Hey, welcome to Lessons from a Quitter, where we believe that it is never too late to start over. No matter how much time or energy you've spent getting to where you are. If ultimately you are unfulfilled, then it is time to get out. Join me each week for both inspiration and actionable tips so that we can get you on the road to your dreams.
Hello my friends and welcome to another episode. I'm so excited you are here. I am talking to one of my clients today, Adriana Paris, on the show and I'm so excited to have her on because we're gonna talk all things online business, which I love. And one of the things I'm always trying to do is to get you guys to really understand how much more possible it is for so many more of you than you're letting yourself believe. I think a lot of people secretly have the desire to maybe be in business for themselves, to have a way to get outta corporate America, but we are stuck with a lot of the fears of like, I don't have enough time or I don't know what I would even sell, or I don't have any expertise or, you know, on and on.
I can't do this. I don't know how to run a business. And all of it is. And I think that we're in a time where it is the easiest time to actually be up and running and have a business that you can make really good money in without spending insane amounts of time or capital. And I really want people to just consider it. And so I had asked Adriana to come to speak about her story because I love her story. We've only been working with each other for a couple of months and when she first came to me it was she is a, has a full-time job and she wanted to work together for six months and was saying that she'd hoped by the end of the six months to have a solid idea of what business she would start. Like she would start it at the end of six months.
She started it after the first month. Within the first month she knew who she was selling to, what she was selling, how she was selling it. And now three months in, she has clients, she has uh, list of consults with potential clients. She is active in her marketing and there's just, I think it's such a good example of the fact that you need a lot less than what you think you do. And so I asked her to come on and I'm gonna tell you more about her in a second, but if this resonates with you, if you're listening to this and you're like, maybe there is this idea that I wanted to do and I do wanna get my coaching or consulting or online business up, I wanna invite you into my beginner business bootcamp. I'm gonna open doors next week. And this is the bootcamp where we spend 12 weeks doing exactly what I did with Adriana that you'll hear where we solidify who you work with, what you sell, how you sell it, what your offer is, what your process is.
It is like a very hands-on intensive bootcamp. There are tons of courses out there where you can go and learn about online business, but there's so much noise that I know that for most people that do those, they don't actually get started. They just spin in confusion and overwhelm. They take all that information and they become paralyzed because they don't know like, is my niche good enough? Is this offer good enough? How much should I be charging all these questions that will constantly arise? And I really wanted to create a program where I could be in there with you with a very small group of people to tell you to look at your stuff and tell you like, no, do it this way, or This is who you should talk to or who you trying to reach here or what if we do it that way or this is your message.
And so we can stop spinning, make decisions and actually get out there. And so I promised you in this program in 12 weeks you will have your business up and running. You will be so much further than you would be just spinning on your own for a year. So if that's something that you wanna do, if you wanna get your business up in the next three months, I want you to join us. You can go to quitter club.com/business, get on that wait list because the doors will open to the wait list next week and I would love to have you in the group. Okay, back to Adriana. Adriana is the director of attorney development and recruiting at Risman Law. There she oversees the hiring, training and retention of lawyers who share their firm's values and vision. She has had more than 10 years of experience as a civil litigator she has worked with in-House and at two large law firms where she handled complex and high stake cases across a lot of industries and jurisdictions.
She also is an author, she wrote Rising Lawyer, which is a practical guide for law students and junior associates who wanna succeed in the legal profession. And we'll talk about that in the interview as well. And about how her experience as a lawyer and then now as a director of attorney development has kind of helped her with starting her business earlier this year. She ventured into that world of coaching where she works one-on-one with lawyers on productivity, implementing better time skills and reworking their daily routines in order to create more time for their personal lives. She's basically getting their time back, she's giving them 10 hours a week so they can actually enjoy their lives and what could be more important than that? I love the work she's doing. I've loved working with her, I love seeing the business and I can't wait for you guys to hear more about it. So without further ado, let's jump in and chat with Adriana.
Hi Adriana, thank you so much for joining me today.
Yeah, I'm super excited to chat with you.
I am super excited to have you on and to share your story because I want love it and I think that too, it's gonna help so many people that are kind of in the same position to see what is possible because you really are an example of what's possible. I would love to start like, oh well actually I even wanna know this because I don't know if I know this. I wonder when you started thinking about possibly like starting a coaching business, why that even became kind of on your radar, why that was something that you wanted to start and how long you were maybe toying with that idea before we started working together.
