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Freedom with Harmony Smith · Lean Out Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the lean out podcast.
• 0:02
  I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:04
  Don baker.
• 0:05
  Are you looking for a new approach to authentic and sustainable work-life balance?
• 0:10
  You've come to the right place.
• 0:12
  Listen as i interview amazing women professionals who've taken steps to lean out and find balance on their own terms Hello?
• 0:22
  Hello.
• 0:22
  Thanks for being here.
• 0:24
  Today, I'm sharing my interview with harmony Smith.
• 0:28
  Harmony is a trial attorney and a mother of five who has been on a journey away from the debt of law school and the typical professional lifestyle toward one, a financial independence.
• 0:40
  She started blogging online at creating my kaleidoscope in 2015.
• 0:45
  She's currently working.
• 0:46
  Full-time in a remote role as an attorney, while leaning into homesteading and her love of crochet.
• 0:53
  She hopes to further refine her work-life balance to have more time for enjoying adventures with her family in the near future.
• 1:02
  Before we go on with the episode, I just wanted to remind you that this is December, 2023, and I am running a 20% off sale on all my coaching services.
• 1:14
  So if you have considered coaching or are feeling like right now is the time that you need help with your work-life balance and finding the unique blend that you need for a sustainable lifestyle.
• 1:27
  Then contact me through my website, look in the show notes and find the ways that you can send me a message.
• 1:36
  Uh, warning that the audio quality is a bit fuzzy on harmonies.
• 1:40
  And for some reason, during this conversation, and I did not notice this while we were recording.
• 1:45
  So I apologize for that.
• 1:47
  In this episode, we discuss Harmony's role as a lawyer and a breadwinner for her large family.
• 1:53
  And we go into the details of what it's like to live on a rural homestead.
• 1:57
  She discusses her pivot to remote attorney work and her laser focused vision of financial independence.
• 2:04
  I hope you enjoy our conversation.
• 2:08
  HS-Dawn: harmony Smith, welcome to the show.
• 2:11
  HS-Dawn: Can you introduce yourself please?
• 2:14
  HS-Harmony: Yes, thank you for having me.
• 2:17
  HS-Harmony: Name is Harmony Smith.
• 2:18
  HS-Harmony: I am a full time trial attorney and mom to five, but I also have a lot of creative endeavors, including my website, Creating My Kaleidoscope, and we are on a path to financial independence, hopefully, so I don't need to be a lawyer much longer.
• 2:39
  HS-Dawn: And tell me about your living situation as well.
• 2:44
  HS-Harmony: Sure.
• 2:44
  HS-Harmony: So our family recently moved to a homestead.
• 2:48
  HS-Harmony: It's a beautiful old Victorian house with 16 acres where we have a big old garden and chickens and ducks.
• 2:57
  HS-Harmony: I work remotely as an attorney and end up in court a little bit here and there, but most of the time I'm at home.
• 3:04
  HS-Harmony: And as long as I bill my hours for the day, I have a great deal of flexibility, which I'm extremely thankful for in, you know, getting the work done.
• 3:15
  HS-Harmony: This allows me to spend more time with my family and also dabble in my other endeavors.
• 3:24
  HS-Dawn: So you guys are further along in the homesteading journey than we are.
• 3:28
  HS-Dawn: We had to build on almost raw land and we haven't quite gotten animals yet.
• 3:33
  HS-Dawn: We really want to, but definitely that adds a lot of Work to your day to day life.
• 3:42
  HS-Dawn: So tell me the ages of your children.
• 3:46
  HS-Harmony: We have four boys ages 13 Eight and then six year old twins.
• 3:52
  HS-Harmony: They were the last ones they did us in.
• 3:54
  HS-Harmony: And then I have one girl who's 11 years old.
• 3:58
  HS-Dawn: OKay.
• 3:58
  HS-Dawn: And what is the schooling situation where you live?
• 4:02
  HS-Dawn: Do they go to public school?
• 4:04
  HS-Dawn: Are they homeschooled?
• 4:05
  HS-Dawn: How is that work?
• 4:07
  HS-Harmony: I wish I could homeschool them, but, they do go to public school.
• 4:11
  HS-Harmony: Funny thing about living out in the country is they all ride the bus together, which is really sweet.
• 4:16
  HS-Harmony: They all, you know, cross the road like little ducks in a row and get on the bus and go to school.
