Have you ever felt the pain when your business role conflicts with your personal or family roles? Every business owner wears multiple hats: CEO, marketer, IT consultant, researcher, and many more. It’s tough enough to manage those roles alongside ordinary family roles, but when life throws you a curveball, the difficulties multiply. Maybe you’re responsible for transporting a child to a prestigious and time-consuming new activity that could pave the way for a college scholarship, or maybe you’re suddenly facing a family member’s serious illness. Whatever the cause, your business can thrive only if you’re able to manage your family responsibilities and have energy left over.
Join our guest Julie Fleming as she shares the perspectives and practical tips she’s gained while running her consultancy and serving as caregiver for her father, who is now in the severe stage of Alzheimer’s Disease.
About Julie Fleming
Julie A. Fleming, principal of Lex Innova Consulting, helps lawyers to create and implement innovative business development plans. She is the author of three books (The Reluctant Rainmaker: A Guide for Lawyers Who Hate Selling, Seven Foundations of Time Mastery for Attorneys, and Legal Rainmaking Mistakes: What You Think You Know About Business Development Can Kill Your Practice), as well as numerous articles on topics such as business development, practice management, work/life balance, and leadership development.
Before launching her consulting business, Julie practiced law for over a decade in firms of 3 to more than 2100 attorneys, focusing on patent litigation. Julie has appeared in diverse publications including The Practical Lawyer (ALI CLE), Trial magazine (American Association for Justice), The Bencher (American Inns of Court), ABA Now (American Bar Association), and The Glass Hammer.
You can find out more about Julie at Lex Innova Consulting.
Resources from Julie
Julie’s Success Tips
1. Get support. Spiritual support through prayer, plus personal support from friends and colleagues. Sometimes you’ll need to rest in God’s embrace, and sometimes you’ll need to be able to call someone and vent, cry, scream, or celebrate.
2. Practice deep breathing. When you practice, you’ll learn to reduce your stress quickly, a skill that will serve you well.
3. Get comfortable making adjustments. You’ll likely find that your circumstances will change often, and you’ll thrive only when you can adapt to those changes.
4. Be honest about your circumstances, but never allow them to take center stage in business.
5. Get clear on what matters most to you and use that as your guiding principle as you make decisions.
6. Look for ways to integrate your activity. What can you do that will in some way serve both your personal and business needs?
Julie’s Favorite Quote
“Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm.”
Listen to the interview with Julie Fleming by clicking the player below.
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