Marketing Mastery: K. L. Sanchez on Growing a Personal Injury Law Firm

Keetick Sanchez

Principal Attorney: K L Sanchez Law Office, P.C.

In this interview on the Law Firm Accelerator podcast, Keetick Sanchez, a successful personal injury attorney based in Queens, NY, shares insights into her rapid career growth and the unique strategies that have contributed to her success. She discusses the importance of effective SEO, leveraging social media, and engaging in community events to build a strong client base. Keetick emphasizes the value of being genuine and transparent with clients, catering to bilingual needs, and the benefits of continuous learning and networking. Her proactive approach, including offering internships and prioritizing quality marketing investments, highlights her commitment to both personal and professional growth while fostering strong community ties and maintaining professional relationships.

Your determination to succeed must be stronger than your fear of failure

- Keetick Sanchez

Principal Attorney: K L Sanchez Law Office, P.C.

Takeaways

01
Community Engagement: Involvement in community events enhances visibility and client connections.
02
Client Transparency: Honest communication with clients about their cases is essential for building trust.
03
Staff Development: Offering growth opportunities to staff fosters loyalty and enhances firm operations.
04
Personal Branding: Being visible in the community and maintaining a genuine presence boosts client trust.
05
Reputation Management: Maintaining a good reputation within the legal community ensures long-term success.
06
Networking: Building relationships with other attorneys and community leaders opens up collaboration opportunities.
07
Client Education: Educating clients about the legal process helps manage their expectations and improves satisfaction.
08
Client Feedback: Actively seeking and incorporating client feedback improves service quality.
09
Flexible Work Environment: Providing flexibility and support for staff’s personal needs increases job satisfaction and retention.
10
Mentorship: Offering guidance and support to young lawyers fosters goodwill and strengthens professional networks.

Viktoria Altman (00:00)
Welcome to the Law Firm Accelerator. Hi, Keetick, it’s so nice to have you here.

Keetick Sanchez (00:04)
Thank you for having me, Viktoria. How are you?

Viktoria Altman (00:06)
I’m good, how are you?

Keetick Sanchez (00:08)
I’m okay, not too bad for a Monday, you know, back from a long weekend.

Viktoria Altman (00:11)
for a fun day. Yeah, it was July 4th weekend. So I, we, you and I have worked together for quite a few years. And the reason why I wanted to have you on the podcast, because you actually have a really cool and unique story in that you started your own practice just a couple of years after law school in probably what is one of the hardest areas in the country, New York City personal injury attorney. And you’ve become very successful very quickly. And I would love to learn more about some of your secrets and how it happened that you succeeded where so many others have failed. So could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your practice first?

Keetick Sanchez (00:54)
Yeah, sure. As you know, my name is Keetick Sanchez, born and raised in New York. I’m an owner of my own law firm that handles, as you mentioned, personal injury cases here in Jackson Heights. I also opened an office in Long Island and hopefully opening one soon before the end of the year, either in the Bronx or uptown Manhattan. Thank you.

Viktoria Altman (01:15)
Wow, yeah. You’re always impressive. So why your own law firm? Why New York City? Why personal injury? Like, did you just, were you like, I’m just going to do the hardest thing possible? Like, you know, just a few years after graduating law school? Is that how you approach this?

Keetick Sanchez (01:33)
I guess I love a challenge maybe. I don’t know. So my background professionally, I’ve been in the personal injury world since out of high school almost. I was a freshman in college. I started as a file clerk and I learned the ropes up until going to law school. And I tell everyone that asked me why did I open my firm is because I always wanted my name on the door.

Viktoria Altman (01:55)
Mm -hmm.

Keetick Sanchez (01:55)
and I have my name on the door now. So that’s one of the reasons I branched out in PI because I have the experience in it and I wanted to give one I’m a woman and one I’m a minority woman right I’m Latina so I wanted to help clients that look like me, that speak my language, because unfortunately the personal injury world is male dominated. But here I am coming in kicking butt. And there’s a lot of other women, which is great as well. But that’s one of the reasons I wanted to jump into this area of law.

Viktoria Altman (02:20)
Okay, so do you have a lot of clients who feel more comfortable in Spanish rather than English?

