Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the legal learning podcast. I’m your host Jolene. And with the legal learning center, I help prospective law students save $300,000 on law school. If you’d like to ensure that you are remembering everything that goes into applying to law school, visit legal learning center.com for a free law school application checklist. Today I’m joined by Alexandria, Sarah, a criminal defense attorney who has faced hardships both in law school. And after in sharing her hardships with you. I just want you to know that no matter what you’re going through, you are not alone.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Thank you so much for having me on this podcast and really excited to share my story. I’m Laura Alexandria, Sarah. I am a lawyer, serial entrepreneur and founder of the Sarah law empire here in El Paso, Texas. I do a little bit, a lot. I do a lot of entrepreneurship and I have a couple of side hustles. So what I learned being a lawyer is how to translate those skills into being a business woman.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
That’s awesome. I’m so excited to talk about all that you do cause everything I’ve seen looks really awesome. Thank you. Yeah, I’m excited. So, and I’m also excited because the reason I brought you on was that you had more of a winding journey through law school. And I know so many of us, when we go through law school or are approaching law school, we feel like, you know, we’re a non-traditional student and we feel like we’re the only one that feels imposter syndrome or just all of these things of should I drop out and you kind of cover it. So I want to talk to you about your larger journey. So, okay. What year did you first start law school?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, so a winding journey is the understatement of the century, but I started law school in the fall of oh eight.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Okay. And when did you first think you might want to be a lawyer?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh my gosh. Well, so here’s the deal is I grew up in a place where, you know, everybody had an opinion, right? You have a very strong like opinionated family. And of course I love to argue, I love theater. I love trauma. Right. And so you see lawyers on TV doing these trial shows and it’s like that, that looks fun. Right. And as I developed I did debate and forensics in high school. I was a college All-American in speech. And so everybody was like, you gotta be a lawyer, you gotta be a lawyer. You gotta be a lawyer. So I think it started when I was younger, but it was reinforced all through college. And what I really wanted to be was a vet. And then that translated into a doctor, but I was like, Ooh, what would be easier? The Elsa or the YMCA? I took the outset and ended up in law school. Right. Because I just kept hearing that stuff. And if I can convey that message to, of like the best thing that I ever did and we’ll get to this story is drop out of last school because it gave me time to discover who I was before I went back.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I think that’s really important because a lot of students go straight through, they don’t take a break to look around and see what else is out there. They think, well, I’m just going to be a secretary and a cubicle or something like that. And so I’m going to go be a lawyer and there’s so many options out there and knowing who you are, even if you go back to law school. Yeah. It can streamline it. It can make it more meaningful and make you more productive. So, okay. So how long did you stay in law school?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So round one, I call it law school, take one. And let’s go take to the law school, take one. I graduated from Kansas state university. I’m from the Midwest and then immediately went to law school at George Washington and DC. And so you have two things going on, right? You first have a student, like a lot of y’all are, that are listening, that you are, that is a type a right. And we do really, really, really well. And we’re not used to going into an environment that is highly competitive and everybody’s a good student because they wouldn’t be there. Right. If they were to get straight. And so that was the first slap in the face for me because when you’re, when you’re used to perform at a very high level and then you’re, you know, slapped down a bit that for a young person, a lot of us aren’t capable of dealing with that appropriately.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
So there was a lot of emotions and identity issues and things wrapped up in that, that I couldn’t unpack. The second thing is I’m going from, I graduated with 50 other people in my high school. Right. And then my college was pretty small around 23,000 total going from that to DC. Okay. So then that was a huge slap for me. So I was at George Washington for three semesters. I went a full year, then got this really prestigious fellowship at a large firm in Minneapolis. And I went, and that was when the economy tanked. So as a summer associate, I was getting paid more than some of the first or second year associates because they all had to take pay cuts. So it was like this ridiculous culture. I didn’t get a good job. I didn’t get hired afterwards. Came back, did one more semester at GW and decided not for me.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Wow. So did you, when did you first start to feel like this isn’t for me or maybe it’s not oh,
