LAW PRACTICE WORKFLOW PART 2: BALANCE AND CHANGING CAREER PATHS
The legal profession is a stressful one. There are a few solutions, but sometimes finding balance and changing career paths is a good fit, and the right time. So it’s no wonder that lawyers suffer from depression at twice the rate of the general population, which means that of the 1.2 million lawyers in the United States, 240,000 of them are clinically depressed. Not surprisingly, given the high numbers of depressed lawyers, suicide rates for attorneys are nearly 4 times higher than those of many other professions.
Between the stress and the high levels of depression, it’s no wonder that 7 out of 10 lawyers surveyed by the California Lawyers magazine would change careers if the opportunity arose. But there are several solutions and ways to reduce stress and increase happiness without leaving the profession altogether. However, if you are at a point where you are considering a career change, Camille Walker has some really valuable advice based on her back story that takes us from attorney to coach and today leading a passionate life.
I am thrilled to have Camille K. Walker, JD, Transformational Mentor & Strategist with me today to share her story, her expertise and valuable insight on how to evaluate whether you are ready to discover how to create clarity and freedom in a second/next career. To this end, she offers mastery courses, one on one sessions, and training. You can reach Camille on her website OneHappyLawyer!
Camille shares her own transformation, considerations and strategies to the transition from lawyering to coaching. Below I’ve assembled a few key thoughts on practical matters relative to transitions, while Camille addresses some key elements of mind set, self-awareness and approach to make the transition as smooth as possible. Listen in on our interview right here…
LAST WEEK
Last week I introduced the first of my March-Not-So-Madness Month workflow series, Creating a Peaceful and Calming Environment. I shared a few easy ways to update and tame the chaos we sometimes experience in the environment of a law practice. These shares included everything from decor, personal touches, to efficient communication.
THIS WEEK
The most common complaint amongst lawyers? Compensation? Nope. Long work hours? Nope. Try reaching your full potential. If you are at a point where you understand change is not happening within the firm, here are few steps to take, or evaluate at least, if you are considering starting up your own law practice, or even a career outside of law…
1. Be more productive where you are now. Make it your goal to not need your current job or career (not to to find another job or career). The first option puts you in the driver’s seat and in control of your situation.
2. While it is important to get into some soul searching, don’t spend too much time trying to “find the perfect career” – this may pose as a great excuse to procrastinate. Take the time you need to figure out how to fine tune your outreach, and you will need to reading, researching, sending out letters. However, conduct your search in the most simple of ways – and keep your eyes/ears/mind open to opportunities offline while you are doing any online searching.
3. Since leaving law school you have been ‘self-employed‘ (even if you don’t immediately realize it). At this time you have one client, your law firm. Now, treat your career as if you are the CEO and now is also the time to start learning the differences between running a business and practicing law.
4. Re-evaluate the definition of “attorney productivity!” In the real world you don’t need (or want) for everything to be just exactly perfect. In fact, if this is your aim, you will have a very difficult time starting and running a successful business. You need to work as efficiently as you are effectively. Pick the right tools for your productivity, and stick with them.
5. And, finally, the biggest key to success is not who you know or how you know them, but rather it is KNOWING WHO YOU KNOW! A great contact is worthless if you forget about them or don’t remember the name or how you met. Who you know drives most of your business. You WILL need to figure out the most efficient – and meaningful way – to organize your contacts file. Find a CRM (Client Relations Management) tool that works for you and organize, tag so you recall who you met, when you met them and how you plan to stay in touch. One of the best ways to do this is by tagging and organizing either within LinkedIn (especially if you are using their premium “Sales Navigator”) or by exporting these contacts into your own contact file. CAVEAT – do NOT start messaging these LinkedIn found contacts outside of LinkedIn without there permission!
WEEKLY TIP, TOOL, TRANQUILITY FINDER…
Talking about LinkedIn and organizing, here is how you would organize your existing connections. Since Microsoft buyout of LinkedIn last year, the “Tag” feature disappeared on the free level (but has been highly optimized in the premium Sales Navigator level). I’ve been using LinkedIn’s premium level Sales Navigator extensively, daily. It allows me to be highly granular in my searches, as well as organized by creating tags. Here are a few additional reasons I find Sales Navigator so valuable…
- I benefit from their use of an advanced algorithm to find prospects best aligned with my particular services
- Sales insights from the sales navigator ensures I have the best information as the decision maker
- It provides several relationship building tools that allow me to continually move closer to the final goal of a conversion
LinkedIn’s premium level Sales Navigator is definitely worth a try. A free trial will give you a better sense of whether it’s a good fit for you and your practice. You can sign up here to watch a demo offered by LinkedIn.
If you have any additional questions about how to use this platform to generate and organize your qualified leads, REACH OUT to schedule your 15 minute no-pressure, no-pitch “LinkedIn Query”session.
Thanks for taking the time to join me and hope you’ll join me next week when we’ll start talking about HOW AND WHY TO CHOOSE YOUR CLIENTS CAREFULLY. We’ve all been there – focusing all our time on a demanding client with unreasonable expectations. The signs were there, but we chose to ignore our gut instinct, and for a variety of reasons (need the work, interesting sounding case, etc) you end up with a mess, an unhappy client and your unhappy moment. We’ll talk more about how to create a PRE-QUALIFYING PROCESS that increases both productivity and the happy in your life.