Velocity Work

Guest Molly Sonsteng, Cofounder of Caveday, joins Melissa to emphasize the important skill of monotasking.   We live in world constantly vying for our attention and from the pings, dings and buzzes, everything feels urgent.   In this episode, Molly and Melissa get to the heart of taking control where you have control and using that to fuel your productivity.   The two emphasize how protecting small amounts of time for focused work is a necessity for meaningful progress and why facilitation and community will improve your relationship to work.   How do you differentiate between the urgent work of being an attorney and the important work of building a sustainable firm?   What is a realistic way to scope work?   Do you know how long anything actually takes to accomplish?   Get some answers to these questions and permission to protect your time in this episode.   Make 2022 the year you prioritize growth, join Mastery Group at www.velocitywork.com/join.

On this special episode, Melissa and her husband Derek take a look back at the origin story of Velocity Work and how it intertwined with major events in their personal lives. Melissa reflects on what it looked like to leave the security of a job with benefits in order to move Velocity Work forward and how the questions, what can I do, and how I provide value now changed the trajectory of the company. Derek offers insight all his own. With a career spent working in start-ups, business growth and marketing, he knows first hand the difference between having an idea for a business and dialing that dream into reality. Make 2022 the year your firm thrives, join Mastery Group at www.velocitywork.com/join.

We're back for part 2 of Velocity Work LIVE with Jay Ruane! In this episode Jay and Melissa continue their conversation about how to approach your firm or business when you've reached the vision you aimed for. As the owner of multiple business and a law firm, Jay has insight to share. The two touch on the importance of authenticity, building ethical systems in your office, and how to filter all of your ideas. As a criminal defense attorney for decades, Jay's perspective is human centered and focused on the clients' experience at a difficult and stressful time in their lives. Ready to move past that hustle and grind into a space where you can be the visionary your firm needs? Join Mastery Group at www.velocitywork.com/join

It is time to rethink your idea of a personal or executive assistant. Valerie Trapunky, founder and CEO of Chatterboss, talks with Melissa about her business and why it works for so many entrepreneurs. After working as a personal assistant to A-list celebrities and high net worth individuals, Valerie took a new approach to personal assisting. Chatterboss uses a network of on-demand professionals to fill the holes in your team and cross it ALL off your to-do list. From personal tasks to marketing campaigns, to thought partners and team leads, the concept of a personal assistant has evolved and it is worth considering how one might free up your mind and your time. Looking to optimize your firm and really feel progress? Join Mastery Group at www.velocitywork.com/join

Guest Jay Ruane followed in his father's professional footsteps, but carved his own path. In this episode, he reveals how he took a different approach to building his firm by recognizing how he wanted lifestyle to play a role in the businesses he built. Owner of Ruane Attorneys at Law and FirmFlex, a social media marketing company for law firms, Jay holds nothing back. He and Melissa discuss the hustle and grind of the early years, the importance of maintaining relationships, and the patience required to build the firm you envisioned. The rewards are worth it!

In this episode, Melissa answers a relatable question posed in Velocity Work’s private Mastery Group and her response serves up some lessons that will change your firm. They start with you. We all hit barriers or obstacles on the path to our goals. And at some point, most of us react with our brain’s default mode; we get tired, we don’t want to deal with it, we don't see a path forward and we create a mess of thoughts and ideas in our head. Sometimes we place blame ourselves, sometimes on other people, software or processes. Sometimes we do that all at once! That mess feels and looks like a classic case of overwhelm. But you have way more power here than you might think. Listen to learn how you can remove the mental log-jam and get back on track to your goals. Ask your tough questions and get feedback from Melissa and a community of other owner attorneys building the businesses they want. Join Mastery Group at www.velocitywork.com/join

Do the activities you spend time on create value for your business? Delegation can feel uncomfortable when you’re used to running your firm, but growing requires transferring responsibility to a team and getting out of the way. In the second installment of Fall Sprint Lessons Learned, Melissa reads the insights of law firm owners who used daily accountability and reflection to achieve big goals. The lessons don’t stop with the topic of delegation. As any business owner knows, a conversation about shared responsibility is a conversation about creating time, specific goals, and value for your business. Want to know more about how delegating responsibility can help you firm grow? Join Mastery Group at www.velocitywork.com/join

Are you committed to the goals and plans you make for your firm? Your commitment means everything. This episode is packed with insight! Melissa reads word-for-word insights from this fall’s Velocity Work Sprint participants. Dedicated firm owners reveal lessons learned from their month of daily accountability specifically highlighting the impact of planning and honoring the plan in order to reach their goals. Do you stay busy on the to-dos and feel like you have no time for big goals? Start the new year off with a plan. Join Mastery Group at www.velocitywork.com/join

