All posts by : Lawyers With Purpose

We received the following email this week:

“I have a question.  Is it wrong of me to want to scale down instead of up in my employment?  I don't think I want to work full-time right now.  I'd like to start out part-time and then perhaps go full-time.  I want some time to work on myself and my family but not working is not an option. I'd probably go stir crazy after a while of not working. I need to work. But I need to balance family time as well.

It's confession time:

1.  I want time for myself.  (Selfish, I know.)  But even when I'm not at work I'm worried about work.  Can't seem to separate the two.  Mostly because I feel like I owe it to my job to worry about it like it’s part of my family.

2.  I need to come up with and implement ways to cook healthy, exercise and get the kids doing the same thing.  How do I do that when I don't have the time?  I think I need time management courses. 

3.  Sarah isn't doing very well in school.  I want to help her but from 6 – 10 I'm catching up on laundry, doing dishes, putting away everyone’s mess that they leave lying around. 

4.  I want to save money. Can't save money we are not making and if we are making the money we aren't saving it.  urrrrgghhh!!!

I tried to talk with my boss about going part-time; he has given me only two options:  Quit or stay.  I quit because he advised that he would not be giving me a raise; as well he told me that if I had to look for other work he would understand.”

How many of us can relate to some variation on this theme? We hear countless versions of the above situation from the employee and employer alike.  The clash between the “either / or” mentality versus those trying to think in terms of “and” is unfortunately commonplace. The boss won’t clarify: Is the issue that he can’t afford to go without the man(woman)power? Or is he struggling to decide whether she is valuable enough for him to reconfigure her job so it provides the work/life balance a mother needs? The crime is, she quit. And he let her. And the irony is, he still hasn’t replaced her because naturally he doesn’t have the time to slog through the hiring process. And the heartbreaking piece is, it didn’t need to end that way.

Without the Honest While Respectful Conversations™, unnecessary suffering is inevitable.

When people work together as a performance-driven team that considers unconventional passages of action while making decisions together — they learn to operate from a place of value when struggles rise.  The process of working together as a team helps create leaders who foster a safe, approachable environment, an atmosphere of possibility and growth. And that place, in turn, produces the defining moments that uplevel the whole game.

So I would argue that the question that sparked the demise of a team, a great team, wasn’t “Is it wrong of me to want to scale down instead of up in my employment?” If a safe place of possibility was present, the question really could have been turned into a win/win along the lines of “How can we create a role where I support the firm in reaching its goals, while allowing me to create a work/life balance?”

Molly L. Hall, Co-Founder, Lawyers with Purpose, LLC, and author of Don’t Be a Yes Chick: How to Stop Babysitting Your Boss, Transform Your Job and Work with a Dream Team Without Losing Your Sanity or Your Spirit in the Process.

It is amazing to me how fast time goes by. I just returned from a business coaching program I have attended for the past 12 years that requires me to get out of my office one day per quarter. During my coaching day I meet with like-minded entrepreneurs who focus on their future success with one of the world's most noted coaches, Dan Sullivan. It does not take long before we are quickly invigorated and our minds are being reshaped and refocused.

What amazes me each time I attend is how quickly the prior three months had gone by. What also amazes me is how much I accomplished in the previous quarter. (In preparation for each program you analyze the last quarter and identify the progress you've made.) Interestingly, most of the entrepreneurs I attend with agree that we really don't look much at our notes during the quarter but, nonetheless, the goals that we set three months ago have all been achieved. And we figured out why: The key to working on your business is that it must be integrated into your work life.

I go to these quarterly one-day events to refocus myself and my business. The events are refined in a monthly planning meeting that I do each week.

Each Friday morning I begin the first hour and a half of my day planning (proactively) all of the projects, past, and to-do's in my world. The to-do's are simple things that are 30 minutes or less that require me to involve other people to move forward. The past are things that require me for more than 30 minutes, but are a single-focused event, such as building a presentation or preparing information for tax returns. Finally, my planning focuses on my "projects." Projects are the bigger things, like building a website or creating a marketing plan to show value to industry X. Projects take a series of tasks and to-do's to accomplish. Each Friday as I utilize these tools (essential to any successful entrepreneur) I outline my project to-do's from a future perspective, which is what I need to be doing to progress toward my goal. The heart of this weekly planning in my quarterly one-day retreat where I set my goals and objectives at a very high level and a path moving forward. My weekly meeting on the first Friday of each month I focus on the monthly goals (just one extra tool I utilize in that individual planning session) and then also use the weekly planning focuser and the daily planning focuser.

I've always said running a marathon is about 46,000 strides and you can't get there unless you take every stride and you can't take shortcuts. It's simply doing one thing consistently over and over that wins the race. The same is true with your future; it's all based on taking the time to plot your course, and then planning it on a regular basis. Hey, time's going by anyway during the last three months (and the next three). The only difference is whether you're doing it by default (reactive) or by design (proactive). So when are you working on your business?

