Transcript

Rowena
So tell us a little bit about you and your original traditional career path.

Sharni
Sure. So I’ve been practicing now for about, oh, it’d be close to 15 years. So when I first started out, I started out in a law firm, it had a lot of different areas of law. So it wasn’t specialising in family law. And I was there for about 18 months, which was a really good, I think, a ground to start on, because I got to see how different areas of law work together, which was fantastic. I then moved to a specialist family law firms. One of the largest hope it was at the time, I think one of the largest ones in WA. And that was a very traditionalist law firm, I was part of trial teams dealing with sort of very high end complex property litigation, which was fantastic to sort of learn a lot of the financial complex issues that you need to know. It was really interesting. But I did find during it, it probably wasn’t really me. I think so a lot of the time, I was still a junior lawyer then. But I was hearing mainly family friends at that time separating and going through divorce. And my mum, or people around me would ask me questions about separation. And what I was dealing with at the time, was so far removed from what every day families were dealing with, you know, I was dealing with, at one time, they’re arguing over helicopters, and people who owned helicopters, and hey, you know, how are we going to deal with all of these masses of properties? And what’s the complex trust structure, and then I would be getting questions and people wanting help, that dealt with, you know, just really everyday things. So I just didn’t feel, I think, as aligned as I wanted to be to what I was hearing in the community and what I think family friends were wanting help with. So I’d be referring them out. But it just felt like two very different types of family law. And I was there for quite some time, and then moved, I was sort of headhunted to a different firm, which did deal with more everyday families. Did a lot of Legal Aid work as well, which I had previously done as a paralegal. So that was such a culture shock to me. So at my first firm, it was very process heavy, which was good. It meant I was very organised, it meant there was a different colour paper for telephone notes, as well as file notes and faxes, which was great. But then I went into a firm, where I remember asking at one of the first staff meeting, so what colour paper would I use for telephone note. And I was laughed at. And my boss still reminds my old boss still reminds me about that, because it wasn’t that wasn’t what the firm was worried about. They didn’t care what colour it was about, trying to get the work out because they-were quite a busy firm. It was a fast paced, in court a lot sort of firm, which was again, a really good learning process for me because it was such a different type of law. There was some complex legal aid issues that we were dealing with. There are a lot of complex family structures. There was children’s issues that dealt with sort of drug use and alcohol, excessive alcohol use those sorts of things, which was a real eye opener for me and probably, I needed to have both of those to then get an understanding of how to really help families. I think before it was such a different type of family law, which was great, but I think it was good to have the balance of both to then be thinking about how I was going to help people.

Rowena
So Sharni, you’re about to be in a unique direction launching your own firm Align Family Law. Can you tell us a little bit about your new venture and why it is so close to your heart?

Sharni
Yeah, thank you. So I am, it’s all very exciting. I am about to launch the new law firm end of this month, which I’m really excited about. And I guess where Align came from, had a lot to do with becoming a mum. And going through what my husband, I say, we’re really tough years with our two littlest children, and really seeing the pressures that are put on families, when you have kids and trying to juggle that with everything, and then seeing, you know, if those families are then separating the extra pressures that are then on them, putting them through a family law process through the court process, which the court does an amazing job with what it’s got, but there are unfortunately, delays. And the way you have to give evidence in the family court can cause more conflict with families. So for me a lot of what I was wanting to do, and what I want to do with Align Family Law is look at how do we try and minimise that conflict for families. Because once a family law process, and once the separation, and divorce is done with and you resolve your property settlement, the lawyers go away, we disappear, and you’re then left with that separated family. And you then have children who you are going to have to interact with with the other person for sometimes, you know, another 17/18 could be more years to come. And I just didn’t want to leave broken families. And it means a lot to me to try and minimise that conflict as much as we can, through the family law process so that hopefully, with minimised conflict, they can then move on being a happy separated family as opposed to what I have seen, which is sort of broken families with a significant amount of conflict that they then have to deal with going on.