Keetick Sanchez (02:37)
The majority of my clients are Spanish speaking and they do feel comfortable that they’re able to communicate with me directly without the need of a translator or interpreter. So, and we also have that connection which sometimes lacks when there’s an interpreter involved.

Viktoria Altman (02:45)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah, I would imagine so. How do you market yourself? This is a marketing podcast. So what is it that you do? What is the magic that you do, Keetik, that gets you to be seen in New York City? That was a sunfall.

Keetick Sanchez (02:58)
I’m sorry, first I have to say you, right? You and I’m not going to say this but honestly you are like the best money I spent. Like you said we’ve been working together from the beginning.

And you were with me from the beginning, right? You helped me grow my practice with your help. I’ve gotten to where I am, thank God, and I’m hoping to grow even more. And again, I’m not getting paid to say this, everyone. This is my audition. But yeah, so that’s SEO. Google, I want to say about.

Viktoria Altman (03:32)
I’ll pay you later.

Keetick Sanchez (03:41)
90 % of my clients have found me on Google, which is, you know, what the use of your services. Other ones is marketing, is social media. I do my own reels and posts and, you know, because I still want to have the connection with the community. So they see me and my staff in the videos. Also, I do a lot of community events, right? I’m out in the community so people could get to know me, you know, my firm and my staff and what services we provide.

Viktoria Altman (03:50)
Mmm.
Yeah, I would say in that sense, you are very unique for many of my clients. I would say you do way more community events than anybody, than even anybody I’ve ever heard of. You are constantly posting Zumba and you’re doing, you know, donations and you’re doing like, you do so much. Is this something that comes naturally to you or are you doing this to…
you know, because you feel like this is a good presence. What is the reason to do this?

Keetick Sanchez (04:35)
It’s a little bit of both. I like community outreach. I’ve always been in that. Even in my younger years, I was into sports. When I got too old for sports, I coached. So I like helping out my community. Also, it helps exposure, right? They now know who I am. I give back to community. In addition to that, I give them my card, my keychain with my information. So God forbid they do need a lawyer sometime. They now know someone that’s familiar.

Viktoria Altman (05:01)
Yeah, and it’s super helpful because they see your name in person, then they see your name on Google, then they see your name on social media, and so they’re familiar with you. It’s not like they just see you on Google, and I think that’s why you have such good conversions, because you are out there, and it’s a unique strategy. How do you find all these community events? Is there like, do you have a technique for which ones you go to?

Keetick Sanchez (05:17)
Yes, so I have some that I do my own, right? I have my own like annual Halloween event that’s literally right outside my office that I do myself. I’ve done the annual Easter head con that I booked a place in Flushing Meadow Park for kids to come and play. Again, exposure, which helps. Other events are from community leaders or community members or word of mouth from other attorneys like, look, I’m doing this. Do you want to join? So that’s very important to know, to have those connections with other people because opportunities always presents themselves.

Viktoria Altman (05:56)
Do you go out there and meet attorneys as well? Are you doing that kind of taping networking?

Keetick Sanchez (06:04)
Yes, I do meet other lawyers, even other PI lawyers. It’s always good to know people. I meet other doctors as well, individuals. Anyone could get involved in a car accident. Anyone could get hurt in any type of accident. So anyone you meet, even when I take a taxi cab, I talk to the driver. I’m like, hey, by the way, I’m a lawyer. Here’s my car. God forbid you get into an accident. You know me now. We try to be friendly with these people. And that’s one thing I’ve learned.

Viktoria Altman (06:20)
Hmm, I’m sorry.

Keetick Sanchez (06:31)
from mentors and stuff. Like no matter who you are from a janitor to a CEO, you gotta treat them the same, treat them like a person. And that goes a long way. I’ve had clients come up and say, I met you. Speaking of taxi drivers, a taxi driver that had driven me like a year ago, he’s like, I had your card and I got rear -ended. Now he’s a client, right? So these little conversations could be memorable and they could be used in the future for potential clients.

Viktoria Altman (06:49)
Wow Yeah, you have a really good personality for that. See, I don’t usually talk to Uber drivers or taxi drivers. I’m sitting on my phone. But maybe I should start. Be like, hey, do you know any lawyers might need some marketing? I think it comes naturally to you, and that’s why it works for you. And you got to go with what works for your personality.

