Mark Weissman Shares Secrets To Career Success

Growing up in New York and hearing the stories his father told about the Holocaust, chasing the American dream and becoming a lawyer, Mark Weissman decided to pursue a career in law to follow in his fathers footsteps. The oldest of four boys, Mark Weissman’s educational path took him to Queens College before settling on the NYU School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree. After a brief stint at a commercial law firm, Weissman joined the family business and began to work for his father’s practice at the Law Offices of Marcel Weisman.

Mark Weissman has since taken on a second career in real estate – first as an investor and more recently a broker leading to the establishment of Weissman Realty Group in nearly 15 years ago.

Residing on Long Island, Weissman and his growing family are passionately involved in their community. Mark and his wife Sharon have four daughters and eleven grandchildren, and enjoy reading, going for walks and studying Jewish history.

Tell us a bit about what you do in your current position.

As an attorney, I primarily practice personal injury law, which means that I represent clients who have been injured in accidents, such as car accidents, trip and fall accidents, and injuries due to defective products. I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years.

In my capacity as a real estate broker, I find investment opportunities for my clients. Usually, they are multi-family properties (apartment buildings) in the NYC area. Most of my clients are looking to purchase properties that they can own long term, which will generate a nice cash flow. In addition, I look for good distressed opportunities, such as foreclosures or short sales, that my clients or I may be able to buy, fix up, and resell at a profit or rent out. That is another area of real estate brokerage/investment that I deal with on a regular basis.

What gave you the idea for a career in Law? How did it start?

My father was a lawyer with his own personal injury law firm. He would come home from work and describe the cases that he was working on, and that would be of great interest to me. I think it was just a natural progression to go to law school after college After graduating from law school and working for a short at another law firm, I ended up joining my father’s practice. I’m the oldest of four boys. Two of us are lawyers, and two are doctors.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your chosen profession?

There are times when you have the opportunity to help injured victims of accidents. We’re not doctors so we can’t make them feel better physically, but we can at times
get them a nice monetary settlement that will hopefully help them, at least from a financial standpoint, to deal with whatever issues they’re going through as a result of the accident. So, that’s always a nice thing when you’re dealing with an injured victim.

On occasion I work with clients who may not know the legal system, perhaps because they are foreigners, and they have no experience dealing with insurance companies which generally will take advantage of injury victims and refuse to pay out reasonable settlements. We can then advocate on their behalf and get a nice settlement which will enable them to receive monetary compensation for their injuries. That makes me feel good.

What keys to being productive can you share with our readers?

I have many things that I have to juggle, so one of the things that’s important for me is being organized. I’m probably not as organized as I should be, and that’s something! continue to work on. You need to focus on your most important tasks and you have to know what your priorities are. There are a lot of things you’ll have to do throughout the day, but you have to focus on the most important tasks and make sure you do them in a timely fashion.

Tell us one long-term goal in your career.

As a personal injury attorney, I would have liked to have been a successful trial attorney, someone who goes to court on a daily basis and presents and argues cases in front of the judge and jury. Unfortunately, that involves an enormous amount of time. To be a good trial attorney, you have to prepare cases thoroughly and appear in court for days on end. Unfortunately, I never had the time to do that since it would have Also, if I had trained to become a trial attorney, I wouldn’t have been able to get involved in real estate to any great extent. So, one long-term goal in my career that I did not achieve was becoming a successful trial attorney.

At this stage of my real estate career, I would have liked to own a portfolio of income producing properties that would generate a nice cash flow so that I could focus on other interests, and devote more of my time to helping out the underprivileged in my community and assisting charitable organizations. As a real estate investor, I primarily bought and sold smaller one, two and three unit properties which I renovated and eventually sold, mostly for a profit. It involved a great deal of time and effort on my part. Instead, I probably should have purchased larger properties together with partners and over time build up a nice portfolio of apartment buildings which could have been managed by a professional property manager.

What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned through the course of your career?

As a lawyer or a real estate broker, we are in the service industry. If we don’t provide a good service, then the clients are not going to use us again. So, you have to gain the client’s trust. You have to be available for the client, you have to be responsive to their needs, and you need to show them that you care. If you can do that effectively, then the clients we will be happy with the services that you provided, and they will also refer you to their family and friends. That’s the best way to build up any service related business.

What advice would you give to others aspiring to succeed in your field?

Provide excellent personalized service to your client. You want them to come back and become repeat customers. You need to provide excellent service, be devoted to your clients, and show them that you care.

What are your favorite things to do outside of work?

I enjoy swimming, and I occasionally go to the gym. I like going for walks, especially when it’s nice outside. I enjoy going out to dinner with my wife and spending time with my grandchildren.

Name a few influential books you’ve read and/or websites you keep up with that you’d recommend to readers.

‘The Compound Effect’ by Darren Hardy
‘The Success Principles’ by Jack Canfield
‘Cultivating an Unshakable Character’ by Jim Rohn
‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ by Dale Carnegie

What career advice would you give to a 20-year-old you?

Looking back, I probably would have gone into a different area of law. Perhaps something real estate related, because that was my real passion. I feel that would have opened new doors in terms of dealing with investors and learning about the various real estate opportunities. I am confident that I would have been a very successful real estate attorney.

So, my career advice is, before you jump into a career that can influence the rest of your life, make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. Even though there were some very positive things about personal injury law, you can only truly excel at your chosen profession when you are passionate about the occupation that you choose. Since I was interested in real estate, that’s something I should have focused my time and attention on at the outset of my legal career.

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