Growing up in the South Side of Chicago, Amanda Moncada-Perkins wanted power. Her family had few resources to make do with, so she became an attorney when she grew up to unlock a better future. And today, Amanda’s the Founding Attorney of her own firm, Stoutegy Law. But stepping into her power as a lawyer wasn’t without some major caveats. Amanda was pulling brutal 70 to 80-hour weeks while she was working at major firms. She recalls crying every day at work, stretching herself to the absolute limit to outperform her colleagues. She was even put on suicide watch during a particularly dark period. This week, Amanda talks about how she navigated countless obstacles in the daunting world of law to found her own successful firm. How did she cope with the immense pressure and strain as a high-profile attorney? Why did she find stepping away from work to be so difficult? And how did she eventually learn to put her mind at ease without compromising the quality of her work?
Growing up in the South Side of Chicago, Amanda Moncada-Perkins wanted power.
Her family had few resources to make do with, so she became an attorney when she grew up to unlock a better future. And today, Amanda is the Founding Attorney of her own firm, Stoutegy Law. But stepping into her power as a lawyer wasn’t without some major caveats.
Amanda was pulling brutal 70 to 80-hour weeks while she was working at major firms. She recalls crying every day at work, stretching herself to the absolute limit to outperform her colleagues. She was even put on suicide watch during a particularly dark period.
This week, Amanda talks about how she navigated countless obstacles in the daunting world of law to found her own successful firm. How did she cope with the immense pressure and strain as a high-profile attorney? Why did she find stepping away from work to be so difficult? And how did she eventually learn to put her mind at ease without compromising the quality of her work?
Amanda talks about:
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Hosted by Katherin Vasilopoulos. Made by Cansulta and Ethan Lee.
Music by © Correspondence and © Chris Zabriskie, published by You've Been a Wonderful Laugh Track (ASCAP).
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Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:00:00]:
For a lot of entrepreneurs, the prospect of having power is exciting. We want the respect of our peers, especially those who've doubted our abilities. Oftentimes, we want to transcend our circumstances. But there's a flip side to the power coin. Striving for more can lead us into all sorts of traps, like overwork and playing the never ending comparison game. And we can spend years caught in these cycles before finally breaking free. Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Amanda Moncada Perkins wanted power her family had few resources to make do with, and she was encouraged to pour herself into academic life to unlock a better future. Eventually, she became an attorney, and today Amanda is the founding attorney of her own firm, Stoutegy Law.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:00:49]:
But stepping into her power as a lawyer wasn't without some major caveats. As you'll hear later on, Amanda was pulling brutal 70 to 80 hours weeks while she was working at major firms. She recalls crying every day at work, stretching herself to the absolute limit to outperform her colleagues. She was even put on suicide watch during a particularly dark period. When you sit down with Amanda, the first thing you notice is how open and direct she is as a conversationalist, a skill that benefits her in her work. No doubt, right from the start, she was ready to share the absolute lowest moments of her entrepreneurial journey, from recovering from academic failure to maneuvering through the highest pressure work environments you could imagine. And she was eager to share everything she learned along the way. This week, I spoke with Amanda about how she navigated countless obstacles in the daunting world of law to found her own successful firm.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:01:48]:
How did she cope with the immense pressure and strain as a high profile attorney? Why did she find stepping away from work to be so difficult? And how did she eventually learn to put her mind at ease without compromising the quality of her work? I'm Katherine Vesilopoulos, and this is and so she left the podcast about incredible women entrepreneurs and the wisdom they gained beyond the corporate world. When you say you grew up on the south side of Chicago, people are going to notice the area is notorious for being one of the most dangerous places to live in the United States. But this episode isnt about that. It's about a young girl named Amanda who found herself living there, thinking of ways to propel herself into better circumstances.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:02:54]:
So I grew up on the south side of Chicago, and for anyone that knows anything about the south side of Chicago, it wasn't prime location. It wasn't the prime place to be. I grew up very low income and with the guidance of my grandmother, who was really like a surrogate mother to me. So we had very little resources, but there was what she lacked, or what we lacked, and financial resources she more than made up for and more of, like, a spiritual and educational resource provider. She really pressed upon us the importance of getting an education. And so for someone who wasn't very well educated herself, she saw getting an education as sort of the tool or the mechanism to create a future. I clung a hold to that. I was very academically inclined, even in my elementary school and the beginning of my high school years and on the south side of Chicago, where I wasn't really challenged academically.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:03:57]:
For someone who did not have a lot of resources, I just must say my grandmother was a very confident woman. She kind of made her presence known. She would always tell me, I don't care who it is. I don't care if you're the president of the United States. I am just as important. And from there, I just kind of set my sights on trying to become anything I could to give myself some form of power, some form of substance, to rise above my circumstances, if you will.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:04:24]:
But I love it that this whole idea of lack of resources wasn't a limiting factor in your identity. You didn't let that become your identity. You rose past that.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:04:33]:
I appreciate it now. Like, I can look on it fondly now. I can appreciate what she taught me now. But there was a point in time, and I must say, very early in my life and my early adulthood, where I was ashamed. And if anything, it was me trying to distance myself as far as possible from those circumstances and then eventually coming to see that it is because those circumstances, it is because of my grandmother that I am who I am today and the resilience that it took to get here. And which is also why now I can say, no one can tell me nothing. I can do exactly what she told me I can do. And it took me some time to get here, but I'm glad that I did arrive.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:05:19]:
Yes, yes. But you need those moments in your earlier years, those friction moments, let's call them that, where you've had to go through some stuff in order to build that character, to build the resilience. The people who have gone through the tough times earlier in life tend to develop something better, I think, a little bit more, and it helps them get to that higher level in their lives. Later on, you said something about feeling ashamed. Why? What was the shame factor going on there?
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:05:48]:
You know, you really can't appreciate feeling shame until you get some place where you get some exposure to something different. And so while I was growing up, I had no reference point to compare, you know, my lifestyle to my education, to my. My circumstances to. So I thought it was normal. My 1 mile radius of my home and the things that I was doing and where I was going and all of that was normal. It wasn't until I moved out of the south side of Chicago and moved to the south suburbs and was placed in an integrated, kind of racially diverse high school that I realized, wow, wait, life doesn't look the same everywhere, and education doesn't look the same everywhere. And so I went to this new high school where, and again, I told you I was academically inclined, right?
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:06:39]:
Yeah.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:06:40]:
But I'm now in this high school where I'm placed in honors classes, and I. Most of my peers are white students. They are running circles around me. Academically. I am failing my classes. In fact, I got an f in my honors english class, and I'd never received an. I'd never received anything less than a b in my life until that point. And it was a rude awakening where I realized that where I was coming from, I was under prepared.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:07:11]:
I had to come to terms with, where is my life going to go. I had a few. I had a teacher or, excuse me, a counselor tell me that I wasn't really cut out for being in the honors classes with those. With the gifted students. And so it kind of lit a fire under me. It was like. It was like being told that you weren't good enough. And I don't know, maybe it was my grandmother's audacity of, you know, I am as important as the next person.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:07:35]:
That kind of made me feel rebellious against that advice I was given. And so I said to myself, you know, I am cut out for this. I can prove it. And I did just that. I like to tell that story because at the end of my high school career, I ended up winning the most outstanding student and honors English award, somebody that failed, who came out on top because I made a decision. And so I was grateful for that moment because, like you said, there are moments that are challenges in our lives that kind of give you an opportunity to sink or swim. And that was one for me. That was one of a few that would approach in my life.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:08:11]:
There's nothing like someone telling you you can't do something to then light that fire under you and say, you know what? Watch me go.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:08:19]:
Watch what I do next.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:08:20]:
Yes.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:08:21]:
It's probably some of the best motivation.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:08:28]:
What happened? Like, you take these high school experiences, and you keep moving forward. How did that all help you now with your corporate environment and your corporate experience?