Keetick Sanchez (07:02)
you
Thank you.
You never know.

Viktoria Altman (07:23)
In addition to the community stuff, I know you’ve grown very quickly and I know we’ve seen lawyers come and go, even in the few years that we’ve worked together. What do you think it is that makes you different from all those other folks and people who are not as successful as you?

Keetick Sanchez (07:39)
You said it, right? Genuine. You know, I try to be genuine. I try to be honest with my clients.
You have to know the good and the bad. And this isn’t any relationships, right? So I even take this into my professional relationships with my clients saying, look, there’s lawyers out there that’s going to tell you your case is a million dollars yet has no idea what your injuries are. Right. That doesn’t work because at the end, the client is going to be upset. You lied to me, et cetera. I tell them, like, this is what you need to do. We take care of everything, but you have your homework, right? I need to be we have to work as a team. I think that’s where

Viktoria Altman (07:59)
Mm -hmm.

Keetick Sanchez (08:13)
And clients that I’ve resolved cases for have told me that they appreciated it because they know what they need to do to get to the finish line. So I think it’s the being genuine, honest, and actually really caring for the client and not just seeing them as dollar signs, which they are, ultimately, in my business mind. But as a lawyer, they’re also a client that’s been hurt. So I think that’s what.

Viktoria Altman (08:20)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah. Yeah.

Keetick Sanchez (08:39)
Luckily, Knock on Wood has been successful for me and that’s why I keep growing and I have a lot of repeat clients from like their family members, their partners, etc.

Viktoria Altman (08:48)
Yeah, yeah, it’s hard to find a good personal injury attorney. Now it’s funny because you think it’s easy, but like, you know, I have a relative who had a case and it’s just been, and she also went to somebody who speaks her language because she wanted to be able to communicate with them. And, yeah, it’s exactly, exactly that, you know, I don’t think she will ever refer anybody to that person because it just hasn’t been a great experience. And even though we have so many personal injury attorneys, bringing that extra caring can be helpful.

You know it doesn’t cost it doesn’t yeah first impression but i know you you also like give this good second and third and fourth impression and you know you really care about these people and you follow through with what you say you will so i think that makes a big difference yeah what does your what does your ideal client look like

Keetick Sanchez (09:19)
It’s like the first impressions.
My business money making side is a seriously injured one. My humane side is someone that’s going to be as transparent as I am, right? Because I’ve had, even before I opened my own firm, I worked at other firms. I was a paralegal for 20 plus years.

Viktoria Altman (09:37)
Do you have an ideal clients?
Hahaha
Mm -hmm.

Keetick Sanchez (09:58)
And we find out things that it’s too late to help them. So I tell my clients, tell me, I am like your new wife, girlfriend, mistress, whoever you’re honest to, I am her. I want you to tell me, sometimes people tell their wives, I’m sorry, or their partners or their husbands. So I’m like, whoever you tell the truth to, you’re a priest, that’s who I am.

Viktoria Altman (10:07)
Mm -hmm
Hahaha
Okay.

Keetick Sanchez (10:23)
Because if you tell me I could protect you, right? So that’s an ideal client that tells me everything. An ideal client is, again, a seriously injured one, but not even those. Even those that are not seriously injured, I try to help them. But yeah, so that’s like, I guess my perfect client. Everyone’s my perfect client. Whoever wants to stay home with me is my perfect client.

Viktoria Altman (10:41)
Well, that’s a good question. Is there any client you won’t take on or any client that you’ve fired that you feel is just, you know, it’s just not going to be a good fit for you?

Keetick Sanchez (10:53)
Really in the four years that I’ve been open, I haven’t fired any client. I haven’t dropped any client, thank God. But thinking if that might happen, someone that’s flat out lying, right? There’s been situations where clients, there’s fraudulent claims and we put a lot of time and effort in them and if they’re lying, we have to drop them or.

Viktoria Altman (11:05)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I’m sure that happens in personal injury people case up and all that stuff. Funny, I fire clients all the time, but you know, it’s a little bit of a different. I, you know, my business is very particular, you know, it’s like a marriage I have with these people, you know, they’re my clients for a long time, so I have to like them, you know.

