Latest / Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast, Helping you create a profitable, sustainable law firm you love / 228: BEST OF 2023 | Dominika Fasolo | How to Improve Productivity

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228: BEST OF 2023 | Dominika Fasolo | How to Improve Productivity · Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast, Helping you create a profitable, sustainable law firm you love

• 0:00
  Intro: Happy holidays. We hope you have scheduled some time this month with your friends and family to rest, relax, and be together. Devina is taking a brief hiatus from recording new episodes of the Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast. We hope you enjoy our best of 2023 lineup of the most popular episodes of 2023, and we'll be back in January with more episodes of the number one podcast for women in law in The US. Welcome to the Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast.
• 0:27
  What if you could hang out with successful women lawyers, ask them about growing their firms, managing resources like time, team, and systems, mastering money issues, and more? Then take an insight or two to help you build a wealth generating law firm. Each week, your host, Devina Frederick, takes an in-depth look at how to think like a CEO, attract clients who you love to serve and will pay you on time, and create a profitable, sustainable firm you love. Devina is founder and CEO of Wealthy Woman Lawyer, and her goal is to give you the information you need to scale your law firm business from 6 to 7 figures in gross annual revenue so you can fully fund and still have time to enjoy the lifestyle of your dreams. Now here's Davina.
• 1:15
  Davina: Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Wealthy Woman Lawyer Podcast. I'm your host, Davina Frederick, and I'm here today with Dominika Fasolo, who is a former lawyer turned productivity coach. And I'm super excited to have her here today because now she helps other women, high achieving women, business owners improve their productivity and really get real with themselves about how they're spending their time. And so we're going to get some good insight and tips from her today. If you've been struggling with managing your time, you think time management is a big issue for you.
• 1:51
  You're going to want to tune in this episode because Dominika is going to set us straight. She's going to help us. So welcome. I'm so happy you're here.
• 1:59
  Dominika: Thank you so much, Davina. I'm so excited to be here. It's a pleasure.
• 2:02
  Davina: Good, good, good. So tell us now, when did you enter the law? Did you work for yourself? Were you working for somebody else? How long were you a lawyer?
• 2:10
  Tell us a little bit about your life as a lawyer.
• 2:12
  Dominika: Absolutely. So I've actually always wanted to be a lawyer. I remember the first assignment we had in self and when the other kids wanted to be princesses and dragons and firefighters, I was drawing myself in a suite or corner office being a lawyer solving cases. I was, heavily inspired by, I think, Ellie McVeal. So when other kids were struggling through high school thinking, being confused about what they want to do, I was studying and working very hard to get to law school and then work through the university.
• 2:43
  Already at the university, I was training with TopTerror Law Firm in Slovakia, where I'm originally from. So I was really on the right track to be, you know, hotshot lawyer. And at the university, I think the first doubt started to creep in. I started to really question when I saw a huge law firm how it functions, whether this is actually really right for me because it was not as glamorous as on TV and it was not as noble as it was at a university. And my parents were always entrepreneurs.
• 3:11
  So in my mind, being a lawyer was having my own practice. But I started to question, am I actually going to last that long in this environment for me to build the experience, the brand, the confidence to launch my own practice? And then if I actually do launch my own practice, am I going to like this? Is this what I really want? I saw the partners working long hours.
• 3:32
  I saw how they didn't have personal life. I saw the toxic environment between us. And I started to feel like I am more than just the hours I bill, I am more than just the clients I have, I'm more than just the cases or the contracts I'm working on. So I started to really question what I really wanna do. So after university, to a huge surprise of my entire family and everybody who knew me, very dedicated future lawyer, I decided to take another Master in Internet Law and Policy because I was very interested in technology.
• 4:01
  My dad had IT firms, I was always kind of helping him with his contracts, with his season season licenses. So I really saw an opportunity in that niche and I really niched down on intellectual property intersection with technology, privacy, digital platforms. And I felt like I will have a very good competitive advantage to older lawyers who were not really understanding that landscape. And that was the best choice I did because it really opened up a lot of opportunities. And all of a sudden, I wasn't really limited to the Slovak law firm, the old school way of doing law.
• 4:33
  I was working in Asia for Asian law firm in Bangkok. I was working for the European Commission, which is the government of the EU. And then I was working through for various, very digital oriented, very progressed in Europe. So my career started to pick up and I started to really like it again. I really was determined to achieve and to grow my career.
• 4:54
  And that's the point where I got to work for the biggest telecommunication operator in Europe. I was working for their digital decision and I completely loved it. And that was the time I got an opportunity to work for one very ambitious tech startup. And I would say that was the beginning of the end of their career for me.
• 5:14
  Davina: So it was the beginning of the end. How long did you practice from start to finish? Do you think
• 5:19
  Dominika: this was over a decade?
