On Entrepreneurship and Lawyers -- and Contractors

I stumbled across this article today:

Lawyer-Turned-Entrepreneur: How the Collision of Diverse Careers can Blend into Success

It was a great article.

Here is an extract:

There are certain basic characteristics that are innate in both lawyers and entrepreneurs. For example, both careers require energy, initiative, motivation, creativity, and the ability to juggle multiple tasks, deal with time pressures, and pick up new information quickly. Both careers also require an objective approach to problems, such as focusing on performance and accomplishment rather than personal feelings.

Despite the similarities, lawyers and entrepreneurs can be very different. Three characteristics distinguish lawyers-turned-entrepreneurs from their peers who remained in the legal sector: their risk tolerance, their optimism, and their leadership abilities. Most lawyers are skilled at risk analysis and avoidance. There are exceptions, such as personal injury or product liability lawyers that often take enormous risks in hopes of yielding a huge reward; however, most people choose the legal field because of its predictability. The lawyers that separate themselves from the majority are the ones that have an innate attraction to challenge. It is this need for challenge that makes the lawyer-turned-entrepreneur more risk tolerant. Put differently, it often seems as though entrepreneurs are taking high risks, but in actuality they have assessed the risks thoroughly, and this assessment is a function of entrepreneurship that lawyers are more than equipped to handle.

We can't help peering into someone else's windows to find out about their lives. Curiosity got the cat, and it sometimes gets us, too. In this post I rant about being a lawyer, and wonder whether I should see myself as a contractor.

Renovation Inspiration (Inspired by Flipping)

Inspired by flipping

Recently, I have been inspired by stories of "flipping" properties. Basically the owners of these properties purchase these properties at a low price and spend some time and money to touch up the place. New stuff, as always, excites the senses. Old fittings and peeling paint, on the other hand, rarely inspires excitement. Most prospective tenants and/or buyers would like to see a property in a tenantable condition, without much effort/money needed on their part to make the place pretty.

If you've never tried flipping a house, but you want to, there's really nothing stopping you from doing it. Except, of course, if you don't have the money to plonk down on a house. In which case, you can flip other things, like pillows and pancakes. If you are agile you can also flip yourself.