#WINNING
#WINNING
Ashala Naidu on Cultivating Growth in Legal Entrepreneurship
Navigating the tightrope between a bustling career and family life can seem like a Herculean task, especially in the high-stakes world of law. Ashala Naidu, the brilliant mind behind Naidu Legal, joins me to unravel the complexities she's faced while steering her all-women law firm and raising a family. Her story, rooted in Saskatoon with branches that extend into the heart of her personal and professional life, offers an insider's perspective on managing a thriving business without losing sight of what's truly important.
In a landscape where every minute counts, Ashala’s evolution from a boutique firm to the helm of Naidu Legal is nothing short of inspiring. Discover how she managed the delicate balance of entrepreneurship and the intricacies of family law during the COVID-19 pandemic—a period that saw an unexpected surge in demand for legal services. With adaptability and innovation at the core, Ashala’s journey spotlights the importance of community involvement and adeptly navigating the entrepreneurial sea, from financial management to the underestimated labyrinth of marketing a legal practice.
The quest for harmony in work and life is universal, and the legal profession's grueling demands make it a noteworthy battleground. Join us as we share our personal strategies for maintaining equilibrium in the chaos, fostering a genuine connection with clients and building a supportive team that feels like family.
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Winning is your guide to making it in business. Join our award-winning host and entrepreneur, Mackenzie Kilshaw, and special guests in casual conversations that will educate and inspire you on your business journey. Winning will help you learn the hard lessons the easy way, with guidance from celebrated entrepreneurs and business leaders. It's fun, it's informative, it's winning.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Hello, welcome to Winning. I am your host, Mackenzie Kilshaw, and today's guest is Ashala Naidu. Hi, , how are you? Hi, I'm good. Thanks, how are you? Really good, I'm so happy to have you on. It's going to be fun.
Ashala Naidu:I'm looking forward to it. I feel a little bit nervous because, like we were saying before, I've never done I haven't done very many podcasts, but you've assured me that it's going to be very conversational, so I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for inviting me.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:No, you know what. Everyone, everyone that comes on, is like I'm so nervous because I don't what if I, you know, like don't say the right thing. But really it's your story and I'm excited to chat today a little bit more about having women in the workplace, your lawyer. So we're going to. We're going to have a good time. No need to be nervous at all. If you don't know , she's the founder and owner of Naidu Legal, a boutique law firm located in Saskatoon. She practices family law, but the firm also offers real estate wills, states, corporate and civil litigation. She opened in 2019 and she has 13 women from all different, diverse backgrounds and experiences, which is really cool to have an office full of women. I love that. So, , do you want to tell the audience a little bit more about yourself and who you are?
Ashala Naidu:Yeah, sure. So, like you said, Mackenzie, my name is Naidu. I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This is my home. I've lived here since I was born. I do practice law full time. I mostly a family law lawyer. My outside interests, though, that's just. You know, my career and profession is a very small part of the person who I am. So I'm a wife. My husband, Depesh, was also born in Saskatoon.
Ashala Naidu:We have two children, Ava, who is 14, and Dev, who is six. We spend a lot of time in family, you know, running the kids around. There are various activities. Ava's dance very competitively, so our family is very involved in the dance community. Our little guy, Dev, is, you know, in activities as well. They both go to school full time. So you know we live a very busy lifestyle. When I have a little bit of downtime, I have a lot of outside interests as well. I like to travel with my family and friends. I also really enjoy running. So those are two things I'm pretty into slowly getting more into a Peloton as well, which is kind of switching things up.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Oh, you know what I've never done? Peloton. But I feel like I need to get into it because everybody, like I, have so many friends that have the bikes or they do the running and love it. So that's a good suggestion that you didn't really give, but I'm taking it.
Ashala Naidu:Yeah, it's fun.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah. So I think when people hear that your career is a lawyer, they automatically think you work a lot, that you're always at the office or take work home, but clearly you have a busy family life also. I guess. First of all, how do you balance all of that? Let's start there.
Ashala Naidu:It's a really good question. So I'm used to kind of being accustomed to being a really busy person. I've worked. I often talk about my experiences in working, in entrepreneurship. So I actually, the day that I turned 16, I started to work. So a lot of people from my previous life know me as the Rogers Video Girl. I was also a liquor store girl for a long time. So I worked, you know, all through later high school as soon as I could have a job. I've had one and, honestly, working from a young age and working as much as I always have worked really taught me really good time management skills. So you know, through my university education I was often gainfully employed as well. I haven't taken a mat leave. I've been.
