Career Strategies

Make It Happen! Follow The Dream
by Pamela Samuels-Young

Do you ever fantasize about leaving the law behind and pursuing another career? Something not nearly as “safe” or as prestigious as the legal profession? Perhaps you’ve thought seriously about it for a day or a week, but then the fear of leaving the virtual security of your in-house position floods your head with dozens of sound reasons why you should stay put. Whether your dream is to write a novel, become an interior decorator or start your own consulting firm, you can make it happen. Here are five tips that will help you begin your journey.

1. Find Time To Plan Your Career Move

With the demands of work, family, church and community activities, you may think you don’t have a spare moment to even think about, much less pursue, your dream career. You’re wrong. It may not be easy, but you can find free time where you least expect it. The next time you’re taking a neighborhood jog or walking on the treadmill, use the time to mull over the plot for that book you’ve wanted to write or to think about possible locations for the day spa you’ve dreamed of opening. Instead of listening to your favorite CD during your morning and evening commute, use the time to work on the business plan for your catering business. A Dictaphone can be a pretty handy tool in that situation. Your lunch break and the two to three hours you spend in the beauty shop can also be put to good use. With your family’s support, you might even find an evening or two to run off to your local library or a nearby Starbucks for some business-planning time. Even if it’s only an hour a week, use it.

2. Don’t Reinvent The Wheel

You may not realize it, but you have a multitude of resources all around you -- family, friends, colleagues, church members, sorority sisters, and even strangers. Don’t be afraid to request an informational interview. If you want to run a bed ‘n breakfast, call up the owners of a similar establishment in another community, invite them to lunch and tap their brain. People love to talk about themselves and many will be flattered to have a lawyer asking them for advice. The Internet is also a valuable resource. You can enter a few key words on Google and thousands of helpful articles will appear right before your eyes. Just as you would do with an unfamiliar legal issue, research, research, research!

3. Join Professional Organizations

It’s a good idea to surround yourself with others who share your interests and passion. There are dozens of professional groups whose sole function is to help their members develop their creative talents and realize their business goals. Organizations like Minority and Women Business Owners, Women Entrepreneurs, Inc., Women in Theatre and Mystery Writers of America, just to name a few, provide information, support and networking opportunities. Find the organizations that can be most helpful to you and join them.

4. Understand That It Won’t Happen Overnight

When you started law school, you knew that if you graduated and passed the Bar, you had a pretty good chance of finding a job. Entrepreneurial ventures don’t offer the same guarantees. I recently read an article in Writer’s Digest about a writer who received more than 400 rejection letters before getting his first book deal. Now that’s what you call perseverance! There will no doubt be disappointments when things don’t happen in accordance with your time schedule. But if you remain faithful and focused on your goal, it will happen.

5. Ignore The Naysayers

We all know people who believe you should find a good job, work as hard as you can for 30 years, then retire and enjoy life. For them, the thought of leaving a secure, well-paying position for the uncertainties of entrepreneurial life is unthinkable. That kind of limited thinking won’t help you realize your dream. When I proudly tell people I hope to one day give up practicing law to become a full-time novelist, they smile and look as if they want to pat me on top of my head and say, “That’s nice. Now run along back to your briefs.” You have to decide what you want to do and go for it. And don’t be surprised if you turn out to be your biggest obstacle. When that happens, just look your self-doubt squarely in the face and command it to go away.

Remember the trauma you experienced as a first-year law student right before final exams? In the end, you not only survived, you thrived, and then went on to pass the test of all tests, the Bar exam. The same degree of preparation and persistence that got you through law school will also help you smoothly transition into your new career.

So don’t just dream your dream, make it happen!

*Pamela Samuels-Young is a Managing Counsel for Labor and Employment Law for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., in Torrance, California. Her first novel, Every Reasonable Doubt, will be published by BET Books in February 2006. You can read an excerpt of Pamela’s legal thriller at www.pamelasamuels-young.com.