Todd Burnham 0:00
Hi, this is Todd Burnham. I am a licensed practicing attorney. But just because you're listening to me doesn't mean that I represent you. This is for informational purposes only if you're good with that, then let's roll

Chris Braden 0:23
What do you do when you move to a new state during a recession with no contacts, no job, no money, little experience and a family to support you lean on what you know you continue to learn grind every day and you keep getting better join Todd Burnham as he outlines how he started, Burnham Law in his basement grew to seven offices relying only on his experiences and inspirations from being a college athlete. His unique style of motivation and raw sense of humor are a welcome change from the business advice you're used to hearing. Whether you're a new or seasoned attorney trying to grow your practice or an entrepreneur in any service industry, Todd's story is sure to inspire you to take action and follow your instincts. This is Deep Bench with Todd Burnham. Hey, Todd, how you doing, buddy?

Todd Burnham 1:13
I am tired after 20 episodes, Chris 20 is a lot. 20 is a lot. And it's been a great process. Season one here. I liked it.

Chris Braden 1:21
It's really season one and two because the Netflix seasons typically only 10.

Todd Burnham 1:26
This is like

Chris Braden 1:26
Our Ozark?

Todd Burnham 1:27
Our Ozark, yes, that's what I was...

Chris Braden 1:29
I can't even tell you.

Todd Burnham 1:30
I love it.

Chris Braden 1:31
Dude, it's gonna be so insane. You should figure out a way to like defend somebody in Ozark. In honor of the show.

Todd Burnham 1:38
Well, I'm pretty sure that they originate in California. And we are in the process of sitting for the California and Hawaii bar exams.

Chris Braden 1:46
Really?

Todd Burnham 1:46
Yeah.

Chris Braden 1:47
Shut up.

Todd Burnham 1:48
Yeah.

Chris Braden 1:48
Oh, that's so cool.

Todd Burnham 1:49
Keep getting better, man.

Chris Braden 1:50
Keep getting better. So we've talked about the struggle. We've talked about how you begin in New York. And now you're here in Colorado, got a great family. And then the last one, we just talked about work in progress, kind of the struggles that you go through being the coach, the GM and the owner.

Todd Burnham 2:07
Yeah, man, you're you're on your island. It's a Revis Island.

Chris Braden 2:10
It is Revis Island.

Todd Burnham 2:11
Yeah.

Chris Braden 2:11
So what are some of the things that keep you centered and get you back to where you can get in the grind, and just be in the moment?

Todd Burnham 2:19
Rip Frozen songs as I'm dropping my kids off, seeing them smile, like the little things to me,

Chris Braden 2:25
Right.

Todd Burnham 2:25
are so critical. And and I think the, it's easy when you're a work in progress, which we all are. And to get out of those moments when you're in solitary confinement, self imposed. It's just remembering to be grateful, and have gratitude for what you have, not what you don't have yet. It's not like, we're not trying to accumulate a bunch of crap for before we die. It's the experience and a process. So I'm extremely grateful.

Chris Braden 2:54
Getting to know you. I knew Stephanie, before I met you, and Stephanie is another one of those people that is just

Todd Burnham 3:02
She makes you better. She right, she makes you better at your life.

Chris Braden 3:06
Absolutely.

Todd Burnham 3:07
There's not a better human, that I really come across. You know, there's several of them like her in my life.

Chris Braden 3:14
Right.

Todd Burnham 3:14
But the mold was broken with that one, then that makes me feel very fortunate and grateful that she's chosen to have her journey with me. You know, I look at, I look at the people that I work with. And Sarah Doroff, who's sitting right next to me is, you know, this is

Chris Braden 3:33
that's our quality control.

Todd Burnham 3:35
She's, she's a lot of control. For me, doing this stuff was with, you know, doing this with you too. And in talking about things that produce some vulnerability at times is not something that you do, unless you're really comfortable, you know,

Chris Braden 3:49
Right. Yeah, it's not easy.

