How do you choose to invest in yourself?
Is it when you have the time and money?
Yeah, that’s the WRONG time.
It’s when you are struggling that you need to spend time and money on yourself.
Sound backwards? I know. But it’s not.
I explain it all in this podcast.
❤️ Love, Sari
In case you missed it, I mention this in the episode -
Register for my free LIVE training, 3 Powerful Strategies to Help Read a Juror's Mind at https://sariswears.com/live
“When things are not going well, that is the number one time to invest in yourself.”
sari de la motte
EPISODE 177 TRANSCRIPTION
Sari de la Motte:
When we surveyed our audience of plaintiff trial attorneys about the one superpower they'd love to have when going into the courtroom, do you know what they said? The ability to read minds. Well, you can imagine I have a lot to fucking say on this. So I created a free training all about it. I'm sharing three powerful strategies to help read a juror's mind and you can register to attend at sariswears.com/live. That's Sari, as in my name, S-A-R-I, swears.com/live. I would love to see all you trial attorneys out there in the audience at this training. It's never before seen content from me. So go sign up to learn next Wednesday at 12:00 PM Pacific, 3:00 PM Eastern.
Intro:
When you're up against a hostile room of people who don't want to be there, you need real strategies to get results. Welcome to From Hostage to Hero, the show that gives you practical advice you can use right now in the courtroom, boardroom, or classroom. Learn how to move your unwilling audience to one that is invested in what you're saying, eager to participate and engaged in the process. Learn from the attorney whisperer herself, your host, Sari de la Motte.
Sari de la Motte:
Welcome, welcome to another episode of From Hostage to Hero. Sari de la Motte here with you talking today about what's your investment strategy. Before we do that, I'm going to read another one of your... We're still the highest reviewed book at Trial Guides. Did you know that the ebook is now out? I've heard bad things about the ebook platform though. Please do let me know. I don't want to say go get the ebook if you are not loving the ebook, but we've got some reviews over there as well. But this is 119 just over at the regular book, and this one's from Adam M. five stars. He says, "The," Two thes, "most thought provoking and practical how-to book available, a must read and reread." Well, thank you Adam. I am so glad that you love the book. If you love the book, give us a review and please review the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
All right, so when I'm talking about what's your investment strategy, I'm not talking about how you invest your money, but we're going to talk about investing but not really that much because I have no idea what the fuck I'm talking about with money. But there's some things that I think apply to what I'm talking about today. So there's something that's been happening that I see all the time when it comes to investing in yourself. So whether that is buying one of my programs, whether that is going to a CLE or whatever, and we've done some surveys through this rebrand process of why people haven't joined the crew for example or whatnot and something continually comes up over and over and over again and it is, "Well, my firm isn't doing too well. I don't have enough cases right now," or whatever it may be. "I don't have the time."
It's always about time or money. When something is going on in your life, meaning a case didn't settle for a high enough amount or a trial got moved or you just had to hire a new associate, I mean, these are the excuses I hear all the time, or that something's just happened and you don't have the time. But I mostly want to talk about the money one. You tend to pull back on investing in yourself and on the surface it makes sense. So it's like, "Well I don't really have money right now so I can't spend money and that's why I'm not doing whatever this thing is that's going to help me." And I couldn't help but think how similar this is to when you actually have money in the stock market and things go badly if you're like my parents, and what do you want to do?
You immediately want to pull your money out. You're like, "Oh my God, we just lost 30 thou..." I think Kevin and I just lost 30,000 in the stock market and we're just mutual funds because we're riding it out. So every month we're just watching what's happening and it's like, "Oh wow, big dip." Where we're like, "That's how it goes." Sometimes it's down. Sometimes it's up. Hopefully by the time we need it, it will have gotten where it needs to go. But my parents and a lot of you, I'm seeing this as similar will do, "Well, we need to take the money out because I need to minimize my loss." Where most investment people will tell you, and again if you're at retirement age and all those things, there might be other... don't take this analogy farther than how I mean it. But what most investment people will tell you is you need to let it ride, that that is not the right thing to do.
Not to mention that when you lose money, it's because the stock has lost some value, but you can also buy things cheaper than what it was originally. And we don't tend to see that. Here is my very convoluted long way of getting to my point, which is when things are not going well, when life is not treating you kindly in terms of your finances, that is the number one time to invest in yourself. And yes, I mean money. I can tell you right now that every single bump in my salary or my net worth or how my success was always after a moment in my business or personal life where things were very bad and I decided to make a move. And it was almost always financially. So let me give you an example. When I was first starting, I knew that I could try to continue to do everything or I could focus on what I was doing best and hire my first assistant.
Now I didn't have enough money to even pay my rent when I first started. So how on earth could I pay money to have someone come work for me when I couldn't even pay the rent? But I knew, because this has been a pattern throughout my life and I'm telling you right now this same thing will be for you, is that investing in myself, because that was investing in myself, I was giving me time back that I needed to put in my business versus trying to do everything to save money. I knew investing in myself would get me out of that jam and that's exactly what it did. That's the first thing I did. Then I decided, well, I couldn't work from home. I needed a place where I could meet clients because I needed to see them face to face. So now I had to go find office space.
