Worried about Your Job? Twelve recovery steps. Part Two

I love a good sequel. This post is the sequel where the central figure (you) takes control of the sad state of life and turns it into a thrilling opportunity, with Oscars and entourages in the future.
If you’ve implemented the first 6 steps, you have a running chance of feeling like you’re in control. Remember, feeling like you may have control of the situation is 90% of the battle. You’re well on the way to taking things into your own hands and that’s terrific.
Here are the next six steps:

7.    Understand the advantages of owning your own business. Why do I have this AFTER learning how to set up a business? Because there are a number of different advantages to different business entities. Once you’ve decided to create a business, it’s important to decide what the peculiar advantages of a sole proprietorship may be over, say, an LLC.

8.     Get a positive mindset. If you haven’t developed one by now, DO IT. Subscribe to this blog. Borrow books on success from the library. Practice affirmations. Be around positive people. Get free stuff on the Web. In a later post, I’ll tell you what works for me and some others.

9.    Develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Michael E. Gerber describes people who go into business for themselves generally find themselves creating another job. This is called an entrepreneurial seizure, and it seems to affect lawyers pretty badly. Instead, start looking at your law degree as a gateway to larger enterprise-building opportunities that build passive income and let you have a life. Learn from other entrepreneurs, like Gerry Robert, Guy Kawasaki, and others.

10.   Learn to deal with rejection. Jack Canfield has a great remedy for rejection. Reject it. It’s that simple. You may not get the perfect job immediately, or find the perfect client. Just keep going. There’s another way to do deal with rejection, and that’s to use its opposite.

11.   Use attraction instead. Attract people to you. Get them to come to you because you’ve established yourself as an authority, or you’ve let other people know about you, or you have a killer network.

12.   Lead your team. By now, you should have made friends with an accountant, a mentor, a bunch of lawyers, and people who need what you have to offer. Take time and brainstorm who should be on your team, but remember you are the only leader.

Recognize that you’re taking things into your own hands. This is a baker’s dozen, I guess. There’s a tremendous amount of power in recognizing that you are capable of creating your life. Recognize that your law school education puts you head and shoulders above your competitors in other businesses. Socratic learning may have its downside, but you now have the skill set that will, 99% of the time, give you the edge.
Just do it. Get started today.

Worried about Your Job? A twelve-step program to liking your career path, Part One.

I rarely read the business section of the Washington Post on Sunday. After all, who wouldn’t rather be doing the Samurai Sudoku instead?
Yesterday, the logic of the Sudoku escaped me, and found myself in the midst of the angst of unsatisfied law students instead. Anne Lowery reports that law school is a bum deal. Once, apparently, it was a sure thing.
A quick overiew of the article describes the disenchantment some recent grads suffer as they try to make their way into the job market. One student offered to leave Boston College in exchange for his tuition. Others have set up blogs to warn potential law students that law school is a scam or at the very least a really bad investment.
Okay, I’m get that we’re living through an unrelenting recession. The market for lawyers is pretty bad. but that doesn’t mean your legal education is a bad investment, or that law schools are purposefully defrauding their students. C’mon.
If you think your law school education was a bad investment, I want to let you in on a little secret. SUCK IT UP. You need to take 100% responsibility for the decision you made to go. If you went to law school to earn a living, then get out there and make your investment pay some dividends.
Once you’ve taken responsibility for going to law school, you’re ready for these twelve steps, which I’ll cover in detail in subsequent posts:

1. Remind yourself again. Look in the mirror and say, “I chose to go to law school because __________.” When I found myself out of law school and unemployed, I found this exercise really cleansing. Especially when I finally was able to say, “I went to law school because I could act and get paid for it.” That helped a lot, especially since I was waiting tables at the time, just like any out-of-work actress.
   
2. Stop complaining. Nothing ever gets better by complaining about it. Instead, go back to the mirror, and ask, “So now, what are YOU going to do about it?”
   
3. Immediately begin to look for ways to reduce your debt load. This is pretty self-explanatory, but involves asking for help, which law students and new lawyers are notoriously bad at. Short of filing for bankruptcy, you probably feel like you’ll never be out of debt again. Take control. Immediately begin a strategy of understanding your debt, and find the quickest way to pay it back.
   
4. Actively seek out mentors. This is sort of like acknowledging a higher power. There are people in this world who have done this before. They will help you for free! Some will help you for a price: these people are called coaches. Either way, Don’t look for them in the usual places, either. Look for entrepreneurs and other business people who have, somehow, managed to succeed.
   
5. Start networking. Odds are, if you don’t have a mentor, or a job, out of law school, you didn’t network while you were in law school. If you’re reluctant to print out some business cards and head to the next Chamber of Commerce meeting, start using social networking sites to build your business and reputation.
   
6. Learn how to set up a business. If anything, it will at least keep you occupied between shifts at WalMart. We’ll explore business models in a later post, but right now figure out what you like to do that will put $500, $1,000, or $1500 extra in your pocket NEXT MONTH. Remember, it doesn’t necessarily have to include practicing law.

That’s plenty for now. Later on, I’ll post the next six.
Let me know what you think, and start looking for future posts that will tell you how to implement the twelve-step program. If you’re depressed about your future in the legal profession, we are here to help.