Yeah, the funny thing is I've had my LLC established for a couple years now, but there was nothing happening to it. It just existed in the state of Florida. And what happened is I wrote a book for young lawyers and law students and I decided that I wanted this LLC to kind of comprise me as an author. And then it kind of got me thinking like I'm writing this book, I already talk to a lot of lawyers, people reach out to me a lot for questions and I'm generally just given free advice, which I love to do. And it kind of started to morph into this idea that I could possibly charge people for this and I could maybe make money and have a business. The little seeds were planted , yeah, along the way. So I published my book in July of last year and once that became official, I posted that on LinkedIn and I got so many requests and messages and then I was like, all right, I really need to actually have a business. I need to have a website. I didn't have a website at all.
Tell us a little bit about that book. Like what is that book and why did you want to write a book for law students?
Yeah, so it's called Rising Lawyer and you know, not only was I a rising lawyer, at some point I was in law school, but in my job now I do professional development at a law firm. And so I hire and I train all the new lawyers and I keep getting the same questions asked over and over again, all the things that law school doesn't teach you. And instead of me just answering the same questions over and over again, I was like, let me write this down. And so I literally started keeping a word document of all this advice and this war document got longer and longer and finally I was like, this could be a book. Sure enough, a publisher wanted to work with me and it's a publisher that actually publishes law school books. So it's perfect. And I wrote the book, got it published, it's now in like every law school in in the United States. And it kind of sparked this interest of like I could help people, like I could provide so much advice and information on things that everybody wants to know, but somehow no one is answering these questions. Nobody's getting the information they want. So that, that was the book.
And that brings up such an important point and this is something that I'm constantly trying to hammer to people because I feel like it's like a pusher, a drug pusher of like online business. I'm like you should start a business. But only because I think that we really underestimate how much we have to give to people, how many gifts we have or how many things we can teach. And especially people who are in traditional like quote unquote professional jobs where we had to get a lot of education. We're in this system where we think like, well I have to go get these degrees or I have to get permission from someone to be able to teach something. Because that's typically the jobs that we were in is like you got, it was a regulated field where you got a degree and you know whatnot. And it's like the internet has changed all that and it's like people need help with a lot of things.
Like sure there is the, you know, you wanna be a lawyer, go to law school, you wanna be a doctor, you have to medical school. But there's so much before that, right? There's so much just life skills. There's so many things and I think for so many of us, we are naturally good at some things. Like we don't realize how easy it comes to us or maybe we've developed an expertise in something because we were trying to help ourselves through it. It's like, hey, I'm just paying attention to the same same questions I get over and over again or what people come to me for, right? What people think that I can help them with. I'm just like clued into that and I feel like so many people can benefit from just doing that. From seeing like, hey, what if my friends and family come to me for all the time? What do I help people That is likely a skill that I can help other people with.
Yeah. And it comes so natural to you but you don't even realize it that it's like something that is beneficial and useful. And if I had never taken this job in professional development, if I just kept going on as a lawyer, I don't know that I ever would've figured this out. Do you know what I mean? Like it took me kind of pivoting sort of not really away from the law field because I'm still in it but away from my traditional legal job into this other job to be like Oh I can teach other people. That was a the big moment for me,
Every person I've worked with my own story is like there's so many different steps that sort of lead you and open up different doors. And so it's fascinating 'cause a lot of times, let's say somebody that was in your position when they wanted to leave the practice of law to go into this role that you're in, you know, we mi ourselves with all of this doubt of like is this the right step and is this the thing I wanna do for the rest of my life and how do I know this is the perfect career? And it's like it's not right because there is no one right or perfect career and but you can trust that like in this maybe I learn a bunch of other things and maybe that leads me to the next thing. And like you said, like if you had never done this, then you would've never learned the things that you learned that have now led you to starting your own business. Yeah,
I never dreamed of starting a business. This was never part of my plan and I'm a person who makes plans like I am like 10 years down the road type of person. And I had never ever thought about starting a business. So this whole whole thing was to my family kind of crazy. They were like, why are you even, I'm sorry, like you wrote a book, you have a job. Like why are you trying to start a business? And I was like, no listen , lemme explain why, you know?