• 4:20
  HS-Harmony: But they do have, an elementary school and middle school and a high school in our district.
• 4:26
  HS-Dawn: Okay.
• 4:27
  HS-Dawn: And what kind of things does your husband do?
• 4:31
  HS-Dawn: Does he do anything for work or does he mainly work on the homestead or a blend of both?
• 4:37
  HS-Harmony: Here.
• 4:38
  HS-Harmony: does a lot of things.
• 4:39
  HS-Harmony: When we had the twins, he switched from working in construction to being a stay at home dad because it was supposed to be going from two in daycare to two in daycare.
• 4:50
  HS-Harmony: The twins, messed up those numbers and three in daycare is just completely unaffordable for most people, I think.
• 4:58
  HS-Harmony: So he switched to being a stay at home dad at that point.
• 5:01
  HS-Harmony: Once the twins went to kindergarten and everyone was going to school, he worked on our old home and fixed it up and it's now a rental property.
• 5:11
  HS-Harmony: He also does work on the homestead.
• 5:13
  HS-Harmony: He, is the main chicken wrangler, we'll say.
• 5:18
  HS-Harmony: He, they follow him and he takes care of them most of the time with some help from the kids.
• 5:24
  HS-Harmony: And I go help collect some eggs too here and there.
• 5:28
  HS-Harmony: So he helps in the garden.
• 5:29
  HS-Harmony: He also out with his dad with some things.
• 5:34
  HS-Harmony: His Uh, dad is getting up there in age, so he's helping with his dad too.
• 5:42
  HS-Dawn: And you mentioned this three in daycare.
• 5:45
  HS-Dawn: It's really just a sad commentary, in my opinion, that a family who has a high income earning professional can't afford to have three children in daycare and yet the expectation is that you work these crazy hours.
• 6:01
  HS-Dawn: And you and I have talked a little bit offline about how leaning out is something that is very central to your value system and the things that you care about and that you wanted to be always more than just a trial attorney and, pursue these other passions of yours.
• 6:20
  HS-Dawn: So, can you tell me a little bit about what incited you to take that journey and how that looked for you?
• 6:27
  HS-Harmony: Sure, my leaning out, and I just love that term because it perfectly describes what my priorities have been, is to lean away from that, career drive that I did not give me any type of fulfillment or purpose.
• 6:45
  HS-Harmony: It's been very gradual for me.
• 6:46
  HS-Harmony: I realized back when I returned from my first maternity leave, which would be 2010, that being attorney was not going to, you know, make me happy.
• 6:56
  HS-Harmony: I struggled with the time wasted commuting to sit in an office when so much of my work could easily have been done at home.
• 7:03
  HS-Harmony: And I was missing out on time with my kids.
• 7:06
  HS-Harmony: But we had a lot of debt back then.
• 7:08
  HS-Harmony: And I am the breadwinner of the family.
• 7:11
  HS-Harmony: So although I grew to really despise going into work and I started lots of little, you know, side hustles to try to fund my escape from being a, attorney forever, I didn't really feel like there would be any choice for me for a long time.
• 7:29
  HS-Harmony: The turning point I would say came after our twins were born.
• 7:33
  HS-Harmony: And then, my husband was staying home with the twins and their older brother and his earnings didn't cover the cost of the daycare, as we said, and I knew that my traditional law firm job was no longer sustainable.
• 7:48
  HS-Dawn: aNd for people who are not familiar, what kind of hours were you away from the home at that point?
• 7:57
  HS-Dawn: What was like your average weekly time that you were spending at work?
• 8:03
  HS-Harmony: It was a lot.
• 8:04
  HS-Harmony: So we lived, uh, a ways from the city where I was commuting into.
• 8:08
  HS-Harmony: The hour could take 45 minutes.
• 8:10
  HS-Harmony: It could take an hour if it was bad weather.
• 8:13
  HS-Harmony: And you were expected, to put in face time in the office.
• 8:17
  HS-Harmony: The partners would walk in and expect to see you in that chair in your office.
• 8:22
  HS-Harmony: Yeah, it was encouraged that leaning in, you want to be here first thing in the morning and make sure everyone sees you sitting in your office first thing in the morning.
• 8:28
  HS-Harmony: So, I was expected to be there probably by 8.
• 8:31
  HS-Harmony: 30.