• 5:21
  Davina: You're in this for a while. You're trying to make this work. You were trying to find the areas of practice you can be excited about. And then here you went with the startup. So what happened?
• 5:29
  Did the startup grind to a halt?
• 5:32
  Dominika: It was very ambitious tech startup that I've joined, it was the best place to work at the best place I've ever worked in what we were a team of 50. The legal team was just three people. We were dealing with majority of the legal issues in house. We were in very close proximity to the co founders, so we also learned a lot about the business. The culture was just amazing.
• 5:52
  We were all very young people. I think I was the oldest and I was around 30. So it was just very, very young environment, very high paced environment, but I didn't mind. I didn't have family. I didn't have anything else to do, just work basically.
• 6:04
  We had, like I said, fantastic culture. But what happened is that with this amazing culture, with that ambition, with that drive, that startup really took off. And it turned in the span of maybe a year since I joined the it was around the year, into a unicorn, $1,000,000,000 company. We got public listed in Nasdaq, and we were $1,000,000,000 company, and the game changed. The problem was that while financially, the company was doing so well, it did not grow operationally.
• 6:31
  I think the legal team was really the bumper for that because the processes were not in place. The operations were not in place. We were expanding in terms of territory, in terms of customer base, but we just didn't have resources and processes to really cater for it legally, and we were dealing also with compliance. And this was 2017 when also, I don't know if you're aware of the compliance landscape in the EU, but it was when the AML directive kicked in, when the GDPR preparation started for 2018. So there was just so much to do.
• 7:01
  And I remember we were running around four or five acquisitions in parallel, and most of the due diligence was done in house. So I remember every Friday evening, the COO, who we were reporting to, would enter our office and he was like, clear your schedule for the weekend. This is a big project, very excited to help because we were really thinking we are building something. And this was about one or two years. But towards the end of that process, when we came from 50 to five fifty employees, from one company to 27 companies, a huge group, public listed investors, shareholders, a lot of changes, I started to be more and more burnout.
• 7:38
  At that point, my life was just work, really. It was just work. I woke up in the morning often crying and then spat back to my bed where I was crying myself to sleep. Then my family and parents told me that it would take me three months to reply to a WhatsApp message. I was not having any social life.
• 7:55
  My husband was really worried about me. Obviously, we had a lot of fights because of this because that's not how he envisaged our relationship to go. But it was like an addiction. I was in this whole black hole I couldn't get out of, but I was aware and I was trying different things. I was hiring coaches, therapy, courses, I was reading books, but nothing was really helping.
• 8:15
  And it really felt like just black and white. So either you are more productive, so you have the productivity tools, you have more focus, more discipline, know, the hassle culture angle. And the other side was the also toxic self care angle. Get a manicure, just throw your computer out a window, just take a break. I have never ending to do list, there's like a conveyor belt.
• 8:36
  The worst thing you can do is just close your computer and run away because it's like a snowball, right? So I felt like I don't want to choose between career and personal life, I want to integrate them. I was looking for work life balance, work life balance. It was like this obsession that I had, and I wasn't really able to find solution.
• 8:52
  Davina: I want to ask you before we get too far from it. I think it's something very interesting that you said that also this other toxic self care culture. I love that you mentioned that and then you put it that way. I think that there's so much, you know, all the social media people throw up self care, self care, and they'll say they're doing something for themselves and they'll call it self care. But the kinds of things that people are doing for self care aren't really self care.
• 9:20
  They're really, if you're talking about, you know, I'm shopping self care or I'm getting a manicure self care and just any number of things that they say they're doing accomplishments or achievements, having photos taken of themselves, self care. And I think there is a toxicity around that sort of concept. And there's this idea. And there's also this sort of ideal perfection around work life balance, you know, like everything's going to be in balance at all times. So I think it's interesting that you mentioned that because true self care is therapy.
• 9:52
  It's taking lots of time for yourself. I mean, there's a whole lot of things that are self care where you're really getting the mental space to be who you truly are authentically without always being, you know, this hamster on a wheel kind of thing. So I'm glad that you brought up that sort of dichotomy because I think a lot of people don't really think of it that way. So you, at that point, then you'd been working for this company, you're going, going, going, what was your breaking point where you said, I cannot do this anymore?
• 10:18
  Dominika: Yeah, I remember very vividly. I think there were so many red flags and I think the first breaking point was maybe a year prior to actual breaking point. But as I said, I was trying to find the solution. The result of these two, this dichotomy between hustle culture and the toxic self care culture, the band aid really, the instant gratification and that social media hype instead of really finding, like you said, the solution for therapy, through help, through prioritizing yourself and for the long run. And we can then maybe expand on it later.
