The Undeniable Tour Day 14 – Keep Moving Forward

Open Road to the Horizon 2014-01-01 by Kristina D.C. Hoeppner from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Open Road to the Horizon 2014-01-01 by Kristina D.C. Hoeppner from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

I couldn’t have asked for a better last day of The Undeniable Tour. It started with a walk by the water with Jay Thompson and then I saw some Seattle sites before hopping in the Maven Mobile (courtesy of my sponsor Web3Mavens) and drove south to speak at the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association. They were an incredibly engaged audience that wanted to know more about social media marketing options for lawyers. My day ended with dinner with one of my best friends from undergrad.

Last Day in Seattle - Visiting the Troll

Last Day in Seattle – Visiting the Troll

Now I’m sitting in my hostel reflecting on the last 14 days, everything I’ve learned, and all the wonderful people I’ve seen. My talk for The Undeniable Tour started with a quote from Yogi Berra: “When you come to the fork in the road, take it.” I encouraged them to challenge themselves to keep moving forward with their professional development, but that it wasn’t my job to tell them what to do. They had to figure that out for themselves. My job was to share my story about my journey and share tips based on what’s working for me.

When it comes to being involved on social media, there are many options to choose from and you can select platforms that play to your communication strengths and puts you in contact with your audience. (Remember that the purpose of social media is to interact with people. Don’t treat it like a digital billboard.) In addition to blogging, I’m active on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn. I’m active on some platforms more than others. My favorite platform by far is Twitter; it’s the easiest way I know to start a meaningful conversation with someone I want to meet.

If you’re thinking about getting involved on a new social media platform, here’s the process I recommend that you use.

  1. Create an account.
  2. Take 1-2 weeks to watch how others are using the platform. Learn about the lingo and observe what’s working for others.
  3. Start using the platform yourself.

It’s ok to start slow and it’s ok to make the occasional mistake. Like all new skills, you won’t do it perfectly the first time, or every time. The point is you’re there and you’re trying. Stay open and teachable. And remember that using social media is like becoming part of a community. Relationships and connections will be built over weeks and months, not minutes. Keep the long game in mind.

My challenge to myself is to reflect on the lessons I’ve learned from planning and doing The Undeniable Tour and applying them to my professional and personal life. (There is no distinction between by professional and personal lives. It’s all me.)

If you want to talk with me about The Undeniable Tour please shoot me an email.

The Undeniable Tour would not be possible without my awesome sponsors: Web3Mavens, Enchanting LawyerTotal Networks, and Attorney at Work.

All Tour Sponsors

The Undeniable Tour Day 13 – Using Non-Traditional Tactics to Pay for Law School

Cool Wall Art at Lewis and Clark Law School

Cool Wall Art at Lewis and Clark Law School

I had the pleasure of speaking at Lewis and Clark Law School today before jumping in the Maven Mobile (courtesy of my sponsor Web3Mavens) to Seattle to speak at the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association tomorrow. It’s hard to believe that Day 14 is the last full day of The Undeniable Tour.

Lewis and Clark Law SchoolAfter my talk, I was approached by a student who wanted to start a nonprofit that would raise money to pay for her tuition and give scholarships to other minorities who want to go to college. She had an interesting story – she went through several application cycles when applying to law school, not because she wasn’t good enough to get in somewhere, but it was a challenge to find adequate funding.

I thought her idea was intriguing, but it reminded me of some of the pitfalls I encountered when I launched Sponsor A Law Kid during my 3L year where people paid me to blog about the topic of their choosing. I had to deal with my fair share of critics who attacked me as a person and not just my idea for raising money for school.

If you want to launch a venture or campaign to pay for law school, you need to be clear about what you’re doing before you announce it. If you want donations, that’s fine, but be ready to be accused of asking for a handout. If you are doing or giving something in exchange for money, like writing blog posts, selling t-shirts or a book, make sure you’re over-delivering for the price you’re charging. People have the right to decide how they spend their money, but you don’t want to get a reputation of ripping people off.

If you want to do something like this young lady and start a program that will fund her education first and then continue to help fund others’ education, you need to follow through on your long-term plans. My concern as an outsider looking in is some people may be skeptical and wonder if she’s doing this to pay for her education and then shut down the program without helping anyone else.

Regardless of what you do to pay for law school, be sure to act with integrity and transparency so you can respond to any questions with class and grace. When it comes to paying for law school, I encourage you to be creative and thoughtful with whatever you do.

If you are interested in connecting with me please follow me on Twitter. If you have any questions or comments about The Undeniable Tour or Sponsor A Law Kid, please shoot me an email.

The Undeniable Tour would not be possible without my awesome sponsors: Web3Mavens,Enchanting LawyerTotal Networks, and Attorney at Work.

All Tour Sponsors