• 8:32
  HS-Harmony: And then if I left before five, I swear I'd get looks and maybe it was just me feeling self conscious, but it's again with those expectations that you're supposed to be there.
• 8:42
  HS-Harmony: They get drilled into you stay until everyone is leaving until at least five o'clock.
• 8:47
  HS-Harmony: And if, I mean, if there was some type of trial as well, the partners didn't feel bad at all asking you to come in on the weekends and help prep.
• 8:55
  HS-Harmony: So it was definitely more than 40 hours that I would be gone.
• 8:59
  HS-Dawn: Yeah.
• 8:59
  HS-Dawn: There is definitely a very unique law firm culture.
• 9:03
  HS-Dawn: It seems like from what I've heard from other attorneys and my husband, even at the point when he was an intern at law firms clerking.
• 9:14
  HS-Dawn: For the summer, there was this expectation that you spend a lot of physical time at the firm to the point where they even had.
• 9:23
  HS-Dawn: Ways to entice you to try to try to stay like they had free dinners.
• 9:28
  HS-Dawn: They had free bar free Non alcoholic drinks as well like games and things that would try to make you stay there to work more and I remember him Calling it out really early on so at that time, I'm sure, in those early 2010s for you, there was such a pressure to put in that face time, like you said, and be there.
• 9:52
  HS-Dawn: And yet at the same time you had this family that was growing and growing.
• 9:57
  HS-Harmony: I remember during a trial where it was a few hours away from our home.
• 10:01
  HS-Harmony: So I had to stay overnight in a hotel and it was a full week and my daughter was very young and it was, it was horrible.
• 10:07
  HS-Harmony: And also my firm that I was with, they pushed marketing a lot.
• 10:14
  HS-Harmony: So even.
• 10:15
  HS-Harmony: In addition to the hours you're putting in in the office, they would have meetings that would try to teach you these methods to bring in more business to the firm, and we'd be expected to go out and they would tell us you should be having dinners with people and all of this extra stuff to help the firm because the firm should be more important than anything else, right?
• 10:37
  HS-Dawn: Yeah.
• 10:38
  HS-Dawn: So when you had this realization, you had your twins, your husband was completely overwhelmed and was like, this is unsustainable.
• 10:47
  HS-Dawn: What did you do at that point?
• 10:49
  HS-Dawn: What did, what was your decision making, process?
• 10:54
  HS-Harmony: I was desperate.
• 10:55
  HS-Harmony: I wanted to help my family, and I couldn't do it in my job.
• 11:00
  HS-Harmony: They, at that time, 2017, did not allow you to work from home at all.
• 11:05
  HS-Harmony: It was pre COVID, and they would not even give me that accommodation.
• 11:11
  HS-Harmony: So I said, I'm done.
• 11:12
  HS-Harmony: I've been with this firm eight years.
• 11:15
  HS-Harmony: I started out by reaching out to any, colleagues that I could trust and try to find out what other options were out there.
• 11:24
  HS-Harmony: Because at this point, I had been doing pretty much one type of law, lots of different cases, but just personal injury defense.
• 11:31
  HS-Harmony: And those types of positions require you to be in court.
• 11:36
  HS-Harmony: I searched and searched and searched.
• 11:38
  HS-Harmony: I talked to everyone and I was constantly on LinkedIn just reading every single job posting.
• 11:44
  HS-Harmony: And I'm so thankful I came across, my current firm.
• 11:47
  HS-Harmony: They had a posting for an appearance counsel.
• 11:50
  HS-Harmony: For about 20 hours a week because they had a lot of cases up where I was and they were sending their attorneys there And it was becoming, cost prohibitive to send attorneys up to handle these court appearances So I reached out to them and I said, I know you have this position for just 20 hours a week Would you be willing to take me on full time?
• 12:11
  HS-Harmony: And I am still so thankful that they were really revolutionary at that time and said, yes, we'll take you on as a full time associate in a remote position.
• 12:22
  HS-Harmony: And they set me up and I'm now a partner with this firm.
• 12:25
  HS-Dawn: It's a really good example of having the confidence to ask for something that's off the menu because you know that your current situation is unsustainable.
• 12:37
  HS-Dawn: It does not align with your values and that you are desperate to find something that does align.
• 12:42
  HS-Dawn: So asking, it's like, what do you have to lose to ask this company that had an advertisement that didn't have the exact.
• 12:49
  HS-Dawn: job description that you wanted and just be like, Hey, would you consider this?