Yeah. But and that's the thing is because understandably so when a lot of us were going through school, entrepreneurship wasn't as attainable. It was really more traditional. Like the online space has really changed so much that I think so many people have never thought of themselves as a business owner. And like that is part of what I want people to just even consider like just crack the door open. I'm like, could it be possible for me to own my own business? I never in a million years thought I would own a business or own my own business. I never had that desire because it was also never a possibility. And so now it's like well there's a lot more possible with the internet. So what if it's so funny 'cause you reached out to me for coaching and you sort of decided that you wanted to start this online business, this coaching business and you wanted me to help you start your coaching business. I said to you, but like I'm not a business coach, right? I mean very flatly. I was like, I don't coach on business so why is it that you wanna coach with me? It's funny 'cause I feel like I was like putting you through the re like you were like No please lemme coach through the,
I was like no I know but coach me anyway. You know what it made me think of? There's like a rap song that goes something like I'm not a businessman, I'm a businessman. Like that's you and you didn't even realize it but that is you
What's so funny is I do realize, well the thing is is that I've actually coached a lot of people on business before, but I always really wanna be very intentional about why people are coming to me or what they want and I wanna make sure that it's something that I can give them. And I wanna be very upfront, like this is the thing is a lot of people like think sales is sleazy or they think sale, they hate sales or they don't wanna go into business because they don't like sales. And I'm always like, okay then don't be sleazy. That's just the solution. Like don't try to sell people when they don't want it. Like don't try to lie to people. Like sales can be so easy. And I think one of the pillars that I kind of drive a lot of my business on is just radical honesty.
Like I'm super honest about what I can help with, what I cannot help with and if it's not a good fit, fine. Like I'm not attached to trying to like convince people to work with me. And I think obviously that comes through like people see that, that it is genuine. Like I don't wanna work with you if I can't help you. Like I'm not trying to just take your money. And so always like really wondering like what is it that people want help with? Part of the conversation was for me to just like feel out is this something I help you? But because there are tons of business coaches that are literally teaching and selling and giving value about how they can help you start a coaching business. So I'm sort of curious as to why you didn't wanna go maybe with another coach and you wanted to kind of start coaching on business.
Yeah, so I met with other coaches too who very much were like, I am a business coach, this is what I do. You know, I had been listening to your podcast since uh, back in the day when you were doing actual interviews with people who quit the law or whatever they're doing other stuff. And I just always loved your honesty, but I think what really got me was I listened to you on the get paid podcast maybe Yeah, yeah. With Claire. Yeah. And I just remember it was, it was such a good listen, like for anyone who hasn't heard it, it's so good because you again, were very honest and vulnerable and you are just upfront about your business and how you run it and how you are not trying to hustle. You are like the anti hustle online business coach who is actually really successful and you're successful because you are not trying too hard because you're not like always trying to be like, oh what's gonna be the next thing and what's the next thing?
And I remember Claire was kind of pushing you a little bit into like, I don't know, marketing ads or whatever it is that she does and you were like, I think I wanna do that. And I think she was trying to get you to say why you're not doing it and you were just like, I like my business the way it is. I'm happy with it and I want to grow it. Yes. And I believe that I can grow it but I'm also not trying to work a million hours a week. And I remember hearing that and I was like, that's what I want . Like I want to do what she did and I want her to show me how she did it. Because again, I'm not somebody who, I mean I still have my full-time job. I wrote that book like I'm still doing other things.
I cannot and I do not want to dedicate 60 hours a week to building a business. That just was never the plan for me. And the other coaches I talked to, they were like, okay, when are you quitting your job? And I was like, I don't know, maybe never like , who knows? You know? And I just love when I talk to you because I was like, I want to do it the way she's doing it. And I didn't even know that you would take clients for business coaching. I mean, I don't know if you remember my email. I was like ranting. I'm like, hi, I really love you. I'm also a former lawyer. I dunno if you ever work with people of business coaching, but here's what I want. So I, I basically reached out to you without any sort of, I didn't have any like thoughts that you might get back to me or wanna work with me. And when you replied I was like, oh my gosh, she is real , she replied and we are meeting,
Well what's so funny is you reach out just like at such a good time because I normally don't take on one-on-one clients and I don't do business coaching, but I was getting ready to start my beginning business bootcamp. I was gonna launch it in a couple of months. And so I was in this like head space of like, how do I teach? Because you are not the only one. I've had a lot of people reach out because for the same reason where it's like I get it. I did the same thing. I looked for people that were doing what I wanted to do and I was like, I wanna learn from them. And I do think that's the best way actually of learning is like find someone that did the thing that you want and then figure out how they did it so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.
