Blog - Page 2 of 18 - Doug Brown

“… but my skills aren’t transferrable to anything else”

February 2, 2022 Doug Brown Career Management, Midcareer Shift, Strategy

Dave was miserable in his law practice. Sure, he was making lots of money – and on the outside, everything seemed ok. But on the inside everything was way harder than it should have been.

He used to wonder what it would be like to do something else.

But now in his early 50s, he felt like it was just too late to make a change.

And besides, the thought “my skills aren’t really transferrable to anything else”.

This is one of the many comfortable lies that lawyers – and other professionals – tell themselves to justify continuing on a path that they decided on 30 years ago. Even though they are unhappy, unfulfilled, and apathetic about work they once enjoyed.

Here’s the truth: Mid-career lawyers have countless transferrable skills that are in high demand. They just can’t see them because they are too close to it.

I know this is the truth because I made the transition from lawyer to corporate life – and quite a few more. I’ve seen firsthand how “lawyer-skills” are a huge advantage in business.

Skills like communication, teamwork, adaptability, problem-solving, and attention to detail. Not to mention that lawyers are some of the best-trained learners I’ve ever met.

And if you’re not a lawyer you still have the same kinds of transferable skills that come with so many years of experience in your chosen field.

So if you – or someone you love – are stuck in this uncomfortable lie it’s time to stop it.

Just stop perpetuating the lie.

You have valuable, transferrable skills. And it is absolutely not too late.

If you are not fully satisfied with your career then take it upon yourself to make it better.

I can help.

I know how hard it is to even give yourself permission to engage in the inquiry.

And once you’ve done that, you’ll need a guide to help you see things clearly.

When you do, your eyes will open to the world that could be yours.

And then you get to make an informed decision about your future – and not rely on a decision made by your 20-year-old self.

So, what’s it going to be?

Take the first step today. Follow this link and I’ll help you give yourself permission … and show you how you can start making it happen right now: https://summitsuccess.typeform.com/calldoug

Comfortable Lies that Keep You Trapped

February 1, 2022 Doug Brown Productivity, Strategy

Beware the comfortable lies that keep you from living the life you deserve. Lies like: “It’s just too late for me”, or “I don’t have any transferrable skills”.

The biggest lie of all is that you have to figure it all out yourself. As if there is some trophy for going it alone. That’s just not how it works.

The good news is that there is a path to follow that works for your unique situation.

I’ll show you how.

Click here so you don’t miss out

Busting Midlife Career Myths-2

January 31, 2022 Doug Brown Midcareer Shift

Let’s keep busting midlife career myths …

So here are another few of my favorites and why they are B.S. …

1. To find real satisfaction you’ll need to change careers.

So many professionals are dissatisfied – but they are not sure why. They think the answer is to do a hard pivot to a totally new thing. That might be true for some. But I’ve seen professionals’ job satisfaction skyrocket with relatively minor shifts in mindset and operations. If you are not completely satisfied with your career don’t start by believing you need to start all over. Get curious about what’s bothering you – and use your critical thinking skills to really unpack it so you see what’s going on.

2. There isn’t enough time – you’re a short-timer

Wrong. Even entrepreneurs who start a new business often look to build it and sell it off within 5 years. You’ve got 15+ years left. Use your wisdom to build what you’ve always dreamed of building. You’ve got everything you need.

3. You’re being selfish – you should be grateful for what you have.

You deserve to do work that is challenging and fulfilling. Being grateful for what you have doesn’t mean that you should ignore things that aren’t working. You spend more than a third of your life at your job. It isn’t greedy to want to dedicate that time to something enjoyable where you are doing your best work.

4. You’re stuck in your ways or you are an “established personality”

Yes, you’ve discovered ways of doing things that work for you – and you’ve got a track record of getting results. Since when is that a bad thing? If you’ve gotten this far then you’ve demonstrated that you are resilient and can adapt to changing conditions. And you have the judgment and experience to know when a change will make a difference, and how to make it stick.

Myth Busting …

What myths would you like busted about midlife shifts in your company or career?

Just direct message me and share it with me. . And I’ll bust it in a future message.

