We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tai Barksdale a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Tai thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
To be successful, I believe it takes a willingness to do the things you may not want to do in the moment. Recently I began thinking from the perspective of “who do I want to be and how can I start showing up as her”. I’m the type of person who makes a million to-do lists to organize my life, so I wrote down all the habits of what a more successful version of myself would be doing right now whether small or big. Whether it’s waking up earlier, working on a project I’ve been thinking about, or going to the gym. I’m currently taking those habits and applying them to my life because if my future self would do them, why not now? These are things that will help me grow into the peak person I want to become.
Tai, 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?
I’m a recent graduate from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. I currently work at an immigration law firm in Atlanta, GA where we also do contractual work and business development. In these practice areas, my boss/mentor allows me to mix in my passion for entertainment law as well. I knew I wanted to go to law school since my undergraduate at Georgia State University. While at Georgia State, I majored in Journalism and minored in Spanish; I love writing and improving in a second language. During my sophomore year, I began interning at the law firm I currently work for. In my final year of law school, I was given a job offer at the very same law firm. I’ve come full circle back to the place where it all started. My goal in the future is to mix two seemingly different areas of law together – entertainment and immigration. Outside of the typical contract work, many foreign actors, artists, athletes and entertainers need visas when working in the U.S. and I want to be the Attorney they go to for all of it.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
The best way to keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty is to build a real connection with your clients. You need to let the client know that they are being taken care of and that their case matters. I get around 80-100 cases simultaneously but the client still gets attention as if they are my only case. Clients can feel your energy through phone calls and emails without ever meeting you in person, so having a positive attitude and good energy when communicating is key. A lot of clients who live in different states and countries have nothing but positive things to say because I take the time to let them know I understand their concerns when it comes to their cases. Building a relationship with clients makes them want to come back to you for future cases and even spread news of your business to others.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I built my social media following by being my authentic self. My parents always tell me to be myself and show up as the brand I want to be in life and that is what I do with my social media. When you post about what you do and people find it interesting, they’re going to keep up with what you do. Since I recently graduated from law school, most of my posts were about that, studying and working. Through that, I’ve had a lot of people ask me for law school advice and how I knew what areas I wanted practice in. I personally like to use my social media to get potential clients as well so if I don’t post about what I do, then how would anyone know? You never know what someone is saying to someone else about you. I’ve had a lot of potential clients come to me to set up consultations simply because they’ve seen my Instagram or because someone else told them about me after seeing my Instagram. Your social media can be a great tool when you utilize it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldiehontas
- Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/taibarksdale