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Wow, absolutely. Yeah. Day 100%. I felt super out of place and I felt like, you know, I just felt like it wasn’t right. And I’m the type of person that that’ll power through stuff. Right. And I won’t, I used to be more, I wouldn’t listen to my body. I wouldn’t listen to my heart. I wouldn’t try to reconcile the mind heart connection and be openly vulnerable. And so I was just like, the only way is through let’s do it. I can do it. Right. I’ll show them who think, who doubts me. So yeah, from day one and it just was reinforced over and over and over again until I took some time off.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Wow. Okay. So was there something that specifically said, okay, this is it. I, this is what’s making me not go back.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I was just done. Like there was no enjoyment out of it. It was really highly stressful. I was going through some family issues and I was finally, I remember I had gone on this trip to see a friend in San Francisco who was also a summer associate in Minneapolis when I was there. And I had made friends with him and I was sitting on his porch in San Francisco. I remember calling my parents and being like, y’all I, I want to drop out of law school. Like, I’m done this, I’m done. I’m not mature enough for this. Right. And the, just the rage, just the like disappointment, just the, everything that you grow up thinking, like, if I make this one decision, that means I’m a failure for the rest of my life. Right. That’s the vibe that I was getting from my parents. And despite that, I was like, you know what? Like, this is not your life. I know you got me here. You helped me through college. You’ve been amazing parents, but this is not your life. And so after that is when I decided to to stop yeah. To, to stop, to take some time off and, and figure myself out.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah. That’s really hard because yeah. Most of us are type A’s and regardless if we got into law school, we’re not quitters, you know, we are overachievers. We are hard workers and yeah, just to walk away, doesn’t feel aligned, I think with our normal trend. But in some cases, staying also is not aligned with what we really want. So what did you do
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Out of a paper sack of food? So that was probably one of the most low moments in my life because I was struggling with like my identity and, and what I’m going to do. So I’ve always been like, I would make these when I was a kid, I would make these elaborate things. Like I had a Lego city in my basement and I would, you know, act out everything. And then I would be a teacher one day and teach all my stuffed animals, math, and then another day ambulance ad. And then another day I’m a pop singer. So like, I was always very creative in very entrepreneurial. Like I would, you know, be like, mom, want to hear my new song. It’s a dollar admission fee. Like, you know, so I got out and I started my own business, which was an epic failure at that time.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
But it’s one of those things that if you try something and then you fail once the hardest step is to try it again. But you know, so much from what you experienced. Like, so I think that helped me transition into all of the entrepreneurship that I do now, but started a business. I was a personal trainer and health coach and my undergrad degree is kinesiology totally into science. Totally. That I was going to be a doctor and did that for about a little under a year and then moved from DC to Dallas. And then at that point it was like, oh, I’ve got to get a real job. Do I go back to law school? What do I do?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah, that’s really hard. I don’t know how many listeners have ever tried to start their own business, but it is so hard, you know, with the advertising and the you know, set the sales, right. Your sales pitch and getting the clients in that door and actually keeping them with you and actually making them happy and dealing with them as well. It’s just, there’s just so many pieces and yeah. Do you have a studio? Are you doing it in the park? What are you doing? There’s so many different things. And of course we always have our own perceptions of like, oh, I must have a website. Okay, well, you don’t actually need one or you don’t, I must have a studio. Well, you don’t actually need one. Sometimes we drive ourselves into the ground with these businesses as well. So yeah, that’s a whole nother stressor, so
Speaker 2 (10:52):