Keetick Sanchez (11:21)
Yeah.

I’m sorry.
your business is more particular.
Exactly.

Viktoria Altman (11:38)
I know we spoke about your community events. Are there any marketing secrets that you would say you could pass on to the younger personal injury lawyers out there and maybe something that they could be doing?

You have to market yourself. Whatever, you know, I’m not a young buck anymore. I’m, you know, I’m not gonna say my age, but I hired someone that’s 20 years old and the things they know, I felt like a super senior citizen, right? So you have to be able to market to old age groups, right? So

Myself, I have you doing my SEO services. Social media, I have Facebook, which tends to be a little bit my age group. TikTok, which is more the like teenagers, 20 year olds are on that. So I have to market in all these different social media platforms because each platform kind of caters to different age groups. So those that are younger have to make sure they be marketing themselves to all type of individuals.

Viktoria Altman (12:44)
Do you have a TikTok presence? I’m so outdated, I don’t actually have a TikTok presence. Okay.

Keetick Sanchez (12:49)
I do, I do. So it’s a mix of like comic, cause TikTok is, you know, it’s TikTok. So some of my videos are comedic and others are informative, right? To kind of get, grab their individual’s attention. So yeah, so I have TikTok.

Viktoria Altman (12:56)
Yeah. Mm -hmm.

So is your 20 year old handling that?

Keetick Sanchez (13:09)
So I film them, right? So what I do with my firm, I’m like everything. I’m a lawyer, a business owner, social media marketer. Thank God I don’t have to do Google or anything that you do for me, thank God.

Viktoria Altman (13:38)
I’m sorry.

I’m sorry.

Keetick Sanchez (13:23)
So we do social media Fridays, like the last couple hours on the day. We do quick filming for the week. She does help me advance the ones. You could probably see the transition in my videos from the ones I posted from a year ago to now. It’s much better. I give myself credit that I’m learning. And that’s another thing I tell, I think, advice to your previous question about the younger generation. If you choose to go to the PI world,
Be a PI lawyer. There’s a lot of people that say they are and they aren’t. This is a practice you gotta keep learning and learn it to perfect it. Just keep at it. Dedicate what you really wanna do. Just don’t market it because you don’t really know what you’re doing. Like your family friend might have hired someone that doesn’t know PI that well. That’s why it’s taking longer. You can see when someone doesn’t know. Young ones, make sure you know what you’re doing. Ask for help.

Viktoria Altman (14:05)
Mmm.

Keetick Sanchez (14:17)
When I come across someone in their 20s graduating law school, I’m like, look, if you need anything, reach out to me. I could help you. Even though they might be a competitor one day, but when they do become successful, if they do, they see my name of a client that might change attorneys. They’re like, no, can seek help me out. I’m not going to take it. Let me call her. Let her know this client’s shopping around. It’s reputations. It matters.

Viktoria Altman (14:18)
you

Mmm.

Mm -hmm.

Hmm.

Keetick Sanchez (14:40)
those connections really do matter. Anyway, so going back to your question, I transgress.

Viktoria Altman (14:43)
Yeah, yeah, I really like, well, first of all, that’s very nice of you to help all these people out who are potentially competition. I think it makes sense in the long run. But I love the idea of social media Fridays.

Keetick Sanchez (14:55)
You

Viktoria Altman (14:56)
Because it does feel like making content for social media can be such a chore by naming it something fun and more importantly, put it on your schedule. That’s a great tip for folks who want to do it. And you know, that’s very good. Did you come up with that yourself or did you read that somewhere?

Keetick Sanchez (15:07)
Yeah.

I think I made it up myself because I found at one point, again, I guess I’m still a baby in the game a little bit. I’m only four years in, even though I have all this PI experience. But as my own business owner, I noticed that I was doing it maybe a little bit every day. It’s just taking too much time. So I blocked out. I like to block out times for everything. So I blocked out this time to do it.

Viktoria Altman (15:33)
Yeah, yeah, very, very good idea. Can you tell me what not to do when marketing?

Keetick Sanchez (15:40)
What not to do?

