"Betting on Yourself" by Alex Su
and Additional Thoughts
February 23, 2024

In November 2023, popular lawyer social media personality Alex Su wrote a blog post titled “Betting on Yourself” that resonated with me and many others – you can use the link below to read the blog post and subscribe to Alex’s newsletter, “Off the Record.”  The blog post provides a framework for taking a bet on yourself to maximize your potential, even that means moving off of the traditional path, taking a temporary drop in income, or other sacrifice. 

Although the blog post was centered around entrepreneurship and alternative careers, this framework still applies well to more traditional paths: seeking a new job that better utilizes your strengths, aiming for a promotion or creating a new role within your current firm, or something else. 

Before you dive into Alex’s blog post, here are some thoughts on how this can apply to anyone, regardless of career goals:

–If You’re Considering Starting Your Own Business:  One highlight for me over the past couple of years has been meeting so many other vendors in the law firm recruiting and professional development space.  Many of these people are former law firm legal professionals who decided to take the leap and start their own thing.  Sometimes this seems quick, but there is a common denominator – for almost everyone, they were thinking about it for a while, and didn’t just make the decision overnight.  Often times it starts with a side hustle or planting seeds in your free time, and grows from there to a point where it is a lucrative full-time business.  If you are considering something like this, such as third-party consulting, marketing, coaching, diversity education, (gasp) third-party recruiting, or another similar venture, I urge you to read Alex’s blog post.  You won’t stop thinking about it.

–Considering How to Maximize Your Potential in Your Current Job:  You may not be interested in starting your own business, but feel like you could maximize your potential better in your current job.  This framework can still be valuable for you in thinking about how to bet on yourself in your current job.  Maybe that means creating a presentation to justify creating a new role for you that hits on certain skills that you are underutilizing and adds more value to the firm.  Maybe that means putting your hat in the ring for an opening at the firm for which they are searching externally. 

–Considering Looking for a New Job:  You may be considering a new job but not sure how to assess the new job or whether it would be a good move for you.  It could be due to unhappiness at your current firm or out of a desire to find a role that better fits your strengths.  Or, it could be a job that is out of the traditional path of your industry.  For example, trying recruiting in another industry or taking on an all-encompassing role at a much smaller firm.  Or it could be moving to a new firm for an opening in a more senior role – and how you can prove that you are right the person for the job, and that you are qualified enough, smart enough, creative enough, and diligent enough to take on that role and succeed (even if there are less important “external” factors, for example, you are younger, more junior, or less experienced than other candidates).  Again, this framework on how to bet on yourself is helpful in thinking about looking for a new job, whether it is similar to your current role or something brand new.