For sure, but it fits my lifestyle. So a lot of people, if, if you’re thinking of ever going out into having your own firm or a solo practice or whatever, it may be they don’t teach you business in law school. So I had to figure that out for myself, my dream would be to teach an entrepreneurship block class at it at Alaska because I’ve done it. I’ve been there. I’ve built a practice. I have survived. COVID, I’ve tripled my revenue. Right. But that’s all self-taught stuff. Okay. So that’s it, the business world is crazy, but they don’t teach, teach that stuff. And in last school, but for my personality that likes something a little different every day, it fits, it absolutely fits. So that’s pretty fun. So once I got to Dallas, then I’m like, what am I going to do with my life?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Right. I suck at being a health coach. I have half, a lot of like, what, what can I do with my life? So what we often do is we take personality tests and it kept coming back. You should be a lawyer. You should be a lawyer. You should be a lawyer. Of course. Right. And the external validation, we all like, I just, I love that crazy. Yeah. I I got a full-time job as a legal secretary and went to night school, transferred my credits from GW to SMU law. And so I was going, I get up in the morning, super early workout drive to work, work a full day as a legal secretary and then go to night school. And it was awesome because it taught me discipline. So if you all are moms are thinking about a second career or something like that. Nice school, I would highly recommend because it is a population that is not as, as intense as, as your day students. It’s not their life. It’s not their world, their everything, doesn’t, you know, Matt, just this class. Right. it’s more collegial, it’s cooler classes, smaller classes. So if you’re on the fence about law school and you’re worried about the intensity night school is awesome. So that’s, that’s kinda how I got back into it.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
That’s great. So you were able to work, full-time go to school. Part-Time how many of your credits transferred? Was it a year and a half or just
Speaker 2 (13:22):
A year? Just a year.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah. I mean, that kind of makes sense. It’s not cool, but it makes sense. Yeah. okay, so you had to start your second year over now. How’d you feel this time?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
I felt like I fit in and part of that may have been geography. Like I’ve been a Texan for 10 years now, so it fits a little better with that Midwest vibe for me, but I felt better. And, and it wasn’t my everything. And I think just in general with people, whether it’s a relationship, a partner, a job, whatever, if we just put like our whole identity into something that’s problematic. And so, because I, you know, because I had a full-time job and other stuff, I couldn’t just be a law student. Right. And that taught me about labels. And there’s like, you know, you go around and you say, like, I am a law student, I am a lawyer. And my biggest advice is, or, you know, I’m an engineer. I’m a, whatever. My biggest advice is to reframe that when you’re talking to yourself in the mirror and, and be like, okay, I am not just a lawyer. I am a whatever. Right. Exceptional mom, I’m a fitness enthusiast. I you know, whatever that may be, because we get, we’re told, like, you know, to specialize and we’re told to do this one track and stay on your lane and not cause problems and be an expert in my advice is don’t necessarily do that. It’s more fun the other way.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I like what you said for sure. We need that other identity. And we forget it because I know a lot of lawyers who are leaving law have left during COVID and that kind of thing. And it’s hard. It’s a really hard thing. Even if you’re happy to leave, you’re like, oh, I was so happy to quit my job. I’m happy to now be an entrepreneur or now you know, just be a stay at home mom and not have to worry about juggling everything or whatever it is, but it’s such a big part of who we are. And of course, if we’re seeing in our heads as well, that I am a lawyer, there’s never that other conversation of what else you are. You know, I, you know, for me, like I’m a soccer player, you know, and, and I do archery and you all these things and it’s, but I don’t say that to myself.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Like as not, especially not as much as I say, I’m a lawyer. So and yeah, I took a few months gap from practicing and it was like, I was just a ship out at sea, you know, just a little bit lost, even though I was okay with it, it’s still was just, am I a lawyer? Am I not a lawyer because I’m not practicing this month. So it was a very weird feeling. So I think it would make it smoother for people who either want to leave someday or need to leave for a little while, or are looking into transitions down the road that as well as just for everybody else. But especially in those cases that you have that other identity firmly in your mind,
Speaker 2 (16:34):
A hundred percent. And the end, the things that you tell yourself in private are damaging and narrowing like that. But then think about it. Like you put yourself in a box, right? And every time you say that, what do you do? Or what do you, oh, I’m a, you know, blah, blah, blah, right. Then that reinforces that. And so the walls of your box becomes so thick that you feel like you can never lift that lid or break out of it because you’re going to be lost. You don’t know what other people are going to think you are, because you’re so attached that identity I’m really like growth. Even as a lawyer requires you to step out of that and take something from psychology, take something from, you know, whatever you’re interested in and utilize that to either better connect with your clients, or if you’re a trial attorney, like I am to, you know, connect with jurors, right?