Rowena
Now, there are a lot of stereotypes around law and lawyers. Yes. Yeah. Do you feel you’re challenging some of these, you’ve been you mentioned, you’ve been in sort of either side of the law sort of space where it’s, you know, you’ve, you’ve seen the top and the bottom and everything in between? What kinds of stereotypes are you hoping to break down in your law firm?

Sharni
Yeah, such a good question. I think, you know, it’s really tricky. There are stereotypes with lawyers, and some of the things I’m trying to do, even in social media is just show a different side to who I am, and humanise what it is that we’re trying to do for families. So a lot of the time, you’ll think that lawyers, you know, have got it all together, we’re focused on money, we, you know, we are separate to what we’re trying to do for the family. And I kind of hope that the more I show of who I am, and the reasons behind what I’m wanting to do, you’ll see that it really is just about trying to help families. And if you get to see that I’m family focused, and really caring about what’s happening for my clients and their families, it will hopefully break some of those barriers down. Most of the time family lawyers are really just trying to help as much as we can. It is actually a really draining and stressful profession. So a lot of the time, I think those barriers have been put up traditionally, and perhaps for different reasons. But these days, it’s just a lot of us just trying to do the best we can for clients with, you know, all that we have. So it’s really trying to humanise it and show that we’re you know, we’re just like you, we’ve got families, we’re dealing with the juggle, we just want to try and help as much as possible. And hopefully showing that side of me does that a little bit, hopefully.

Rowena
It really does come through on your social media, your social media is caring, it’s informative, it feels like a really safe and real place. Not only is it beautiful and calming to look at just reading your content, I feel like I have such a sense of who you are. And you share relevant and real insights about everything from co-parenting tips and separation support to your own personal insights. And I feel like that really connects with the everyday family like I myself am not going through a separation but even reading some of those things, gave me a bit of an appreciation for what’s some of my friends might be going through in similar situations. Just that level of community I feel like is invaluable in whatever space you can create online.

Sharni
Thank you. That’s really lovely to hear. It’s hard to know, with social media, whether you’re getting across the message that you’re wanting to, but that’s exactly what I’m hoping people see from it. You know, a lot of people think we want to argue as family lawyers, we hate the other solicitor. And it’s just it’s not that case. A lot of the time, we’re all just trying to help families the best we can we get along well, we’re happy to advocate for our clients. But there isn’t that let’s go and argue this out. Because we know deep down the cost of that is just backbreaking for families for both sides. And it’s just not good for the children. It’s not good. Even if you don’t have children financially, that’s not good for you when you’re trying to move on. So that’s really lovely to hear that it that it comes across that way

Rowena
I know it can feel like you’re throwing out content into the ether sometimes and I always try to give dues where dues are due, basically.

Sharni
Thank you. I look, I’ve always thought, you know, friends and family who were saying that’s great, but you do want to know that it is getting to everyone else who obviously isn’t just my biggest supporter, so that’s good to hear, thank you.

Rowena
So having the mums and dads and cousins and Auntie’s on everything I know that feeling.

Sharni
Exactly, exactly.

Rowena
So why is humanising family law so important do you feel compared to some of those typical sort of situations that people have found themselves in the past?

Sharni
Yeah, look, I just think it’s something for me. There are so many people going through family law issues, whether that be they’ve just separated, whether they’ve been separated for years, they’ve resolved everything, but they’re still having children’s issues. It just impacts our community so greatly that unless we normalise that, unless you see that there are family lawyers here trying to help you through that process as well. I think some people feel quite isolated going through that. And it really is for me just about trying to say, you know, even if you aren’t separated, like you were saying, you get an understanding, hopefully, the more we humanise it, of what friends and family going through it because it’s really tricky. You know, I was thinking when I was a mum with two young kids, my husband was quite busy, and I was on maternity leave. And I was trying to juggle all of the things. I was thinking, how does someone do this, when they are then separated, and they don’t have a partner who then can come home and look after the kids while I go out grocery shopping, you know, it’s that thing where it is really, it’s really difficult. And whilst you’re trying to juggle all those things, and co-parenting with someone in this conflict, you’re also trying to get to lawyer appointments. You’re trying to go to the family court during the day and take time off work like all of that, and dealing with the financial issues that come with separation. It’s just hard and the more we normalise it, I would hope that we as a community can then work together to try and help families through the process. That’s really the whole aim of trying to humanise it.