• 10:48
  But for the purpose of this, I was getting more and more burnout. There was a lot of tension between me and the management of the company because they were obviously not happy about me being constantly cranky and hysterical and they felt like I was drama queen and I wasn't really able to articulate, Guys, I need help. Like I'm really having the workload is impossible and I'm growing my team. I have 25 people under me. It's just impossible for one person to juggle all of that.
• 11:10
  And then there was a tension between me and my team because they saw me as not being a good leader, always stressed, being perfectionist, always having high standard, never giving them break because that's how I was treating myself and I treat my team the same way. So it was a very difficult period of time and in that moment I became pregnant. And I was having quite a difficult pregnancy with a lot of morning sicknesses but that didn't stop me from working. I don't want to go into like too much visual but I was literally throwing up between the meetings or during the meetings running to the toilet coming back. It was like the pregnancy wasn't really a red flag or wasn't stopping me until one point.
• 11:47
  Think it was very heavily pregnant that time. I think it was around eight months pregnant. And I remember fighting myself crying on the bathroom floor at 1AM in the night working by myself. This was October, so my daughter was born in December. I remember the gusty wind and the rain and the little lights in the office blinking.
• 12:06
  And that's when I'm like, what are you doing here, Dominika? Which purpose is this serving? You're harming yourself for so long. You're harming your relationship and now also your unborn daughter. And that was the moment I realized that things will have to change.
• 12:20
  And it was a process. It wasn't as if next day I would walk in the office and hand my notice, but that was the moment when I decided that it's time for me to prioritize myself. And it's time for me to stand up for myself and get the confidence to set the boundary. So from that moment on, I started to treat my work differently. I went for the maternity leave a little bit earlier.
• 12:42
  In Europe, we had longer maternity than in The US, so I took six months off, I think, with my holidays and some unpaid leave as well that I was entitled to. And really the whole maternity leave was a healing process. That was the transformation for me.
• 12:57
  Davina: Wow. Wow. I can't even imagine being eight months pregnant and you're sitting on a floor working at work while this is and you just say, can't do this anymore. So what kinds of things did you do over your maternity leave that became kind of a healing process for you other than not work? I'm assuming you didn't work, right?
• 13:19
  You were busy working as a mom, working, taking care of the baby and all of that. What kind of work did you do internally to sort of help yourself heal from that experience?
• 13:28
  Dominika: The most important part of this was really being distant from work and creating some space between me and work. I think when you shift your perspective, even by time or location or place or things that you do, you really start to see things differently. And it was I started to wake up from this nightmare. The two years prior were like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. And when I was walking with my daughter sleeping in her pram in the morning, let's say on Monday, I remember thinking to myself, there's a daylight and there are people around.
• 13:59
  What are they doing? Why aren't they at work? I was shocked because I haven't seen daylight for so long. I was in the office all the time. So for me, really only just by being with myself and by myself outside on a fresh air and seeing daylight has been such a healing process.
• 14:15
  I know, and this is not sort of discounting anything that new moms need to go through because the newborn phase is very difficult and very challenging. But if I'm honest, it has been the most relaxing and peaceful period I've had in years. And this is with a newborn, with moving to a new house and not having any help. Still, I was getting more sleep. I was finally cooking home, homemade meals.
• 14:38
  I was walking. And for me, the biggest healing process occurred during those walks with my daughter. Would put her in a prom and we will walk two hours by the sea. We were living in Malta, which is an island and the fresh air, the sun was really therapeutic. And what also, and this is very funny, I would listen to the cheesiest YouTube motivational videos that you know those compilation of speeches that you just listen every once in a while when you're really down and want to have the instant boost of motivation.
• 15:04
  I was listening to those and I remember what really helped me was shift of the perspective, not just by time and location, being distant from work, but also started to understand that I can prioritize myself. For me, all the problems with my workaholism, with my burnout were really connected to my confidence in myself and the ability to set the boundary for myself. And the ability to see my value and my worth and being able to articulate that and being able to really decide what is the right for me or not. Because before I let everybody else dictate that, I let my boss dictate it, I let the CEO dictate it, and all those deadlines were set by them. And my work and my whole life was basically depend on how they decided that it will look like.
• 15:47
  And for the first time in my life, I was really in charge and I really took back the control. So I think it was not just one thing, obviously, that contributed to the healing. It was the time that I had for myself. It was the therapy of just being outside and seeing totally different areas of life that I was neglecting for so long. And it was also building the confidence through understanding that I'm in charge and I can take control of my life.
• 16:11
  This goes also back to what you said at the beginning, the choices. The time management is really all about our choices and our confidence in those choices. So it was these three things combined that really propelled that change. And when I got back to office after maternity leave, it was very different day.
