Category: Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business

She was trapped.

Do you enjoy your work as a lawyer?

Do you have the balanced life you were hoping for?

Do you get to spend enough time with your family or doing the things that feed your spirit?

Do you know that you can pay your bills next month?  How about next year?

Have you always wished you could start your own law practice, but the fear of financial insecurity keeps you in a “J-O-B” that is steeling your life?

Have you already started your practice, but feel stupid asking for help?

If a solution to these questions was given to you, would you take action?


Let me tell you a story.

Maybe you know someone like this…

—

There was once a very smart young leader.  This leader was always top of the class in High School.  She was also the natural leader outside the classroom, excelling in extra-curricular activities. She was passionate about everything she did, confident, and secure in the knowledge of her successful future.

When she went to college it became a bit more challenging, but she still fell into natural leadership roles and achieved results that her classmates envied. She had always known she was going to be some sort of “professional,” but in college, it became pretty clear that law school might be in her future.  After graduation, she worked a few jobs, but none gave her the challenge she craved. She got bored. She also found a few things in the world that she wanted to change and making those changes just felt “right.” She wasn’t conscious that addressing those issues was her life path, but the passion was kindled again and she decided that law school would be the next step toward reaching her goals.  She ALWAYS reached her goals, so she applied, and was accepted to a highly respected law school.

She realized on the first day of law school that things were different. This wasn’t going to be an easy ride to the top. Her classmates were very smart, some younger, some older, but all used to high achievement. She didn’t know what to think, so she didn’t notice when the culture started thinking for her.

She didn’t notice when her inner definition of success changed to a definition that included making the staff of the Law Review, competing for summer internships, receiving grades in the top 10% of her class and ultimately landing a job with a large firm in a major city with a six-figure salary. She didn’t notice when her understanding of her life balance and drive to help people make their lives better was replaced with these other measures – that was “normal” in law school.  She didn’t notice when her ability to engage her heart and conscience was replaced by “thinking like a lawyer.” Those changes too, were “normal” in law school.

She spent summers in “top” internships where she learned that the competition had only just begun, and got a small glimpse into the amount commitment a partnership track associate had to give to the firm.  She also saw the toys they were able to buy with the salary (which they never seemed to have time to enjoy), and whenever she saw her law school debt statements she decided that she HAD to have that salary, no matter what.

She made the law review, and while she generally enjoyed the people she spent time with, the work itself seemed tedious and unimportant in the context of that fading dream of changing the world in her particular way. Again, this was just “normal” for law school.

She graduated in the top 10% of her class. She got an offer from the firm she had worked with the summer between 2L and 3L. The job offer wasn’t in an area of law that had anything to do with her dream, but it paid well, was prestigious, and she needed the money to pay off her school loans. Her parents were very happy for her. Her old friends respected her. She felt smart.

When she started as the new associate in the big firm, she discovered the realities of minimum billing. She discovered the drudgery that can come with law practice. She felt smart, but unfulfilled – like something was missing in her life. She had good money for the first time in her life, so when she felt hollow, she went shopping. The toys were nice, but they didn’t fill that hole inside her.  She volunteered (with what little time she could give – she had to work weekends to make the billable hour minimums after all, and she also wanted to get ahead and make partner someday), but it still didn’t fill that void.

She was smart and worked hard, so after a few years, she was well respected in a field of law that had nothing to do with her dream, but there were now law students that knew more about the legal issues in that other area than she did now.

Now she was an expert…

In a field she didn’t enjoy…

Working all the time…

To pay for a lifestyle…

That she developed to fill the void…

Of being an expert…

In a field she didn’t enjoy…

Working all the time…

She was trapped.

She didn’t know what to do and felt stupid asking for help. She saw her peers drinking too much, or taking on worse habits to take the edge of the cycle of pain they had created in their lives.  She hadn’t developed those habits, but could see the motivation. She wasn’t sleeping well. Something needed to change.

She had to find the place back to that purpose in her life that motivated her to go to law school in the first place.

But how?

She was scared she would be seen as a failure.

She was scared she would not make enough money.

But she was more scared that she was literally selling the days of her life to her firm, without living her purpose.

The fear of wasting her life was terrifying, far bigger than the fear of failure or not having a six figure income immediately.

