THE legal app designed for law firms and launched in 2017 was called EasyLaw, but the road to success for its founder, June Low, had certainly not been an easy one.
The idea for the app came about in 2016 when Low was having a drink with a group of friends at a mamak shop.
"I was a digital marketer at the time. We talked about doing something that was similar to Grab, yet it had to be something different. Each of us have different skillsets."
As Low was an accounting graduate from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and has no law background, she had to do a lot of research on the subject.
"There're so many legal jargons and different types of law like conveyancing, corporate and litigation. I had to understand the market mentality and lawyer lingo. My team also had to identify the pain points of lawyers so that we could provide digital solutions to address those pain points," she said.
But for Low, who radiates positive vibes and loves celebrating small wins, learning new things is not a daunting task at all as she embraces learning and self-improvement on a daily basis.
The Movement Control Order (MCO) implemented on March 18, 2020 actually boosted demand for EasyLaw.
"Before the MCO, I was going to offices to do demos and many people were sceptical about the software. But when the lockdown occurred, forcing people to work from homes, the need for such a software surged. So, I started getting "yeses" for online demos.
EasyLaw emerged the winner at the inaugural Singapore Venture Day Pitch Slam in the TechLaw.Fest 2018.
This qualified the team to compete against regional winners from Europe, India and Singapore in the contest in Madrid the same year.
"A typical day of my life is I'd be attending meetings in the morning. Then I would communicate with my team and in the evenings, I like to learn new skills, especially those related to marketing and branding.
"When I was younger, I thought money was an indication of one's success. But having worked for so many years now, my definition of success is not how big my company is. It's more like how successful my life is and having the people around me."
Low's elder brother, Andy, is a successful lawyer who inspired her to embark on entrepreneurship and to get out from her comfort zone, while her husband, Heng, is a senior finance manager who is very supportive of her business. He helps her to be more financially literate when it comes to growing a business.
Low adopts the "CPR" approach, an acronym for "consistent", "persistent" and "repeat".
"These are the three ingredients to success. You have to be consistent in what you do, and be persistent even if it is not delivering the results immediately. A business is like a marriage. When something is not working, you don't think about getting a divorce. You just have to work it out and repeat what works."
Low said in jest being the chief executive officer also made her the "chief everything officer", but she enjoyed having her own business as it meant being the "captain of her own ship".
The EasyLaw mobile app is free to use, but the paid services offer online land search service, extraction of title information or certified true copy documents at land office, customer relationship management (CRM) and accounting software for the legal field, a commissioner for oaths directory, and statutes of Malaysia and conveyancing law.
The CRM software provides case and client management, billing, accounting and auto draft documents, among others, while the mobile app helps lawyers and property investors calculate legal fees, stamp duties and real property gains tax for property transactions.
"For youths who want to be entrepreneurs, the best advice I can give is to start early when you don't have too many commitments. You don't need to wait till you have a perfect plan to start.
"When starting your company, I believe one should not overly emphasise on fundraising for business expansion. Time should be spent on the business itself, solving your customers' problems rather than raising funds.
"Otherwise, you will reach a plateau if your main source of cash flow comes from fundraising and investors are not interested to invest any more. The best money always comes from your clients. So, if you serve your clients well, the right investors will come."
On the direction of EasyLaw in the next three to five years, Low said the company was aggressively promoting the CRM and accounting software for law firms called EasyPro, which was introduced in 2019.
With EasyPro, clients can automate manual and daunting daily tasks and accounting matters, thus saving more time for lawyers to focus on the tasks that matter.
The writer was a journalist with the New Straits Times before joining a Fortune Global 500 real estate company. This article is a collaboration between the New Straits Times and Tradeview, the author of 'Once Upon A Time In Bursa'.