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:08:40]:
During high school, I liked the business law class, and then I also fell in love with psychology. Truly. I thought, you know, maybe I'll become a psychologist one day. I sat in, I was pre law. I was coded pre law because I had this interest at my school. And so one day I went to a meeting where there were other pre law students and there were attorneys there speaking. There's this one attorney, black male attorney, who was dressed to the nines, speaking so eloquently, just like a president or something, and speaking about what he does and how he works in downtown Chicago at this very big law firm and so on and so forth. And he was actually an alum of my university.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:09:26]:
I left that meeting, and I was like, I want his job. He looked powerful. He looked influential. He had a somewhat similar story to my background. And I thought, you know what? That is the first representation I've ever seen of something like this. If he can get power by becoming an attorney, I want to be powerful, too. So I want to be an attorney. And I saw that as being my stamp to rise above my circumstances.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:09:53]:
I love that you had someone to look up to and someone who inspired you to say, you know what? If it's possible for this person, it could be possible for me as well. And I love how that happens in life sometimes where someone doesn't even know that they're an influence to you, but that just their showing up in life and showing you what's possible is an amazing, you know, it's a blessing. Tell me about what came next. What did you do after?
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:10:17]:
While I was in college, I was taking business classes. I even launched a conference for students interested in law and business. But what I learned, even through that process of launching that conference was that, oh, my God, I don't know one thing about applying to law school. You know, there's only so much. I'm going to be honest, there's only so much mental strength and emotional strength you can garner on your own. And so I thought to myself, I may not be ready for law school. And instead of going directly to law school, I was recruited by Teach for America, and I went to teach second grade students out in Boston. The recruiter kept.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:11:01]:
I don't know what it was about me in particular, but he was like, I'm coming after you. You gotta be a teacher, Amanda. You gotta do this. And it was what I absolutely needed. And sometimes the universe does that, right? It conspires in a way that gives you a path forward without you even realizing it. But it's the path forward you need to take so that you're ready for that next step. So, yeah, I went to Boston. I taught for two years.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:11:27]:
It was a whirlwind of an experience because it was my first professional job out of college. And now I'm responsible for children who look like me. I am responsible for helping them succeed in the classroom, whereas I remember before, when I was their age, I didn't have a teacher that was able to push me. And so that changed things for me. It helped me to bring to awareness my cultural background. And it was in those moments that I started to feel more appreciation for where I came from, because it was where I came from that helped me resonate really well with my students and help them succeed in the classroom.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:12:08]:
And you know what it's like to be in their shoes, and you know what it's like to have to give them the encouragement that they need. What did you learn from teaching your students?
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:12:17]:
There's so many things during that period of time, but I think one of the most important was if you have somebody in your corner, all you need is one person, right? One person in your corner that tells you you can, it can change everything for you. And that one person for me for a long time was my grandmother, and then it became my stepfather. But for those students, for a lot of them, it was their teacher. And so I made it a point every day, even for the students that were at the very, very bottom in terms of metrics, I made it a point to come into the classroom every single day and let them know what they were capable of. I refer to them as college scholars. I talked to them about dreams. I talked to them about what was possible. I talked to them about what working hard and being kind and being focused could do.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:13:04]:
And remember, these were second graders, and they understood. And so for the very children that were underperforming, they would leave my classroom at grade level or above. And so what that helped me do is sort of fight against my own insecurities that I was dealing with about my own capabilities. Right. Cause how am I telling these students what they can do if I can't believe it myself? And so I think that was probably one of the biggest lessons that I took away. Seeing how they could latch on to the belief that they could rise above so early, so young, gave me something to catapult me and propel me forward, and I'm grateful to them. I'm grateful to my students for teaching me that.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:13:52]:
No, we all remember the great teachers that we had, and we also remember the crappy ones, too, the cool stuff. Right? So I'm so happy for you that you had that experience, and I'm happy for those students. What happened after I had made it.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:14:05]:
