We recently connected with Lucrecia Johnson and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Lucrecia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear you experience with and lessons learned from recruiting and team building.
I’m ecstatic running my own firm! I know exactly what it is like to have a regular job, and returning to that is not on my to-do list any time soon.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have challenges as a firm owner, I do. The last time I had a challenge and thought about a job was almost two years ago. One of the hardest things about owning a business is finding and selecting the right staff. I always had this idea in my mind of the kind of boss I wanted to be. I want to be hands-off, trusting, fair, and overall treat staff the way I wanted to be treated as an employee.
About two years ago, I employed five people. Consistently, 3 to 4 of those people failed to perform, in major ways, on a daily basis. I tried everything, including pay to motivate. Yet, I still found myself in tears, working late and constantly correcting work I was paying to be done. Finally, one day, after an exhausting week, I found myself in my office, fighting back the tears, talking to some close friends on facetime. I thought I was the problem and that I should get a job even though my firm was financially thriving.
After talking it through and analyzing everything. I realized I did not need to change my vision, and I certainly didn’t need to get a job. I needed to change the people I had trying to help me execute it. I started over! I found the people who thrive in the environment that I wanted to create for my firm. I wanted people who didn’t need me to check in to ensure they were working. People who loved to learn so they would be problem solvers. And most importantly, people who understood the importance of our work.
This lesson was hard for me because in order to start over, I had to be the “bad guy”. I survived that feeling, and my former staff is in positions now that work for them. There was no negativity in us all finding what actually works for us.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
LPJ Legal counsels small business owners, start-ups, entrepreneurs, state/local government agencies, and nonprofits in DC, MD, VA, and GA. Additionally, we advise international clients regarding legal, real estate, and other transactional requirements associated with doing business in the United States. We pride ourselves on providing reliable and effective legal solutions to our clients’ problems while providing advice and education, as needed, so our clients have a working understanding of their legal issues and how to resolve them.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
The thing that helped me build my reputation within my market is creating a presence in my community prior to even owning a business. While employed with another firm, I was very active in community organizations and Bar Associations. Thus, when I opened my firm, I immediately had a large network of people that trusted me, wanted to see me succeed, and would make referrals.
To this day, my business is still largely referral based.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The thing I had to unlearn is more of a collective experience rather than one specific thing. I know people in my field that have great success by doing x, y, and z. I’ve tried to do those things, knowing or feeling it was not the best move for myself or for my business. It always failed to yield positive results for me.
If you know something doesn’t feel right for your business, no matter how many others seem to find success doing it, avoid it. You will find you’ve wasted time, resources, or revenue.
The goal is to find the sweet spot of not closing yourself off to great opportunities because it is outside of your comfort zone, yet knowing when something will not result in a net positive for your business. I’ve found that being able to name your ideal client or customer, knowing yourself, knowing your team and your market, is how you avoid this.
Contact Info:
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Image Credits
Dr. DextDee Livingstone