Award Winning Lawyer Pivots Into Entrepreneurship: Podcast Interview on What It's Really Like to Be an Entrepreneur

by Melanie Griffin October 15, 2020

Spread Your Sunshine Founder Melanie S. Griffin, Esq. was recently the Featured Guest on Episode 7, Season 5 of What It's Really Like to Be an Entrepreneur. Hosted by Vincent A. Lanci, the podcast showcases discussions with entrepreneurs in a variety of fields to learn how they have built their businesses. In this interview, Vincent and Melanie discussed how she decided to leave her full-time legal career for entrepreneurship by continually asking herself a question posed to her by her husband, "Can you picture someone else in the job that you are in?" Once she realized that yes, in fact, she could watch another perform her full-time Equity Shareholder position without regret, she knew that it was time to pursue new passions.

Knowing that a change is necessary does not necessarily make it easy. Vincent and Melanie explored the difficulties she has faced since becoming an entrepreneur, including vulnerability, the significant time invested in starting a new business from scratch, and battling the uncertainty of others who do not see entrepreneurship as a safe career decision. Adding to this discussion, Melanie touched on how important it is to be challenged at each stage of your career and have the right mentors as you determine changes are necessary. For example, mentors who assist you during your legal career may not have relevant advice for an entrepreneur selling products. If you pivot careers, it will therefore be necessary to form new mentorships with trusted advisors who have relevant experience in your new field.

Melanie ended the episode by reminiscing about one of her entrepreneurial "failures" — failing to connect with a former employee—and how she learned and grew because of it. She discussed how she has learned to ask the following question of the failure, "Did I do everything I could to prevent the outcome?" If not, it is important not to dwell, and rather, to focus on what changes should be made moving forward and a plan of action to implement them. To this end, during the discussion, Melanie provides strategies for hiring talent who is the best fit for your Team.

To listen to this interview and read the show notes, please click here. Love what you hear? You can subscribe, download, and share the show, all from this link. If you prefer to listen, subscribe, and download directly on Spotify, be sure to click here. For Apple Podcasts, click here.

And, to hear more from Melanie and Vincent, follow SpreadYourSunshine and YourFavoriteMorningPodcast on Instagram. You can also learn more about What It’s Really Like to Be an Entrepreneur and listen to additional episodes by clicking here.

Is there anything that YOU want to learn about that will help the SYS community?! We’re sure you do, so please share your requests by emailing Melanie@SpreadYourSunshine.com or by sending Spread Your Sunshine a message via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter. We love hearing from you, as together, we are our best.