Up in my mind that I was going to do the teaching career for two years? My commitment was for two years. And so I stuck it out for two years. And I had never forgotten about law school. Okay? So it was still something I wanted to do, and now is my time to. To go to law school. And so I did. I applied, I went to law school. I focused my studies around business.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:14:26]:
Of all of the odds that I'd been facing, I am coming from where I'm coming from. You know, I'm second guessing myself and what I'm able to do. I'm on this college campus with students that it's a predominantly white school, and there are students in my class that are just like, yeah, I might so and so is a judge or a mayor or this or that. And I'm just like, oh, lord. And so I was like, you know, I'm going to go for the highest level that I possibly can. And mind you, me saying those things was not always met with the best response. It was like, come on, you go to this particular law school, you come from this background. The odds of you getting into that globally recognized firm are very small.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:15:07]:
And what did we talk about earlier? You know, having somebody tell you what you can't do is like, just bother for you to be like, no, we're going to make this happen. So I set my eyes on going to one of the biggest law firms, and it was a journey to get there. But I just made up my mind. I don't know. It's something about willpower where you're like, no, I'm going to do this thing. You just take steps to get there. It was working really hard, don't get me wrong. It was aligning myself with the right stakeholders in my school also.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:15:37]:
But there was a sheer willpower where I was just like, I'm not going to take no for an answer. And it really helped a lot because I ended up landing a position with that law firm and focusing on business law. And I did that for about four, four and a half years. And it was quite a journey. It was a journey that was needed to help me understand a few things about myself. It helped me understand that I can set my sight on very high, ambitious goals and reach them. It helped me understand that I am very capable at my practice and my expertise. I can build relationships that can withstand the edifice that I'm walking into.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:16:21]:
Right? I don't need this building or this name behind me in order to have lasting relationships beyond this. But most importantly, it taught me that I need to bet on me and I need to take seriously my life and my peace and my health. And I had not, until I made the decision to leave big law, I had not prioritized my life, my health and my peace.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:16:54]:
Explain to me what happened in your corporate life and how that impacted your self care, your work life balance.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:17:01]:
I think my grooming for what life was going to be like in corporate started in law school. Look, I think that I went to a great law school, and I think that the most of the professors and the administrators there were genuinely interested in my success. So I will say that not everybody gets that experience. That being said, it is still law school people, and it is still highly competitive. And you are taught you got to be the best of the best of the best. Otherwise you don't get the opportunities. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes. And it is competitive, right? You look at your fellow classmate as competition, and so you take that mentality where it's like you have to beat the next person and you have to be better than it applies when you walk into the law firm.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:17:49]:
And truly, it's such a very terrible way to train or coach young professionals, because then you miss out on relationship building opportunities that can actually catapult you to even better success. I'm walking into this place with this mindset, like, I'm not coming from the Harvards or the Yales, like my counterparts, so I have to prove that I'm even better. That meant when I told you earlier, like, the maladaptive tendencies, the workaholism set in in a way that I'd never seen before, because I was truly thinking that in order to survive this, I had to prove myself round the clock and be. Being in corporate, being in big law, it was like breeding ground for anxiety, breeding ground for stress, and just so many other things. It's like perfection is the standard. So you don't sleep and you don't, you know, exercise the way you're supposed to, and you don't have a social life. Like, I'm working 80 plus hour weeks. I am, you know, working from sunup to sundown.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:18:48]:
You would have thought that I was a surgeon. I was on call all the time. If I ever went anywhere, my phone was right by my side and anytime it chimed I had, my heart sank into my stomach because I'm thinking something needs to be done right away or I did something wrong that was constantly on my mind, I did something wrong, I'm going to get fired, I'm never going to have a legal career again. It's just this constant turmoil. And then you're told certain things by more senior ranking attorneys, right, about your value, about, you know, your worth, your fungible right, easily replaceable, you're not that special if someone else is out there.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:19:26]:
Waiting for your job the minute they, yeah, yeah, I see.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:19:29]:
I mean I remember walking into, oh God, it's just so many experiences, but I remember I'm in my office and I have the audacity, listen, I had the audacity to be laughing at something. And an attorney, a more senior attorney walked by and said, what are you doing laughing? What's so funny?
