kind of evolve?
Thomas Tona [00:07:29]:
I was always thinking about it as a business. I, I heard the E Myth. I think I opened in 2001. By 2004, I heard the E Myth revisited. I started coaching with a group that, that was kind of their mantra was build it like a business. Build it like a business. And it just really resonated with me. So for me, that's now my passion point though, like the business of law.
Thomas Tona [00:07:55]:
Whereas I have excellent lawyers that work for me. They can handle any type of case. That's not my passion. So I want to let them stay in their lane. I stay in my lane. There's not a lot of overlap. We talk a lot of strategy about cases. But yeah, it's not really where my passion is, is not working on the litigation and the strategy and the trials.
Darren Wurz [00:08:17]:
You know, I feel that, I feel like as you grow, as you get older, your passion changes a little bit. You know, when you're young, if you feel like you can do this forever, but you reach a certain point where you start to like, you reach that burnout point and you need additional support. It's, it's, it's not sustainable to, to work at that pace long term like that. I've felt that way in my own business, right.
Thomas Tona [00:08:44]:
Unless you limit it to like a number of cases. But what I found is running the law firm the right way, that's a full time job. That's a real life, full time job. And so like, I'm always, I, I always tell people, like, I don't know many people that can do both. I know one or two people that do it excellent. But they're really, really rare. Really, really rare.
Darren Wurz [00:09:08]:
100%. So, okay, so you started this in when, 2000-2001-2001-2001 into today. So over 25 years, you, you built and scaled and grew. That's really incredible. Where do you think your entrepreneurial nature came from?
Thomas Tona [00:09:27]:
I always joke around like, I was a born entrepreneur. So, like, I don't know that it's something that you learn. Entrepreneurialism is something I think you're either born for or you're not. And you might be able to learn, but I don't know, like, so I, I, in, I want to say middle school, I started selling things, right? My, okay, my. One of my family members came home from a bowling night with a hundred pins that had a slogan on them. Like they would say I'm cute or whatever it is. Actually it said I'm hot. Two words.
Thomas Tona [00:10:08]:
So I took that bag of 100 pins and I sold them for a buck a piece. Made my first hundred bucks. And I was like, hey, can you get me more pins? Right? And then I just, from there I was like, selling comes natural. All of life is sales in the way I look at things. And so I was always entrepreneurial. I knew I wanted to build a business. I'm probably A better owner than I am a employee.
Darren Wurz [00:10:37]:
Yeah. Yeah. What do you really enjoy most now about the position you're in of leading and owning and orchestrating the firm? What really lights you up at this stage?
Thomas Tona [00:10:51]:
I love getting up every day and solving challenges. But it's also I keep thinking about the people component, because what we do is people driven. It's not selling a product. Right. So I'm trying to scale caring, hospitality and that client experience. And so I love the idea also of figuring out for each individual seat in the organization what makes people really light up, like you said. Yeah. You can imagine for lawyers, they get burnt out.
Thomas Tona [00:11:25]:
How do I avoid that for lawyers that love lawyering? And I find the biggest thing is hiring really, really good lawyers and then leaving them alone. I don't micromanage them at all. They're super experienced, and all they want is autonomy. They just want the autonomy to be left alone, work the cases, make a lot of money. Right. So I want to provide that opportunity to them as well. And so that kind of lights me up. Every day there's a new challenge.
Thomas Tona [00:11:57]:
You get up and you try to figure out the moving pieces.
Darren Wurz [00:12:01]:
Yeah. It's so fun. You know, when. I don't know, maybe this was your experience, maybe not. But when I started my business, that's all I wanted to do. I wanted to work with clients. I just wanted to go somewhere and work with clients. And the economy wasn't great at the time.
Darren Wurz [00:12:17]:
There weren't a lot of opportunities, so I just hung out my own shingle and started my own thing. And now what is so rewarding? I think one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do is to be able to create that opportunity for others. Like, there's a place for my planners that work for me. You can come here, get paid. You don't have to worry about sales and marketing. You just come here and you do good work and just own it. It's so fun.