• 16:28
  Davina: Yeah, yeah. So I think you mentioned some important points there to things that people don't think of. True self care is eating healthy foods, getting ample sleep, getting out in nature every day and walking and taking that time for yourself and then priority. You know all of that indicates that you're prioritizing your own health and your own needs, your body, your mind, your mental space. You were filling your mental space with positive thoughts as you were going through this.
• 16:56
  That truly is true self care. And so I love that. And I like that it was all kind of wrapped into caring with your daughter as caring for your daughter as well, because I do know that there are, you know, women who when they have children, they're old and they and not taking care of themselves. And so it sounds like this was a really beautiful time for you to be able to do that because you were coming from this nightmare experience. So you went back to work for the same company or did you immediately decide I'm never going back there?
• 17:23
  What happened?
• 17:24
  Dominika: I went back, but like I said, it was very different. Before I go back, I really started to plan how I'm going to run my days and how it's going to look like. And we are quite lucky in Europe that the maternity leaves are quite long. So I think I got back full time back to the office when my daughter was 10 already. So she had her nanny, everything was set, my husband works from home, so he was able to help out with that too.
• 17:47
  And so I was ready to go back to the office. But before I go back to the office, I had a lot of discussions with my boss and with the HR, and I made it very clear that things will need to change. So I changed my title. I had a a smaller team. I think we hired four people to cover what I was doing.
• 18:03
  And finally, I started to feel like I'm managing the workload, not the workload is managing me. And that was obvious because I had a daughter, so I couldn't just spend thirteen hours at work. I had to go back home to her, obviously as a mother. The priorities were as well all of a sudden. And it was great.
• 18:20
  From that perspective, I was building a new team. I was really focusing on leadership. I was improving as a leader, something that I was really lacking at the beginning when I told you when I was burned out. So the workload was sorted, but I still felt uninspired. I still felt hurt.
• 18:36
  I think I was still not completely healed and the company brought so many negative memories for me and I felt I can't really lean in anymore. And it was not the workload, and I started to realize it's the work. And I would still be doing law, and I would still be happy about it as a job, but I wanted more. I knew it wasn't a craft. I knew it wasn't my mission to be a lawyer anymore.
• 18:56
  And I really started to like the leadership. I started to like to work with my team. I already made a couple of coaching certification. I was working on another. I was coaching on a background because this is what really helped me to transform.
• 19:08
  And I started to be very interested in how can I bring it to the company? Then when I worked with my team, I was thinking how can I bring it to other people? Is this something that I could actually be working on? Could this be my business? So I didn't have enough of my notice immediately.
• 19:23
  It was a process and quite frankly, was very calculated. I started to work on a business plan. I started to lay foundation for my new companies, for my business, not having just coaching business. I also had real estate and crypto business. So I started to generate cash flow, started to generate money that could support me after I quit my legal career and this transition took, I think, around six months.
• 19:44
  So it was a process.
• 19:48
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• 20:31
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• 20:38
  Davina: So what did it feel like? I know that a lot of lawyers I interview who leave the law and they start other businesses go through kind of an identity crisis because we're sort of taught that our identity is lawyer. There's a lot of prestige that comes with it. You know, so what did it feel like to make the choice to say I'm going to leave the law and go call myself, you know, now a productivity coach, which is very different from being a lawyer. So did you go through any sort of internal battle over that?
• 21:10
  Dominika: A 100%. And I'm so happy you asked this question because the process was easy from the calling perspective, from the purpose perspective. I love what I do. And the difference between coaching and law is that I'll never draft a contract for free for you, but I'll coach you for free, quite frankly. And the problem was really the ego part.
• 21:29
  Davina: Don't do that. Don't coach for free.
• 21:33
  Dominika: No. Oh, no. I don't do it now. I'm too busy with that. But the point really is that I loved it and the law was just the job.
• 21:39
  And that was the difference. It was easy. But from, like you said, the identity crisis, it was very difficult because for me, I had a lot of ego attached to being a lawyer. When you meet somebody and you say you're a lawyer, people are like, Oh, wow, what do you do? What company you work for?
• 21:55
  Who are your clients? And all of a sudden when you say, Oh, I'm an online productivity coach. People are like, Okay. It's a very different reaction. It was very difficult for me because I totally didn't expect it.
• 22:08
  It was one of the things that was hindering me from launching sooner and leaning in fully. For a long time, just really didn't know what I was doing. I was not ashamed to say that I'm a productivity coach, but I was really considering how am I gonna structure and position myself in a way that, obviously, I'm not gonna get the legal status of a lawyer instantly, but how can I kinda get close to it? So instead of letting that blocking me, I really lean in fully in that fear and in that status and identity issue. And that's why I've created my coaching business bit differently than other coaches.