So, she resolved to take action and get her life back on purpose…

She left the big firm and started her own practice. She wanted to empower others to reach their entrepreneurial dreams because she believed that inside every human was some creative gift they could give to the world. She new that many entrepreneurs would benefit from her experience and find the confidence THEY needed to pursue their dreams because she was willing to share her mistakes with them. After all, the fear of asking for help is human nature when there’s a little bit of shame attached. Shame of not knowing. Shame from getting into “dumb” situations. Shame of making mistakes.  She had experienced those things, and if it could happen to this smart, over-achieving lawyer, it could happen to anyone.

Her solo practice was growing, but she was still worried.  The business model of the legal industry said that you had to bill people a lot of money, by the hour, or by the project. Many of her small business clients were bootstrapping start-ups and honestly couldn’t afford to pay “the going rate.”

Each month was a struggle.  She never knew where the billing would start in the next month, let alone end up, so she couldn’t bring herself to hire even a part time assistant because she didn’t want to have to lay someone off.  She couldn’t focus on the systems to deliver her best work, because she had to deal with all the mundane details of running the business. She had a hard time actually billing more than a few hours a day, and some days getting even a couple billable hours in didn’t happen until after her kids and husband were asleep. She would have a great month of billable work, only to find that she hadn’t had time to market and bring in work for the next month. She called that the cash-flow roller-coaster, and she hated it.

Again, she was trapped.

This time, she wasn’t trapped by the big firm.  She didn’t know who to blame. This was how the law business worked, wasn’t it?

There had to be a better way.

There had to be a way to create predictable income.

There had to be a way to serve clients better.

There had to be a way to focus on what she loved.

There had to be a way to spend more quality time with the people she loved.

There had to be a way to hire the help she needed.

There had to be other people in the same situation.

There had to be someone who knew how to help her, without making her feel like a failure.

Well, there is.  And maybe YOU can be a part of that group.

SpaceBetween_logo_FA

Do you want to get your life back on purpose?

Do you want to better serve your small business clients?

Do you want to spend more quality time with the people you love?

If you answered Yes to any of these questions, then you owe it to yourself, your family, and your clients to listen to the replay of the call I co-hosted with my friend Ben Glass last week.

My name is Kevin Houchin, and I founded The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business to help other small business lawyers discover the literally life-changing methods and mind-sets that I’ve learned since discovering how to get my life back on purpose, better serve my clients, spend more time with my family, and integrate my lifestyle with my career.

If you want to take action and change your life for the better, join us on the call and see if membership in the Space Between Center Lawyer Mastermind Program might be for you. If you think so, but don’t take action now, then you’re probably not a good fit for the program anyway – it’s only for those ready to take action. If you think so and take action, then you may very well be on the right path.

Go listen to the call replay now.

It’ll be worth your time.

It might even change your life.

Now, back to work…

What’s the dif?

I wasn’t planning to share this information until the informational call tomorrow officially launching The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business, but my article @ Lawyerist.com and the recent Creative Business Lawyer call have resulted in a stack of emails asking me to share a bit more about how The Space Between Center’s lawyer mastermind group will be different from The Creative Business Lawyer program that I helped create, but recently left.

First, let me say that I have NOT been a part of the planning of the CBL program since I resigned a couple weeks ago – actually, two weeks ago today.  And, I was not on the call today. So, I don’t know all the current details of the program. A friend on twitter said this about the call when I asked how it went.

@kevinhouchin Not bad. Discussed changing the mindset from creating docs to becoming a trusted advisor. How would you distinguish your call?

So, what’s the diff?

First let me say that I still believe fully in changing the mindset from creating documents to becoming a “Trusted Advisor” (that’s one of my all-time-favorite business books…) and believe that any program that helps you do that will be worth whatever you’re paying (within reason).

Here are some elements that I believe distinguish the Space Between Center’s program from CBL. We’ll be discussing these in detail on tomorrow’s call.  Sign up, because even if you can’t make the live call at NOON EASTERN, you’ll be on the list to receive the replay link.