Ashala Naidu:You know, I was student with our first and then with Dev, I was a practicing lawyer by that time. So I feel like I really had already established the organizational skills that I needed to be able to balance a lot of different things. Also, I think it goes without saying, but I've had a tremendous amount of support in my life. You know my parents are very, very supportive, my siblings, my husband obviously, so that we can kind of arrange to do it all and also I'm very supportive in laws as well, who help out a lot with the kids when things get, you know, really, really busy and we have to wear a lot of different hats. So well supported.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, that support system goes a long way because when you do have other people you can rely on, that's your helps, and I'm sure the same in your business. I'm sure there's people within your business that you can delegate or can help you with things too.
Ashala Naidu:Right, oh yeah, that's totally true. We have, like we have an awesome team at work here at Naidu Legal. So, like you had said, we're a team of 13 women from all different areas of life, so there's four of us who are lawyers in the office, and then we have support staff at the office, experience paralegals and legal assistance students, and we also have a full time office manager who helps me keep organized, you know, with books and the financial piece of the business. So you know it's hugely helpful.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, that's awesome, did you always? I mean, you're kind of a you're, you have a I'll call it a double career, because you're a lawyer, but you're also an entrepreneur and a small business owner. So did you always want to be a lawyer, or how did that kind of start with your career?
Ashala Naidu:Yeah, you know I chose a career path in early university. So you know, I, my mom, is a lawyer as well. We practice some together at Naidu Legal, so she has 22 years of experience. So, growing up she was also. You know, I think that she finished her law degree when I was in grade nine. I'm pretty sure it was her articling years. So you know, we grew up being very, very exposed to having busy parents and going to work with them. So I knew that. You know, I'm a people person. I really like people and working with people and I kind of learned, you know, early on that I thought that, you know, a career in law was what I was going to really, really enjoy doing, because I had a really strong role model, which is our mom, who I saw practicing law, and I just thought that it was a really, you know, interesting and unique career and that was the career path that I kind of followed. So I found a niche pretty early.
Ashala Naidu:In practice. All practicing lawyers have to article for one year before we start practicing law. So you know it was during my articling year that I really started to enjoy family law. So you know I like to work with the clients. I found that the clients like to work with me. I like to hear their stories, I like to get to know them. So I really fell into it pretty easily and spent the first four years of my career working at another small boutique law firm where I just learned a whole lot about, you know, practice management skills and dealing with different clientele and even sometimes dealing with difficult clientele, and it's just, you know, been really really rewarding experience that I really found what I enjoy in my niche and have kind of run with it.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:So yeah, that's awesome. I love how you said difficult clientele, because I don't think it matters what business you have, you're always going to have someone difficult and those are really skills you learn with experience. I hate to say it, but the more people you deal with, the more that you are able to work with people that are difficult, because being a lawyer, especially when you're dealing with family law, I'm sure a lot of those clients of yours and cases are not easy, right. They're difficult and emotional and all sorts of things.
Ashala Naidu:That's exactly it. Like, a lot of the cases that I deal with are really difficult cases. They're emotional cases and I often, you know, I compare I often compare myself to meeting you know somebody on literally the worst day of their life, right, like, a lot of the time when people come to my office, they're really, really stressed, they're going through tremendous life transition and, you know, I'm kind of the first stop for what should I do next and what are my options and what is my life going to look like, right? So I feel like I have good skills in working with people who are going through trauma and who are going through, you know, emotionally charged situations and I could help them, you know, get through it with my legal knowledge, as well as just my ability to talk to people and keep them calm and listen.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I think I'm a good listener, so, yeah, yeah, all skills that you learned along the way, yeah, probably, yeah, probably, from articling. And then it's experience, right, which is? I don't think anything can really substitute for experience, right? It just helps us so much and I'm sure every day you become a better lawyer because you have this experience with different people. I like to think so yeah, no, I agree. Okay. So you worked at another firm for four years. How did you decide okay, I want to do this on my own, I want to have my own firm. How did that
Ashala Naidu:Well, you know it was a tough decision. I practiced, like I said, at another boutique law firm. I had wonderful mentorship from my previous employer. It was a wonderful experience and I learned a whole heck of a lot when it came to the practice of law. And just, he was really good with working with clients. So, you know, his clients adored him and I saw how he worked so well with people.