• 22:40
  I'm not just solo coach trying to coach everybody, cold emailing my list of my friends. I'm really building a fully fledged coaching company where I focus on corporate coaching, I focus on personal productivity coaching, I'm working on courses, I'm building a social media presence. So I really look at it more as I'm the CEO of that company. And I'm really embodying that role instead of just being a solopreneur coach trying to get clients for three session packages. So it was really that fear and was really that concern that I had around the identity and around that status that allowed me to completely differently approach the coaching business and really build a coaching company instead of just coaching online practice.
• 23:21
  It still is not easy, but I would say I feel way more confident right now seeing my clients, the type of clients I've worked with, having speaking engagements, growing my social media presence. But it has been a process.
• 23:33
  Davina: Right, right, right, right. And it's really shifting. And I'm sure your parents being entrepreneurs really helped you too, because you have that sort of that CEO kind of thinking, that entrepreneurial type thinking where I'm not going to just do this freelance, I'm going to create a business around it. Immediately that becomes a different kind of project. And you said you have three businesses.
• 23:54
  So did you kind of start all of them at the same time? Or did you start this and then sort of bring on the others? Or how did that go?
• 24:00
  Dominika: So initially, I started my real estate business. As a lawyer, obviously, I made a lot of money and I had no time to spend it. So I've accumulated some capital. During, I think this was already when I, was in my maternity leave, I purchased couple of properties and I started short term rentals and Airbnb rentals. The issue, so this was the first business that I started and it was doing very well.
• 24:22
  I also started a Airbnb management company. Again, we were living in Malta, so it's a beautiful destination. It has wonderful weather, three hundred days a year of sun. So we had like a lot of tourists, so it was a great market to lean to. And since my husband's also entrepreneur and he was working from home, we were managing to do it while I was having a baby and while I was also still full time working.
• 24:46
  The problem really started in March 2020, which was actually the last day of my full time job when the lockdown started. And this was the first day I was launching my Airbnb management company. It basically failed on the first day.
• 24:59
  Davina: Right, right. Because everybody knows what happened in March 2020, the pandemic.
• 25:03
  Dominika: Of course. So obviously, of our landlord that we had pulled out, they didn't want to do short lets because nobody knew what was going to happen. With our own properties, we managed to rent somehow, quarantine people or then during summer it picked up a little bit more, but it was very difficult to leave the legal career, prepare for six months to launch this business, obviously have all the calculation, all the financials, have a huge investment up front into these property, shifting them or switching them, flipping them from old houses into beautiful Airbnb. And then all of a sudden it's March 2020 and you can't do anything. It's something nobody could prepare for.
• 25:39
  Davina: A black swan event. It's totally a black swan event. Nobody would know. Nobody even had their eye on that as something that would happen, changed everybody's lives. So where did you go from there?
• 25:51
  Dominika: I think I just put on my bathrobe and for three days I was rolling around crying, to be honest. After those three days, I put my big girl pants on and we did a lot of risk management with my husband. I love risk management. I was working also in compliance a lot. So we just really sat down and write everything down, our expenses, our income, how can we ship, how can we go long term rentals.
• 26:13
  There was also, I don't know how it was in The US, but in EU we had a lot of banks helping with not charging your mortgage fees for a certain period of time. We applied for every single state aid we could get. We applied for these benefits from the bank. We really optimized our cash flow and optimized our operations so we could survive. Obviously, we also had savings.
• 26:31
  So this is where I think it's so important that part of the planning and preparation for everything when you're thinking of shifting the career. And there's also what you're mentioning about the social media where being your own boss and starting your passion business seems so easy, but it is not and you have to be very smart and very intentional about how you're going to be going through that transition because these things happen. So we survived the first year and then slowly started to pick Malta was not on a very heavy lockdown, so we still had some traction and some movements. We completely dropped the Airbnb management company because it was just not viable. But we continued with our own properties, and then we leaned in in crypto, and then in parallel, I started to coach.
• 27:11
  And I started to coach exactly like I said at the beginning as a small solopreneur coach, taking on some clients here and there. But it wasn't until basically this year or the end of last year, 2021 when I decided I'm going to really launch it and shift it into a coaching company and run it like a business with collaborators, with a vision, with long term plan instead of just doing coaching.
• 27:32
  Davina: Right. And I think that's very common to start out that way where you get to dip your toe in the water, get the experience, get the success stories and also find out if that's really what you want to do as well anytime you're starting something new like that. So I think that's a common sort of approach and journey, but then you made the big decision to go all in on it. So I want to make sure before we run out of time that we do help our women law firm owner audience with some productivity hacks or tips and little things that we might be able to share with them. But tell me, you really learned how to manage your time more effectively when you went back to work and you started saying, okay, I have a different priority now, so I'm not staying here thirteen, fourteen hours a day.