Speaker 2 (17:32):
To negotiate, to set your business, practice up, to be sustainable, to engage with your employees, to not bring home your lawyer day to your partner, how to interact with your kids without cross examining that all of that stuff comes from things outside the law. And so I’m a huge proponent of many vacations, many retirements taking time off, not practicing for a little while, having other projects that might not work for everyone. But the deal is really, nobody cares that much. Like honestly, when you took your time off you, I mean, you’ve probably felt judged and lost. And, but did you get a lot of grief from like family and stuff?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I think I bypass that a little bit because of COVID, you know, because kids at home, it was a little chaotic, so it was like, yeah, cool. Go for it. You know, but it was still that, but what are you going to do? You know, what are you doing? What is that good enough? Is that enough? And it’s like, leave me alone.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Huh? Where they saying that? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah. So it’s just really, but it’s true. Like you said, it goes all the way through, right. It goes before we go to law school, there’s that influence? Aren’t you going to go to higher education where you mentioned it the one time, so you got to go now, you know, and if you take gap years, you might lose your motivation. You know, it’s just that constant little, and I’m not gonna say like overwhelming pressure, but like you said, lots of hits, lots of little pushes that make you kind of feel like, okay, I guess I gotta do this thing. And then you got to stay with this thing. Right. And it’s just, it makes it very difficult. And yeah. Luckily, like I said, because of COVID I had some separation, even though they were saying these things, it’s not like they were in my face every day because we were isolating and stuff like that. So it helped, but yeah, it’s, it’s I even had just a little like networking kind of over zoom with somebody and they’re like, oh, but you’re not practicing. Right. And actually I had started practicing again. I go, yes I am. But it was like that. Yeah. So, yeah. And it was like, why am I like that? Like, who cares? The answer could have been yes or no. And I shouldn’t even really care, but there is something in there that we do to ourselves. Yeah. It’s
Speaker 2 (20:04):
In your experience, like taking it for me, it was a refresher, right. It was just so refreshing and helped me figure out a little more on who I was. Again, I was still in my twenties. I’m 36 now I’ve discovered more, certainly not everything, but more but going so hard. So long, kind of how I see a lot of law students do, like you said, super intense high school superintendents college get into law school, go to a big firm or what it’s just, you’re stepping on the gas the whole time and you’re gonna burn out, burn out is real addiction issues are real divorces, real bad relationships with your kid is real. That those are the consequences of not taking your foot off the gas.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah. Yeah. We absolutely need it. And I will say, cause I don’t usually mention this, but you know, I spent 12 years in corporate and it was great, but it was very fast paced. And and I was high trials and all that kind of stuff. But I took a few breaks. I took a few leaves of absence because there were times where it was like, there’s just too much. I need a moment. And so I would take like three months and I did that two or three times over the years. I forget now, but you know it, but it was like, I need a moment and people need to do that more because they don’t do it. They don’t take care of themselves. So, yeah. Okay. So tell me now you finished, so you finished law school with the last two years, right? Yes. Okay. So what year did you graduate?