Ashala Naidu:And you know, I guess my journey into doing things on my own was just kind of an interest in entrepreneurship and wanting to do things a little bit differently. So, you know, some people who have been practicing law for quite a long time are not really fully implementing things like technology or best practices into practice. And I just found that, you know, I was kind of trying to create better efficiencies and do things a little bit differently and market myself and my services a little bit differently. And I felt that, you know, I had a really good foundation of clientele and people who would support me and who would support my new practice.
Ashala Naidu:At the time that, you know, we got into our first space, which was a very small space, I felt that the risk you know I'm not I'm a pretty risk adverse person. So I don't think, you know, I'm huge risks and at the time that you know we started the practice, it was just myself and a paralegal and we took on a very, very small space and I felt that you know, it was pretty low risk to be able to start things up and you know, see how things would go, and just kind of practice on my own. Dev, our younger son at the time was one when I had gone out on my own as well. So I was kind of looking for a little bit better work life balance. I guess too, when you're the boss you just kind of do things your own way, right?
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And that was yeah for sure. Yeah, that flexibility is part of why being an entrepreneur is so amazing.
Ashala Naidu:That's right. That's right, I was looking for that. So that's you know what we decided to do and have it look back.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Okay, so it's you and a paralegal. I agree that small space is such. Starting small is such a great idea because, okay, you know, you basically have to make enough living for you, pay your rent, pay your paralegal we're good, right. So how do you get from there to having 13 women in your office?
Ashala Naidu:It happened really organically. So I mean it really. You know we were in operations. I guess we opened the firm in July of 2019. So it's coming up on five years now. You know, the first six months of practice, you know were great. By December of that year I was already looking into hiring an associate because there was just too much workflow for me to handle on my own. So I needed somebody else to provide that you know, legal relief for me because it was just, you know, really too much. And then COVID happened. So in March I guess it was the COVID, that thing, right. So yeah.
Ashala Naidu:In March of 2020, you know, the world kind of shut down and that included legal practices, ish.
Ashala Naidu:At that time, you know, we never actually shut our doors, nor did we have to shut our doors because COVID, you know, very unfortunately for the people that I serve but separations and divorces and people buying and selling homes and wills and estate planning, you know, at like quadrupled in size.
Ashala Naidu:So we found, you know, during that period of time, you know, we were trying to figure out how to do things differently and to be nimble with, you know, our compliment of people getting sick, preparing, embracing myself for the possibility of having to transition the practice into the basement of my home, like that's what I was, with three people right and trying to figure out how is this really going to work in the event that things actually do shut down. But fortunately, we remain super, super busy during that period of time and weather the storms. So by the summer of that kind of COVID year, we were so busy that we were already going through, you know, further hiring for people and trying to find, you know, more people to join the firm and it just kind of took off from there.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, it's crazy, but, like you said, it seems like during that COVID year, that 2020, March of 2020 on I don't know but people were having babies or getting divorced or buying a different house. I think, all of a sudden, you had to work from home. Your kids are there, you're all there and you're like, oh man, we need a bigger, we need a bigger home, or right. So I can imagine for you that was a crazy time.
Ashala Naidu:It was a really crazy time. It was really crazy. Yeah, we had some in our first, in our first space. The first space that I rented was downtown on 3rd Avenue South and it was a little bit of a co-working space, so there was a bunch of different businesses who were kind of on the floor there. We had to figure out some creative ways to serve our clients for a little while. So you know, I was often I wasn't able to meet clients in the office for a short period of time, so we were doing a lot of like printing and running down and like finding a bench or keeping people in their cars to sign documentation. It was crazy.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, but it was a crazy time and you kind of had to do what you had to do, right, because you still need it. If someone's selling their home and there's a possession date or a closing date, you still need to sign those papers on that date.
Ashala Naidu:That's right.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, that's awesome. I mean just, it doesn't matter what you were. Once again, law practice me with the clothing store at that time, people with restaurants, whatever you just did what you had to do to get through, that's right and yeah, and for you then you face growth kind of in that time as well. Yeah, we did. Yeah, that's fantastic. So obviously you have to look for a new space then, as you're hiring more people and so you have all women in your office, which I absolutely love, obviously, being a woman. But Was that accidental or is that kind of a purposeful thing that you did?
