Success As a Mom and a Law Firm Owner with Michelle Bomberger

03/20/23 • 45 min

This week on Maximum Mom, your host Elise Buie is joined by Michelle Bomberger. Michelle founded Equinox in 2005 to provide business leaders a more transparent, responsive, and business focused solution for their legal needs.

Over the past 17 years, she’s morphed the business model to offer a fixed fee General Counsel Services solution giving business leaders the confidence and freedom to include legal in their strategic and tactical planning -- they have a relationship with their lawyer and they know what they are paying, when they'll get a response, and that the solution is right for their business.

It's a tough model to manage and she’s learned a ton about how to make this work for her clients and for her own business. When Michelle started Equinox in 2005, she had a 1 year old at home and was pregnant with her second child.

Michelle’s kids have grown up with Equinox a part of their lives -- but also having their mom in their lives! While they've seen her work a lot over the years - and seen the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur and employer, she’s always been there for them.

Michelle committed early on to picking them up from school, taking them where they needed to go, and participating in what was important to them. These were priorities for Michelle and forced her to make decisions in her business and her life to make these work for her family.

Michelle has an undergraduate degree in business from the University of Notre Dame and a JD/MBA from Northwestern University. She is an active member and member of the Board of Directors of the Seattle Chapter of Entrepreneurs' Organization and a member of the Board of Bellevue LifeSpring and Youth Theatre Northwest.

04:42 The start of the law firm and having little children

11:55 When the firm office encourages the flexibility needed for motherhood and work

14:07 Strategic misses that are happening right now

17:47 Using fixed price

23:42 Books recommended by Michelle that have really shifted her thinking

29:25 How does Michelle streamline the administrative burden

37:55 Tips for how to succeed in life as “mom” and as a law firm owner!

40:55 Tips for handling email inbox #rabbithole

Connect with Michelle:

Links Mentioned:

🎧Listen to the podcast here.

📹 Watch the interview here.

Resources:

Join the Guild Membership
Subscribe to the Maximum Lawyer Youtube Channel
Follow us on Instagram
Join the Facebook Group
Follow the Facebook Page
Follow us on LinkedIn

04:42 The start of the law firm and having little children

11:55 When the firm office encourages the flexibility needed for motherhood and work

14:07 Strategic misses that are happening right now

17:47 Using fixed price

23:42 Books recommended by Michelle that have really shifted her thinking

29:25 How does Michelle streamline the administrative burden

37:55 Tips for how to succeed in life as “mom” and as a law firm owner!

40:55 Tips for handling email inbox #rabbithole

Connect with Michelle:

Links Mentioned:

🎧Listen to the podcast here.

📹 Watch the interview here.

Resources:

Join the Guild Membership
Subscribe to the Maximum Lawyer Youtube Channel
Follow us on Instagram
Join the Facebook Group
Follow the Facebook Page
Follow us on LinkedIn

Previous Episode

The Measure of “Success” with Steph Tuss

This week on Maximum Mom, your host Elise Buie is joined by Steph Tuss. Women in particular are burdened with a double edged sword – society tells us that our values are built on being a mother to our children, but it also says we should go out and have a career or business of our own.

Raising children and excelling as an entrepreneur at the same time are two barely synchronizable endeavors. Mothers don't even have to fail in one of these areas to feel mom guilt.

Steph Tuss – CEO of the multimillion-dollar global consulting company Life Is Now, Inc – has been pretty familiar with this mom guilt feeling, all too well.

Before joining Life Is Now, Steph left her career as an educator to launch her own holistic nutrition business, having been inspired by her first daughter’s growing health challenges and her quest for the root cause.

Her sole focus when starting her business was to replace her teacher salary of $37,000/year. In spite of the people around her not being confident that she was going to make it, Steph was willing to do anything necessary to continue forward.

So much so, that she was working early mornings, late nights and weekends – it got to a point where she literally couldn’t do more and started to resent her business. She started her business because she wanted freedom, but ironically, she had created a jail for herself.

Steph realized she was diminishing her returns by not hiring someone to help in her business and with her kids. She let go of mom guilt, sold her business, and joined Life Is Now as the Director of Sales.

She was frequently traveling the world with the new company and during one of their events, she realized her ideal life would involve her daughters traveling with her.

Steph and her husband then made the decision to go for it: They pulled their kids out of school and hired a tutor + nanny that would travel alongside the family, regardless of people constantly questioning their decision.

What does "success" mean to you? What is your vision for your life and business? Listen in!

01:05 Meet Steph and the the unexpected ups and downs of empty nesting
05:20 The issue of hiring and firing and the emotions around the people piece of business and the standards that are agreed upon
10:21 How often do you check in with your team = micromanage vs. good management
14:33 How does a law firm come up with a 3D vision?
18:26 Running a business while running a family
26:00 Let’s deep dive into your mindset!
31:35 Finding so much opportunity on the flip side of a bad thing
41:20 Value conflict and how it will kill your business

Connect with Steph:

Website: https://www.lifeisnowinc.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeisnowinc/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidNeagleCommunity

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/life-is-now-inc/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LifeIsNow/videos

Links Mentioned:

🎧Listen to the podcast here .

📹 Watch the interview here.

Resources:

Join the Guild Membership

Subscribe to the Maximum Lawyer Youtube Channel

Join the Facebook Group

Follow the Facebook Page

Next Episode

When and How To Ask For Help with Kara McKeage

This week on Maximum Mom, your host Elise Buie is joined by Kara McKeage. Kara McKeage is the founder of Pepper’s Personal Assistants, a sourcing and placement agency for highly vetted personal assistants.

With the belief that support is not a luxury, support is a necessity. She is dedicated to helping professional women let go of the shame around outsourcing household tasks so they can find more time, feel organized and have peace of mind.

Kara provides a framework and mindset shift in releasing the fear of delegation and outsourcing household tasks and how to have a successful relationship with your personal assistants.

With a team of 24 employees, Kara can share the importance of embracing support, leadership for remote teams, and taking actions that align with your core values. You can expect Kara to share lessons learned and key takeaways on life and business.

01:20 Meet Kara!

04:11 Getting support

09:30 When starting to delegate to a personal assistant

14:57 Accepting that you actually cannot do it all

18:30 When you are worried about providing too much care and raising entitled kids

21:42 Personal work need to happen in order to grow a business

23:48 How to create your core values

29:47 Feedback - one of the biggest leadership failures

🎧Listen to the podcast here.

📹 Watch the interview here.

Connect with Kara:

Books Mentioned: