Law And More

Some Psychics Are Making More Than Some Lawyers (but, angst-ridden lawyers, you can become your own psychic)

How will my performance review go?

Will the delayed start date wind up a rescinded offer?

This legal market for laid-off associates as well as in-house legal is brutal. How can I get an edge?

Are they forcing me into early retirement?

To get the answers to those questions, New Yorkers are willing to pay psychics and other representatives of the occult up to $997 an hour. You bet, they are earning more per hour than some elite lawyers. And, reports the New York Post, business is booming.

Some psychics have doubled their weekly business - and revenues - in 2020. Meanwhile, New York Magazine's column Madame Clairevoyant is very popular. That's a weekly free read.

But what's driving the psychic-industry surge aren't only the uncertainties generated by COVID-19. As those in the occult loop explain, the wildness was expected right from the get-go in 2020 since there was a conjunction of Saturn and Pluto.

Outside New York, psychic readings are more affordable for the Main Street kind of insight-seeker. That's the person who taps into the occult once a year. And is only willing to invest peanuts.

For example, online phone-reading service Psychic Interactive bills at $19 per 15 minutes. Credit cards accepted.

In-person and phone service in Salem, Massachusetts Angelica of the Angels costs $30 for 15 minutes and $40 for 20 minutes. Credit cards accepted.

In-person readings by Shadow at Once in a Blue Moon, Toledo. Ohio go for a buck a minute. Credit cards discouraged for in-person. But more welcome for phone readings, which also bill at a dollar a minute.

However, the reality is: Anyone can be his or her own psychic. Any lawyer can bypass the $1,000 intuitive hour. 

After all, all the answers are within oneself.

To be able to gain access to those insights requires shaking off being a closed system. Buddhists call that returning to a "beginner's mind." Essentially that's what babies experience. And that might account for some of their rapid overall growth. 

As I counsel those I coach about careers and job-search materials/interviews, likely it was their success in school and later on the job which caused them to, well, shut down. They felt they had to set up a wall to ward out the distractions of the world.

Those possible intrusions might have been thought of as Barbarians at the Gate. 

The result, of course, is that so many professionals retreat deeper and deeper into being a closed system.

But, then a curve ball comes. And there is no cognitive, emotional, and spiritual wiggle room for the unusual problem-solving needed - and old-fashioned resilience.

The first step in prying the system back open is reflecting on the zen mantra: Clear Thinking, Don't Know. You really don't know, do you. What a relief to align with that reality.

Along the way to becoming your own psychic you can calm the monkey mind by taking in free YouTube tutorials by American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron. Here is the classic on fear and fearlessness.

Reflection: The more tightly wound the culture, the more business for psychics. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

Lawyers, What the Planets Have in Store for You This Week (if you believe in all that)

The planets will be busy this week of August 3rd. If you lawyers believe that has influence on human affairs, then read on. 

New York Magazine's Madame Clairevoyant describes all that activity.

What's obvious from the doings of the full moon on rebellious Aquarious, for instance, is that you have to be ready to manage the mood shifts which go with it. 

For example, on Monday you will feel a need to push back. If that's not a good fit for the box you play in on planet earth then you will have to be figure out when to hold and when to fold. 

On Tuesday, you will experience unique confidence about your communications. So, it might be the day to dig in or revise the brief and develop a fresh persona on social media.

As for the latter, just look at how much attention lawyers with strong social network identities are getting on LinkedIn Updates.

I have a hunch that helped Colin Levy land a new job. He had been laid off from his general counsel position at Salary.com. In addition to becoming employed again, he had developed into an influencer since getting the boot and becoming quite active on social.

For the rest of the week, until Friday, your mood will be fairly stable. Then come Friday, what will arise within you is your protective spirit. Whether it is your significant other or the world you will yearn to reach out to make things better. That could be the time to volunteer for pro-bono work. Lots of folks could be getting evicted from their rentals or their home foreclosed on. 

