sHOW nOTES
Corinne is the daughter of a teacher and a lawyer – which probably explains a lot about her desire to share and explain the legal stuff. After escaping many years of the big law firm life (aka the “soul-sucking situation”), Corinne started her entrepreneurial legal journey in 2012. What started as a 40-hour in-person legal course developed for small business owners has now also turned into guided legal templates for Canadians doing business online. Corinne has a knack for making things practical and easy to implement. Being a lawyer since 2002 has given her perspective and experience to boil things down to the essentials. Corinne is originally from Cape Breton Island and lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia with her spouse, Martin, two teenagers Enya and Owen and new rescue pup, Kiwi. Corinne’s hobbies include playing guitar with her band “The Mother Pluckers” and playing hockey with the Puckers. Corinne’s motto is “Work Hard. Have Fun. Give Back.”
Resources mentioned
Now, if you’re ready to share more of your story online so that you can showcase the benefits of your programs and services, grab this little guide I created for you: 10 Storytelling Ideas For Women Entrepreneurs
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Angelique 0:00
I’m
Angelique 0:01
very musical, and very sporty
Angelique 0:09
anymore because I don’t know that’s a little pieces of the story that I know. But I’m gonna learn more, I’m sure today.
Angelique 0:16
So Corinne, welcome to the real story behind her business. And most of us as women, entrepreneur, we always have a story in terms of, we kind of build that business out of something that was missing in our lives or something dropped. And then we had to figure out a thing. And then this is the beauty of the building your own story, your own business, because it becomes magnificence. We become magnetic, we attract people that are amazing. And we do interview from nowhere, like today, like I don’t like poker, and she started in our car. And then after that, she had to find another place to charger. So all this to say that nothing stops us we are alive no matter what. And what are you having now. See, in my new location, I ordered a chocolate milkshake, which looks delicious, doesn’t it? So I’m coming to you from the from the Easy Street diner in Halifax. I love it. So we hear any call. So maybe what we can do is to either switch off one of your device and it’s
Angelique 1:24
your phone, switch up the sound not not the phone, just the sound I
Angelique 1:30
can hear you. Just because I can hear an equal
Angelique 1:37
thing, it’s better. So tell us who you are coming in before we start, who you are and who you serve in that beautiful life. Sure. So I’m originally from Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, I have moved to Halifax, I’d like to still retain my Cape Breton.
Corinne 2:00
Even though Halifax for quite a while. I’m a mom of two teenagers.
Corinne 2:07
And I’ve been a lawyer since
Corinne 2:11
I recently, during the pandemic industrial company, I’m also one of those people.
Corinne 2:18
So even though the teenagers are very self sufficient these days, a puppy not so much
Corinne 2:25
about me.
Corinne 2:28
And I part of my brand. So I just put that out there because I think a lot of times people hear lawyers, and then they almost like they’re repelled by the word lawyer, even thinking.
Corinne 2:44
Some people have called me a fun lawyer. So I’ll go with that. It wasn’t meant to say that you are a fun lawyer. And you were like, yeah, that’s exactly what you are. Yes, you are. So tell us more about who you serve before we start the story part.
Corinne 3:02
Sure. So I really have a passion for helping small business owners. And that’s always been the most fun that I’ve had to practice. And so small business owners.
Corinne 3:15
And primarily, what I found when I was in a traditional golf practice, was that I couldn’t really I didn’t have all the tools to serve them very well. That’s really why as part of my online business
Corinne 3:29
where I provide legal courses and legal templates, for Canadian online entrepreneurs.
Angelique 3:37
Yes. And I love your library, by the way. Yeah, so it’s very much I’m very practical focus again, I know that
Corinne 3:46
I’m an entrepreneur.
Corinne 3:49
What I actually want them to do is solve their problems. So I try to help people solve real, real
Corinne 3:58
easy, sort of easy to join, just solution.
Angelique 4:02
Yeah, and this is amazing how you do it. By the way, you have me a lot, a lot, a lot. So let’s dive in the new girl in Cape Breton. What was the thing that went between you maybe the age of five and 10? What was the thing you you love to play with? Or do? Do you remember that?