Onward!

-Doug

Busting Midlife Career Myths-Part 1

January 28, 2022 Doug Brown Midcareer Shift

There are so many myths around midlife – and midlife career change – that it’s hard to decide where to start.

So here are a (first) few of my favorites and why they are B.S. …

1. You’re too old to change.

This myth is perpetuated by those who fear change. Many highly successful people changed careers after 30, 40, or 50. One example is Ray Kroc who didn’t meet Mac McDonald until he was 50. Your years of experience and wisdom can open doors to more opportunities than you can imagine.

2. You invested all of this money and time in your current career – don’t throw it away.

Your success in one field doesn’t somehow preclude you from making a change. And making a change isn’t “throwing away” what you’ve built, and it certainly isn’t some sort of admission that it was a mistake. The truth is that all that you’ve become can be the springboard to something new.

3. You’re being selfish – you should be grateful for what you have.

4. There’s just too much risk.

There is no risk, zero, to investigating what changes to your company or your career might increase your satisfaction. The real risk is not conducting the investigation. Now, you’ll want a framework so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel – and a guide for the journey so you don’t fall victim to SOS (Shiny Object Syndrome). And when you have those things and do the work, you’ll be in a position to make an intelligent risk/reward decision.

Myth Busting …

What myths would you like busted about midlife shifts in your company or career?

Just direct message me and share it with me. And I’ll bust it in a future message.

Onward!

-Doug

When Everything Feels Like a Chore

January 27, 2022 Doug Brown Mindset and Mental Health, Productivity

Three out of four professionals surveyed said the Pandemic has altered their career plans.

49% said that the Pandemic has caused them to reflect on what they wanted from their career, or employer, prompting them to look for other job opportunities.

I’m kind of surprised it’s only 49%.

Thinking deeply about what you really want out of your career, and for your life, is a natural and healthy part of midlife.

It’s also pretty intimidating.

Even when you’re feeling dissatisfied and uncomfortable where you are.

Especially when you’ve invested so much time and energy establishing yourself as a professional.

So the natural reaction is to suppress feelings of apathy and lost purpose and that ‘autopilot’ mode.

And bury yourself in your work.

Hoping the feelings will pass and that you’ll somehow get your mojo back.

Then another January comes around and the feelings come back, again.

You’re a year older and you repeat the cycle.

There is a better way.

I’ve learned that pushing down feelings of discomfort doesn’t make them go away.

In fact, researchers have found that bottling up emotions had an adverse effect on your body and your mind.

The constructive way to deal with these feelings is to acknowledge them, discover the underlying cause, and create a productive response.

And that’s pretty hard to do when you’re so close to the subject.

Just like when lawyers try to represent themselves.

Here’s the good news.

You’ve got more options than you think.

And you don’t have to abandon what you’ve created to fly to the island and open a margarita stand. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Don’t fall into the trap of slogging through to retirement in the hopes that you’ll find satisfaction.

Give yourself the gift of some thinking time to reflect on what’s really working well for you – and what’s driving you up the wall. Write it out longhand.

Because it’s only when you confront and name a challenge that you can start to solve it.

By the way … if you’ve been thinking about this for a while, and you’re really ready to discover what’s possible – whether it’s small changes to your business – or planning for the margarita stand, just CLICK HERE and let’s talk.

How Not to Hit it in the Marsh

January 24, 2022 Doug Brown Business Planning

The reason I’m telling you this story is because there’s probably a marsh like this for you somehow in your life. Maybe it’s a sport. Maybe it’s a mindset. Maybe it’s a person that’s irritating “you know what” out of you, but everybody’s got a marsh, they got to get over.

It’s not that hard to get over the marsh. It’s not even that far, but when we’re faced with it, we freeze up, we get this fear. We get into these habits of forgetting what we’re doing. We’ll swing too hard. We’ll rush through it. So how do I, how did I get over it? It’s about mindset and routine – and that’s today’s topic.

Why Does Midlife Have to Be a Crisis? Golf Course Walkabout.