Rowena
So what advice would you give to women that are having to start to look into engaging a family lawyer due to a relationship breakdown, be it you know, something that they are wanting themselves or something that they they’ve, you know, found themselves in this situation. What steps can they take to minimise the conflict?

Sharni
Certainly, so minimising the conflict with the other person, I would be saying, really look at, firstly, look at what sort of lawyer you’re going to get, you know, there are all different types of lawyers, I would say when someone comes to me and they want a referral, it’s something that I can’t deal with, I do ask them, what sort of lawyer would make you feel comfortable, do you know who because it’s really about having that connection. So you can feel really comfortable to let the lawyer know what your issues are and what your concerns are. And hopefully that lawyer as well, when you’re talking to them work out whether or not they focus on settlement in the way that you want to. So if you really want to keep conflict down, try and ask around family and friends or look online to see whether that lawyer that you’re looking at will deal with it with trying to minimise conflict in the way that you would want to happen. So that to me is really important. There is unfortunately lawyers out there that might be wanting to unnecessarily create conflict. So it might be something where if you’re rushed off to court, you can then get stuck in a high conflict situation, which might not what you’re after, just because you’re angry at the time, or grieving at the time and wanting to deal with that. But to keep the conflict down yourself with the other side. I would avoid the other party I would just say to you, communication is key. Talking about what your concerns are, a lot of the time when clients come in to speak to me they haven’t yet said to the other side what their huge worry is. So they’ve been saying to them for example you know I want to keep the house i want to stay here but what they’re really issue is they want stability for the children who might be struggling through separation. Or they might want to be keeping the children in school, so want to be in the same catchment area. So a lot of the time it’s really communicating what your concerns are which I know is difficult with someone you’re in conflict with but the more open you can be about that the less chance of misunderstanding there is hopefully and the less conflict that there will be from then.

Rowena
Communication is so key in every facet of what we do as solopreneurs and I imagine yours is going to be a small to medium sized business, no doubt with the focus that you’ve got it feels so much more holistic and natural. What will you be looking for in team members when you start to look at that point where you’ve got a team of people in a similar space. What are you hoping to offer as a full service law firm as you move forward?

Sharni
Yeah it’s such a great question because it is something that I’m really focusing on at the moment. A lot of the time lawyers and family lawyers will have referrals to financial planners or will have tax accountants etc but what I’m really trying to offer my clients is a lot of different people if they’re wanting that to be able to get assistance. For example one of the biggest things that I think can help clients keep the conflict down, help them deal with the grief and move on and keep costs down is to see a really good psychologist who’s used to dealing with family law. And that’s whether the separation was your idea or the other person’s idea, it makes a huge difference to go through that grieving process or if it’s anger whatever it is that you’re dealing with with a psychologist. One, you’ll be saving legal fees for a start. Two you’ll then be able to deal with the issues appropriately so dealing with the emotional issues with someone who’s experienced to deal with them. And I think also then it really is you know helping you be able to then clarify what the issues are that you’re wanting to deal with so you can then get the help with with who it is. So I’m really looking at teaming with psychologists who are experienced in family law, looking at also trying to deal with divorce coaches if that’s something that clients are wanting or even life coaches etc. But really all of the team that I’m trying to work with is about people who are on the same page about being settlement focused, future focused and trying to help clients move on with the least amount of conflict. And feeling empowered from the process because it can be quite a disempowering process at times and you want to feel when you come out of the end of the family law process that you are excited and ready to move on to your future. That’s what we’re hoping for. So try and work with team members who have that same focus as me so that we can all help our clients move on towards that future. One of the processes that I deal with which I’m really passionate about is collaborative practice that deals with a team that that will deal with that. Collaborative practice has a financial advisor there, it also would have a mental health neutral person to assist the family together with each of the parties having a lawyer, moving forward. So that’s another way that we use teams together to try and help clients move on.