Viktoria Altman (15:42)
Everybody’s got a bad story.

Keetick Sanchez (15:44)
Yeah, what not to do?

Viktoria Altman (15:46)
But you don’t have a bad story because you came straight to me. So you never dealt with like a bad agency.

Keetick Sanchez (15:49)
Yes, yeah. It is. I think like don’t hire someone you don’t know. You were recommended to me and I got a good vibe with you, right? So I, it’s a big thing for me personally, but not to do. I would say.

Viktoria Altman (15:58)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Keetick Sanchez (16:09)
There’s a lot of, I get it all the time, even to this day, people from different countries saying they do this coding and I don’t know the terminology that’s your field, but all the stuff that you do on a probably a cheaper rate, sometimes cheaper is not always the right way to go, right? You’re here in the US, you and I converse. We’ve even met in person. So that is a good thing.

Viktoria Altman (16:19)
Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

Keetick Sanchez (16:35)
Yeah, so that’s something I prefer to have someone, that’s just my choice to someone I can actually see and speak to that I know they’re here and they know kind of what’s going on in New York or in the US. Another thing not to do is burn bridges, right? I’ve seen…

Viktoria Altman (16:39)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Mmm, it’s a good one.

Keetick Sanchez (16:51)
Unfortunately, it happened to me. I didn’t burn it. They burned me, right? I gave them opportunities and I found out they were doing stuff behind my back. And now this happened a couple of years ago, even before I opened my practice. And now they’re attorneys and they asked for my help. And I’m like, no. And I usually never say no. Right. So like burning bridges, like when you market yourself, be genuine. Don’t use people.

Viktoria Altman (16:55)
Mmm.

Mm -hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Keetick Sanchez (17:17)
I sound like a spiritual leader sometimes. Like, I hear myself, but it’s been good. Yeah, it’s been helped. It’s been worked for me, right? I think it’s been working out for me. So Don Burn Bridges, you always come, PI World is big, but small at the same time. Everybody knows each other all the time. Yeah.

Viktoria Altman (17:22)
I would join your cult.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that’s true. You keep running into the same people. Yeah, it’s very true. Yeah, that’s really good advice. Yeah, I’m glad you don’t have that many bad marketing experiences to share. Yeah, you bypass that whole thing. Because I get like people with like major PTSD coming to me, you know, I feel like, you know, they’re so stressed because they don’t know.

Keetick Sanchez (17:47)
No, like I said, I got you from the beginning, so I have it.

Viktoria Altman (18:00)
they weren’t in a good situation. It’s almost like a domestic violence situation. I have to be like, it’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. I mean, I get it. Because it’s, you know, the thing with marketing is like very few people understand what we do except us, you know. So you have to be able to trust somebody.

Keetick Sanchez (18:04)
Yeah, like Stockholm.
Yeah, like I don’t know what you I know what you do, but at the same time, I don’t but I trust you 100%. Like you asked me what about this? I’m like, whatever you want. Because like, again, you have that trust with each other, which is important.

Viktoria Altman (18:20)
Yeah. Yeah, but the same thing is when you hire a lawyer, you have to be able to trust them because I don’t know the law, like what the hell do I know? You know what I mean? And if I come to you and you screw me, of course I’m going to be afraid next time, you know? So, makes sense. I know you have some really good relationships with your staff and you have some really special people on your staff. And can you talk to me a little bit about how you hire them? You know, what is your approach to that?

Keetick Sanchez (18:55)
So luckily my staff have been blessed with great people. Speaking with other colleagues, I’ve heard horror stories. So when I first opened back in early…
Yeah, 2020, it’s open like October, 2018, a little bit before the pandemic. I have Jenny who started with me from the beginning and she’s like my right hand. She’s helped me out from day one. Then as we grew, we hired more staff. And The people I’ve hired has been recommendations from others. Like I post it online sometimes. I’m like, well, I’m looking for a receptionist or medical clerk, whatever the position might be. I’ve done, indeed, hiring as well. Not too happy with it. It was more word of mouth. I’ve gotten really lucky with the staff.

Viktoria Altman (19:39)
Mmm. Mmm.

