Tina shares how to introduce yourself at networking events to actually land opportunities. She moved from law to business operations at a plastic surgery practice, then pivoted back to law by leading with the skills she'd built, not the job title she'd left.
On how to introduce herself. So, hi, my name is Tina. It's very nice to talk to you. Let me tell you about myself. So I am an attorney. I have a degree from Stern and economics. And earlier on in my career, I had an opportunity to practice personal injury. So right after I got my law degree, I. In the midst of all of that, I started a family. I was quite young and my priority shifted a little bit and I wanted to have more flexibility in my time. And at this time, a family member approached me with an opportunity that was more local. And since I love challenges and I'm always fascinated with business and economics and how things work, I decided to take this challenge. The business was a plastic surgeon that was just starting at that time. And my task was to help him grow the business and scale the practice. Fast forward 10 years, I am literally the COO for the company. Not only did I help him scale his business through digital marketing, through referrals, through attorneys, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I manage a staff of 15 nurses and estheticians. I help with all the advertising, I manage all of the marketing online, I deal with all the contract, I deal with all the HR issues. I run the business surgeries. He doesn't have to worry about anything. To top it all off, to top it off, during the pandemic, I managed an entire surgical center launch. I secured the funding, and I negotiated the real estate. What I'm looking for right now is I'm looking to pivot and have and the earlier years of my career and being an attorney and do the same thing that I've done for this plastic surgeon for a law firm. I'm fascinated with law. That's still my passion and my love. And I hope that you know someone, or maybe you need my expertise in helping you scale your business. Because if I did this for this plastic surgeon from 0 to 15 million, I could do it for anybody. Listen, it's good when I do it because I do this every day. But that's also not the language that you use when you write it out. You're going to get this recording, recording, write it out, make it your own. Because you're going to, you know, the stuff about your daughter, you'll add a little bit more emotion there than I, than I have, you know, because that's your situation and not mine. But do you see how I structure that? Tell them what they need to hear, reverse engineer your background to meet their problem. So when you meet women at this event today, it's actually perfect timing. Introduce yourself, you know, I'm an attorney. Blah, blah, blah, blah. What do you do? What do you specially personal injury, walk the other way. Okay, but if they do anything else, doesn't matter if it's trust in a state. Doesn't matter if it's, you know, employee law. It doesn't matter what it is. Okay? What matters is you ask them, so how is business? Literally use that magic question. So, how's business? Oh, you know, it could be better. Are you. Where are you advertising? How are you getting your business? So it's an attorney talking to attorneys. So they're gonna open up their cards, say, well, you know, we had a marketing firm, blah, blah, blah. And then you're gonna say, well, you know what? It reminds me, I'm not practicing law anymore, even though I'm looking to get back into the legal field. But it sounds to me like you had exactly the same. You're having the same problems as the plastic surgeon that I'm running a business for. What kind of problems? Oh, you know, you also started. You know, there was a partnership that broke up, and we couldn't obtain clients because we moved the office. Blah, blah, blah. She's. This attorney is going to say, listen, we have to talk. You know, this online marketing. A lot of attorneys are really in the dark about this. Tell me more. Let's set up a meeting. The magic question, how is business? So tonight when you go, the less you say, the better it is. Hi, Mary. Nice to meet you. You know, what brings you to this event? Oh, you know, certification, whatever. How's business these days? Oh, don't ask. I just went through a very dirty partner breakup. Say, oh, wow, I'm sorry to hear that. Tell me more about that. And then they're going to get into it and say, you know, sounds a little bit like what I'm going through. You know, I am a practicing attorney, but over the last couple of years, I've been growing a business for a family member. It's plastic surgery, and I took the business from 0 to 15 million. Sounds like you need some help in growing your business. I'm looking to pivot. I'm looking to do what I did for this plastic surgeon to do in the legal. With. With the legal practice. There's going to be a lot of people talking to you tonight. Remember, they will only react on what you tell them. They don't know you. You could tell them anything that you want. You are in control tonight. You don't need to work hard. You need to work smart. This is what you need to do? Just go and meet people and ask them the question, so, how's business? And that's it.