Corinne 4:22
Absolutely. I mean, I was always a kid who loved sports. I loved every sport. It didn’t even matter if it was a real sport, or if it was a sport that the kids in my neighborhood made up. I was always very adventurous so there was every sport I did like sailing so I actually did like sailing races where I would go out into the ocean much further than my mother. Like I always play basketball so that was around the time that I started playing basketball, but I played anything soccer, baseball, baseball, hockey on on so I just Like, what I liked about sports was teamwork, the teamwork aspect of I was always more attracted to sports, sports, but I also liked that you were always challenging yourself. It was almost like a new adventure. So
Angelique 5:15
yeah, so how did that inform or shaped the lawyer and the legal guy that you are for business entrepreneurs, we do say,
Corinne 5:28
being part of the team, it’s really that’s kind of I take a much more team approach, even now. I think I like to think about myself as being on the same team, as my clients, you know, rather than just coming in hired me. And I think you also, there’s a lot of some some feedback in sports is very explicit, sometimes the coach is yelling at you, because you’re not doing you’re not standing, escaping, whereas most other times, you just have to listen and kind of play off each other. So I think one of the things I try to do, as a as an entrepreneur is to get listen to what my clients really need, and where their gaps. So in in sports, you always try to exploit. Like, if someone can’t strive left in basketball, you try to make them go that way. So you just look for opportunities. I think it is really. So I think that helped me to look for opportunities and look for ways to improve.
Angelique 6:31
Yeah, that makes me think, either, say, in the hockey world, and I know that you are in the hockey world to write that you have to follow the park. What’s that thing? I’m so not in the park? Yeah. Yeah, that’s a
Corinne 6:49
no, and they say you have to go to where the puck is going to be like not where it is, you should skate to where the puck is going to be. So that’s really, and that’s what Wayne Gretzky again, I know you immigrated to Canada. No, but I know. You did. Wow. I’ve never interviewed him. I didn’t get to shake his hand once at a golf tournament. But yeah, so he said, you skate to where the puck is going to be. And I guess that’s a little bit what I’m trying to do and innovating in the legal space. clients.
Angelique 7:26
Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Awesome. So on that note, before you so you said that, in 2002, you became a lawyer, right? And then after that, you open your own practice as a legal guide. So tell me more about, you know, what was your most burning desire before starting your business? Because, you know, you were already a lawyer, you were already helping people. And what was the thing that you wanted to do? That became a business?
Corinne 7:58
Right? Well, I started my legal career, actually, at a very big law firm. It was like one of the top 20 biggest law firms in Canada. And I think I learned the technical skills there. But again, I just realized that they weren’t a great match for the clients I wanted to serve. So it was like, I again, I live in Halifax, I used to say it was like trying to drive down Farrington Street, which is one of the main streets like I we got a very big engine, and we were trying to, it wasn’t always the right tools. So between that, and just, it’s very, very demanding jobs. There’s no real two days about that. So I wanted a more balanced lifestyle. And I also wanted to serve, you realize you spend so much time in business with your clients, you want to make sure that you can serve them properly. So I just needed to create a new business model to serve the people who I really wanted to serve you. So I really had a moment in 2010, where I said, Okay, I have to do something different. Often.
Angelique 9:05
I love how you made a decision, but your lifestyle, and then how can you hit when you like to do as a job into your life? That’s a big leap.
Corinne 9:17
Yeah, well, I, I don’t know if I told you this before, but I actually wrote a song called my soul sucking situation. And I do play that for personal entrepreneurs that song, I think sometimes you just feel it in your gut like this is not working. This is not going to work. A lot of people that leave a corporate, they just, you know, you have that very good gut feeling that I just have to do something different. And then at the same time again, I saw an opportunity to do things differently. So I think those two things kind of came together. But you do have to listen to your gut sometimes. And think about what makes you happy.
Angelique 9:56
How do you ever like what’s your routine around listening? To your guts, like, what is the thing? What is a sign for you that you need to listen?
Corinne 10:10
I mean, I think a few times over my lifetime, my body has just kind of told me, sometimes subtle and not so subtle ways. Like, this is not working for you. At one point, this was in my younger years, I got an ulcer. So you know what I mean, when your body starts telling you, you know, there’s something sometimes needs to kind of smack you over the head and say, Okay, this is not working. But again, I think just when you wake up in the morning, and you don’t want to go to work, it’s not just the Monday feeling, it’s like, it’s continued over and over again, we’ll have more days that you don’t want to do. Don’t feel fired up. I don’t know, I think aging actually helps to like I’m now 50. Plus, I don’t know if you can tell that the oil ammoland might be helping. A little bit, but a certain amount of wisdom, like how we age, we have to claim to that anyway. So I think, again, when you’re 20 you might be you might not have those skills yet that you do have to listen to your gut. I don’t know. Although I try to tell my teenagers, they should also listen to their gut. I think it’s a word.