In marketing timing is everything. Complimentary consultation on your marketing communications in COVID-19 time. janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

SmallLaw/Solos, et al. - It's Trauma Looping, Not Ageism

"I haven't gotten any business. No one I know is getting business either."

Over and over again, a lawyer with a B2C bankruptcy practice said that.

Obviously, he was in disbelief. And, too bad for him he was unable to exit that vortex of frantic.  He would continue trauma-looping, I have a hunch. That frees him up from having to strategically problem-solve. 

He, of course, couldn't listen to the diagnosis I was making of his marketing communications. At the top of the list was the Google was the new homepage. Since his law firm was restricted to one state, his digital marketing had to be "localized" for that. That was an immediate must-do.

The odds are that his business, which had been successful for most of his career, will collapse. According to Clio's COVID-19 Impact research, 50% of consumers surveyed said they were putting off seeking legal help until after the crisis. As a result, demand was down 40%. By time demand bounced back, he would be out of time.

This lawyer is in his 60s and hadn't had to pay much attention previously to digital marketing. He has lots of company among older business owners.

A self-employed over-50 psychic in the Midwest at one time had global reach through old-fashioned in-person word of mouth. Satisfied clients told their friends to get a reading from X.

Now he's stuck earning five bucks for 15 minutes working on one of those psychic online services. During our complimentary consultation he kept repeating, like a soldier in shell shock, what used to pull in the business. He couldn't hear any recommendations for the now of COVID-19 times.

A real estate broker in her late 40s has no new listings. I suggested for the interim the gig of doing part-time or even full-time leasing at the many apartment complexes in her western location. The rental business is brisk since folks aren't buying homes amidst the uncertainty and loss of jobs. She defaulted to how much she had earned in 2019.

All this is the road to financial catastrophe.

On "60 Minutes," Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell did straight talk. As this transcript of the interview documents, he put out the projection  that recovery won't occur until some time in 2021. And there is no guarantee of that. The COVID-19 economic fallout could be longer. 

So, what is the first step out of denial? Embrace that some money can be made. Let go of the number of how much money had been made in 2019 and before. 

If your enterprise can't be pumped up right now, you need to bring in income. Here, free to click open, is my guide to landing, holding, and moving onto better work, no matter what your age Download Outwitting ageism.

The old adage is on the money: Nothing gets you work like work. Parachute back into making a buck. That job or assignment could be the platform for a new career path. A displaced 66 year old in public relations did stints as a security guard. Eventually he was a consultant creating marketing for loss prevention firms.

In marketing timing is everything. Complimentary consultation on your marketing communications in COVID-19 time. janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Lawyers, Legal Staff, JD Class of 2020 - 4 Fundamentals of Being Your Own Psychic

Here are Madame Clairevoyant's predictions for this week.

No surprise, her column has been popular on New York Magazine. And it's even more popular now in this era of uncertainty. 

Also, it's a free read. So, enjoy it.

But, back off paying real money for a psychic reading. After all, cash is king. You have to hold onto every penny. Yes, economically, things could get worse. The Great Depression, in comparison, can seem times of plenty.

You can be your own psychic. The answers are all within you. Yes, You can connect the dots for yourself.

I come from an Eastern European family with psychic abilities. Recently, overwhelmed with callers, an online psychic service asked me to work on a contract basis. I agreed. Now and then I had done paid readings in-person for those who needed the comfort of being listened to. Yes, from the get-go, I had told them that they had all the answers and the best I could do was unlock what was blocking them from surfacing.

Those who called me on the psychic online service were very different from the usual client. They didn't want to be listened to. They didn't want to probe their beings for answers. Instead they wanted the guarantee that their lives would return to "normal." 

After I got it that this would be the typical call I informed the psychic surface this wasn't the right fit for me. End of that gig.

It's easy to be your own psychic. Those in the Salem, Massachusetts Wicca loop call the power The Witch in Every Woman and The Wizard in Every Man.