SpaceBetween_logo_FA

Here we go:

  1. The context of The Space Between Center program is different.  The overarching mission of The Center is to help people reach their full potential through entrepreneurship. This lawyer mastermind program is only the first phase in that mission because I believe that entrepreneurs can be more successful when working collaboratively with their lawyers. The flat fee model that I created and implemented in my own practice is just the starting place.  An important starting place, but not enough.
  2. While working with the founding Creative Business Lawyer group, it became apparent almost immediately, that we can all learn from each other substantively. For instance, one of the member attorneys called me to ask if I could teach her how to file a trademark for a client. I’m no expert on employee agreements, so I was interested in learning from the members who had more experience in that area.  There are sub-niches in small business practice. Obviously, we’ll have a library to share forms, but we need to go beyond that.

    So, HERE’S a MAJOR difference: we are going to dedicate substantial resources and one hour a month to offer a substantive legal training session on topics such as Private Placements, NV Formations, Trademark, Copyright, Employee Agreements, LLC Operating Agreements, etc.  We’re going to invest and use our best efforts to get these sessions accredited for CLE credit in the home state of each member. We have the partnership in place to manage that process and it’ll just come down to the approval process in each state. We’re committed very firmly to making this a reality. If we’re investing in a program to learn and better ourselves as lawyers, we might as well satisfy our CLE requirements in the process!

    No, I’m not going to be the one teaching all these. I don’t have the knowledge, credentials, or time to do that.  The Center will offer opportunities for members to lead these sessions, and we’ll bring in outside experts when needed.  Founding members will have dibs on offering sessions, because these sessions are a great way to help members build their own “expert” brands.

  3. We’re going to dedicate one call a month to work/life balance.  Yes, some of this material will come from the CLE Ethics workshops I’ve done for the ABA and other Bar Associations, but a lot will come from outside experts. Success is more than money, way more. And, you have to feel successful as a human before you can ever have financial success. I learned that the hard way.
  4. Finally, at least for this post, we’ll dedicate one call every month to open mastermind discussions, tending toward the practical issues we all face at work and at home, leaning toward developing each member’s own unique expertise and branding. We don’t expect the power of this program to come from The Space Between Center brand (although we hope that will be a benefit). We expect the real power to come from enabling each of the member lawyers to reach their own full power and potential through this creative business we call “practicing law.”

Those are some major distinctions, at least as far as I know.  I’ll still have a few cool elements to share on the call tomorrow such as how the membership works and what the first few sessions will contain.  We’ll start the program with the kick-off call March 30th, so don’t miss tomorrow’s live call.  Again, if you can’t make tomorrow’s call at Noon Eastern, at least SIGN UP so you’re on the list to receive replay instructions.

Now, back to work.

Lawyerist.com post

I’ve been getting a bunch of questions already about the flat fee client model I discussed in my recent Lawyerist.com post titled Confessions of a Happy Lawyer. (no, the photo in the article isn’t me…)

People are wanting to know how they can learn more about this approach.  I’ve been getting those questions for several months now.  Since I don’t have enough time to deal with all those questions 1-to-1, I’ve scheduled a free informational call Tomorrow, Friday March 19th at Noon Eastern.

The call is part of the launch of The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business. The first initiative of The Space Between Center is a Mastermind group for lawyers who serve entrepreneurs.  The first element (but only the first of many) is discussing the secrets of implementing a flat-fee engagement model.

To sign up for the call, just pop over The Space Between Center website and complete the form.  We’ll email you the call-in details right away.

Until the call tomorrow…

Now back to work.

Appreciation and Sharing

Last Saturday I was at a birthday for a very cool little 3-year-old boy, the son of some of our closest friends. One of the other fathers there asked me how business was going. I looked at him with a sincere smile and said “business is Rockin!” He looked stunned and said to me “you’re the first person I’ve heard say that in 2 years.”

I thought, but didn’t say, “maybe that’s WHY I’m the only person who you’ve heard say it in two years.” Instead I said “I changed my business model last year and that seems to have made all the difference.” We talked some more about the changes, but the initial engagement of the conversation stuck with me.

Usually, I consider myself a pretty glass-is-half-full kind of guy. Then yesterday a Facebook friend named Barbara Nelson pointed out that I might not be approaching a very important project from a place of abundance and appreciation. That stuck with me too.

This morning on the drive down the mountain I was listening to an audio book that reminded me to get in synch with the fact that there is way more than enough to go around and to surrender feelings of scarcity and competition.