And so I occasionally get a lot of people that would ask me to teach them how to start their coaching business and because for me, you know, I definitely slip up but I really try to focus on the fact that like the point of my business is not simply to make the most money. It's like to create the lifestyle that I want to pay, the freedom that I want. And that's what I love the most about online business is that it gives you that ability to do that. And so I keep really focused on that, like try to keep my blinders away from like comparing to all other coaches who are like scaling and that's great. And it's not to say I don't wanna make more money, I do, but on my own terms and the way that I wanna do it and it like, you know, going back to like the way I sell, the way that I um, use my time and stuff, it's very intentional for me because I'm like, this is the reason I, I didn't do this to just create another job for myself where I'm working 60 hours a week and uh, I'm selling constantly and I hate, hate everything about it.
So no, I mean I think when you reached out it was an interesting time for me 'cause I was like, oh I'm putting to this program and I remember telling you like, Hey I'm gonna launch this in a couple months. And you were like, no, I wanna start out. I was like, that's amazing. Like I do have to say like your personality is, you are such a go-getter and I'm gonna do this. And so we agreed to work with each other, which has been fantastic. But I remember asking you and I do like a a form before you, we start working together. Like if you can wave a magic wand magic, like what would you have at the end of this coaching experience with me? It was supposed to be six months of us working together. I was wondering like what was your timeline? I knew you worked full-time. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about where you wanted to be, like what you wanted to gain out of this coaching.
I think my goals were very small , but I think when I first met with you I was like, I don't even know what this business could be. So at the end of the six months of us working together, I just wanna have a business with like any clients. Like I just want it to be something that I can sell or I can tell people with a straight face like this is a business, you know? And I, I had a lot of thoughts in my head about it and I just didn't know what it would be. So I had absolutely no direction looking back at it now, it was a very small goal to just like have a business with any sort of clients. Yeah.
Going back to the sales call, like I don't wanna give off the impression that I don't like take myself seriously or that I'm like in in the sense that I think there's a way to be honest and really know where your strengths are and know where they're not. You know? Or it's what do I wanna help? So I remember when we were talking about this, I was like internally I was like, oh we will get there way before six months. Sure, yeah let's do that. And we've only been together for now for three months and why don't you give us a little snapshot of where you are.
It's honestly in some ways shocking to me, although it really shouldn't be because you have been such a like guiding force in this whole process where I come at you with different ideas, I'm all over the place sometimes and you are just like, forget the noise. Like here's what you should do. And it's not like you tell me what to do, but I think you show me the way of getting to where I wanna get to the fastest and in the most painless possible ways while also pushing me to do things that are like very uncomfortable to me. You've just done such a like magnificent job at guiding me through all that, that I think I have hopped and leaped over what my goal was because yeah, we've been working together for three months. I mean I have a website, I've announced to everybody that I have a business, all my friends know, all my colleagues know it's all over LinkedIn. I have one client, I have like three consult with more potential clients. I've done a webinar, I'm doing a second webinar. I mean it blows my mind that I am where I am.
This is the beauty of coaching of any coach. And I say this like coaches did this for me too is that you don't know what you don't know and there's so much information out there and there's so much coming at us all the time. And so it's very easy to get stuck in the noise and to spin and constantly spin and spin about what you should do what or do I need this or whatnot. And I think it does take someone that has maybe gone through it to see like, hey, all of this other stuff is noise. This is what you focus on and this is what we do. And I think with you, I think you thought you were more confused than you actually were. 'cause when I remember the first call, you were like, , I dunno how I help you. Like I kind of wanna help people with this. And I kind of, this is sort of, and I was like, oh, so you helped 'em do this? Like, and you're like, yeah, that's exactly what I helped them do. I'm like,
Yeah, I think I told you after our first call I was like, you are worth all the money. Like if this is the only thing I learned from you, thank you. Because I really felt like I had a lot of ideas that were just like not connected to one another. And I'm like, how would I explain this to someone? Like was my elevator pitch. Like I didn't have that. And within just, yeah, our first call you just were like, here's what you're trying to say. And I was like, yeah, that is what I'm trying to say. . Like, you just bought it so fast.
I think that first call was so funny. I was like, all right, well my work here is done.