Melissa welcomes Mastery Group member and Sprint participant Neeli Shah to the podcast this week. Neeli is an Atlanta-based estate planning attorney who works with high-net-worth individuals. Neeli shares her tips on how to finally “take the leap” to grow your business or firm to the next level. Maybe “taking the leap” for you is signing up for Mastery Group! For more information, check it out at: www.velocitywork.com/join

Are you thinking about growing your practice? Of course, you are! On this episode of Velocity Work Live, Melissa is joined by Attorney Seth Price. Seth, the founding partner of Price Benowitz LLP and the founder and CEO of BluShark Digital, discusses how he grew a two-person law practice into a 40 person practice in less than a decade and how you can do the same.

Melissa builds upon episode 123 about honing in on specific goals and feeling discomfort when trying to reach goals. Are you a virtuous procrastinator? It might be time to stop escaping and get in the trenches to embrace the discomfort during the journey to reach your goal. It's almost 2022; start the new year by investing in your firm's growth. Sign up for mastery group today at: https://www.velocitywork.com/join

Velocity Work Live is back! And what a guest to have on our show after our brief hiatus. Melissa welcomes Sam Mollaei, founder of Legal Funnel. Sam, an attorney, based in Los Angeles, discusses how he went from knowing zero about marketing less than a decade ago to heading seven law firms, all using automated systems and teaching other attorneys how to automate their practice. Sam discusses why working in a “desired zone” leads to success and how immigrating from Iran at a young age molded him to what he is today. Keep up with all things Velocity Work by following us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/meetvelocitywork/

Are you striving for $200K or $25MIL? It doesn’t matter! Episode 123 is for everyone. Melissa uses episode 122 as a jumping-off point to discuss opening yourself up to the discomfort required to reach the next pin on your map. And in this episode, she reminds us that barreling your way through to reach a goal is unsustainable. We get it; who wants to feel discomfort? But guess what? That discomfort will help you reach your next destination. Looking to unlock your firm’s TRUE potential? Sign-up for our Mastery Group at: www.velocitywork.com/join

Everyone says they have goals, but how specific are they? Wherever you are in your journey, episode 122 is for you! Melissa compares goal setting to putting a pin on a particular destination on a map and creating an efficient route to get there. If you’re questioning if your goals aren’t specific enough, you might reach them, but you’re going to be meandering to get there. If you’re looking to join a group of like-minded attorneys who are determined to do better, sign up for our next 30-day sprint at: https://velocitywork.com/sprint-1

Are you passing through the "unfortunate middle" in your firm's growth? What tactics are you using to get over this necessary hump between simple grace and complex grace? What exactly are simple grace and complex grace? Melissa discusses the struggle with reaching and completing steps when you're scaling your firm and trying to create a well-oiled machine. Check out the Free Time Podcast with Jenny Blake and her guest, Jonathan Fields! Check it out here: https://www.itsfreetime.com/episodes/033 Are you missing our live show? We'll be back next month with NEW episodes, but in the meantime, catch up on our previous episodes by subscribing to our Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9mGO-yZ7R08cCt-gpENlcw/featured

Is a silent killer lurking around your firm? In episode 120, Melissa rips the bandaid off on a topic that can be more than a little difficult to talk about. Is your firm ACTUALLY profitable? You’re collecting a paycheck, so you must be in the black, right? Eh, not so fast. Melissa discusses how even if you feel your firm is turning a profit, it might be in the red and how you need to focus on numbers, not hunches, and guide your firm on facts, not feelings. Did you know that you can sign-up for our FREE Masterclass and watch it on your own time? Sign up today at: https://members.velocitywork.com/masterclass/

What is virtuous procrastination, and is it the same as run-of-the-mill procrastination? Is stopping to listen to episode 119 instead of doing work considered virtuous procrastination? Melissa discusses what makes procrastination "virtuous" and how to honor your plan even when unscheduled situations pop up. Did you know we have a FREE masterclass? To sign up, check out: www.velocitywork.com/join

Let’s huddle up! You’ve been in them, and most likely you’ve led them, but what exactly is the point of a huddle? In episode 117, Melissa talks about how a successful huddle should be conducted, the purpose of huddles, and how we can still do huddles in a remote work environment. If you’re looking for growth and accountability, why not join the Velocity Work Mastery Group? For more information, visit: www.velocitywork.com/join

Are you working smarter? It’s not as easy as you thought it would be to answer. This week, Velocity Work LIVE! welcomes Ernie Svenson, the founder of Law Firm Autopilot. Ernie discusses how Hurricane Katrina shifted his focus from working as an attorney at an old school firm to establishing his own practice and ultimately finding success by maximizing technology.