Keetick Sanchez (19:42)
One of my most recent hires is actually someone I knew from law school. So it’s again, the connections I have, I already kind of know their personality. I feel like they might fit, so they jump forward.

Viktoria Altman (19:53)
So are you posting on social media that you’re looking for somebody? Are you contacting your old school? What network are you using for that? Because I know a lot of people struggle with this.

Keetick Sanchez (20:00)
So I have posted on, my success stories have been on social media. So like Jenny, I asked Jenny, can you post in your network? Cause she’s a parent, so she’s in like a lot of like groups. Cause I wanted someone that’s close to the office, right? So I don’t have commute issues. Cause we’re in person office. So it’s been, do that.

Viktoria Altman (20:12)
Hmm.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Keetick Sanchez (20:22)
But I have contacted my law school. Again, the law student that I hired, I’ve known them from law school. Yeah, I’m just thinking about everyone else. Yeah, everyone has been actually social media. Indeed was just not horror stories there.

Viktoria Altman (20:33)
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A few of my clients have told me the same, that the best source of hiring is really through somebody, you know, which is, you know, which is kind of crazy if you think about it, right? With today’s technology, you basically have to go outside on the corner and shout, hey, does anybody know a guitar are illegal? But here we are.

Keetick Sanchez (20:54)
Yep, exactly. No problem.

Viktoria Altman (20:57)
Thank you for sharing that. Speaking of students, now I understand that you have a job teaching at Queensborough, which is pretty impressive. And tell me more about that.

Keetick Sanchez (21:10)
Like I said, I like challenges. In addition to having my own firm, I’ve always had a passion for teaching. Like I mentioned earlier, I used to coach basketball when I stopped playing myself.

So yes, I am a professor at Queensborough Community College here in Queens. I teach criminal law, which is another section of my practice. It’s about, it’s a minority, majority, like I said, is personal injury, but I do handle criminal defense cases. So I teach that at Queensborough Community College to first year students.

Viktoria Altman (21:39)
That’s cool. So what is that like? Is it hard? Is it rewarding? Like, I mean, I would probably lose my cool all the time because I’ve encountered college freshmen before.

Keetick Sanchez (21:48)
You know, I’ve been lucky. Like, the first year I did it, the first semester, mind you, was tough because I had to create my lesson plan, my plan how to teach it and present it. But now that I’ve done it a few semesters, it’s quite enjoyable, right? Because it’s crim law. Everyone loves crim law. Law and order. My cousin Vinny, right?

Viktoria Altman (22:12)
Yeah.

Keetick Sanchez (22:14)
What’s the other one? I’m blanking out. Blue Bloods. There’s so many crime shows on TV, on movies, that everyone loves it. So it’s a very interesting topic. So my students are usually very engaged. Yeah.

Viktoria Altman (22:15)
Yeah, Yeah, yeah everyone loves it as long as they don’t have to like deal with the system from a side. That’s cool. Do you know if any of your students went on to become lawyers or plan on going to become lawyers?

Keetick Sanchez (22:31)
Yeah, as long as they’re not involved in that.

So most of them have said they do have an interest in law. They don’t say personal injury, but lawyer. They’re still young. They’re 18 -year -olds. So yeah, I tell them to keep in touch. I do offer my students summer internships. Last two summers, I did do a summer internship with some of my students, which was great. So give them exposure, which I didn’t have in high school. It wasn’t until college that I started learning about the legal world.

Viktoria Altman (22:50)
Okay. Yeah.

Yeah.

That’s a great idea. And I bet because I know in New York City, a lot of students who are college also work. Maybe some of those. But any of those become like part -time workers for you or.

Keetick Sanchez (23:19)
Well, so most of them have gone to college full time. It was just for the summer to kind of take them to court with me. Hopefully when they finish college they’ll keep in touch and if they’re going to go I wouldn’t mind hiring them.

Viktoria Altman (23:23)
I got you.

Yeah.

That’s a good way to network as well by teaching locally.

Keetick Sanchez (23:35)
Yes, I’ve met a lot of people. Everyone knows my social media handles from my classes. So again, it’s exposure.

Viktoria Altman (23:40)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, that’s a good amount of exposure because you have so many students and although students have families, God forbid something happens, they have Ms. Ketik Sanchez that they, yeah, good idea. See, you have good ideas for this kind of stuff. So, okay.