• 12:53
  HS-Dawn: You have a lot of experience at that point.
• 12:55
  HS-Dawn: You had eight years of experience in a particular niche.
• 12:58
  HS-Dawn: And so it's not like you're, coming off of training or, don't have your bar or anything like that.
• 13:05
  HS-Dawn: It's like you have valuable assets to give to people.
• 13:09
  HS-Dawn: And so recognizing that and that confidence level, it's wonderful that you did that.
• 13:13
  HS-Dawn: I'm so glad it worked out.
• 13:16
  HS-Dawn: Now this is fast forward to 2023.
• 13:19
  HS-Dawn: You are still working with this firm.
• 13:21
  HS-Dawn: Tell me what your day to day life looks like being a remote attorney.
• 13:28
  HS-Harmony: Every day is a little different, but a typical day has me getting up and trying to help get the kids off to school.
• 13:36
  HS-Harmony: Then I'll take the dog for a walk because I, I always take the dog for a walk in the morning and get my mind set for the day.
• 13:43
  HS-Harmony: I'll usually have.
• 13:45
  HS-Harmony: You know, an appearance or two during the day that I'll sign on for, in the court, maybe a motion or just a status conference.
• 13:53
  HS-Harmony: And then the rest of the day is very flexible.
• 13:55
  HS-Harmony: I can do some work.
• 13:58
  HS-Harmony: I can take a break.
• 13:59
  HS-Harmony: I can go check and make sure the chickens haven't wandered off.
• 14:03
  HS-Harmony: I can go and pick some tomatoes from the garden.
• 14:06
  HS-Harmony: And then I usually take a break when the kids get home from the school and I'll go back on and finish my hours for the day, during the evening or at night.
• 14:16
  HS-Harmony: As long as I have my eight hours billed for the day.
• 14:20
  HS-Harmony: That's all that's required of me.
• 14:22
  HS-Dawn: Sounds like a very flexible situation, which is wonderful.
• 14:27
  HS-Dawn: Now you have five kids.
• 14:29
  HS-Dawn: You have a homestead.
• 14:31
  HS-Dawn: You have all these things that you're doing besides being a full time lawyer, albeit you have a flexible situation, but how do you organize your day to day life?
• 14:42
  HS-Dawn: Is there anything that keeps you in a time management mode?
• 14:47
  HS-Harmony: I rely on my written planner.
• 14:51
  HS-Harmony: A lot of people have different apps that they use for scheduling, but I have a written planner that I have everything.
• 14:57
  HS-Harmony: It has my work appearances, it has doctor's appointments, sports for the kids, clubs for the kids, teacher conferences.
• 15:06
  HS-Harmony: It's all there written down.
• 15:07
  HS-Harmony: My calendar is also used by the whole family.
• 15:09
  HS-Harmony: My husband will look at it to plan things to make sure, you know, we have free time for this and that.
• 15:14
  HS-Harmony: I actually developed, I actually made my own planner recently because I've been using.
• 15:21
  HS-Harmony: Planners that I just picked up over the years and I wanted it to be more because I do have it with me all the time and I use it on a daily basis, multiple times a day.
• 15:30
  HS-Harmony: So I made my own planner.
• 15:32
  HS-Harmony: It, has almost some bullet journal type capabilities as far as, you know writing down your priorities for the week.
• 15:40
  HS-Harmony: I also included special holidays, like chocolate cupcake day, because I like to add a little, I know I already have enough on my plate, but if I can include some special celebrations and make ordinary days a little more fun, I try to do that too.
• 15:55
  HS-Harmony: And just practical things like a time off planner, so I can keep tracking my days off from work.
• 16:02
  HS-Dawn: And is this something that people can buy?
• 16:05
  HS-Dawn: Where can they buy it?
• 16:07
  HS-Harmony: It is available for sale because since I put the time into making it, I wanted to make it available in case anyone else wants it.
• 16:13
  HS-Harmony: It's available on Amazon.
• 16:14
  HS-Harmony: It's called My Kaleidoscope Planner.
• 16:17
  HS-Dawn: Okay, awesome.
• 16:18
  HS-Dawn: Well, we'll make sure to put a link to that in the show notes.
• 16:22
  HS-Dawn: What has been the hardest part of this whole process for you?
• 16:27
  HS-Dawn: Because I know it's still a process and you're really looking forward to that.
