Who I Am
Hi. I’m Jacqui Brauman. I’m a lawyer and I own my own law firm. My purpose is to be of service, but I am not fulfilling this truly as a lawyer. My dream is to be writer, writing about things I love and travelling to talk to people and helping others transform themselves and their businesses. Writing fiction, writing about what I read, writing about equality and ethics, and just haring my thoughts.
This blog is about my journey and how I’m scaling my legal business, so I can live my dream, and how you can do it too!
This was my original blog, when I was dreaming about becoming a writer, but then let the dream go for a few years ….
I am an Australian woman in my thirties. I am a military wife, and live with my husband and our fur-baby just North of Melbourne.
I studied law straight out of high school, and graduated in 2006. I have been a practicing lawyer since, and have owned my own small law firm since 2012. I bought the firm from a retiring sole practitioner and have tripled it in size since I bought it.
What this is all about
But I cannot see myself working in the law, day-in day-out for the next thirty years, so I’m scaling my business so I can step out of it and chase my true purpose, and help corporate women find success, equality and fulfilment.
I have always wanted to be a writer, since as young as I can remember. My mother tells me that my first sentence as a child was “read a book”, as I would demand that she read to me almost constantly!
But I have always been a fairly insecure person, and so I always wanted validation and applause for my achievements. The more I strove and proved my intelligence, the more I pleased those around me. In hindsight, this is what lead me to studying the law – because I got such high marks in high school, I did the degree that was one of the hardest to get into.
I have always wanted to help people, though, and be of service to my community and the world at large. I thought the law would be somewhere I could do that, but I am the kind of person that wants to make everyone around me happy. Being a lawyer is an environment where people are least likely to be happy, so I have surrounded myself with the complete opposite to what I need.
I bought the law firm in 2012 because I realised I couldn’t work for anyone again, after I had a horrific experience in a former job. The sexual harassment and discrimination were almost beyond words. So, I cannot go back and work for someone else.
Since owning the law firm, I have realised that I love business development far more than the law itself. And I have finally been able to accept that ‘sunk cost’ is not a reason to keep doing the law when it is not providing me with any satisfaction.
It has taken me a decade to come to this realisation.
You can follow me through my transition from legal practice to replacing my income through writing and speaking, by following my blog and signing up for my newsletter (on the right –>).
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you are going through something similar.