Speaker 2 (21:39):
I graduated in December of 2013 and then took the February bar and got a part in may of 2014.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
All right. So you’ve been practicing. What is that like seven years and a hash gotta have the half
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Again, why
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Don’t we do that? Love it. It’s just, it’s in there. It’s how we are. We can try and temper it down as much as possible. But, but yeah. Okay. So I know you still had a bit of a winding path. So what happened to you after graduation? What’d you do?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
So after graduation then I took the pat, well, I had taken the patent bar before. So the law firm I was working at was a patent law firm. And so I went from secretary to like paralegal type to technical writer, to full fledged, like patent agent patent attorney, and then decided, well, holy Molly, this is so boring. I can’t do it anymore. So super lucrative, really fun. And I think that’s an analysis everybody has to do because I encourage you to try all kinds of stuff. Right. You may think you want corporate or IP or family or whatever. Right. And you try it. And you’re like, Ooh, I don’t like this. So what you don’t like is just as important as finding out what you do. Like, so I took a moment pivoted and decided, you know what, I want to be in a courtroom. And remember, as a kid, I was so like dramatic and creative. And so court court, that’s where I want to be. So I then applied to be a prosecutor in Collin county which is a suburb of Dallas and a public defender in El Paso, Texas. I got both jobs. And so I was trying to pick. And so I picked El Paso zoomed off from Dallas to El Paso and started a life here. And I’ve been here for almost seven years.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Wow. Okay. So are you, sorry, this is a prosecutor one, right? This defender. Okay. Sorry. So the public defendant, are you still a public defender?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I am not. I did two years as a public defender, got a bunch of trial experience and then said, you know, out, we’re going to try to do this on my own. Came out worked kind of side by side with a wonderful mentor who did criminal defense work. And he is now a judge. So I inherited his practice along with my practice that I built. And so I do criminal defense work. I do record clearing tickets, things like that. And then, you know, I have some time for some side hustles, so that’s, that’s primarily what I do. I have a small practice. I, my only other attorney is my partner and then we have 12 in place. Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
All right. And I know you said you’ve been doing really well through COVID. You guys have survived and thrived, so that’s great. Any tips on something like that? If people are interested in starting their own practice?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Oh, absolutely. I, I could teach a course on this stuff because I have failed so many times and learned from it. But I think the biggest thing is that to empower people that they can do it. Like it’s not, it’s not as hard as you think. I leverage a lot of social media. I get a quarter of my clients from, and I do a lot of analytics, so I know, but I get a quarter of my clients from social media, a quarter of them from word of mouth referrals and 20% of them for repeats. I have a few frequent flyers. But yeah, to do it and you brought up a great point earlier is you don’t need all this formal stuff, right? You don’t need your own office. You can rent a co-work space or work out of, you know, somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
You don’t need all this staff from the beginning. You don’t need a fancy website. You don’t need, you don’t need all the bells and whistles. Get your feet wet, find some mentors that are willing to help you on the legal side. And please, please, please take some business courses or that online community college, whatever that is the biggest thing that I see we’re awares that are out in private practice. Struggle is they are such good technicians, but they’re terrible managers and they’re terrible entrepreneurial workers. And so you got to balance that out or find someone else that can do that for you.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
That’s really good advice. And it’s really sad, but law school doesn’t cover it, knowing that a lot of people do go into their own firm or go into their own small firm, like they could use against marketing skills and things like that. Some rainmaking skills, but they don’t teach us those things in law school. Why aren’t you teaching us rainmaking? I mean, that’s kind of part of the practice.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And that’s fun too, to me, I think that’s, I think the personal aspect, what we do as lawyers is fun. So yeah. And the creativity, you know, you think you’re just doing like, this is the law and it’s very dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, right. Or this is the contract that I’m looking at. And there are so many opportunities for you to be creative within what ever sector you’re in and a cool way to do that is be a solo practitioner, but small firms, like you said, need that stuff. Large firms need that stuff. Yeah. New ideas, fresh ways to do it in my biggest pet peeve with the legal industry in general is just so old school. Like I get so much shade in my community. Like old school attorneys are like, oh, are you giving information away for free? And this and that. And like all that stuff. And it’s just my talents. What you pay me money for is not information. What you pay me money for is to show up and fight. That’s what you paid me money for. Not for something that you can look up on Google.