• 16:33
  HS-Dawn: Time that you can fire and you can focus more on your homestead and some of the things that are not about being a lawyer.
• 16:41
  HS-Dawn: It sounds like you're in a good situation right now, but at the same time, it can always be better.
• 16:46
  HS-Dawn: And I know about that because I've been in a job situation or a work life balance where people are like, oh, yeah, that's so good.
• 16:52
  HS-Dawn: You're so lucky.
• 16:53
  HS-Dawn: Why would you even want to leave that?
• 16:55
  HS-Dawn: But tell me a little bit about what, what the hardest part of this whole process is for you.
• 17:00
  HS-Harmony: I totally get that because I do have a good situation and I am thankful for my situation But there are so many other things I want to be doing with my time I I love to crochet and I want to expand our homesteading and lots of other things I have Probably too many interests, but the hardest part for me has definitely been in staying patient.
• 17:23
  HS-Harmony: You know, we made a plan years ago to be smart about our journey, pay off all of the debt, which we did.
• 17:28
  HS-Harmony: We paid off our debt, which was huge, and reach a point where I could retire from practicing law.
• 17:34
  HS-Harmony: And the goal has always seemed so far away, trying to be practical, frugal, earn some extra money, pay off debts, And being a lawyer isn't very fun, especially, personal injury defense.
• 17:50
  HS-Harmony: I basically fight with people all day that I am anxious to get to the point where I can move on to things that actually provide more fulfillment to me.
• 18:00
  HS-Harmony: But, we're going to get there and we've made a lot of progress and we have the rental property, we have renters in there now, so that's going to be a source of income and I just.
• 18:09
  HS-Harmony: Just need to keep going and do this a little bit longer so that we can set ourselves up, so we won't have any financial concerns in the future.
• 18:18
  HS-Dawn: So how do you deal with the times when you're doing your job?
• 18:23
  HS-Dawn: Because you do do it for a substantial period of time during a weekday and you feel like this is not fun.
• 18:31
  HS-Dawn: What do you do internally to deal with Making something that maybe isn't super enjoyable to be something that is sustainable in the present time.
• 18:47
  HS-Harmony: It's not always easy.
• 18:49
  HS-Harmony: Sometimes you just need a break.
• 18:51
  HS-Harmony: I love our property that we live on and sometimes I just need to go for a walk outside and get some fresh air and clear my head If it's an especially stressful day with, other stress inducing attorneys, but I like to focus on the progress we've made because I remember a time when I was sitting in that office downtown, missing my family, feeling desperate, feeling like we're never going to pay off all this debt, I'm going to have to work As an attorney for the rest of my life, this is going to be horrible.
• 19:23
  HS-Harmony: I remember that and I go back to that and realize, hey, we have made so much progress and I am here.
• 19:31
  HS-Harmony: I have so much flexibility now and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
• 19:35
  HS-Harmony: We are getting there.
• 19:36
  HS-Harmony: We are going to get there and that gives me strength to get through the hard days.
• 19:42
  HS-Dawn: Those are very good points.
• 19:44
  HS-Dawn: Thank you so much for sharing that.
• 19:47
  HS-Dawn: And tell me about what the best part is of your work life balance right now, what you are really enjoying aside from your flexibility.
• 20:00
  HS-Harmony: The best part of leaning out has been to acknowledge to myself that it's okay if I don't want to be a lawyer forever.
• 20:09
  HS-Harmony: I can still be successful without having to satisfy external expectations of the definition of success.
• 20:17
  HS-Harmony: And in doing so, I'm allowing myself to lean into my passions instead of my professional career.
• 20:25
  HS-Harmony: I did three craft fairs with my crochet creations this year and had so much fun sharing them with other people and receiving compliments on my work and those sentiments made me smile more than honestly accolades in the courtroom ever could.
• 20:42
  HS-Dawn: I bet you it's a little easier the fact that you have a remote lawyer job to have this whole separate persona that is involving something very unlawyerly.
• 20:54
  HS-Dawn: Does anyone at your work know that you have these side passions and that you're really into crochet?
• 21:00
  HS-Dawn: And things like that.
• 21:03
  HS-Harmony: People know about The Crochet.
• 21:05
  HS-Harmony: I mean, my blog that I started as sort of an outlet for documenting our journey and laying out our plans, I created that back in 2015 when I was at that firm that was all about career expectations and everyone wants to be a partner and FaceTime, etc, etc.