Ashala Naidu:It's, honestly, it's been kind of both. We've had men who have worked for the office before, so it hasn't always been a female compliment. But, like I said before, we have this just really awesome team of women who work here and it works so well for us, like we're honestly it's such a good team that's here. We're like a little family. Everybody gets along so well here and I just feel like it's really it's just a good fit for everybody. To be honest with you, like I wouldn't consider myself to be like a, a feminist or purposely trying not to hire men, and I should say as well, like we have a huge clientele of men as well. Right, oh for sure, only represent women. It's men as well. But you know, as far as like the people who work here, I think because I'm mostly in charge of of recruitment at the office, I am obviously looking for a certain type of personality, with people, obviously experience as well. So I've found that you know, I do personally work best with women.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:So yeah, well, and I think, yeah, when you have your, when you have a business that fit, honestly, I think that fit, so the person fits into your culture and gets along with people and, like you say, you're a family, like you're a team, you're not just co-workers. I think that is often more important. A lot of skills you can teach, right, yeah, but you can't teach that fit. So that is such an important thing.
Ashala Naidu:It really is, and it's not only like an important fit for me, but, like the people who are here, it's a really important fit for them as well. Right, it's like yeah, I'd like to think that we're a work environment that really supports work-life balance. Like you know, people you know have children, they've grandkids, people have different things going on, you know houses to look after. So I like to think that we're an environment that really supports people's out of work activities and lifestyles.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, I love that. Is there specific things that you do to ensure that they have that balance, or what's kind of your philosophy on that?
Ashala Naidu:Well, my philosophy on that, which I've always you know, kind of it's always been close to my heart from the time that I was practicing At my previous firm is that it's always family first. So I mean, we're kind of in a unique situation because I practice with my mom and my sister. So, yeah, part of part of that is, you know, kind of family is always first. Luckily, we don't have any major things as a family that have required us to, you know, be out of office to address. But everybody, you know, whether it is spending time with children, grandparents, you know, aunts and uncles, the people who are important to everybody who's here, that's just something that's really important to me. So I like to make sure that everyone knows that, like, it's always family first.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I love that, I'm the same. I'm the same like work is important and work has to get done and especially when you have them employees, they're getting paid for doing a service or whatever. It is right, but at the end of the day, nothing replaces your family, mm-hmm. And I don't know if you found this, but I found that when there is that better balance and people were, you know, when I my store, if somebody said, oh, I'm supposed to work on next Saturday, but it's my sister's birthday, like could I to me, ensuring that they had that time with their family and saying, yes, what's a shift or we'll, you know, figure it out. Whatever they were happier and a happier employee actually is better for me.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, I agree, yeah, yeah. They're happier, they're more productive, they want to do things for you, not just because it's their job, but because they appreciate that right.
Ashala Naidu:That's right. Yeah, that's exactly it.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, it's true and that's not why we do it right, but it's a really nice spin-off of treating your staff really well. When you treat them well, they treat you well back, right.
Ashala Naidu:Yeah, I think so too.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, awesome, okay. So I think people listening are gonna be like an office full of women is fantastic, but also, oh my gosh, what is the dynamic in an office full of women? So let's chat on that a little bit.
Ashala Naidu:Honestly, I think we have. We haven't had a lot of a lot of problems here with the women, you know. Again, I know that there's a lot of conversation right now kind of around entrepreneurship and what it means to be the right fit, but like the right fit isn't only coming from me, right, like a lot of the time, when it comes to transition or trying to find the right fit, people are often you know, employees are often looking for the right fit for them too, and what type of work environment fits in with their you know family and their friends and just their lifestyle.
Ashala Naidu:So, you know, lots of people would think that we would have a whole heck of a lot of drama here at Naidu Legal, and I'd be lying if I said that there hasn't been any drama, because there's been some drama. But anywhere.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:There's drama anywhere, whether you've got men or women.
Ashala Naidu:Right, that's right. So I think that's just par for the course and any work environment like you're gonna. You know you're gonna have a little bit of drama and you have to figure out best practices on how to support and encourage, you know, your colleagues through that. I found that, you know, as we grow and as I've had the opportunity to have an office manager at the office in particular, I'm able to offload like the HR and the management off of myself on to Naidu Legal and I I feel so much happier like not having to deal with like HR functions as well as some of that like management stuff that I'm just not, I just don't love.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, I was gonna ask you how do you deal with that, because you're also a practicing lawyer. So how do you deal with an office conflict, maybe, or not just that, but just how do you deal with working with 13 people? But your answer is an office manager, which is fantastic.
