How are you designed?

My Reflections on Being a Projector

By:  Lori T. Williams, Owner/Managing Attorney of Your Legal Resource, PLLC

I’ve had days where I felt I was working way too hard for way too little, and it was grueling!  I’ve had other days where I was certain I was doing exactly what I was created to do, and loving it! These good days are what I call my “Projector days”.  For those of you not familiar with Human Design Work, each of us falls into one of four categories of how we were designed.  My category is called a Projector.  Click here for a detailed explanation of this type of human design.

In a nutshell, Projectors need to be “invited in” by others.  If we try to “make things happen”, or give advice without being asked, we can be seen as pushy or intrusive.  But if we simply let people know in general terms how we can be of help to them and others, and then wait for someone to come to us when they have a need,  everything works!  When I follow this Projector Model for success, life works!  When I don’t, it’s very hard.

There’s nothing wrong with hard work, and I’m no stranger to it.  I know there are times to buckle down, plant seeds, and harvest later.  Sometimes it feels like the harvest will never come, and I try to “help the process along”.  However, this rarely works.  At best I just distract myself into thinking I’m helping, and at worst I exhaust myself with too much effort.   What works best for me is to be focused on whatever is right before me, meaning respond to whatever requests for help I have been given rather than try to force my own agenda.

This “wait for the invitation” style of business and personal relationships is exactly the opposite of what I’ve been taught by sales professionals over the years.  Their mantra is “always be closing!”  That might be great advice for someone else, but it’s is completely wrong for a Projector.  Since only 20% of the population is a Projector, at least the sales professionals are reaching the other 80% for whom this advice does resonate.  However, it was wrong for me.

When I operate in the “Projector Zone”, I’m very efficient, energized, and don’t feel like I’ve worked at all, but I accomplish much.  I just need to remember to stop for a moment, and acknowledge it, rather than bulldoze through to the next thing on my “To Do” List!

A few success stories from my Projector Days include:

• Opportunity to write for a fee:

For the last six months I’ve been thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if I got paid to write in some way?” To even have this notion is a pretty big deal for me.  I had a writing professor in college who once told me, “Lori, writing will always be hard for you because you lack passion.”  I write a lot for my business, and thoroughly enjoy it.  The enjoyment factor is the key difference. When I wrote in college, it was for an assignment that I was merely reporting on rather than being personally involved or interested in.  Some of my writing did lack passion then.  I’ve learned to be aware of and overcome that tendency by writing what I know about and am interested in.  It makes for better reading for all of us! As a result of having this notion of being paid for writing, but not forcing it to come to fruition, I was recently asked if I’d be interested in writing a monthly column, for a fee. I’ve also had some opportunities to blog for a fee.

• Ask and you shall receive:

In January and May of this year, I reached out to my LinkedIn Network and asked, “Do you know any solo or small firm attorneys in Oakland County?”  The response was great.  For the last 9 months, I’ve been in follow up mode with 150 attorneys that I’ve been introduced to by my LinkedIn network.  If I had tried to randomly contact these attorneys with a cold call because I found them on the internet or in the Bar Journal, I would not have had as much interest from them as when I mentioned a mutual contact who introduced us. And my approach to these attorneys was very “Projector-like.”  Rather than try to sell them my services, I invited them to attend an event, or collaborate on a blog where they could get some attention for their practice.

• Created a business model based on referrals:

The ironic thing about my 23 year career in the legal field is that all the success I had was based on being a Projector, yet not knowing it.  During the first 14 years of my career, I was a divorce attorney.  I never tried to “drum up business” by having a sale on divorces, or hounding people about their marriage.  I networked with other professionals and they referred me people they knew who needed a divorce attorney.

I created my legal referral business  8 years ago.  By the end of this year, I will have helped 2,000 clients, all of whom were referred to me by someone else or by meeting me through networking.   I’ve branded myself as a legal resource, rather than a legal expert.  I was a legal expert in divorce when I practiced divorce law, but now I am a legal resource able to connect people with legal experts in all areas of law in Michigan.

I also worked on a project for 6 months where I introduced a national legal staffing company to solo and small law firms in Metro Detroit, so they could call on us when they needed to hire attorneys, paralegals, and legal assistants on a full time, part time, or project basis.  That was an ideal project for me because I didn’t have to sell legal services.  I only needed to form and build relationships with law firms, who would later contact us when they needed to hire legal professionals.

It was only 1 year ago that I became aware of human design work, and learned what my design was.  Every mistake and every success seemed to come into focus with this new found awareness.

How Are You Designed?

If you are curious about what your human design is, you can read the articles in the links in the first paragraph, or contact my friend, Catherine Hilker, who can do a human design reading for you based on some biographical information you provide her.   The results will astound you in one sense, and make total sense in another.  It’s like a piece of the puzzle finally falls into place, and the picture becomes so clear.

The hard part for me was accepting the picture, and not trying to change it or do Life the “old way”.   The dysfunctional familiar way of doing things sometimes feels more normal than the easy, divine way!  You can be like me and fight your design because you didn’t know what it was, and then continue to fight it because it was counter to something you mistakenly thought or were previously taught.  Or you can go with the flow, and operate exactly how you were designed to perform–with grace and ease.

I’d love to hear your stories of what happened once you found out and followed your design.  Be sure to comment below and come back with updates!