Amira Irfan is a business lawyer and seven-figure blogger at A Self Guru, an online company that helps entrepreneurs legally protect their businesses by providing affordable legal templates and services. Amira has had the honor of helping over 50,000 entrepreneurs comply with the laws and safeguard their businesses. Her work has been featured in 200+ media outlets such as Yahoo Finance, HuffPost, Business Digest Magazine, Authority Magazine, International Business Times, US Times Now, and others! 

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I’m the business lawyer, seven-figure blogger, and coach behind A Self Guru, where I help entrepreneurs make money online and legally protect their businesses.

What inspired you to start your business?

After working as a business lawyer for 10 years, I still owed $150,000 in law school student loan debt that needed to be paid off. So I knew it was time to start a side hustle to help pay off this massive debt. 

I saw many entrepreneurs struggling with the legal side of their businesses and making costly legal mistakes. That’s when I founded A Self Guru and used my legal and business knowledge to help them while working full-time as a lawyer.

During the day, I worked as a lawyer and at nights and weekends, I worked on growing my online business. In two years, I was able to quit my 9 to 5 job as a lawyer and become a full-time entrepreneur when I made $78,000 in a single month from my online business. 

Now I help other bloggers and entrepreneurs make money online while protecting their businesses with my DIY legal templates and services.

Where is your business based?

I live in Florida, but my business is entirely online, allowing me to work from anywhere and serve people from all over the world.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

Before becoming a lawyer, I was a teacher. I love reading and writing, so I wanted to create an online business that allowed me to “teach” others. Legal help can be time-consuming and expensive but legal is the glue that holds every business together. So I wanted to help other entrepreneurs with their legal questions and needs. 

That's when I decided to start a blogging business because it gave me a lot of freedom and creativity where I could create video lessons, write helpful blog posts, and even create digital products solving my audience’s problems.

Prior to starting my blogging business, I worked one-on-one with other bloggers and entrepreneurs, drafting their website legal policies and business contracts.

But I quickly realized that there had to be a simpler, faster, and more cost-effective legal solution for their business needs. 

So I came up with the idea of creating DIY legal templates that entrepreneurs could download and use right away without having to pay hefty lawyer fees while still receiving lawyer-level protections. I created my legal store online and launched 20+ legal templates that entrepreneurs needed for their business.

This allowed me to help thousands of people at once, which I couldn't do when working one-on-one. And my customers really appreciated this affordable way of getting legal help for their business without having to hire an expensive lawyer. 

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

There are many effective ways to increase awareness for your business; however, one of the most effective ways is delivering outstanding customer service through a Facebook support group. 

When you provide outstanding customer service, it delivers an impression, which will be remembered by customers and makes them more likely to think about your product again in the future. 

When you focus on providing great customer service, it makes your product stand out and influences consumers to continue the service, helping the company grow. My Facebook support group of 7,000+ entrepreneurs has been one of the best ways to connect and raise awareness for my business. 

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

I started a blogging business with no technical knowledge. So far, the most difficult challenge has been learning everything from scratch and putting new strategies and ideas I've learned into practice. I spent a lot of money on business courses and resources in order to quickly learn the ins and outs of running a business and scaling it.

How do you stay focused?

Progress keeps me motivated. When I accomplish something, it inspires me to do more! I also maintain my focus by meditating every day. My life is more focused and clear after I meditate. It relieves mental stress, and I also need to get enough sleep every night to recharge and tackle projects with greater clarity.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

I help other entrepreneurs make money online and legally protect their businesses, but since I’m also an entrepreneur, I understand their challenges and can help solve their problems better than any other lawyer.

Thousands of customers promote my legal templates for free because they simply loved them and our customer service. They are always surprised by the number of bonuses they receive with our legal templates that they didn’t expect. Those extra bonuses alone are worth the cost of our legal templates. We truly believe in overdelivering and exceeding expectations. In addition, our legal templates are extremely affordable. All of this, according to our customers, distinguishes our company.

That’s why we have over 100’s of 5-star reviews and customers who always send us love notes like, “your legal templates are a lifesaver,” or “your legal bundle was the best investment for my business that didn’t break my wallet,” or “thanks to your templates, I am able to sleep better at night knowing that my business is now protected.”

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Using social media to its full potential and focusing on customer retention. We reward current customers for referring friends and family to use our products by paying them a generous 40% affiliate commission on each sale. This has been a very effective marketing strategy in which current customers can easily recoup their initial investment as well as earn monthly income.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Always remember your “why” and don’t give up when things get tough! 

In my business, there were times when things broke, and we lost all of our hard work and failed to meet our objectives. Working 14-hour days on top of my full-time job to run the business was so exhausting that I wanted to give up and return to my regular 9-to-5 lawyer job. But then I remembered “why” I started this business  in the first place, and why I couldn't give up in the face of failure.

• What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

Asana is my favorite business app. It is an online tool that allows teams to easily collaborate on projects, share files and never miss a beat. There is no more confusion on where a document is stored or who can access what information. The app creates a centralized location for all documents and makes them easy to find.

Million dollar habits is my favorite book by Brian Tracy because it covers the most important things entrepreneurs need to succeed, no matter what they are doing. I read this book every year to stay focused and remind myself how important these habits truly are.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

My favorite business tool is Kartra because it’s an all-in-one business platform. I use it to run my entire business online. This business tool makes it easy for me to keep track of my products, services, and customers. I can even use this business tool to create landing pages to market our products, host our affiliate program, and membership sites. Having one tool that does everything makes it easy to manage your business instead of learning 10 different platforms. 

Who is your business role model? Why?

Arianna Huffington is a successful serial entrepreneur who is truly inspiring! I have a type A driven personality, just like her, but her story about collapsing from burnout resonated with me because I experienced something similar as an entrepreneur lawyer myself. I appreciate how she helped me realize that success should not come at the expense of burnout.

How do you balance work and life?

Everyone has different ways of balancing work and life. Some people like to take breaks every now and then, while others don't like breaks at all. It is important to find what works for you so you stay energized throughout the day.

Taking breaks, going for walks, exercising, eating healthy, and not working on weekends are some of the things I do to maintain a work-life balance.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Reading a good, inspiring book or writing in my gratitude journal. 

What do you have planned for the next six months?

I audit my entire business once a year to see where the gaps are and what areas I need to improve on the following year. It's exciting to see where we excel, but it's also illuminating to see where we fall short. As a result, we can improve everything. That's what I've planned for the next six months.

How can our readers connect with you?

The best way to connect with me is through my website here or Facebook group where you can easily reach me and meet thousands of other talented entrepreneurs. Lastly, you can sign up to receive my free legal guide here and learn the three common mistakes I see entrepreneurs making and find out how you can avoid them.

Connect with me on social media:

Facebook Group- https://www.facebook.com/groups/aselfguru/

Pinterest- https://www.pinterest.com/aselfguru/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/aselfguru/

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/aselfguru/

Twitter- https://twitter.com/aselfguru

YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/c/AmiraatASelfGuru