Laura Cowan is an attorney, CPA, and serial entrepreneur. She founded her NYC law firm, the Law Office of Laura Cowan, in 2016, growing it to a 6-figure business in less than a year. More recently, she launched the FLAME™ membership for entrepreneurs (www.TheLauraCowan.com). In this interview, Laura Cowan shares a new approach to starting a business.
Your background is in law and accounting. Tell us more about that.
I started my career as a CPA, working as an accountant for Ernst & Young and Goldman Sachs. A few years later I went to law school, then opened my law firm in New York City. Before opening the Law Office of Laura Cowan, I’d always worked for multinational corporations. Getting that first client was truly life-changing. A whole world of opportunity opened up.
What was it like opening a law firm in NYC?
It was incredibly rewarding, but also the hardest thing I’ve ever done, despite having a law degree and CPA. There is so much to learn to ensure you’ve laid the proper foundation for success. Do you need an LLC? What contracts should you have? What about insurance? What about taxes? How do I market my business? What in blazes name is a funnel, anyway?! Most importantly, how does all of this work together to maximize growth and minimize risk?
How did you manage?
One of the best pieces of advice I can give new business owners is to have a mentor. I had a mentor early on in my law practice, and she was critical to my early success. Whether you hire a business coach or join a membership like FLAME™, there is absolutely no reason for you to recreate the wheel or feel alone.
What is FLAME™?
FLAME™ is a business methodology I developed that stands for the 5 Pillars of Business Success: Financial, Legal, Accounting, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship. As an attorney, I was used to business owners asking for help with the Legal Pillar. They had questions about business entity setup, contracts, and trademarks. And what I very quickly discovered was that I couldn’t help with the Legal Pillar without addressing the other pillars as well.
For example, many entrepreneurs have questions about what business entity to set up (LLC, Corporation, etc.) This falls under the Legal Pillar. But it also falls under the Accounting Pillar, because every business entity is taxed differently. It falls under the Entrepreneurship Pillar because your business model is relevant to picking a business entity. Finally, it falls under the Financial Pillar, because what personal assets you own will help determine the best entity for your business. This one question that at first glance seems like a Legal Pillar question falls under three other pillars as well.
How is that a problem for business owners?
It’s a problem because so many resources for business owners help you with just one piece of the puzzle. Worse, they put an overemphasis on one pillar while ignoring the others. You need each pillar to be strong to minimize financial and legal risk. There is so much content devoted to the Marketing Pillar, for example. While having a strong social media presence is important, your social media following won’t help you when you get a huge tax bill from the IRS, or a client sues you and you haven’t followed correct accounting procedures to protect your assets. The FLAME™ methodology helps you understand all the pillars, and how they work together.
That makes a lot of sense! Tell us about the FLAME™ membership.
A FLAME™ membership gives entrepreneurs access to resources they wouldn’t normally have access to without breaking the bank. First, FLAME™ solves the problem: how do I get legal help for my business without spending a fortune on attorneys? With a FLAME™ membership, you get legal templates and training on how to use them. We hold bi-weekly training and Q&A with legal and business experts so you can learn about topics that impact your business and get your questions answered live. Finally, we give you access to me in our FB community, to answer your questions or refer you, so you’ll know exactly when you need to contact a lawyer licensed in your own state, which will save you money in the long run.
But that’s not all! We address the other 4 pillars as well. We have training on things like Mindset, Business Plans, Small Business Taxes, Business Insurance, Marketing, Selling Your Business, Getting Funding For Your Business, Succession & Estate Planning, and Scaling Your Business. Our content library is always growing. We want to be the best and most comprehensive membership site out there for entrepreneurs.
That sounds so helpful and necessary! Anything else in the FLAME™ membership?
Yes! Because we wanted to really overdeliver, we’ve partnered with none other than Kevin Harrington, an original Shark from the hit TV show Shark Tank! Kevin’s 40+ years in business have produced over $5 billion in global sales. As part of your annual FLAME™ membership, we are giving you not one but FOUR of Kevin’s amazing, business-building courses. It’s a $10,000 value. Between my expertise and Kevin’s, coupled with the experts we’ll bring in for seminars, FLAME™ offers a unique, one-stop shopping resource for entrepreneurs.
That’s amazing! Any final thoughts?
Remember how I said getting my first client in 2017 was hard but life-changing? That’s why I developed FLAME™. I want to help as many people as possible have that same feeling of personal accomplishment coupled with overwhelming opportunity. Once you go out on your own, the world is your oyster. That is what FLAME™ is all about. I hope you join us!
Follow Laura Cowan on Instagram (www.instagram.com/TheLauraCowan) and learn more about FLAME™ at www.TheLauraCowan.com.