Here are the fundamentals:

•  Surrender to the reality that you are not entirely in control. There are both invisible and visible forces influencing destiny. Isn't it a relief to give up the illusion of being in charge. No, don't blame yourself for not getting that job or assignment or promotion. 
•  Stop your day when overwhelmed. Ask Spirit, The Universe, The Higher Power, or God for guidance. You will calm down. That allows the answers to float up and present themselves to you. 
•  Create an "insight" magical spell. Just engaging in it will open you up to what's inside yourself. Some purchase seven white candles and olive oil in a big box. They light them three times within a 24-hour period. They say a mantra such as "Guide" 10 times at each sitting.
•  Embrace that there is no destiny. Anything supposedly written in the stars can be changed by new behaviors. 

Not ready to be your own psychic? Yes, I do private intuitive readings about careers and formal career coaching. Sliding scale fees. Please contact for an appointment janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Lawyers/Law Students/Staff Thrown Off Your Game - You're Not Alone

It's financial suicide is have a one-dimensional career path.

All those college administrators who will be laid off this summer should have done consulting on the side or managed the rental property they invested in. 

Sidelined staff in law firms in Manhattan should have been walking dogs.

I learned to set up multiple sources of income when demand for speechwriting dried up post-9/11. One profit center, in addition to my core competence in communications, is intuitive career coaching. That was born in 2008 when clients asked me to help their children present themselves for jobs. 

Recently, my client base has become much diverse.

An online psychic service had a need for an "expert" on job search, professional transitions, tragic flaws, and those sorts of concerns. They had heard of me on LinkedIn and hired me for as many hours as I wanted. 

The real demand, it has turned out, was not for me to guide the callers through problem-solving.

Not one posed the situation: My residential selling business went cold, I have to pay my bills, and, so what do you sense are my best options?

Instead, they needed to talk, usually very fast.  

The expectation was that I would provide them hope and the specific month "it" would end. The "it" was the COVID-19 paused economy.

Solutions were not welcome. 

Reality wasn't either.

Quickly I got it that anyone who peddled magical thinking could become very wealthy in this economy. 

Ethically, I did my best to keep the conversation grounded in what could keep them paying their bills and not destroying their branding until "it" was over. 

Connect the dots in a fresh way.

Intuitive coaching for how to approach a job search, professional transitions, and starting your own business. 12 years coaching experience. 5 years experience creating communications for global outplacement firm. Complimentary 5-minute reading. Sliding scale billing. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com for appointment.

JD Class of 2020, Displaced Associates - Voodoo of the Job Search

"Those who practice Voodoo believe there is a visible and invisible world, and that these worlds are interwoven." - Saumya Arya Haas, HuffPost, May 25, 2011.

It was through Voodoo (partially) that a woman from the JD Class of 2008 landed a job practicing law in Manhattan. 

Her search for employment during that economic downturn had not only produced no results.

Her distress about that was alienating her from her boyfriend. He had a lucrative executive communications full-time position at a Hartford, Connecticut based financial services corporation. No surprise, he blamed her for her failure to land a job after such a heavy investment in law school. Scapegoating is a common phenomenon in unemployment. 

As her intuitive psychic coach I picked this up: She was trying too hard. That is, she was shutting out the invisible forces influencing her job hunt. Instead she was bombarding the process with a kind of self-will run riot. Her assumption was that it was what she did or didn't do which would totally generate outcomes. Of course, out there she came across as desperate and certainly not confident.

Together we changed that. She surrendered to the reality (at least held by a growing number of us) that what goes into what happens on planet earth includes what's out of our control.

Those in Alcoholics Anonymous will recognize that as a fundamental of recovery. From the get-go, new members are told to "turn over" their drinking problem to a higher power - along with leaving the booze alone for that date.

The Catholic Church labels that process "prayer." There is a lifting of the mind and heart to the entity called "God."

American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron views it as becoming open. One tool to do that is meditation. Lawyers have been hearing about that for several years. In addition, viewing Chodron's YouTube videos is free. Here is her talk on fear and fearlessness. Fear is what closes humans up and keeps them stuck.