Ashala Naidu:It is and like I mean obviously because I'm the owner of the firm, I obviously do involve myself in a lot of and like everything managerial. But just looking after kind of a lot of the day to day or week to week, like it's not like there's always HR stuff going on, but just having somebody else who can address that, is just hugely helpful for me.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:So for sure, and I mean in all reality, you are the owner, but your time is better spent with your clients or working under clients. Then it is planning the office party, really in all reality. Right, that's exactly it. Yeah, are there other things too that you maybe did when you started and now you delegate, or I know you talked to the beginning about efficiencies. So what else have you done where maybe when you first started, you did, but now you have someone else take care of?
Ashala Naidu:A lot of things. There's a lot of things. I mean. I found one thing we've kind of transitioned between, when people call the office, having an automated person who's answering versus having an actual live person. So I found that, like a lot of the time when people are contacting I do legal, they're often calling to work with me.
Ashala Naidu:So I find that something that you know I've transitioned to in practice is really making sure that everybody who calls for me at the office has a really good experience the first time that they contact us, and usually that involves like direct communication with me and I'm very expressed with clients. You know if I have to delegate a file to an associate at the office or if I'm able to because of capacity to work with them. The bookkeeping functions also. We've been very I've been very fortunate in practice to always have a bookkeeper. We've had a couple of different bookkeepers I have our office manager now looks after the books for the firm, which is hugely helpful for me because my interest level is like very, very low and I also don't have any sort of experience in like business management, like I'm not a commerce girl.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Hey, guess what? I have a commerce degree and I, when I opened my business, I was like I have a commerce degree, I can do the books. How hard can this be? And I did it for I'm going to say two months and I very quickly realized, wow, I do not know what I'm doing commerce degree or not and I'm spending for me. It was the time I was spending so much time on a task that didn't bring me revenue, that didn't let me do anything else and I wasn't good at it, so it was kind of a triple bad, I'd say. But something like that, like getting someone else and nice for you, you can have that in your office. If you don't have someone in the office, then it's something that you can just pay someone to do. But things like your books can really, I mean, freeze up time and you know that they're done properly, because it's also something that can get you into problems down the line if it's not done correctly.
Ashala Naidu:That's exactly right. And I've had, you know, I've talked, I've had the opportunity to, you know, have discussions with a lot of female entrepreneurs actually over the years, and that's something that I notice a lot of female entrepreneurs say, like male entrepreneurs, not, I haven't had as much experience, I guess, talking to a lot of male entrepreneurs, but the females often, you know, are saying to me, like you know, having a bookkeeper has just been so invaluable and, you know, just having to do all of the books on my own is just not my skill set. And I think that's me like I tried my best to be involved in the process of the business, but it's not my skill set, like I will be honest, like I didn't know, like what a source deduction was. I did not know that.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:But how would you? How would you? Because you've never had to deal with it before.
Ashala Naidu:Exactly, you have to own it right exactly. So you know, I hear I've had other conversations with people who were like, oh, like I didn't realize that you had to like have like additional insurance through workers compensation and stuff like that, and they're like. I didn't even know what that is. I didn't know. No one told me right. So yeah, it's like these things, just to have somebody else to like actually help you through that process is so helpful.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:It's true, and that's part of why you have there's other people that have professions that are in these areas. Right, yeah, I want to talk about marketing a little bit, because I know that you kind of had said that before you started your own, you wanted to market yourself a little bit differently. So how did that like? How has that been, and do you do your own marketing, or is that also something that you have someone help you with?
Ashala Naidu:I do not personally look after the marketing for the firm. We work with a number of different people to help us with our marketing, but the marketing is actually for the most part the not the design part. But the actual pushing out content is mostly handled by my husband. Depesh, actually so nice yeah. So he's also an entrepreneur. He knows what he's doing Marketing and all of the different things that we do, from the you know, design to actually getting the content out there to try in different forums. I mean it's, it doesn't like the reason why we do it is for brand awareness, right. So it's like we don't really convert on a whole bunch of clientele by doing the things that we do. But I do like to be involved in the community and I like for Naidu Legal to be, you know, out there in the community. So the marketing that we do, it's, you know, it's rewarding, it's fun.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, exactly, and I think, too, a lot of people kind of forget they think law firm will what you have to do for marketing. You're not quote unquote, selling anything, that's right. But, like you said, you want people to know who you are, because if I am buying a house next week, I want to be able to phone you and say, because I saw your social media post or your billboard or your whatever it was, and say, oh, I know somebody that does that. Right, I know you've got lots of events because I've seen you lots of events, but it's like, oh, I know somebody that does that. And then they pick up the phone and they call you.