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah. It’s funny because I tell the pre-loss students that as well as there’s a lot of free information on like Instagram, for example. But that’s not, you know, it’s like playing checkers when we’re talking about $300,000 in debt, you need to be playing chess. So that’s what, yeah. That’s what a coach like me does with you is we are not playing checkers anymore. Instagram is your checkers. All right. Let’s play some chess. Well, when we’re looking at $300,000 out there, so yeah. It’s, and it’s the same thing. If you’re running your own firm, you need a coach. You need, like you said, some education with respect to the business because now yeah, you’re playing chess. This is a big deal. If you’re going to run a firm and have clients, you need to know how to do all the things. And there’s a lot of things that, yeah. In fact, most of the things we are not taught in law school. So I think all we’re taught to do is look like a lawyer present like a lawyer. So I know you said you also had a few other hiccups along your journey, your long, your legal journey as an attorney. Can you share some of those with us to
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Sure. So I am a recovering alcoholic and a lot of that is attributed to the stress and, and just law in general. I mean, that’s what we do, right? It is perpetuated in law from social networks. It’s just kind of like the lawyers, you know, we go to trial, we do well, we drank, we go to jail, we do poorly, we drink like partner, associate events. We drink it just, I mean, social lubricant, that kind of thing. So I, you know, I took that to the extreme and it finally caught up with me and I didn’t, you know, I didn’t get arrested. I didn’t get in trouble, none of that. But there was a rock bottom realization that I needed to get my together. And, and so I have been in recovery, I’ve been sober eight months. It’s been the best eight months of my life.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And my capacity to serve is much, much better. My clients, myself, my staff, everybody but it was a very, very dark time. And I think that was probably the most embarrassing thing is having to make a phone call to my family and tell them like, Hey, I’m, I’m in recovery. Like this is, this is a thing like you can’t drive. I can’t go anywhere where I can drink. I can’t be around people. I can’t be around most of the friends that I had, I can’t be around most of the places that I used to go. And luckily they were very, very supportive. I come from a family of alcoholics, so my mom’s not a drinker, but she, you know, her dad was an alcoholic. Her brother was an alcoholic. So I had the genetic component. But it was very hard because that’s what we’re conditioned to do. Right. We’re having these business meetings where we’re doing that kind of stuff and there’s always was involved,
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Oh, wait, it’s lunch, it’s dinner. It’s happy hour. It’s all over the place. And I mean, I, as a law clerk in law school, I was at a family firm. And I remember our Christmas party was just really like, you know, in the conference room, you know, they had it catered or whatever, but it was also alcohol, which, okay, yay. I’m in law school, let’s do it. Right. But then they sat around sharing DUI stories and I was like, this isn’t cool. I don’t want to be on the street with you people, you know, and they were laughing and it was just like, I don’t like this, you know? And it’s just, but it is, it’s very much a part of the culture that there’s just alcohol, everywhere. A lot of the Christmas parties are open bar. I mean, it’s just, you know, the dinners are paid for and there’s alcohol included. So it’s almost like, even if I wasn’t going to have a drink, well, why not? It’s free. So if I have a soda, so yeah. It’s it’s just around, I think so much easier and a lot more as a lawyer and almost, maybe it’s not expected, but it’s almost like, are you not going to have a drink? Okay. Like, I mean, it’s not,
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah. I think it’s effective because people are, it’s, it’s natural to be like, you know, okay. Right. Well, I’m not as bad as that guy. Right. So enablers abound for sure. Like, we don’t want to feel bad about our own drinking or whatever, bad habit. Right. So we bring others into that. And I was guilty of that too. And I feel so bad and I’ve had to make a lot of amends about that because I would consistently like talk people into troublesome things to kind of hide how much of a mess was. And that’s, I mean, that’s about as raw as you can get, because those are some, some bad mistakes, but I found, I found where I needed to be. And I’m there.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah. No, I just, I’m so excited by your story because really I think everything we go through in life, we just feel like I’m the only one. I’m the only one this way. I’m the only one that way. And there’s so many people around that can give us the support we need that can show us that we’re not the only ones. I mean, obviously no two stories are exactly the same, but there are people out there who’ve been through the same kind of problems that you’re having. Whether it’s, I’m not fitting into this law school or it’s just not jiving with what I want to do with my life or, okay. Well now I changed my mind again and I think it is gonna work out for my life. You know, there’s and then yes, the hardships of law in general, whether it’s deteriorating our internal health, right.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
We’re not eating right. We’re not exercising. Or we actually are putting additional chemicals in there, like smoking and drinking and all the different things that we can put in there. I, we do it all we do to it and to varying degrees. And it’s always good to hear, you know, you can still come out and be okay, but yet you’ve got this great practice and it sounds like it really meshes with your internal being that it’s all aligned and that you’ve got these side jobs. So what are the basic topics of your side hustle?
