We recently connected with Rho Thomas and have shared our conversation below.

Rho, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a customer success story with us?

One of my clients is a wife and mother and an associate at a small law firm. She and her husband were struggling with overspending. They often overdrafted their account, and they never seemed to be able to get ahead enough to save or pay down debt. She was stressed, and that stress was compounded by her desire to do more for their kids and the strain that their money troubles were putting on their marriage.

I worked with this couple for 6 months. I taught them how to plan their spending ahead of time and set money aside for their goals. I taught them how to be more mindful with their spending and how to think about the tradeoffs of the purchases they made. I helped them question the things they believed about money and start thinking about their money differently. At the end of the 6 months, they went from having no savings and their account dipping into the negative most months to saving almost $3,000 and paying off almost $7,000 of debt.

A lot of people assume that if you’re a lawyer, you don’t have money problems, but that’s not always the case. There are many lawyers who are struggling with student loans, credit cards, and other debt and don’t know how to manage the money they’re making.

The reason this couple’s story stands out so much to me is I remember the relief in the wife’s voice during our last call when we were talking about all they had accomplished to that point and what they were going to be able to do going forward if they stayed on the same trajectory. It was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Rho, 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?

Sure. My name is Rho Thomas, and I’m a lawyer turned financial coach. I help lawyers manage their money better and get out of debt.

My career as a financial coach started with my personal financial journey. Back in 2016, I was a practicing attorney and had just had my first child. My maternity leave was ending, and I was interested in returning to the firm on a reduced hours basis, meaning I would only be responsible for a percentage of the billable hour requirement for that same percentage of my salary.

My husband and I looked at our finances to determine whether we could make it work, and after adding everything up, we realized we had over $670,000 of debt (almost $500k of which was student loans) and a negative $342,000 net worth. That started us on a journey to learn how to manage our money better so we could get out of debt.

As I shared our progress on a blog I had at the time, other lawyers started asking me how we were doing it. I did one-off meetings and coffee chats to help them, and then in 2020, I officially started my business helping lawyers manage their money better. In the fall of 2021, I left the practice of law to go full-time in my coaching business.

In my practice, I teach lawyers how to change their money habits and think about money differently. My clients are able to achieve their financial goals without sacrificing their quality of life. I’ve been in the same shoes as my clients, so I don’t judge them or think it’s crazy that they make the kind of money they do but still have trouble managing it. I teach them the strategies that have worked for me and for dozens of other attorneys, and because we also work on their money mindset along the way, the changes they make stick. I’m proud that so many of my clients have changed the trajectory of their lives by doing the work to manage their money better.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I’ve had to unlearn being modest and not talking about what I’m doing. I think a lot of us are taught not to brag growing up. In business, you have to talk about what you’re doing and promote yourself, or no one will know. Self-promotion felt wrong to me at first because of the things I learned growing up. I was so afraid to put myself out there and talk about what I was doing. I learned pretty quickly that not promoting what you’re doing is a terrible strategy. When you’re first starting out, no one is paying attention at first, anyway. Put yourself out there. Talk about what you’re doing. Talk about what you’re achieving and the results your clients are getting. Business is not the place to be modest.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

LinkedIn has hands-down been the best source of new clients for me. I started on Instagram, and I still post there some, but my clients are hanging out on LinkedIn. Go to where your people are, not where you think you’re supposed to be because of what everyone else is doing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rhothomas.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamrhothomas

Image Credits
Rachel Stewart Photography