Rowena
And it really does it sounds like you’ve coming from a whole person. It’s like when you go to a doctor that’s a holistic doctor and they treat you as a whole person. That you’re not just your ailments, you’re not just you know the medicine that they can give you, you’re also a mind, you’re also emotions. You’re all of these different things that make up the whole. It’s kind of like you I imagine a lot of these situations a lot of people feel very much like a scattered jigsaw puzzle and it’s great that they can put one piece back together but what happens when you can’t find the rest of the pieces.

Sharni
Exactly and that that’s exactly the reason for the name Align was you know one of the meanings of Align is to put things back in order and I do feel that a lot of the time when people separate their first thought is i’ve got to go to a lawyer. Which i understand but there’s actually, law is only a very small part of separation. There’s so many other aspects to it. If clients are going to come to me as the first point of call I just want to make sure that they’re also getting access to the other things which might be before they even need to come back to me. They might need to see someone and deal with the grief of a separation, they might need to deal with the difficult conflict that they’re dealing with with a psychologist, they might need financial advice. And I am one that I think it might be that my part is actually quite small at the end of it once they’ve dealt with all of those issues, and I’m okay with that. And I would want clients to get the help they need because that way, when they move on, they haven’t just resolved their legal issues, they’ve resolved everything that they need to deal with when dealing with a separation.

Rowena
And it really feels like so much of what you’re planning on doing with your business is really connected with your own personal brand and your own personal belief system. And definitely, I know from my own business, it makes the hard stuff easier, knowing that you’re doing it for the right reasons. And for the reasons that matter most to you.

Sharni
So true. And look, I won’t lie to people, family law and dealing with it, is a really difficult, emotionally charged career. It takes a lot out of you, because you’re trying to give so much to your clients. The burnout rate for family lawyers, understandably, is incredibly high in those first five years. But what I would want to do as well, is sort of show more junior family lawyers as well, if we’re doing a process that feels more aligned to what we want to do. And it feels good when clients are leaving feeling more empowered and happier to move on towards their future, then we might not feel as burnt out. We might then feel really recharged from this career, which can be full on and stressful. There are deadlines all the time that we’re dealing with, but you would hope that we get back as much as we give to it, which is good for us, good for families, good for the community, at the end of the day.

Rowena
What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned about relationships from some of your clients during your work? Like what would you say some of the biggest moments would be?

Sharni
I have never been asked that question before. That’s really good. I do think you’ve mentioned it before. But communication is key. You know, it’s so apparent in a separation, especially if you’ve got two lawyers who are quite collaborative, and they’re able to deal with the issues, what you’ll find a lot of the time is real misunderstandings, you know, things can get misinterpreted when there’s conflict, understandably. There’s always different levels of grief, there’s different issues and emotions people are dealing with. So biggest lesson I’ve learned is communication is key, being open during a relationship with each other. And hopefully, post separation makes such a difference. Because if you can be open, when I found with a lawyer on the other side, when we’ve both gotten along, and we’re able to advocate for our clients, but there’s no sort of difficulty in doing so openly and with your clients consent to do so it actually ends up being that there is a solution that will make everyone happy. It’s just that there’s a real misunderstanding of the reasons behind what it is that you’re wanting at the end of the day. So communication is key is definitely one of them. And part of that, I think, is talking about what your needs are. So this has been a big one, even for my husband and I in having children. You know, I don’t think people talk enough about how tricky the juggle is. You know, you’ve got young children, there might be financial pressures, if someone’s not working, you’re trying to do all the things, you’ll have kids in school, you might have kids at home, you’re sleep deprived, and is anyone really meeting their own needs or getting their needs heard. And I think if you get clients coming in who say, I’ve never, I never got to do anything for myself, you know, that’s a huge lesson to me that the only way to make relationships sustainable is being really open about what your needs are. One of the big things that Cain and I talk about with everyone is sharing that mental load, because that mental load that we have is huge in relationships. You’re carrying a lot, you’re trying to think of all the things, you know, dinner, bedtime, what have I got to do for school, what have I got to do for this, I’ve also got to pay this bill, you know, doing all of that. And if one person is doing that themselves, that’s so much and then resentment can build and breakdowns of trust and love can happen. So yeah, I’m a big component of trying to share that mental load.

