Ok, so you know how you see celebrities out there acting all crazy and you think to yourself, “Why is this person acting like this, it seems like s/he has everything going for them?!?!”

Well, I'm beginning to appreciate something I'd only understood intellectually before.  You see, in the past 18 months my business has grown by more than 100% and we're on track to grow alot more in 2011. 

This has been mostly the result of Ale regaining her health and me finally reconciling myself to get out there and publicize what I've been doing privately for the past 10 years or so.  Which admittedly is not to everyone's taste.  And that's ok. Because growing your law firm requires you to stand for something.  And the more clearly you stand for something and the more publicly you do so the faster and the bigger your practice will become.

But along the way you have to be prepared to attract your detractors too. 

Because there are chocolate lovers who are content to enjoy their chocolate while someone else enjoys their vanilla.  But sadly, there is a part of the population who because of their own personal problems just can't stand to see you enjoying ANY flavor ice cream. 

The thing is about these types of people is that their inability to be happy for another person's happiness comes from a place of internal dishonesty with themselves.  And our human egos being what they are, most people look for facts to justify how they feel.  So the internally unhappy person goes in search of facts to support their positions.  Now one of two things can happen.  An unhappy person who is honest with him/herself will find facts that force them to take different actions to become happy.  But the dishonest person will often just start making things up.

This is part of the reason I really like to work with lawyers.  Because we are trained to be objective and find facts upon which to base our opinions.  So even a lawyer who may not be happy with his or her practice today but who goes in search of facts will eventually find the path to a happier practice and a happier life.

The problem is when you encounter an unhappy person who is also not very honest with him or herself and so in order to protect their ego starts making things up.  And while I am not a celebrity I'm beginning to understand how distracting it can be when an unhappy reporter or gossip columnist who is also not honest with him or herself sets their sights on someone who is out there in the public eye trying to do some good in the world be it through education, entertainment or politics.

Because logic, facts and basic human kindness count for nothing if they stand in the way of a dishonest-unhappy person and his or her fragile ego.

Anyway, I'm still figuring this out. 

I thought I'd share because I know there are alot of lawyers who read my blog who are similarly experiencing exponential growth in your practices and I wanted to let you know not to be discouraged or retreat.  That you are not alone if your efforts to grow, improve and extend your reach of influence to improve the lives of your clients is unexpectedly making you the target of some unhappy people who for reasons known only to them and their mental health professionals cause them to be highly threatened by your prosperity and happiness, to the extent of making up things.

RJON