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:19:46]:
Oh my gosh.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:19:48]:
Like I said, the way you were spoken to and the things that you were expected to do, like I remember even asking a partner, can I please go home and sleep? It's been 22 hours. And he was like, I need a couple more hours out of you, please, and then you can go home. You know, asking for permission to go home and sleep was just, wow. So all of that led to just some very bad consequences for me emotionally and physically. One, this kind of makes me choke up a little bit, but I wasn't really able to be by my grandmother's bedside as she was dying. And so I'm in the office and I'm curled up under a desk crying because she's in the hospital and I can't see her because I'm working on a deal. And that was probably a pivotal turning point for me. But, but it was that, it was the fact that I now needed to go to therapy counseling two or three times a week.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:20:46]:
My counselor had me on suicidal watch. In a way, I just was going through a lot and I had to have a real heart to heart with even my dad. Like, it's either this job or it's you, okay? There's no amount of money, Amanda, that is important. More important than your life. It was very challenging, but I was wrapped up in this idea that my self worth, right, was a reflection of this job and that without this position, I am nothing. I'm investing all of me in this. And remember, this was my version of power. But I am yet again finding myself power less.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:21:32]:
That initial corporate job that we all had. I mean, that is a cliche that you think that your entire identity and your worth is strapped to this one job, and you want to show that you're good, and you want to show that you're smart and you're going to put in the extra hours and you have to act corporate, whatever that means. Meaning, don't laugh. Be this, be that, and then you go, I can't live like this. I just can't do it. And I'm very curious to know about your, what we call here, the and so she left moment.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:22:01]:
Like, what happened?
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:22:02]:
What happened? For you to just say, okay, I am done.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:22:05]:
Yes.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:22:05]:
And I need to leave.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:22:07]:
Yes. So during this time, my reviews and my client experiences are off the charts. They're doing I'm very well. But you wouldn't be able to tell, right? You wouldn't know that. I say that because I'm also like, if I leave this job, I have nothing. So I took a. I don't want to call it a cowardly move, but it was a safer move initially where I thought, I can't possibly leave a job without a job. Like, I don't know.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:22:35]:
Right? Like your parents tell you, never leave a job without a job.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:22:38]:
You need your parachutes. You can't just jump.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:22:41]:
So I thought, you know, maybe it's just this firm. I'll just go to another firm. I'll go to a little bit of a smaller firm. It'll be better. You know, there are less hours, less, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They sell you the story and you get there and you're like, nope. So the moment that I decided, I am done, it probably was the most. It wasn't petty.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:23:04]:
It wasn't a petty moment. But it was also not the biggest insult that I had ever received. It was just my last insult that I could actually tolerate. I was on vacation with my new husband at the time. It was our first vacation together. And my clients know I'm away. And one in particular is like, please don't answer any emails while you're gone. Enjoy yourself.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:23:25]:
And I thought, thanks so much. That's kind of you. And while I'm on vacation, that same client emails myself and the partner on the matter, and he's addressing the request to the partner, and the partner is emailing me to do the thing, right. To take care of the request. I know. Yeah. And I looked at the email because, come on, I'm obsessive compulsive at this point. I'm looking at my email, of course, but I look into the email, and I make a decision that I'm not going to respond to this.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:23:52]:
And so I get back to the office, and that partner comes into my office and goes, did you not see the emails that I sent you? I said to him, yes, I did see your emails. And now that I'm back, I'm able to respond. And he says, you should have responded at that time. And I tell him I was on vacation. And he goes, I don't care. You know, that's not how we do things. And I reminded him, you know, the client also told me not to respond until I got back. And he was like, I don't care.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:24:24]:
I'm your boss. It was that moment that I was like, I am never going to have peace. I'm never going to have peace here. So I decided I was going to tender my resignation, and I just couldn't take it anymore. It was like the straw that broke the camels back. Like, you're going to tell me now I can't have a vacation. And I even asked him, I said, when do we get a mental break if not even on vacation? Right? And he didn't have an answer for me. He's like, you just got to do what you got to do.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:24:51]:
That's literally what it is. Just do what you got to do. And I was like, you know, yeah, I'm going to do what I got to do. I got to go.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:24:56]:
And so this liberating moment happens, but there's nothing waiting for you. I guess you didn't. There was nothing on the other side of that door. What did that do?
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:25:05]:
Oh, my gosh. Exactly. So let me tell you what I thought my grand plan was going to be, because I did not have a job lined up after a job, right? Which is probably to the dismay and horror of every parent ever. I had saved up quite a bit of money because I still was living that whole they're going to fire me life. I better save my money now. So I had enough money where I thought, I'll take a sabbatical for about a year or so, maybe even a little longer, and then I'll go back to the real world and, you know, figure it out. I'll go get another job. I call this my eat, love, pray, black latina moment.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:25:42]:
And so I'm set on my way, you know, my husband's in full support, bless his heart. And so I'm going on my first solo vacation, and three days in, I literally go, what the hell are you doing? Oh, my God, Amanda, you just threw away your whole life. Are you insane? Are you insane? And I'm crying, and I'm like, I am a hot mess. I. You know, all of the things. All of the things. So my one year sabbatical turned into a three day sabbatical. I was like, I got to find a job.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:26:16]:
I've lost my mind. Before I went going crazy looking for a job, something told me to reach out to a mentor of mine who was a partner at a big law firm, the same law firm I just resigned from. And I was like, am I crazy? Talk to me. What do you think I should do? Should I just come back? Should I just tuck my toe between my legs and come back? And she is like, uh, no, I will not let you do that. And we kind of had a heart to heart. She was like, I really do think you need to take some time and figure out what you want to do. And we chatted. We chatted, and she said, you know, Amanda, I think you should talk to this one attorney, former attorney, who did big law as well.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:26:56]:
She's now running a multi million dollar consulting firm. Maybe you two just sit down, chat, and you can pick up some gems from her. So she makes this introduction, and I thought, okay, that's fair. I can. I can talk to her. Let me see what she did. I sit down with her. It was supposed to be a 1 hour lunch, and it turned into a three hour lunch.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:27:14]:
Oh, wow.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:27:15]:
A three hour lunch. And I landed my first client. I was like, what is that? What is this? And not as a lawyer, but merely as a consultant. And at the time, I had no idea what that meant. Like, I just told her I would help her launch a new service, because she's like, you know, Amanda, I'm having trouble doing this thing. I want to really launch this new thing. Maybe you can help me. I mean, you have time.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:27:39]:
And when we started talking about pricing and everything, I literally made the most novice move ever, because I, look, I've never done this before. I go, whatever you want to pay me is fine. And she goes, what? No. Let me give you your first business lesson. You're going to tell me a price, and I'll tell you whether or not I can meet it. And she was like, and don't lowball yourself here, okay? You're better than that. And I'm sitting there looking at her in complete and utter disbelief, and we settle on a multiple thousand dollar retainer per month to help her with the service. And I was like, there's no way people pay and do stuff like this.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:28:19]:
And that's how I started this entrepreneurial journey into business consulting.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:28:25]:
And that's the thing. We hear the word consultant and it could mean anything and everything to anyone. So it's whatever you make it out to be, it's basically you're an expert in what you know and you're offering that value to whoever wants to pay for it.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:28:39]:
It's the value piece. And so as I was working as a, you know, a business consultant, or I really started to call myself a cheap operating officer, it got granular. Okay. I got real serious about this and I landed several clients, helping them in their business run their operations more efficiently. And I realized, wow, I really have enact for this because I of my training as an attorney, how I think through the issues that they're going through and try to find avenues of success for them and solutions. It actually helped them with their procedures, their processes and so on, and it increased their revenue, their income. So I start seeing this and I start learning more about business. Now I'm in people's businesses.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:29:23]:
I'm learning a lot more about what it means to run a company, what it means to a client, and just so much more in a way that I never experienced before. And even more importantly, I'm working with women CEO's who are running multimillion dollar companies. And I had no idea this kind of world existed while I was working in big law because all my clients were male.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:29:50]:
Oh, wow.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:29:51]:
Yeah. And so I had now stepped into an arena where I'm like, I want to be here to stay, but I don't want to just do this as a business consultant. I'm getting that itch to become an attorney. I want to be an attorney. This is where, you know, this is where I live. And I now, for the first time, feel like I can be an attorney without having a big law firm or having corporate, you know, some corporate entity behind my name.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:30:20]:
What was the biggest lesson that you learned during this period?