Let's, I know. I'm like, okay, we'll see you never . Yeah,
But it was just because, and you already had all the elements. You were telling me all this stuff, like these are the people I wanna work with. This is, and I was like, okay, well this is what you sell that and you were, I just remember like it was like this. Oh
My God,
You're totally right. That's exactly what I wanna sell. That sounds amazing. I would love to teach people that. And so you were hit hitting the ground running. And I think because of that, like what has been fascinating is that really within the first month we narrowed down your niche. You picked your offer, you picked your process. That was the most, you were like, what was amazing. You were like, yeah, I have the exact process to get people to this result. I know exactly I'm gonna do X, Y, and Z and this is how I help them and this is what I can guarantee them. You know? And this is what I would wanna charge. Like I was like, okay, well this is the foundation of your business. Let's get out there and sell. And it was like you were selling within the first month and it was like you're getting clients, you now have consults, you're doing webinars, you're posting things on LinkedIn and it's like you're in business. Like you were in business I think within the first six weeks.
I was, yeah. Which is radical. I mean it really is. And like I'm a very action oriented person. Like I always get stuff done that is me to a T, but I didn't know what to get done. Do you know what I mean? Like, and I think if I hadn't ever worked with you, I would've done a lot of things there just would've been like all over the place without an actual like Yeah. Without an actual like thought process behind it or like why are we doing this? And so you've just been able to really help me focus my very action oriented personality into like, okay, we're moving this direction, here's what we're gonna do. And it just seemed easy to do. And once you helped me figure out like what it was that I wanted to coach on, I was like, oh, like the clarity I got from that was just, I could have never done it on my own. I mean maybe I could have, but it would've taken me like five years . Yeah,
Exactly. That's the thing. It's like, well we can all do it. You can either do it through trial and error over and over again, like keep doing things against the wall. And sometimes you'll have to do that. It's like I'm constantly telling you like, yeah, we're gonna try it. We're gonna get some data, we'll figure it out and then we'll pivot, we'll add it, we'll change the program, we'll do the stuff that's part of business. But I think that what I've learned as well and why I pay coaches and why I do masterminds is like, hey, I can shorten that learning curve. Like I can either trial and error my way and take years and it's like the frustration and how likely are you to give up because it's like this is too hard. I'm not figuring this out. As opposed to someone that can just be like, Hey, don't focus on all this other stuff.
Focus on. And that's honestly the biggest thing that I want people to see and why I'm even doing this uh, business bootcamp is because I truly don't know how to convey how simple business can be. All of the stuff you think you need, you actually don't. And I've seen it over and over again. And I think so many people because there's fear and there's uncertainty and it's new and there's all the mindset stuff that we deal with. We keep ourselves sort of stuck 'cause we're constantly telling ourselves like, I'm not ready 'cause we're waiting for permission. We're waiting for someone to be like, you know, hey, you're allowed to now go out and be a coach or whatnot. So many people could be up and running so much faster and learning by doing, like seeing, hey, what's working? What are people resonating with? What's not working? What do I wanna change? As opposed to like sitting in this stuff. Like, but what is it that I'm actually selling people and who am I talking to and should I use Instagram or LinkedIn? And where do, and it's like all of this constant like, uh, noise and question and uncertainty that keeps you never doing anything. Yeah.
And I mean I love the saying clarity comes from action. However, like you know, you have to still know what the action is you wanna take and it can just be any action, right? Because sometimes the more action you take that is all over the place, the less clarity you get from it. And then you are like, well obviously I cannot do this. Like this is not happening for me. You know, but you take action that is actually, um, grounded in your past experiences, what you know works. You then take action and then you look back and you're like, all right. She was right. Like that actually worked the thing she told me to do that I was sort of resisting. I did it and it worked.
Yeah, action by itself doesn't bring clarity. Like there's like action and actually evaluating, which a lot of us don't do. So it's like, I'm just gonna keep hamster wheeling this. I'm gonna keep throwing things around. I'm okay maybe if I make it and I do 800 things, like it's gonna create something. It's like, no, part of it is like, can I take action and sort of see like, did I like this? Did I not, did this work? Did it not? Because I think if we also get into the stories, like we take action doesn't work and we're instantly like, nobody likes this. I'm terrible. I should shut it . And he's like, oh, you need someone to be like, all right, maybe that's not what's happening.