Angelique 11:22
Yeah. And then lucky to have a mama that he’s aware enough to because I think that’s that it’s more like mainstream now to listen to your guts or listen to your health or your body. And it’s becoming there more resources, the online world actually right there. Is that what personal development are you? Right?
Corinne 11:49
I also kind of recovered from a time when you just got one job and you had to stay there forever.
Angelique 11:56
Yeah. Totally. Yeah. I know, we learned so Atlanta would be so familiar with that topic. Yeah. I’m so glad you’re joining us. Because you’re gonna love what cocaine has to say about you know, filling, building a life on your own term based on how you feel who you are, and what you want to build for your clients. So now so now you your lawyer, but it’s not the right fit, and you want a lifestyle that you want for your family, you decide that I’m going to craft beer in my own business, feeling the legal world now what was the biggest struggle at the time to make it happen? Because maybe we have people are gonna listen today. And we know that there is a big thing around the corporate world, people are saying goodbye the job, I’m gonna be on my own carrier in my own business. So what was the biggest struggle to make it happen for you?
Corinne 12:57
Yeah, it’s, it’s almost funny cuz you almost forget, like it’s been 10 years. Now. It’s some someone hurts me to put myself back there. But I can remember a couple things for sure. One was, I was starting with a blank slate. Like I had no clients, I didn’t have to like do it the old way. But you do have to kind of deprogram yourself, because you’ve been doing it the old way. So it’s really a change in mindset, again, back to mindset. But it was good to have to be able to start from the ground up. But again, once you start reimagining things, you start second guessing yourself something like this makes sense to me. But why was anyone else doing it? So again, I, I started doing in my practice, I was like, not charging hourly rate. So I was doing all fixed fees. And I had a virtual office. And again, this is back in more like 2012 2013. And I want to have a website and I was doing social media. And a lot of law firms were doing that at that time. So he starts second guessing yourself a little bit, again, because you’ve come from a different environment. But again, I think once you get some positive feedback from clients saying, Oh, my God, this is great. Like this is so much better. And it kind of helps you push through some of that doubt and maybe deprogramming you’ve had to do. I mean, I guess the others struggle is just what again, when you’re creating something new people aren’t on the shore. They don’t even know that you did. And of course, social media definitely helps with that. But not no one knowing that you exist and that your products exist is obviously a struggle, as well. So it’s slow in the beginning. It’s like one person tells another person and tells another person, and you kind of have to go from there. And then of course, you start figuring out your messaging a little bit better and who your ideal clients are, but, but yeah, creating something from scratch and then knowing no one, no one knowing that you exist. So those are tricky in the beginning for sure.
Angelique 15:00
Hello. So how did it feel like? How did you cope with the feeling of feeling maybe? Like, invisible at first? Right? How did it feel?
Corinne 15:14
Yeah. I mean, I think I’m blessed with a certain amount of natural confidence like that. Like you just kind of like, I’m actually an optimist. I think being an optimist, as an entrepreneur helps you wake up in the morning think, Oh, yeah, I can do this. Like, it’s all good. I haven’t quite figured out how yet. But so I think being an optimist. Again, just just talking to clients and hearing, when you talk about client pain, like I heard a lot of when I talked to people, just a lot of things that they wanted to be done differently. So it really kind of drew me to be like, Okay, I’m doing it for them. Like people talk about being grounded in your why, like, I think that definitely helps. Again, you don’t always see exactly how you’re gonna get there. But I just knew there was a better way to help, especially women, entrepreneurs, access the legal knowledge and affiliation that they manage. So that kind of helps help you put Palumbi forward. And I actually, instead of working in a law office, I was in a virtual environment, but I also worked at a co working space. And so I actually physically surrounded myself with other people who are my ideal clients. So I just put myself in kind of a positive environment and surrounded myself with people who need it. Like, they’d be like, when I need you. Like, I can’t believe I just found you. So again, you start getting feedback like that, like, you may feel like a unicorn, but then someone else is like, Oh my god, yeah, that’s great. So
Angelique 16:57
I love how you give examples. I love that because and you don’t have to know that how fully, you just go and move forward. And then you put yourself in a position of making connections. Like, I love how you explain that I love this. So this is nuggets, golden nuggets. Plus you share stories that are like, I can imagine you in the open space, like, you know, entrepreneur around you. And this is a great way actually to connect, especially if you work with entrepreneurs, right? So I don’t want to cut you just
Corinne 17:33
gonna say and then sometimes, sometimes that happy accident start to happen. So then I got a call one time from a business advisor. And she said, Can you teach? Can you develop legal course? So she was the first person who said, I know you like teaching, I’m always getting legal questions. Could you put together a course. So that’s really how that started me down the path of putting together an online course. Because she said, we’ve got we have courses on sale, the courses on, you know, web design, we have courses on all these other things. Could you put together a little course, which led me once I got the content together, I said, Oh, this should also be online. So it feels like again, once you start going down the path, people show up to help, right? People sometimes Now sometimes people throw things in the road, and you have to jump over to but there are there are helpers along that road, and they start to show up. It’s like, that’s a beautiful thing. I call them happy accidents. But I don’t. Some of them are faint or something else. I don’t know. But things kind of start to happen to help.
