"How Working for the Man Turned to Working for the Woman - Myself" - Guest Post - Sheryl Sisk Schelin

How Working for the Man Turned to Working for the Woman...Myself!

Guest Blogger - Sherrie Sisk, Esq.

When I think of my history with work - we go way back, work and I - I can't help but see it as a dramatic historical romance, a sweeping epic story set against the backdrop of war. Or something.

• Law was a second career for me - I went to law school after leaving a short but happy career as a stage actor in pursuit of a less gypsy-like lifestyle.
• I graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1996; undergrad was at a small private college - Catawba College - in Salisbury, NC.
• I grew up in NC and consider myself a Tar Heel for life. Brief story on TarHeels - the rumor is the name came from a regiment of NC soldiers who stayed on the battlefield long after other soldiers had left (Revolutionary War, I presume, though I never really checked), and one officer commented to another "Those boys are stickin' like they've got tar on their heels."  I always identified with that story! Sometimes persistence wins the race over speed or skill.
• I spent the first ten years of my career with Horry County  as a staff attorney
• I am celebrating my 5 month anniversary as a happy solo practitioner!

The truth is there has been a lot of drama - unnecessary drama - and a lot of romantic notions, some kept and some swept silently out the door - no sense letting dirt accumulate under pretty carpets, right?

Drama turned to complacency, though, and about the time of my 40th birthday it became pretty obvious something had to be done. It was either go solo or go to a spa. And although a spa sounded pretty good - sounds even better now, actually - I went with "go solo."

To be sure, there was even more drama following that decision. Did I have "it"? That mysterious, wacky, undefinable something or other that made it more likely I'd succeed than fail? Could I get clients? Was I going to crash and burn spectacularly? Was I going to drag the family down with me? Those thoughts were just the ones I had in the first thirty seconds. More followed, and each time, I came back with a "yes, but..."

Yes, but ... I think I can do it.

Yes, but ... I have some ideas.

Yes, but ... I really, really want this.

My circumstances were far from ideal. We owed money - lots of it. We had precious little saved. We depended on my job for health insurance. I had no private law firm experience and therefore no portable book of business. I'd have to learn a new area of law, almost from scratch. Not to mention all the business-owner tasks I'd have to master - bookkeeping and marketing chief amongst them.

And still, I kept coming back to "Yes, but ... I really, really want this."

It's either crazy or inspired. I think it's probably both. I think inspired probably always has a little crazy in it. I'll either succeed or I won't. But what I've learned in my short five months of soloing is that I am capable of far more than I'd previously thought (and I wasn't exactly brimming with self-confidence). I can learn almost anything, and if I can't, or don't want to, there's someone out there who does know and who'll do it for me (for the right price). Tradeoffs abound, but I have the wherewithal to decide which ones are best for me and make them wisely.

I have learned, in short, to trust myself. And that, dear readers, is the first step to getting others - i.e., paying clients - to trust you. Going solo taught me that - and a whole lot more.

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Sheryl Sisk, Esq. Inspired Solo, www.schelinlaw.com/about_bankruptcy www.schelinlaw.com

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North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582
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