Keetick Sanchez (23:51)
Yeah. Yeah.

Thanks.

Viktoria Altman (24:01)
What advice would you give to a young law school graduate who is like, I don’t want to work for somebody else. I want to open my own successful law firm.

Keetick Sanchez (24:09)
I wish someone told me this and I still work with it, right? Fear is your worst enemy, right? We probably heard that before from other people more important than me. But fear is poison, right? I’ve been wanting to open my firm immediately right after law school because I had all this exposure to the PI world already, personal injury world.

But I was scared. I’m like, what if I can’t make it? What if I can’t do it? So I didn’t do it right away. An opportunity presented itself, and I took it. So your determination to succeed has to be much stronger than your fear of failing. It has to be a risk taker. No matter what happens, whatever is being thrown at you, you could manage it. You got through law school, which is hard enough.

Viktoria Altman (24:46)
Mmm.

Yeah.

Keetick Sanchez (24:59)
And God forbid, if it doesn’t work, you have other avenues. But I think you have to be willing to take that risk. And an opportunity doesn’t knock twice. When this opportunity presented itself to me, I ran with it. And no regrets ever since.

Viktoria Altman (25:13)
Yeah, I knew open during COVID when nobody was driving anywhere.

Keetick Sanchez (25:18)
I used to go home sometimes crying. I was like, my God, I just opened and this pandemic occurred. I’m like, how am I going to survive this? And thank God I’m here still growing and kicking butt.

Viktoria Altman (25:21)
You

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. So for PI lawyers who are located in a highly competitive area, is there any specific advice you would give them to try to stand out from the competition?

Keetick Sanchez (25:41)
If you speak a different language, cater to that. Hire someone like you, right? Someone you can talk to. Google is your best friend. Everyone Googles everything, right? You know this more than me.

Viktoria Altman (25:47)
Hahaha

Keetick Sanchez (25:56)
I Google everything myself. Google, best restaurant in Jackson Heights. I look it up. Best PI attorney in Jackson Heights. Thanks to you, I’m one of the top contenders there. So Google is so important. In order to make money, you have to spend money. So spend money on someone that’s good like you, doing the Google and the coding. I don’t know the terminology. In the background.

Viktoria Altman (26:00)
Yeah.

I’m sorry.

The stuff that I do.

Keetick Sanchez (26:26)
the stuff that you do, right? Yeah, so that’s, people are scared to spend money, but especially when you first open, but you have to. It’s an investment in yourself. You have to see, right? You’re not throwing money away. It’s an investing, you’re betting on yourself. It’s the best thing that you can do.

Viktoria Altman (26:35)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I knew a patient too. You like you knew right that it wasn’t going to happen right away. You know, I think I’m going to answer my own question and tell them to be a little bit patient because it doesn’t happen overnight. You know, you can’t just come in like somebody’s been doing it for 20 years and you come in and like within two, two months you can you be in them like it’s just it takes time.

Keetick Sanchez (26:48)
Yeah.

Absolutely.

You have to be realistic, right? PI, as you know, it’s a very highly competitive field. You know, I’m a solo practitioner and I have my own firm, but I’m competing with firms like, you know, huge firms that have thousands and thousands of lawyers. But again, you help me compete with them.

Viktoria Altman (27:16)
Yeah.

Keetick Sanchez (27:22)
Me being out in the community, me being genuine, me being really caring for my clients has helped me bring in multiple clients.

Viktoria Altman (27:30)
Yeah, well, you are certainly doing well. Couple more questions. So your community involvement, are there any interesting projects you’re working on? I know you do a lot of volunteer work, charity work, you do all kinds of stuff.

Keetick Sanchez (27:33)
Thank you. Yeah.

Yeah, so I’m having, there’s a Unity Fair coming up in August that’s in my neighborhood, which is just a bunch of local businesses getting together at the local park. I have my annual Halloween party that I have, or trick -or -treat event that I have. I have Christmas events coming up too.