Todd Burnham 3:50
It's not easy man. And and, you know, in we talked last episode about like, people are going to talk about you and this and that, and I haven't sworn a lot.

Chris Braden 3:59
No you've done really good.

Todd Burnham 4:00
And I'm not going to finish poorly. I'm not going to start throwing F bombs here. But

Chris Braden 4:05
There's room for one.

Todd Burnham 4:06
There is but um, but my kids are going to listen to this. And I don't think it's, it's like for the emphasis, everyone assumed that anytime I say something, I'm throwing an F in front of it. So not effing caring is not the answer.

Chris Braden 4:19
No.

Todd Burnham 4:20
And so I feel like I'm just a better human being from going through this process with you both. I'm extremely grateful for the people that are here that are grinding, that are working with with our clients and giving them the best results that are possible. That allows me to be able to do this. So if I'm not working in the business, someone has to be because this isn't producing income.

Chris Braden 4:50
Oh no, this is a non revenue generating activity for sure.

Todd Burnham 4:54
So it's easy like and so you talk about the difference between being a boss and a leader. Two different things. One is inspiring. And one is fear provoking, you know, so I'm just I look at my life, I look at everything that I've gone through that I've accomplished. And I look at my children, I look at my wife, I look at my family. And I look at the people that I spend my days with, and gratitude, an attitude of gratitude is, is just a, it's the probably a great way to start your day, just like you were talking about, I share that,

Chris Braden 5:28
Yeah no,for me, it's something I try to start my morning with, I wake up and I'm just like, you know, hey, I'm thankful I'm alive. I have another day today. And I think if you start with the little things, that rubs off on everything that you do.

Todd Burnham 5:43
It will, that's how everything works, right? I mean, and, you know, remember, you know, there's these moments in 2015, you know, with, when I got introduced to like, Kobe was

Chris Braden 5:56
Yeah.

Todd Burnham 5:56
And I remember my wife telling me, you know, you you have you spend all this time, you know, the things that you spend your time on, are the things that you're going to grow.

Chris Braden 6:08
Right.

Todd Burnham 6:08
And so to have a wife, and a partner, like that challenges me to think about things because I sit with that shit oop, I did it, but I sit with it for five years, and I keep thinking of it and...

Chris Braden 6:21
You used it as a noun. So it was fine.

Todd Burnham 6:23
Okay, good. So I, I think of things along those lines in and so I can't be all about this law firm.

Chris Braden 6:31
Right.

Todd Burnham 6:32
That's not the most important thing to me. It has to be this balance and a flow in a way to keep growing and to have some fluidity and ups and downs. I mean, that's what life is. And so I'm just grateful for my wife to keep challenging me to be a better person, and I hope I'm doing the same for her. So attitude of gratitude is, it's it's everything to me, I think, you know, and if I don't have that, then I'm just pushing for what? What are we doing here?

Chris Braden 7:02
Yeah. Push just to push.

Todd Burnham 7:03
Push just to push. Push to, what is this about money? Like, I put all the money back into this thing?

Chris Braden 7:08
Sure.

Todd Burnham 7:09
I keep building and building because I don't want to just be good enough. And the people that we have here, understand that about me, they're not trying to change me, they I think they appreciate that. Their person that's that's leading the business is trying to do things in a different way that's more effective. And that adds the most value to the people that come to us for help. And I'm grateful to my mom, I'm, I'm grateful to my dad, I'm grateful that I'm, I'm learning this stuff on the fly without like a frame of reference. And he got coaches in my life and all this stuff. But then there's Chris, not to beat a dead horse. But like, you're an exceptional coach. You're someone that... You ever see Hustle and Flow, the movie?

Chris Braden 7:51
Yeah.

