Go listen to my interview on this week’s episode of the Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast. We chat about my new book, Level Up Your Law Practice, why I switched from teaching high schoolers to lawyering, the importance of a healthy mindset, and … Creating sustainable business practicesFinding clients, and building on existing relationshipsHow to take criticism and feedback, andHow you can apply game theory to leveling up your law practice You can either listen to the Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast or read the transcript of the interview at their website wealthywomanlawyer.com. Or you can just start listening to the podcast...
No one is going to make your opportunities for you, because no one has as much interest making sure you succeed as you do. So be ambitious. Make your opportunities. And have the audacity to achieve what you set out to do. [This is an excerpt from my new book, Level Up Your Law Practice, which can learn more about here and purchase wherever you like.]
A friend of mine owned a home remodeling business in the late 2000s. Although his wife also worked, he was the primary source of income for the family. As happened with millions of others in the Great Recession, his business fell on hard time. He had to start making decisions about which bills to pay for his business. One bill that he let ride a little too long was his workers’ compensation insurance. While it had lapsed, one of his workers got electrocuted and had to be hospitalized. The worker developed some kidney problems, and the hospital stay got longer....
How can we put ourselves in the best frame of mind to learn from failures? [This is an excerpt from my new book, Level Up Your Law Practice, which can learn more about here and purchase wherever you like.]
In their simplest form, self-limiting beliefs are assumptions or perceptions that we have about ourselves and about how the world works. They are “self-limiting” because in some way they are holding us back from achieving what we are capable of. The difficulty with limiting beliefs is that they tend to be sticky. Once we’ve formed a belief — whether political, religious, or about ourselves — we look for more evidence to support the belief and discount evidence to the contrary. While this gives us a foundation for understanding an otherwise complex and confusing world, it also means that beliefs can...
For each of the past three years, I’ve written about the importance of goalsetting. We’ve talked about what goals should look like, in that you need to be setting S.M.A.R.T. goals — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-focused, and Time-bound. And I’ve been transparent with you about how having written goals has been transformative for me in both my law and writing practices. I have not met all the goals I’ve set. Far from it. Maybe I’ve met half of them. But I’m absolutely certain that having the goals, particularly the overly ambitious ones, has projected me further down the path of...
Law firms are often comprised of three generations of personnel. We best serve our clients needs when, rather than assuming generational stereotypes, we use our personal knowledge of each other’s personality types and individual experiences to collaborate on projects and provide feedback. This intergenerational communication is the best way to get the most out of each other and promote an inclusive and thriving culture. You can read more about the importance of communicating across generations in my new article in DRI’s For the Defense, “Encouraging Words: Feedback, Communication, and Intergenerational Collaboration.”
My basement was kind of a disaster. Boxes haphazardly strewn about. Tools and equipment that had not been organized in the last 18 months, despite the best of intentions. Kids toys that had been played with and discarded. A pile of things to take to the landfill. So after months of trying not to notice the mess, I picked up and organized the basement. Now I have a tidy basement. But if I just focus on the result that now I have a clean and well-organized basement, I will turn around in a few months to discover it has devolved...
A few weeks ago, Curt Runger of Attorney Mentors sent me a text message saying that he had been seeing my posts on LinkedIn and that if I would do one thing differently, LinkedIn’s algorithm would like me better and increase my visibility. I’ve known Curt for a while now and trust that when he tells me something, he knows what he’s talking about. So I implemented the change. Over the past three years, I have never had particularly good results from sharing my blog posts on LinkedIn. Usually about 140 folks see the post on LinkedIn and a few...
I am near-sighted, which is really only useful for tying knots with fishing line or doing anything else that can be done within 18 inches of my face. I didn’t always know I was near-sighted. It wasn’t until I started driving that we discovered it. My mother was riding with me while I had my learner’s permit. She abruptly turned to me and asked, “Why didn’t you stop at that stop sign?” I replied earnestly, “What stop sign?” She didn’t miss a beat before announcing, “We are going to make you an eye appointment.” It wasn’t until I walked out...