David J. Zumpano, Esq, CPA, Co-founder Lawyers With Purpose, Founder and Senior Partner of Estate Planning Law Center.

There’s a saying in the entrepreneurial world, “Business would be great but for the employees.” And there’s a saying in the employee world, “Business would be great but for the clients.” No fewer than five times a week, I receive some version of an SOS email or phone message that contains some version of: “I really need your help with ___ please call me back ASAP.” Upon receiving, I typically reply with a message offering available times to talk. Then nada, no response. I used to begin to worry that there was some mysterious van circling the U.S., capturing our members and holding them hostage somewhere in the depths of an attorney prison camp.

When we finally “found the time” to connect, I would get a wonderful response along the lines of, “Oh, it really wasn’t what I thought.” It is fascinating how quickly a crisis handsprings to a non-crisis in a matter of hours. Did the caller summon magic powers to make the crisis disappear, like Houdini? Or was a quick meeting called with all involved parties, all issues identified, proposed solutions discussed and agreed upon? Or was this no longer a big deal due to lack of time to address or solve it? Or was it the act of giving up caring, out of sheer exhaustion? “It wasn’t that big of an issue” is the customary response when we finally have the opportunity to connect.

In my experience, the issue that finally prompts the SOS message typically has been occurring for some time, but the crisis deflates over the period of even one hour because the solution begins to look like “too much work.” And the emotional energy level invested in solving the crisis tends to dissipates.

Crisis, hiccups, conflict and misunderstandings are inevitable. That goes for clients, employees, bosses — any person, place or thing that requires your emotional involvement. The best approach is to eliminate crisis in the first place. Non-Crisis Planning = Time and Attention.

Molly L. Hall, Co-Founder, Lawyers with Purpose, LLC, and author of Don’t Be a Yes Chick: How to Stop Babysitting Your Boss, Transform Your Job and Work with a Dream Team Without Losing Your Sanity or Your Spirit in the Process.

Clayton James Sechler was born on Friday morning. He weighed in at 7 lbs 2 oz. Baby and Mom are doing great. Congratulations Tim Sechler!

I start every workday with a steaming cup of black coffee, which as of today has become hot water with lemon (my baby step), while I fire up my computer for 30 minutes of checking email before beginning a full schedule of CC&I calls. As the emails file in I fanatically search for the one from the Uplevel You Blog. Because Christine Kane is an absolute change agent, a trail blazer. She is a beacon for folks to live a life of joy and ease WHILE permitting themselves to make the money they want. Really, really want. And are worthy of.

I could go on and on. But I think this blog is so synergistic with what the LWP CC&I program preaches. A motto we live our life by is one small step at a time. Baby steps. Just check out her blog and enjoy!

Molly L. Hall, Co-Founder, Lawyers with Purpose, LLC, and author of Don’t Be a Yes Chick: How to Stop Babysitting Your Boss, Transform Your Job and Work with a Dream Team Without Losing Your Sanity or Your Spirit in the Process.

What is the greatest success you’ve had since joining LWP?

It really is the mere fact that I have been able to transition my busy family law/divorce practice to estate planning and elder law.  I wouldn't have been able to do it without the systems and tools that LWP provides – as any litigation lawyer knows, you spend most of your days dodging bullets.  Having the systems and tools allowed me to put one foot in front of the other while continuing to dodge the bullets, and do it successfully.  Although I haven't transitioned absolutely completely, I'd say I'm more than 90% there – and that, to me, is a huge success.

What is your favorite LWP tool?

For me, it is the workshop.  I find that using the workshop as part of our process, and not just as a "sometimes-marketing" tool, creates a more receptive client to the type of planning that we do, and the results are higher fees.  The potential client that comes in from a workshop (a Vision client) is a vastly different potential client that comes in compared to an initial meeting client.  They have already decided they probably like me, at least enough to come spend another hour with me, and they are also acutely aware that what they thought about estate planning is probably not correct, so when we "go there" they aren't skeptical about what I'm saying.  This enables me to have a productive conversation with the client instead of having to teach them from the beginning. We also have great feedback from professionals that attend, which creates a buzz in our community – worth its weight in gold.

How has being part of LWP impacted your team and your practice?

I wouldn't have the team or the practice I have today without LWP.  This process has literally completely revolutionized the way I practice law.  Furthermore, I haven't felt the need to compromise on my fees even though I'm relatively "new" to this practice area, because I know that I am providing a much higher level of service than other attorneys are.  People that we have identified as "our" clients willingly pay our fees.  My team and I enjoy coming to work and enjoy the challenges presented to us, instead of dreading what each day is going to throw at us.