January 13, 2022 Doug Brown Midcareer Shift

Don’t fall for the myth that midlife has to be a “crisis”. It’s just a natural time to re-evaluate what you’ve been doing and to decide what you want to do, on purpose for the next 15 years.

Check out today’s Walkabout video, and if you’d like to know more go ahead and reach out to me at www.summit-success.com/calldoug.

How to Move Faster with Fewer Mistakes

December 14, 2021 Doug Brown Career Advice, Time Management

You’d like everyone to move more quickly – and get more done, faster.

But when you’ve tried that before the error rate has gone way up – and you can’t afford the mistakes.

What if there was a way to get things done more quickly and make fewer mistakes at the same time?

What kind of difference would that make to you?

How much better would your business be if you could increase production by just 5%?

Yes, I thought so.

Here’s the secret.

And it’s one that most professionals resist implementing in their business.

It is the written standard operating procedure (aka SOP).

I know, just the idea of SOPs turns off many professionals.

They see them as a business thing – or they believe that each interaction is so unique that it can’t possibly be standardized.

Or they like the idea, but it feels like too much work – and who’s got time for that?

If this is all new to you then start simply with a checklist.

The written checklist is your reminder of the tasks or processes that need to happen.

The procedure (or SOP) is the more detailed document that gives the how, who, when, and where for the task.

Starting with a checklist will keep you from getting tangled up in all that detail.

Here’s how to start:

Define the goal for the checklist. For example, it might be a specific step in the client intake or setup process. Or it might be around billing and collecting accounts receivable.
Decide what kind of checklist you want. Do you want the person using the checklist to do each item as it’s read, or as a confirmation of the steps at the end?
Write it with the Expert in Mind. Assume that the person running the checklist is fully qualified to do the job. This isn’t a “how-to” it’s a reminder to make sure it’s done.
Keep it Short. Checklists are NOT an education tool. It should have no more than 6 to 10 tasks that take a minute or two to check off. If you need a longer one then you need multiple checklists.
Test, Review, and Improve. Checklists are designed to be printed, written on, tested, and improved. Yes, you have to actually tick the box!

Oh, by the way, you should not do this all by yourself. Enlist your staff and work on the project together. After all, they are the experts described in item 3, above.

5 Strategy Myths that Hold Your Business Back

December 7, 2021 Doug Brown Business Development, Business Planning, Strategy

Matt never wanted to talk about “strategy”. Whenever it came up he even used the air quotes with his fingers to mock the idea.

He saw it as an unnecessary distraction that didn’t apply to his decades-old business.

He had bought into some of the most dangerous myths about strategic planning – and strategic thinking in general.

Myths like:

My business is too small (or too established) for a strategic plan.
Strategic planning is an expensive, academic exercise with low ROI.
I don’t have time to write a strategic plan. Besides, it will be out of date as soon as it is done.
It’s all in my head and that’s good enough.
My operating work plans have everything I need to succeed.

The truth is that lots of businesses achieve a level of success without having a strategic plan.

They might have been in the right place and the right time. They might have been lucky. Or maybe the founder really was that good.

This kind of accidental (or fortunate) success can be dangerous because it isn’t sustainable.

Thinking strategically, and writing up a simple and actionable plan is essential to avoid or minimize the impacts of the plateaus and stalls that impact every business.

A good plan will help you:

Establish and communicate clear priorities and directions for your business.
Attract and retain excellent team members and partners
Ensure everyone is aligned and working together to achieve your true objectives.
Simplify and accelerate decision-making.
Anticipate and adapt to challenges and opportunities
Prepare for business succession and transition.

Matt agreed that he wanted all of the things that a plan would give him.

But he wasn’t sure where to start – and it seemed like such a big undertaking.

Especially when he was so busy trying to keep up with all of the urgent and important things that packed his calendar.

I’d been in Matt’s shoes before, both as a small business owner and from my corporate life.

I’d also seen how overwhelming the planning process can be.

Luckily I’ve learned how to simplify and streamline the strategic planning process so it is doable – and usable by really busy professionals.

And when we do the work together – all of the various pieces and parts of the business fall into place and everyone starts pulling in the same direction – on purpose – to build the business you really want.

