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She Shoots, She Scores
SHE SHOOTS, SHE SCORES!
Linda Byars Swindling thought she had solved her work situation. After practicing law for a large Dallas firm and working as an independent contractor, she became a self-employed attorney with Withrow, Schraeder & Swindling in Carrollton, Texas. Their office was just blocks from Linda's house, giving her more time with her husband Gregg.
After 18 months in business, Linda had her son, Parker. Then things got tougher. She took seven weeks of maternity leave but had to take an extra three when Parker became sick. Six months later, Gregg left his banking career to follow Linda down the entrepreneurial path as a financial planner. Although Linda's business was growing, it wasn't strong enough to ease her money worries.
"The money wasn't coming in like I'd expected," says Linda, a member of Downtown Dallas Chapter. "I didn't have a business background, and I needed someone to tell me what I was doing wrong. Then I saw a program on business coaches and knew I'd found the answer."
Linda connected with business coach Elaine Weeman of Irving, Texas-based Partners in Management in January 1996. Elaine helped Linda pinpoint her strengths and weaknesses and take the broad view. Some of the things Linda learned: She wasn't properly tracking income and expenses, she wasn't effectively managing paper flow and her secretary wasn't fulfilling her duties. Together, Elaine and Linda mapped out a game plan to help Linda reach her goal of doubling her income within a year.
First, they set up a contact management system to track appointments and paperwork. Next, Linda wrote out monthly and weekly financial goals on poster board and hung them on her wall. "It was sort of my own United Way thermometer, where I could color in sections as I moved toward my goal," she says.
As for the secretary, Linda's solution was right under her nose. Her mother, a paralegal and bookkeeping whiz, had the attention to detail that Linda needed. So she brought her mom on board.
Next, Elaine helped Linda realize that while she didn't like litigation, she was good at mediation and enjoyed helping resolve conflict. Linda decided to focus on what she liked, and mediation was an easy way to make money.
Linda also discovered she enjoyed something besides law--public speaking. Through her ABWA activities and business affiliations, Linda began booking speaking gigs on legal topics of interest to women and business owners, which brought her additional income. She's become so popular, Linda now has her own local cable-access TV show, "Legalese," which explores legal issues.
As for her goal, Linda doubled her income by August, beating her deadline by nearly five months.
"I couldn't have done it without Elaine. She was my cheerleader who kept me focused," says Linda. "She taught me how not to abandon my core business that was making money, but also how to make money at something I loved. I'm still not quite where I want to be. But now I know how to think big picture."
Reprinted with Permission from Women In Business, March/April 1997, p. 43 - How I Did It
By Dawn J. Grubb Return |