[5:45] “In early 2021 I reached out to Attorney Tom, who is on TikTok and YouTube. Great guy. He told me, ‘Dude, get on TikTok. It’s such an untapped resource. Do it.’ I said, ‘I don’t know if I can make legally accurate, helpful videos in 30 seconds or less.’ He told me to try.”

[6:17] “I took my five minute videos I had made, excerpted 5 or 6 of the juiciest bits, and threw them on TikTok. A week later I checked my TikTok and found 60,000 views, 40,000 views, and 4,000 DMs. It was bananas. I was not ready for that level of attention.”

[6:46] “When I realized that was working, I threw the old playbook out. I’m no longer doing those five minute videos that no one cares about. I’m not typing blogs that no one reads. I’m doing the short format and going to make it work.”

[7:07] “‘What is your problem? What does the law say about your problem? What can you do about your problem?’ That’s the basic formula and we’ve refined it over time. I see some of my early videos from 2021 and I cringe, but you’ve got to give yourself space to make mistakes and get better with time. Now we’re sitting at 1,700,000 on TikTok, over 200,000 on Instagram, and close to 100,000 on YouTube. We’ve got big plans for YouTube that I’m excited about. It’s absolutely blown up.”

Tell us how you find inspiration for new videos.
[8:11] “Our practice deals with single-event employment issues like sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and hostile work environment. We also have a PAGA and class action division. That is where the wage and hour stuff comes in – people who aren’t getting lunch breaks, properly paid overtime, or given proper seating. We have those two branches in the law firm.

[8:20] “Where do my ideas come from? We look at the different causes of action that we’re seeking. For example, pregnancy discrimination is a big problem. What are the things that we wish clients knew before they come to us? What are things the clients are telling us about what happened?”

[8:35] “The average non-exempt worker doesn’t even know when they’re entitled to a lunch break. They don’t know when it’s supposed to happen or what happens if they don’t get it. So where do the content ideas come from? They come from our experience and our cases.”

Tell us about some of your top performing videos. What topics resonated?
[11:40] “We find the wage and hour stuff does very well, which is good because we do those labor-based class actions. My most viral video ever was me talking about a common policy that employers have, especially big box retailers, where they say you’re expected to arrive at work 30 minutes or 15 minutes before your shift and they hit you with all kinds of ideological nonsense. They say it shows dedication, loyalty, and professionalism, but they don’t want to pay for that time.”

[12:15] “The federal law on this matter is clear. If you’re required to be on site and it’s a condition of employment, meaning you will be punished if you don’t meet that condition, it’s paid time. It makes no difference if you’re actively engaged in work or not. Once the employer says, I am seizing control of your time and telling you where you must be physically, you need to be compensated. I posted that video and it blew up to 13.5 million views. People went crazy over it because it is such a common problem and the only source of information people have is their boss who has a conflict of interest.”

[12:51] “Another topic that usually does well is explaining to people that, ‘Yes, you have a right to discuss your pay and work conditions at work. A company policy that says you will be fired for doing so is not enforceable. They can do it, but they’re going to get punished for it.’”

[13:08] “Any topic that goes against decades of work culture we’ve been taught … especially if the law is at odds with that work culture … do well. Any video that teaches something surprising will be shared.”

[13:26] “Shares are more important than likes and views. People get obsessed with followers, likes, and views. Ignore those metrics and look at shares. If it’s shareable, it’s valuable. That means you taught someone something or you made them feel better about a problem they’re having. I’d rather have 10,000 views and 1,000 shares than a million views and only 100 shares.”

[13:57] “So those issues do well. Pregnancy discrimination does well too, because it’s such a rampant problem.”

How many qualified leads are you receiving per week?
[15:40] “We get at least 150-160 hits a day. Those are calls to the 888 Call Ryan number, plus people clicking on the link on our website.”

How many are turning into paying clients?
[17:00] It’s tough because we’re in the employment space and we get a lot of people who reach out because their manager is using a harsh tone of voice or is giving them attitude. You can’t sue for that, not without more things going on. So a lot of that goes on.”

[17:16] “5-10% are viable leads. But even so, with 3-4,000 hits a month we’re looking at a couple hundred viable leads. It’s more than we can handle. I’ll tell you this much. My biggest problem, apart from making sure that we vigorously advocate for clients and hiring the right people, is figuring out how to handle this fire hose of leads. What a great problem to have.”