Again, I'd just taken on an employee, didn't have the money to pay rent, needed an office space. So what did I do? I went and I got an office space. Now here's again, where most of you go wrong, is when things are going the wrong direction in your mind, you see that as an opportunity to pull back, to stop the flow of money, to not invest because it's a bad time, because that's the excuse I hear all the time. And I'm telling you right now, and again it doesn't have to be with me, you don't have to give me the money. I'm telling you right now, that is the time to invest in yourself. Because here's what I want you to understand is that the number one way to have your own back is to believe in yourself, yes, but show up with some money to prove it.
See, I think underneath all of this, it's not just about I shouldn't be spending all the money, I should really reign in my finances, underneath all of it is I'm not worth it. When we're talking about worth, one of the best ways that you can show up for yourself is to have your own back, is to know that when you put out $10,000 on a coaching program or $50,000 on trial consulting, that is because you are worth it and that is the next job. I would like you to see that when you have these moments where things have run dry, that is a sign from the universe that it is time for you to take a big leap. I keep reading these articles about how people become millionaires when they're 30 and they'll be like, "I don't go out to coffee. I don't go to dinner. I bring my own lunch. I don't go on vacation. I don't buy fancy clothes. I live in a studio apartment," and I'm thinking, this sounds so fucking depressing.
Like, hell no. I have never lived like that. I totally have done what my dad said not to do and lived beyond my means many times, temporarily. See for me, I've always decided the kind of life that I wanted to have and then I decided I was going to have that life and then I figured out how to pay for it later. And here's the thing, I've always figured out how to pay for it. Why? Because I had my own back. I know my worth. If I want to buy something or if I want to move into a house that's at an income level that my income cannot support, I don't wait until I can afford it. I buy it and then I figure out what I need to do to afford it.
That's that trust that I was talking about in the last podcast. I trust that that is the thing, it's like a magnet that's going to pull me to it. And I see all y'all doing the opposite, and I'm talking about houses and things. I'm talking about investing in your growth as a trial consultant or trial attorney and being in a program, whether it's mine or somebody else's, that's going to give you the support to grow. The worst thing you can do is have a down time and not invest in yourself. That's ass backwards. I know it's ass backwards from what the world is telling you. That's when you should be saving. That's when you shouldn't be spending. I'm saying that is a sign that something has gone stale and you need to invest and have your own back because I know once you do that, that it will provide dividends.
Now, I'm going to talk about big leaps here. So two podcasts you can go back to and I should have looked them up before I started, but one is on money where I talk all about unblocking the flow of money. I think you'll really love that podcast. Just go search for it. Again, I should have looked for it. If I think about it, I'll put it in the show notes. And the other one is all about making a big leap. So let me talk about the big leap. In terms of investment strategy, going back to our theme, you can definitely invest a small amount over a long period of time. That's the conventional wisdom and that works. I think it's boring. I'm doing that too as part of my investment structure. But what I think actually makes the biggest leaps and bounds in your life is when you make a big ass risk.
A big ass risk. When you decide, like I did years ago, to only go all in on trial lawyers and nobody really even knew who I was in this business, that was not a sound financial decision, but it was exactly what needed to happen for me to have the success I have now. I know that there are some of you out there right now that have a burning desire to do something, but you're scared in investing in you because your saboteur is coming up and telling you all the reasons why this would be a terrible time, why you should be saving your money, why you shouldn't be spending this right now. And I'm telling you right now, it's those big ass moves. It's those moments where you risk everything in an investment that you get that biggest payoff, that takes you to the next level.
So what's your investment strategy? Are you willing to invest in you? Because I would invest in you. I don't even know you and I would invest in you because that is a winner, absolutely. There's no will this pay off or will this won't. When you decide to invest in yourself and your growth, that is going to pay off. I can guarantee you that right now. So I don't want anymore of your excuses about how now is not the right time. It is always the right time to invest in yourself. Again, it doesn't have to be my program. It is always the right time to invest in yourself. And it's even more important to invest in yourself if money is tight, because that is what will shake loose your money shit, is by spending some money. Go back to the money podcast. I'll explain why in there. But it is never a bad idea to invest in yourself. Kevin and I, whether it's a coaching retreat we want to go to or a program we want to buy that's educational, we never even think about it twice, even if it's thousands of dollars.
There's other things that we'll be like, "Okay, let's think through this. How does this fit in our strategy of purchasing?" But if it's something to better one or the other of us, coaching programs, coaching certification, it's an absolute yes and it has always paid off. Stop letting your saboteur tell you that you're not worth investing in or it's not the right time. There's whole other issues around whether you have the time for the programs that you're looking for. I think that's saboteur riddled too. If you want it and you know that it'd be good for you, do not let money be the thing that is going to stop you. Invest in yourself, have your own back. It's going to change your life. All right. Talk soon.
Now you may still be thinking, "I wish I could read the jury's mind." Well, surprise. I created a training for you all about that and I'm presenting it live next Wednesday. It's never before seen content. You can sign up at sariswears.com/live. Sari, as in my name, S-A-R-I, swears.com/live. Go do that now.
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