• 21:25
  HS-Harmony: I guarded that secret so carefully.
• 21:28
  HS-Harmony: And very few people still know about creating my kaleidoscope.
• 21:33
  HS-Harmony: So they know I have these hobbies, we'll say, but they don't know the full extent of how much I've been scheming to escape from being a lawyer.
• 21:44
  HS-Dawn: Yeah.
• 21:44
  HS-Dawn: Okay.
• 21:45
  HS-Dawn: So you're able to loosen up a little bit as time goes on, but in the beginning it was pretty guarded.
• 21:51
  HS-Dawn: There's uh, person I interviewed on the podcast earlier, Amon Costigan.
• 21:56
  HS-Dawn: You can take a listen to that interview, and I'll link that also in these show notes.
• 22:02
  HS-Dawn: She is an attorney in Canada.
• 22:05
  HS-Dawn: And for years, Blogged anonymously with her husband and was fiercely guarding that and then just recently found a niche in offering wellness community for fellow attorneys.
• 22:21
  HS-Dawn: She does these yoga membership groups and then also leads.
• 22:27
  HS-Dawn: different workshops for lawyers in her community.
• 22:30
  HS-Dawn: And so she's now started to kind of come out, if you will, so it's a gradual process, like you said, and you have to be patient.
• 22:38
  HS-Harmony: That's amazing.
• 22:39
  HS-Harmony: That sounds great that she was able to sort of combine her career with her passions.
• 22:45
  HS-Dawn: Yeah, now tell me a little bit more in detail about navigating the financial part of this because you stayed at that firm where you weren't really aligned with their values for a little while because you had some crazy debt to pay off.
• 23:02
  HS-Dawn: So how did you accelerate that process and get to the point where you really could take the steps to lean out?
• 23:10
  HS-Harmony: Debt is so controlling.
• 23:12
  HS-Harmony: It really limits your options.
• 23:14
  HS-Harmony: And I remember at that time, that's all I could see was this giant hole that we were in that we could never get out of.
• 23:21
  HS-Harmony: But we made a plan and not just little budgets.
• 23:26
  HS-Harmony: We were very focused on it and we made it our mission.
• 23:31
  HS-Harmony: You know, we had credit cards, mortgages, student loans, and we cut.
• 23:36
  HS-Harmony: all unnecessary spending while increasing our earnings with little side hustles.
• 23:42
  HS-Harmony: I started with things like little survey sites online to earn some gift cards here and there.
• 23:46
  HS-Harmony: I remember I used to use them for diapers.
• 23:49
  HS-Harmony: I also did some writing for a while.
• 23:52
  HS-Harmony: I was writing blog posts for a personal finance website for extra money.
• 23:57
  HS-Harmony: And as far as unnecessary spending, I will say it wasn't a matter of just not buying lattes.
• 24:03
  HS-Harmony: I did not buy any new clothes for three years at all.
• 24:10
  HS-Harmony: If someone wants to escape from debt and they really feel that it's important to them, they need to make it a mission.
• 24:16
  HS-Harmony: And you can't do that with little changes.
• 24:19
  HS-Harmony: You have to figure out a way to tackle it with your full force.
• 24:24
  HS-Harmony: And that's what we did.
• 24:25
  HS-Harmony: And it worked.
• 24:26
  HS-Harmony: And now we own, actually two rental properties and our current home.
• 24:33
  HS-Harmony: And all of our debt is paid off except for some mortgages.
• 24:37
  HS-Dawn: And one of the homes that you now rent is the home that you were living in, is that correct?
• 24:43
  HS-Harmony: Actually, both of our rental properties are previous homes that we lived in.
• 24:47
  HS-Harmony: We kept our first house, and then we kept our second house, and now we're living in the third house, and the first two houses are rental properties.
• 24:54
  HS-Dawn: The beauty about a homestead too, which we haven't gotten to this point yet, is that if you have the infrastructure in place, we're working to get that now, you can actually have short term rentals on your property, especially if it's something where there is an attraction or a place People like to go that's nearby.
• 25:14
  HS-Dawn: So we have that in the works for later.
• 25:18
  HS-Dawn: Our property is fairly rugged.
• 25:20
  HS-Dawn: And so there are ways where you can actually have like a camping type short term rental, like a hip camp, but then also you could make something more luxury that is another tiny house or a small guest house where people could stay.
