The DeVries Law Firm - October 2021

The DeVries Law Firm - October 2021

www.devrieslegal.com (904) 467-1119

October 2021

How to Make Your Business Stand Out In an Increasingly Crowded Market

HOW CAN I TRANSLATE MY CUSTOMERS’ UNIQUE VALUES INTO TANGIBLE TOUCHPOINTS AT MY BUSINESS? Knowing your customers’ values is the first step toward creating a space where they’re happy and comfortable. So, you should find out what those values are. Then, as you continually create and update your systems and processes, keep those values in mind and let them guide your decisions on business culture. Whether your business is all online, or in a brick-and-mortar location, showing your customers that you abide by their values will keep them coming back. HOW CAN I CREATE A BRAND THAT MY CUSTOMERS WILL WANT TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT? At this point, you have to be unafraid of changing things up. Have it in mind to constantly evolve your business, and keep your customers’ potentially shifting goals and values in mind. When you can show your customers that you’re learning and growing alongside them, you’ll earn a loyalty that keeps them coming back for more. And the more they keep coming back to your business, the more opportunities they’ll have to talk about it with their friends and family, encouraging them to check out what you have to offer too! So, while there are plenty of businesses and entrepreneurs out there trying to get a slice of the market, know that you can set yourself apart, not from shouting louder than your competitors to get their customers, but by harnessing your unique skill set to get the right customers for you.

WHICH KIND OF CUSTOMER WANTS SPECIFICALLY WHAT YOU’RE OFFERING? If you’re in the process of starting a business, chances are you already have an idea of what your unique skills and talents are. After all, they’re unique enough that you thought to put yourself out there and try to make a living with them! However, you should keep in mind: Where there is a specific skill set, there is someone who needs that skill set — a specific customer that you should keep in mind. When you focus on that customer, you optimize what you’re good at for them, rather than trying to suit the needs of multiple hypothetical customers.

Would you be surprised to learn that entrepreneurship actually grew between the years of 2019 and 2020? I know I was. And as life gets more and more back to normal, that’ll mean more and more businesses will pop up everywhere. If you’re trying to stand out from the crowd, today’s flooded market might make you a little anxious. Well, luckily for you, as a stalwart entrepreneur who won’t let daunting news derail their dreams, you can still create a business that stands out from the competition and draws customers in. How do you do that? Well, it isn’t necessarily about finding the right product; it’s more about finding the right customer. In order to do that, answer the following three questions.

Please call us at (904) 467-1119 to find out how we can help you!

— Shawn Devries

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The Tiger King Remains Behind Bars

Judges Deny Joe Exotic’s Appeal

might affect the objectivity of their own testimony.

Even more than a year after the release of “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” Joseph Maldonado-Passage, more popularly known as Joe Exotic, continues to make headlines. Following the fame that came with having his story at the center of a wildly popular Netflix series, Maldonado-Passage saw fit to appeal his 22-year prison sentence for plotting to murder big cat rescue activist Carole Baskin on a few different grounds. However, in July, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his appeal.

However, Baskin was also in attendance at the trial as a victim, since she was the target of Maldonado-Passage’s murder-for-hire scheme. Victims are allowed to attend court proceedings so long as the judge decides their testimony (if they are also a witness) will not be affected by their attendance. Maldonado-Passage’s legal team asserted that Baskin was not a victim of any sort, since the murder-for-hire plot did not result in her murder. However, U.S. Circuit Court judges ruled that she still suffered emotional and financial harm because of the incident. In addition to this, since Maldonado-Passage conspired to have Baskin murdered two different times, the judge at his trial in 2019 had incorrectly considered them as two separate plots, rather than two attempts at the same murder. The U.S. Circuit Court judges ordered the trial judge to resentence him. So, even for all that trouble, Maldonado-Passage remains behind bars. However, so long as the Tiger King’s popularity continues, it won’t be surprising if Joe Exotic and his legal team keep searching for ways to get him out of prison.

The primary reason for Maldonado-Passage’s appeal, as reported by his legal team, was that Baskin was allowed to attend the entirety of Maldonado-Passage’s trial, despite her role as a witness in the case. As a general rule, witnesses are not permitted to attend proceedings in their entirety, as other witness testimonies

New Legal Dramas for Your List Don’t Miss Out on These Gripping Stories!

‘DEFENDING JACOB’ Oaths in the court of law are strong, but are they stronger than the bonds of family? That’s what one former assistant district attorney will have to answer when one of his son’s classmates is discovered murdered, and many signs point to his son, Jacob, as the killer. This miniseries debuted on Apple TV+ in April 2020 and stars Chris Evans of “Captain America” fame. ‘PERRY MASON’ If your taste in story settings is more art deco than postmodern, then you might enjoy this Emmy Award-nominated show from HBO. Set in 1931, Perry Mason is a top-notch criminal defense attorney, who takes on what could be the biggest

Few places house events with higher stakes than the courtroom. Lawyers, judges, and jury work with (and against) one another, all while the fate of a person’s livelihood hangs in the balance. The courtroom has indeed captured our collective imagination, which is why television dramas about lawyers and courtrooms have been so popular for decades. Even in 2021, that hasn’t changed. So, if you’re a courtroom drama junkie and are looking for your next binge, then check out some of the following titles as we begin the season of new TV shows.