Have you done formal strategic planning before?

What’s worked out well for you? What would you do differently next time?

Sprint to the Finish and into the New Year

December 3, 2021 Doug Brown Growing Your Practice, Motivation, Strategy

The finish line is in sight! In less than 4 weeks we’ll start another year.

For some, that means it’s time to slow down and cruise to the end of the year.

Don’t let that be you.

Races are won or lost in the final stretch. The stretch we are in right now.

And you’ve got another race starting on January 1st – so you want to carry momentum and not have a cold start.

This short and simple exercise will make it easier for you to both finish strong and carry the momentum you need into the new year.

Ready?

Turn to a new page in your handy notebook and write down your answers to the 3 questions below. The act of physically writing out your thoughts, either in bullet points or sentences will help you remember and get into action. It will also be a handy reference when you do this again at the beginning of next quarter.

1) What has worked really well for me in the last quarter?

2) How am I doing on my cash flow and time/productivity goals?

3) What can I improve in the next quarter?

Answering these 3 questions will allow you to celebrate your wins, and to course-correct to make sure you achieve your goals for the year!

And if you’d like the “TL;DR” version – and how to do it – keep reading.

Read on to learn more …

Ok, you’re still here.

1) What has worked really well for me in the last quarter?

Starting with your wins helps get you in the right state of mind – especially if you are not in the habit of celebrating as the wins come along.

If you’re struggling to find wins it might help to think of it in categories. You might use business categories like time & productivity, cash flow, clients, the team that supports you, your network, and your own well-being. You might also use personal categories like career, family, fun, relationships, community, or spirituality.

2) How am I doing on my cash flow and time/productivity goals?

This gets its very own question because these are the primary causes of stress for most attorneys and entrepreneurs. How has your cash flow and productivity been over the last 6 weeks? What do you need it to be in the next 6 weeks?

If you’re ahead of plan then don’t let up – see how much better you can do. If you are behind the plan, or you are unsure, then this is the time to decide what concrete thing you can do in the coming week to improve. Commit to working on that for 30 minutes in 3 of the next 5 days.

If your thing is getting more qualified cases then you might start with the referral strategy. Simply identify one person who has been a great referral source in the past. You can call them – on the phone. Have a conversation about what is going on in their business, and see if there is a way you can be of service to them. They will ask the same of you, and that will be your opportunity to share with them (or remind them) the profile of a good and qualified referral for you.

One of my clients did this and after a single phone call got 3 additional referrals. Just imagine what it could do for you if you make one of those calls each week for the next 6 weeks. Remember, you are not calling to ask for referrals – you are calling in the spirit of service to that person because the relationship is important.

If you are not sure how to describe a qualified referral then it is time to get busy working on that. Because if you can’t describe the referral you want then there is little chance that your people can deliver those referrals to you. If you’d like help with that just hit REPLY and we’ll find a time to talk.

3) What can I improve in the next quarter?

You’ll probably have a lot here besides money and time. Most professionals are so self-critical that this can be a pretty long list. That’s ok, for now. Let the thoughts flow so they are all right in front of you. Don’t get hung up on what didn’t work. Focus on what you can do to make it better. Then pick the top 3 things that you control, and block time to work on one of them each week for the next 3 weeks. Then repeat for the following 3 weeks. You’ll have a chance to review how you did at the end of the quarter.

You will get whatever you focus on. If you focus on problems you will get more of those. If you focus on opportunities and growth then you will get more opportunities and growth. So use the experience of the quarter to find the opportunities in the next – and work on those.

Onward!

-Doug

“… but my skills aren’t transferrable to anything else”

Comfortable Lies that Keep You Trapped

Busting Midlife Career Myths-2

Busting Midlife Career Myths-Part 1

When Everything Feels Like a Chore

How Not to Hit it in the Marsh

Why Does Midlife Have to Be a Crisis? Golf Course Walkabout.

How to Move Faster with Fewer Mistakes

5 Strategy Myths that Hold Your Business Back

Sprint to the Finish and into the New Year

Featured Workshop & Keynote Presentation

Recent Posts

Categories

Search

Archives

Email

Call