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:30:25]:
I will say the biggest lesson. So I'm a negotiator, right. That's really what I focus on when it comes to my legal practice and what I actually helped a lot of my business clients do, which is to understand their worth, understand how to leverage it, and to create value and get the outcomes that they want. Now, what's funny about that is as an expert who does this, I wasn't doing that very well for myself. I had to really challenge myself and how I even viewed my own worth in order to become successful as an entrepreneur. Because there's no way possible I'm going to land a client, run a business, or grow in this area if I don't appreciate what I bring to the table. I can't teach someone to do something that I don't know how to do myself, no matter how much expertise I have behind my name. So it really taught me, and it's still teaching me how to own my own value, how to stand in that and do so in a comfortable way and not cower through intimidation or, you know, interacting with other people who may seem to know more than me or, you know, come from these big companies or what have you.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:31:36]:
And through these experiences, like, I was on the other side, right? Like a big law firm, I'm representing these Fortune 100 companies. Well, now I'm representing smaller businesses, mid sized companies, and now I'm negotiating against the attorneys at these Fortune 100 companies and gaining massive successes for my clients. Right? Yeah. So it's now teaching me the importance of owning my skills, owning my expertise, trusting my clients, and trusting myself in order to be successful. And I didn't have this level of confidence while I was in big law. I was the yes woman, right? Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it, because I'm so afraid now. My confidence is in a whole different stratosphere, and it's so necessary in order to help myself and my clients be successful.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:32:32]:
What kind of advice do you have for people who may be in your position or wanted to start something up for their, you know, their own endeavor, but they just don't know how to do it. Just because they don't know that there's another world of things out there.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:32:45]:
If it's a desire in your heart, you gotta pursue it before you check out it here. Leave it all on the table. Leave it all on the table. Because even if you try and you don't succeed at that thing, you're going to have learned something about yourself, and it's going to open up your mind to the possibilities of other things. But if you never try, you'll never experience different. And that is a regret that I know a lot of us would really not like to go to the end of our lives with. And so I would just really encourage people to think about that. You have this life.
Amanda Moncada-Perkins [00:33:29]:
Try.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:33:31]:
Thank you so much to Amanda Moncada Perkins. You can learn more about strategy law through the link in the episode description. If you like the show, please rate, review, and subscribe to an Soci left wherever you listen, your feedback helps us to better serve current listeners and reach new ones. Head over to ansocialft.com for full episodes, transcripts, an application form to be on the show, a list of upcoming guests, and more. And so she left is made by Cansulta and Ethan Lee. Cansulta connects entrepreneurs and leaders with a global roster of over 150 pre vetted consultants and experts like Ethan and I, who can help organizations in any business area, from HR to finance to sales and marketing, and even leadership. We'll be back next Wednesday with a new episode. Our music is by Correspondence and Chris Zabriskie, edited for your enjoyment.
Katherin Vasilopoulos [00:34:24]:
You can find a list of all the songs you heard here in the episode. Notes I'm Katherin Vasilopoulos and thanks for listening.