‘FOR LIFE’ The verdict isn’t always the end of the story — sometimes it’s the beginning. “For Life” follows a prison inmate wrongfully convicted of a life sentence and his desperate struggle to become a lawyer. He then works toward overturning his case and returning to his family. This ABC show was a huge hit with critics and fans alike and has been greenlighted for a second season.

case the bustling city of Los Angeles has ever seen. As much a character study as it is a crime drama, the performances in this show may suck you in even more than the story itself.

But if none of these seem particularly interesting to you, “Law & Order” is still there to help scratch your crime drama itch.

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TAKE A BREAK

THE SALES POWER OF THE INTROVERT

When we think of careers suited for extroverts, sales often springs to mind. After all, nothing could be more exhausting to an introvert than having to talk to dozens of people every day and maintain a positive demeanor to seal every deal.

However, a surprising study by the Harvard Business Review (HBR) disputes this belief.

The HBR reports that being an extrovert had no impact on a salesperson’s ability to sell; in fact, some of the negative qualities of being an extrovert, such as bravado and overt friendliness, are more likely to alienate customers. On the flip side, humility and modesty were two traits possessed by those who were 90% better than other sales people in their company. Interestingly, these traits often accompany an introverted personality. The reason, as Entrepreneur.com reports, is actually fairly simple. Being effective at sales does not require a profound skill for speaking or storytelling. Instead, salespeople need to be great listeners . This attention to detail and attentiveness to their subject is often found in introverts. Now, that doesn’t make extroverts bad at sales. Instead, you can harness the power of the introvert and spread the wealth among your sales team by doing the following: 1. Establish Trust: Introverts have a powerful ability to connect one-on-one with whoever they are speaking to. They thrive on personal conversations, wherein they can build a rapport with one or two other people rather than a group. This trait is necessary for salespeople to acquire, as it makes prospects feel safe and heard. 2. Ask Questions: A long spiel about a product or service is overwhelming, especially when the person providing it feels like a total stranger. Before launching into a pitch, an introverted salesperson knows to ask questions, begging the prospect to lead the conversation and push the salesperson into the appropriate action for a sale. 3. Keep It Relational: People remember stories. They want to hear stories of success and failures, often applying the lessons from those stories to their own lives. Introverts can captivate an audience — maybe that’s why so many introverts are also authors — and salespeople have to strike that balance between sharing stories and listening.

THE DEADLIEST SURGERY IN HISTORY

If you needed surgery in the early 1800s, it could be a death sentence. Before anesthesia, patients were awake and lucid the entire time. By the ‘Fastest Knife in the West End’ One of this era’s greatest surgeons, Dr. Robert Liston, was named the “fastest knife in the West End” because he was known for performing surgeries very quickly. One fateful day, Dr. Liston cut through his patient’s broken, infected leg with incredible speed — so incredible that he didn’t realize he had cut off two of his assistant’s fingers, too. The patient and assistant later died of gangrene. But theirs were not the only deaths that day. In those days, people found amputations morbidly entertaining. When Dr. Liston grabbed one of his knives, he whipped it too closely to one spectator, slicing through his coat. While he didn’t actually break the man’s skin, the spectator thought he’d been stabbed and died of shock.

Today, it’s the only known surgery with a 300% mortality rate.

For more guidance on how introverts can maximize a sales team, pick up Matthew Pollard’s book, “The Introvert’s Edge.”

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644 Cesery Blvd #250 Jacksonville, Florida 32211 (904) 467-1119 www.devrieslegal.com INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Making Your Business Stand Out From the Crowd

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The Tiger King Remains Behind Bars A Few New Legal Dramas for Your List

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The Deadliest Surgery in History Why You Need Introverts on Your Sales Team

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The 3 Commandments of Picking Fruit

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‘CAN I PICK THAT?’

The Legalities of Eating Found Fruit

lawn. Now, you can’t legally eat it without permission, but they also can’t take it without

state or city parks, or in medians. This doesn’t include sidewalks, which are explained in the next section.

In many parts of the U.S. right now, apples are dangling temptingly over fence lines and ripe

2. Thou Shall Not Pick Thy Neighbor’s Fruit

permission! To resolve this, sit down with your neighbors and hash out an agreement.)

pears are dropping onto sidewalks. This is the prime season for fall fruit, but if you live in an area where food grows rampant, then you probably think of it as both delicious and confusing. Be honest: How many times have you strolled down the street, spotted something tasty that was potentially on private property, and wondered, “Is it legal to pick that?”

Unfortunately, when it comes to who owns a fruit tree, the trunk is what matters, not the branches! This means that even if your neighbor’s apple tree is bowing temptingly into your yard, the apples still belong to them because the tree was planted on their property. Unfortunately, in most places, this also applies to trees dropping fruit on the sidewalk. If the tree appears to be planted on private property, it’s best to leave the fruit be — or knock and ask if you can have it!

3. When In Doubt, Thy State Wins Out The laws around picking fruit can be complicated. Some states don’t even follow the first two commandments! For example in California, you can legally take fruit from branches of a neighbor’s tree that extends into your yard. With this in mind, it’s always wise to research your state’s laws. If you’re still stumped after thorough research, then email a local lawyer or get in touch with a forager (visit RobGreenfield.org/FindaForager to locate one in your state) who will likely know the rules.

THE 3 COMMANDMENTS OF PICKING FRUIT

1. Thou May Pick From Public Lands In most places, it’s perfectly legal to pick fruit from what the law website Nolo describes as “public trees” — trees that grow on public lands, in

(Note: This gets hilariously complicated when your neighbor’s fruit falls onto your

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