Thomas Tona [00:12:44]:
Do you find the same and yeah. And so what I love about it is, like, I said something that, you know, along the lines of, I'm a better owner than I am an employee. But that being said, what I've tried to do, like, I know especially in personal injury, lawyers are very independent and they should be. Right. So what I want to do is create, like, an intrapreneur type of opportunity for them where the sky's the limit. You know, the harder you grind, the harder you work, the more cases you put to bed, you bring in, the more money you make. I don't want to put a cap on what they make. So I'm always encouraging of what matters to the other person.
Thomas Tona [00:13:27]:
Like you said, creating those opportunities as long as people see them for the opportunities that they are.
Darren Wurz [00:13:33]:
Yeah, let's talk about the people. Because right now there's such a push to maximize efficiency with AI and outsourcing and just striving for the lowest cost, the lowest possible cost of getting work done. But at the same time, I really feel like, you know, maybe that's not the goal. The people are so valuable and surrounding yourself in your business with really incredible people will still be really valuable. What do you think about that?
Thomas Tona [00:14:11]:
I think these iterations you go through when you're younger. Right. As a guy who's 57, my beard is much grayer than yours. I don't know how old you are, Darren, but. But the iteration I'm at in my life now is, and I just had this conversation with a PI attorney that's a friend of mine, is when you hire really high level A players, they do the work of three to 10 people, especially given AI tools. Right. And they typically are worth their weight in gold. So when you're first starting out a law firm, you're going to say, oh, I want to pay something like X.
Thomas Tona [00:14:49]:
Right. But then you're hiring three lawyers at that salary to do the work of one A player, really high level attorney. I'd rather just pay the big price tag. I'm not afraid of those price tags. And what I found is two things happen. One, let's say you're paying that much higher price tag, you're going to get the work of three people. And even though it's a little stressful, if you've never done it, here's what I find. If you get over your own fear and you do it, all the pressure shifts to the person who took the job.
Thomas Tona [00:15:27]:
It's off for you once they start because now they've got to produce and you got to just be clear on what you expect. Right. And so they do do the work. They do step and they find ways to make themselves valuable. Day two, not day 90. Right. It doesn't take 90 days to find an A player. So for me, you don't need as many of the right people.
Thomas Tona [00:15:52]:
Sure, right. So I'm a big fan of having the right A players along with the right technology. That's an unbeatable formula. So yeah, I think that technology and efficiency is great, but you still need people to run the efficiency, run the machine and deal with the Clients and get the results right. So, yeah, people are indispensable. They are the organization.
Darren Wurz [00:16:21]:
Yeah, they are. They are the thing. And there's. There's so much power in bringing on that a player. They are going to benefit you in so many ways. One of the. The biggest struggle, I think, is hiring that first person. It's so scary.
Thomas Tona [00:16:38]:
Well, you got to get over the fear of that price tag. But, yeah, here's how I got there. I was like, I need somebody to do what I can do.
Darren Wurz [00:16:47]:
Yeah.
Thomas Tona [00:16:48]:
Now write down on a piece of paper what you think you would take a job at. I guarantee you there's not a one, there's not a two in front of that number. So what makes you think you're going to find an A player unless you pay like a. Players deserve to be paid. So I got over that very quickly because I was like, oh, wait a minute. I would never take a job knowing my skill set and what I can bring to an organization. Why would I ever take a job that didn't allow me to make X Year one? Right. So, yeah, it's fear, right? It's.
Thomas Tona [00:17:22]:
It's where an organization will cap out is the owner's mindset and the ceiling that the owner subconsciously or consciously sets on the organization. If you say you want somebody to replace you, but you put $100,000 price tag on it, that either says you're not that valuable or you're not looking at it the right way.
Darren Wurz [00:17:42]:
Interesting.
Thomas Tona [00:17:43]:
That's a.
Darren Wurz [00:17:43]:
That's a great way of putting that. That's. That's reflective of the value you put on yourself in that role.
Thomas Tona [00:17:50]:
Right?
