The Lawyer's Escape Pod

In this episode, I dive into what I mean when I talk about heart-centered businesses and why I think they are the real key to your freedom and fulfillment. ~ Connect with Megan! Daydreams to Designs Private Podcast: https://bit.ly/daydreamstodesigns Schedule a Catalyst Call: https://megansmiley.com/schedule-a-call Website: https://www.megansmiley.com  

Marni Blank began her career as a lawyer, working both for the Federal and NYC government. Ultimately realizing law was not her passion, she decided to switch paths to real estate while co-founding Blank Studio NYC and Blank Farmhouse with her sister. Marni continues to evolve her career, pursuing her many interests. As a lifelong learner and explorer, she believes that one does not need to be box...

Sigalle Barness is a former lawyer who is now the Chief Storyteller at Lawline, the leading online education platform for lawyers. After her experience in practicing law did not go as she expected, Sigalle transitioned to working at Lawline where she’s built an incredible career. She rose to COO, but after a health scare, decided to take a step back. That was when she created this new role for her...

Emily Hirsekorn is a former lawyer turned career confidence coach. After a stint in higher education, she decided to pursue a certification in professional coaching with iPEC. Specifically, Emily now helps lawyers and other ambitious professionals navigate their careers, develop as conscious leaders, and integrate work and life for faster success and greater fulfillment. In this episode, we discus...

Seth Bradley is a former big law attorney who decided to follow his passion for real estate and create his own unique career path. He started his own firm, Bradley Law Limited, where he helps his clients with their real estate and asset protection needs. He has also become a real estate entrepreneur and an expert at creating passive income. Seth is also the host of the Passive Income Attorney Podc...

Morgan Thomas Hall is an Account Executive at Twilio Inc. Morgan practiced in both a firm and for the government before realizing that it wasn’t just a job problem, it was a career problem. She went back to the drawing board to explore her interests, and found herself drawn to tech, and then specifically to tech sales. In addition to her day job, Morgan now also helps people transition from other...

Marie Sotelo is a former lawyer turned freelance writer. After leaving the law, she leveraged her legal experience to become a go-to ghostwriter for entrepreneurs and chief executives in the law, compliance, and risk management space. She firmly believes that money is a means to an end—lifestyle freedom; and that you really CAN do anything with a law degree. She now helps other freelancers make sm...

Heather Eastwood is a public interest lawyer (with a brief detour into BigLaw) who found her long-term calling teaching public high school.  In today’s episode, we discuss: Heather came out of college feeling adrift without a clear path to follow She went to law school somewhat on a whim, because it was at least an extension of learning Heather ended up working for legal aid in Hawaii Her best pro...

Rachel Coll is a lawyer turned life coach. Although Rachel actually largely enjoyed practicing, she allowed herself to evolve and follow the threads that interested her. She ultimately felt called to get into coaching. It did require pushing through some discomfort and external judgment around the decision, but she has now built a successful full-time practice. In this episode we discuss: Rachel l...

David Johnson is a lawyer, writer and professor at Stanford Law School. He started his career working in house at tech companies, received a JSM in Law, Science, and Technology and now (among other things) teaches a course on design thinking as applied to negotiations at Stanford Law. Dave talks to us first about how he got into academia outside the tenure-track, and gives us some great tips aroun...

Today’s episode is the audio from the webinar I hosted last week, The 5-Step Lawyer’s Escape Plan. It walks you through the roadmap that will take you from stuck and uninspired to having clarity and a plan.   The 8-week Lawyer’s Escape Plan group program begins next week, so if you’re interested in joining us, sign up before doors close on Friday, June 18 at midnight EDT!   8-Week Group Program: h...

On Thursday, June 10th at 7:30pm EDT, I'll be hosting a free live webinar. A replay will also be available.   I'll be walking you through the 5-Step Lawyer's Escape framework that you can follow to go from stuck and uninspired to confident and planning your move.   Sign up for the free webinar here: https://pages.megansmiley.com/webinar-signup-page  

Risa Weaver-Enion is the founder and chief planner at Risa James Events, where she both plans weddings and offers product branding photography services. Risa went to law school thinking she’d get into entertainment law, but after her summer internship, quickly realized that there was a lot about actually working at a firm that she didn’t like. After some time in law and quasi-legal positions, a cr...

Eimear McCann is the Head of Strategy at Summize, a legal tech company in the UK. Eimear left law school vowing not to practice. But, after a stint of freelance writing, she came back to the law and worked in immigration and human rights. She loved the work, but when her organization lost funding, she decided it was time to move on. She was intrigued by the technology space - it’s innovation, crea...

In today's episode, I talk about how can take an overwhelming project (like eating an elephant or finding a new, fulfilling career) and break it into bite-sized, executable steps.  You can do hard things. It's just about getting started, strategizing, and taking one step after the other.   Get on the VIP Waitlist for The Lawyer’s Escape Plan program: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/609057c10c791e4e...

Jen Berson left civil litigation after she “saw the light”, decided to pursue more creative endeavors, and founded her own business. She is now the President & Founder of Jeneration PR and the creator of the Agency Accelerator, where she teaches entrepreneurs how to launch, grow & scale a profitable PR & marketing agency. Jen talks about listening to and following her inner voice to a career she f...

I'm letting you in on the top 2 mistakes I see people make when trying to change careers. First, they start by asking what job they think they can get, rather than asking what they want. Second, they don't prioritize themselves and the process of figuring out the next best career step.    Get on the VIP Waitlist for The Lawyer’s Escape Plan program: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/609057c10c791e4ec...

Robert Ingalls is a former litigator turned founder of Lawpods, a podcast production company for lawyers. Robert tells us how he tried a variety of practice areas before realizing that law just wasn’t the right fit for him. While he still had a full-time job, Robert experimented with a number of business ideas and followed the path of his interests. That ultimately led Robert to starting the compa...

You know those people who seem to just always have things work out? From career to relationships? They're just "lucky."  Turns out it's not magic. There are some habits these people have that put them in the path of luck more frequently: Putting themselves out there Listening to their gut Having a positive attitude and believing that good things are coming Resilience Get on the VIP Waitlist for Th...

Rob Bertman is a senior consultant at Student Loan Planner, and a CFA and CFP. Rob talks to us about how it’s possible to manage your student loans around your life, rather than have them dictate what your options are. We get into how it’s even possible to have a runway for starting your own business while carrying loans. If there’s one message I hope people get from this is that you aren’t as tra...

Lisa Rosen is the Chief Operating Officer at SustainCERT. After starting her career in litigation, Lisa followed her interest in environmental issues to an in-house legal position at a non-profit and ultimately transitioned into an operations role there. Lisa’s story shows how your legal experience is seen as valuable for a non-legal position and that by taking that first step, you put yourself on...

Francesca Chang is a lawyer turned marketing professional, tech recruiter, published travel writer, and now life coach for lawyers. Francesca tells us about leaving practice to explore various other career opportunities. It’s a great example of what can evolve when you don’t tie yourself to a preconceived notion of what your career might look like. In this episode, we discuss:  Francesca went to l...

Are you living your life by design or by default? As crazy as the world is right now, it's a great opportunity to move forward more purposefully.

Dr. Aisha is a former practicing physician turned coach specializing in helping high achievers create change in their lives. Her core message is that in order to make meaningful change in our lives, we need to slow down long enough to get off autopilot and connect to our real thoughts and desires. The world can be very loud and distracting and often confuses us with respect to finding our happiest...

Rho Thomas is a trademark lawyer at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, a financial coach for lawyers, and the mom of two young boys. Rho tells us how she has a vision for her life that includes working as a lawyer, pursuing her side business, and being a present mom. Part of that journey has been creating more financial freedom by tackling the substantial school debt she and her husband accrued i...