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Okay. Well, I am not a human mom, but I am a dog mom and I treat my dogs like they were kids. So I have a cage-free doggy daycare and a dog bakery. So yes, those are my side hustles. I started them out of my house and they’ve kind of grown and we’re looking at the commercial spaces after this, I’m gonna drop an offer on a commercial house, you know, to, to expand into. So that’s going to be fun. But those are my little creative endeavors and what you can do when you’re a solo practitioner or just lawyer in general, right. You have so many skills and so much knowledge. And so what I do at the end of every year, I look at all the things that I spend money on and I’m like, Hmm, how do I monetize this? Right. So for example, my house, right, well, that’s a huge expense.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Okay. I’ll turn my detached garage into an Airbnb and offset my mortgage. Right. Or Chu. I spent a lot of money on daycare for my dogs cause I’m a bougie dog mom, so, well, why don’t I start my own little business and then be able to expense it. So that’s kind of how I do those things. And there’s just so much opportunity to do so much fun, cool stuff when you’re an entrepreneur. And I will say, even though, like I had this Rocky kind of crazy last little story, the skills I learned law school are the foundation of my ability to do everything that I do now. And, and to me, you know, the trial advocacy, the mock trial moot court stuff, the ADR competitions, all the millions of speeches I gave in, in college, those are the things that are my foundation.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
And so find my biggest piece of, of probably closing advice is when you’re looking at law school, I’m gonna tell you this right now, the only time the law school matters is for that first job. But, and what’s so much more important is finding a place that meshes with your personality. So if I had gone maybe to university of Kansas or Nebraska or Texas originally, I may not have had this way in the story, but I went to a place based solely on prestige and what other people thought and I didn’t fit in. And I repelled. So go find a place that fits with your personality, that fits with your interests, that provides a learning environment that’s for you, because that is going to keep you in it. It’s going to teach you about the things that you like and you don’t like and present opportunities for you to discover your identity as a future lawyer. That that’s how you should select last schools. But that’s my unsolicited advice.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Well, I love that. I often talk about how rank is not everything and they need to look around a little more. So I love that.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah. Go visit, go audit, go do you know, but I was just like a naive coming straight out of college kid and didn’t do that.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Alexandria. I really appreciate your advice. You are just a wealth of information. And if, if students want to follow up with you, if they have questions on something specific or if they want to find out more about your like doggy daycare and all that stuff, are there places they can find you?
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Sure. Absolutely. So my foundational social media is Instagram. So I do lawyer talks and all kinds of things on Instagram. It’s my name, Alexandra, Sarah. So you’ll find me that way. And then from that, you can link to my other things. I’m happy to have anybody who is interested in speaking to me or doing like a group session or whatever of free advice where they can ask questions. I’m always open to that because learning from your experiences is great. But if you can learn from other people’s experience, that’s going to set you far ahead of everybody else,
Speaker 1 (38:13):
For sure. Thanks again.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
All right. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Okay. Before we get into my top takeaways, a quick word from our sponsor, Juno, if you need to take out student loans, check in with Juno. First, Juno can often offer law students one to 2% lower interest rates than the federal government and with no origination fees and oftentimes cash back as well. Visit advisor.legal learning center.com forward slash Juneau. For more information, my top takeaways from this chat with Alexandria. Number one, listen to your body and heart. Don’t just power through number two, know your environment, what works for you? What works with your body systems? Night school, a big town, a small town, number three, retain your outside identity. Don’t just become a lawyer. Don’t just become a law student, maintain those outside friendships. Number four, find mentors. And if you’re interested in entrepreneurship, then take business courses and number five law school only really matters for that first job. So go ahead and take that first job, even if it’s not your dream job necessarily. And then go find what works for you. All right, all the tips links and so forth will be in the show notes. A full transcript will be available@legallearningcenter.com forward slash Alexandria. And if you enjoyed the show, if you learn something today, please leave a review that just helps the show help more people. Thank you.