As for the visible part, sure, the new law graduate had to refocus on discerning her edge and being determined to sell it. Back then, it was her MBA degree. She repositioned how she presented herself. Her added value was a deep understanding of business.

The next day, after surrendering, she received a job offer in Manhattan. The compensation was okay, for that time of lawyer glut. The compromise she made was agreeing to no benefits. Overall, it was a good-enough starter job.

"Voodoo" is just another term for the centuries-old recognition that what is apparent is only a part of the dynamics of the universe. Recall that familiar adage: Humans plan, the gods laugh.

Members of the JD Class of 2020 and lawyers knocked out of the box might find it useful to make the psychic shift to that mindset. 

Connect the dots in a fresh way.

Intuitive psychic readings and coaching for your career and job search. Transition a special area of expertise. Complimentary 5-minute reading. Sliding scale billing. Meet Your Guide. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com for appointment.

 

 

The Wall Street Journal Features JD Class of 2020 Struggling in Limbo

"In addition to a delayed bar exam, the job market for lawyers is starting to dry up ... " - Patrick Thomas, The Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2020.

The situation for members of the JD Class of 2020 is essentially limbo.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel - not now. Maybe not until 2021 or 2022. Along the way the entire legal sector can undergo a major disruption - changing forever manpower demand.

As for now, the challenges for new graduates pile up.

For example, the state bar exam, scheduled for July, has been rescheduled for September. But it will require out of the box thinking for that to happen. For example, the Javits Center, which the New York state bar exam, is usually administered is currently being used as a hospital. No one knows how long that will be necessary. That's because COVID-19 is so novel. 

Meanwhile, one solution could be what Utah is doing: launching a proposal allowing recent law graduates to entirely skip the bar exam. There is also New Jersey's approach which allows new JDs to practice law before taking the bar exam, under the supervision of a seasoned lawyer. But they must register for the bar. Utah's model is more radical. 

Obviously, the uncertainty is eating the JD Class of 2020 alive. As if the bar exam itself isn't enough of an ordeal.

The equally tough nut to crack is the job market. Not only is it downsizing for associates.

Also, already the issue of delayed start dates - or "DefLand" - has emerged for those who have received offers. Here is my recent article on that option for law firms and the branding risk involved.

Worse, of course, will be the rescinded offers. And, given predictions about the severity of the economic downturn those are bound to happen on a regular basis.

Members of the JD Class of 2020 who position and package the current situation as a simple "setback" are likely to fare the best long term. Catastrophic thinking can be career suicide.  Here's why.

No question, these new JDs, with the possible exception of the ones planning to practice law in Utah, have to study for the bar. But, they also have to factor in the need for income. That could mean grabbing a job or gig assignments, any kind. 

During 2008 - 2009 there were the tragic stories in the media of the new graduates without jobs and the laid-off associates who engaged in magical thinking. They were convinced that the plum job was right around the corner.

So they didn't seek out ways to bring in income. Soon enough, they ran out of savings, had trouble keeping up with student loans, and scrambled to keep a roof over their heads. At the time, the average monthly loan payment was about $700 - a kng's ransom for those with no funds coming in.

In addition, those who came to me for coaching hadn't even considered they might have to leverage their credentials for another career path. 

To them that was unthinkable.

It shouldn't be unthinkable now. 2008 -2009 should have taught important lessons about what not to do. 

Connect the dots in a fresh way.

Intuitive psychic readings and coaching for your career and job search. Transition a special area of expertise. Complimentary 5-minute reading. Sliding scale billing. 12 years experience. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com for appointment.

Introducing Jane Genova, Career Coach/Intuitive Reader for Professional Matters

Readers of this blog asked for more information on the coaching services/intuitive readings on professional matters which I provide.

Here is a backgrounder Download BackgrounderonJaneGenovaIntuitiveReaderforCareers

Intuitive psychic readings and coaching for your career and job search. Transition a special area of expertise. Complimentary 5-minute reading. Sliding scale billing. 12 years experience. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com for appointment.