Darren Wurz [00:17:51]:
Yeah, that's. That's really powerful. You know, looking back, did you think that this was inevitable, building to this stage? I mean, like Warren Buffett, if you, you know, he said in an interview once, he's like, you know, Charlie Munger and I always knew we were going to be really, really rich like that. They just knew they were on that trajectory. Or did this growth kind of surprise you?
Thomas Tona [00:18:16]:
No, I kind of knew. I knew that I was going to build. I like the act of building. So, like, I know the theme of your podcast is money, right? The name is millionaire. Millionaire Attorney. Millionaire Attorney. A millionaire Lawyer.
Darren Wurz [00:18:28]:
Lawyer. Millionaire Lawyer.
Thomas Tona [00:18:30]:
Millionaire. Sorry, I got it backwards. The lawyer millionaire. So, you know, I. I always knew that I like to build, but my. You got to understand your relationship with money. So for me, for me, money is just a green paper. It's just a score.
Thomas Tona [00:18:47]:
It's a way of scorekeeping. Did I Win? Did I lose? Did I, Was it a push? Right. And if it was a push, I look at my time and go, well, was it really a push or did I lose time on this, this, Right. And how much time? I'm willing to risk some time for certain things, but I know my relationship with money. I don't look at it the same way. I don't have a scarcity mindset. I believe that there's a ton of abundance in the world and a ton of opportunity. Right.
Thomas Tona [00:19:17]:
It's just how each individual relates to money.
Darren Wurz [00:19:25]:
Your relationship with money is so critical. It's something that we talk with law firm owners a lot about one of the biggest struggle points I see and why I'm so passionate about this concept of building wealth outside the business. A lot of law firm owners are great at cash flow. They build this great business that generates great cash flow, but there's no cushion. They're on razor thin margins, right. They've, they've built the million dollar house, they have the huge car payments, they're maxing out their credit cards and their lifestyle keeps growing with their revenue. And so that makes it really challenging because, you know, the bigger your lifestyle is, the more money you're going to have to set aside. If you ever want to say, peace out, I want to do something different.
Darren Wurz [00:20:15]:
And you almost become trapped and enslaved to the law practice and to the business. You have to grow the business. It's. It's really a tough place to be. And scaling back is so much harder than scaling up your lifestyle. Has that ever been a struggle for you again?
Thomas Tona [00:20:38]:
For me, no. But I. My father, you know, when he passed away, he passed away and left my mom in a really great place because he was always. He drilled into me, saving and investing, investing and saving, right? So like I look at as a car, I'm not a car guy. And I look at it and go, I don't know of any other thing I can own that. The minute I own it, I'm losing money. So like, for me, it rubs me the wrong way. I still drive a 2017 Jeep that's been paid off since 2017 because it gets me from point A to point B.
Thomas Tona [00:21:17]:
But I also, like, you have to know yourself when it comes to knowing money. Right. So I think it comes down to I'm a big fan of personality tests. I took a disc test with motivators and I have a very, you know, my look of my view of money is very utilitarian, which means as long as there's a roof over my head and I'm dry and I'm warm. I don't care. Right. I'm not emotionally attached to real estate or things. I like nice clothes and I like to eat good food and I don't like to stay in cheap hotels or fly cheap.
Thomas Tona [00:21:54]:
But I also, I save and invest everything. I don't believe in keeping up with the Joneses. I could care less what a. What car somebody drives. Matter of fact, for me, sometimes when I see a fancy car, I know 50% of those people can't afford it.
Darren Wurz [00:22:14]:
Yeah.
Thomas Tona [00:22:15]:
In my head I go, some of the. Some of the toughest spots I've seen people are in are because they've driving a car they can't afford in a house they can't afford. And so golden handcuffs are still handcuffs nonetheless. And so I'm not a big fan of the lifestyle creep thing that occurs. So I, I'm a fan of set it and forget it. Like contribute to your 401k. Contribute to your whatever instruments you know, that you would put somebody in.
Darren Wurz [00:22:46]:
Yeah.
Thomas Tona [00:22:46]:
Before the money hits your account so you don't even think about it.
Darren Wurz [00:22:50]:
Important. Yes. Have you ever read the Psychology of Money?