But I’ve been, again, in my crazy brain of mine that I always like to take challenges. I wanted to give back to other countries under privileged people. Or there’s another one I was thinking I was looking online for, like, make sure no kid is unfed, right? Make sure they have food. Some type of, like,

Viktoria Altman (28:02)
you

Hehehehe

Mmm.

Keetick Sanchez (28:21)
fundraiser that I could do an event and people donate and give it to that charity, something like that. I haven’t, again, that’s just in very basic beginning stages, but it’s something I want to work on. Thank you. Yeah, thank you.

Viktoria Altman (28:27)
Hmm.

Well, let me know. I will join that. That sounds fun. You know, I’m not going to organize anything because, you know, I don’t, I’m not very good at that, but I will come and I will donate. I will support, support the children and support you.

Keetick Sanchez (28:43)
Yes, thank you. And that idea inspired me from another PI firm that I worked at. They do St. Jude’s, right? When I worked there as a paralegal, it was really small and now they have like galas, right, which I hope to be grow that big one. Yeah.

Viktoria Altman (28:51)
Yeah.

That’s cool. That’s super cool. Yeah. All right. Last question. You know, I’m a big reader. So what is your favorite business book that you would recommend somebody who is, you know, a new low form owner or somebody starting their own business?

Keetick Sanchez (29:03)
Okay.
So I’m actually currently reading 21 rules of leadership, I think it’s called. Let me look it up. If you know what I’m talking about.

Viktoria Altman (29:20)
yeah.

I think I’ve heard about this and I think it’s on my list, but I have not yet read it.

Keetick Sanchez (29:29)
Yeah, 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is what I’m listening to by John Maxwell. And I’ll buy halfway through. Amazing, right? You don’t have to be a born leader to be a leader, right? You don’t have to have all those 21 qualities to be a leader, but it shows you how to get to being a leader, right? I think it’s helpful because…

Viktoria Altman (29:33)
time.

Mm -hmm.

Keetick Sanchez (29:51)
being your own business owner, you are a leader. I have a team, right, which you have to lead and inspire them. And like I said, I’ve been blessed with that, that all of them are invested in the growth of my firm. And I hopefully attribute to some of my leadership qualities, but that’s a great book to read.

Viktoria Altman (29:55)
Yeah.

How do you, that’s, thank you for the recommendation. How do you get people to be invested in the growth of your firm? It’s obviously not their firm, it’s your firm. So what is it that you do? What is it the special magic that you do?

Keetick Sanchez (30:24)
Security, incentives, right? I’m like, the more money I make, the more money you get, right? The money makes the world go around, right?

Viktoria Altman (30:32)
Hmm.

Keetick Sanchez (30:33)
Again, I see what they need in their life and I try to compensate their need when I see they’re invested in my firm. One of my staff members has a child. When she can’t find a babysitter, I let her bring them in. As long as it doesn’t disturb, obviously. Another one’s in school. They need a day off. I’m very lenient in that aspect because I want them to feel like to stay here with me, to grow with me.

Viktoria Altman (30:40)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Keetick Sanchez (31:00)
I give them opportunities to grow. Jenny, for example, I mentioned earlier, she started just answering my phones and now she manages my whole office, right? Because she’s learned the ropes. So everyone that comes in, I tell them, like, look, this is where you’re starting. But if you learn, there’s, I even encouraged them, go to law school so I could hire you as a lawyer. So yeah, that’s how I kind of keep them here. And I try to make it a happy.

Viktoria Altman (31:03)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah. Yeah.

Keetick Sanchez (31:27)
fun place to work. Even today for example, it’s been crazy because we had the long weekend, but we’re getting through it.

Viktoria Altman (31:29)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I see the pictures you posted. It does look like a fun place to work. Like, it just seems like the environment is really good and like, you know, you bring the joy and I think people pick up on that. All right, Keetick, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate this was wonderful. And I will, yeah, I will see you online. Your new website is almost ready, so.

Keetick Sanchez (31:38)
I’m sorry.
Yeah.
You’re awesome.

Thank you for having me. It was such a great time talking to you.
I’m so excited. It looks great so far. I’ve seen the progress. Beautiful. Thank you. Have a good one. Bye.

Viktoria Altman (32:03)
Yeah, it’s gonna be really good. Alright girl, thank you, bye.

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