Rowena
And I was actually gonna say as a follow up from that, and I’ve been with my now husband for 21 years, and we’ve had to do a lot of growing up together. You know, we were kids together, we were in our 20s together, we’ve, you know, moved on to be married and have kids together. And in so many ways we are different and I find this works. This kind of analogy works, you know, in friendships and relationships. But we’ve recently come up with this, “what’s one thing” sort of situation. What we do is go whenever it kind of gets to a point of conflict or we get to a point where we’re frustrated with the other person for some reason. We go “What’s one thing that the other person can do for you right now and on an ongoing basis to show that they care?” Like what’s that one thing that’s bugging you that if they could just do that one thing. Once you saw that person doing that one thing you knew they were doing it because you’d ask them to and they’re doing it to show that they care and yeah be anything from like putting the recycling out, to just showing a little more affection or you know not putting your dishes in the sink. You know those just those little things just so that they get addressed and rather than just going just do this it comes from more of a place of if you could do this that would really show me that you care and that you are making an effort to make things better for me.

Sharni
Yes yeah and well Kay and I joke about this a lot but my love language or what I say my love languages is coffee because I rely heavily on coffee to get through. So all he needs to do is make me a coffee without me asking or before he’s going out if I’ve got the kids for the day, if he makes me a coffee, goes to get me a coffee. That’s it, that’s what I need to see and that makes me incredibly happy. And because we’ve communicated that… And it’s the same for Kay, just what he really wants to do is be able to go to the gym and get some me time for himself because a lot of everything else he does in his life is people relying upon him. So he has his own business and then he comes home and then we’re all relying on upon him at home, so what he needs is the gym and once he gets that, that’s it. So once we’ve communicated that, it’s just that little bit easier which is nothing much when you think about it but it actually makes is so much easier.

Rowena
When I think back over the many arguments that we’ve had over 21 years and stuff like that, some of those simplest concepts like the “one thing” concept, makes such a difference. I even find myself applying it in business, like if it’s a tough day what one thing would make a difference right now.

Sharni
Yes and I think that’s fantastic, I think that would work I’m going to implement that myself actually. But I do think that’s it and you know I really appreciate that you’re talking about you two having arguments because I don’t know that’s normalised, I don’t know that we talk enough about marriage being difficult. You’ve got two people that might get together when they younger like you two, or Kay and I got together when we were older and probably a bit set in our ways and it’s just that means that there’s going to be some issues that need to be worked out and that’s normal and part of marriage. I always worry that because there’s such a view of you know the highlight reel and of marriage as being perfect all the time and always happiness and light, that people aren’t talking about it’s actually really tricky. Then you add kids to the mix and both of you having different ideas about how to raise children and having different childhoods, all of that is really hard. So I think it’s great you can talk about that because it to me the more we talk about that this is tricky but you can get through it, the less people are going to feel isolated at home thinking well we we argue a lot about things or you know we’re not getting along and I’m not getting flowers like everyone else is getting what does that mean for me. When that might not be the way that person shows love or if that’s what you really need, communicate that and that then might resolve an issue that is just a misunderstanding hopefully.

Rowena
Really powerful thing . Mums are always full of the great piece of advice right and I’m sure she’d probably given me variations of this piece of advice like through my entire life but for some reason at this precise moment I was most receptive to it and we were young like I said, we did a lot of growing up in our 20s together. It was very much, there was a lot of ego involved, there was a lot of it’s my way or the highway, why won’t he change and all those sorts of things. My mum said something really powerful to me and it literally changed the courses of our lives and she said “you cannot expect someone else to change, if you love that person enough you need to love them enough to accept them exactly as they are for the rest of their lives.”

