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October 2024 The Contractor’s Advantage
HarrisonLawGroup.com (410) 832-0000 jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com
Clients need to understand how much bluster is involved in legal disputes. Some attorneys prefer to avoid the trial process by bluffing and threatening their way to a desired result. At Harrison Law Group, we counter this by thoroughly preparing for every case before contacting the other side. This demonstrates to the opposition that we have the knowledge and documentation necessary to prove our case and are ready for trial. It also reassures our clients — who have a significant amount invested in the outcome of these cases — of the value of their case and what we can expect moving forward. Here is why understanding the prevalence of legal bluster is critical and why you should not allow it to cloud the validity of your claim. The Background A prime example of legal bluster and our ability to handle it presented itself in a recent case. I represent an affluent client who prefers to rent rather than purchase a residential property. They often live in an expensive rental property for a year and then move to greener pastures after their lease is complete. However, like clockwork, this client gets into disputes with their landlord on a near-yearly basis. These quarrels inevitably stem from their landlord’s refusal to return their security deposit, despite my client treating the property with care and diligence. This is no small prize: When you rent an expensive property, the security deposit can amount to tens of thousands of dollars. Unscrupulous landlords will try their best to pocket this money rather than return it at the end of the lease. This is exactly what happened when my client’s lease recently ended, and as a recourse, they reached out to us for help securing its return. Standing Firm In Maryland, a landlord must return a tenant’s security deposit — plus interest — within 45 days of the tenancy’s end. If not, you may sue the landlord for triple the withheld amount, as well as attorney’s fees. We put together a detailed demand letter for the security deposit, but the responses from the other side were indignant. Despite having no documentation to prove their position, they argued that our client owed them Empty Words Countering Legal Bluster
— not the other way around — and that we should continue with the lawsuit. I conferred with my client and said we would likely need to move forward with the case, but we should give them one more chance to pay what our client was owed. I told them that if they did not return the security deposit by the end of the week, we would be filing our lawsuit the following Monday. In addition, when we filed our lawsuit, we would be seeking attorney’s fees, and if they tried to settle after that, we would still seek those fees. Sure enough, late that Friday afternoon, I received an email with a picture of the security deposit check being mailed to my client. In Conclusion This is not the first, or even the tenth, time something like this has happened. At this point in my career, I have handled over a thousand cases and have seen the signs and patterns repeat themselves time and time again. If the other side does not have documentary evidence, such as invoices, pictures, emails, and letters, supporting their asserted argument, then they are
likely unable to prove their case in a court of law. If you know your case is strong, do not allow idle threats and empty bluster to dissuade or discourage you — stand by your case and see it through to victory.
-Jeremy Wyatt
jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com | HarrisonLawGroup.com | 1
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Expand Your Reach Building an Effective Email List
The digital marketing space is rapidly evolving. According to Statista, the American digital advertising market saw over $270 billion in revenue in 2023. A disproportionate amount — around 80% — of money spent on advertising goes toward digital rather than physical ads. Digital marketing is necessary to grab attention and grow your brand, but it can be expensive. Email marketing lists are a form of affordable digital marketing with considerable
After a user signs up for your email list, send them a verification email. This helps to verify whether a customer is genuine and reminds them of what subscribing to your email list entails. Digital ads on Facebook are cost-effective and easily scaleable, making them a natural choice for those looking to build their email list. You can increase or decrease
growth potential. Sending emails is always less costly than purchasing lots of digital ad space. Best of all, an email list helps build recurring customers and can be customized to your needs. The only tricky part is starting from zero. Here are some tips for creating an effective email list for your business. Growing Your Email List Pop-up forms and digital ads are two essential elements to building an email list. Pop- up forms are commonly used because they are effective and easy to set up. They also capture
your digital ad presence as your business grows to match your needs and goals. You can decide when your email list is extensive enough and digital ads are no longer necessary, or you may even choose to expand your campaign if it is successfully driving up the number of customers subscribing to your email list.
Segmenting and Maintaining the List
Properly managing and utilizing your email list is just as crucial as building it up. Email lists can increase engagement and help you build and maintain relationships with your clients, especially when targeting your audience precisely. You can segment the customers on your email list based on their purchase history, interests, and demographics. This way, you can send personalized emails to different customer groups to maximize profitability and engagement. Importantly, you should also regularly remove inactive subscribers and non-functional or duplicate email addresses. This helps prevent the emails you send out from being falsely flagged as spam and becoming less visible to your audience. By utilizing these techniques, you can grow your email list from zero subscribers to thousands and benefit from increased customer engagement, recurring customers, and brand prominence.
the visitor’s attention by giving them a prompt they must interact with to continue viewing the site. This is why a compelling call to action is crucial. Describe at least one important benefit to subscribing to your email list. This can incorporate FOMO (fear of missing out) on essential updates to your business and products or coupon codes, such as 10% off their first purchase when signing up. Also important is that you incorporate a 5-to-20-second delay before the pop-up form appears to ensure only interested viewers have the option of subscribing to the email list. If you want to maximize your results, minimize the barrier to entry. You should only require the absolute minimum of information, such as their name and email, to start.