Yep. I resisted social media except I've been on LinkedIn for a long time and I'm pretty active on LinkedIn and I do have some followers and some interactions. I was not on Instagram until three months ago. So LinkedIn was for me, the place where I felt the most comfortable kind of launching my business and goalie and I talked a lot about like what types of posts should you put on LinkedIn now that you have a business? Like it can't just be your random ramblings about the legal profession, how it sucks. And it's terrible because, I mean, you can have that too, but you should always be trying to relate everything back to a coaching opportunity. And there's been a lot of trial and error with that. I mean, sometimes I write what I think is the most poignant, brilliant coaching thing ever. And like nobody responds. And other times I write some nonsense and people very much respond to it. But then a couple of weeks later, somebody will message me and be like, I read that really insightful post. You know that I wanna talk to you about it. So that has been just like a really interesting sort of up and down ride
Or all of this is like that. And you have to be able to like mentally prepare yourself for the fact that like people may not be engaging. That doesn't mean they're not seeing it and it doesn't mean they're not getting value. And it's hard when you're putting it out there and then you're not getting any reaction. It's easy to think like, this isn't working or people don't want this. I, I honestly think 80% of business is just mindset. It's just mental. It's just getting yourself to do the thing that you said you were gonna do when it feels like crap because you're not getting the result you want. And if you can keep yourself in that game, then you get enough data to be like, Hey, this is working or this is not, maybe I switch this up. And so yeah, a lot of this again is like looking at, I think when you do it on your own, it's very easy to think this isn't working.
Yeah. And you talk yourself out of it. You're like, clearly no one is reacting to anything I write, and so I'm just done with this business. It's not working. So when we talk every week and I tell you about what I feel like is a failure, you're like, Adriana, no . And then you, you reframe it for me in a very helpful way for me to realize like, no, this is just, it's part of the social media game. It's sort of unpredictable, but the more you do it and the more consistently you actually do it, it does help your business
For sure. It's been funny working with you and some of my other one-on-one clients. I think people are always surprised. 'cause I'm always like, when you tell me that, I'm like, yeah, welcome to the club that happens every day to, you know, I'm always telling you my failures and you're always like, wait, what yours seems like so put together. And I'm like, whatcha talking about like I, you know, it's just like a mishmash of failure together. And then it's like once something finally hits and I'm like, oh, okay, looks like that worked. You know? And I constantly go back to the same, who am I talking to? What am I selling? What is the results? You know? And in my marketing, like yes, there's more complexity and I might now have an evergreen funnel and I'm trying out different things, but the core tenants are the same and I deal with the same thing. It's like I still deal with, you know, we were talking about this yesterday, I'm like, every time I'm like, nobody wants this, this is a failure, I should shut it down. And you're like, whatcha talking about? Which blows
My mind because from an outsider's perspective, like you are wildly successful. And then to hear you be like, this is, this sucks. I'm not doing this again , it's like, it's very refreshing. But also, you know, it's a good reminder for people like me who are starting out, like even when I do eventually have this be a bigger business, I'm still going to deal, like you said, with the same mindset stuff that I'm dealing with now, that is not gonna go away. You just have to be kind of prepared for it of like how you're gonna tackle it when it's 10 times worse because your business is bigger and like, oh no, everybody's seeing me fail.
I know. That's what I always tell people. Like when people are uh, sort of upset about like the beat starting out on social media and I'm like, it's so amazing in the beginning because no one's really watching once it's like little bit bigger. You're like, oh god, now
Everyone's the stakes are really low because you have no followers. . Like there's, there's a beauty in that. There's
Such a beauty in that it, it just goes back to the 50 50, right? It's like you're upgrading for different stressors, but it's the same thing. It's there, right? I've never met a, a business owner and I've worked with tons who are like making seven figures, eight figure that are like, you know what? No fears, I have no no insecurities. I put it out there, I know it's gonna be a success and I'm never frustrated. It's like, no, like this whole game is this over and over again. But one of the things that you learn I think is that you learn that that is normal so you don't panic. I think for a lot of times in the beginning you're panicked that like, this isn't working or this is a sign that I'm not good at this. Once you've gone there, you're like, oh of course this is happening. Of course I feel like this, of course I think everybody hates this and no one's gonna like it and I should shut it down and my brain is just crazy.
Yeah. And just when you think you're never gonna get a client, like three people will email you at the same time who wanna talk to you. And I'm like, what did I just put out in the universe? Like was I literally non-existent for a whole month and nobody wanted to talk to me? Yeah. And now all of a sudden I have reemerged into the world. Like what is it
Always, I always, that's so fun. You are still working full-time. So how much time do you put in or do you think you need to put in into your business to like get your business up and running and keep it kind of moving forward?