Todd Burnham 7:51
People talk the talk, but you walk the walk in a way that's really inspiring. Sarah walks the walk in a way that is very understated and inspiring. Right? She doesn't say much. But when she does, it's like EF Hutton. People listen. So I'm inspired every day. And I think I'm I'm really grateful to be surrounded by people that trust me, and that, that believe in the vision that I have. And it allows me to meet new people that are exceptional in different ways. And I think our I think your wife is really fortunate. And I think you obviously are very fortunate to build a life like that. We're gonna make this one about you.

Chris Braden 8:33
Oh, it's good. Yeah, no, my wife, she's a saint. I tell everybody that because although I do my best, it's like you you fall down every single day. And all you can do is get up and realize, okay, that, you know, that was like a really bad move.

Todd Burnham 8:48
Well, yeah.

Chris Braden 8:48
I'm not doing that again.

Todd Burnham 8:50
Well and you don't want people to be around, you can't have people around you that are gonna, that are going to tell you how bad that that fall looked. You can't have people around you that are going to be putting you down that's going to try to inspire you to get better by saying how much you suck. Like

Chris Braden 9:06
And I you know, we both would recognize that before someone would tellme anyway.

Todd Burnham 9:10
Absolutely. Yeah, we're our harshest critics right or critics.

Chris Braden 9:14
Exactly.

Todd Burnham 9:14
I think ending with with gratitude is really important. I'm grateful for the competitors that are out there that are make me want to get better. It's I'm not afraid of competition. I want it I yearn for it, because that's the thing that drives me. Right?

Chris Braden 9:29
Well, having competitors that you can climb over. You're grateful for that?

Todd Burnham 9:34
I'm grateful for them making me like work hard to climb, right.

Chris Braden 9:38
Yeah.

Todd Burnham 9:39
And, you know, I had I had someone the other day, like we were in an arbitration and someone was like talking about our work product or something. And I was just amazed that I was taking it so personally. And then I looked at it and I'm like, man, I really appreciate this person. And I'm grateful for this expense. Because even in those moments when I have like these moments of doubt, fear, pain, worry, you get past them. And really the thing that that always brings it full circle for me, in large part is being grateful for the experience.

Chris Braden 10:15
Right.

Todd Burnham 10:15
And the gratitude is the lemonade. And if you can get the lemonade on a regular basis and be grateful even for the bad times the good times the challenging times, I'm not talking about death or anything like that, but the challenges, the inspirational experiences that clients have all of these things that I'm just grateful for the lot in life that I've found myself in, and the purpose that I see in helping others build their lives.

Chris Braden 10:45
Sure.

Todd Burnham 10:46
That's a, I can die with that.

Chris Braden 10:49
That's part of your joy, though.

Todd Burnham 10:51
It is. Yeah.

Chris Braden 10:52
We both follow Gary Vaynerchuk. He always says this, and it's something that resonates with me, because he's always talked about grinding. And he's gotten a little bit more personal with gratitude. And he's always been gratitude. But now it's really accentuated. And he always says living in March of 2020 is the greatest time to be alive.

Todd Burnham 11:13
Right.

Chris Braden 11:14
Would you agree with that?

Todd Burnham 11:15
I would I yeah, of course. Yeah, that's where we're at right now. We've got all these challenges and all these differences out there in our world, and what better opportunity to be a beacon of hope and change, right? And doing something like this. The only thing that could top this would be a book.

Chris Braden 11:34
I heard that might be coming someday. Yeah, we'll just keep getting better. We'll see what happens. Good stuff. Todd. Thank you. And I appreciate you and all the staff here at Burnham law as well. It's been awesome.

Todd Burnham 11:44
Well, let's end strong, Chris. You know, it takes a lot of it takes a lot of guts and a lot of have to go off on your own and do something that nobody else is doing. I appreciate it. I recognize it. I see it. And I don't think that many people are going to do it better than you've done it with me. So thank you.

Chris Braden 12:02
Well, thank you. Good stuff, buddy.

Todd Burnham 12:04
Right on. Hey, thanks for listening. Make sure you subscribe and until next time, keep getting better.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai