We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Patty Beck a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Patty, appreciate you joining us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?
My first dollar of revenue came from an opportunity to design a four-week mindfulness workshop for lawyers in collaboration with the Arizona State University Center for Mindfulness, Compassion, and Resilience (“Center”). For context, I completed the ASU & Mayo Clinic Health and Well-being Certificate during the spring of 2021. During my course work, I introduced myself to the leadership at Center and exchanged several notes of gratitude and support for their work and how it was positively impacting my life. We kept in touch throughout the year, and in late 2021 they invited me to partner with them in creating what ultimately became the Foundations of Mindfulness for Lawyers workshop, which was offered for the first time in February 2022.
My experience generating revenue was a bit of an emotional roller coaster since revenue was dependent on attendance. After a week of advertising the workshop, I found out that only one lawyer had registered. Admittedly, I was devastated at hearing this news because in my mind, that meant that I had failed. I spent a few hours sulking and then thought about the content I would be teaching, which included a section on resilience. I used those teachings to start focusing on ways I had already succeeded, and then it dawned on me – a lawyer from Arizona, whom I had never met, signed up for my workshop! Someone was taking a chance on me! I decided that even if nobody else registered, I would deliver the absolute best program this lawyer had ever seen. Ultimately, another lawyer from New York (a professional acquaintance) registered, and I conducted the first workshop with two fantastic women lawyers.
A few weeks later, I received a check in the mail made out to A Balanced Practice, LLC. I can still remember holding this check in my hands, staring at my company’s name, and grinning as tears of joy streamed down my face. I held it out for my husband to see. He smiled, hugged me tight, and told me he was proud of me. Even thinking about this moment today still brings tears to my eyes knowing what I’ve gone through in my career to get to this point. To celebrate, I did something that I’ve never done before – I bought myself a necklace, which I wore during the photoshoot for my website and every presentation that I gave during my first year in business as a constant reminder of what I had achieved.
Patty, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Patty Beck, and I’m the President & Owner of A Balanced Practice, LLC, an attorney well-being consulting business where I teach lawyers, judges, and legal professionals practical strategies for incorporating well-being into their personal and professional lives. I offer programming focused on how “little things” like practicing mindfulness, self-compassion, and setting boundaries with clients and colleagues can help manage stress, promote career satisfaction, and enhance compliance with the ethics rules. I also offer wellness retreats focused on building relationships in the workplace. I recently became a Mindful Health & Wellness Coach, and I’m excited to launch my practice this fall where I’ll focus on helping lawyers develop concrete action plans to reach their goals related to health & wellness routines, navigating job transitions, and overall enjoyment in their careers.
My passion for well-being is fueled by my experience spending nearly three years as an associate in “Big Law” followed by nearly six years as a Claim Attorney for a legal malpractice insurance company. In these positions, I learned first-hand how challenging it is to be a lawyer and the mental health issues that many lawyers struggle with daily (myself included). This led to my desire to develop practical tips that lawyers can use each day so that they can better manage the stress often experienced in this profession.
My official start in the wellness space came in 2017 when I co-chaired the Well-Being Committee of the Minnesota State Bar Association for three years. During this time, I also began writing a wellness column for a national publication, Professional Liability Defense Quarterly, where I offered tips for how lawyers can incorporate well-being habits into daily routines to increase happiness in life and in the legal profession.
When the pandemic hit, it amplified the need for well-being support within the legal profession and reinforced my desire to be part of that conversation. In 2021, I decided I wanted my career to focus entirely on well-being, so I began taking a series of workshops and obtaining certifications to develop my expertise in the wellness space.
In January 2022, I left my job at the insurance company to form A Balanced Practice, LLC, and I have never looked back. While I expected my business to focus solely on helping lawyers, I have been fortunate in being afforded opportunities to work with other members of the profession including judges, court staff, law firm administrators, and so many others during the last year and a half.
What I am most grateful for is the perspective I’ve gained from my experiences within the legal profession (good and bad), and how the most difficult moments in my career have led me to discover my true passion in life.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
The main thing that has helped me develop a reputation as someone who is passionate about lawyer well-being is that I’ve made a genuine effort over the last several years to contribute to my legal community in a meaningful way. This began in 2017 when I volunteered to co-chair the Well-Being Committee of the Minnesota State Bar Association. As part of that opportunity, I started writing monthly well-being tips that members could apply on a daily basis to manage the stress often experienced in the profession. I posted them on my personal LinkedIn page to reach a broader audience and re-posted relevant articles written by other professionals that I thought would be helpful for lawyers to see. This is a practice I’ve continued to this day.
In 2018, I became involved with a national organization, Professional Liability Defense Federation, and asked the incoming president if I could write a wellness column for their quarterly magazine with tips for incorporating well-being practices into lawyers’ personal and professional lives. He said yes, and I’ve continued to write articles over the last five years. In addition to practical tips, my articles incorporate stories of my personal challenges (and those of other lawyers) with maintaining my mental health and well-being in the legal profession to let lawyers know that they are not alone in their struggles. There is still significant stigma in the legal profession around well-being and admitting when we need help, which has motivated me to be as transparent as possible about my experiences since I’ve come to learn that they are shared by many other lawyers.
In addition to writing articles, I began speaking openly in 2020 at conferences, during presentations, and in one-on-one conversations with lawyers about my struggles with anxiety and how therapy has helped me support my mental health. While this was terrifying to do at first, I have received incredible support from my peers for doing so.
Since lawyer well-being has been a genuine passion of mine for many years, I believe that passion in itself is what allowed me to become someone people think of in conversations about this topic.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Resilience is about getting up after we fall down, and my story of resilience is still being written as I type this. While I mentioned earlier that I was proud of myself for having two lawyers attend my February 2022 workshop through Center, what I didn’t mention is what happened the second time I offered this workshop in May 2022 – nobody registered. As hard as I tried to feel successful in that moment, all I felt was failure. The perfectionist in me was embarrassed that nobody registered. I hoped my attendance would steadily grow after my first workshop, and when it didn’t, I essentially shut down and shifted my focus elsewhere in my business to get as far away from that feeling as possible.
I told myself that maybe registration would improve in the future if I had more experience. So, rather than offering the workshop again later that summer or fall, I instead devoted my time to my education. I took workshops focused on mindfulness and self-compassion, read related books and articles, and continued developing my skills with daily practice. I had also become busy developing and offering other programming through my business, speaking at conferences, and creating new content for a variety of legal organizations and audiences that had approached me.
I periodically checked in with my contacts at Center to let them know that I was spending my time developing my skills and broadening my audience base through additional programming, all in the hopes of making my workshop more successful in the future. They were always incredibly supportive and sending well wishes for everything I was doing with my business.
Despite my best efforts, I still was not yet ready to face what I feared would be another failed attempt at offering my workshop. When I had a meeting with Center in the spring of 2023, I shared with them for the first time how much I was truly struggling. They responded with unwavering kindness and support, and told me that on the contrary, they viewed my workshop as a massive success for a variety of reasons. They said they believed in me and encouraged me to continue doing whatever I needed to do to believe in myself until I was ready to offer my workshop again. I was moved to tears in realizing how fortunate I am to work with such beautiful people.
I spent the next few months developing a new branch of my business hosting full-day wellness retreats for judges in Minnesota. After my second retreat was well-received, something shifted for me – I finally started believing in myself. I started genuinely believing that I have a unique skill set for this line of work, that my work matters, and that I am meant to do what I’m doing.
A few weeks ago, I started thinking about my workshop and decided that I want to try again. I reached out to my contacts at Center last week, and we have a meeting next week to discuss ideas for how to move forward with my workshop to reach a broader audience in the future.
As I said, this story of resilience is still being written. My two main takeaways so far are: 1) failure is all about perspective – what looks like failure from one angle can look like total success from another; and 2) you have to be willing to risk failure in order to have a chance at success. In moments when we try to protect ourselves by not trying at all, we’re robbing ourselves of the chance to make a difference in the world around us. Regardless of what happens with my workshop in the future, I am proud of myself in this moment for being willing to try again.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://abalancedpracticellc.com/
- Instagram: @abalancedpracticellc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patty-beck-8418a988/
Image Credits
Izzy Waite Design