• 28:14
  So what kinds of things were you listening to? Were you reading a lot of books, listening to a lot of podcasts? And did you have coaching or something? Or was it through your coaching certification that you sort of learned some of these ways to be more productive. I mean, I know when I started my coaching business, I had invested a lot in coaching and I learned a lot.
• 28:38
  And so I was able to take what I was learning kind of from other industries and bring it to the legal industry because it impacted my life, changed my life. And I'm like, I got to share this. So what was your experience in? How did you sort of gain that knowledge?
• 28:52
  Dominika: It wasn't a single thing. It's like when you ask, oh, can you draft me? What is the one thing I need for T's and C's? What is the one thing I need for privacy policies? A catalog of clauses, catalog of things.
• 29:02
  So this was really me picking and testing and trying what works, what doesn't. Did Initially, it was hit and miss. There were many coaches that were really not helping me and really pushing me one direction. So really the productivity transformation, I think, started when I was at the university because I was very productive. I was mastering the deep focus, mastering the planning, the stuff done.
• 29:22
  I never missed the deadline, non negotiable, was not even in my sphere of understanding of time. So I was very productive. So I was always managing or always crashing in on a productivity end, but then it was burning me out because there was no don't mean this fluffy work life balance that we're trying to achieve and nobody's ever able to do it, but I mean more a rhythm of creating a productive time when you push yourself and you do the job and then when you have time to rejuvenate and rest and relax and reset your mind in order to be more productive but also more fulfilled. So that was the second part that I started to tap into while I was on maternity leave. And there were various books or courses, but and was also my own coaching and my own certification and experience that I had when I realized that there has to be an antidote to that push.
• 30:07
  There has to be also the time of rest. And what really helped me, and this is also the core of what I always teach my clients and I work home with my clients, was routines and rituals. So before I went back to work, I think I also mentioned I really was very intentional about the schedule. So I really look at my calendar back then and I look into, so what I'm going to do in the morning, what I'm going to do in the afternoon, what I'm going to do during my lunch break, and I was very committed and very consistent in putting these rituals and the routines together. And this is when it really shifted for me because all of a sudden the self care, which was once in a while manicure, which quite frankly was just freaking me out and was stressing me out because all of a sudden during run to the salon, get the manicure, you listen all the chatter, you're checking your phone, you already have a meeting you need to postpone, then you run back.
• 30:54
  It was not self care at all. And I started to realize. You can relate, right?
• 31:00
  Davina: I do. I do. I'm not crazy about pedicures for the same reason. It's like, it's just, it's kind of like a hassle a little bit to have somebody else do a pedicure. Yeah.
• 31:10
  Dominika: So it wasn't really that, but I realized that self care is not just what you do once in a while. It's really prioritizing yourself, scheduling it and actually following up with a schedule. For me, I went from just bringing gym clothes every day to work and never actually use that bag and never actually going to gym to really creating a morning ritual of workout. I look into, and this is really a process that I go through also with my clients where we look into what you really want to achieve, what actions you need to take towards that achievement. And once you have that clarified, then you're going to look at your schedule and you schedule it where is the most convenient time for you.
• 31:44
  So I knew that my break in point was the afternoon, that I couldn't always finish on time or there was always some emergency. So I knew that if I schedule my gym, for instance, in the afternoon, I'll never go. So that's why I woke up earlier and I went in the morning. So it was really the process of creating these rituals that were tied into my priorities. And at that time, my priorities was myself.
• 32:05
  Davina: And you're also your sort of natural rhythms, right? Like what was like you were saying, what works for you? You were looking at really what worked for you as opposed to what might work for other people.
• 32:15
  Dominika: Yeah. So basically that's when I combined the productivity teachings, understanding that obviously when you work full time, when you're a mom, you have only very limited of free time. That's just the reality, right? You can't change that you're eight hours at work, God forbid you have two hour commute, so you're left with this little time for yourself, for your family, for everything else. So you want to make sure that the time you're spending at work, it's very well spent, Making sure that when you're at work, you're at work.
• 32:42
  And then when you're home, you're home. When you are in the gym, you're in a gym. So you really need to compartmentalize all these areas. And that's when the routines and the creation of those routines or systems of habit came in handy. So I plucked the productivity with the routines and it created kind of a system.
• 33:00
  My problem back then was that I wasn't inspired by my work. So then I realized that something else is missing. And that was the priority, the focus of what I actually want to achieve in my life. That was really about that healing process when I started to think about what is my vision now. I've always wanted to be a lawyer.
• 33:18
  Now I'm a lawyer. And who am I now and what I really want to do? So this is really how I teach productivity in my clients and what could help is to understand what is really your vision for your life. Getting very clear on your goals. Is it a scale of business?