• 25:33
  HS-Dawn: And people actually love getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
• 25:38
  HS-Dawn: And so they want to see the animals and they want to interact with them.
• 25:41
  HS-Dawn: And then you can offer that as an activity.
• 25:44
  HS-Dawn: Have you guys thought about doing something like that in the future?
• 25:48
  HS-Harmony: It's definitely a possibility for us because a lot of our property is woods, so it's a little hard with the access back to the woods, the way the property is laid out, but I'd love to do something like that because I'm all about side hustles.
• 26:01
  HS-Harmony: Any way you can earn a little extra money to help with expenses is.
• 26:05
  HS-Harmony: It's great.
• 26:07
  HS-Harmony: Yeah, it's something I'd like to consider in the future.
• 26:09
  HS-Harmony: For right now, the homestead is really being used to keep our life frugal.
• 26:14
  HS-Harmony: We grew lots of vegetables, we're preserving food, and then obviously the chickens and the eggs.
• 26:19
  HS-Harmony: Funny story about, ducks, we're not a huge fan of the duck eggs, but we found a lady down the road who makes these homemade pies.
• 26:29
  HS-Harmony: We actually set up this regular barter system now where we're giving her duck eggs and she's giving us pies.
• 26:37
  HS-Dawn: Oh, that is awesome.
• 26:38
  HS-Dawn: That's the beauty of living in a small area, too, is that you actually meet your neighbors and the people around you in a more intimate way, I feel like.
• 26:49
  HS-Dawn: And you can exchange things and trade and stuff like that.
• 26:54
  HS-Dawn: So that's a great example.
• 26:56
  HS-Harmony: We fit in a lot better out here.
• 26:59
  HS-Dawn: Yeah.
• 27:00
  HS-Dawn: So do we.
• 27:03
  HS-Dawn: Is there anything that you know now that you wish you knew when you were straight out of law school with all that debt working at this firm on a treadmill of achievement that you were questioning and wondering, do I really want to be here?
• 27:19
  HS-Harmony: sure.
• 27:20
  HS-Harmony: Honestly, I sometimes wish I hadn't gone to law school.
• 27:24
  HS-Harmony: But even then, after law school, I wish I had known that the professional status job, it's not going to make you happy.
• 27:32
  HS-Harmony: I, it was that didn't make me happy.
• 27:34
  HS-Harmony: It made me miserable.
• 27:36
  HS-Harmony: And I would tell myself, don't worry so much about making people feel proud of you.
• 27:42
  HS-Harmony: Because that's what these status jobs fulfill a lot of the times.
• 27:46
  HS-Harmony: Instead, I would tell myself to focus on a simpler life, but really to embrace my creative nature and build something of your own.
• 27:57
  HS-Harmony: There are so many different opportunities now online and people even like social media influencers that are just following their passion and they're making a living doing it.
• 28:08
  HS-Harmony: And I wish I would have considered other options way back when.
• 28:13
  HS-Dawn: Any last advice, Harmony, before we close out this episode that you would give women who are either lawyers or other professionals and are feeling overwhelmed and burned out and just stuck on that treadmill of achievement?
• 28:28
  HS-Harmony: I would advise to make a plan and and chase the dreams like even if they don't seem realistic they can happen for you.
• 28:40
  HS-Harmony: You are not stuck I felt stuck for a long time, but I wasn't.
• 28:44
  HS-Harmony: I just needed to make a plan and consider the universe of other options out there.
• 28:51
  HS-Harmony: I'd start researching and evaluating and lean into the things that make you feel alive and fulfilled.
• 28:58
  HS-Harmony: Those things that you do that you could stay up all night doing and they just make you happy.
• 29:03
  HS-Harmony: Figure out.
• 29:04
  HS-Harmony: What will make you feel accomplished and happy?
• 29:07
  HS-Harmony: Not what other people expect of you.
• 29:10
  HS-Harmony: Not what will look good on a resume.
• 29:11
  HS-Harmony: Stop worrying so much about what others think.
• 29:16
  HS-Dawn: Mm, yeah, very good advice.
• 29:19
  HS-Dawn: Say the name of your website again for us.
• 29:24
  HS-Harmony: Sure, it's creating my kaleidoscope.
• 29:27
  HS-Harmony: It was sort of this idea that, like a kaleidoscope, all the pieces are moving around.