Thomas Tona [00:22:54]:
Well, it's funny that you say that. Somebody else just talked about that book. And I literally just downloaded it to my Kindle, I want to say, last week. So I'm in the process. I'm going to be starting that book next.
Darren Wurz [00:23:07]:
You will love it. We read it last year or this year, the beginning of this year in our book club. He tells a great story about this guy who kept showing up at the restaurant, I forget, in some kind of fancy car, Lamborghini or something like that. And then one day showed up in a completely different car, you know, some old beater. And it's like, what happened? Because what we see the wealth, and the point is wealth is what you don't see. And so often we confuse what we see with actual wealth. And that's a very difficult thing for people to. To understand.
Darren Wurz [00:23:48]:
There's a corollary, I think, another book he wrote later, I think it's the same author, is the Art of Spending Money. So, you know, sometimes people like you, who we've worked with have the opposite problem. They retire with lots of money. Yeah. I have to tell them, you need to spend something.
Thomas Tona [00:24:09]:
Right, right, right. I'm not a spender at all. And look, I like experiences. So if I'm going to buy something, do I take nice vacations? I do. Right. And. And I use that also as a test for my Business. Can I leave for a month and go to Europe and come back and we've made more money? That means my systems are valuable to a potential buyer.
Thomas Tona [00:24:29]:
If I can't do that. And a lot of people like, I would never do that. I'm like, well, I know when I die, I did what I wanted to do. You do what you want to do. I don't care. Like, I don't feel. I don't want to feel like the most important person in my law firm. I want to feel like the most important person in my family.
Thomas Tona [00:24:46]:
Right. So for me, real wealth is, can I do what I want when I want, with who I want, say no to anything I don't want to do or spend time with who I don't want to spend time with, or whatever. I want that freedom. And that's always been my ultimate goal. Freedom and security for my family.
Darren Wurz [00:25:05]:
We say that on this show, the ultimate form of wealth is freedom. And having, you know, lots of things can sometimes be diminishing to your freedom.
Thomas Tona [00:25:18]:
Absolutely, absolutely.
Darren Wurz [00:25:21]:
Start signing up for bills that you have to pay.
Thomas Tona [00:25:24]:
Right, right. And they call it trappings of wealth for a reason. Right. Like, yes. You know, when you can buy anything and you don't, that's kind of real freedom. Anything you want to buy. And I see people make that mistake all the time in a lot of different spaces. Right?
Darren Wurz [00:25:44]:
Yeah.
Thomas Tona [00:25:44]:
I have a friend who sold a perfectly good truck, got a much more expensive truck, and a driver, and I'm like, what the. Why did you need a driver at this point? Like, you have to. In my mind, you got to be worth $500 million before you can't drive yourself or get a Tesla for $60,000. That drives you around. Right. So look, to each his own. I don't care. It's not my money.
Thomas Tona [00:26:07]:
But I look at it like, I also look at signals when I pull up to do a deal. Like, if I'm going to look at real estate, I love real estate. I told you that. I think in our pre interview conversation, the guy in the room that looks the sloppiest is typically the guy that's got the most money in my mind. And I've been a lot of real estate closings, a lot of deal making. Like, I don't want to wear a tie anymore. So I don't. But, you know, I do like nice suits.
Thomas Tona [00:26:37]:
Because in our space, you know, you still have to go to court. I mean, I, I'm not in court anymore, but I still have to deal with lawyers and I Still have to deal with team members. So I do like nice clothes. But that being said, you can get a custom made suited suit supply or you can pay twice as much to have somebody come to your office, right?
Darren Wurz [00:26:55]:
Yeah.
Thomas Tona [00:26:56]:
So go to suit supply. Go, you know, get in a car for half an hour.
Darren Wurz [00:26:59]:
Yeah. It all goes back to that concept of what we see versus what we don't see. And it's very tricky that way. You mentioned your dad was a great influence for you in teaching you the value of saving and investing. What have been some other really, really big personal or mentors or influences for you along the way in your journey?