• 33:31
  Is it to build it? Is it to have a side hustle? Is it to focus more on your family? There are different seasons that we go through in life and you have to make sure that your system and your time management strategy ties into that vision, ties into those goals or intentions, whatever you want to call it. And then you really maximize your productivity when we can also talk about those tips to make sure that when you're working, you really are working and getting the most done.
• 33:53
  So then you're not limiting the time you already have fixed for yourself or for your family. Then use that wisely and focus more on quality rather than quantity.
• 34:02
  Davina: Right. So I think it's really important to the first thing is really get clear. What I'm always telling people, it's never a time management problem. It's a priority management problem. Are you working in your areas that you say are important to you?
• 34:14
  If you say it's important to you, but then your actions don't follow that, then you really have to look at whether or not it's really that important to you. And I think there's some people too that may have a why, this is why this is important to me. And they're not in touch with that why they're not in touch with, you know, I want to have a, I use a million example, a million dollar law firm. I want to have a million dollar law firm. Well, why?
• 34:36
  What is your why? What are you going to do? How much personal income do you want out of that? What are you going to do with that personal income? Why is it important for you to have that personal income?
• 34:44
  So it is all around this establishing of your priorities. And once you're really clear on your why you're doing it and then you get clear on your priorities and it's much easier to sort of follow some of these systems. We're going to have to wrap up soon, but I have a question for you that I want to throw out to you because I had a client recently asked me something or kind of tell me about this issue she had in terms of time management. And I want to hear what you have to say since this is kind of your area of expertise, right? So she said that, you know, I'll put things on my calendar.
• 35:12
  So I always tell my clients, put things on your calendar and if it's on your calendar, it gets done. It's not on your calendar. It's not going to get done because you have no time allotted for it. You think you're going to squeeze it in, but there is no place to squeeze it in. So she says my problem is, is that I put things on my calendar and then I rebel against myself.
• 35:29
  So it's on my calendar. I'm going to do this at this time. This is the ideal time to work on this project or that. And then when that time rolls around, I go, she becomes like this rebellious teenager on the inside. Why do I need to do that?
• 35:41
  I don't need to. I'm a grown up. I don't have to do that right now. I can do that at four. What's the difference between two and four?
• 35:46
  What do you say to somebody who struggles to they have all the tools, they know how to time block, they know how to do all that, but then they are sabotaging themselves by not following through. A lot of people do that with working out. That's a great example of that. Know, working out, they block out the time and they don't go to the gym. What do you think is going on there?
• 36:07
  I'd love to hear your take on it.
• 36:08
  Dominika: Yeah, first of all, great that it's scheduled, but it's just a piece of a puzzle. First, I will look at the activity with a client. So what is this activity? Which project is this that you're gonna work on? Or what is this workout?
• 36:19
  And it become very clear what goal and what priority is this connected to. So I don't know which kind of project she was working on, but let's say workout.
• 36:28
  Davina: It was work. It was work related. She's an attorney and it was work, and so it wasn't a personal thing. It was I'm going to do this at this time and you know, so we'll just use an example of working on her business. So she was going to set aside time to work on her business.
• 36:42
  Dominika: Yeah, this is actually a prime example of the lawyers that are trying to scale their business and grow their business. And they don't have time to prioritize business development because they always are busy with client work, with the teamwork, with personal staff, and that business work is actually always at the bottom of the list. So first step, obviously what I would say is to schedule it. She did it fine. Now we're looking into what kind of activities these are.
• 37:05
  Are they clear enough? Because many times when we procrastinate or when we are not consistent or not disciplined, it's just a symptom of one of few things. So first of all, you're not clear on what do you want to achieve with this. Now, let's say she was 100% clear and sure and motivated to achieve the next level for her business. So the second step would be motivation.
• 37:25
  Do you know why you want it? Is it because your grandfather was at that stage or your father? Is it your family member who told you have to achieve it? Or did you listen to the Venus Podcast and you decided, Okay, I want the same thing. Like you're saying, do you really know why you want to make that money?
• 37:40
  Do you really know how your life is going to look like? So that's the second step, the positive motivation. Why? The why behind the why, right? The third one will be the pain.
• 37:49
  Many times we are more motivated by our fear of pain than the potential pleasure we get. So I will look into those activities and ask her, what are you going to miss out on if you do them? And what are you going to miss out of if you don't do them? Because if you attach enough pain of not following through, then you're more likely to follow through than when you attach the motivation to it. So I would reverse it.
• 38:12
  And instead of looking at what do you get when you do it, I would look at what you're gonna miss out on if you don't. Your kids cannot go to college, you can't afford the holidays, you can't hire five more people and have more time for yourself. Every single paint, there, read it, feel it, go through it again and again. So that's another thing. Another point, fourth point will be I will check if everything checks in, everything is in place, it's clarity.