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cold brew. This worked like a charm: Over 70 restaurants have it on tap today. The Gamble Two investors sampled The Nitro Cart’s cold brew at a farmers market and decided to invest. They offered Finocchiaro a deal: a $100,000 loan, with a 10% interest rate, to help the couple expand their business. Additionally, the deal stipulated that the investors could turn the loan into a 10% equity investment in The Nitro Cart. It was a gamble because they risked losing all they had built if they could not keep up with payments. But they took it, and the money provided a financial safety net for them. However, their newfound finances did not stop them from working to their full potential. Instead of slowing down, they sped up. The couple proceeded to work weekends, spending 80-hour work weeks and willing themselves to succeed through tenacity and hard work. They could no longer give up. They had to persevere. Brick, Mortar, and TikTok Finocchiaro and Lancaster did not rely on word-of-mouth alone. They started a TikTok channel, creating content
showing their hard work and innovative cold brew. By giving their audience a look into their lives and processes, they have become social media influencers on top of business owners. To date, the channel has accrued over 220,000 followers, and Finocchiaro’s personal TikTok account has nearly 100,000 subscribers. Now, The Nitro Cart is known as The Nitro Bar. They currently have three brick-and-mortar stores and over 60 employees. They made less than $100 a day when they started, and now they earn $4.5 million annually. It does not matter how you start but how you finish.
HAVE A Laugh
The Rivalries That Redefined Amusement Parks
In the early 20th century, Coney Island was the beating heart of America’s burgeoning amusement park industry. Three rival parks — Steeplechase Park, Luna Park, and Dreamland — engaged in cutthroat competition that dramatically reshaped this iconic destination. A Tawdry Reputation Coney Island was once known as “Sodom by the Sea,” a tawdry, vice-filled destination. But in 1897, Steeplechase Park opened, and its founder, George Tilyou, sought to bring clean fun to the masses. Tilyou’s success soon drew the attention of his rivals. In 1902, he lured away the founders of the popular “A Trip to the Moon” attraction from the upcoming Luna Park. These underhanded tactics were common — the parks constantly copied each other’s rides and acts. Rapid Innovation This competitive spirit drove rapid innovation. Over just a few years, the parks introduced groundbreaking new attractions like the Rotating Barrel, Thunderbolt roller coaster, and the world’s largest Ferris wheel. They transformed the public’s perception of amusement parks, elevating them from sideshows to technologically advanced experiences. The Modern Amusement Park The era of Coney Island’s dueling theme parks was short- lived. Still, the competition drove the evolution of amusement parks, laying the foundation for the iconic destination Coney Island has become.
jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com | HarrisonLawGroup.com | 3
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Jeremy Wyatt jwyatt@harrisonlawgroup.com HarrisonLawGroup.com (410) 832-0000
40 West Chesapeake Avenue, Ste. 600 Towson, MD 21204
Inside This Edition
1. 2.
Preparation Trumps Bluster
Essential Tips for Building an Email List 3. The Cutthroat Competition Behind Coney Island 4. From Basement to Brick and Mortar
THE NITRO CART How Tenacity and Perseverance Led to Lasting Success
Audrey Finocchiaro and Sam Lancaster, a couple in Rhode Island, literally built their business from scratch. Before they ever sold a single cup of nitro cold brew, Finocchiaro maxed out her credit card purchasing construction materials. Then, in her parent’s basement, the couple cobbled together a cart, outfitting it with bike tires and a kickstand; thus, The Nitro Cart was born. It was as humble as beginnings get, and the business was far from an overnight success. Humble Beginnings In the beginning, The Nitro Cart struggled to gain traction. They parked their cart throughout Providence, Rhode Island. They brought their nitro cold brew to several locales, from farmers markets to sheep shearing events. Despite that, they were selling less than $100 of product per day and were considering giving up altogether. Finocchiaro
and Lancaster had a difficult decision to make with a cold New England winter approaching and their profits dwindling. But, as fate would have it, things changed when they brought
The Nitro Cart to Brown University. There, they found their audience. Their nitro cold brew was an instant hit with the students, and they sold out — for the first time — in just 30 minutes, raking in $400 in sales. They decided to return every day, earning themselves a reputation and a profitable venture. Despite their newfound success, winter still posed a serious problem. They navigated this by partnering with several local restaurants, who agreed to carry and sell their nitro
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