HOT HOUSEPLANT TIPS FROM A PARALEGAL MEET CRISTINA, OUR GREEN-THUMBED NEW HIRE
For the last year and a half, Russell has wanted to add another paralegal to our team. Rosie is our anchor in that department, but even though she’s like Superwoman, she only has two hands! We needed someone solid, reliable, and hardworking to help her out. Luckily, as you read on Page 1, Ashley knew just the person for the job: her sister, Cristina Yanez. On July 15, we officially brought her on board. Not only did Cristina survive the epic road trip from Chicago to Houston, but she’s also been thriving here ever since. She keeps busy writing demands to insurance companies, combing through medical timelines and records, and doing whatever it takes to keep our pre-litigation cases on track. Before joining our team, Cristina worked at law firms in Chicago and Florida, starting part-time in college. Considering what an excellent paralegal Cristina is, we were surprised to learn law wasn’t her first career path.
“I actually went to college for horticulture science because I wanted to be a florist and own my own greenhouse or nursery someday,”
“My favorite plant that I’d recommend for beginners to grow would be a pothos because there are so many varieties, they’re easy to take care of, they’re hard to kill, and they’re super rewarding because you don’t feel like you’re hurting anything — you’re just helping it grow,” she says. “My No. 1 tip for plant shopping would be to do your research before you just go to a nursery or Home Depot and grab a plant off the shelf, especially a super expensive plant. Some of them are so finicky and hard to take care of, and you end up throwing money away when they die in a week because they don’t have the right atmosphere for them.” In addition to being a fount of plant facts, Cristina is the perfect fit for our firm. She hit the ground running, had plenty of experience, and hardly needed any training. Her mentality and attitude are perfect for the job, too — we can’t wait to see what our team can do with her help!
she says. “But I ended up just
sticking with legal work while I was going to school, and it snowballed from there.”
Law is her passion now, but Cristina still has a soft spot for plants. She created a little jungle in her apartment and has already taken Ashley houseplant shopping! When we asked, she agreed to share a few of her top houseplant tips with you.
GOODBYE WORDS, HELLO GRAPHICS! WHY BLF IS DOUBLING DOWN ON VISUALS THIS FALL
Late last year, Ashley and Russell made a pact: They would both read the famous book “Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business” by Gino Wickman over the holidays. “Traction” is full of strategies for leadership improvement and business growth, and it inspired Russell and Ashley to take BLF to the next level. Right away, they started implementing the Traction Model outlined in the book. The first step was getting organized, rounding out our firm’s core values, and getting the right people in the right seats. Hiring Cristina was the last piece of that
Ownership Chart.” The chart showed where every person in the firm fit into the bigger system, and as soon as that eureka moment hit, we started operating more quickly and with more confidence than before. It’s been revolutionary and even made hiring easier!
Going visual also simplifies our processes from an outside perspective, making it easier for us to walk clients through their cases and referral partners though our collaborations. Now, on Zoom calls with our clients, we can just screenshare the charts, graphs, and other images we’ve created. This is a lot better for everyone than a wall of text, especially because we’re including print copies in our client handbooks. Russell, Ashley, and the rest of us here at BLM are incredibly excited about this new direction. We’ve already gotten great results internally with this system, which just goes to show that a small change can have a big impact. Going forward, we’re going to continue implementing Wickman’s ideas to grow the company and make our client and partner experiences even better. We can’t wait to see where this journey takes us, and we’re glad you’re along for the ride!
puzzle (you can read more about her journey to the firm on Pg. 1), so this fall, we’re moving on to step two: turning the firm’s written processes, work flows, and core values into eye-catching visuals. Going from words to graphics has a few benefits. First and foremost, it makes it easier for our team to understand things at a glance, including their roles and how they can work together to perform even better going forward. The lightbulb moment really went off for us during a company Zoom meeting this summer, when Russell and Ashley unveiled what we call our “Team
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