Our founder, Ali Katz, speaking on a panel with Eben Pagan and Dave Logan, being all of herself and getting many requests from people who wanted to work with her afterward, as a result.
Today, I’m going to share some things with you that are a bit different than what I normally write about, but for some of you, it could be the most important thing you ever read.
If you’ve ever considered giving up being a lawyer because you thought you needed to hide some part of yourself in order to be successful, read on, as I'm about to illustrate how to be a better lawyer by being all of who you really are.
If you have no idea what I am talking about when you read that, this article isn’t for you, and you can read my more recent series on how to price your legal services instead.
I’m writing this today because I wish there had been models for me ten years ago that would have shown me I could be my creative, weird, funky self AND a lawyer. It would have possibly saved me from bankruptcy and many years of confusion and tears.
Today, there are many models of lawyers who are being all of themselves AND being better lawyers as a result. See the end of this article for a few examples. I want to show you that, so you can stop wondering if it’s possible, and see that it is in your own life, too.
Also, I want you to see where your very powerful mind could be getting in the way of you creating what you want in your life and law practice, so you can reclaim that power instead of letting it sabotage you.
Okay, here goes …
There was a time in my life when I was not sure I could be a lawyer, and be true to all the parts of myself. As a result, I almost gave up trying altogether. I walked away from being a lawyer, and from serving lawyers, even though I had invested over $100,000 to go to law school, built a million dollar a year law practice, and had built another million-dollar business training lawyers.
You may be considering leaving the law altogether yourself. Or you may be facing the prospect that you can’t leave the law because you need to earn money with your law degree, so you’ll just hide some parts of yourself away, or save them for the weekends.
I’m here to reassure you though, you do not need to give up parts of yourself, or hide parts of yourself away, to be a great lawyer.
In fact, you will discover how to be a better lawyer and you’ll get more clients too!
I had to learn this the hard way, by leaving the law and all I had created as a lawyer, then coming back to it and taking 7 years to figure out how to be all of me AND a lawyer and serve lawyers.
And, trust me, if I can do it, you can do it.
I’m about as weird as they get, as you can see from the image on this post. I’ve been to Burning Man ten times, even got married there once, and I spent years writing about my sex life on the internet – living very publicly with two names, Ali Shanti and Ali Katz – and getting trolled for it big time.
Here’s the thing about all that – the more I was true to myself, the more clients wanted to work with me!
Today, people pay me a minimum of $15,000 to review their legal, insurance, financial and tax foundations in their life and business. They trust me because I’ve been so transparent about my journey in life and business.
Some part of me didn’t really believe that this was possible and, yet, another part of me knew that it was and I’d just need to prove it to myself, so I could lead the way for you and other lawyers.
There weren’t any models for me showing me I could be all of myself AND be a lawyer, so I had to go first. And, now, I’m going to prove to the parts of you that aren’t sure, that you can be all of yourself, and a lawyer, and it’s really the best way to be.
Your clients want it, your family wants it, and the parts of you that you’ve been hiding away definitely want it!
Being all of yourself AND incorporating that into your work as a lawyer is the key to your true fulfillment and success.
Being ALL of who you are, including your lawyer self AND all of the parts you think you need to hide, is how to be a better lawyer – and is really the ONLY path to true fulfillment.
And, if you are hiding any parts of yourself because that is what you think you need to do in order to earn money, it’s time to reclaim those parts and bring them fully into your work as a lawyer.
Today, I’d like to show you a few examples of what that looks like, so you can see for yourself, and in my next article, I’ll follow up with my own personal story of hiding and rejecting parts of myself, so you can see if you might be doing that too.
But, first, examples of lawyers who are bringing all of themselves into their lives and law practices:
The first lawyer I want to highlight for you is Shane Jasmine Young. Shane joined us at New Law Business Model just under two years ago, as she was transitioning out of life at a BigLaw firm and into her own law practice.
Shane practices a little personal injury law now, does a little business advising, and a lot of estate planning. Over the last two years, Shane has taken what we’ve taught her and built a million dollar a year law practice, all while being all of herself, as you’ll see if you follow her on social media.
By embracing the full range of her humanity, and sharing that publicly, Shane’s practice is full.
I mean who doesn't want to work with a lawyer who runs a 21-day Self Love challenge?!
If you aren’t yet convinced, one other example for you to check out, as you consider what it might look like for you to embrace your whole self, in service to having a law practice you love is Jamie Moore Marcario.
Jamie worked with New Law Business Model several years ago to revamp her business law practice from one-off transactions into packaged, concierge-style services.
And while she loved the practice, something was missing for her, on a personal level.
Just recently, Jamie rebranded her firm into the business firm for female founders, and post her launch announcement with an image of the superhero she is.
This is what we love to see.
Before next week, when I share my story of hiding out, rejecting parts of myself because I thought I needed to in order to be a lawyer, and how I resolved it all, consider whether you may be hiding parts of yourself because you think you need to in order to earn money as a lawyer.
Get out your journal and at the top write: welcoming the parts I’m hiding. And see what comes through. See if there are any hidden or repressed parts that want you to hear them, and just write, write, write whatever comes through, not judging anything, but instead listening to what they have to say.
There’s very likely gold here for you, and I would love to help you find it in service to creating a life and law practice that you truly love.