A great joy in life is watching somebody you mentor succeed.
The ultimate gift in life is watching somebody you mentor, mentor somebody that then succeeds.
That's where the real magic happens.
As many of you know, my eldest son Michael purchased the company a couple of years ago, and I’ve been mentoring him through that transition. In reality, that mentoring started much earlier, when Michael first built The Closing Room about 6 years ago. That was the beginning of him stepping into leadership.
Over the last few years, Michael has shifted into mentoring Justin, his younger brother and my youngest son, with the specific goal of replacing himself in the sales role. In order for Michael to continue rising, he had to replace himself in the positions he once held.
Michael mentored Justin intentionally and methodically. We watched Justin grow step by step… first as an appointment setter, then as a closer, then as a sales trainer. Today, he more fully embodies what it means to be part of this team and this company, not just in function, but in mindset and ownership.
Recently, Justin shared his customer service journey with our entire team. For those of you who are Partners Club members, you saw Justin tell that story during the February event as part of our fireside chat. If you haven’t watched that session yet, I highly recommend going back and viewing it.
I didn’t mentor Justin.
I mentored someone who mentored someone.
That’s legacy inside a business. And it’s been one of the proudest moments for E.C.I.B. (East Coast Italian Bride) and myself.
I like to think of this as mentoring your way to freedom.
The best mentees want to be involved, so let me give you two frameworks that make mentoring work.
Project-based Mentoring: The 10-80-10 Rule
This is project-based mentoring.
First 10%: You set it up. You explain the why. You show them how you’d do it. You give them the tools and context.
Middle 80%: They do the work. They’ll make mistakes. That’s part of the process.
Final 10%: You review. You correct, refine, and explain why things matter.
Then you repeat.
Over and over.
Until they’ve nailed it.
This isn’t “train them once and let them go.”
It’s like teaching a kid to ride a bike… you hold on until they’re stable, then you let go.
The reason you stay involved is simple: one day, they will need to train someone else.
The Presentations Mentorship Cycle
This one is more in-person and relationship-driven.
It looks like this:
You do. They watch. You both review.
They do. You watch. You both review.
They do. Someone else watches. They both review.
This is how scaling works.
You cannot be the chief trainer forever.
So you train someone not just to do the work, but to teach the work.
The review is where growth happens. The review is where the “why” gets passed down.
Without it, people copy motions without understanding decisions.
The Joy of Watching People Rise
Beyond, replacing yourself, there’s one last reason to do this and it’s the most overlooked: the joy.
So if you want a law firm that supports your lifestyle instead of consuming it, you must replace yourself.
Find somebody in your firm to mentor, demonstrate to them how mentorship works, and watch the seeds you plant evolve… you'll be happy you did.