Thomas Tona [00:27:22]:
I mean, I would say he was the biggest, but I could tell you the anti influences. You know, coming up in a, in a five partner law firm, always new cars, they were all partners. They had no leverage built in the firm. And so what ended up happening is that firm collapses down to like one, two partners and two paralegals at the end of the day. And that's a very common story because they don't build with leverage in mind. So they still did all the work. They were doing the, you know, I get $400 an hour, I'm like, but you're still doing the work. Right.
Thomas Tona [00:28:00]:
So you're trading time for money versus leverage. Right. So for me, I've always been willing to go to the stretch of comfortability to leverage myself appropriately because I don't want to have to be the one doing the thing. I am passionate about getting up every day and building an organization that's growing, that runs without me. And that's always been my focal point. So it's just different. So the anti mentors or the anti influencers were the ones that never delegated, never built leverage in their firm. And I was like, that's a cautionary tale.
Thomas Tona [00:28:39]:
Lived on high credit card debt and died penniless.
Darren Wurz [00:28:43]:
Yep.
Thomas Tona [00:28:43]:
Which is a shame if you're the name partner of a law firm. What are you building this for, you know?
Darren Wurz [00:28:50]:
Yeah, yeah. But it happens. It really does.
Thomas Tona [00:28:52]:
It happens all the time.
Darren Wurz [00:28:54]:
All the time for sure. Well, Thomas, what are you really focused on right now in your law practice and what's next for you?
Thomas Tona [00:29:02]:
Scaling and blitz scaling. I'm fascinated with the idea of hyper growth in a compressed period of time. So there's a book that I'm just finishing up called Blitz Scaling. And then there was the Science of Scaling that I read by Dr. Ben Horny. A, I love to acquire knowledge and skills and B, these concepts make a lot of sense to me because the more things I get razor sharp on that I say no to, the more my focus goes where it's supposed to go. So I, you know, I, I have that typical entrepreneur add, adhd, whatever it is, it's undiagnosed, but I'm pretty sure I have it. And so what I do is I say I allow myself a certain amount of time to make whatever it is work or not work.
Thomas Tona [00:29:51]:
But I can't take my primary focus off the law firm. So my number one focus will always be the law firm and what I am scaling that to.
Darren Wurz [00:30:00]:
Yeah. Yeah, cool. Well, this has been a great conversation, Thomas. We're coming to the end here, but a lot of great nuggets in there for other law firm owners who are looking to scale and learn those cautionary tales ahead of time instead of by experience. Where can our audience go to learn more about you?
Thomas Tona [00:30:22]:
LinkedIn, I'd say is probably the biggest place. I'm pretty active on there and I love talking to lawyers and, you know, law related people. So that's probably a place I'd say.
Darren Wurz [00:30:33]:
Awesome. Well, we'll be sure to link that in the show notes and thanks so much for joining us. It's been great talking to you.
Thomas Tona [00:30:40]:
Awesome man, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it, Darren.
Darren Wurz [00:30:43]:
All right.
Darren Wurz [00:30:43]:
Huge thanks to Thomas Tona of Tona Law Firm for joining us today and sharing his perspective on building a firm with the end in mind. To connect with Thomas, check the show notes for the links now. Friend, here's why I love this topic so much. You know, I've seen too many law firm owners work incredibly hard, build successful practices, and yet still feel trapped because they never designed the business to function apart from them. The entrepreneurial shift that Thomas talks about, building with the end in mind even when you're not planning to leave, is one of the most powerful mindset changes in a law firm owner can make. And here at the Lawyer Millionaire, this is exactly what we help law firm owners do every day. Think like business owners, not just practitioners, so that their firm becomes an asset that supports their life instead of consuming it. If you're looking for a team to help you with this, check us out.
Darren Wurz [00:31:41]:
We'd love to partner with you. And if you're a law firm owner who wants access to these kinds of conversations, practical frameworks, and a community of other entrepreneurial law firm owners thinking at this level, I'd like to invite you to join the Lawyer Millionaire community. It's simple to get started and you'll find the link waiting for you in the show notes. Now remember, my friend, the ultimate form of wealth is freedom. I'm your host, Darren Wirtz. This is the lawyer millionaire. See you next time.