Archive | Entrepreneurship

10 Years After, Part 2

Working as a trial consultant has many unique factors that keep our lives interesting, and sometimes, frustrating. One factor is the time between when we are called on a case and when we actually do our work, such as a mock trial, and when that case goes to trial. I sometimes have attorneys ask me […]

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David does an excellent job of following up with Magnus’ clients.  Some people would be offended by the “radio silence” that usually happens between when a client contacts us about a potential case and when he or she decides to retain us.  Not David.  David calls, then calls again and again, emails, then emails again […]

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It Gets Late, Early

My late Mother was fond of saying, “It gets late, early.” As she aged, she went to sleep earlier and earlier and when I remarked about her change in bed time, she would smile and tell me, “It gets late, earlier and earlier.” I had no idea why she said this; furthermore, I had no […]

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This was to be a precursor post to Melissa’s post about her Mom’s South Carolina sayings.  I struggled with that post not having experienced similar sayings in my family, though I can’t imagine why I did not.  My grandmother did frequently lament that growing old was not for sissies, and we wrote about that previously […]

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Live a Little – Hawai’ian style

David and I have visited Hawai’i several times. It is one of our favorite places and somewhere I would enjoy making my home. I learned a lot on our trips to Hawai’i, including that the rainbows for which it is famous are possible only because, you guessed it, it rains a lot, daily it seems. […]

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Living a little is a concept some people don’t appreciate until it is too late.  The ability to live a little is probably one of the primary reasons Melissa and I enjoy owning our own company.  We frequently build a little “living” into our “working.”  Very often, this involves exploring a venue where we are […]

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Copyright

The photographer in me is compelling me to write about copyrights in this post. The © symbol is the most common way that photographers and artists, of all types, mark their work as copyrighted. There are other “approved” markings, including “Copr.” or the whole word “Copyright” along with the year of publication and name of […]

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It is amazing to me how many of David’s beautiful photos have been purloined, including by attorneys, judges, and the media.  Some people and organizations evidently believe they are entitled to take whatever they want, even if it doesn’t belong to them.  David is forceful about protecting his copyrights.  His photos are similar to any […]

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Managing Expectations

This is the third post in a series on professionalism. This one is about making “keepable promises” with regard to deadlines and deliverables. We, at Magnus, work in a world with many deadlines; very often, these are deadlines beyond the control of our clients. That is, judges set trial dates and discovery deadlines with which […]

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I recently observed my 50th anniversary of employment.  Having lost my father at an early age, I had to work in order during high school to help my mother with our household expenses.  In 50 years of working, I can proudly say that I have never, ever, missed a deadline or failed to deliver my […]

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Billing Expectations

As a follow up to my post on professionalism based on my recent experience of being a lawyer’s client, I want to discuss billing expectations. As I told my family’s lawyer during an extremely unpleasant phone call, what he did to us was like taking one’s car to the repair shop, getting an estimate, then […]

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Almost everyone wants to know the price of something before they purchase it.  This is true regardless if someone is buying a hot dog, a car, or paying for legal services.  Things can look fine, but if they are too expensive, in consideration for what they offer, there will be a disconnect between the product/service […]

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“If I Don’t Drive the Bus…”

I am writing this post on the birthday of one of my former bosses. As the absolute worst boss I ever had, this person will remain nameless. (This being said, many readers will be able to identify my former boss, having heard her use this expression on numerous occasions.) As much as I dislike her, […]

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Many years ago, too many to consider, an uncle of mine took me for a ride in his Beechcraft Bonanza, V tail and all.  I got to ride with him a few times – it was thrilling!  One memory I have of flying with him was that the yoke was connected in the middle of […]

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Help When There’s a “Cause”

Almost everyone has a “cause” or sometimes, more than one, that they support. Many people support causes by merely talking about them, while others volunteer their time and provide financial assistance to their favorite cause. For example, the Humane Society in many people’s hometown depends on monetary contributions, donations, and volunteer staff members to fulfill […]

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I’m not sure what prompted Melissa to write her post. Goodness knows, she has supported many “causes” whether friends, families, or strangers.  We both have in various ways, including working on cases pro bono when the cause was just.  What struck me though, in reading her post is how often the act of helping others […]

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Why I’m a social psychologist

In my almost 4 decades of being a social psychologist, few people have asked me why I decided on a career in social psychology. Maybe it’s not too interesting to find out why people choose a career, maybe there’s something else to discuss, or maybe the topic never occurred to the people with whom I […]

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Melissa told me the story of why she chose social psychology not long after we met.  The number of social psychologists are but a fraction of the total number of psychologists and are not what one usually thinks of when thinking of psychologists.  Clinical psychologists, like TV’s Dr. Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart) are much more […]

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Show, Don’t Tell

Melissa and I wrote employee policy manuals and other training materials before we had employees. I am thinking about those today because I added a small update to the policy manual yesterday, thinking that it had been a long time since I had added anything. But, while the policy manual is pretty well set, the […]

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David never ceases to amaze me.  I cannot believe he missed a perfectly good opportunity to relate his post to a song by his favorite band, RUSH.  The title of the song is “Show Don’t Tell,” which is the title David used for this post. The premise of the song, written (of course) by Geddy […]

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