Ashala Naidu:That's right. Yeah, yeah, it's very time consuming, though. Like I mean any sort of design that we do, from you know, getting the design done, to actually getting that ad or whatever it is the content done up to, like proofing it, it's very time consuming. So that was really lost on me. Yeah, we have a marketing background. It's like it's awesome, because I just I can't believe you know how time consuming it actually is to do that and think up that content. Yeah, I know.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And we I think we forget or maybe not even forget, don't realize, I think is just really what it is, especially now in the world of social media, of Facebook and Instagram and Tik Tok and all threads and acts and all the things, right. We don't realize or think that there are people that are content creators, that that's, that's their job. They just make the content, that's their, that's their career, that's right. And you forget that a lot of us, as entrepreneurs, like I, can do it myself, but you don't realize what a time socket is until you're actually in it, right?
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And that's such a good point you made.
Ashala Naidu:Yeah, that's right. It's such a you know, I I like it. Like I love good branding and good marketing, like I think it's cool when I see people doing like cool things or having like cool awareness for their business. I just like it all. But actually like taking the time to think up that content like I'm I'm not that clever, I can't do it.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I know, and it's time consuming because to make, especially now in the world of like reels on Instagram and things like that, it's not just posting a photo anymore, it's having your logo on it and having to edit things and add music and add a caption and create the, the actual caption, part of the wording that provides value to your clients. Like, there's so many things now. It's not just here. We are a photo of you, right, call us if you need us, sort of thing. It's so much more goes into it now than just that. That's right. Yeah, it's crazy. It's a whole, well billion dollar industry. Now is social media. So yeah, it's a crazy time. Let's talk about challenges a little bit. We kind of talked about all women. I know that you've got a really great, really great group there. It's your family fit. But what are some challenges you face? Maybe it is with having a group of women or just generally in your business that have been tough.
Ashala Naidu:I think you know the biggest thing for me has been balance in my life. So I find you know work is always busy, right, and that goes for all of us. It doesn't matter what career you're in. Work could be really, really busy. I have good supports and I have good set up at home, like I have the ability to work from home pretty well.
Ashala Naidu:But I'm trying to just kind of figure out that right balance between, you know, work and being fully present, because I feel like my presence. You know, especially during family time and stuff like that, I'm always a little bit distracted, but I feel, you know I do, I do my best to do it all and you know, spend lots of time with my kids and I do spend lots of time with with my kids, but it's always it feels like it's kind of always like my mind sometimes could be somewhere else if I'm really busy. So figuring out that balance and what works best for me, I feel is something that's been an ongoing challenge and I don't know if I have the answer for that quite yet. I tell, I tell students, you know this is, this is a hard career and it's a. It's a busy career For me. I find, you know, being a lawyer, I could work literally 24 hours a day if I wanted to. I have that much work that always needs to be addressed. I use the tele.
Ashala Naidu:I get asked this question when I talk, you know, at the college and stuff like that. Like what, what do you do for work, life balance? And I used to always say that between five and eight o'clock I would have like a dead period where, like, I wouldn't check my phone, I wouldn't like check my email, I wouldn't go on to my computer, I would just like do nothing. But I get more team members here, people sort of calling me out. They're like you don't do that, you're like wait a minute. You say you do it. Yeah, they're like stop telling the students that you do that, you don't do that. So I like to think that I do things like that, yeah.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:You know what, though? I've done that too, and I'm kind of the same as you. I, to me, like balance. It's never like a scale where, like, both sides are equal is what I find. I find that sometimes, like, the workload is heavy and that's where I'm okay, like today and tomorrow, I literally have to just sit at my desk and do as much as I can, because then the next day we're going to a baseball tournament or something and then I'm not gonna really work at all. So right, I think it's not that like even scale. It's like one day work is heavy and one day life is heavy, and that's just kind of how it is.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've also tried to do what you did and turn off the phone or not look at it, but I also and probably personality, I don't know about you, but I almost then had a little bit of anxiety, maybe when I picked up the phone, because it was like oh my god, now I have to reply to 10 different you know phone call, text, email, whatever it is when. If I just would have done one by one, it would have been a minute here, a minute there. Now I have to spend an hour doing it.