• 38:35
  Because many times we need to remove every possible friction there is for us to take action. So when I would look into it, are you clear what you need to do in this block? Is it clear I need to reach out to this person? I need to write this email. I want to write this article or hire this company that writes article for me.
• 38:51
  Whatever is the strategy, is it clear? Because when it comes 03:00 and you're drafting a contract and you're fully focused on it and then you have a game that you need to attend of your kid at five. And when you're building a business at four, it's so big that you're like, no, no, no, no, I'm just going to finish. This is a priority. But when at four, you're having four emails to write, you have the template, you have everything set up, you have the very next step already lined up for you, then you're more likely to work.
• 39:19
  So I would look into what kind of friction, what kind of point of resistance she has in order to take action and remove it. And if this doesn't work, then I would look into why did you schedule it at four on, let's say it was four on Friday. Most of the deadlines are on Friday. So do it, why don't you do it Monday morning first thing before everybody comes, before you open your email, do it then. If this is important, if you have so much pain attached to it, if there's no friction, just work with yourself and not against yourself, set yourself up for success.
• 39:47
  Created a ritual.
• 39:48
  Davina: I think you're, I'm going to interrupt because I want to say a couple of things and then wrap us up because I know we're both on the clock. But one of the things I think with her is that, not with her specifically, but one of the things that you mentioned that I want to highlight is sort of breaking things down into baby steps. I think one of the challenges with people when it comes to implementation of anything that they have on their list is they don't break it down into small enough steps. Those real unintimidating things. And so they are sitting here.
• 40:15
  I have to, you know, do this whole big thing and you're like, no, no, you just have to watch this one short video or you just have to, write this email and send it out, or you just have to call somebody. It doesn't have to be everything. I have to work on this client's matter. We don't have to get it all done in one sitting, right? And sort of giving ourselves that next baby step toward implementation.
• 40:40
  We're just moving the ball a little bit down the goal line, you know? So it's that kind of thing, I think, a huge thing. But you definitely, your why is so important and going back and really saying, why did I put it there? What was the motivation for me? And I love how you talk about really getting into the pain of it as well, which is what am I losing?
• 40:59
  And I think a lot of times what people think is, is like, we'll use eating as an example. Well, in this moment, I'm going to eat this Ho Ho or this whatever, this decadent thing, and I can eat it once it's not going to affect me. But once you make that decision over and over and over and over again, it does affect you. It does affect you that one time you don't realize it. And that's so much of what is going on too when you're not prioritizing your time.
• 41:23
  You say in this one moment, oh, I can skip this. I don't have to. Nobody's sitting. I'm my own boss. Nobody's sitting over me.
• 41:30
  I can skip this and maybe do it at four instead of two and nobody's going to be the wiser. And that may work for that one day and that one time. But if you consistently let yourself off the hook that way, then you are in a mess. You're not achieving your goals, you're not doing the things you want. So either you don't really want them or you're self sabotaging or something like that.
• 41:51
  So I am so glad that you shared with us today, all that you shared with us, your story and kind of your approach, your methodology. Tell us where people can connect with you. They want to reach out, learn more about you and what you do.
• 42:04
  Dominika: I'm very active on Instagram. That's my home. It's the platform of my choice. My Instagram, all my stories, I always share my day to day routines and rituals. If you want some more inspiration of how to live day to day, you can do a lot of educational inspirational stuff.
• 42:19
  And Instagram, I also always share updates about my current products and offers. I do one on one coaching. I do time audits. Most of the time they're sold out because I do only once every three months that I hire and onboard new clients. You will always, when you follow me on Instagram, know when is the window to sign up.
• 42:35
  And I also share a lot of my free templates, checklists, and master classes. I do a lot of Instagram lives with subject matter experts on business, on hormonal balance, you name it. So it's really the best place to follow me. It's on Instagram Dominika Fasolo. That's basically just my name.
• 42:53
  If you type it in Instagram, you'll find me and you'll get all this knowledge, obviously more in-depth because we just really rushed through it today for the purpose of the podcast, but you can get to know me even more. And then if you're interested, you know what is happening in terms of my products and offers.
• 43:08
  Davina: Wonderful. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it. And everybody should know that she's actually in Mexico right now living her best life. So if you think that she doesn't practice what she preached, she definitely does.
• 43:21
  And so she's enjoying the sunny Mexico as we're doing this call. I appreciate you being here so much, and I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. Thank you.
• 43:31
  Dominika: Me too. Thank you so much for having me. It was awesome. Thank you. If
• 43:37
  Intro: you're ready to create more of what you truly desire in your business and your life, then you'll want to visit us at wealthywomanlawyer.com to learn more about how we help our clients create wealth generating law firms with ease.