• 29:32
  HS-Harmony: So those are all the pieces of your life and they they're constantly moving and some are coming in and out of focus.
• 29:37
  HS-Harmony: But yeah, you can make it.
• 29:40
  HS-Harmony: beautiful pieces that you're looking at in your kaleidoscope of a life and that was what I was going for.
• 29:46
  HS-Dawn: I love that because I love the idea that everyone is unique everyone's interests.
• 29:53
  HS-Dawn: Everyone's values are unique and so it really fits with that as really a genius name.
• 30:00
  HS-Dawn: So thank you for sharing that and we'll make sure to link to that.
• 30:03
  HS-Dawn: Harmony, I really appreciate you coming on the podcast today.
• 30:06
  HS-Dawn: Thank you so much for sharing your story.
• 30:10
  HS-Harmony: It was a pleasure.
• 30:11
  HS-Harmony: Thank you for having me.
• 30:15
  I hope you found our little side discussion of the similarities and differences on our homesteads.
• 30:19
  Interesting.
• 30:21
  Do you want to hear more about what our life is like on 80 acres in the mountains or what it's like to live on a homestead?
• 30:28
  I'd be happy to do an episode about this in the future.
• 30:30
  Just send me an Instagram DM at practice balance, or fill out the contact form on my website, practice balance.com.
• 30:38
  And let me know your thoughts about this type of content.
• 30:42
  Here are my takeaways from talking with harmony.
• 30:46
  Number one.
• 30:47
  Half patients when navigating a big lean out journey.
• 30:51
  There's not necessarily going to be an immediate shift.
• 30:54
  So many things are at play besides just your job, your family, your identities in all sorts of areas, your time management, et cetera.
• 31:03
  Figure out ways to deal with the un-fun moments when they come.
• 31:08
  And that means knowing yourself, better, figure out a way that you can fit in some energy gains to your life on a daily basis.
• 31:17
  And remember why you're doing what you're doing make it a focused vision.
• 31:22
  Number two.
• 31:23
  Ask for, what's not on the menu.
• 31:25
  What I mean by this is if you're looking for a new work situation and, or you're trying to negotiate the one that you already have.
• 31:34
  Into something better.
• 31:35
  You can gracefully ask for an arrangement that is not in the original job description.
• 31:41
  And this takes a lot of confidence and vision.
• 31:44
  Now I am working on a course, all about confidence for you that will be ready and available in 2024.
• 31:52
  So look for that.
• 31:54
  But.
• 31:54
  As far as now goes.
• 31:56
  Remember that just because someone hasn't done it before you, that doesn't mean that it won't be accepted harmony did this and wound up with an attorney job with a greatly increased amount of flexibility, almost unheard of in the law profession.
• 32:13
  Number three.
• 32:15
  It's okay to not want what everyone else seems to want.
• 32:18
  And your chosen field, you are not crazy and you are not alone.
• 32:22
  If you decide that you aren't fulfilled with just being a fill in the blank, doctor lawyer, et cetera.
• 32:29
  Just because those around you seem to be fixated on the golden path that everyone takes.
• 32:35
  That doesn't mean it's for everyone.
• 32:37
  Get to know yourself and accept your own unique interests.
• 32:42
  My question to you today is what are you passionate about?
• 32:46
  This can be more abstract or something very specific.
• 32:51
  For instance, it might be something like, I am very passionate about.
• 32:56
  Teaching others how to be healthy.
• 32:58
  Or it could be something more specific.
• 33:00
  Like I am very passionate about crocheting and sharing my creations with other people.
• 33:08
  Think of that thing.
• 33:09
  And now ask yourself.
• 33:11
  Are you finding time to fit this thing into your current work-life balance?
• 33:16
  Thanks for listening to the lean out podcast.
• 33:19
  If you find these conversations inspiring and useful, please forward them to a friend and also leave a review on iTunes or Spotify so that other people can find them easier.
• 33:31
  If you want to get in touch with me, you can find me at my website, practice balanced.com, where you can subscribe to my newsletter and get updates regularly about new podcast episodes, blog posts, speaking, engagements, and coaching services.
• 33:48
  You can also support my work by buying my book, lean out a professional woman's guide to finding authentic work-life balance for yourself, a friend, family member, or coworker.
• 34:00
  Have a great day and we'll see you next time