JOHN MORGAN ON BUILDING A BILLION-DOLLAR LAW FIRM, $600M MARKETING STRATEGY & KIDS SIGNING PRENUPS

**John Morgan** (0:00)
Your brother Tim's been in a terrible accident. He's paralyzed from the chest down. On a dime, my life just turned upside down. It's not as bad as death, but it's like death. Tim's terrible luck turned out to be my purpose in life.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:12)
People always say success is not lucky. Your book title is Life is Luck. What does that mean?

**John Morgan** (0:17)
Most people who are successful don't want to say I was lucky. They want to say hard work. The hardest work in people make the least.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:24)
So how were you able to take your law practice and scale it to what we know it is now?

**John Morgan** (0:30)
You can't just want to take your profits and buy a boat or buy a car. You got to take that money and pour it back into the business.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:39)
Who's the other Morgan? Is there another Morgan?

**John Morgan** (0:41)
There is another Morgan. And she says she's the first Morgan.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:44)
How have you managed to keep up to date, be in tune with the drastic changes that happen in this space?

**John Morgan** (0:49)
You don't let time pass you by. So I surround myself with youth. Dan was a rapper in college.

**Dan Morgan** (0:56)
How long is it about me getting my monthly allowance? $2,500 and then me blowing it.

**John Morgan** (1:00)
You weren't getting $2,500, so it wasn't from me. I wouldn't have ever given you that much money.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:04)
How do you know where to deploy capital? What's a waste of money and what's actually a good investment?

**John Morgan** (1:10)
Half of my advertising is working. I just don't know what half. A lot of things lie. Numbers do not lie. There's really no exact science. If there was, I'd be a lot richer than I am. The way you find luck is you're looking for opportunities.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:28)
All right, guys, welcome back EYL. We have a special guest, a legend in the game, John Morgan, billionaire entrepreneur and CEO, founder of the America's largest personal injury attorney law firm, Morgan & Morgan. I'm 100% positive that you've heard of them because they do more advertising than anybody I've ever seen. But you also have a new book out, Life is Luck, right?

**John Morgan** (1:54)
Life is Luck, Lessons from a Paperboy.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:57)
Lessons from a Paperboy. So man, we got a lot to talk about, but first and foremost, thank you for joining us.

**John Morgan** (2:02)
Thank you for having me.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:04)
So let's start at the beginning. Like I said, I'm pretty sure people know about Morgan & Morgan. They've heard it, they've seen the commercials, they've seen the billboard, they have heard it on the radio.
Where does your journey start? And who's the other Morgan? Is there another Morgan?

**John Morgan** (2:20)
There is another Morgan.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:21)
And who's the other Morgan?

**John Morgan** (2:22)
And she says she's the first Morgan. And it's my wife, Ultima Morgan.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:28)
Okay.

**John Morgan** (2:29)
So she says she's the first Morgan and I'm the second Morgan. And guess what? Mama's happy, everybody's happy.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:38)
Happy wife, happy life.

**John Morgan** (2:39)
Happy wife, happy life.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:41)
So yeah, tell us your journey and how you got started.

**John Morgan** (2:44)
Well, my journey, I'm from Lexington, Kentucky.
I was a paperboy in Lexington, Kentucky. But my journey from Morgan & Morgan happened. I was a sophomore at the University of Florida. My dad called me up. I was sitting with my brother, Mike, in our room. He calls me up and he says, your brother Tim has been in a terrible accident. He's paralyzed from the chest down. He was a lifeguard at Walt Disney World.
And on a dime, my life just turned upside down. And we were poor people, our mother had already left. We were poor people and now we're in this crisis.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:29)
How old were you?

**John Morgan** (3:33)
He was seventeen. And all of a sudden, it's like, it's unthinkable because you know it can never be good. I mean, that that news is almost, it's not as bad as death, but it's like death. And so me and my brother got in a car. We drove, we actually drove to the Catholic Church and lit a candle. I never lit a candle before or since, but somehow we lit a candle. We drove home and we got there and Tim was on a gurney spinning. He couldn't move anything. And there began that journey. When you see somebody that you love that much in that situation, I can't even describe it. It is the worst day of my life so far.