Ashala Naidu:That's right. I find the same thing.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, yeah, one thing I did do that I talked about before, is emails. I actually turned my email notification off on my phone, mm-hmm. So I still get emails come through, but I don't hear a ding or get a vibrator or whatever. And I found that that's really helpful, because then I just say, okay, you know, every day came now I'm checking it, and then I'm checking it again whenever, and that's the times I deal with it, and then I don't look at it again till tomorrow. Yeah, and that seems to have helped.
Ashala Naidu:Yeah, that's a good that's actually good advice, just to you know, not be present with the email, because that's like my number one fanatic.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, I know, and I think the thing is it's really easy to be like I'll just check it quick and 25 minutes later You're still on there, right?
Ashala Naidu:That's right.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Okay, another question for you. Yeah, um, what have you found that's been the most rewarding with having your business?
Ashala Naidu:What have I found that has been the most rewarding? I mean it's def, It's definitely the team that I work with, right it's. So I feel very rewarded. Like I said, the team that we have here. We're like a little family and I felt very, very rewarded getting to come to work with these people every single day, to get to know them, to get their know their families. That, without question, is the best part.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I love that and it is true, working with people that you, that you like and that it you are a family, it really does make it. It's still work, but maybe it doesn't seem so much like work.
Ashala Naidu:That's right.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, yeah, I love that. Do you have a most important lesson that you've learned along the way?
Ashala Naidu:The most important lesson that I've learned along the way. Honestly, there's been so many lessons I feel that I've learned along the way. I think probably the best lessons are the ones that really teach you something, right? So I found that lots of people in this career have their own way of doing things and their own way of practicing law, and I think that something that's worked for me is just being authentically myself. So I like that when I get to meet new clients or old clients, I get to be myself and people. I don't need to pretend to be somebody else. So I find that being myself and letting people get to know me and getting to know them has been something that's been a really good lesson. I don't need to pretend to be somebody else or pretend to know things that I don't know about. I just have to be myself and do my job well and things are good.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I love that and honestly, being genuine and authentic gets you so much farther that it just builds that relationship with yourself and the community and word of mouth and everything else. So I think that's a great, a great lesson. Is there anything you wish that you would have known, or maybe something that you could tell your younger self?
Ashala Naidu:If I could tell my younger self something, I think it would just be you know, just work hard. I feel like I have worked really, really hard in life, but I feel like just reminding myself you know, everything's always going to be okay and there's going to be trials and tribulations. You know in life and there's going to be ups and downs and stressful portions, but it's how you deal with them that's important, right?
Mackenzie Kilshaw:So so true and, honestly, nothing substitutes hard work. Yeah, that's right. I don't think there's anything in the world right? Hard work is hard work and it will get you where you're trying to go, that's for sure. Well, thank you so much for being on. I appreciate this. I really enjoyed your story. I do know you, but I didn't know kind of your story along the way. I know people are going to want to learn more about you or maybe reach out for some law services. Where's the best place that people can find you?
Ashala Naidu:The best way that people could find me. I'm a big email person. I know we just talked about the blackout period. I don't do that. The best way to reach out to me is by just sending me an email. My email is ashala@naidulegal. com and, or else, you know, I'm pretty accessible by the phone too. But yeah, email usually is the best way to get ahold of me.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I love it. I hope that someone listening here does reach out to you which I know they will, and maybe not for a divorce or a, but for something that they can, something positive. They're buying a new home or something, but thank you so much for being on and sharing your journey and some great advice with our audience. I appreciate it.
Ashala Naidu:Thanks so much for having me,M, I'll see you soon. You're welcome. I'm so good for that. vest the black one.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I will, for sure, for everyone listening. We'll see you on the next episode. Thanks for listening to Winning. Be sure to subscribe to get all of our new episodes. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social media and leave a rating and review wherever you listen to Winning. To catch all of the latest from us, you can follow Winning podcast on Instagram @winning_ podcast, Facebook at Winning Podcast and on Twitter @winning pod. Winning was created and is produced by me Mackenzie Kilshaw. Music, created by Summer Firby, editing by Seth Armstrong. Special thanks to Shauna Foster for voicing our opening and, of course, a huge thank you to this episode's guests. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you on the next episode.
