Really, I feel like my purpose in my work
is just to help people live happier lives,
make more money
and be successful in their businesses
through entrepreneurship and brand protection.
My name is Dana Thomas Cook.
I am a trademark attorney based here in Atlanta,
but I assist entertainers and entrepreneurs
with protecting their businesses and brands.
I came down to Atlanta to go to Georgia State undergrad,
and I stayed for law school and ended up staying for life.
All of the internships that I got
were mainly for solo attorneys,
attorneys who had started their own firms.
And so that is when I got my first taste
of what it was like to start your own law firm,
and I loved it.
I fell in love with how flexible they are.
They got to wear whatever they wanted to work.
Their clients loved them.
They can build their own schedule.
They seemed so happy.
And so I was really excited that
that was actually a possibility.
- For Dana to graduate school
and go right into her own practice
shows that she is defiant.
She respects status quo,
but doesn't honor it to the point that it defines her.
And that decision shows that she's a force
and those are the types of people
that will continue to lead,
continue to help others grow
and more importantly,
give us a new blueprint.
- He's not sure whether she's using it
or trademark or any of that stuff.
And he's considering now trademarking
because he's also trying to expand.
- So as the lawyer we wanna give our clients
all the options, right?
And let them know what's the better option
and which is not the better option,
but those are his options.
What most people don't know,
law school does not teach you that much how to practice law,
it teaches you more how to think.
And so really the key of what I teach
is to educate and inspire,
because entrepreneurs, who are our clients,
they need to learn about entrepreneurship.
They're eager to learn and know that they can actually do it
and make it happen.
And only until they really believe that,
is when they're gonna invest in their careers
and hire lawyers.
When I started my law firm,
I had my son like about a year
or maybe a little bit before that,
and I actually moved to Florida
to live with my grandmother for eight months
so she could help.
And I literally ran my law firm
from my grandmother's bedroom,
and for some people that might be a tough story to tell,
but it's exciting for me because it inspires other moms
or other single parents who might be raising children
and trying to start a business,
because a lot of my students have been in that position.
- I'm a father, I have two boys,
but I will always give my wife the ultimate credit
because there's nothing like a mother's love.
There's nothing like a mother's intention.
Women like Dana, mothers like Dana,
are intentional with their delivery
and their life's purpose.
- At the end of last year, I said, you know what?
The vision is that I can spend more time with my family.
Everything that I'm doing now
is to free up more time to be with them
because I wanna play all day like they do.
And so if I build my businesses
to a place where they can be automated, work without me,
then I think that I'll be able to achieve
that sooner than later.
- If we ever learned anything this year,
over this pandemic,
we learned that we have to tell our loved ones
that we love them more.
We have to spend time with them
and let them know they mean as much as our professions,
because it's time to adapt and adjust to love and family.
- It was definitely a challenge
to delegate and to kind of let some of the things go
and let go of some of the control of my firm,
but I know that there's no such thing
as a self-made millionaire,
it's just a team-made millionaire, which I have learned.
And I overcame that by hiring a team,
and little by little, it was one person,
then two people, then three
and now we have a team of eight.
And so I'm really excited
that I overcame that challenge of delegating.
And it really, really has freed up a lot of time
and helped my firm to work a lot better and a lot smoother.
I feel like in Atlanta, everyone's either an entrepreneur
or an entertainer,
or they want to be an entrepreneur or an entertainer,
which makes networking in Atlanta such a breeze.
Whether you live within the city of Atlanta
or just in the outskirts, there's a place for everyone.
And I don't know if my story would have been the same
if I was in any other city.
(soft music)