Yeah, I probably honestly put in a good 10 hours a week. And it, a lot of it really is now that I'm doing these webinars, I've been doing my PowerPoint presentations, I am like kind of rehearsing ahead of time my webinars. I put a lot of effort into my LinkedIn engagement and LinkedIn posts because that to me feels the the best out of all the social media platforms. Now that my website is up and running, I don't really mess with that anymore. I know there are people who are constantly revamping their websites. I'm like, what is the purpose? You know? Yeah.
I don't think you, most people need a website in the beginning.
I agree. Yeah,
I think you can have one up and running in a couple hours on a weekend if you want to, but I don't even think as a new coach you need a website. You know how many people are just going to websites, people use social media, you know, or like they're finding you a place and they wanna work with you because they met you or whatnot. So you, I'm so geeked out on online business, it's so funny. Like how much I love it yet there are downsides to it and there's a lot of like, you know, there's a lot of negative to anything, any industry. I don't think there's any industry where you're like, there isn't a ton of like scam artists or whatever, you know, or people that are abusing their powers and whatnot. But there just never has been a time in history where you could start a business and legitimately make money without putting capital in like some capital maybe, but not a ton.
You're not taking out a 500 loan to start a business. You can do it within five to 10 hours a week. Like you don't have to put in these insane hours. You can do it as slower, as fast as you wanna do it with your lifestyle. And you can create something, an asset that's gonna make you money over and over again. It's gonna grow. It's, it's this snowball effect like in the beginning it is hard not seeing results and then it becomes something that, you know, is this the ROI is so much more than anything else you would've missed in like anything else that you put your money in, you're not getting the type of return that you will get by like building your own business. It's so doable. That's
So doable. Yeah. This
Isn't some unicorn like oh my god, no. Unless I have this like insane knowledge or background or time or whatever. It's like no, you could have an online business up and running in a week.
Yeah. And it'll have a coaching certification and I'm still getting clients like that is not a precursor to having a business. I coach lawyers on what I call personal productivity. So I don't try to get people to fit in more things into their lives, into their schedules. I want them to get focused on the things they have to accomplish at work, the things they want to accomplish at work in order to get more time back for them to have a full life and to do other things they like. And if that means switching careers, if that means picking up a hobby, if that means spending more time with their families or just like relaxing, it doesn't matter. My goal is to make people realize that you can work your schedule a lot better than you currently are. You just have to optimize some things in order to just have a more fulfilling life.
Yeah. And so you help people get like 10 hours back a week, which is insane for people, which hey, you could use those 10 hours to start a business. My friends,
Yes, , you could,
You could use those 10 hours to rest. But that's the thing is because when Adriana came to me and we were talking about it like this is her superpower. Like she is, yeah, I mean the most efficient person I've ever seen in my life. But like she's just so good at being able to figure out like what is important, what is not, and cut out the rest. And it was funny because when you came and you were talking about like the book that you had written and you were talking about like you have the chill lawyer. Yeah. You were seeing a need that like lawyers are notoriously overworked and overstressed and burned out and a lot of people have zero balance. Like we're not even at the place of like trying to get to like a work life balance. We, we just want a little bit of personal time and they're extremely burned out.
And like you have been working in your, in your own career to help lawyers like figure out like, hey, there's another way you don't, you can be a lawyer and not live like this. You can't have boundaries. You can stop at a certain time. You can, you know, carve out this time. You can't, whatever. And so as you were saying this, it was really obvious what you help people with. Like in, when you were talking about what you wanted and you wanted to help people like have more of their life back and you wanted them to be able to have a personal life and to have more joy and not has have as much stress, it was like, well the vehicle is like learning out how to really take control of your own calendar and learn how to boundary, like put in boundaries and learn how to not let your calendar kind of overtake your life and productivity stuff.