In my Fuel the Spark books I share a chapter on the importance of “surrendering” limiting thoughts. There is also a full chapter on “paying attention.”

Time to practice what I preach.

If you’ve been paying attention to my blog, facebook posts, and my tweets over the last week, you know that it’s been a bit of a wild ride. Less than two weeks ago I decided to resign from a project I’d been working on with a lot of energy called The Creative Business Lawyer Program. I was working together with one of the hardest working and most creative women I know, Alexis Martin Neely, on that project. The goal was to help lawyers who work with small businesses implement a different practice model that allows real “trusted advisor” relationships to develop between lawyers and entrepreneurs. Alexis and I had different approaches to how the program should be developed and shared, and since that program was part of her Family Wealth Planning Institute, I decided it was best for me to resign my involvement. Alexis will be moving on with the project without my involvement, but more on that below.

I admit I was upset. My ego was involved as one might expect, and when a healthy ego gets involved, things happen – both good things and bad.

The good thing that came out of this situation was that I started thinking bigger than I had before and was inspired to move forward and finally create The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business (sorry, long name…).  The Space Between Center is a manifestation of my soul’s purpose on the planet and will be the umbrella organization for many initiatives I’ve been hoping to share with the world. The team of partners I needed to launch The Center appeared as if by magic. Lawyers from around the country approached me to create a program of my own based on the flat fee model I’ve implemented in my practice. I’m doing that, with several folks already committed to becoming members, even before the launch call this Friday, but more on that later.

The bad thing that came out of the situation, and a bruised ego, was that I lost my perspective on the principle of appreciation and abundance. Saturday’s conversation at the birthday party, Sunday’s Facebook conversation, and this morning’s audio book session helped me see that I had fallen into a competitive mode. There was an undercurrent of “oh ya, well I’ll show you!” in my heart.

That’s not who I am. That’s small. And, it’s stupid.  It’s stupid for any of us to think “either/or” instead of “both/and.”

Don’t I believe at my core that flat fee billing models and other approaches are able to change the entrepreneurial world and through entrepreneurs, revive our sagging economy and spirit?  Of course I do – no matter who is leading the program.

Do I believe my program will be a perfect fit for everyone?  Of course NOT, we all have our own paths toward our potential and there are plenty of guides.

I’ve stated before, and it’s true, that I’m on the planet to help as many people as I can reach their full potential through creativity. I believe that aligning one’s personal creative spark with one’s vocation is the secret ticket to a happy, abundant, and wealthy life. That doesn’t mean that I have to be the one leading everyone – I don’t even know if it’s possible (or beneficial) for one person to lead everyone in our world. Especially me.

So, I make the following resolutions:

  1. I will do my absolute best to support anyone’s efforts to help people reach their full potential through creativity, even if their efforts might be seen by many as “competitive.”
  2. I will focus only on creating continually increasing value in the programs, services, and relationships I offer the people who come into my life.

What that means this morning is that I’m going to ask all of you who are lawyers and/or an entrepreneurs to do two things.

  1. Sign up for Alexis’s Creative Business Lawyer informational call happening this Thursday. This is the program I helped create and recently left.  See if it is for you.   Obviously, this is NOT an affiliate link – I’m no longer associated with The Creative Business Lawyer.  There are some very smart people involved in that program and it might be a match for you.
  2. Sign up for the Space Between Center informational call happening this Friday. This is the program I’m offering. There are some fundamental similarities between the two programs and I’ll share what I believe are fundamental differences between the programs on my call.  Since I’ve not been involved with the CBL program for the last week or so, I don’t know exactly what Alexis will be offering.  What I AM sure of is that my team has come up with some great value propositions that we’re eager to share.

Is one program “better” than the other? Definitely, but which one that is will depend on your goals, dreams, and life path.  I think you owe it to yourself to listen in on both before making a decision which approach might work for you. Maybe neither will be a fit for you. Maybe both.

I appreciate the encouragement Alexis gave me last year to try something new, and I appreciate all the lessons I’ve learned from taking some risks and implementing my flat fee client engagement model. THE MODEL, and my action changed my life – both financially and from a work/life balance perspective.

Finally, I appreciate the opportunity to share what I’ve learned with people interested in helping others reach their potential through entrepreneurship.

Now back to work.