Sharni
Yeah

Rowena
And if it is a big enough issue that it is something that you fundamentally cannot deal with for eternity then maybe you’ve got some changes you have to consider making. It was just, I kind of just went actually the things that I’m making a big deal of, possibly aren’t such a big deal.

Sharni
Yeah

Rowena
You know possibly they’re quite selfish

Sharni
Yeah it is always the little thing. Look and I think over time little things can build up, they build resentments, you then think that the other person has stopped caring for you. But again like you were saying if that was communicated, if you really needed that and that’s communicated then you would hope that it can be dealt with because really a lot of the time it is ego, a lot of the time it’s just misunderstanding, thinking that someone needs to be a certain way to love you in the way that you want. It’s just, I think communication for all of those things is key, makes all the difference.

Rowena
So a big part of this issue is professionals who have taken the leap in a direction that’s slightly non-traditional for their career path. How did you know it was the time to take the leap out on your own like what was the point the tipping point for you?

Sharni
I think looking back now, which is easier to say now but I think it’s something that’s been building for some time, I just had no idea that it was. The tipping point for me really came down to a promise that Kay and I had made each other a couple of years ago about always putting our family first, regardless. We’ve got a lot going on. He’s managing a family law firm as well, I had a very busy career, we’ve got kids, trying to do all the things. And we said to each other, look if we’re going to get through all of this, we just have to put our family first all the time. And I think I just realised the firm i was at before leaving, who I still love and adore they’re a great team but we were understaffed through no fault of their own. It was just how it worked out and then we went through COVID and we had locked down here in WA, certainly not like other states but we had a lockdown ourselves. And I just found even post that lockdown families were in crisis, so we were really busy and I wasn’t putting my family first and I certainly wasn’t putting myself first. I’m one of those people that are quite prone to burnout and I never really realised, it’s okay to say that. But I think I am, I’m a doer and that’s really good until you’re put in situations where there’s always something to do. Then I will get burnt out if I’m not careful. So it really was getting to a stage where I was getting close to burnout and I just didn’t feel that I was helping clients. You know if you’re empty, you just can’t give to clients the way you want to. When they’re in crisis they want you to be available and I just didn’t feel I was doing a good job at work, iI didn’t feel I was doing a good job at home. I felt like i was trying to do all the things but nothing was being done right and then Kay reminded me of my promise to the family and to myself. He’s like, you’re not looking after yourself anymore, you’re exhausted. You know it’s one of those things that from that point, it was I really do have to put my family and myself first because I’m not a good lawyer if I can’t give. That’s to me is the point and I had said that to the firm, who are amazing and I’d worked with one of the senior partners there before so she knew, that it was really what this is about. It’s just putting my family first. And I say this and you’re obviously a businesswoman as well so you know that starting your own business and running a business yourself probably doesn’t feel like it’s going to be the easier option. It’s going to be busy, I’m going to be doing a lot of admin, gonna be trying to learn about the account side of it. But I will be able to do it without feeling like a bad employee. So I can take the morning off to take my daughters to appointments, I can take some time out if I need some time in the middle of the day without feeling bad. And my firm was a really flexible firm, so they were all about trying to do the juggle and allowing it but I felt like a bad employee if I’m not there helping them in the office all the time. I think that was the biggest tipping point and I don’t think i have looked back. It’s a huge learning curve that I think I’ll be on for many years to come. But I have felt that now I get to do it in my own time, which is great and good for my family and the girls have been really happy with me being around a lot more which has been really nice/

Rowena
I feel like that’s a huge part. I feel like breakdown and but not so much breakdown definitely burnout goes very much hand in hand with boundaries. The outcome of burnout and to prevent it happening again is boundaries and I feel like that’s one of the things that you can really find the most power in when you work for yourself is by setting those really firm boundaries. But not other people’s boundaries, your own boundaries and realising that you are actually in control of that and there’s not any have to’s, there’s not any should’s. There is just you and what is best for you and it’s really empowering and it’s really freeing.