And so, and the reason I say that is that it's just, it became so obvious because like that's such a superpower you have like as you were talking and the way that you approach your life and the, the process that you'd already created, it was like, oh, this is the vehicle. It's not to say like, the result that they're getting is just a better life 10 hours a week to do what they want. Like hobbies, you know, like better relationships. All of that stuff comes from being able to carve out some time where you're not having a heart attack about work. The reason it was fascinating for me is like there was just so much already there that was obvious of like how you help people in other arenas, even within your personal day job. Like how you were helping the, the lawyers that you were working with, the questions that were coming to you with what you were helping new attorneys kind of navigate A lot of it was this like balancing your life and balancing your calendar and making sure that it's not like overtaking everything. And I think people kind of have those things. They have those tells of like, this is what I'm really good at and this is what I can help other people
Do. I, I mean everybody has that and whatever job you are in, I mean you and I are former lawyers and so we talk about that a lot, but every job you are in there is a piece of bad whatever industry that the culture that there's something missing and the people are unhappy with. This exists in every job. Otherwise, like we all do the one job that makes everybody perfectly happy, which does not exist. And so whatever job or industry you're in, you can find that niche for yourself. It's really not that difficult. And the second you realize that this is like the thing that you are good at or that you could teach people, like all of a sudden you see those people who need your help, like they start coming out of the woodwork once you kind of put it out there that this is what you do.
Totally. And you see there's so many people because like their brain doesn't work the way yours does. And so it's easier for you to be like, Hey, well why don't you try this and why don't you do? And it's been so fun, like listening to you talk about like you now your client and how you're helping them and seeing the results that they're getting. And I, there's just so much possibility there. So thank you so much. It's been such an honor. And what's fascinating is, like for me, I'm, I love doing this work because as you guys can obviously tell, I love online business and I love people seeing people like start their own and watching your journey and watching you like create an actual business and knowing it's gonna be so big and like it's just such an honor to be able to like witness that. So I appreciate it and we're just getting started, me and you yourself, three months together. So I'm excited to see like where that goes. But two things. One, why don't you tell people where they can find you, especially if you're a lawyer who struggles with balancing your time and you need help Adriana as your person
Well too, if you're a lawyer who does not struggle with uh, time management, call me anyway. Let's talk about it. Like how, what are your tips? You know, you could be a coach too. There's of us, so my website that I don't think anybody goes to, but it exists adriana paris.com, so it's my full name. I designed a website myself. I didn't pay anybody. You can do it for a very low cost. It's not difficult. You know
What I just heard though? It's so funny. This is what I'm saying, like things are changing. Like you can now get an AI created website. Like you can do it. There's like these now these programs where you literally just type in what you want and it will create a website like are very easy at this point. Things are
Getting easier by the day. for sure. Yeah. Well, and you can have AI images, you don't even need to take professional photos anymore. You don't have to be a photographer, sorry, photographers. But I, some of the AI pictures are pretty good except the one that make you look like a fake person. And then I'm, so I'm very active on LinkedIn, so it's LinkedIn slash um, Adriana Paris is where you can find me. I have a public profile so anybody can find me.
I will link that in the show notes too in case people can't write it down or you don't have the spelling. Definitely go follow Adriana on LinkedIn if you're on there and check out her stuff, her time management stuff. I keep telling her like I'm gonna now hire her to coach me on time management because that is not my strong suit.
That would be the epitome of my career as a coach. If you were to hire me to coach you, I mean, I would just die full circle , we would just die.
We're gonna get there. My only, the main thing that stops me is not wanting to learn
. I'm like, oh, I can't do it.
No, we'll get there Adriana. We're gonna get there. Okay. Any
Parting where it's,
Yeah, I mean, honestly it's so low stakes. It really is like, in your mind, this seems like a huge thing, but it's a very, it's a low barrier to entry, which is good and bad. I guess it's not difficult to start a business if you have somebody who is guiding you through all the like random stuff you see on Instagram that everyone is like, here are the 10 things you need to be a successful coach. And you're like, I can't do any of those things. , don't listen to that . If you have someone obviously like you to guide somebody through that process, it is not difficult. And it really is something that once you have a small idea, that small idea like picks up and it just kind of becomes the business. And it doesn't take a lot of effort. It really doesn't take a lot of time. You just have to be again, intentional with the things that you wanna do. But yeah, it's totally possible for anybody.
I love it so much. Adriana, thank you so much for being here.
Thank you. It's been awesome chatting with you in a different way. I love it.
So fun.
Hey, if you are looking for more in-depth help with your career, whether that's dealing with all of the stress, worry, and anxiety that's leading to burnout in your current career or figuring out what your dream career is and actually going after it, I want you to join me in the Quitter Club. It is where we quit what is no longer working like perfectionism, people pleasing imposter syndrome, and we start working on what does, and we start taking action towards the career and the life that you actually want. We will take the concepts that we talk about on the podcast and apply them to your life and you will get the coaching tools and support that you need to actually make some real change. So go to lessonsfromaquitter.com/quitterclub and get on the waitlist. Doors are closed right now, but they will be open soon.