So many important points here. You've very succinctly explained (1) exactly why I don't think hanging my own shingle like my therapist has been suggesting will work for me and my personality and (2) why I was always so unhappy at work as a practicing lawyer.
"They’re often running away from something (vs. running towards something else.)" Yes, yes, and yes. That was my career for the longest time. It's only been in the past couple of years that I've even had the time and space to think about what it is that I actually want out of a career. And it is way harder to figure that out now, but better late than never I suppose!
Thank you! Love to hear that you've taken the time to think through what you truly want. That time is *not* wasted and is incredibly valuable as you make a decision on what to do next. Thank you for sharing!
The process of becoming a lawyer (at least in BigLaw) actively selects against good sales traits, it’s all about dealing with intellectual abstractions. I was thinking about what proxies for “good at sales” actually exist and I came up with (1) chasing people to do something, even after it’s clearly annoying them; (2) initiating normal human conversations at those godawful networking events; (3) keeping asking questions to find out what a client actually cares about (as opposed to just taking instructions).
“Maybe they’re tired of billing hours…Or are you trying to run away from tracking billable hours?”
If only they knew there are other business models. I just spoke to a careers in business summer school class for high schoolers today. One student asked what’s the most important thing about being a business owner. I told her sales. You can have the best service or product ever, but if no one will buy it, then it doesn’t matter. People buy bad products and services all the time when there’s a good salesperson or sales funnel/strategy.
Tracking billable hours seems to create so much misery. Just keep hearing about how lawyers want to go in house, to the gov't, only to get away from that.
So many important points here. You've very succinctly explained (1) exactly why I don't think hanging my own shingle like my therapist has been suggesting will work for me and my personality and (2) why I was always so unhappy at work as a practicing lawyer.
"They’re often running away from something (vs. running towards something else.)" Yes, yes, and yes. That was my career for the longest time. It's only been in the past couple of years that I've even had the time and space to think about what it is that I actually want out of a career. And it is way harder to figure that out now, but better late than never I suppose!
Thank you! Love to hear that you've taken the time to think through what you truly want. That time is *not* wasted and is incredibly valuable as you make a decision on what to do next. Thank you for sharing!
The process of becoming a lawyer (at least in BigLaw) actively selects against good sales traits, it’s all about dealing with intellectual abstractions. I was thinking about what proxies for “good at sales” actually exist and I came up with (1) chasing people to do something, even after it’s clearly annoying them; (2) initiating normal human conversations at those godawful networking events; (3) keeping asking questions to find out what a client actually cares about (as opposed to just taking instructions).
For sure, I couldn't have said it better. It's a completely different skillset. Appreciate the thoughts!
“Maybe they’re tired of billing hours…Or are you trying to run away from tracking billable hours?”
If only they knew there are other business models. I just spoke to a careers in business summer school class for high schoolers today. One student asked what’s the most important thing about being a business owner. I told her sales. You can have the best service or product ever, but if no one will buy it, then it doesn’t matter. People buy bad products and services all the time when there’s a good salesperson or sales funnel/strategy.
Tracking billable hours seems to create so much misery. Just keep hearing about how lawyers want to go in house, to the gov't, only to get away from that.