Sharni
I look I find as well when I’m at my happiest, I can give so much more to my clients. My children seem less exhausted because they’re not being bundled around and rushed because I’m stressed. They’re not feeling my stress a lot of the time. My husband’s happier because I’m happy. So it’s one of those things where it makes such a difference. If it’s on my timetable, and that doesn’t mean you know I don’t want to underestimate how hard it is to run a business. Certainly one of the things I was worried about because Kay had started his own business which is about three years in, I have seen how much work it takes to run your own business. He’s doing it with friends of ours, but it’s a huge amount of HR issues, there are accounting issues, there are admin issues on top of the actual job itself. But what I have noticed is he’s happier. I think even just in learning all of this that I’ve had to do courses etc but I’m happier. I think that then will make this job better and that’s good for clients, that’s the whole aim.

Rowena
And isn’t the goal? Ultimately we didn’t get into this to be miserable.

Sharni
No exactly. That’s the thing and you know what I do love as well which I’ve only really started to do, is just notice, it’s a whole other community. So I’ve been getting to connect with other business owners which is fantastic. Getting to learn lots of different things which is creating or allowing me to be a bit creative in other areas, which only adds to my happiness. Which is great getting to learn Canva, I now feel like I know Canva inside and outside, so that’s good. I know that back to front. Getting to learn different things so it’s all of these things that I think then does make us feel a bit happier. which is

Rowena
A lot of people that have gone into typically professional careers, we’ve had to do a lot of study to get to the point that we’re in. I feel like so often after being in a corporate space for other people, we thrive on learning. So when we get stuck in a space of not absorbing new information. We get excited by the creativity of new systems and those sorts of things.

Sharni
So true. Very sad, but so true.

Rowena
I feel like i have learnt more in my first three years in business than I possibly learned in my three years at university. So as a last question, I feel like this is a great segue because yes a lot of people that are listening are potentially in a similar space to us. But a lot of them are in that cusp or they’re in a professional space currently and they kind of at that tipping point. What advice would you give to others in typical professional fields who want to step out of the doctor, lawyer, accountant stereotype and stand out as themselves?

Sharni
Look I’m not going to lie, it is quite scary, it feels quite scary. I’ve got no umbrella or no nothing around me at the moment where I get to say, Well, I’m just part of this firm. So this is now all me. So I understand that that could feel incredibly scary for people. One of the ways that I did it because I was worried about going out on my own was actually start the social media and be myself on social media professionally, separate to my firm. And so for me, it was I’m a little bit of a scaredy cat, I think I’m a little bit of a people pleaser, going out on my own was a huge step. So I don’t want to say to everyone just do it. If you want a bit of reassurance, you know, I found in starting social media and mainly Instagram, but also on LinkedIn, just getting to be myself a little bit. And my firm, I spoke to them about it, they were okay with it. And it is good for firms, it is good for the other profession, whatever it is that you’re whatever industry you’re in, you know, if you’ve got a good brand, that’s actually good for your company’s brand. So I talked to them about it, they were in support, and just getting to put yourself out there as yourself. And seeing a positive reaction made me think, you know, I might be able to do this. You know, people are connecting with me being a bit more human, being a bit more honest about the difficulties of being a family lawyer, but also the difficulties for families going through it. So I think if you are on the cusp and a little bit scared, maybe trying to do that might be a way of easing into it certainly made me feel a little bit better to then go there is connection there. People are positively reacting well, and hopefully they’re not all just my family and friends reacting well. And then that sort of helped me take the step. But honestly, I do think it’s a really scary step. But I’ve not talked to one business owner who has said they regret it. And you know, this is in the time of COVID, in numerous states and countries, we’ve all been going through really difficult times in small businesses, especially. And I still haven’t heard one business owner say they regret it. So I don’t know. I don’t want to say Just do it. But you know, I do think everyone I’ve talked to has really enjoyed stepping out on their own and I’m hoping I’m going to be one of those people as well,so far I’m loving it. So hopefully that continues.