Angelique 18:49
I think but I see you that you are open to receive help. And that’s something that is something we have to learn as well. And so it’s your real research ship that serves you because you did connection because you were you call that happy accident, but it’s also you deciding I’m open. Right? So I love that it’s a great advice, because it’s so much easier when you get help. Big time. Yeah, so tell me more about the first time you realized you know, that’s it, you know, what was the big payoff of all that work of setting up your business, making, you know, the connections with people that could become your clients. You remember the day you said yeah, that’s it. That’s exactly where I wanted to be. Here we go.
Corinne 19:42
Well, all I know, I mean, I thought it definitely happened with my ball practice, but just with the online course. The first time I launched and someone who I did not know, actually signed up and bought my course. Then I thought Wow, this is unbelievable. Because a few people that I knew, and who had been past clients, they were some of the very first customers. But the first time I actually, again, someone, I actually was running Facebook ads, someone clicked on my Facebook ad registered for my webinar, attended by webinar and then press the buy button. And I had no previous relationship with her. I thought, wow, this is like resonating with people that I don’t even know. Like, you know what I mean, I don’t have a personal relationship with and I was like, Okay, this is real now like this. Yeah. I think the other time it happened. And this was kind of a different kind of proof of this first time someone said to me, Oh, do you have an affiliate program? Like, I actually think this is so great, I want to help you promote it. And then I thought, Oh, well, again, that’s a moment where someone else believes in your product to the point that they want to help you get it up there in the world. So that was
Angelique 21:00
cool. Yeah, I love that you bring up that because once you you explored all the network connections dries up. So you need new leads, right? Because you are you have so much connection then at some point. It’s always the first complete stranger that is like, Oh my god, it’s serious. I’m really in business. How you, you share how
Corinne 21:29
it was like, there’s a lot of dancing. There’s a lot of I can’t quite fully dance. I’m sitting down. Ordered myself a chocolate milkshake.
Angelique 21:41
Yeah, so yeah, that’s, I love that. Yeah. Talking about music. Tell us more about your love of music. Sure, so I just fit in the legal world.
Corinne 21:56
Well, I’m not sure that it fits. But again, we don’t need to fit into tight little boxes. How about going back to what was that, like his five to 10 year old kid, I think I had two interests. One was sports we already talked about. And the other was music. Like I played, I played the piano mostly. And I also saying like, I have a very musical family. I actually thought everyone either sang and played an instrument so. So I don’t know, it’s just always been part of me, I actually kind of lost it in my early adulthood, you know, when you started working. Here, it’s just something that I wanted to do. And so luckily, on 11 years ago, I had a bunch of women who played hockey. And then it turns out, they were also interested in music. So we formed a band. And so every Tuesday, we actually have band practice and play play for different groups of people. And that’s really been, again, a great way to do it regularly like to do something fun, but I really love on a regular basis and kind of incorporate it into my skin. So it just unhappy like, actually, it’s funny, one of my friends one time, was watching me play the guitar and sitting in there like that is your happy place. Like that actually said that to me, like you’re playing guitar and other people are singing in a group. That’s your happy place. And I’m like, Yeah, you’re probably right. So it doesn’t necessarily fit neatly with the border. But I’ve actually started to incorporate that in especially in teaching. So like, I’ll sing a song about copyright law and how you can protect your content.
Angelique 23:38
I love this.
Corinne 23:39
I love my brain years part of I guess my personal brand.
Angelique 23:43
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Because I remember the first time I found you, it was on YouTube. You were at a guitar singing and I’m like, Oh, is it the same lady? And yeah, it was you. I loved it.
Corinne 23:58
Oh, yeah. You don’t quite know how things are gonna fit together.
Angelique 24:04
Tell me. Tell me more about I have two more questions for you. What are your biggest fears as a woman in business?
Corinne 24:16
One of my fears is just that. I mean, I think one of my fears is just the very common fear that people aren’t going to want to buy what you know, so I think I’m always conscious of making sure that people don’t they’re still I think like many blue and I just have a fear of putting myself out there. I know I’m extroverted. I don’t want getting on camera, but I’m still holding back like sometimes I still note that I’m holding back because I’m not going on. You know, I’m not showing up live as much as I should or I’m not sending out as many emails or blog posts or all that kind of stuff. So, I think, I think my fear is that people will think I’m pulling myself or something like that. So I pulled back. I think that still is one of my fears is that I’m going to be everywhere all over social media, emails, people’s email, inboxes it’s gonna be too much. Again, you realize that may feel like a lot to you, but to them, they’re not always paying attention. So it’s not that easy to read every.
Angelique 25:35
Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I guess you answered my question. I wanted to ask you, What’s your relationship with social media? But you were talking about that, that you? You’ve been using social media for a long time, even advertising, as you were saying, right for your webinars? Yeah, can you hear me?
Corinne 25:57
I mean, I think social media, especially. I can hear you. Okay, good. Usually in the early days, social media was sorry, can you hear me? Okay, just we’ve got a delay. So social media was key. When I talked about, like, no one, knowing that I existed, social media definitely helped with that awareness piece. Because especially because I knew a lot of people like either personally, or in my past role at the big law firm. But then I could kind of connect with them on social media, and tell people what I’m doing now. I started very early, sending out a newsletter, like an email newsletter, and building an email list. So that was really key from the beginning, and connecting with people regularly. And kind of hoping to get to know me and get to know more about, you know, my services and horses and all that stuff, especially as they evolve. Because you may not have seen somebody in person, especially during the pandemic for many years. So it’s hard to keep track of what you’re actually up to now.
Angelique 27:14
Yeah, definitely. Okay, I lost you on Instagram. But that’s okay. We’re still on, on YouTube. It’s okay. Don’t worry. I saved the video, we have the video. Anyway. I know you have a meeting anyway, I don’t want to keep you longer. I really enjoyed that you share them. So many stories with us. And I want to ask our listeners, our listeners and viewers that you have any question for you, ask them in the in the in the comments and we’ll we’ll check them after. And if that inspires you tell us to Oh, and I’m going to put your contact it’s your website, online legal essentials, that ca and, and so I hope it inspires you to share more of your story so that you can share more of why we should buy your products or your services, your programs, because this is really the how we go deep in you know, and we connect with the owner of the services because it’s, it means something very human. So don’t hesitate to reach out to Corrine and check her legal library because it’s just amazing all the tools you have. And if you’re wondering how to share more of your story, I hear a lot sometimes people don’t know where to start. So in, in the in the somewhere around this video, I’m gonna put all the podcasts I’m gonna put a link, I created a guy. And it’s basically helping you to find the stories to remember the stories that made who you are you who you are. So I’m going to put that in the comments as well. Are you good? Am I losing Korean Korean? connection is weird. It’s a little louder. Oh, you bachelor. Okay. Is there anything you want to add Korean before we go?
Corinne 29:14
No, I just want to thank you for having me coming on. And having these conversations is actually helpful to get me fired up again. You know what I made the show up on social media and share more of my story. So thank you. Sorry for the technical difficulties.
Angelique 29:28
Okay. I think we realized,
Corinne 29:30
sometimes I am a hot mess. I will admit that. But the templates are. So yeah, I’m just always happy to talk to people again. So if anyone wants to DM me on Instagram or reach out to me on my website, I don’t charge by the minute like I used to. So yeah, I’m always happy to have those conversations, and especially learn about what people are doing online and what they might need. So
Angelique 29:57
awesome. Thank you so much going for it. Taking part to the real story behind our business. I love to hear from all of you. Amazing, inspiring woman. So thank you and see you around, hopefully someday.
Corinne 30:13
Okay, thank you very much.
Angelique 30:15
Bye
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